Meet: The Adams Family

This fall has been crazy exciting for me as I have been given the privilege to document some young families!  First up, the Adams family.  Abby and Rob came to me via Emily, a fellow Union College alum (photos of her own little fam coming soon!) and it turned out that we had many other connections as well.  They live in the same town that both my parents grew up in while Marc, of Meghan and Marc, went to college with Abby and works with Rob.  This just seemed meant to be!

Their little girl, Charlotte, has the cutest little mop of bright red hair and the prettiest green eyes.  She had her moments but who could blame her for wanting to play with the nearby golden retriever?!  Overall I couldn't have asked for more from a 14 month old, she has certainly set the bar high.  The foliage was quintessentially New England, a picture perfect fall day.  Abby and Rob, thanks so much for spending your Saturday afternoon with me, I had a great time with you guys!!

On The Road Again: Dubai

A while back I wrote about all the amazing traveling I got to do in 2011.  So far, 2013 is winning.  By a lot.

About a month ago I was lucky enough to travel to the United Arab Emirates, both to Dubai and Abu Dhabi, for work.  We did have to spend a day in meetings but the majority of the week was spent experiencing everything the UAE has to offer.  I was only in Abu Dhabi for a night and naturally managed to take zero pictures with my big camera as I was still in recovery from the 24 hours of traveling it took to get there.  But let me tell you, our five star hotel was a-maz-ing.

The daytime heat rivaled the heat I experienced on the Amazon in Peru with highs around 106 degrees and overnight lows in the mid 90s.  I can only be thankful that it was September and not July when your typical day hovers around 115!  The city is under constant construction, always trying to outdo itself with something bigger and better.  We went up to the top of the Burj Khalifa, better known as the tallest building in the world, which had spectacular views at the top of the 60 second elevator ride to the 124th floor.  After that we hit up the local spice and gold market where you could get saffron at a fraction of the price that you'd see in the US (though the gold was priced as you'd expect it to be).  We followed that up with a walk down to the beach to swim in the Persian Gulf, by far the hottest body of water I've ever been in.

We spent one evening at the Dubai Desert Conservation Reserve where we went dune driving followed by camel rides and a cookout in the middle of no where.  A few of us risked getting the super fine sand into our cameras and played with some long exposures from the top of a nearby dune after dark - definitely could have done that for hours!  The entire night was one of those times that you couldn't quite believe where you were, like something you only see in the movies; a total bucket list item if there ever was one.

If there was a city to compare Dubai to, I'd say its Vegas.  You don't really need more than a few days there but experiencing excess of the city is totally worth it.  It was so fun to go somewhere totally unlike anywhere else I'd been.  Below are a few of my favorites from the trip, as always I wish I had taken more!

Jess & Kevin 9.28.13

Way back in the winter of 2008, Jess and I went out for dinner on a Saturday night, our plans naturally being my only ones of the night while Jess was just warming up.  We ate at the now defunct Match, caught up on Jess' recent adventures in Israel and Egypt over cocktails, and ran through all the usual gossip.  After dinner, Jess was heading to a party in Fenway where there was a guy that she was potentially interested in and she was ready to impress him.  She didn't want to go overboard, just to not go empty handed - whatever it was that she brought needed to be memorable.

Naturally we ended up deciding that a bag of mini Cadbury Eggs was the way to go.

As they say, the rest is history.

Jess and Kevin got married at Moraine Farm in Beverly last weekend on a perfectly summery fall day.  They both have an extensive network of friends but I think it's fair to say that Jess' parents are extremely popular - it was, by far, the biggest wedding I've attended.  All that said, it didn't feel nearly as big as it was as Jess and Kevin did a fabulous job making each guest feel welcome and special.  The food was delish, the bars were numerous and the dancing was epic...what more could you want?

Jess and Kevin, SUCH a great event, I so wish we could do it all over again!  I can't wait to hear about your mini-moon in PWM this weekend and all about BZE in January...and in a super selfish way, I obviously can't wait for next summer on Wingaersheek...lots of love! xoxo