Stacey Bode Photography

I actually have an excuse not related to being busy for my lag in blogging this past week. My dad has been recovering from surgery so I’ve been hangin’ at Casa de Folks to help out him and mom. “Help” here meaning I’m there either as back-up or as part of various good cop/bad cop scenarios involving my mom and I keeping dad from either digging giant holes in the back yard or building and then climbing 3-story scaffolding. I can’t tell you how happy I am to report that he’s fine. If anything happened to my dad, my world would collapse into a pile of mush that no flowers, consoling, or therapy could repair. I need to make him start taking vitamins. So, according to him, the worst part is that he has to take it easy for a few weeks. The only time my dad utters the phrase “take it easy” is when he’s singing Eagles songs.

The extended time with my parents has allowed me to participate in some of my favorite activities: making cards, eating mom’s cooking, and forcing my taste in movies on my dad. He has now seen “The Shawshank Redemption” (liked it…was on heavy pain meds though so the verdict is still out), “Sneakers” (seemed somewhat indifferent…off pain meds), “Shine” (liked it but found it depressing…hmm), and “The Mosquito Coast” (just kept saying “weird” over and over…time for meds). Next up will be “Traffic” and “American Beauty”. Boy is he gonna hate those! If I give him enough pills maybe I can get him to like “Rushmore”, “Hedwig and the Angry Inch”, and anything by David Lynch. Perhaps there’s not enough Vicodin in the world.

In between care-giving and outright nagging, me and mom made cards. As per usual protocol, we also consumed stupid amounts of cheese, wine, and chocolate. I seriously have the coolest parents. Here are some pics of the fruits of our labor and dad’s speedy recovery.

We have a rule, started by Mary Bresnock, who got us addicted to this crafty mayhem in the first place. The rule is that you always put a little somethin’ on the envelope for the postman (or postlady). If anyone tries to finish a card without the envelope embellishment, I will stamp the following on the envelope for them “Dear dedicated postal carrier, I apologize for being a total fart”.

And here are a few of my mom’s lovely creations…

And now, Stacey plays with macro lens…

The pic below, is of one of our scrap papers that protects the dining room table. Sometimes garbage is cool.

Mom’s work area on the left, mine on the right. Notice how you can actually see the table on mom’s side. Are you wondering about the Wet Ones? Well, sometimes we make a card so divine, we just crap for joy. Sorry, mom would totally disapprove of that joke.

My pal Leah had the swellest idea for a wedding gift for her dear friend Melanie. She hired me to take photos of the fun-and-family-filled party the day after Melanie and Simon were married. There were lots of folks in from the UK, and everyone shared great food, stories, and lots of hugs.

Here are just a few of the day’s goings-on…

This is the gorgeous home they’re renovating. It’s HUGE and fabulous.

Melanie’s incredible bouquet

I think this might be the remnants of the wedding cake. Those who know me will be amazed that I didn’t devour a single piece, despite how YUMMY it looks. Probably because I had 2 giant pieces the night before at Steve & Kara’s wedding!

How do I love thee Leah, let me count the ways….1. poses in bathtub!

A party full of funny people. Gotta love that!

The gentleman being hugged hand-crafted that terrific sign “Maison de Moon” for their home.

The lovely, newly-married couple. Congratulations you two!!!

For a slideshow of additional images from their day-after party, click HERE

When two cool people plan a cool wedding here’s what happens. After I met Kara and Steve, I just had “that feeling”. What I felt was that certain spark and excitement when I just click with people and know how incredible the experience of their wedding and getting to know them will be.

They started to describe the fun and relaxed day they were planning. You may be thinking, “yeah right…how can the exasperating task of pulling off a wedding be ‘fun’ or ‘relaxed’…suuuure”. Well, just ask Steve and Kara. I knew they meant it, and they did. The wedding was at one of my favorite spots to grab a famous mai tai, Trader Vic’s. If you’ve never been, it’s an insanely groovy tiki bar/lounge with Polynesian food, cocktails, and atmosphere. Attire was tropical shirts, flower leis, and big smiles. The reception band was also one of my absolute favorites, Big Mike’s group Tongo Hiti (they play every Thursday eve at Trader Vic’s, and they’re the BEST).

Kara and Steve you are such genuine, caring people. Brides barely have time to talk, eat or breathe at their wedding, yet several times Kara asked if I’d had enough to eat/drink and if I was having a good time. What a sweetie. Oh, and the answer was a big “YES”. I had a blast and can’t wait to show you the oodles of images from your tropical, fun-filled night!

Incredibly girly note: these shoes are the BOBM! Uber-tiki-awesome!

They had a special brew just for their big day. Right on! Everyone raved about it.

