Stillhouse Hollow Lake Session

Claire Falco October 10, 2017

ClaireFalcoCreative-2666 copy.jpg

ClaireFalcoCreative-2847 copy.jpg

ClaireFalcoCreative-2843 copy.jpg

ClaireFalcoCreative-2850 copy.jpg

ClaireFalcoCreative-2894 copy.jpg

ClaireFalcoCreative-2944 copy.jpg

ClaireFalcoCreative-2976 copy.jpg

ClaireFalcoCreative-2986 copy.jpg

Blackandwhite-0916 copy.jpeg

Hi, I'm Claire! I run this blog + business with one mission: to make pretty things. Mom of a girl + boy, wife of an ENT resident. Sewist, performer, photographer, astronaut.

Itty bitty pretty one 😍
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
#augustaga #augustagaphotographer #augustagastyledshoots #georgiaphotographer #georgiafamilyphotographer #atlantaphotographer #atlantaphotography #cutestbabyeveraward #cutestbabyonearth #cutestbabygirl #childphotographers #childphoto #evansgeorgia #evansga #evansgeorgiaphotographer #evansgaphotographer #martinezgeorgia #martinezga #lookslikefilmkids #lookslikefilmfamily #lookslikefilmcontest #georgiaweddingphotographer #augustaweddingphotographer #atlantaweddingphotography #augustafamilyphotographer #evansfamilyphotographer #portra400 #canon5dmarkiii #mastinlabs

Enjoy the progression of my photoshoot attempt to entertain ourselves while Jeff was taking a post-call nap (up all night. What a party animal 🏥) This was an action-packed Fourth of July! Eating, swimming, fireworks with friends, watching firework shows from the comfort of our car (with Riley’s cute head sticking out of our sunroof 😍), and last-minute sparklers (and an obliging Instagram husband). I am SO sleepy. I was nearly asleep during the firework show. I think my dad would say, “plus two adult points.” 😂 I’m racking those up these day it would seem.

Thinking about this toasty Arizona wedding today (hi, @wheatleyn1 👋) and reminding myself in this crazy Georgia heat that hot is beautiful. 😅 Am I right? And seriously, anyone else think it’s time Instagram didn’t force us to choice one photo orientation for each multiple image post? #why

I feel like I need a gratitude journal, but a good, long Instagram post will do. I am so grateful for my life these days. Truly I am (you know I would tell you if I felt otherwise, right? I try to tell it like it is.) Despite the wear and tear of life in general, man, I have it good. I love my husband to an unbelievable degree (he really is all he’s cracked out to be. Just the best. Ever. Wow, wow, wow. 😍). I love my children who day by day become closer friends, funnier, kinder, more communicative, and predictable. I love them. I love their cute, little faces. I love their concerns, curiosity, and creativity. I admire their faith and forgiveness. I love that Riley enunciates Disneyland so clearly (Dis-en-ney-land) and still pronounces banana “bee-nana”. I am grateful and touched when she spontaneously tells me she loves me in the car or tells me my hair smells good (little wins 😂👍). I love that Max has big boy desires like potty training and cool car seats, but regularly insists “I not a big boy. I a baby.” I loooooove his constant cuddles. I hope they never end. I love how he curls his hair with his adorable fingers when he gets nervous or sleepy. I love his newfound Pixar appreciation and get to enjoy the good stuff on the regular (Toy Story, Monster’s Inc., Finding Nemo...I’m not complaining. 😎). I am so extremely grateful for my Young Women’s calling. I have never felt so in the right place in my life. I love it. I love the youth. What powerful examples. One young women told me tonight “little kids have amazing minds.” First of all, beautiful. Young women are so impressive to me, but also, her comment is just as true for teenagers. I am beyond grateful for friends near and far and family who are always sticking their neck out for our poor, unfortunate medical resident family. My cup is so full from having my mother and father-in-laws come stay for a week. Nothing beats visitors. I love family, quality time, hosting, and shaking up the routine. Also, this is so dumb, but I am grateful to just be me. I am grateful for emotions that are close to the surface, love for all things art, constant curiosity, and knack for articulation. What about you?

