Rachel Henderson Photography Blog » Misc

Happy New Year

Rachel Henderson — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 02:08:37 +0000

There’s a new addition to the Linde Family. On New Year’s Eve our next door neighbors welcomed this little bundle into their home, literally. Evelyn Rose was born at home at 11:50 on December 31. She has 3 older brothers and an older sister who all take great care of her. Win, Harriet and Dale have lots of playing ahead of them with this little one.

Last week…

Rachel Henderson — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 20:43:58 +0000

…we had our company Christmas party last week. It was pretty awesomely fun. Since the group doesn’t fit into a minivan anymore we thought that it’d be fun to get a vehicle that could fit all of us. Lily’s Limos came with a huge Hummer. It was a really nice ride. A little shout out to them. They were super fabulous to work with. The driver was awesome and making the arrangements was so smooth. I’d never been in a limo before, it was wonderful. We all rode together in a warm quiet vehicle to and from Grand Rapids. We had dinner on top of the Amway Grand. It was delightful. I woke up the next morning with sore cheeks from laughing so much.

The book that turned me upside down

Rachel Henderson — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 17:51:39 +0000

So I’ve recently read a book that rocked my world. If you’ve known me for any length of time you’ll know that I eat strange. My opinions of what is healthy have certainly surfed the trends of diet and health. But ever since 1991 I’ve been doing one thing or another to eat a fit and healthy diet.

In recent years I’d felt like I’d dialed in my dietary opinions. As a family we were eating mostly whole foods with an emphasis on meat and high quality protein. I had (still have) a freezer full of grass-fed bison and local, truly free-range, chicken. Every evening I was cooking meals like Alaskan wild caught salmon with organic kale and tomatoes. We even had a share of a goat and drank raw goat milk, never cows milk. My apologies to all of my vegetarian and vegan friends, but until recently I thought that your diet was unhealthy.

Then I had 2 friends recommend The China Study. Jared read it. I read it. And our dietary world hasn’t been the same. It was truly fascinating. It’s the most scientific nutrition book I’ve ever come across. Written by a well respected PhD from Cornell, the book goes into amazing detail about the dietary links betwen breast cancer, prostate cancer, heart disease, diabetes, MS, lupus, leukemia and more.

So…for the past 6 weeks our family has been eating as he recommends. Jared and I have gone on to read several more books that have been even more eye-opening. Our family now eats exclusively a whole-foods plant-based diet. So far the transition hasn’t been that hard.

If this is right and the claims and science in these books are what they seem to be, then I am very excited about it.

Just for kicks this is what our freezer still looks like—but not for long.

Couldn’t be happier…

Rachel Henderson — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 15:14:02 +0000

…that I found a fashionable fanny pack. Yes! I used “fashionable” and “fanny pack” in the same sentence—proudly.

And if you are insanely jealous you can get you own here (that is if they don’t sell out since they are so hot!)

Some things just must be photographed

Rachel Henderson — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 23:47:10 +0000

Yes, I am a snobby, over-educated, WASP living downtown. And I’m a terrible speller. But somethings just must be photographed. Both of these signs are on our block. And I giggle when I see them. The care that went into both of them. One person clearly took some time to get a new fresh marker with plenty of juice to make bubble letters in a font that she probably perfected in the 7th grade. The other actually printed their sign on a computer. Getting a printer to work takes at least a PhD in our house (at least our printer does, but printers and AT&T are apart of the axis of evil so don’t even get me started). Anyway, giggle along with me and maybe next week I’ll post a photo of my favorite Holland sign from a local park.

Pandas!

Rachel Henderson — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 11:50:48 +0000

The comments from my mom and sister on that last post about the panda sheets come from this video. We have one VHS video from my childhood. It’s Christmas ’86 and it’s a classic. Here’s the snippet of 7-year-old Rachel opening set of panda bear sheets. They were the first flannel sheets that I’d ever had, it was love at first sleep!

Harriet now sleeps on those very sheets.

New look

Rachel Henderson — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 01:56:25 +0000

So here it is, the new blog look. I’ve been needing to update my blog for a while now. My blog has kind of been a “cobbler’s son has no shoes” type thing. The old slide show at the top of my blog was way out of date. So here it is. I find graphic design very difficult, but I have very snotty graphic design taste. So I always have to suck it up and do my best. This is what I came up with. Enjoy. More pictures to follow :-)

If you want a super cool blog that you can design yourself check out Prohoto. (I’m sleeping with the guy who owns it)

This is what our street looked like a couple of hours ago

Rachel Henderson — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 17:23:14 +0000

A really crazy thunder storm came through. It’s pretty crazy around here. There are trees down all over the place. This is just a tiny sample of the wreckage. I was at least 12 huge trees uprooted, several power lines and countless limbs down in the 3 block area that I saw. Every Tom, Dick and Harry who owns a chain saw is out in the street helping out. I saw numbers husband wife teams. Him carrying a chain saw and her with a gas can both sopping wet.Our street had 5 big trees down so I couldn’t get home. I parked here and walked with the kids. We were headed out in our van when the storm hit. It was real dodgy for a minute. We waited it out parked next to a building so that we were away from trees and power lines. I’m not that jumpy of a person but this was really scary.The cars were having a hard time letting the fire trucks through. This one was honking and honking.It’s like this all over the place.

I order a lot of stuff online…a lot

Rachel Henderson — Thu, 12 May 2011 13:52:38 +0000

Larry the UPS guy and I are on a first name basis. I think that he might even make my if-I-sent-Christmas-cards-then-you’d-be-on-it list. There’s usually a small, or large, stack of brown boxes on my porch every afternoon.

When people find this out they always ask me, “what do you order?” And I give the boring response, “everything.” It’s as obnoxious as saying “nothing” to your parents when they ask, “what did you learn in school today?” But it’s the only way that I know how to respond. Basically, if I can order it online I’d rather do that then buy it from a store. So yep, those packages have exciting stuff in them like paper towels, canned tomatoes and a never-ending stream of Boxcar Children books.

Last month I ordered what might be the piece de resistance of my online shopping. I ordered 2000 worms–as in those wiggly slimy brown guys that like to come out in the rain. This spring I put in some really sweet raised beds for my garden. I filled them with a blend of compost and dirt. I wanted to get them jump started with worms so I bought a bunch of compost worms. It was really exciting to get them in the mail. C’mon any package that is stamped “Live Product” must be good.You know you want to see inside the bag.

For those who want a live view.

We had a great time spreading the worms. After I showed the kids we took the bag over to the neighbors and recruited their 3 boys to help us spread the worms around the garden. They were eager volunteers.

I’ve been a little behind on the blog…

Rachel Henderson — Thu, 12 May 2011 11:58:52 +0000

…and the laundry.