Mother
A double frame makes a wonderful gift for your mother. On one side, use a picture of you and your mother when you were a little girl and on the other, a picture of you together on your wedding day—hugging, getting ready together or something like that. For an extra-special touch, have the frame engraved to read, “I’ll always be your little girl.”

Father
If you wear a blusher veil, it is traditional to give it to your father after your wedding day, as a memento of that moment in your lives. A shadow box is a cute way to display this gift, along with a portrait of you walking down the aisle or having your father-daughter dance during the reception.

Fiancé
Secretly do a boudoir portrait session in your bridal lingerie and frame your favorite portrait. Hide it for him to find on your wedding morning with a little love note. This will be a wonderful surprise for him to enjoy that day and for many years to come.

Maid of Honor
A framed portrait of you together on your wedding day with a necklace or a gift card to a spa is the perfect thank you to your maid of honor. Have each bride’s maid sign the sole of your shoe before the ceremony for good luck. Whoever’s name is darkest by the end of the day will be married next.

Best Man
An engraved flask, a box of cigars or a nice set of cufflinks are all thoughtful gestures to give to the best man in your wedding. Be sure to get a portrait of all the groomsmen and the groom doing a toast. This makes a wonderful framed gift to give to each, along with a handwritten thank you card.

Flower Girl
An engraved locket is a wonderful gift for your flower girl. Alternately, a charming music box would also be cherished for years to come. Take a picture with your flower girl, and wait until her wedding day to give it to her, along with a heartfelt message about how proud you are to see her grow into a beautiful woman.

Future Children
Save a few bottles of wine from your wedding (depending on how many children you plan to have) and box each one up with a picture of you and your husband on your wedding day, as well as a heartfelt, handwritten message. This makes a wonderful gift many years down the road on your children’s wedding day.

Anniversary
Save the top tier of your wedding cake and freeze it until your one year anniversary. This makes for a wonderfully romantic memento from your wedding day.

For that big 25, use one of those bottles of wine that you set aside for your kids, if you have extras!

For your 50th, go to the place you were married and renew your vows in front of your closest and most dear family and friends. Be sure to save your shoes, veil and dress, wrapping them in linen and storing them in an airtight, watertight place. If you don’t end up renewing your vows in them, a daughter or granddaughter might love to wear it again.

Morocco is a land of contrasts. It is a country that lives with tourism, hence many of the tourist traps exists and the “sharks” that try to take advantage too, but once you are able to get away from those situations Morocco offers an incredible array of people, colors, smells, food, landscapes and languages.

I have been able to see a little bit of the different faces of the country. I spent a couple of days getting lost in the Medina in Fes, a big city with one of the biggest Medinas. When you enter this place on a weekday it is an incredible visual, audible and hearing cacophony. It almost creates an overload to the 5 senses. Not to say that the Medina is a maze with streets going up and down in all directions. ( I do have to say that after a couple of days I was sort of knowing where I was going… sort of )
But I have to say that the best experiences for me happen in the smaller places; either in small towns or even tiny villages ( With a couple of hundred people)
One place I visited was Chefchauen; A smaller city in the north of the country. It is very charming with almost all town painted in a light blue.

