mexico, part one | personal

Do you know when you go on a holiday and never want to leave? Well, this was one of those trips. Mexico was new to me (besides Tijuana in the 70's) and I definitely fell in love with the culture, food and people. Here is a small sampling of the hundreds (egads) of images I took. After the cold East-coast winter we've had, I couldn't get enough of the colors and beautiful temperatures. Hope these images transport you to the tropics -- if for only a few minutes.

365 | personal

Last year during the summer I started a personal photo challenge. I decided since we were traveling most of the summer and I always had my camera with me, then I would post a photo each day to document our summer. I stopped during the fall but once the holidays came around I picked it up again. Well starting January 1st I decided to go for it and do one each day this year. There have been many days when I wanted to throw in the towel since there was nothing fun or unique about cold winter days at home. However, I persevered through and kept going. I've been posting them over on my personal Facebook page with occasional links on my business page. Have you taken up the challenge? If so, I'd love to follow along with yours.

blogshop video

It's no secret that I love design and all things interiors. Imagine my joy when I walked into this beautiful loft in Brooklyn filled to the brim with vintage antiques, furniture, props and gorgeous light. It was love at first sight. I was there for a video workshop and what a day it was. Love the feeling of walking out at the end of a long day knowing it was money and time well spent. Thank you Bri and Angela for a fantastic workshop! Look out for some videos in the future. Can't wait to expand the offerings at Jennifer Lavelle Photography. *Side note: If you have any interiors or a special project you are wanting photographed, please .. let's talk!

blurb facebook photo books | product

My New Years resolution this year was to start making more photo books and not to leave all of my personal images on my hard-drive or external-drives. I've used Blurb in the past for personal books but this time I made one of their Facebook books with my images from last year's 2012 Photo of the Day. Because I didn't do a complete 365 days I was able to fit them all in one small 7 x 7 inch book. It was super easy to upload and make. They have many other versions such as regular photo books and Instagram Books. I highly recommend them if you too are holding onto all of those precious digital files.

Christmas in the City | personal

A few days ago we realized the kids had yet to see "the tree" this holiday season so we hopped on the train and did a quick one nighter in the city. Did the touristy stuff and then that night D found the most amazing Italian restaurant down by the Bowery. We were truly blown away by the quality of the food (most of it is flown in directly from Italy) and how reasonably priced it was. If anyone needs the name of it let me know. I am still dreaming of the tiramisu!We then ventured over to Astor Place to get J a hair cut with Giovanni and onto 5th Avenue to look at all of the Holiday windows. Of course in the morning after inspecting what the Tooth Fairy had left for J's second lost tooth, we had to have breaky and a quick dip in the hotel pool. We then rushed back home to get ready for a Christmas party and to prepare for Santa's arrival. Hope everyone had a nice relaxing holiday!

And as I was sitting watching the kids swim on the 44th floor of the hotel, I played around with the Panoramic feature on my iPhone. So cool! Am I the last one to notice this feature?!?