TheBuzz

Sticks and Stones

Congrats to Brad and Jera Deal! One of our friends and founders of Sticks and Stones. Tonight they they will be on CNBC's "The Big Idea" with Donny Deutsch at 10pm est.

One of the first things people want to know about Sticks and Stones is, “What gave you this idea?” Innocently enough, it began as a lesson for children. A few years ago, Brad and Jera Deal and their three young daughters began “letter hunting” while on walks or while spending the day at the park. They would look for different “letters” in nature (STICKS) and architecture (STONES). They began taking photographs to remember their adventures, thus creating a collection of letters based on the family's hobby. They continue to letter hunt, so keep checking in as new letters are added to the “Letters Gallery”.
Not long ago, Jera was a room mom for her daughter’s preschool class. Therefore, she was in charge of finding a memorable, one-of-a-kind gift from the class for their teacher’s wedding. The family decided to frame the teacher’s new last name using their letters. From that one creation, they received multiple orders and they knew immediately they had something special.

Today, you can find Sticks and Stones in catalogs and specialty boutiques throughout the United States. In February 2007, they were invited to attend "The Oprah Winfrey Show: Millionaire Moms". They were chosen as an "Editor's Pick" in the May 2007 issue of Better Homes & Gardens and will appear on HGTV’s “I Want That!” later this year. Augustana College honored Jera with an article about Sticks and Stones in a recent edition of Augustana College Magazine.

Whats so inspiring to Juila and I is that Jera and Brad share our same belief in keeping their family first. In todays world that is so hard to do. We wish them all the best.

Jeffrey and Julia

Shutterbug showing some love for life.

In this months magazine issue of Shutterbug, Joe Farace a photographer, writer, and educator wrote up a nice review on our website and photography. I have to admit, Julia and I was very honored by what he had to say. It has taken a lot of work to get our portrait website done (even though we have a few more fun ideas still to come). However, we can't take all the credit . We had the help of a good friend Harald Hasselbach, the owner and chief web designer for Blu-Domain. I am happy to know that all those hours of brainstorming ideas and creating mock ups have paid off. Of course we also have to give credit to our amazing clients who allow us to do what we love.

Jeffrey

Beau & Sarah... Love in the Summertime

Beau and Sarah are very much in love, you can just see it in their eyes. They were married at the Danada House (Wheaton, IL) which is an equestrian training ground and horse farm. One of our favorite spots of the day was this old barn. Julia and I love seeing beauty in everyday life. With the ablility to find artistic light, we are able to make the ordinary - extra ordinary. The wedding was coordinated by one of our favorite new wedding planners, Alison Bowman from Cloud 9. We wish you guys all the best on a happy marriage!!

Off To camp...

Well, it has been almost two weeks since we left the two oldest children in Tulsa, OK. It has been a bit strange around the Woods house without Jaelyn and Josiah. Josiah and his cousin Logan went to a kids camp called DryGulchUSA. They never had camps this cool when I was a kid!!!

In the meanwhile, Jaelyn spent some time with her aunt, uncle, and niece Lacey who live in Broken Arrow, OK. It was the first time we have let the kids do something like this. It was a hard couple of weeks for Julia and I. We miss them so much and so do their little sisters Jozi and Sophie. It was nice to have some time with just Jozi and Sophie though. It was definitely a lot cheaper to go out to eat and we did not get the looks that we usally get when the Woods crew comes walking into a restaurant. So many people look at us with a puzzled look on their face as if to say "are you crazy for having this many kids". I guess big families are rare these days. With all we have on our plate though we would not change a thing. Our family is very important to us.

My present this weekend for Father's day is to all be back together again. We will be spending time on a boat in the middle of a lake.

I would like to wish all of you dads a very Happy Father's Day. I hope you get to enjoy a day with your kids surrounding you!!

I love LA, but you can take the traffic and......

Julia and I have had so much fun this year doing destination portraits. It's becoming more common than ever, especially when it comes to our bride and grooms who live out of state. This month we took a trip to LA to visit one of our bride and groom's, Victoria and Darrick at their beautiful home in Hollywood Hills. Everything was going according to plan until we were invaded by 3 rescue helicopters. The water reservoir was located directly behind Victoria and Darrick's home. Sounds like somebody did not listen to Smokey the Bear and put out their cigarette butt. Griffith Park was on fire and choppers were everywhere trying to put out the flames. Last report I heard was 4,200 acres lost. What a mess and furthermore, no homeowners can get fire insurance! To Californians I guess it is just a way of life you learn to love and deal with it.

With all the excitment we still had a great session and had fun hang'in out with friends. Afterwards Julia and I went to one of the coolest quaint resturants, The Little Door. It had a french flair nestled in a breathtaking setting all set under the stars. It was not only beautiful, but the food was also fabulous.