England Part II

More England. I have to admit, I was sad we couldn't spend a little more time in London. I really enjoy this city (I have amazing memories from my last visit) and 40 hours just really isn't enough time to fully experience it. Oh well - gives us a reason to come back again.

Here we are on the train into town.

The London Eye. Everytime I see this I hear Edward saying "Oh the Yondon Eye!" in his little accent. So adorable.

The Aquarium...so cool. This jellyfish tank was great. The light color cycled to change the color of the jellyfish. It was a hit.

Look at these two cute people.

Loving baby Frank a liiitle too much.

Cousin Aidan! We love Cousin Aidan! I haven't seen him since the wedding and he is so much fun to hang out with. Truly one of the best conversationalists ever. He also works for the BBC, so he always has lots of good stories. I had just scolded Savannah beofre this picture, so that's why she looks sad. She loves Aidan too.

POTD: Mini Gardner

Very pleased with her sunflowers. We grew these from seeds (see below). The morning humidity fogged up my camera lens, so sorry the image quality is not the best.

If the summer wouldn't have been so brutal, they'd probably look better, but I'm happy they flowered at all.

Designers, gather round.

I have missed you Project Runway!!!

OK, so I don't have a lot of places to be random Shannon. Twitter and Facebook, while I love them, have become a little business-y. I don't want to terrify my clients. So here's my Project Runway squealing.

If you know me, you know how much I love Tim Gunn. It's near stalker level. I mean, he says things like "I have a very positive response to what you are doing." and "Carry on." LOVE.

If you watched the premiere, follow me here...Didn't YOU want to be a recovering meth addict and have a little breakdown so that Tim Gunn would hug you, get teary and tell you that he wanted you to succeed? I was a little jealous of a recovering meth addict.

My mom and I have this little joke that we do where I talk about how I want to wear something awful in front of him so that he could constructively critique me - because he is the best in the business at that. It would go something like this:

"Shannon, you are a beautiful woman inside and out, but that outfit is no good for you. I want to help you" And then he would hug me and take me to Barney's and dress me in Prada or Philip Lim or Marc Jacobs.

Also, I watched the premiere before the All-Stars show and afterwards I couldn't believe I was watching all those fools when I could have been enjoying Santino Rice. So enjoyable.

Also loved the judging "One dress can make you famous". Yea Daniel!

Maybe not the best show on TV, but I really think it's my favorite to watch.

Babbling over!

POTD: I enjoyed having my own computer

Those days are gone now. Check her out working the stylus pen too - such a photographer's kid.

Vacation: England

We had a very quick stop in England to see the rest of the family.

Conor's cousin Nuala and her husband Paul very generously let us stay in their home in Wimbledon. There were SUCH amazing hosts. They live on an incredibly charming street and I was once again made jealous by how walkable the European lifestlye is. I really really wish I could just pop Savannah in the stroller and walk to the grocery store.

Here are a few snaps our our time at Nuala and Paul's. Here are their two boys, Edward and Frank. Oh and yes, a toddler with an English accent IS about the cutest thing you've ever heard.

Paul and Frank

Why? Because crashing is fun.

These two were great little playmates.

Baby Frank.

Edward.

More later from our trip into the city. (Trains! The London Eye! Fish! More cousins!!!!!!!!)

POTD: Tub Time

Quick POTD Break from Vacation Photos

This summer has been a whirlwind. I still haven't really recovered from the big vacation. Here are a few fun photos of late.

Her dinner wear - wings and a tiara. As you do.

Our little person is very good at her letters. She is pretty much reading at this point, which is a little scary. She is constantly sounding things out. Here she is drawing a picture of Conor (this was the week he was in Seattle and she was missing him). She wrote Daddy with very little help from me.

A little park time.

With Gaga B in the barn

She has been attending this Art camp put on by our Parks and Rec for the last three weeks. It has been great for her. The other day I picked her up looking like this.

She is a moo cow and is mooing in the photo. The best part of this is that Conor and I had a dinner with one of our high school teachers. (She currently lives in Cairo and was back in Austin for a few weeks). I had a shoot before hand (Hi Whitakers!) so Conor had to take her to dinner. She ABSOLUTELY did not want to wash this cow face off, so this is how she went out to eat. Yea for 3 1/2!

She also wanted me to let you know that she is a holstein cow in this photo. (We have a cow book that discusses the different breeds of cows. Random story - There are cows all over the place in Ireland and possibly the moment she got the most excited was when she saw a Dutch Belted Cow live in person. "Mama! A Dutch Belted!!!" Hilarious. )

Port Rush Part IV

Final Port Rush installment!! We'll start off with a few around Mark Street. (These are credited to Conor)

Then we went over to Uncle Sean and Aunt Louise's house for dinner (and MORE cousins!)

Lena, Claire and Savannah.

Auntie Lousie discussing a treat with Savannah. Notice her rapt attention.

Savannah got to pick rasberries! Everything grows in Ireland - it reminds me of Seattle in that way. We used to have such a great garden in the summer.

Port Rush Part III

Tricia was nice enough to drive us around the county on our next morning. Savannah was very sad that Auntie Kathleen had to go back to England, but she was SO HAPPY that we got to see some cows up close. The girl and cows and pigs....seriously loves them.

MOO!






Auntie Tricia!!!

We finished our trip at a little farm where we could see even more cows! (and lots of birds and chickens). Very cute.

Mini-me. The photos that she took are pretty hilarious - I'll post them later.