The father-daughter dance gets me sappy every time!

Here I am with the gorgeous Ms. Kara. She looks so classic Hollywood glamour!

For a slideshow of additional images from their tiki-tastic wedding, click HERE

There is a wonderful photographer on Flickr named Sarah K Chen, who posted the link to a site where you can simply play a fun vocabulary game to help donate rice to hungry people through the UN World Food Program. It’s a great cause, fun to play (you get to watch the rice bowl fill up as you answer correctly!), and let’s face it….we could all use a vocab refresher (I promise to not say “awesome” as much if all other Americans promise to say “amazing” less often).

So please have fun playing, pass it on, and let’s feed some folks. Maybe I should start a website that lets people play math games for vegetables….we need to put something in that rice!!!

To enter the site, click HERE.

In other less profound rice-related news…

My dear friend Jeanie is in town this week, and I got to hang out with her last night. We filled our bellies with rice and talked about life and Chris Isaak (his music was playing at the restaurant). We have a mutual love for him. It’s always a joy to see Jeanie, and she helped me add another photo to my “weirdo photographer + pretty friend” series.

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of shooting the Women in the Arts luncheon at 103 West, held by Synchronicity Performance Group. They’re doing some great work to bring theater programs to kids who wouldn’t normally be exposed to that type of creative outlet….among many other things.

During the panel discussion, the bill that would bring lots more film work to Atlanta was mentioned. If you’d like to find out more about it, click HERE. PLEASE support this bill (1100)! It will keep Matt and all the other fabulous actors in town from having to drive to New Orleans and the Carolinas for film auditions and shoots! Let’s make some great films in Atlanta! I’m thinking “Gone With the Wind 2: Electric Boogaloo”.

Here are the lovely table decorations at 103 West.

It took every ounce of willpower to not dump this in my handbag.

The lovely, talented ladies of “Angela’s Mixtape”, soon to be performed in New York.

The expert panel, who all had some profound words regarding arts in our community.

A super surprise….my dear friend Tiff was there attending. Yay! Of course, I had to apologize for not coming to her awesome Ha-Ha-hot yoga class this week. With the sinus infection I had, I figured it wasn’t a good idea to have sweat streaming out of my pores AND snot streaming out of my nose. No amount of zen makes that any less gross. So, here are Tiff and I being silly senioritas. That girl can NOT take a bad photo. Her look screams “hot, sassy detective”. Mine screams “dorky photographer with multiple chin disorder”. Sigh.

Ok, I know…REAL original to post cute photos of my cat. How did I EVER think of THAT??? At least it’s not artsy pictures of my feet. Also, though she may appear harmless and adorable here, I’m convinced that one night she will pierce my heart with a screwdriver while I sleep. Seriously. She’s been practicing her manual dexterity by opening every cabinet in the house. Not to mention the suspicious glances she’s been giving the tool drawer lately. Do. Not. Trust. Her.

I have a bunch of fun shoots coming up, but in the meantime, I thought I’d just post some non-human things that make me happy (Buddhists are weeping for me). After clearing away inches of dust and acres of junk off my dresser, I found this little dish hiding under the rubble. Had forgotten all about it. I was hoping that beneath the ashes I might also find my favorite black sweater I lost in 1998, the tripod I think I left on Peachtree street, and my 25″ waist. No luck.

You can find this dish at the Echo site. I think it’s supposed to be for soap, but It’s much more versatile than that. I’ll be using it for bobby pins, loose change, buttons that have strayed from their garments, and…of course….to house future inches of dust.

I didn’t have any new pics to post today, so I was going to do a little tribute to the pretty flowers I’ve seen at various weddings. Then, I decided to take it a step further and make a game out of it. So, below are various bouquets and then various gorgeous brides who belong to those bouquets. Your mission, if you choose to accept it, is to match the brides to their flowers.

Now, I can’t ask you to play a game without prizes. So, the person who gets the most correct within the next 5 days, will get some of my hand-made cards (not the business kind…the greeting kind). Make sure I can contact you somehow (link to your blog, etc). I’ll even let you pick out the types of cards you want (birthday, thank-you, wedding). Maybe I’ll post photos of some samples so you can have a look-see.

Happy matching!

Let me know if any of these are cut off on your computer. I put this together on a giant monitor, so I’m not sure if it’s fitting on smaller screens. Looks like I need to get some html learnin’ on that one.

Yeah, so I’m a little behind. By the way, this is the only type of situation where I will be mentioned in the same sentence as the phrase “little behind”.

