Internet, It’s been ages since I’ve shared anything personal here and I miss that very much. I find myself in the heart of a busy portrait season with the rest of my year booked out (thank you). And while this is exactly what I’ve been working towards, I have to be honest about all the other noise going on in the background. It sounds a lot like change, new beginnings, big moves, fresh love…and I can’t quite put it all into words just yet. Only feelings. And they’re spilling out all over my photographs. Tender and raw; restless with many layers. There’s so much of myself that is fully present in the right ways and completely checked out in others. I’m harnessing the energy of new and powerful relationships and feeling it beat deeply in my heart. To be on the receiving end of joy makes me feel like celebrating…every.single.precious.moment. I am so very lucky to be present for this life. These opportunities. This love.

And while I’m being cryptic and gushy I might as well say that a line was drawn in the sand this past Spring and I stepped over it. On this side of the line I feel my essence pulsating through my body. I gush. I laugh. I hardly sleep. To bring it full circle, I see my identity wrapped up in so many things outside myself, like in these photographs, and I get so excited to tear the wrapper off and discover what’s inside. This kind of bliss does not happen often and I do not take it lightly. While honoring my core, I may make a fool out of myself from time to time, but I believe it’s part of the adventure and I’m becoming the finest version of myself to date. These next few months are going to be big for me. HUGE! And while parts of me are paralyzed by how fast things are moving, I know that my life has been leading up to this chapter for a long time. This is exactly where I’m supposed to be.

Happy One Month Anniversary Erin & David!! xoxo Auntie Jamie

Be sure to check out the slide show for more of their story….

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One day last weekend I snuck away from the heartaches and headaches of my upside down life to play with The Littles (my neffers and their new friend Maya) at an amazing beach park by my new  house. It was a beautiful, breathtaking kind of day that provided the exact internal healing I needed. I stuck my hands in the Earth and inhaled the fresh Puget Sound air. I listened to the laughter of children and gossiped with girlfriends. It was bliss and it reminded me that even when times are hard…good things and good people happen.

In the midst of all this, I think I discovered the core of why I love being a family photographer. It’s the rawness and expressions of genuine truth that only children know how to show you. It’s the way a child melts into their mother’s arms and the way they squeal with excitement. When they’re angry, you know it. When they’re tired, you know it. And when they’re filled with joy and wonder and happiness….you undeniably know it. Moms and Dads let down their guard around their children too. I see moments and emotions unfold in a way that is so honest and true. They need no coaching to show you how they really feel. It’s love people. L-O-V-E. Love. And when I look out into the world with my lenses and snap a moment of life’s true perfection…I am filled to the brim with a deep understanding of why this gift is so dear to my heart. I can’t help but rush home eager to show the world all the beautiful faces I’ve captured. I love to tell the stories of who we are…who YOU are and why it all matters. Amen.

Family portrait season is well under way and I’m fully booked till mid November. There is still time to get on my calendar and experience the fun, fresh approach of a Jamie Neilsen Photography session. Call or email me soon! Your children will thank you for it.

Why am I telling you this? Because I’ve put it out there that “I strive for excellence in my work and seek to achieve this by being human…” among other things. And these days, I’m feeling a lot less super human and far more just…regular human. I’ve been “doing-it-all” for too long now and I’m finally burning out. I think, perhaps, just maybe, it’s not possible for one human being to work a 9-5 job, plus a growing side job, plus renovate a house without contractors, plus maintain a clean and livable dwelling, plus eat good healthy food, plus sleep, plus be a good wife, friend and family member and still stay sane. Perhaps.

All I really want to do is finish reading the trashy fiction novel I picked up at the airport a couple weeks ago. Something about the completely shallow, dissatisfied and mostly unlikeable characters of One Fifth Avenue sucks me out of my reality and catapults me into a much grandeur scale of unrealistic chaos that makes me smile inside. In between the lines I read that things could be worse and this too shall pass. Unfortunately, the only real reading I’m doing these days is “how to hook up a washer and dryer” and “how to insulate an attic without eaves”. Fascinating.

Oh, it’s not all doom and gloom. I did get to go to Vegas at the beginning of the month. Although, for the duration of my stay, from Sunday to Wednesday, I never stepped out doors. Instead, I spent all day in Summer School learning from some of the best and brightest in the photography industry. I met lots of new friends and took pages of notes…which I haven’t had time to even peek at since I’ve been back. I also got to see my brother, his wife and their beautiful baby girl who came to visit us here in Seattle. Aevlyn has grown so much since I saw her a few months ago! My nephew, Ty, celebrated his third birthday this month too. He is talking so much..so fast…it cracks me up and makes me find new reasons to keep falling in love with him. He has always been my muse and happy maker.

All this is to say, tasks are taking me a bit longer to complete these days and my brain has turned to mush. I’m working feverishly to get back on track and up to speed….at a regular human pace. If I owe you an email, phone call, pictures or some other significant thing that has fallen through the cracks…the check is in the mail…a.k.a. I’m working on it. Promise. In the meantime, enjoy some pretty pictures…

More in the slide show…

We’re experiencing our first “real” week of summer here in Seattle. The temperatures finally hit above 75, blue skies are everywhere and even though my car broke down on the side of the road yesterday, I’m happy to take things slow, travel by bus and soak up the sunshine. Hallelujah for sunshine!

Unfortunately, Steve and I are still hard at work on our house and haven’t been able to enjoy many summer activities this year. So, I came up with a list of adventures for you to enjoy instead! Get the kids in on it…and please send pictures or links to your blogs! If it were me, I’d wrangle up the nephews. Those boys make me so happy. The pictures above are from this spring so I’ve got a lot of catching up to do.

