Meet Claire | 10 Things You Might Never Need to Know About Me

Hello! (hello, hello!) Is anyone here? (here, here)

That’s quite the echo. But I can’t say I’m surprised. This website and blog have been around for about a year now, and it’s still pretty empty on the blog side. Let’s change that shall we!?

I figure we will start at the beginning. A little introduction to the person behind the camera. If you have followed me on social media at all, there are several things you probably already know about me- my name is Claire, I’m married to a police lieutenant and have four adorable children, a flock of chickens and a dog named Kevin the Bird. She’s a girl. You probably also know that I’m originally from the midwest, but now call the surface of the sun, I mean Arizona, home. You also probably know that I’m obsessed with all things lemon, barre3 and anything related to the ocean. The beach is my happy place!

But now, how about the things you might not know!? Read on for 10 pretty random things you might not know about me!

1. I spent several years professionally blogging for a popular parenting site. Over the course of my time with them, I wrote approximately 5000 blog posts about my kiddos, pregnancy, child birth, parenting, and marriage. But ask me to blog now and it’s like pulling teeth! 
2. My favourite food is salad. My husband Scott judges restaurants by their bread, I judge them by the type of lettuce they use and the taste of their house dressing. Give me a pretty, tasty salad any day of the week, preferably with a side of pizza  
3. Scott wanted to take me to Disneyland for our honeymoon and I said no. I imagined the Disneyland trips of my childhood… being at the park from sun up to sun down, packing PB&J sandwiches in a cooler and eating them at the car, waiting in long lines and only getting to ride a few rides. Turns out, Disney has changed a lot since my childhood and that’s not quite how Scott did Disney growing up. Knowing what I know now, I would say yes to a Disneyland honeymoon.
4. I use to have purple streaks in my hair. And at one point I tried orange streaks as well. It was so much fun. I miss having fun pops of colour but I kind of feel like I’m too old for that now. 
5. I can’t walk over sewer grates or man hole covers thanks to a  traumatic childhood experience. Some neighborhood kids told me that people lived in the sewers and thanks to some old clothes and McDonald’s leftovers in a sewer nearby, I believed them and have been terrified of sewers ever since. If I open my car door and find that I’ve parked over a sewer grate, I’ll move my car. I cannot bring myself to walk over them and it is completely irrational
6. I went to Astro Camp when I was in 8th grade. It was one of the best experiences of my early teen years. I still have my Astro Camp sweatshirt. It doesn’t glow in the dark anymore, it is pretty much thread bare and Scott LOVES to tease me about it, but it brings back so many happy memories. Astro Camp was the best!
7. My recurring nightmare, for as long as I can remember, is someone I love (or myself) being swept away by the ocean. Yet the beach is my happy place! It makes no sense, I am completely aware of this.
8. I’ve eaten raw octopus. I am a big sushi fan and while living in Salt Lake City, Utah, my favourite sushi place had raw octopus one night and I thought “sure, I’ll give this a try”. Most octopus, even when served raw, is actually flash boiled to make it a bit easier to chew. This was not. It was absolutely raw and was like chewing ocean flavoured bubble gum.
9. I don’t drink alcohol- I’ve never even had a sip, but my dream location for a photo session is a vineyard in Napa, or even better, in Italy. There’s something about the way grape leaves diffuse light that makes my heart sing. If you have access to a vineyard and want family pictures, let’s chat! I’ll make it very worth your while.
10. More often than not, I am the one who notices problems with our vehicles. I am either really in tune with our cars or overly concerned about every little thing… but, I’ve never been wrong! Each time we’ve taken it in to the mechanic, there has been something wrong that I’ve caught before it became disastrous. 

So there you go, 10 completely random things you probably don’t know about me! And likely don’t need to know. But I’m hoping you’ll return the favour and tell me a thing or two about you that isn’t common knowledge!

And be sure to check back often. I plan to be here three days a week, posting fun stories from my life as a mom and small business owner, tips and tricks for the perfect photo sessions and of course, sharing images from all of my amazing clients!

xox,

Claire

If you’d like to get to know me better, find me on social media and let’s be friends!

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