The Hudson- Daniel Family... DAY! OF! FUN!

Well, we had heard that the incredibly fun-tastic Robinson family was heading to Silver Dollar City on Tuesday for an impromptu break from the daily Photoshop grind, and at first we decided that we just had waaaaay too much to do to be dropping everything and heading to Branson on a whim.

But then when Norah woke us up bright and early at around 6:45 a.m. on Tuesday with her customary "MamamamamamaDadadadadaBaMaBaDaGaaaaah!" and obligatory repetitive face-smacking, we thought again. We could just see those merry Robinsons packing their adorable kiddos into their Honda Pilot and making their way to the City of Lights, Buffets and Celebrity Impersonators Extraordinaire, and we decided we just couldn't stand to miss it!

So we woke up the kids with false threats that Mrs. Garcia had called us to let us know that school was on for the day after all followed by promises of roller coasters and all the salt-water taffy they could eat. Unfortunately, shortly after we managed to get everyone just about ready to go, it occurred to us that perhaps we should check with the Robinsons to see if they were even in fact still going to Branson, or if Silver Dollar City, with its unpredictable hours, was even open on Tuesday. No and no. Being at least slightly less procrastination-prone and impulsive than we are, they had realized already that Silver Dollar City was closed that day and had elected for a day of local family hi-jinx instead. Well, once you use promises of a road trip to convince a kindergartner and a second-grader to get up out of bed on their school holiday and actually take baths and get dressed, it's virtually impossible to change this plan without guaranteeing yourself a day of misery, so we decided to head to Branson anyway and see what trouble we could stir up in what we declared the "Hudson-Daniel Family DAY! OF! FUN!" : )

Silver Dollar City may not have been open, but we had a great time anyway. We sang lots of silly songs on the car ride up, then checked out all of the unbelievable exhibits in the Ripley's Believe-It-Or-Not Museum. There was actually some really cool stuff in there! I could have done without the shrunken heads and such, but the disappearing lady and the giant yarn ball were pretty impressive. The 2-way tongue-rolling mirror was also a riot!

After that, we had a bite to eat and then hopped in Go-Karts to brave Wild Woody at The Track. We also checked out assorted flea markets and craft shows where we acquired a host of obscure Star Wars memorabilia and a large vinyl doll who unfortunately has already managed to have her foot and her hand fall off! She was only $9.95, so I guess you get what you pay for, but I better get busy with the glue before Autumn gets back from her Dad's for Thanksgiving... She was pretty traumatized about her doll's spontaneous amputations this morning!

After our flea market explorations were done, we had a FANTASTIC dinner at Landry's. I'm kind of glad we don't have one here, because it was a little pricey and we ate WAY too much, but oh my goodness was it delicious! Then we went down to Branson Landing to wander around in the beautiful Christmas lights and enjoy the fountain and light show.

We were mostly too busy having actual fun to worry too much about documenting our adventures with the camera, but we did snap a few pictures along the way:












We had such a good time! I love days where we just get to relax and enjoy each other. They are the best! Speaking of which, I am about to turn off my computer (yes, you read that right!) and finish packing for Thanksgiving weekend in Little Rock and Mena. I can't wait to get to eat all the yummy food and enjoy the good company. We have so much to be thankful for, and we are going to appreciate every minute of it!

I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving as well with your families... Happy Turkey Day! : )

A couple of last-minute yummy recipes!

Well, this post might have been good to make last week some time, but if you are a procrastinator like me, you might still be trying to figure out exactly what all you're going to cook for tomorrow! I figured I would share a few recipes for Thanksgiving yumminess in case you are stumped. All of these are tried-and-true winners, most of which I plan on eating tomorrow with great joy and reckless abandon! : )

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Cranberry Relish
From: Marilyn Jones (Jason's wonderful aunt)

3 oz. package raspberry Jello
1 small can crushed pineapple
1/2 cup chopped nuts
1/2 cup sugar
1 apple, chopped
1/2 bag fresh cranberries, chopped
orange peel (optional)

Drain pineapple, reserving juice. Heat juice to boiling, then dissolve the Jello in the hot juice. Add the sugar. Then add all other ingredients. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours (or preferably overnight) before serving.

