New Business: Joslyn Place Photography

In today's economy and in our culture of "Big Box" retail and mass production, I think that it is important to remember that small businesses are the largest employers in the United States. As Americans, we owe it to ourselves and our neighbors to promote and patronize as many local seriecs and retailers as we can.

I would like all of you folks in the Washington, DC metropolitan area, to meet Kimberly and Meredith. These ladies own a local business which I hope you will support, in aid of which I have invited them to use my little corner of cyberspace to tell you what it's all about.
Take it away, ladies.


Gunfighter, whom I have the privilege of working with at DC Metro Moms (he's the official Dad), has offered us the wonderful opportunity to guest post on his blog to announce our new business called Joslyn Place Photography. We are located in Northern Virginia and we specialize in: family, newborn, maternity, pet, teen and group portraits. Many of our sessions are done right in the client's backyard, favorite park or outdoor setting. We like to share our work on our blog as well as on our big girl portfolio website.

About The Photographers

We are a team of two, A Laverne & Shirley for this century. Joslyn Place is wonder twins activated. Or at the very least, we are cousins. We go by Meredith and Kimberly. At long last our lives have geographically come together in Northern Virginia which isn't too far from where our parents started out back on Joslyn Place in Cheverly, Maryland. The proximity has finally allowed us to combine forces and share our love of people and life through photographs. This is good news for you.



I, Meredith, am the lead photographer. That means that while we’re together I’m looking for the right space, the right light, the right moment to capture you being you. This is, hands down, my favorite part. All you have to do is spend time with your people. And all I have to do is notice and capture you.

I, Kimberly, am the second shooter. I began following in my cousin’s creative footsteps and fell deeply in love with both the imagery of the art and the experience of the shoot. I enjoy putting people at ease and bringing out the comedy of the moment. I head up the organizational end of things mostly due to my anal retentive nature which, in turn, often leads me in the direction of a great bottle of red. I like to say that I savor life.

We love the details of all the ties that bind. We love the second where those ties and personalities surface and are captured while you were wiping a crumb off his shirt or helping her avoid the mud. We crave the moments where you can see the details of a misplaced hair, a smirk or a wrinkle and feel every ounce of that thing called love.

Our cameras capture your story so far.

We’ll catch your beauty, your heart and your funny all wrapped up in one.

We cannot wait to work with you.

Meredith & Kim
PPA Members



We have two types of sessions to fit your holiday needs and wallet:


2009 Holiday Package $500

· Sitting fee (90 minute session)
· Three 8×10 Stand Out Wall Prints
· Print Gift Set (One 8×10, Two 5×7s, Eight wallets)
· CD containing 10 images. Each image provided in color and B&W with copyright release.

Holiday Mini-Shoot $250

· Sitting Fee (a 45 minute session)
· CD containing 5 images w/ copyright release – perfect for creating holiday photo cards.

*Along with either package, our a la carte prints, listed below, would be offered to you at 30% off.

PRINTS:

8 wallets (2.5×3.5) = $10
4×6 = $5.00
5×7 = $7.50
8×10 = $10.00
16×24 = $90.00

Check out our calendar for the day that suits you. Let’s take advantage of this stunning fall weather, pretty please.

We can't wait to work with you!

Love,

Kimberly & Meredith

Please note that I have not been compensated for this guest post. I am just trying to do right by some nice people.

Book Review - True Blue

Several weeks ago, the fine folks at Hachette Books were kind enough to ask me if I wanted to review an advanced copy of David Baldacci's new police mystery, entitled "True Blue". Despite the fact that I almost never read police stories (never mind what I do for a living), I decided to give it a go. Since today is the official release date for the book, there is no better time than now for a review.


OK, let's get to it, shall we? I enjoyed this book. I did... and that surprised me. I fully expected a lot of crappy and archaic terms that someone got of a badly-made police movie from the 1950's... but that isn't what happened. Baldacci seems to have really done his homework especially as it regards the Washington, DC Metropolitan Police Department. This simple fact helped me enjoy the book more that I would have thought, because I have so many pals on the Department (special shout out to my protege M, in 1D).

