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Life iz Website

Hello and welcome to the Life Iz blog. Since I just recently discovered what a blog actually is and how it all works, we are going to learn together! It will be something like this: a fun place to see some of our favorite images from our most recent sessions and get ideas for your own; a place to share our favorite finds for mommies, daddies and children; a place where you can get to know me and the Life Iz staff; and a place to share what I've learned during my first years as a parent because maybe it will be helpful for all of you, or maybe it will just make you laugh and remember... and be easier on yourself. Love, Liz

Friday, May 30, 2008

Today is the day!



UPDATE: HE'S HERE!

All we have is this iPhone photo - we are sooooooo excited! We are waiting for more news - but what we DO know is that he is totally adorable, looks just like Liz and Marty, and has RED HAIR!



Eli Wolf
5/30/08 10:20am
8 pounds 7 ounces
21.5 inches


Happy Birthday!



Thursday, May 29, 2008

The Kaczmarek Family

I had so much fun with the Kaczmareks this year! I last captured photos of them when they lived in the South Bay and their son Gabriel was only about 6 months old. Now Gabe is three years old and his adorable sister Emma is almost one! This year I made a special trip to Phoenix to capture photos of them at their new beautiful home. I was there for two nights and three days and I didn't want to leave; I wanted them to adopt me. You should have seen how amazing both children were when we went out to dinner at the fancy upscale restaurant at The Boulders Resort! Dinner lasted over an hour and they both sat in their seats, were sweet natured and fun as usual and enjoyed their dinners! Earlier at the resort, during one of the photo sessions, we mistook a helipad for a small park. Little Emma was crawling all around and smiling while a helicopter circled over our heads. Oops. The security staff at Boulders very politely told us that we might want to move. Our bad. I miss seeing them all.













Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Boymom Designs


I grew up with one sister, no brothers. My mom is one of four daughters and all of them have two daughters as well! Okay two of them each had one boy, but you see what I'm getting at here. Nearly all of our family pets were female too! When my sister gave birth to her first child 9 years ago, A BOY, we all marveled at him as if he were a unicorn. Not that I believe that boys and girls are sooo different, but lets face it, they are. I am expecting my first child, a boy, any day now and it's safe to say I've got a lot learn... and I'm thrilled to learn! I'm proud to become a BOY MOMMY!






Check out the cute designs at Boymom



Mother's Day Card



I know it’s a little late to share a Mother’s Day card, but I only recently got my father’s permission to share it. You see, he’s not usually one to write much on a greeting card. You’re lucky if he remembers to sign his name in there. Thankfully, this year he couldn’t find the perfect Hallmark ditty, so he found a blank card he liked and filled it in himself. Let fathers everywhere take a cue from my dad on this one for next year: give the trusty Hallmark cards a rest and write your own tribute to the mother of your children. It brought tears to my mom’s eyes.






Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Baby Shower

Originally my sister and I had envisioned a truly unique unisex Baby Shower, complete with sliders, french fries, gift opening, and games including “guess the size of the expectant mommy’s waistline” and Xbox. Well, we thought about it and reconsidered… the classic feminine shower is what we decided upon and no one was disappointed.

My mom, sister and good friend Fanny took on the main tasks of food, games and decor respectively; each did an incredible job. I was surprised by the Life Iz staff with wonderful photographs of the event, some of which I share below. I told them to come and enjoy the party and leave their cameras at home….but that last part clearly didn’t happen.

THANK YOU!

Menu:
Catered by Bite Catering
(soon to be featured on Food Network Challenge) Go Bite Catering!

* Cream cheese stuffed French toast with warm raspberry syrup.
* Homemade granola, fresh fruit, and Greek yogurt parfaits
* Caramelized Onion and gorgonzola cheese tarts
* Mini Spinach quiches
* Mini croissant sandwiches
* Fancy cheese, dried fruit, and nut platter
* Strawberries, blueberries and raspberries, fresh from the Farmer’s market with cool whip.
* Mini chocolate chip cookies with milk shots.

