I got an email today from a gal at  Professional Photographer magazine. They are doing an article about the survivor book, “Hope Stories” for the February issue!!! Woo-hoooooo!!! Can you hear me yelling over here?

I read this glossy from front to back everything month. It’s one of the “millions” of glossies that are smashed into the Blair box each week, but I truly get excited when it comes…to be in it is a dream come true.

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These were the original images submitted—I hope they make it in there….you all have seen them before, but they’re still my faves!

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I’m hoping this exposure in Pro Photog will prompt other women to come forward to be photographed—I’m starting book 2 in the spring.

What a gift this process has been!

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The moving job is slooooowly,

but surely coming along. How can it be that I have accumulated so much crap-o-la in just three years in this space!? Can anyone tell me this?

Sigh…

Double sigh….

As I was shifting boxes from one end of our new space to the other, I was pleased to hear a knock on the door…

It was the upholstery fairies!!!

They were carrying the jewels I have been waiting for…white slipcovers for the wingback chairs I “garbage picked” (it wasn’t really out of the garbage…just the curb)

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and…

Drum roll, please————

My Barn House settee I bought from Joe~

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I had tears in my eyes thinking about all of the places this little gal is going to go with me…the Magic Forest, the beach, the street, the wheat field, our new camera room…I saw it all flash before my eyes. I was embarrassing myself in front of the magical fairies who transformed this shabby lady into the swan that she is! The best part of it is the fabric on this beauty is a precious suede that can be wiped clean…yes, you heard right…WIPED CLEAN with a cloth and water. Brilliant! Considering all of her travels in the future, this will come in quite handy.

The fairies were Naomi’s Finishing Touch Upholstery, btw (their blog and site are coming soon…you can snag their card at Camas Antiques)—Naomi and her hub are FAB at what they do.  Can’t wait to have them do some more dreamy projects.

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I took “before pics” today (pretending a smiling Nate Berkus was standing there with me admiring the potential of it all…is it wrong to be so in love with a gay man?)…will post the “befores” with the “after images”, so ya’ll have to wait!

Happy Thursday~

Elida Field, an incredible artist and a friend, created these paintings recently. She collaged the faces of the survivors from our book “Hope Stories” underneath the paint. I took her collage clinic and it has turned my whole art world upside down. All I want to do right is get messy with glue, paint and torn out stuff! If you ever get the chance, I highly recommend taking a clinic or the whole shebang, “Art Women Wine”. It’s time well-spent.

You might remember Elida from the paint series images a few weeks back.

This one is called “Victory”

And this one is “My Journey”

While visiting Scraps, one fabulous dog boutique in Seattle, I came across the coolest dog bowls…Bochini Bowls, to be exact. LOVE them—they would actually go great in my house and match my new love for red wine! Might need to purchase one of these.

At Scraps, I picked up a gift for my Daisy Doodle Dog—-she needs to be the mascot for our work with breast cancer survivors, I think. I will post images with her modeling this soon~

You can get one here.

Or if you’re in Seattle, head over to Scraps—Dave, the owner, is a sweetie and his enthusiasm for pets is contagious. We are thrilled to offer our tour stop in Seattle to his customers.

We had a wonderful turn-out and sold all of the books we had printed. Thanks to all of you who came out to support this project…and such a gorgeous day when many of you would have loved to be outside! It was greatly appreciated.

Some snapshots from our big event:

The Hope Stories books arrived today. I was a weepy mess by the time I got done going through it. Two years of shooting/editing/meetings/phone calls/mailers/email and here it is. I am so excited for our beautiful survivors to hold it in their hands and even more excited for women just beginning their battle to read its pages. I know that every woman diagnosed will see someone similar to themselves in this book.

RSVP for our Hope Stories “Pink Party” on May 17th from 3-5 at Majerus Physical Therapy.

lara@larablairimages.com