In this story, Baldacci tells the tale of Mason "Mace" Perry, a hot shot former police officer who was set-up, convicted of a crime that she did not commit, and imprisoned. Her sister, Elizabeth, is Washington DC's Chief of Police (hello Cathy Lanier!), a true leader in this ever politicized town. When Mace is finally released from prison, she figures that the only way she can get back on the force is to bring to justice, all of the people who set her up, thereby restoring her honor (and her eligibility to wear the blue again). She'll have a long way to go, because as soon as she gets out people start getting murdered.

Despite her sister's repeated warnings, Mace sets out to investigate one of the murders on her own, and then she meets Ace Georgetown lawyer Roy Kingman. Combining forces, Mace and Roy begin to... well, I think that I will let you find out the rest on your own, but believe me when I tell you, this is where the wild ride begins!

In this book you will find murders, police procedure, lawyers (good and bad), spies, government deception, crime in the name of "National Security" (and haven't we had enough of that?!), corruption, and all sorts of action.

If you live in the Washington, DC metropolitan area, I think that you will enjoy the book, even though Baldacci could have been a little more descriptive of the specific locations he used to tell his story, but truthfully, I don't think that any of this impinges on the story itself.

If you like police mysteries, you'll like this book. Give it a read, I don't think that you'll be unhappy. As I said, today is the official release date for the book, so it is available at local bookstores and online.

GF

Please Note: While Hachette Books provided a copy of the book, I have not been compensated in any other way.

Book Review: Pursuit of Honor

I recently finished reading Vince Flynn's latest novel, Pursuit of Honor, and I would like to tell you a little bit about it.

Flynn's main character, Mitchell Rapp, is a CIA counter-terrorist operative who spends his time covertly doing violent and bloody things that most people can't imagine themselves doing. What I mean by that is the Rapp finds out where terrorists are and he kills them. Sometimes he kills them after using "enhanced techniques" to interrogate them... which is to say he sometimes tortures them. If you are waiting for me to get weepy about that, keep waiting.

Anyway, in this novel, which picks up immediately after the end of the last, is about finding the terrorists that got away in the last book, so that Rapp can do what he normally does, but there is a fly in the ointment (isn't there always?).

In this story, Rapp's fellow operative, Mike Nash, is starting to burn out, and his family life is suffering along with him as he wrestles, morally, with the things that his job requires him to do, and living the secret life that he does. These feelings are not only affecting Nash's marriage, but also his ability to think clearly in the field.

I won't give any spoilers as to how Rapp and Nash go about dealing with the terrorists who are still at large America, other than to say that you'll like that part of the story if suspense, action, skulduggery, and cloak & dagger adventure are your thing. Nor will I give anything away as to how Rapp is able to help Mike Nash find a solution to his personal woes, but he does both with great effect.

Vince Flynn writes a good story most of the time, and he has done a fair job here, but as a reader, I would warn him that he should probably leave off with his political tirades masked as soliloquies by Mitch Rapp. Truthfully, Mr Flynn, it gets tiresome... so give it a rest, because you are beginning to sound like something of a crackpot.

Recommended

TV Show Review: Glee

Generally speaking, if I love a television show it is destined to be canceled. Seriously, almost every show that I love lasts a season, maybe two before it is ended for not having enough support, or because it conflicted with other shows that were just a little more popular. It gets irritating, especially after the recent cancellation of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles.

This fall, with the beginning of the new television season, I decided that I was going to give a few shows a watch to see if the networks could find me somebody to love... and they did.

If you have been watching Glee, you wll have been watching the breakout hit of the season! I don't usually gush about television shows, but this one is really good. Glee is funny without overselling the humor, dramatic without being morose, and just good fun. The fact that it has music that is well done and doesn't grate on my ears is just a bonus.

The basic premise of the show is that a young teacher agrees to take over the Glee Club at a small-town Ohio high school. The Glee Club is demoralized and only has one or two members, none of whom can be remotely considered cool. While the new teacher tries to recruit people, he is stymied at every turn by the creepy coach of the cheerleader squad (who calls them "Cheerios"). Anyway, the usual dorks v. cool people premise plays out in it's usual way, but is made that much better by the music, which is really good.

I suppose that if I cared to do so, I could dissect this show and figure out reasons to hate it, but I'm not going to. Why not? Because the show is fun, thats why, and I think that if more people had more fun, they would sleep better, live longer, have more fulfilling sex lives... and they'd quit being such tools.

Recommended!