I'm just getting to posting some of the photo sessions I had at the beach this year, which mostly took place in New Jersey. The beautiful mama of these little boys owns an exquisite store in Bryn Mawr called Skirt, which I highly recommend visiting if you have not already.

Their beach house will be photographed by Home Beautiful in the middle of this month, and I loved having the opportunity to photograph there.

since their cousins are part of the yearly beach festivities, we thought it was important to include them as well:

This stunning family is living here in Philadelphia by way of Southern California, and I'm so glad they came for a visit! Mom and I both loved the little cowboy hat which he was wiling to keep on for just a few seconds.

Love how genuine her smile is here

gorgeous!

Many of the visitors in our Wilmington studio know Becca as a fabulous help when it comes to choosing which photos to order and where to place them in their homes, but she is also a mom to two beautiful girls! After photographing Zoey as a newborn last February, it was a blast to see her again last week sitting up and laughing at six months.

I can't get over how big Hannah is! I met her when she was just a little peanut, when I first met Becca almost six years ago.

We giggled at the idea of recreating the photo on the left from 2007, I think Hannah was slightly embarrassed at the idea but we had a good time with it!

I have been friends with local Wilmington artist Todd of ToddTully for a while, and last week he dropped off these beautiful pieces to our Glen Mills studio to feature. I absolutely love them, each one was hand carved and painted by Todd himself.

His news section is a fun read, I highly recommend it for the design-loving blog enthusiast!

This gorgeous couple came from center city Philadelphia out to our area for a natural looking maternity session. I'm glad that they were able to see the beautiful landscapes in our area and am looking forward to meeting their newborn baby next month for our photo session.

As a side note the dad-to-be is into CrossFit and I keep hearing about it more and more. My friend Jessica tried to get me to do a workout with her this summer, but I have conveniently avoided it! The results look great but I'm afraid of the pain it takes to get there.

I'm so lucky to have the opportunity to be part of this loving family's lives, I photographed their wedding, first child growing up and now there is a little sister. Their first baby is a little confused by having a new baby in the family (there was some alternating between kisses and poking) but I just know that they ill be best friends growing up.

it's that time of year again, and Laura Novak Photography has been nominated for Philly's hot list. If you have a few moments, I would appreciate your vote. thanks so much!

This past winter I decided to go for it, and join a local CSA since I love fresh fruits and veggies. CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture and it works genius-ly. You pay to join. As a member you get farm fresh food once a week throughout the growing season which is from late June through mid October. Then you get bunch of what's in season. The food is delicious, fresh, healthy and it's a fun adventure to find out what I get each week and then add in the challenge of figuring out what I'm going to do with it. There are many things in the share that I wouldn't necessarily buy, but I hate to see great food go to waste so I end up searching for new recipes and cooking meals that I have never made before.

Since up the CSA share has been a big part of my summer so I thought I would share some of the different ways that I'm preparing each week's bounty. There was a lot of zucchini coming each in July so I started to make these cookies each week. John loves them and they are super healthy!

Lemon-Zucchini Cornmeal Cookies
(modified from Martha Stewart)

* 1/2 cup smart balance
* 1 cup confectioners' sugar
* 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
* 1 teaspoon packed finely grated lemon zest
* 1 teaspoon coarse salt
* 1 cup whole wheat flour (you could also used unbleached flour)
* 1/2 cup fine cornmeal
* 1 medium zucchini, grated on small holes of a box grater (about 1 cup)

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. In a large bowl, mix butter and sugar with a wooden spoon until pale and fluffy. Stir in vanilla, lemon zest, and salt. Add flour and cornmeal and mix until mixture is crumbly. Add zucchini and stir until a thick dough forms.
2. Drop dough by rounded tablespoons, 2 inches apart, onto two parchment-lined baking sheets. Bake until cookies are light golden brown at edges, 25 to 30 minutes, rotating sheets halfway through. Let cool completely on wire racks.