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2 Best-Ever Deep Dish Pumpkin Pies
From: Kori Hudson

Pie crust Ingredients:
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup shortening
12-15 tablespoons cold water in a cup

Filling ingredients:
3 15-oz. cans pumpkin
1 1/2 cups sugar
4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
6 eggs
1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
3/4 cup whole milk or half-and-half

1. In a large bowl, stir the flour and salt together. Using a pastry cutter, cut in shortening until it looks like pea-sized coarse crumbs. One tablespoon at a time, sprinkle the water over part of the flour mixture and gently toss it with a fork until it's combined. Then move the moistened dough over to the side of the bowl. Do this over and over until all of the flour mixture is done. It takes forever, but it's worth it!

2. Then gently divide the dough into 2 balls. DO NOT OVERHANDLE IT!!!!! BE VERY GENTLE!!! One at a time, carefully roll out the crusts on a large, lightly floured surface until they are about 13 inches or so in diameter and about 1/8 inch thick. DO NOT RE-ROLL THEM NO MATTER WHAT! You might as well just start over or eat leather as to trying to eat a pie crust that has been over-handled.

2. Get your pie plates ready. Use deep-dish ceramic or glass plates. They will cook better this way. To move the dough over, gently wrap it around the rolling pin and then unroll it into the pie plate. Ease the pastry in, but don't stretch it. Gently make sure the all of the crust is touching the inside of the pan. Then trim the crust to 1/2 inch beyond the edge of the pie plate.

3. Fold the crust edge under and crimp it. I usually put my thumb in the inside of the crust, with my other thumb and forefinger on the outside and press them together gently to flute it. It doesn't have to be perfect! It will still be yummy! You will have some dough left over. This is okay. Better to have a little extra then to not have enough and end up with a crust that is too thin or has holes in it.

4. Make your pie hats. Take 2 12-inch pieces of aluminum foil and fold them in half. Then tear or cut a pie-ish sized half-circles out of the middle of them. When you open them up, they should have nice circular holes in the middle. Check to see that they cover your crusts, leaving space in the middle for the filling to cook.

5. For the filling, mix the pumpkin, sugar, cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg. Then add the eggs and beat lightly just until they're mixed in. Gradually add the whipping cream and half-and-half. Stir until combined.

6. Put your pie crusts on the oven rack. Then pour the filling into them. Loosely put your pie hats on, folding the edges over gently. Bake at 375 for 35 minutes. Remove the pie hats, but don't get rid of them just yet! Bake about 20 minutes without the pie hat. Then check on the pie. If you insert a knife and it comes out cleanish, you're done! If not, put the pie hat back on to keep your crust from getting burned and cook them for 10 more minutes.

7. Refrigerate them overnight for optimum yumminess before serving!

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Kori's Tips for Perfect Pie Crusts!
1. NEVER overhandle your pie crusts or they will be terrible.
2. Measure as accurately as possible. If you have too much water, the crust will be tough. If you have too much shortening, it will fall apart.
3. Don't make your crust too thin. Also, don't poke holes in the bottom of it. This won't really help.
4. Use a glass or ceramic pie plate for perfect, evenly browned crust that isn't soggy in the middle.
5. Be patient. Good crust takes time, but it feels really special when you get it right!

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Corn Casserole
From: Thelma Anderson (Jason's Nana)

4 beaten eggs
6 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/2 cup yellow corn meal
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons garlic salt
1 4-oz. can chopped green chilies (optional)
3 cans creamed corn
Grated cheddar cheese

1. Mix everything but the cheese together. Top with the grated cheese. Place in a greased 13x9 pan and bake at 350 for 35 minutes.

2. ENJOY! : )

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Norah is losing patience with my blogging now, so I am going to go play Mommy for a while! Hope you all have a great day-before-Thanksgiving! I will be posting a few pictures here in a bit from our HUDSON-DANIEL FAMILY DAY! OF! FUN! yesterday, and other than that I will be spending the day chasing kids, straightening up and making yummy treats for tomorrow in the kitchen. I love the holidays!

Yay for holidays!

We are making the most of Autumn and Bear's time off of school. After a weekend that was about as activity-packed as possible (a playdate, a slumber party, Christmas shopping, hanging out with Garner and Papa, 3 haircuts, a Razorback game, Christmas shopping, a New Moon matinee, a wedding, MORE Christmas shopping, etc!), we had a consult this morning and a playdate with the fabulous Core family this afternoon.

