Sylvia's 3rd Birthday Party

At a city community center on the north side of Chicago, parents & tots gathered to celebrate Sylvia's 3rd birthday. With a baby brother on the way this would be Sylvia's last big moment as an only child and she partied like a rock star. Friends and family gathered in a circle while the song leader began her activities. Hands were clapped, instruments were played, scarves were swirled in the air and Sydney gave hugs to everyone.
Bagels & cake followed the festivities, then another round of playtime with a stretchable tunnel as the center of many toddlers' attention.
Enjoy the pics!

Pumpkin Carving Party

This year marked the 7th annual pumpkin carving party that Craig and I have hosted. Some things have changed; I cooked a lot more, no one ordered pizza, we neglected the seeds. Some things stay the same; our out of this world you'd swear it had meat in it veggie chilli, there was themed Halloween music playing, Damien had the biggest pumpkin. This year we decided to invite my parents to the fiesta, I guess that means we're getting old and even though we tried to make the party kid friendly only one little one showed up, Mr. Jordan Diskin. Stan explained that son Jordie was dressed as a Russian cabdriver(both sides of Jordie's family are Russian).
We missed my sister since she is no longer in Chicago for these events, miss you Mich!
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Brooke-Take 2

I did this a few years ago and she didn't like a thing so I was a little hesitant to shoot friend & neighbor Brooke. This time we did right. She got her hair done beforehand, I brought a make-up artist to the studio for her, we drank a little wine & had a very nice time. I was thrilled with the results and so was she. Phew.

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Nicole in Minneapolis

One of my best girls moved to Minneapolis a few years ago and it's taken me this long to visit her, shame on me. Timing is everything when going to Minn for the first time since it can be pretty miserable during the winter months, so it was a perfect October weekend when I arrived. We had sun, saw sights, and shopped the best of all superstores, the Target! Awesome. After getting engaged, she moved out of her super fabulous loft and into a house in the burbs...awww. I had to document her loft and the gianormous doors she had on her bedroom. After all, Nicole is 5'8 so to see her looking so small gave me quite a kick.
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Elie Wiesel

Moments after arriving home after the hustle & bustle of my sister's wedding it was time for me to get ready for a stellar event. Through a fantastic family connection I scored the job of covering the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum's annual fund raising luncheon of over 3,000 people. For me, the most exciting part of this gig was covering the guest of honor, Mr. Elie Wiesel, an author and historian who's work I have been reading since I was just a little girl. I had incredible access to Mr. Wiesel and one of my images got published in the JUF news. Mayor Daley was also there, just not as exciting.
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Getting Ready

Although the wedding wasn't starting until 6pm, there were 10 bridesmaids, 2 moms & a bride that all had to have hair & make-up ready by 2pm so the bride could get into her wedding gown and head down to pictures. Therefore, our start time was 10am and we met in the salon at the hotel. There was a team of women to help us get the hair did & the face done and in the meantime Michelle gave her bridesmaids their gifts as a thank you for all the hard work and many places they had to be as part of their bridal responsibility. It was a very nice day in the salon, we ordered food and relaxed before the big moment.
Enjoy the pics!