As I was home celebrating Thanksgiving with my family, I loved reminiscing about my childhood, as well as, all the family stories prior to my birth. I am always curious to hear how my parents were raised and their parents and so on and so on.  The Blah, Blah, Blahg brought to my attention My Parents Were Awesome created by Eliot Glazier, a site perfect for taking a peak at the past. This site showcases vintage photographs of parents before they were actually parents. In honor of their awesomeness, check out my parents below and a few of my favs from My Parents Were Awesome.

My folks, Jack & Mari

Barbe & Jerzy

Terry & Zoila

Karl & Lisa

see more at myparentswereawesome.tumblr.com

Flipping through the December 09 J. Crew Catalog I came across this ad for Crew Cuts and thought what a fantastic idea for a family holiday card.  My sister and I had our fair share of photos with Santa, 21 years to be exact. We also had years with cheerleading uniforms, our pets and festive decorations outside the house. I think the below photo uses great imagination and kids would get a kick out of filling up the frame. Use whatever might be filling up your yard, a canoe, sleigh, pick up truck, etc. The signs can easily be crafted of wood and display your family name or a holiday message. Most importantly the kids look comfortable! They don’t have to dress up, they can totally be themselves among the festive decor. Kudos Crew Cuts, great inspiration!

jcrew.com

Stacie & Geoff: butterfly kisses, swinging, and sweet sounds on a sunny day make for a beautiful engagement shoot taken by Sloan Photographers spotted on OnceWed.com.

see more of their photos, sloanphotographers

Because the clock is just not moving fast enough today, I take refuge looking at Dani Brubaker’s photography.  Her images of children are down right awesome.  Dani has an amazing ability to photograph her subjects with sophistication while maintaining the presence of their childhood innocence.  With categories like happy, pissed, zany, calm, naughty and nice you can easily get lost in the eye candy at hand.  Thank you Dani, for making me feel like a kid again… even if only for a moment.

danibrubaker.com

Independence Day is my favorite holiday; therefore I am devoting an entire week of posts leading up to the main event.  What better way to start than taking a look at the beauty that lies within our amazing country…

All images borrowed from Flickr, from left to right:

 Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California,
Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware,    Florida, Georgia,
Hawaii, Idaho,  Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky,    Louisiana, Maine, Maryland,
Massachusetts,
Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri,
     Montana,
Nebraska, Nevada,
New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York,
North Carolina,
North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon,
Pennsylvania,
Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas,
Utah, Vermont, Virginia,
 Washington,
West Virginia,
Wisconsin, Wyoming

“You are only young once, but you can remain immature indefinitely.”                                                                                                                              - Author unknown

Photo courtesy of Dani Brubaker