After following the advice of a couple of friends I decided to rent a car to cover more ground and have more flexibility. It was the best advice for the places I ended up visiting…and because of it, I was able to run into some great experiences. ( I usually travel by public transport, which is great too, but not as flexible in the remote areas I spent time in)
I headed to one of the mountain ranges in the country, the Middle Atlas. On my second day after a couple of hours of driving I decided to stop for some tea (a Moroccan tradition and a must do) at this small guest house on the side of the road on this tiny village ( Agoudal). Hassan greeted me and escorted me inside; to my surprise he was the first person I had met on this trip that spoke Spanish well enough to have a good conversation. I after a few minutes of drinking tea I told him about what I do and that I wanted to do some portraits of people in the area; but that I needed a translator/guide… I asked him if he could do it. He gracefully declined because he had to take care of the hostel and the potential clients that might arrive, but he offered to speak to someone else to do it. I was a bit skeptical because what I liked about him was that I could communicate with him easily. He said not to wary and called his friend “Said”. Said didn’t speak Spanish, he only spoke some French (better than mine, which was good ). I accepted his offer and went to the center of the village to find people to photograph. We spent the afternoon together and basically opened the door for me to create portraits of some of the men ( I say men because it was virtually impossible to photograph women… will cover this topic soon) He ended up being my guide/translator for the next 3 days!
What can I say. Said was great! In those days we drove to two different towns close by to photograph people. It was with him that I was able to enter into people’s homes and experience again the Moroccan hospitality. We drunk a lot of tea !!!
The women that I was able to photograph were either. a)Older women b)women from a different town from where Said was from c)Widows
This is a strong cultural issue. Part of it is religious, part of it is protecting being the laugh of town for doing something different (remember this is a tiny village… as they say “small town, big hell”) but most of all is a chauvinistic issue, where women are afraid to be photographed because of what their husbands would say or do. They all fear that their husbands would be angry with them for doing so. some of the things I heard is that they are afraid of having their photo on TV or Internet… some of them have the believe that all women that show on TV are prostitutes… (single women that is). This was something really hard to make them change their mind about.

For the photographers out there and the people interested in knowing a bit of the technical aspects of the portraits I created a video. This happened during a hike I was making and it seemed like all the stars aligned and everything came together. As I was describing what I do I encounter a subject “Ibrahim” in the middle of the mountain. I not only was able to take portraits of him, but he invited me to have tea and food with his family (a couple of hours hike up the mountain!!!). He is a Berber living in the middle of the mountain where he climbs back and forth every day for 3 hours. Here are the portraits… the video will have to wait a few weeks after my return home.

But who should you ask to join you on your big day? Here are some things to consider before you choose your bridesmaids.

Numbers
Most wedding planners recommend a bridesmaid for every 50 guests in attendance. If you have a small wedding, it might look odd to have four or five bridesmaids next to you. On the other hand, for a big wedding, it might look less formal to only have one maid of honor. Either way, it’s always nice to have a matching number of bridesmaids and groomsmen, so take your fiancé’s expectations into consideration as well.

Etiquette
Once you have a number in mind, be sure you don’t ruffle any feathers. If you have sisters, they should always be included, even if you don’t get along that well. It’s perfectly okay to have your best friend as your maid of honor, but it’s rude to leave family members out of the bridal party.

Reliability
You probably have lots of dear friends that you would love to share your big day with, but keep in mind that you will rely on them for many things—least of all looking polished for pictures and the ceremony, and most of all—moral support. If you have friends that are chronically late, will insist on casual footwear or tend to get excessively tipsy, think twice about including them in your day. (You will regret it.)

The Proposal
You have chosen your special friends who will stand next to you on your big day, but it’s still appropriate to ask them to honor you in this way. After all, it is a big commitment of time and money for them, so a more formal request goes a long way. Consider inviting them all to a special night out, or giving them a personal gift like this one.

Something Turquoise.com – They’ll be sure to say yes!

Gifts
While it’s common for bridesmaids to buy their own dresses, it’s a thoughtful gesture to buy their jewelry for the wedding day. You can choose something that coordinates with the dresses, which will also make a great gift for them to remember the occasion.

Use a personalization option to use gemstones that coordinate with your wedding color.

Other Friends
If you couldn’t include everyone you wanted to, don’t forget that there are other ways for them to be involved in your big day. They could do a reading during the ceremony, perform a musical number during the reception, hand out programs, and of course still take part in the bridal shower and bachelorette party.

Peas
One cup contains more protein than a tablespoon of peanut butter! Steam or boil until tender and puree. Tastes wonderful with steamed and pureed carrots as well!

Squash
Many varieties are perfect for one of baby’s first foods. Roast until tender, puree and voila! Stir in some applesauce and a pinch of cinnamon for a delicious dish.

Peaches and Pears
You can use fresh or canned peaches and pears. Simply slice, mash and serve for a yummy treat any time.