Autumn and Bear turned their trampoline into a wrestling ring with their 2 older boys, Noah and Wyatt, and Kru and Norah kicked it with Sarah and me in the house. We had a great time despite a few minor injuries and Norah's unbelievably cranky pants mood. Here is Autumn with her bloody/probably not broken nose and Norah with the face she made for most of our visit:





After Autumn had recovered from her injuries thanks to the miraculous healing power of popsicles, she headed back outside for some more trampoline craziness. We decided to bring the babies outside too, partially so that we could remind the big kids every few seconds to be careful on the trampoline and partially so that we could take advantage of the pretty sunset light that was streaming through the trees into the yard.





While baby Kru stomped around in the puddles in his boots, Norah crawled around in the leaves and even managed to stop crying for a minute! (Mental note: buy teething tablets!)





Also, on a completely unrelated side note, isn't their dog Kyah (I have no idea how to spell that, sorry Sarah!) gorgeous?





Now I better go get the lasagna out of the oven before it burns to a crisp... I'm pretty sure the timer went off before I got distracted making this blog post. Yikes! Have a great evening everybody!

Bear's New 'Do

Speaking of Pink Papaya, Bear got the royal treatment at his last appointment... After sipping on a pink smoothie with whipped cream on top during his haircut, Miranda hooked him up with some green extensions for his fauxhawk! He was so excited that he even managed to stop playing with his Pokemon cards long enough to let me take a few pictures. Rock on, Bear Bear! : )

This Morning

It is nice to be married to an incredible photographer... It means that you get to see precious moments like this that you would otherwise never know about.

Clarification...

I was just reading over my last blog post about the logo, and I am afraid that my frustration with myself/my pride/logo design in general may have come off as frustration with the Freshair Salon. Quite the opposite! I think their logo looks great, and seeing it all over their booth (especially on the big signs, it looks awesome big) only made me realize how great a chandelier logo really looks! I was not at all trying to imply that I was annoyed or frustrated with them, or anything negative like that. Only that it is extremely difficult to try to come up with anything original these days because all of the really great ideas seem to already be taken! : )

I actually went to their salon for a while when they very first started out, back when they were in their old location. It was lovely, even then, and I continued to go there until my stylist moved. Somehow I ended up at Pink Papaya after that, where I have remained due to the amazing skills of Brandon and the delicious smoothies that greet me on each visit. Also, while I'm at it, a shout out to Metropolis/Lew's Barbershop, where Julee and Roger take great care of Jason's Patrick Dempsey-esque locks each month. You guys all rock!





So, anyway, let me reiterate that I do not have any negative feelings toward Freshair Salon. I think they're fabulous, and that whoever designed there logo is clearly a genius because it looks great! Sorry for my pouty-sounding post earlier. Logo designing is for the birds! (Or at least perhaps for trained graphic design professionals... Something to ponder!)

Secret Society...

Bridge to Terabithia

Here I am, only 18 months old, and already multitasking. Reading a book, painting my nails, and feeding the baby. Apparently I did not yet know about the benefits of breastfeeding. ; )




Okay, so maybe this picture isn't exactly good evidence, but the fact remains that I love to read. I really, really do. For pretty much as long as I can remember, I have spent every spare second with my nose tucked in a book. Or a magazine, newspaper, cereal box, iPhone, hotel welcome booklet, airplane safety manual, etc., etc. You get the idea. If it is a word on a page about pretty much anything, odds are good I want to read it! Well, this insatiable appetite for books means that I go through them rather quickly. It also means that by this point, 27 years into my reading obsession, for the most part, I have read everything in my realm of knowledge that I am truly excited about, so I am always on the hunt for great new books. Well, not necessarily new, just new to me.

Well, after a couple of failed experiments at Barnes and Noble (The Sisters Antipodes and Flash Forward, to be exact), I had decided that rather than wasting my money blindly plucking choices from the shelves of the bookstore or forgetting to take my library books back (seriously, I pay so much in overdue book fines I ought to have my own wing!), I would first exhaust all the reading material at my disposal here in the house, and then work on researching out a Christmas list of old and new books that came highly recommended from... Well, pretty much anyone.

So yesterday I read two books about old Hollywood glamour photography from cover-to-cover. One was mostly just pictures, the other was more of a "how-to" book about recreating the lighting in the pictures. They also had some mildly interesting stories about the actors in them, but overall, they weren't terribly thrilling, or even all that informative, to tell you the truth. So last night, after Jason and the kids were fast asleep, and I had finished my nightly Christmas gift wrapping of any new purchases (trying to stay ahead of the game!), I went on the prowl for something to read. I scanned the bookshelves in my room, the sunroom, the garage and the piano room to no avail. I had already read every single book on there, many of them more than once. Out of desperation, I headed into Autumn's room.

