Alyse French Photography | Houston-Based Wedding and Lifestyle Photographer

The past two days have been some of the most productive in my. entire. life. Well… Productive in the sense that I’ve accomplished everything on my to-do list except blogging at my usual scheduled hour. My apologies, friends. I’ll have to make up for it by being extra random. :)

If you’re an old patron of this blog or my website, then you’re already familiar with my undying love for green tea frappuccinos with whipped cream. Always whipped cream. Well it came to my attention the other day while sipping said frap, that I must look absolutely ridiculous. Because you see.. In order to fully enjoy your beverage of choice when nearing those last few drops at the bottom of your cup, you have no choice but to exhale every last bit of breath from your entire being, and thereby suck back in every last bit. It’s a science, really…

Why do cell phones always appear to come crashing to the ground in slow motion? It’s a phenomenon that never ceases to blow me away. Like just now…

Every morning I drive down Louisiana St. and drop Dylan off at work. I then circle around and take Smith all the way home. Monotonous? Perhaps. But my all-time favorite part of these daily trips is smelling what fabulous aroma is coming from the Crowne Plaza Hotel kitchen each morning. One day, I smelled chicken noodle soup for a span of five entire blocks. And the next day? Chicken noodle soup AGAIN. Then I was all, “Seriously, Crowne Plaza? I need something new!”

Dylan likes to make fun of me… A lot. But, to his defense, I’m extremely make-fun-erable. The most recent episode happened when I complained of acid reflux. To which he responded, “No. You have heartburn. Acid reflux is a condition.” FINE. I get it. A day later, I told him I had shooting pains in my back… To which he responded, “Don’t you mean cancer bolts?” (He thinks I exaggerate.)

This weekend, we decided to explore the Heights district of Houston a little more, and to my pleasant surprise, we discovered the most darling little shop called Jubilee. It’s Anthropologie meets Antiques Roadshow, at a crazy reasonable price. And their branding is SO spot on. Check them out *HERE*!!

Song of the Week: My Own Two Feet by Caleb Hawley. As in, the guy who Steve Tyler practically sung a duet with on American Idol‘s premier last week. We’ve been fortunate to follow Caleb‘s work for a couple years now, as he performed/worked alongside my sister at the New York Songwriter Circle in NYC. We are ridiculously stoked to see Caleb wooing the judges of AI and the hearts of so many who’ve now heard his incredible voice.

Our little Sully is now three pounds heavier than when we first brought him home. As in, he’s grown THIRTY percent in the last two weeks. It makes me a little sad, but also super excited to see how he’ll look as an adult. And since pictures make blog posts so much more awesome, here’s a shot of Sully’s pops, Bentley, whom we met a few weeks ago. Can you see the family resemblance? They are literally mirror images of each other. And Dylan? Well, he’s just cute. :)

Also! An FAQ post is in the works for Thursday. So if you’ve got questions, hit me up in the comment section! (And it doesn’t have to pertain to photography.. It could totally be about proper frap drinking technique. But, that might be redundant..) :) Happy Tuesday!

Last Friday, for the first time in our entire lives, we became victims of theft. But before we scare you too badly.. It wasn’t our car. And it wasn’t our dog. It was.. Our griddle. Dylan had just picked up a new griddle from Target so we could use it that night to cook for some friends. But when he couldn’t hold Sully AND the griddle while getting the mail, he placed the griddle beside our complex’s mailboxes. Up the elevator he went when he realized he’d left the griddle on G1. And down he went to find that, within 60 seconds, a griddle thief had stolen OUR griddle. F’real? WHO steals a griddle?

Sully’s begun sleeping through the night! So much so that I haven’t slept with my HUGE noise-canceling headphones since last week! (I take my sleep seriously.)

This Living to 100 Life Expectancy Calculator is circulating all over my Facebook, and because it’s not some silly application that just takes a stab in the dark, but actually asks real medical/diet/exercise/family history-related questions to determine your life expectancy.. I have to say, it’s pretty fascinating. But then I learned I’m going to live to 97, and Dylan, only to 83. The only thing they didn’t ask is “When will you lose your spouse?” Because had they asked, and had I known the answer, they surely wouldn’t have made me live so long without him…

Morbidity aside, THIS is my new favorite commercial which brings out the ultimate sap in me no matter how many times I see it. :)

On any given day, you can hear me bust a rhyme by Jay-Z and then get down with my bad 42nd Street self. With that said, I do believe you’d be amused. But never more so than Dylan. :) The Light in the Piazza has always been a favorite Broadway show of mine. As in, FAVORITE, favorite, favorite. Something about the story, the composition, and the writing can change my whole mood in an instant. It just makes me happy..

Speaking of The Light in the Piazza. (This is where I use L in the P/Glee star Matthew Morrison as a segway..) I have come to the conclusion that the very reason I have avoided Glee is the very reason why I should start watching it. You see, I’ve only seen two episodes for fear that if I become a regular viewer, it will overtake my entire life. And it will. I know this.. But all my Netflix‘d TV series are over, and I need something new. Glee, the time has come..

Three days ago, we started working on the “sit” command with Sully. You know, since he obviously isn’t about to learn to relieve himself in the proper spot any time soon. :) Within just THREE days, he is a master at it! Dylan and I keep laughing at ourselves for how ridiculously happy it makes us. If I’m this proud of my dog for learning to sit, I can only imagine how potty training my human child will be. (Don’t worry. When that day comes, I’ll try to keep it off the blog.) ;)

Song of the Week: Breath Me by Sia. Dramatic enough to pretend you’re in the music video.. Beautiful enough to pretend you wrote the piano accompaniment.

And I leave you with a smidgen of Laura and Nathan’s engagement session shot by Dylan and myself this past Saturday. These two are cuteness personified in every way. And Thursday will feature the rest of ‘em, so come on back! :)