Remember – You should always consult your pediatrician about all dietary choices for your baby.(Here are two of our favorite pediatricians in Park Slope: Slope Pediatrics, Premier Pediatrics) . Be sure to allow a week after you introduce a new food, before you introduce another. Use clean hands and utensils when preparing baby food, and be sure that foods are at a comfortable temperature before giving them to your baby.

Bon’ appetite!

I live in a very big city so when I travel I gravitate towards the opposite.  I like to stay in smaller towns where I can feel the pace of life and find it easier to connect with locals.  Of course, hitting the big cities is a must because of travel logistics and tourist attractions, so I had been to both.

- Casablanca: It was a cultural shock in a way when I arrived (read previous post)… first day and I was innundated with everything new.

- Meknes: Is a smaller city and felt more manageable.

- Mulay Idris:  This small town near Meknes turned out to be the right size for my first week in Morocco.

Mulay Idris is a small town with a lot of Moroccan flavor. (people, colors, religion, food).  Some of Morocco’s cities have an old part of town and a new part of town.  The old part of town is called the “Medina”.  It is usually surrounded by big walls and has a few gates that allow entrance and exit. It is also usually a kind of labyrinth of sorts … you can get lost easily…. I usually like to know where I am and where I am going, but in this situation I didn’t mind just wondering and getting lost in it.

Getting lost means you meet people… and that is one of the best things for me.

I had read that people in Morocco are very hospitable, but you don’t know what that feels like until you experience it first hand. Also, being a photographer and wanting to capture portraits of people I would value so much that kind of opportunity, so I tend to put myself in situations where something things may happen.

You may ask, so how do you take these portraits?

There is a saying in Spanish (in Ecuador) that says:  “Baby who doesn’t cry, doesn’t eat”.  So If I want to “eat” I have to cry… my way of crying is just talking and asking.

This requires some patience, persistence and a lot of smiling…. It takes time to encounter people in the right conditions. I will get a few no’s before I get a yes… but when I get a yes… I hold on to it and make the best of it.

This is what happened with these men.  I saw them walking up some stairs and I just said hi ( in Arabic), which was the only word I know so far… after that I had to rely on my broken French.

Note: I am so incredibly grateful to have studied some French at some point in my childhood.  I don’t know what I could do without it here…. my French is terrible, but it is enough to get my point across and have some sort of conversation.

I smiled and asked how they were doing and started some conversation.  A moment later I just asked if it was ok for me to take their portrait.  It was my lucky moment… they say “sure, why not”.  So I started pulling my equipment out as quickly as I could.  They seemed impressed with the technology (my off camera flash !!).

I took a couple of portraits of each and thought that they would say ok thanks bye… but no… they said: would you like to come inside and have luch with us too?.  My lucky moment!

This sort of thing does not usually happen where I come from (neither in Ecuador nor New York), and it is just so wonderful to experience it.

It turned out that the man who I had asked to photograph was the “Mkadem” of this neighborhood.  A Mkadem is an important  political figure in each neighborhood.  He (I say he, because they are always men)  is the eyes and ears of the local authorities – kind of like a neighborhood watch leader.  The other man who was present was the Mkadem from a neighborhood in Fez (2nd or 3rd largest city in Morocco), who came to visit for a couple of days.

So they had lunch prepared for this man’s visit. (and now mine too)  My first Moroccan home made meal was incredible!

After the meal they wanted to show me the rooftop, so I could see the Mosque and a famous Mausoleum from up top and also take a couple of extra photos of them if I wanted….  music to my ears!!

Girls Names
Isabella – God’s Oath – 5
Sookie – Unknown – 2
Hattie – short for Harriet – 3
Arabella – Beautiful Altar – 5
Harper – Harpist – 4
Haven – Place of Safety – 2
Betty – short for Elizabeth – 4
Haddy – Heather-filled Valley – 3
Blythe – Happy, Free Spirit – 2
Kate – short for Catherine – 4
Charlotte – Strong – 5
Amelia – short for Emily – 5

Boys Names
Jacob – Supplanter – 4
Max – short for Maxwell – 5
Jack – short for Jacob – 5
Milo – Soldier – 3
Bing – Pot-shaped Hollow – 1
Liam – short for William – 4
James – short for Jacob – 5
Rory – Brilliance – 2
Aiden – Fiery – 4
Gavin – White Hawk – 5
Owen – Young Warrior – 4
Connor – Wise – 5

Comment below to add to our list of names, or tell us your favorite one and why!