1. Visit a local u-pick farm. Take home fresh flowers, fruits and vegetables.
2. Camp out in the backyard.
3. Have a sidewalk chalk art show.
4. Make fresh lemonade.
5. Make ice cream.
6. Fly a kite.
7. Play in the sprinkler.
8. Make s’mores.
9. Have a picnic.
10. Make paper airplanes.
11. Skip stones.
12. Climb trees.
13. Make a puppet show.
14. Catch frogs.
15. Play catch.
16. Go swimming.
17. Feed the ducks.
18. Ride public transportation and make several stops.
19. Have a water balloon fight.
20. Wash the car.

Go ahead and bookmark this page for future reference and share it with your mommy groups. Not only is it a great list of fun activities to fight boredom, they’re perfect for photographing. Just be sure to keep your gear out of the water.

So far, we have:

• Gutted the basement down to concrete. Floors, ceilings, walls, bathroom and kitchen…gone. Once that disappeared we were able to see that the foundation leaks. In three place. Super. Nothing is going into the basement for awhile.
• Gutted the attic. So long, improperly installed insulation. Take that zero ventilation.
• Gutted the upstairs bathroom down to studs. There, we exposed some creative plumbing and electrical work. How the place didn’t burst into flames, I’ll never know.
• Gutted the kitchen. The pictures above of my little laborers were actually taken in the kitchen. We’ve put up one new wall and started new wiring. Hallelujah for progress.
• Removed the carpet. It was probably the nastiest thing in the house. I can’t even begin to describe how horribly disgusting it was.
• Stripped doors. Once we took off about 7 layers of paint they finally started looking like they might have some potential. I’m not convinced it wouldn’t have been cheaper and easier to just buy new ones, but at least these have a lot of character.

Still left to do:

• Sand and refinish the hardwoods in the bedrooms and living room.
• Plumb the kitchen and bathroom.
• New walls, floors, and ceilings in kitchen and bathroom.
• New appliances and fixtures in the kitchen and bathroom.
• Finish rewiring the house.
• Re-install windows (this time with proper flashing).
• Replace siding.
• Paint everything.
• Clean everything.
• Move.

Did I mention we’re doing all this without a contractor? Thanks to Justin for helping us with wiring; Kat for pulling nails and stripping doors; Ryan and Tom for gutting the attic and getting really dirty; Mom for the dump runs, shop-vac and Home Depot gift card; Ellen for coffee, cake, and stripping doors; Annie for whiskey and dump runs; Tex for being there nearly every weekend, gutting the basement and mowing the lawn; Tamas for clearing the stairwell up to our house and pruning the bushes; Kellie for bringing the “littles”, Ty and Sawyer to cheer us up; Ty and Sawyer for “hammering”, “sweeping” and “vacuuming”; and finally my husband for working hard every single day after work, all day every weekend and still smiling and kissing me at the end of the day. Well done guys. Well done.

This next month is going to be rough but I’m excited to see how we pull it off. In the meantime, get ready to see a sexy maternity session, engagement photos, first birthday pictures, and a couple of weddings coming to the blog over the next few weeks. Where do I find the time!? To quote from my favorite Story People, “Everything changed the day she figured out there was exactly enough time for the important things in her life.”

Onward and upward, Internet. Onward and upward.

Auntie Jamie: Are you a kitty?

Ty: No. I’m a baboon.

Auntie Jamie: Oh. What is your brother?

Ty: A butterfly.

Auntie Jamie: What is your mama?

Ty: A tiger.

Auntie Jamie: How about Steve?

Ty: A duck.

Auntie Jamie: What am I?

Ty: A lion. RAWR!

My mom and I arrived at their house in the country late Saturday morning. He told us they lived outside of town but us city girls had no idea what he really meant. An hours drive from our hotel took us past fields of cattle and their baby calves. Horses and potatoes were their neighbors and at night you could see the stars. Not just a few twinkles in the sky like I’m used to at my house but an entirely black sky filled to the edges with sparkling lights. It was breathtaking….and quiet.

Good hosts as they are, we were greeted with a plate of fresh veggies and crackers for snacking. They took us on a tour of their college campus where Ryan is a dance and philosophy major and Kim is in horticulture and floral design. They danced together and Aevlyn watched with glee. We wandered through beautiful gardens and orchards with a hundred different kinds of apples. They showed us where he proposed and all their favorite hangouts. Then, we headed to the sand dunes where we built a fire and grilled veggie kabobs as the sun set. Ryan got his car stuck in the sand and while here in the city you might be stuck on the side of the road for a long time without calling an expensive tow truck, good Samaritans were everywhere anxious to help. It took not one, but two trucks to get us unstuck and on our way. I can see why he likes it out there.

The next day we traveled out to Mesa Falls on the edge of Yellow Stone (less than an hour away from their home) to enjoy nature and the beautiful, warm, sunny day. At a clear and shallow part of the river we hand fed wild fish and chit chatted with the locals who make this their regular Sunday afternoon entertainment. It was so nice to just be together. When we arrived back at their home that evening we opened the door to wafts of red beans and rice that had been slow cooking all day. They quickly prepared a fresh salad to accompany the delicious dish and I regretted having to head home early the next morning.

We soaked up the last hour of sunlight with a photo shoot around their home. It was past Aevlyn’s bed time but she gave us some smiles and giggles anyway; bless her sweet heart. I have to admit I’ve never done a photo shoot where we had to watch out for wild bunny droppings and recluse spiders! It was also my first time shooting in that amazing mountain light. I know most people can’t tell the difference, but it was very different. I kind of wanted to take it home with me.

These photos and following slide show will tell the rest of the story. Ryan and Kim, I sure hope you get to visit us in Seattle this summer! Enjoy…

Click to view the slide show!