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It’s been pretty quiet in my blogosphere for a really long time so I’m sure there are only crickets left chirping at this point.   In case the odd human is still lingering around, I didn’t mean to be away this long.  So many personal things have happened, (like getting married! significant deaths, lots of travel, and an increasingly weakening immune system) that I needed to take a break from some things and store up any remaining energy that was rapidly being tapped out.

As I don’t have other writers and all my content is original, for both text and images, blogging is quite a laborious activity for me.  Since the perfectionist in me doesn’t look kindly on anything mediocre, I tend to retreat to the shadows sooner and longer than most, a place my melancholic artist temperament requires at times.

That’s not to say there hasn’t been a ton of creative work, pondering, and planning going on in my blogging shadow life, but I’ll still need to pace myself when posting the most useful or relevant content.   I’ll do my best to catch you up along the way, while also trying to keep you current with my news, activities and reflections on all things beautiful that inspire truth and goodness.

Here’s to stepping out of the shadows!

Now to something I’ve been meaning to comment on…

  • Julia - February 28, 2014 - 5:03 pm

    Woo-hoo, she’s back!! 🙂

  • Renata - March 1, 2014 - 12:39 am

    Yay! Julia’s still in the house!

What can I say… It just doesn’t get much cuter than these two!

Kim and Charles drove all the way up from Atlanta for their engagements session with me in DC late last fall.  Their wedding is just around the corner and guess who’ll be driving all the way down to Atlanta for her first wedding of 2012….

As I’m packing up and prepping my gear, I wanted to share these sweet pics of a joyful couple as they look forward to married life.

May they have continued joy and blessings!

 

  • Zoe - February 8, 2012 - 5:38 pm

    Sweet! Nice job.

  • Renata - February 8, 2012 - 5:56 pm

    Thanks!

As Christmastide comes to a close with the celebration of Epiphany, I can’t help but notice there are very few signs of Christmas left out there in the world.  Most of my neighbors have already taken down their outdoor lights and decorations and there’s this sad, thrown out tree that’s been rolling around my street all week because neither the trash or recycling crews have wanted to pick it up yet.  (I’ve been tempted to go out and rescue it myself and give it a sort of “resurrection”, but there really is no room left at my inn for any extra stuff…) 

Even though the word “Christmas” itself is disappearing, along with it, is going the time it’s suppose to be celebrated (from December 25 to the Baptism of Our Lord on the first Sunday following Epiphany on January 6, and traditionally for a full 40 days until February 2 on the Feast of the Presentation, also known as Candlemas, but more on that later…).  It’s still somewhat of a comfort to me that for those who are still faithful to history, you can still see “Christmas” alive and well at certain historical sites.  My local favorite is Mount Vernon, Virginia, home of George and Martha Washington.  They keep Christmas themed displays up through to Epiphany, the 6th of January, (which incidentally is George and Martha’s wedding anniversary, for a fun fact you may not have known).

Here’s a lovely Mount Vernon Gingerbread House showing George coming home to Martha for Christmas. Created by Chef Roland Mesnier, former White House Pastry Chef.

Definitely a book lovers Christmas tree, complete with Washington’s special “fan chair”.

I just couldn’t get enough of Aladdin, the camel; he was so cuddly and friendly!

Christmas decorations were a little different in colonial times. The practice of decorating trees came a little later to the US, but fancy garlands and wreathes were all the rage.  This year I heard about the Grand Illumination in Colonial Williamsburg that kicks off the holiday season on the first weekend of December.  The “illuminations” are what they called fireworks back then, and being a pyrotechnics junkie that I am, I simply had to go!

I love Colonial Williamsburg anytime of year, but it was certainly extra special all dressed up for Christmas.  What I discovered to my great delight are these beautiful wreathes and garlands that decorated every home and doorway.  Made from dried or fresh fruit, dried flowers, and evergreens, they looked simply scrumptious!  I couldn’t get enough of them and was so excited to add these new “old” finds to my decorating ideas.  I particularly love the pineapple theme, a symbol for hospitality that was popular then.

Christmas wouldn’t be complete for me without a visit to the National Christmas Tree surrounded by 50 smaller trees representing each state.  Here’s the new and tiny National Christmas Tree, (the old one literally blew over in a bad wind storm last February).  Must say, never been a fan of how they drape the lights…

If you’ve never been the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception for Christmas try and go sometime.  Especially when the main church lights are off, the glow and reflections of light from the giant trees are just beautiful.

Back to celebrating Christmas for 40 days… along with the biblical significance of 40 days in both the Old and New Testaments, for both preparation and celebration, prior to the reform of the General Roman Missal in the 60’s the Church “kept Christmas”  from December 25 – February 2 with January 6 starting off an informal season of “Epiphany” celebrating the manifestation of Christ to the world.  One way The Great and Blessed JPII helped bring this tradition back, of celebrating for 40 days, was to introduce and keep a larger than life size Nativity and Christmas Tree up in St. Peter’s square in Rome to February 2.  A tradition that the current pope, Benedict XVI, happily continues and encourages.  To my great delight I’ve seen that practice also brought back locally as well.  Big shout out to Fr. Kleinmann at St Mary’s in Old Town, Alexandria for holding on through to the 2nd as well.  You’re my hero! 

