five on friday {san jose, california, family photographer}

1. Can We Bring the Holidays Down a Notch?! Seriously! It's a good read!! If you haven't read this yet you need to. Whether you agree or not it's still a good read. And for me personally, since Early Bird is getting older, Christmas wore me down this past year. I can't possibly imagine trying to have every. stinkin. holiday an over-the-top celebration all year around (and don't forget about the birthdays sprinkled in between). For those of you that do, more power to ya! You've got way more creativity and energy than I ever had or will have. (And you know who you are Austin Jenn ;) Oh, and I blame Pinterest for half the problem ;)

2. As for the latest holiday, St. Patty's Day. Here's how it went down: Early Bird and I woke up Saturday morning (the day BEFORE St. Patty's Day. This will be important in a minute.) We head to the kitchen and I realize it's St. Patty's Day (remember, it's really the following day.) I told her that we can color her oatmeal green and then wear green the rest of the day so we won't get pitched. She was PUMPED about adding food coloring in her oatmeal. So, we eat our green oatmeal and (I think) we wear green the rest of the day! (By this point I'm excited that 1. I didn't forget St. Patty's Day, 2. We celebrated it doing something lo-key and 3. Early Bird had a healthy breakfast AND it was fun!). So, the next day we go to church and on the way in we were greeted by another church member asking us where our green was? Doh! You mean TODAY is St. Patty's Day?! Oh well, we celebrated early the day before and you know what?! Early Bird didn't care! Which means I didn't care either ;) It was a win-win.

3. I think I'm a tad late to the party but I'm obsessed and I mean OBSESSED with Downton Abbey! I just finished season two (I think the fourth season has started. Right?!) I'm not sure what I enjoy more, the costumes, the beautiful lighting they use (mainly on the exterior shots) or the story lines? Oh, the gorgeous sets play just as much a part as the story lines!! It's such a good combination of actors, setting and story lines. If you haven't caught the bug it's not too late. I think you can see it on Hulu or do like me and watch it on Netflix, on the iPad, in bed, under the covers, the first three episodes, all at one time.

Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantam, played by Maggie Smith, is by FAR my favorite character!! Quick witted and talks straight from the hip! Oh, and I love her family loyalty. 

 check out that set and her costume (oh, and she wore PANTS! Can you believe it?! The nerve of her!!).

unfortunately I wasn't able to track down all image sources. However, I think most come from here, PBS' Web site.

4. Mother's Day is coming... fast! If you need a good gift to give (even to yourself) try a spring/mother's day mini-session! check HERE for details!

5. Random photo of the day: