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operation anti-hoarder continues…
So, it was finally Wednesday (paper recycling day) and I was able to drag all of the recycling we were saving since before Christmas out to the curb. There was a lot of dragging. Every box was filled with more paper and more boxes.
And I can only imagine the thoughts of the recycling truck guys when the came around the corner and saw this. In my head it went something like “are you fu*king kidding me?!”
Then, after the recycling went out, the purge of 13 years worth of attic, basement, and scrapbook room crap quickly replaced the boxes in the garage to wait for the Vietnam Veterans pick up on Friday. 13 years worth of crap is a LOT of crap. My back still hurts from all the moving and lifting and shifting of said crap. And the pile goes back about 6 feet.
A special thanks to Nick & Chris, my friend Nicole’s brother and cousin who worked their butts off to cart all my piles of crap into the garage. And while the Vietnam Vets came and picked up, there’s still quite a pile in there (they couldn’t fit it all on their truck!) so I’ll schedule another pick up this week.
Sorry for all the boring blog posts. Have some other more interesting posts coming up soon that don’t involve my garage or hoarding.
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christmas 2011
A few from this year’s Christmas celebrations. Most of the pictures are from Hanukah & Christmas Eve as we left early afternoon Christmas day. We all had dinner at my in-law’s and my father in law did his usual speech (below).
So here we’re all gathered on this Christmas Eve
A bevy of stars and it’s hard to believe
There’s Richard and Ken, both of the deans
And Marilyn too, cause she’s Ken’s queen
There’s a new bride on board and that would be Heather
If you need cheering up, well she’s the belle weather
And Inez, our oldest, but I call her Dolly
She works very hard to keep Thomas jolly
And my son John, there’s a story to tell
Just think by tomorrow he’ll be hanging with Mel
And his lovely bride, now that would be Beth
Just look at her home page and you’ll lose your breath
Next there is Joseph who has great appeal
He’s married to Gail- got the best of the the deal
We come now to grandsons, so now I’ll have fun
Eight stalwart lads, we love every one
There’s Jack, who’s the eldest, by minutes- no more
Bright as a whip and he knows the score
I’ve seen him play ball and involved in percussion
He should join a pipe band. End of discussion.
Same thing for Patrick, another fine fellow
He looks just like Jack but a little more mellow
He playde the clave and did it quite well
I’m sorry I thought it was just a cow bell
Now these boys have courage that never will wilt
I’ll welcome the day when each dons a kilt
We move on the Brendan, he’s the tops not the middle
And is clearly an ace on the double bass fiddle
He is the tops, as good as it gets
But he roots for the Red Sox forsaking the Mets
And then there is Sean who’s as nice as can be
I read his essay- Hey, it could have been me
He told a story that made people smile
This guy is tops, he really has style
And of course there is Aidan who’s dead on the level
But why does he call his Grandpa the devil?
He often says stuff that makes me smile wide
Sometimes I suspect he comes from Woodside
And so on to Timmy, smart as a whip
A really good boy- he is quite a trip
He shows me these things- ipads and stuff
And makes me feel bad cause I don’t know enough
But there’s a day coming that will give him pause
When he needs me to parse an adverbial clause
And then there’s the happies kid on the block
He’s so smiley and good, there’s nothing to knock
And that would be James, he’s nothing but fun
He never learned walking- only to run
There’s the youngest of all still a tale to be told
He may be docile or he may be bold
But whichever way he goes, you know he’s gonna win
Cause we’ve not seen nothing like the Mighty Quinn
So these are the grandsons, the best in the land
And one day they’ll all march with Armagh Pipe Band
But the story’s not over, theres one yet to come
And that’ll make nine, a right tidy sum
A boy or a girl we all have our wishes
Will it be Amazing Grace? Or young Aloysius?
So we’re happy to be here, all of us blessed
To share the even with each treasured guest
For Grandmas and Grandpas, it’s been a grand treat
And my toast is all over so now we can eat!!
Some Hanukah celebrations. With Bob, of course.
Hakka telling stories. Was it hurting John’s head? 
Timmy leaving a note for Santa along with carrots and milk & cookies. 
Jack sat next to a lady in church “who smelled like cigarettes and prunes.” Yeah, I would make that face too.
Enjoying Christmas between nebulizer treatments.
Patrick and Brendan drinking the most disgusting thing. Lemonade and Dr. Pepper. Ew. 
All the boys. And…we recently found out that Joe & Gail (who are having their third) will be welcoming…wait for it…..a BOY! Yup, another one. So that is going to be 9 grandchildren/cousins. And 9 boys. Ridic. 
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million monday
**crickets** Is anyone still out there? I know I’ve been so bad about blogging but I’ve been so busy that I haven’t even had time to edit any of my personal photos, nevermind work photos and I hate blogging without photos. So here we go, if anyone out there is still actually reading my poor neglected blog. I have so much in my head that I feel like it’s going to explode. Hence the million monday title.
1. Still working hard on the whole rebranding end of the bsquared business. The packaging is going to be gorgeous! I’m so excited about it!! And there’s going to be a bsquared magazine too that will come along with your contract and welcome packet. All my sample and product orders are in and I’m just waiting on their arrival. I promise there will be pictures as soon as everything is in, but here’s what my colors are based off of: (john got me another gorgeous Tiffany bag for Christmas! Thanks JohnnyB!)