I LOVE magazines…the photography, the articles, the 50 different types of squats in “Self” that I’ll never do (but I tear out and save in a file anyway). However, I have a SLIGHT backlog of unread goodies at the moment. I need to put aside a day or 12 to do nothing but get through these puppies. I may not do the squats, but my forearms will be gigantic from all the page turning and tearing!

I have an equally large pile of magazines that I have made it through, and they’re waiting patiently in a cardboard box for me to find a place that takes them for recycling. I’m surprised at how difficult it is to find a local spot to drop them. Anybody know where I can release the mother-load of Digital Photo Pro, Consumer Reports, and various fragrant magazines? Years ago, I started referring to fashion magazines as “fragrant magazines” because of all the perfume samples. Generally there are several different samples in one magazine which can either create a “grandma has obviously lost her ability to smell how strong that is” scent or a disturbing hybrid that smells like a flower-and-tunafish sandwich. I’d gladly throw down $85 an ounce for that! Men will be throwing their video game controllers aside just to get near me.

Be sure you’re in a comfy chair. Make a snack. Do some stretches. I say this because if a picture is worth a thousand words, then this post is the equivalent of War and Peace. I thought about posting the images in a slideshow, but for once I won’t subject you to a touching ballad meant to pepper spray your heart strings. Instead, I’ll subject you to a barrage of my sometimes-accurate, always-rambling word speak (after which you’ll be begging for the pepper spray).

Matt and I took a quick trip to Florida this weekend to meet up with our dear friends the Broitmans. Jed (Papa Broitman) is finishing his Masters degree, and his final project involves a series of short films/images (that’s where Matt comes in). I came along for the ride, for a nice break, and to hang out with Nikki (Mama Broitman) while the fellas made all art-like.

So I HAD to take millions of photos since there was a beach, a film project going on, AND the ever-adorable Leola Rose and Ozzy (Baby Broitmans #1 and #2).

I was reading a Cinderella book to Leola, and was having a hard time holding back scoffs at the message of the story. Basically, Cinderella is relaying what it’s like to be a new bride and how she occupies her time in her secret room. If anyone finds out about her secret room, surely someone’s fingernails will be plucked. Anyway, she goes on about making a pretty scarf for her prince so that he won’t toss her aside for some kingdom tramp, leaving her penniless….or something like that. So, at the end of the story, I decided to add “and then she went and got a PhD…the end”. Later, Nikki was telling us that Leola had recently said she wanted to kiss boys. Nikki had explained to her that she could kiss boys after getting her Masters degree. I can just imagine Leola as a teenager, just wanting to kiss boys and make scarves…while Nikki and I shove applications to Cornell and MIT in her face.

Another means of great enjoyment was watching Jed’s description of his children played out before our eyes. He calls Leola “the creator” and Ozzy “the destroyer”. These characteristics are remarkably entertaining in person. I think playing with those two super-smart cutie-pies was the only thing that got me over my post-Project Runway depression (PPRD).

Anyway, they’re a beautiful family…and soon to be 5 members strong! It was a joy to spend some much needed chill time with them.

Also, it was Bike Week.

This lovely greeting awaited us in the kitchen! “Viva Voce” is the name of Jed’s film project. Without the translation, I would have thought it meant “Long live the lighthouse!”.

Jed and Matt get down to business. For the next several photos, you’ll want to know that supporting roles were played by Chilly McFreezing & Gusty DeFacewhip.

You can take the boy out of Florida…..but when you try to take the Florida out of the boy, he says “let’s drink some beer, rent jet-skis, and set off fireworks”.

See Matt. See Matt swim. See Matt NOT drowning.

And now for the artsy-fartsy portion of our presentation…

Florida is a great place for people like me who are infatuated with non-real birds.

The two looks on the right are Ozzy’s monster-slash-T Rex faces. Very effective.

SASS A. FRASS !

The band invited the kiddos on stage to do a dance to Jimmy Buffet’s “volcano” song. They did a great job and I loved the fact that they were under the giant “welcome bikers” sign.

A quick walk back to the condo. Poor Ozzy didn’t like the wind hitting his face. And I don’t recommend saying the word “crab”. He’s not a fan. Dude, I’m with ya. They’re daggum shifty.

She’s always this spirited. It’s not just the fancy outfit.

Nikki had the super idea of having the kids put their sea creatures stickers on her belly. They were totally into it (see sticker backings in Leola’s hair). However, they soon interpreted “gently place sticker on Mommy’s belly” as “karate chop sticker through Mommy’s torso”. I think Baby Broitman #3 got a lesson in bob and weave.

Now for some fun Mommy/Daddy time. Jed and Nikki might just have out-cuted the kids.

BABY # 3 !!!

The couple that plays together, stays together. Werd.

Thanks for everything. We love you guys!