Merry Christmas!

And 6th day of Hanukkah and 3rd day after the Solstice.

We had a wonderful Christmas here.  My 2.5 year old daughter is finally old enough to have anticipated Santa’s arrival last night, and my son’s fever that caused him to sleep through church services on Saturday night miraculously disappeared in time to open presents this morning!

I think the most memorable part of this Christmas will always be the Purple Potty.  My daughter asked Santa to bring her “Purple.”  Period.  Later she added that she wanted a Purple Potty.  As we are just starting potty training, I felt comfortable sending a message with our Elf on the Shelf, Crispy (seen above), asking Santa to update her list with a Purple Potty and Purple shoes.  Santa was, to our eternal relief, able to oblige.  And she was pretty darn excited, too!

Wishing you and yours a peaceful start to the New Year — I will be away from email and other social media starting December 27th until 2012, but can still be reached by phone at 202-739-1941.

- Danie Smallwood

We contacted Julia about making the cake for our daughter’s birthday when we expected to be joining birthday parties with a larger party (my daughter, turning 2, wasn’t going to have many people over).  First those plans fell through, and then in the end we ended up having to cancel even our small party due to older brother’s high fever.  BUT, this cake is the definition of “exceeding expectations”, and I so badly want everyone to see what amazing cakes she designs and decorates!

I asked Julia to create a cake with a fairy theme, with either purple or pink as the dominant color.  Oh yeah, and chocolate cake inside.  In my wildest dreams, I didn’t see this coming!

The little fairy at the top is specially designed to look like my daughter (this amused my children to no end!).  Imagine that level of planning — she never even mentioned she was doing that!  And note the little extras, like the cobblestone walkway.

And the level of detail in the decorations is so realistic (look at the wood on the door!) that not one guest (aka extended family member) who saw it realized it was a cake.  They thought it was her birthday present!

It should also be mentioned that Julia’s cake tasted great, too — once we finally talked ourselves into cutting into it!  There was some discussion of simply keeping it as a decoration, and just how long it would last, lol.

If you’re ever in the Silver Spring, MD (Bethesda, Chevy Chase, Cabin John, Rockville, you get the idea) looking for a custom designed cake for a child’s birthday party (like ours); an office engagement party, a wedding…. be sure to contact Julia Bozzolo’s Distinct Cakes.  As I mentioned earlier, this was an exercise is exceeding expectations, and Julia exceeded ours in absolutely every way!

To see other cakes Julia has designed and created for birthday parties and other events, check our her Flickr Photostream:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/63912655@N07/.  You can email her through the flickr page, or at juliabozzolo@gmail.com.  Or by phone at 202-546-4497.

Thank you so much, Julia!

- Danie Smallwood, Bethesda, MD food photographer?

– Danie Smallwood, Charlottesville, VA Photographer

This picture just epitomizes for me the feeling that yes, these men and women were and are protecting us.

I found this to be an especially meaningful day to go on this field trip into Washington, DC given that it is the 9th anniversary of 9/11.  I was living in DC in 2001, and I don’t think I will ever forget the utter confusion, horror, and even, at times, something akin to terror that I felt that day.  Still, what really stands out in my memory was the bizarre feeling of calm logic that swept over me as I watched, on CNN, as the Towers began to fall.  That strange focus that led me to think — I need to go the ATM, I need to call my family, should I leave the city?  Definitely not by car, perhaps my bike.  And wondering in the middle of everything whether Georgetown would be canceling my graduate classes that morning.

Photographing at the Vietnam Memorial and the Korean Memorial, surrounded by Veterans of both wars, was an incredibly powerful reminder of how grateful I am to the Veterans and those who currently serve our country.  I can only hope some may even find a few of these pictures meaningful.

This picture just makes me laugh — after trying out a million angles, I finally decided it would be more fun to make it look like the horse was alive and was jumping over a fence (or something like that).

But back to the photography.  After a fun, informative, and at times emotional morning, I must conclude that I will probably stick to people.  ;)   Still, here’s, ahem, a few more…

And thank you to E. David Luria for this fabulous photography “Safari” experience!

Happy Weekend and Go Skins!  (Yep, football season has begun and I will be at the game tomorrow!!!!!!)

- Danie

The weather was a lot cooler up there that week — trying to picture that as temperatures break past 100 here in DC…ouch!

Stay cool this weekend, and Happy Friday!

- Danie