Every letterCharlottesville, VA
The Firefly Letters
Weekly letters on simple joys, creativity, business, and motherhood. Start anywhere.
169
Count on me.I am a criminal. Guilty of crimes such as forgetting to get the right kind of peanut butter from the grocery store and not switching the laundry over to the dryer for 12 hours. If these are deal…
166
Less content, more art.I am not a marketing expert. But I am curious. I like people and studying how they think and feel. I like language and powerful images. I like paying attention to what catches my eye. It seems like…
158
Things I'm doing. Things I'm not doing.>> Last minute opening for THIS Sunday morning in the DC area or Baltimore - please reach out (just hit reply!) if you're interested and feel like spontaneity is your best defense against…
156
What belongs to the sensesMy coffee is steaming in a blue-speckled tin mug on the small wooden table in front of me and my college-ruled notebook. The kids are still all sleeping and Matt is working on the porch. There are…
155
Medicine from snake venom.I was reading Gavin a bedtime story - otherwise known as facts from a dinosaur encyclopedia - and we came across a page about the legend of the Loch Ness monster. Apparently, conspiracy theories and…
154
“Photography is a luxury”Reserve a summer signature session at home | Popsicle mini sessions It's pretty common in the family photography industry to hear people talking about how “photography is a luxury.” I disagree. It's…
153
90's summer.Reserve a summer session from my June-August Calendar When I think of summers as a kid, I go to my mid-elementary through middle school years. In high school I worked at Cold Stone Creamery and…
152
Big moments get all the fun. 👎Family sessions | Newborn Sessions | The Photo Fuel Podcast There's a million moments that happen throughout a week that make up a life. Dozens of intricacies that I could zoom in on and write novels…
151
I could never. (But I just did).Family sessions | Newborn Sessions | The Photo Fuel Podcast On Tuesday afternoons at 5:15 I load the boys up for Gavin’s 30 minute swim lesson at the indoor pool nearby. Once he’s settled with his…
149
On aging.Book a session May - July | The Photo Fuel Podcast I was catching up with a friend yesterday who told me his son just turned 18 last week. Suddenly he’s getting messages from places like insurance…
146
What I knowThis letter is going to be short because it's a packed day with not a lot of desk time. I'm headed to a newborn shoot in half an hour, followed by a kindergarten egg-hunt + picnic situation in which…
145
Who I love. Who loves me.I listened to a podcast this week with Viola Davis and it really stuck with me. At the end Amy Poeler asks her what it’s like to be in her 60’s and she says -"Ya know - it’s all mine. All that…
144
Sense of place.When Matt and I were first married, we lived in a 750 sq ft apartment less than a mile from Kailua Beach. There was a little courtyard with picnic tables and palm trees in the center of the apartment…
143
Glass half full or half empty?I’m writing this outside as the breeze blows with perfect calmness against my face and my toes breath in sunshine for the first time in months. A wasp flies out from under the umbrella I just raised…
141
Commitments and obsessionsI was prepping for a call with my mastermind crew last week by doing some research on some famous photographers. Names like Ansel Adams, Anne Geddes, Henri Cartier-Bresson….I did not go to art school…
140
Get a better mirror.Over the last 2 months, Matt and I have slowly been re-watching the entire series of Parks and Rec. I think this is the third time. I haven’t been reading as much as I’d like, especially as someone…
138
Not confident.I like to think I'm pretty self-aware, so it's become clear to me just how many things I'm not confident about. I'm not confident about how to wear barrel jeans. Is it cute? Is it giving potato sack?…
137
Truth-telling.What to write and how to write it and when to write them when it feels like absolutely nobody's head is on family photography right now??? AKA marketing in this golden beginning age of 2026 in…
134
Read the room.This morning, I went to my first in-person yoga class in Charlottesville since prenatal yoga with Kira. 10 years ago. It was great. And wouldn't you know it, one of my long-time clients was right…
132
So ridiculous it's great.I live in the woods, but somehow there are no evergreen trees. If there were, I would have evergreen garlands around every square inch of my house around Christmastime. In reality, I haphazardly…