Ailee Petrovic

Fashion September 20, 2017

Our Family Beach Photos

I have always loved beach family photos – the lapping blue, reflective water, the dreamy sun setting in the background, the white sand, the wind tousled hair. We have never had the opportunity to have a beach session, so when we booked our trip to the Hilton Sandestin, I started searching for a photographer immediately. I could not be more excited about finding Lauren Folk of Folk House Creative Co., because y’all, she is not only super talented, but a dream to work with. She seriously captured our small little family perfectly, and I will truly print and treasure these photos forever. I am so grateful for Lauren! If you are traveling to the Destin area, I cannot recommend her enough.

There is so much joy in these photos. Sweet Emi was very much ready for bed, but Lauren somehow managed to appear less tired than she really was! That babe was asleep less than ten minutes after we wrapped them up, but Lauren (and Isla) had her grinning with their smart posing and silly faces (well, Isla’s!). Without further adieu, a narrowed down, but still expansive, selection of favorites from our session.

Uncategorized September 19, 2017

Week in Review

Hi from Destin! We are currently on vacation at the Hilton Hotel here, having a much-needed break from ‘real life.’ I have been sharing lots of photos on my Instagram: @snapshotsandmythoughts. The week before we left was definitely the busiest I’ve had all year, so it made this beach time even more enjoyable – ha. The girls started school before we left, so Isla got to go Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, while Emilia was at school on just Tuesday and Thursday. They both loved their teachers and seemed to adjust well. Isla is already looking forward to going back. While they were gone (and with the help of Ivana’s nanny, Maria, and our babysitter, Taylor), I fit in eight photo sessions in five days. It was exhausting, but productive. I also squeezed in a visit to my friend and hair stylist, Eric Vaughn. He gave me a short version of ‘the Isla’ hair color (why isn’t mine natural?!).

I love these sweet back-to-school boards that my friend, Monica of Paper Flour Ink, made. She is so talented!

I will be sharing more photos from our trip here in the next few days. For now, I’d love if you went and followed @hiltonsandestin, as I’m taking over their Instagram account for the next three days!

I hope y’all are already having a wonderful week. More soon! xo

Events September 14, 2017

Emi’s Serbian Orthodox Christening Ceremony

On July 21, Emilia was Christened in a Serbian Orthodox ceremony at St. Basil the Great Greek Orthodox Church, officiated by Father Serge Veselinovich. Her Godparents, Kirby and Brett, came into town and played an integral part of the ceremony. I’ve been best friends with Kirby for over 12 years now, and we are so glad that they’ll play a key role in our daughter’s life forever. Emi is a lucky girl! Isla’s Godmother, McKenzie, flew into Houston from Chicago to celebrate with us! I have the best best friends.

While we attend a Baptist church, Bayou City Fellowship, we wanted to follow Sasha’s Serbian traditions for the Christening, which is very closely aligned to the Greek Orthodox faith (in which Kirby was raised). I did research about the ceremony prior to Isla’s Christening, and wrote about it in her blog post (which is linked at the bottom of this post!).

Although we didn’t know it at the time, sweet Emi had an ear infection on July 21st (now obvious in some of the photos, since she is pulling on her ear!). Needless to say, she was not a super happy camper during the 45 minute ceremony. Kirby was Godmother-extraordinaire, rocking her, giving her a bottle, soothing her, letting her play with her face and hair, etc.

Personal September 13, 2017

We Love Our cuteheads

One of my close friends, Esther, owns our favorite clothing company – cuteheads. If you click around her site, you’ll see a familiar face wearing many of her gorgeous dresses. Basically, Isla wants to wear cuteheads every single day and every single night (the former, I encourage – the latter, I sometimes push back on! Ha). During the hurricane, Esther was living with her in-laws while their house was remodeled. As Houston was pelleted with rain, her in-laws house started to take on water, and unfortunately, so did hers. They evacuated by boat (all documented on her Insta-story), and while this devastating event would overwhelm ~~many~~ most, Esther remained positive and immediately began collecting donations from other small businesses. She is truly amazing and such an inspiration.

To show our support for her business, a few of her friends put together a giveaway to help people who lost everything in the floods. We’re giving away $75 cuteheads gift cards – see Rafflecopter below! You can enter to win for yourself, if you were impacted, or for someone else you know who was displaced. It’s really easy to enter too. Also, we’d love if you posted a photo on your Instagram with the hashtag #weloveourcuteheads, sharing why you and your little one(s) love this brand!

Click here to enter the giveaway

Personal September 11, 2017

Week in Review

After being postponed for two weeks due to the hurricane, the girls’ school starts tomorrow. Isla is going for three days, and Emi, only two. I have grandiose plans on what I’ll do with five uninterrupted hours (I haven’t had this since Emi was born!), but this week, I’ll be spending most of that time taking photographs. We leave for Destin on Saturday, and I’ve got five photo sessions in the next four days. Madness.

My parents moved into their rental home on Saturday, so the house feels all quiet now that they’re gone. My sister-in-law and niece even stayed with us for a few nights last week! There were 8 people living in our little house – I loved it! Some other highlights from the past week include:

Going to church at Bayou City Fellowship (Curtis’ message was great – it’s not uploaded just yet to the site, but you can find other sermons here).
Having a playdate with our best friends, the Thompsons at their house! It had been way too long.
Watching Isla make new friends and play some soccer at CityCentre after the gym one morning!
Taking two sets of newborn photos for sweet Parker and baby Harper. They were both insanely cute! Lucky me, ha!
Taking Isla to her much anticipated ballet class, which she went to with her new bestie, Iris. They are so sweet together. Lots of photos below!
Photographing Meredith at this amazingly colorful exhibit at Discovery Green.
Catching up with Monica on a power walk with my sister-in-law, Ivana.

I’m almost 99% positive I’m missing something big, but it’s 11:45pm and I have to get back to editing those sweet baby photos. I’m actually drinking a coffee at this very minute. One of those nights! Have the best week. xo