Hope you try and “keep Christmas” in some special way as well through February 2.  All my decorations and lights will be up and on, even if I’m the only one and keep getting threatening letters from my association!  Happy Epiphany!  

For some beautiful meditation, here’s the Pope’s Homily for the Feast of the Magi this year.  And here is a special Epiphany house blessing you can do in your own home.  Enjoy!

O Come Let Us Adore Him! (Nativity from the Shrine.)

  • Amy - January 8, 2012 - 9:37 am

    I’m a bit of a history buff, and so I love seeing how Americans used to decorate for Christmas…in many ways, more to my taste than some current stuff. Beautiful photos!

  • Julia - January 8, 2012 - 12:08 pm

    Those wreaths are so neat! Love how you captured the “illuminations”! Great eye! Thanks for sharing!

  • Zoe - January 8, 2012 - 2:58 pm

    Loved your festive pics!

    We’ll be keeping our tree up until just after Baptismal of the Lord.

  • Renata - January 13, 2012 - 8:03 pm

    Thanks so much! Glad you all liked them!

Not many wedding festivities start off with a paddle boat right, but this is the South, where the living is a little more on the “sit back and enjoy” side.  I was so excited to shoot this wedding and experience Tennessee with this very sweet couple, on a picture perfect weekend.

Nina looked amazing in lace and carried some very exotic looking flowers, that echoed the peacock feather colors she chose for her wedding.  All the table and flower arrangements carried that color theme and look simply stunning.  Huge kudos to Allie, the floral designer at Sassafras, whose bouquets had truly unique colors and textures.

St John Neumann Catholic Church,a Romanesque looking building that was just recently completed, seemed to pop up out of nowhere and really looked majestic.

Love how the peacock colors were coordinated right down to the last toe!

We had so much fun shooting by the lake and willows near Danny’s old apartments!

Throw in a cool vintage car and you’ve got instant classic images!

Nina and Danny are both teachers, so they chose as their wedding favor one of my icon holy cards of Christ the Teacher printed with their engagement photo and new address details on the back.  Along with a peackock feather, they placed the holy card  on each plate.  I’m so glad my card actually matched with the color theme!

Nothing like seeing the good Padre jam to Sweet Home Alabama!

How could Danny not play a little something at his wedding?!  Great to see the new husband and wife team making music to the delight of all their guests!

More great flower arrangements from Allie, and a custom guest book I created using the images from their engagement session.

Great to see my fellow Franciscan University of Steubenville alums!

An emotional, but joyful, goodbye as they newlyweds ride off into the night.  I love happy endings!

  • Nina - November 11, 2011 - 4:48 pm

    These are truly beautiful, Renata!! Thanks so much for your hard work and artistic abilities that contributed so much to our momentous day!!

  • Renata - November 11, 2011 - 4:55 pm

    So glad you enjoyed them, Nina!

  • Zoe - November 11, 2011 - 5:25 pm

    Beautiful job, Renata! It looks like it was such a happy, lovely day.

  • Renata - November 11, 2011 - 5:31 pm

    Thanks, Zoe. It was perfect, indeed, and with great weather.

  • Julia - November 12, 2011 - 8:34 am

    I love how you captured so many of the beautiful and thoughtful details of the weekend – truly a fantastic weekend for a beautiful couple – they were lucky to have you as their photographer! Cheers to Danny and Nina! Great work again, Renata!

  • Renata - November 12, 2011 - 11:05 am

    Thank you, Julia!!

  • Ursa Zimmer - November 13, 2011 - 1:05 am

    I love how you captured so many of the beautiful and thoughtful details of the weekend – truly a fantastic weekend for a beautiful couple – they were lucky to have you as their photographer! Cheers to Danny and Nina! Great work again, Renata!
    +1

  • Jennessa - November 14, 2011 - 11:50 am

    Your photos are all so gorgeous! You have a great eye. I was excited to view all these wonderful photos. Beautiful work!

  • Amy - November 17, 2011 - 9:19 pm

    Stunningly beautiful pictures that capture the joy of the day. I love them!

 The Northwest Center: Pregnancy Center and Maternity Home in Washington, D.C. is a unique place that offers hope and help for women facing crisis pregnancies.  The happy mother and son pictured above are bright examples of how a local organization, now in its 30th year of community service, can have a profound influence one person at a time, while being funded only by donations and no government assistance. 

My introduction to the NW Center, which also has a maternity home adjacent to it, was via its annual fundraiser ball that has become a much beloved event in D.C., which incidentally is this Saturday night if you are local and would like to go – a must if you love swing dancing.  After getting to know the center a bit more, I wanted to help them in my own way by documenting the fruits of their labor of love: the joy of women and children who have found hope in new life.  There is a lot I could say about how important pregnancy centers are, but I invite you watch a short documentary video that was created for their 30th anniversary.  I think it’s better when it’s in their own words.  {Be warned, you might want to have some tissues handy towards the end.} 

Please share this post and consider helping out the Northwest Center in DC or look for a crisis pregnancy center in your area that you could support which ever way you can.  These centers are vital investments in our future.

 

  • Julia - October 27, 2011 - 7:34 am

    Nice work, Renata! Beautiful! Hope to see you at the ball!

  • Renata - October 29, 2011 - 4:18 pm

    Thanks, Julia! I’ll be there, even if in snow boots!

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