houston – Page 10 – Snapshots & My Thoughts by Ailee Petrovic

Personal April 3, 2015

Happy First Birthday, Hou!

houston pet photographer texas ailee petrovic dog first birthday I have found a new niche of photography that I adore: pets. Talk about an easy model! These furry animals don’t have any say into how they look in the photos, which is fine, as they normally look perfect. Dogs will never say: “That’s a beautiful backdrop, with great lighting and focus, but my hair looks funny when it’s tucked behind my ear.” Albeit, they are a tad more difficult to control, but still easier than a 10 month old crawler!

When my friend, Kristen, asked me to take photos for her pup’s first birthday, I jumped at the opportunity. Houston is seriously adorable – let’s talk about that bow tie, party hat, and his cake shots! Could he be more perfect?

Houston’s first birthday is today. We’re all going to be in New Orleans, celebrating from afar (but really celebrating our friend Amanda, who is getting married!).

Happy Friday! I hope you have the best weekend ever. xo
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Baby April 2, 2015

Proudly Introducing Baby Brooks

Last Wednesday, sweet baby Brooks entered this world, and his parents, family and friends are all enamored, as he is just adorable. I had the pleasure of meeting and taking Brooks’ photos on his one week birthday (an emotional milestone to all new parents as they scratch their heads and wonder where the last 7 days went!).

I took the photographs at Amy and Galen’s house, which is gorgeous. Brooks’ nursery is also perfect, with complementary shades of blue (cue me really wanting a baby boy!). Amy looks ridiculously good for having delivered a baby just 7 days prior. Super mom and dad! I had a couple good laughs as Galen is the tallest person I’ve ever taken photographs of, so I had to climb on their arm chairs about six different times.

I may never be able to get over little hand/finger photos. They’re seriously my favorite.

As I mentioned two weeks ago in Baby Kerr’s post, if you or your expecting friends live in Houston and would like to have hospital or newborn photos taken, please contact me!

Week in Review March 23, 2015

Week in Review

Can you believe that March is almost over? I’ve having slight anxiety about how quickly the year is flying by, and I’m totally convinced I’ll have an emotional breakdown sometime before Isla turns one. Given that we’re getting closer to that date and because we’ll be gone for close to two weeks right before her birthday, I started the birthday planning process this week. Papellerie is designing her invitations, and I’m so excited to see what that incredible team creates. They are responsible for our wedding invitations + all paper goods, and I loved everything they touched.

Last week, our nanny started part time, as I’m still waiting for confirmation on my role and we had set her start date earlier in the month. She’s coming this week again, and I’m taking the opportunity to do the wedding calligraphy for one of my best friends, Brittany. She dropped off the envelopes this weekend, and they’re gorgeous! I cannot wait to celebrate with them in Vail this summer.

Other highlights from the week include:

Working on final wedding details for Amanda’s wedding – guest favors, programs, welcome bags, etc. – we’ve got back-to-back weddings the next two weekends (one in Austin, one in New Orleans) and I’m so excited for both!
My mom and sister were in Durango for the week, as they’re renovating the second and third floors (which used to be very vintage), so we went out to lunch at Ruggles Green with my dad – of course, he and Sasha had to argue over who ate more (see photo below)
On Saturday, we had a date night with Sasha’s friend from the UT MBA program (familiar face?) – we ate at Giacomos (one of our favorites!) and then had cocktails after dinner at Anvil – their French 75s are scarily good
We ate at Carrabbas twice – this is pretty much the definition of a good week for me (Insalata Fiorucci, all day, every day)
Listening to Jamie Winship preach at Bayou City Fellowship, and then going to lunch afterwards at True Food Kitchen, where Isla ate her first muffin, scrambled egg and (yuck) turkey sausage – so far, she’ll scarf down anything except for beets!
Taking photos of a friend’s puppy for his first birthday! It sounds so ridiculous, but I loved it – dogs are easy models because they don’t worry about how they look! I cannot wait to share more photos soon
Meeting baby Kerr and taking newborn photos in the hospital – what a special project! I want to do this full time! You can see the photos here
Finishing the Russian visa application process, that involved about many hours of paperwork, passport photos, cashiers checks, as well as three visits to the application office! I am praying our trip is worth it!
Going to Isla’s first music class at Fundamentally Music – I think I had just as much fun as her, singing songs, dancing, blowing bubbles, shaking tambourines, etc. She starts swim lessons this week, and I’m so excited for those too!
Enjoying every ounce of sunshine between rain clouds by going on family runs and making visits to the park

What were the highlights of your week?

