Livia is becoming surprisingly efficient at applying face paint. I’m trying not to plan her future career based on the whims of Liv-at-five, but still. Wouldn’t it be cool if she worked in the movies someday? She could get her mom onto the set to watch the action. She might win an Oscar for makeup. You never know.

These are the ramblings of a tired woman on a Friday night. I can hear car doors slamming for a movie and game night next door (no, not there, a tired woman lives at that house too). I feel very unhip and old and boring at the moment. Blogging on a Friday night. BLOGGING. Oh well. Hope these shots entertain you on a Friday as well.

I present: The Many Faces of Livia.

Oooo. Scary.

And sweet.

Super silly.

And serious.

This baby is so soft and scrunchy and dreamy, I just can’t stand it. Welcome to the world, precious Ian! I have had the great privilege of watching your mommy’s tummy grow over the past several months and now I get to celebrate your arrival. You are such a blessed gift from God. We love you so much already.

I’m quite pleased with Ian’s photo shoot and can’t wait to share more images with you. Isn’t he delightful?

We went for a walk in the park. In knee-deep snowdrifts. Hip-deep for Liv. It took an hour to make a very small loop in which I could see my house the whole time. Still, in a desperate moment, I recalled the doomed flight that landed in the Andes Mountains. And I decided Liv and I would eat the dog first before making more, shall we say, difficult decisions. Fortunately I had my cell phone. Even more fortunately, my child chose to be brave when she felt like giving up.

This series is from the more light-hearted moments of our almost ill-fated journey. And even though I wanted so badly to catch a shot of a snowball in the air, I wanted even more badly to keep my camera dry and functioning. : )

A professional portfolio for photography.

It’s about time I created a little space to showcase the work I’ve been doing over the past year. I’m also looking forward to linking to all the sites and photographers who inspire me on a regular basis.

Stay tuned!

Here’s the face paint shot you’ve been clamoring for. (What? No? Ohhh, so sorry.)

The holiday party for Jeremy’s company was held at Teatro ZinZanni on Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco. I’ll admit I was a bit nervous about potential audience participation for this event, but the evening ended up being so. much. fun. It was the dinner theater to end all dinner theaters—and I believe it was the perfect counterpoint to all the cold, snowy Saturday nights Jeremy and I have spent at home this winter. We were out! in San Francisco! eating five courses! and drinking! and being entertained! [sigh] It was lovely.

And the facepaint was an added bonus. Just try doing this at home!

The other face shot was taken on our doomed flight home. It was the precise instance of photographic inspiration and traveling companion exhaustion. Let’s just say the subject at hand was getting beamed ferociously by the sunrise and didn’t want his picture taken. I believe we stayed in the air—after departing San Francisco 45 minutes late—for only 20 minutes before making an unscheduled landing in Reno, Nevada.

We were informed that we needed to make a landing, and that there might be emergency vehicles awaiting the plane, but not to worry. The mood was remarkably calm; we passengers sat and patiently waited to figure out what was going on. We landed easily and sat still while mechanics entered and went into the cockpit. I overheard a flight attendant saying a cockpit computer had electrical problems and the cockpit had filled with smoke, the pilots had to don oxygen masks(!). Eventually we de-planed and spent way too much time in the Reno airport where Diet Mountain Dew is NOT sold and you can play slot machines in the hallways. Charming. And eventually we made it home to Lincoln, about eight hours after we had planned. By that point, we were simply relieved to get back to our daughter.

Our luggage found us the next day.

Give my kid a coloring book and a brand new box of Crayolas and… nothing. Girlfriend does not like to color paper.

Give her a mirror and a brand new box of facepaints and… hello, Sweet Cheeks! (Papa calls her “Sweet Cheeks.”) Livia is all about physical art. She’ll pass on the 2-D, but anything with a bit of texture under her fingers excites her.

Part of the challenge of parenting—and I think this is universal—is figuring out your child’s unique, God-given personality. What makes her tick? What excites her, frustrates her, encourages her, pleases her? I could sit and color for hours on end, even as an adult, but when I press my child to do it, it’s a challenging endeavor for both of us. I want Livia to glorify God in all things. I want her to be the very best Livia Tredway she can be. I want her to grow up knowing that I am proud of her, that I enjoy her, that I will stand behind her and encourage her—even if she’s pursuing activities that I have very little natural interest in.

For today, though, Liv is into face paint. And that’s something I can get into.

It’s late. You’ve been traveling all day and you stumble into your hotel room, looking for the lights. What’s this you see? Refreshments. Ah, perfect! you think. I could sure use some refreshing!

Wait a minute. Back away from the tantalizingly-positioned peanut butter cups. And don’t even think about grabbing those Pringles because once you pop, you can’t stop. These snacks probably cost more than the purse you bought on sale at Target. And that purse? It contains at least one small package of fruit snacks and perhaps two mostly-smooshed NutriGrain bars. Even though the Snickers are calling your name—afterall, Snickers in a canister must be good!—and for some odd reason white cheddar popcorn sounds like exactly what you want at the moment, you can persevere. You will be strong. You will back away, slowly, from the refreshments, and then you will desperately try to avoid looking at them over the course of the next three days.

And you will think, more than once, it’s a good thing your five year old stayed home.

We flew out to San Francisco last week for Jeremy to meet his coworkers at ThoughtMatrix—and for us to attend the company’s annual holiday party.

We arrived at our hotel late at night (at least according to my body’s Central Standard Time) and didn’t get a glimpse out our window until the next morning. Then, looking down 14 floors, I located a Walgreens and a Starbucks and decided I’d be just fine on my own for one work day. Jeremy and I wandered the streets that morning, looking for a simple egg breakfast, and eventually killed two birds with one stone: we found Jeremy’s office building and a lovely organic restaurant that served breakfast sandwiches.

The following photos show the Flood Building, from which much of genius of ThoughtMatrix flows. (Many employees, such as Jeremy, work from home offices—so I’ll reserve some of the genius quality for them.)

Friday morning, when we first explored the city a bit, I threw my red winter coat over an apple green sweater I got for Christmas. And then I slung my bright red purse over my shoulder. Woman from a small midwestern city meet… the dress code of the working men and women of San Francisco. Black, black, black, black, grey, and black. I’ve never felt so very bright in my entire life and, darn it, there was just no way to blend in.

Now Saturday was a different matter. The tourists came out while the natives stayed home and slept in—and I fit in just fine, red coat and all.

While I don’t personally know anyone in Haiti, friends from Grace Chapel have been traveling there for years and I know they are terribly concerned about friends and loved ones among the earthquake’s devastation.

If you’d like to send monetary aid, consider the agencies from the blog posts of Pastor Mike Hsu and Renee Welstead. Thank you!