Birthday parties

Also in here: the new Q&A section!

Hi! We had an unforgettable long weekend with family – dinner in the backyard, blackberry picking, and sitting around talking. Then, our usually cheerful baby Mick, got sick last night (poor guy), so Handpicked is a bit shorter today. But don’t miss the new Q&A section!

bittersweet milestone

This weekend my oldest is turning nine. As a baby, Eleanor was bright-eyed and pudgy and silly. Now, she's tall and artistic and thoughtful. She has accompanied me along every single step of my motherhood path, fully confident in me even when I stumble and struggle. Her presence helped me uncover my identity as a mother, a protector, and a woman. Eleanor is a palette, a rainbow of ideas, joys, opinions, picky eating, artwork, messy handwriting, soccer goals, new teeth, and endless questions. This birthday marks the halfway point between the first day of her childhood and the last. I’ve cried over it more than once.

Eleanor’s 8th birthday portrait // Kodak Portra 160

For her birthday party, we're doing an “old school” style party, nothing fancy, just a few games like limbo and pin-the-pearl-on-the-oyster (her idea), a piñata, and face-painting. We asked guests not to bring gifts because she/ we already have enough Stuff. I feel overwhelmed by the expectations for birthday parties – we’ve been to some truly marvelous ones, and I’ll admit, while they’re remarkable, they also stress me out. As a kid I absolutely loved my birthday and still do. I didn’t have big birthday parties (though my mom treated me to a box of Krispy Kremes every year from ages 8 to 17), but many memorable birthday experiences like the Orange County Fair and trips to my grandparents’. I'm trying to simplify and show my kids and their friends that parties are all about fun, no matter the budget. What about you? Are you a big birthday party person? Do you have birthday traditions? How did you celebrate birthdays as a kid? I'd love to hear.

today’s bouquet

• Really into this Northern California coastal home and how the owners, an architect and an artist, honored its original design. 

• Did you follow along with Ed Sheeran’s recent legal battle? If you missed it, you can catch up quickly in this clip where he demonstrates how many songs are made of the same “ingredients.” Here’s the three-minute video.

• My cousin Angie was wearing the cutest platform Birkenstock sandals this weekend. She works at Anthropologie and always finds the gems!

• This brilliant paint project is for those of us who thrill over the rainbow of paint samples in the hardware store. (Favorite link this week)

• Rose-colored canvas tote. Looks like the perfect travel purse/ mom bag.

• Notes on the people who lived here in April. I think they’re already gone 💔

“I feel that I have lived every single day of my life. In that life, in that short life, even though I am 76, I have piled up so much that I certainly could not feel any younger. I am who I am.”
 –Diane von Furstenberg

things that came in handy this week 

• Grayscale mode on my phone. There’s something soothing about a black-and-white phone screen. Here’s how, if you like.

• Rewind Film Lab, my beloved partners in bringing my photos to life. They have some of the best techs in the world, and you can’t beat their customer service.

• Babysitters! My sister arranged for some wonderful teenagers to come to my grandmother’s birthday party to play with the kids so the adults could totally relax and spend time catching up. Brilliant.

• My cousin Mackensie turned five beloved family photos into coloring pages for a kids’ activity at the party. It was such a personal touch and a fun way to include the kids in celebrating their great-grandmother. Here’s her Etsy shop; if you’d like to order your own custom pages, reach out.

  

  100+ Sorensens celebrating our matriarch, Grammy Verla. And yes, that’s a red carpet.

Q&A

Q: "Trying to figure out what to wear to our family photos. Is it better to all wear one color, or try to use a palette..? We're doing our pictures in a field."

A: There is only one rule: wear something you feel absolutely beautiful in. If you feel like yourself, you’ll look more confident and relaxed in your photos. This goes for everyone in the family, too, even little kids. Encourage them to wear their favorite thing (within reason – must be clean and fit properly😉). If you’re struggling to feel cohesive, start with your own outfit and help your family choose colors that you might find near each other in a painting or in nature. Here’s an example of color and texture mixing done really well. We take so many photos nowadays, don’t be afraid to go for something on trend and fun, like a bright color or a statement pattern. I think the texture in this romantic white top would work well in a field and mesh nicely with lots of other options for family members. Remember, we take photos to capture the moment we’re in right now, so throw “timeless” and “classic” out the window, and bravely choose to document the family you are today. Even if you don’t exactly match.

Got a question? Ask me anything. 😘

“Love takes off the masks that we fear we cannot live without and know we cannot live within.”
–James Baldwin

from the archives

• 05/30/19 - Nice try, tornado.

• 06/02/21 - Eleanor's birthday butterflies

• 06/01/22 - A Father's Day Gift Guide // 2022

last thing

• My brother is running a marathon this weekend and working on a playlist to pump himself up. What’s your go-to work out song? Let me know in the comments!

• Last week’s most popular link: the magical stain remover

• THANK YOU so much for reading, clicking, and shopping the links in Handpicked! If you know someone who would like Handpicked, will you tell them about it? Word of mouth makes the world go round 🌍

“You're never ready for what you have to do. You just do it. That makes you ready.”
–Flora Rheta Schreiber