Desert:
Mini cupcakes from Vanilla in Santa Monica

The Life Iz girls and I did a taste test of the mini cupcakes at Vanilla and they were all scrumptious…Red Velvet is the clear winner and I personally love the one called, “Mom’s Birthday cake” which features extra heaps of creamy chocolate frosting. YUM!

Games:
We kept this to a minimum and let the guests mingle and eat instead. No sniffing or tasting “baby poop” candy bars in diapers. What is with that game?

* Name that Celebrity baby
* Guess the waistline of the mommy-to-be
* Guests were given safety pins on strings. If the word, “baby” was mentioned by another guest, that guest got to take the pin. The person with the most pins at the end of the party won a prize.

Congratulations Diane Karpman!

Décor:
Colors: Yellow, black and white

(sunflowers, hundreds of balloons, mod style black and white paper plates and rubber duckies of course)

Anyone who’s been to the Life Iz office knows we have quite the rubber duck collection. They were placed in glass containers and were also seen freely roaming around the house in each nook and cranny.




Stephanie, Monica, Briana, and Allison. Apparently, photographers wear white to baby showers.












My niece Simone and nephew Quinn with my mom’s dog, Chewy. Capturing Quinn’s birth on June 24th, 1999 inspired me to start my business. I cannot stop photographing these two.


My uber fabulous sister and formidable fashion stylist, Danielle Stone.


One of my favorite t-shirts for Eli, of course!


My husband, Marty, prefers this one.


When I was little my mom read six children’s books a night to me. It’s a life long goal of mine to publish children’s books of my own.


Our pug Bea thinks these gifts are for her.








Friday, May 9, 2008

Expecting Eli...

Photos captured by the beautiful Jennifer Carrillo of Bella Rosa Photography.

I met Jen several years ago when she was expecting her first daughter, Juliana, and I immediately adored her warm and genuine personality. I had the privilege and honor of capturing both Juliana’s birth and her little sister Bella’s entrance into the world. When I saw Jen’s wedding photography, I was wildly impressed; her warmth really comes through in her artful work. I knew I had found my girl. I just needed to find the guy… you know, to marry. Three years later, after first meeting Jen, I did. And yes, the photos from the wedding are everything I could have wanted and more. So are these!

Seven and a half months ago my husband Marty and I learned that we were going to become parents. When I called Marty at work to confirm the news, he had to take several walks outside because he couldn’t breathe… the excitement was overwhelming for both of us. When we found out we were expecting a boy 16 weeks into the pregnancy (Patience is not a virtue of mine) we knew his name without having to think twice. You see, Marty and I met six years ago in a creative writing short story class in which I wrote a story entitled "Eli", about becoming a mother. The week after I read it to the class, Marty brought in a story entitled "Before", about a woman expecting her first child. He read it in the The New Yorker many years earlier and searched on microfilm in the basement of a library to find a copy of it because my story reminded him of it so much and possibly because he was looking for a reason to talk to me. Ironically, like myself, in the story "Before" the soon-to-be mother is thrilled but there is also a strong feeling of fear, of being the first amongst her girlfriends to become a mom… how exactly would all of this change her life, her place in the world… what might she learn along the way?

Thankfully I have been blessed with the opportunity to observe brand new parents learning the ropes… tired eyes that droop with immense love and pride. Clients always ask me (with smirks on their faces) “Does capturing all of these births and being a witness to the first weeks of parenthood make you want to do it less yourself?” In other words, “Have you seen too much?” I always reply, “No, it makes me want it more.” Not that I look forward to the exhaustion, the constant needs of a little being, the desperate act of trying to strike the perfect balance of family, work, play, and what’s that other one… oh yeah, alone time. I have learned, and continue to learn from all of you that whatever the sacrifice… the stretch marks and the dark circles are worth it. My parents made parenting look fun… so do all of you! Did any one see Baby Mama? Well, I feel a quote from that movie coming on:

Caroline: “Is that chocolate or poop? Chocolate or poop? (she licks her child’s dirty hand) Chocolate!”

Kate: “What if that had been poop?”

Caroline: Parenting. It’s messy, but fun.”

I can’t wait! (Any day now)



The following are pages from a small album that the girls designed for me using some of our favorite images from my session with Jennifer.