Chinese Gardens

There is literally nothing more fulfilling to me than being a mother. And when I say “being a mother” I don’t mean to make it at all about me. Having the gift of a child and experiencing the “puppy love” that we remember from our teen years- only over and over again- with a child that grows up before your own eyes- is a blessing. It’s an expansion of the mind and heart.

Meet my little Ella. I don’t blog too much about her, because she is normally pretty camera shy. She’s not much of a ham so it takes a lot of incentivizing (mother code for bribing) in order to shoot more than one quick snap of her. For this long over-due mama/daughter shoot I chose the Chinese Gardens for our backdrop. Why? Because it’s like a real-life adventure park for my kiddo 🙂 And it’s stunning, right?

While Ella continued her tour and oooh and ahhhed at the fish, artifacts and cultural details, I of course documented my outfit! Haha. What do you think of my final touches to this Shop Tobi look? I dressed down this Wrap Top for a day look in a previous post. So, this is my idea for more of an evening look. I paired it with this insanely FUN mini skirt which is from Shop Tobi as well!

The Chinese Gardens offered us an incredibly scenic photographic backdrop with built-in adventure paths for Ella! I love that they have little pamphlets for the kids, giving them a visual map of the gardens with a Where’s Waldo-Esque list of items to spot. Ella ran around pointing out cultural artifacts and artisanal details the entire tour!

This was such a wonderful day, although I would like a re-do without the distraction of photo-taking. Every once in a while it IS nice to toss the camera aside and focus 100% on the moment at hand, haha. I am grateful, however, that we have these beautiful photos to treasure for always.