2. Vacation was fabulous- 10 whole days in Florida. More on the vacation including pictures soon (yeah, didn’t edit those yet either.) but I got about 1/8th of the stuff done that I had wanted to get done. I guess that’s just vacation for you, and why I’m so crazed now.3. The Organic Bloom frame orders have been pilling in (those boxes are freaking huge and heavy. Right, Beth W?) and here are a few shots of recent client orders. Chris has been so great hanging the frames in clients homes- he’s a real pro with the measuring! Me, I just eyeball it. Hence, why we now offer the service of having Chris come and hang everything for you and at $25 per hour, I think it’s a pretty great deal. Please feel free to email me at bethbeyrer@yahoo.com if you are interested in placing an Organic Bloom frame order- they are super fabulous. And I’m happy to come to your home to measure and help you choose colors, styles and sizes to best compliment your home and photos to create an amazing gallery for you too!!
Jenn’s frames in the baby’s nursery: (16×20 Lewis twin stack in espresso and white)
16×20 Lewis single in espresso, and 3 5×7 Ricky’s in white. 
3 4×6 Mary Ann’s in metallic bronze, one twin stack Fonzie in metallic bronze and cream soda. 
Franca’s 16×20 Lewis’s in metallic silver. (shown in my living room as she hadn’t decided on prints yet. When they are hung up, I’ll take some pictures and post them)
And Katie’s 8×10 Fonzie twin stack in charcoal and rhubarb. (this one was a gift for christmas)
4. Jenn (of the birth session, many other bsquared sessions and owner of the organic bloom galleries above) was having a post- christmas party on the day we were there hanging her galleries so I couldn’t resist snapping a few of her amazing table. She’s so great at everything having to do with event planning, decorating and styling. I really, really want her to start her own business!
5. Timmy had a little holiday concert at school right before Christmas. Here are a few from that. (I was so proud that he participated the whole time! If you remember Halloween, you know he doesn’t always do well with that.) He’s on the bottom right next to one of his best buds, Liam.
6. After being over at Jenn’s house the other day I’m all inspired to turn the ‘scrapbook room’ (which is kinda a big mess of a room now that no one scrapbooks in and just holds all the random crap from everywhere else in the house. Read: a mess.) into a real office for bsquared. I’m sorta torn because right now my “office” is a few feet in my kitchen with my computer, files and all my other bsquared stuff. There are pros and cons to both upstairs and kitchen offices. Being in the kitchen allows me to get work done and be around the boys at the same time (biggest pro), do some laundry, cook dinner all while working. But a lot of those are cons too when trying to really work- lots of distractions! If I have the office upstairs, it’ll be more cut off from the ‘world’ which is good for getting work done but not so good for multitasking and being around the boys. We’ll see how it all plays out.Going with something like this from Pottery Barn, but with no sewing machine and maybe a little futon from Ikea:
7. If they don’t already, the recycle guys are going to hate me after this week. This is the result of Christmas, bsquared product orders and just life. It goes pretty deep into the garage so this is just scratching the surface. Omg, Wednesday can’t come soon enough. I look like a freaking hoarder.
8. Just some shots of the cute boy doing his homework.
9. Finally took some photos of the new bsquared luxe albums. Aren’t they beautiful?? Monogrammed, gutterless (so there’s no break or visible seam in the middle of the two pages), thick pages, suede or leather cover. They’ll be under bsquared prodcuts later today and start at $700. Perfect for your wedding, bar/batmitzvah or just your bsquared family sessions over the years custom designed just for you.
10. Finally got my rug for the den in that I ordered back in September from Horchow. Something with the manufacturer, but I think it was worth the wait. Love it and it makes the room a little more cozy and warm.
Giveaway winners!:
11. The giveaway for best 2011 holiday card that was made with bsquared photos (but a card I didn’t make) that was submitted is Laura M!! Congratulations Laura!
12. The giveaway for the guess closest to the actual # of sessions I photographed in 2011 is: Joan S with a guess of 127. Congrats Joan!! My actual # of shoots was 138. I really appreciate you all guessing and guessing with such high numbers! It certainly feels like I do sessions numbering in the 500’s like so many of your guesses.
I’ll be contacting both Laura and Joan with your little gifts!
13. I think that’s everything (well, not really but I gotta save some stuff for future posts!) Hope you all have a great day!
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boys at the beach {our holiday card session}
Just realized I never posted these!! A few from back at the end of the summer when everyone was all tan and golden. We ended up using some of the pictures from this shoot for our holiday cards. I would post the cards but they are trifold and some of the images are upside down when posted flat. So just enjoy the photos for now instead.
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merry christmas {in nyc}
Cannot even believe it’s Christmas Eve. So much to do, so little time!!
Two weeks ago we went into the city for our annual Christmas traditions- seeing the tree, the Christmas Spectacular at Radio City, FAO Schwarz and dinner. A few of the photos from the day (all taken with my new Fujifilm x100- love my little point and shoot!)
Bob didn’t want to stay home alone, especially after he heard we were going into the city for Christmas adventures!
We ended up going to the tree much earlier in the day than normal but it was getting so crowded that we didn’t go back after the show. 
A visit to FAO- after waiting on line to get in (!!!). Timmy was all about the Legos and chocolate. Jack has an issue with down escalators. 
Which of these things is not like the others…
I could have left them just in the lego section for about a month and they would’ve been perfectly happy.
Some cool window displays. Anthropologie.
The Chrysler Building- my favorite.
Louis Vuitton. That red suitcase is amazing!
A dog in a ridic outfit. 
And dinner at the midtown location of Peking Duck House. I had no idea there even WAS a midtown location, but it was delicious and exactly like the one in Chinatown. And a lot closer for boys who were exhausted after a long day. 
Eagerly awaiting the duck. 
It was the Christmas we were introduced to Chinese Turkey. It’s staring at me. Fa ra ra ra ra. (you better know what movie this is from!)
Can you find the little Christmas tree?
Hope all of you have a very merry Christmas tomorrow filled with love, family, friends, blessings, good times….and pictures. The blog will probably be quiet for a few days while I regroup and enjoy my long, long awaited vacation. I’ll be posting again before the end of the year, so come back and visit.