This past Sunday I had the honor to photograph a Simchat Bat - a baby naming ceremony.

This 11-day-old adorable baby girl has the most beautiful red hair and peacefully slept through the entire procession. I could feel how much everyone already loves this newborn baby girl and the ceremony was very touching.

The baby was named Yael Goldie:

Mazal Tov!

Natasha

I am very happy to have the opportunity to share this incredible book with you. I came across it several years ago when I was in college and it has since literally changed my life. In many ways it is a very simple book and a summary of its contents actually fits on the inside sleeve of the cover. The effects it has had on my life, however, are profound and I have been a fan of Don Miguel Ruiz ever since.

The ideas shared here are based on ancient Toltec wisdom and may appear deceivingly simple:

Be Impeccable With Your Words
Don’t Take Anything Personally
Don’t Make Assumptions
Always Do Your Best

I believe that the entire book must be read to really learn the incredible wisdom behind following these four agreements. To share more, here is the actual text from the cover:

“Be Impeccable With Your Word: Speak with integrity. Say only what you mean. Avoid using the word to speak against yourself or to gossip about others. Use the power of your word in the direction of truth and love.

Don’t Take Anything Personally: Nothing others do is because of you. What others say and do is a projection of their own reality, their own dream. When you are immune to the opinions and actions of others, you won’t be the victim of needless suffering.

Don’t Make Assumptions: Find the courage to ask questions and to express what you really want. Communicate with others as clearly as you can to avoid misunderstandings, sadness, and drama. With just this one agreement, you can completely transform your life.

Always Do Your Best: Your best is going to change from moment to moment; it will be different when you are healthy as opposed to sick. Under any circumstance, simply do your best, and you will avoid self-judgment, self-abuse, and regret.”

You’ll find over 600 glowing reviews on Amazon as it has now become a relatively popular and well known book. Yet another book also by Don Miguel Ruiz is The Mastery of Love: A Practical Guide to the Art of Relationship. This was actually the first book I read by this author and I recommend both of them with all of my heart.

Mike

We just came across this video and had to share it!

“Over 200 New Yorkers recently walked into one of the busiest train stations in the world, New York’s Grand Central Station, and at exactly 2:30 pm, all froze in place. There’s one guy in the video who froze just as he was stooping down to pick up some scattered papers. Talk about commitment!”

Take a look and see what you think. Social experiments like this are really interesting, if a bit unexpected:

If you’d like to read more about it, check the original site.

Natasha

A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to take pictures of my friend’s son Vadim whom I’ve known since he was born. Because I see him several times a week it’s hard to notice him growing, but every time I look at his pictures I think to myself “Wow, he’s grown up soo much!”

I absolutely love taking pictures of kids but I have to say that getting photos of a 1.5 year old boy is no easy thing. Kids this age seem to love the attention they’re getting during the shoot, can’t seem to stop moving, and get more and more excited! At the end of our hour-long session Vadim’s mom and I were totally exhausted while Vadim looked as fresh as he did in at the start of the shoot. He was ready for more!

A few of my favorites from our latest photo session:

Natasha