I was scanning through the books on her shelf when I happened upon an unexpected jewel. To add a little variety to Autumn's usual reading diet of Harry Potter, Goosebumps and Spiderwick Chronicles, I had bought her several books that I thought would be good for her to read. Among them were some American Girl books, a handful of Ramona books, some Little House on the Prairie books, Anne of Green Gables, Number the Stars and the one that my eyes settled on with the most excitement: Bridge to Terabithia.





It piqued my interest the most, because unlike the others (which I've read too many times to even bother counting), this was one book that I'd always heard was wonderful, but I'd never actually gotten around to reading. I plucked it from the shelf and made my way to the living room to read for a bit to wind my brain down before bed. Curled up on the couch under a soft brown blanket with 2 cats on my feet reading a book by the light of the Christmas tree, I was pretty much in heaven! I read for a bit longer than I meant to, even, because the book turned out to be so engaging that it was hard for me to put down, even though I was exhausted.

It wasn't the kind of fast-moving, plot-driven book that you would call "a page-turner" in the usual sense, but it was just so warm and comfortable and deliciously well-written that I wanted to wrap myself up in it and go to sleep there instead. Eventually, I relented and put it down to catch some Z's before life started all over again at 90 miles an hour at approximately 6:30 a.m. Well, once the kids were ready for school this morning and Jason had left to go drop them off and take some pictures of the fog on Mt. Sequoyah, I picked the book back up again. It's not too long, and it's fairly easy reading, so it didn't take long for me to make it to the end. By this point, Norah had woken up and was eating breakfast in the high chair.

I had gathered from the heavy foreshadowing that something bad was going to happen, and I vaguely recalled that I had heard the book was sad, but that still did not prepare me for the ending. It just hurt my heart. Tears welled up in my eyes and fell into fat wet splotches on the kitchen floor as I tried to cut up the cantaloupe on Norah's high chair tray. She just looked at me, puzzled, and shouted for another bite.

It truly broke my heart. This is especially the case in light of the fact that my cousin Krystin just lost a very close friend of hers down in Mena. It is her senior year of high school, and I know that the ache will overshadow so much of the joy that she should be feeling right now. Please keep Krystin, and especially the family of that boy in your prayers this week, because I know they are hurting so much.

It just reminds me of a line from the book, one which, ironically, is found a good ways before the tragic ending (part of the foreshadowing I mentioned). "...Life was delicate as a dandelion. One little puff from any direction, and it was blown to bits."

So take a second to be thankful for the beauty that is in your life today! Also, go read Bridge to Terabithia. It is a lovely book, and you will not regret it.

Oh, and for my moment of thankfulness today, I snapped a picture of Norah just now so you could all see how sweet she is. She's taking her morning nap on the mattress here in our "cage" in the office, and she is so precious to watch there sleeping while I work!

Well, so much for that idea!

It just goes to show you that the Bible is always right. Case in point: Ecclesiastes 1:9 - "What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun."

Here is the logo that I made *FROM SCRATCH, people, to shop out as a possible idea for the soon-to-be-launched, all-new (ha) hudsonphotos.com.





Well, I was feeling pretty happy with myself. We had designed it this way because photography is all about beauty and great light, and so are chandeliers. I wanted something that nobody else had (again, ha!), so I started from scratch and built the chandelier myself in Photoshop around a custom H that I had created. The reviews were mixed in our survey (thanks for your honesty, everyone!), but I was still feeling pretty dang proud of myself. Then on Saturday, we ended up dropping by the NWA Boutique Show at the Springdale Holiday Inn and Convention Center. I was blissfully wandering around, appreciating everyone's amazing (if occasionally overpriced) creative endeavors, when WHAM. Just like that, this burst my bubble:





Their chandelier logo was plastered all over their booth on giant signs. I should have taken a picture, but you can use your imagination. *sigh

I guess there really isn't anything new under the sun. So now I'm back to the drawing board. Suggestions welcome! Thanks everybody! : )

New Logo Survey!

So back to the fun of coming up with our new logo! We have a certain "look" we're going for with it, and I would love to get some objective feedback on how you would describe what we have so far. This will help me see if we are heading in the right direction with the design!

If you have a spare minute to take our quick, anonymous survey or to just leave me a comment with your thoughts, I would greatly appreciate it! Any feedback is welcome, and if you have something negative to say about it but don't want to offend anybody, feel free to leave an anonymous comment letting us know or to let us know in the survey. Honesty is the only way we'll arrive at something really good here!