Happy belated anniversary to us! Seven years zipped right past and we both unequivocally proclaim that it was the best choice ever. Jeff is such a special guy. I love him so much. At present he is still working since yesterday at 5 AM. Hi, that’s 28 hours so far and he still has 8-10 hours left. 😬 He is amazing. Sidebar: residency is nuts. Totally bananas. I kept my chin up and discounted how hard his training is until I had an anxiety attack and cried for 24 hours straight a few weeks ago. 🙃 so, now I’m just owning it. Residency sucks. I usually stuff down my pain because it could be worse and my husband isn’t deployed, because I don’t have six kids, etc. Like, why do we do that?! I am not a single mom, but why does that mean I can’t just be sad here and there? Well, I am sad here and there, but I have supportive people in my life and a husband who is constantly kind, giving, hard-working, funny, helpful, and sooo handsome (especially in scruff and scrubs {wolf whistle}). 🥰 I am having a net positive experience during Jeff’s five years of training, but it does get to me sometimes. It’s an overwhelming amount of solo parenting mostly and we are 2000 miles away from any family. Now I just let myself ugly cry when I need to, take care of whatever is required of me, and plan some self care and crafting. I am grateful that art and creativity [and friends, family, exercise, audiobooks, and retail therapy] is the raft keeping me afloat right now. I mean how cool is that? 😎 I might regret the vulnerability post, but you guys are cool with that right?

I finally took an afternoon to edit months worth of little moments and have a ton of cute pictures of my daughter. 😍 She’s too much. ❤️

I just want to be a voice out there for anyone whose Mother’s Day sucked. I love my own mother, grandmother, and mother-in-law and most enjoyed talking to and celebrating them, but man, everything else is hard for me. I am a mother and realize the miracle that is, but today was a bitter reminder of how poorly I esteem my own motherly skills. I bawled all day. Everything made me cry. I am still crying. I am so incredibly imperfect, impatient, unadventurous, angry, indoorsy, and so often feel so trapped, isolated, and confused about which parenting avenue to take. As someone who loves babies and children, dreamed of becoming a mother all my life, taught so many children, and received a Family Life degree I sure like parenthood a lot less than I anticipated. It’s just non-stop. It’s hard everyday and I don’t see that changing for a few decades. Unfortunately, there are so many way to hurt on this holiday and despite my very low expectations and focusing on other women I still couldn’t hold back the flood. Just grab a woman and give her a good long hug. I sure didn’t want to let go of the ladies who did just that for me today. Everyone’s got something bubbling under the surface, even if they (I) have beautiful pictures with a quiver full of children. Honesty and catharsis do a body good. And seriously, please hold the parenting suggestions. People usually just need validation to sort things out and I am 💯 in that camp today.

This perfect specimen is having a birthday today! Jeff has changed my life. I love him so much and consider myself the luckiest on earth. He is SO grand. I appreciate the socks off of him for being so consistent, good-natured, even tempered, funny, hard working, patient, and kind. I am the hard, crazy one, but he is virtually perfect. 😇 I love him forever!

**shared from my @peachykeenpaperco account** #marchmeetthemaker (I’m so behind🙈) day eighteen: lesson or mistake | mine comes to you from eighth grade Home Ec. 😂 I missed some school during our sewing unit and had to get my instructions from a boy who sat next to me instead of my teacher. (But really, why on Earth?) I had never touched a sewing machine and while missing the seam almost all the way around my pillowcase I also sewed right through several wrinkles. I didn’t realize you can unpick your work (which feels very metaphorical to me), so I handed it in like that! All I remember from that fateful experience is my teacher giving me an F and walking on by. Dude. With her flippant assessment I started believing I “wasn’t technical enough to sew.” Intimidated, I passed up all opportunities to learn that skill all the way until I was 22. I finally decided to take a chance on myself (with seriously low expectations) and got a sewing machine for Christmas. I was surprised that with a decent machine and YouTube sewing is actually quite simple to learn! The lesson here is twofold and came immediately: 1. Most skills are learnable regardless of what you think of yourself 2. Teachers can squash your self esteem and should proceed with caution every day. I spent an entire decade believing I couldn’t do something based on one poor experience. That blew my mind! Anyway, this isn’t a sewing account, so let me explain why I share this: I learned that day not to trust my limiting beliefs. I wondered what else was out there for me on YouTube. Spoiler: everything. Everything is on YouTube. What a glorious time to be alive, I tell you! You want to try crochet? Learn from Martha Stewart herself. You always wanted to learn guitar? Great, here’s a Juilliard professor for free in your living room. Not sure how to thread your serger? Hang on, here are four tutorials for your exact model. Everything is at our fingertips for free, so I’m putting mine to work.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
#creativehappylife #artisticlife #etsyweddingteam #etsyartwork #sewing

081_perfectpalette_1_Featured_revised 1.png