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Baby March 19, 2015

Proudly Introducing Baby Kerr

Today, I had the honor of taking photographs of my friend’s newborn son, Joseph Kerr Jr. It feels like days ago that I was sharing these photographs from Julie’s shower! Kerr was born yesterday, March 18 at 5:21pm, weighing a perfect 7 pounds 2 ounces. I cannot believe that Isla was more than half a pound lighter than this bundle of joy, as he is so tiny.

Julie looked absolutely gorgeous, per usual, even after giving birth less than 24 hours earlier. I loved capturing these sweet photographs, and I wish I had some of Isla in the hospital! I will definitely be taking hospital pictures for baby #2!

Their adorable daughter, Evelyn (or Evie) arrived after we took most of the photos, and I cried when she walked in the door (cue me getting emotional typing about it!). The way she held her brother so gently makes my heart melt. She even tried to feed him some of her lollipop – already a good sharer!

I cannot wait to spend more time with this little angel. If you or any friends live in Houston and would like hospital photos taken, please contact me!

Week in Review March 16, 2015

Week in Review

Happy Monday! If you live in Houston or have friends here, you are probably tired of people talking about the sunshine, but seriously – it has been so nice to see the sun poking out from behind the clouds after what feels like an eternity. Sasha and I took advantage of the warmth on Saturday and Sunday and spent as much time outdoors as possible. We went to Memorial Park for Isla and I to run and for Sasha to play tennis with his friend. On Sunday, we spent the afternoon at my parent’s house by the hot tub. Isla rocked an itsy bitsy bikini, which our cousin bought for her before she was born – and I adore it.

One of the low points of the week was filling out the insane application form to travel to Russia, and then getting the passport photos, and then going to the bank for cashiers checks, and then going to one office that pointed us to another office, which had a sign pointing us back to the first office. Slightly confused, but praying we get it all worked out this week, as I am so excited for our trip to St. Petersburg!

Besides the visa confusion, the week went really smoothly. Some of the highlights included:

Being a featured segment on Great Day Houston! It was live and I was pretty nervous, but I loved doing it and would totally jump at an opportunity to go on the show again.
Triple-dating it at Jonathan’s The Rub with Amanda, Scott, Taylor and Luke – it’s an amazing restaurant just a stone’s throw from the house, so we walked (super rare in Houston!)
Celebrating Jessica’s birthday dinner at La Vista – love their Spinach salad so much!
Catching up with our good friends, Patrick and Betsy, over lunch at Dish Society on Sunday – we are terrible and haven’t seen them since our trip to Mexico City in September!
Eating at Island Grill and running into our friends, Lindsey and Casey, and their sweet kids, Walker and Hollis (whose birthday party we celebrated just a few weeks ago!)
Meeting my mom and her friend, Ona Rae, at Le Petit Cafe for lunch – this was a staple spot we’d eat at when I was working on a project at BP before maternity leave
Having Sunday night ‘Family Dinner’ with my parents and two sisters at Russos – always lots of laughter involved with these dinners!
Trying out the core class at Life Time Fitness, and needless to say, my stomach still hurts and my ribs feel broken? Strange but true.
Birthday shopping for Jessica with my friend, Brittany, and then meeting the birthday gal at Memorial Park to walk the three mile loop (with Isla strapped to my chest!)
Having Sasha’s mom over for lunch on Friday – Isla took an unusually long nap, so we got to have some quality chats before eating together
Getting a short but sweet visit from our friends, Matt and Paige, and their daughter, Ellery, who is seriously just the happiest and cutest little girl ever (how was this over a year ago??)
Spending Saturday morning with Sasha’s dad, his wife, Olivera, and her mom, who is here visiting from Serbia
Finding the world’s cutest sandal ever at Old Navy – these glitter Birkenstocks truly melt my heart. I want them for me.
Visiting Sasha’s aunt, Zlata, who is so good with Isla, and of course, Isla adores her because she gives her with candy and biscuits!
Getting the prettiest package in the mail from Claire Martin Designs – she is so talented! You definitely need to email her for an order!