Here goes!

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So go for it... What does this logo say to you? What words would you use to describe it? How does it make you feel, and if you saw this on a photographer's work, what would it make you think about them and their style? Click on the logo above, or click here to take our quick, anonymous 10-question survey. We want to know what you think!


***UPDATE!***
The survey is now closed, given the blog post you see above this one. Thanks so much for your honest input everyone! You guys are awesome!

Logo Evolution

Evolution is a natural part of branding and running a business. Times change, people change, and if you don't change along with them and keep yourself fresh and vibrant, you will likely be left in the dust! One way that it is pretty easy to track the changing face of a business over time is by looking at its logo. Some companies seldom tweak their logo, having instead found one so classic, enduring and effective that the same logo they had 50 years ago is still just as relevant and striking today. For example, here is Coca Cola's logo in 1886:




...And here is the Coca Cola logo today:




Other companies keep some of the same elements of their logos, but make slight changes over time, like Coppertone.
Then:



Now:



Still others continue to have great success despite bearing little or no resemblance to their original marketing materials.

You can see some examples here:




Apparently we seem to fall into the category of companies who change their logo... a lot! Perhaps too much. We have also somehow ended up diversifying ourselves to the point that we have so many brands we are working under that it is very confusing! Here is the evolution of the Hudson Photography family of logos. It only goes back as far as 2004 because I am too lazy to go down to the garage and dig through boxes to find print versions of our older logos! : )





See? LOTS OF LOGOS. So to remedy this, we've decided to do our best to consolidate our logo down into one, hopefully one that will serve us well enough that we can actually stick with it for a little while. Ever since Jason and I started talking about coming up with a new logo, I have been saturating my brain with information about design, branding, colors, fonts, layout and everything else related to how a company presents itself to the world. The more I read up on it, and the more I looked around, the more I noticed that logos are EVERYWHERE!

Once I became aware of this, it seems like everywhere I go I am mentally filing logos away as effective or ineffective. I was surprised once I learned more about the elements of good logo design to discover how many products in my everyday life are putting the elements of good logo design to work to represent their brand. Here are a few of my favorite logos that I ran across while researching. These are not necessarily what we're going for, but I thought these worked exceptionally well for the products they are affiliated with.





It should hopefully go without saying, but just to cover my behind, let me be VERY CLEAR that all of the logos pictured here are copyrighted by their owners and the sole property of the companies which they represent. My goal in looking at them is not to in any way duplicate them or pull ideas from them, but actually quite the opposite. We have looked at every photographer's logo we could get our hands on in an effort to make sure that ours can not in any way be construed as copying anyone! Also it is just interesting to see all of the different, creative things that people can come up with using essentially the same process and materials. That said, here is a selection of other wedding professionals' logos that are featured on "The It List" on the Southern Weddings blog. Click on over there if you want to check out the awesome websites of some of the best wedding people in the business! Here is a selection of their logos:






Next up... Our logo!

Thankful.

Following in the footsteps of assorted friends and family members on Facebook this week, I have decided to take this month as an opportunity to be extra thankful for all the blessings in my life! I would like to say that I will be making a blog post every day with something that I am thankful for, but since one of the things on that list is my frantically busy schedule (better busy than bored!), that is highly highly unlikely to happen. So I'll just be thankful in random spurts instead! : )

Today on Facebook, I said I was thankful for decongestant, fuzzy baby hair and peaceful fall afternoons. I would like to add to that list a few other things that brightened my day today:

1. Sisters who send over yummy surprise homemade pumpkin pie.
2. My Boppy (which is the only reason I am able to be typing this right now as I nurse the baby!)
3. Questions about the meaning of life from inquisitive 6-year-olds
4. The RAW editor in Photoshop
5. Little girls who refuse to believe that caterpillars are dead, preferring instead to imagine that they are just getting ready to spin their cocoon. (Poor caterpillar!)
6. Mini tupperware containers
7. Diet Mt. Dew
8. Brothers-in-law who come over to help assemble furniture at all hours of the day and night.
9. Brides who choose us to photograph their weddings, and husbands who work REALLY hard to make sure those brides stay happy!
10. My comfy, cozy pillowtop bed that I am about to fall into, and the squishy down comforter I get to sleep under every night.

It feels a little goofy to make lists like these, but it really is nice to stop every now and then and appreciate how lucky we all are and how much we have to be thankful for. Now good night! : )