Welcome to my blog! Grab a warm beverage and pull up a chair. Check back often to check out all of my recent work, and shoot me an email to chat: amanda@donahophotography.com
Thanks to everyone who emailed such sweet birthday messages! My lovely assistant (…and son), Noah, drew the winning name today (yes, I shoved 40-some pieces of paper with all of your names on it into that little mug for him to draw from :) )
Congrats to Ralna!! I’ll be in touch soon with details! 
It’s become a bit of a “tradition” for me to have a blog giveaway on my birthday each year…. Well, here it is, my day to eat as much cake as I want (…though who are we kidding, I’m pregnant & eat as much as I want anyways…) so a giveaway is in order!
Here’s the giveaway:
One lucky winner will receive a free portrait session! Portrait sessions can consist of one of the following: Engagement, Family, New baby, or “Just Because”. Your session will also include the best photos from your session edited & on a DVD for you to keep.
Here’s how to win:
Butter me up! (I kid, I kid)…. Either leave a comment below or send an email to amanda@donahophotography.com giving me a little birthday love & be sure to include your email address, name & what kind of portrait session you hope to win. My lovely assistant (in this case, my 3 year old son) will draw a name at random on August 31st.
The fine print:
There isn’t much, but the winner needs to know that their session WILL NOT BE SHOT until after April 1st, 2011. I am all booked up for the rest of the year, and between that & my maternity leave, all new bookings have to be after April 1st. …Not to mention, the Spring is beautiful!
Good luck!!
I’m THRILLED to make the big announcement finally here that we are expecting! Furthermore, we’re expecting twins! Our two new little BOYS will join into the Donaho family chaos this December. We are so excited & can’t wait!
Noah is also super pumped about being a big brother – Minus the whole having to share the attention thing
I stood in the card aisle at Kroger trying to find a Father’s Day card for my dad & my husband… and I teared up. Reading through cards about fathers making you who you are today, teaching you to ride bikes, consoling you after heartbreak… the tears kept coming. Then I saw a section for Grandfathers and I was one hot mess. I gathered my son & made a b-line for the door. I couldn’t think straight long enough to read anymore cards.
I am so blessed to have had 3 awesome men in my life. My grandfather, whom I miss dearly, and think about all the time… My dad, who is also my close friend… and my husband, the best father I could ask to have for my kids, and my very best friend. How I lucked out like this, I’ll never know.
So to the dads out there, thank you. Thanks for not just being a father, but a dad. Most of my clients know that I have a history of crying during weddings. 9 times out of 10, I cry during something related to the parents. I think it’s because I’m a mom now, and can picture how quickly the next 20 years will go and I’ll be the one there, toasting my son, or dancing with him on his wedding day. Father/daughter dances choke me up all the time. It’s one of the most special times on a wedding day for the bride, and one of the most scary in a lifetime (I’m sure) for the dad. Here’s a few memorable daddy-daughter dances in my mind…
…and from the perspective of a child. After my bawling incident in the store trying to purchase a card, I decided Noah could make one for his daddy instead. I’m NOT crafty (see several past blogs to figure that out) so while this isn’t the most aesthetically appealing card of all time, it’s definitely my favorite. Noah (age 3) and I sat down to make this card for daddy and I asked him “Noah, why do you love daddy? What do you love about daddy?” I wrote EXACTLY what he said… Here’s the card (be sure to check out Noah’s awesome smiley face on the opening page )
A few others on the list were:
Tickle
Watch baseball wit’ you… and basketball
Build house (the kid is obsessed with Lincoln Logs)
It was so fun for me to hear from Noah what things he loves about his daddy at this age, and to be able to write them down & remember.
…and to end on a funny note, a quote I came across…
“To be a successful father…there’s one absolute rule: when you have a kid, don’t look at it for the first two years.”
~ Ernest Hemingway
Apparently Ernest’s kid stopped the tantrums at age two… lucky him!
I’m watching Lost as I write this post, which is appropriate because it is one of my favorite things. However, this blog post won’t be about my tv show obsessions. I have decided to share a few cool vendors and websites/blogs with you over the next few weeks as a fun new feature to my blog.
Let’s dive right in. Tonight, I’ll be featuring Colette Paperie…
I have a love for things unique, handmade, and creative. Colette boasts some beautiful handmade paper items that I just LOVE. Here’s an example of a baby announcement (with a photo I’ve taken on it to boot!). Keli (the owner & designer) is awesome in working with clients to do custom orders… I know this from experience! I love this annoucement, and could also see these as some awesome Save the Date cards!
One other thing I love about Colette is their blog… I get overwhelmed looking through Etsy sometimes, but Keli seems to find every Etsy seller that I could possibly love & sticks them all in one convenient place for me! Click HERE to check out the Colette blog & HERE to visit their website!