Weather you are a new traveler or an experienced one.  There is always that feeling of uncertainty.  This is how I deal with the situation…

I am not a big research kind of traveler… I typically plan my trips as I go, but one thing I try hard just before arriving at a new city (on the plane or bus ride ) is to have an idea of where I want to stay at least for the fist night.  Ports of entrance can many times be stressfull…. People welcoming you and trying to take you their way… taxi, taxi, this way, that way…  Depending on the country and culture you have have to be firm or firmer on your decisions to do one thing or another.   Typically when you make up your mind to go with someone everyone else chills and lets you go.

Doing a bit of research regarding where the airport/bus station/ferry is in relation to where you want to go is a must for me… I want to know where I am, so when I am heading to my destination I don’t feel like I am being bullied.

Today, I arrived in Casablanca.  Landed in the morning and took the train from the airport to the city (about 30km away).  I had done a bit of reading on the plain and knew I was going to stay in a particular area of town (possibly in one particular hotel).  First day in a new country I rather stay in a good place (better place than I may usually stay at) so that I can get myself oriented and learn the lay of the land.  I took a cab from the train station to the hotel.  Of course at the train station I had to confront the party of taxi drivers who were waiting for customers to make business… barganing time!  After a couple of minutes of interaction and using my rusty french I bargain my taxi fare to 5 Dirhams. ($.90)   My driver, for some reason, got into a fight with another driver regarding other pasanger’s fares… it looked quite intense (yelling in arabic doesn’t sound very friendly), but I think it was kind of  a normal thing.

Funny thing was that after we all left (seemingly in different directions) 8 minutes later we ended up meeting again with the other taxi driver at the same hotel (the other tourists and I were staying at the same place).  The two drivers looked at each other again in a not very friendly way…. Welcome to Morocco.

Day 1

I was dead after my trans Atlantic flight, so I took a nap for a couple of hours.

Woke up an decided to go for a walk  and see what’s going on in town.  I am staying relatively close to the Medina (old town surounded by walls), so I headed in that direction.

It’s always fun to walk in a new place.  All of your senses get stimulated right away… visual, hearing, smell, streets in a new country always have a different sound… no sure why.

After a few minutes I reached one of the gates of the Medina… a big archway… typical arabic architecure.

It seems like there are not too many tourists in Casablanca (I didn’t see many) so I am sure that I wasn’t hard to identify.

I started walking in and of course I was immediately offered stuff for sale… I rejected nicely and kept on walking.  Didn’t really have much of an agenda for this afternoon.  Just wanted to feel the place out.  Didn’t even brought my camera with me, just because I wanted to be relaxed and feel the place out before I start “working”.   A young man approached me and started talking to me… the typical situation… Hi, where are you from… welcome… need help…  I was friendly but didn’t really feel like having  a guide yet, so I dismissed him politely.  He smiled and walked back to the entrence of the Medina.

photo caption: A wall in the Medina

After a few minutes I see him again and he smiles and starts chatting again… I was thinking, ok here we go… welcome to Morocco… you will be harrased on every corner… The guy started speaking (in very good english) and telling me something about every place we were walking by.  Of course he wanted to charm me and was joking around a bit, but it felt easy (as opposed to an annoying sales person).  So we kept on walking… He kind of broke my scilence and I started asking him questions … about the place… about him and his family.  Before I knew it I had a brand new guide in the Medina!

I usually don’t get sucked into having guides walk me around, but Gino (his nickname) was very friendly (in a not aggressive way) and had good stories.  The things he was pointing out where things I really didn’t know… places, spices, soaps (which I ended up using later on), language (tought me some basic arabic).

I mentioned to him that I wanted to get a haircut, and he took me to this small shop in the middle of the Medina, where I spend about 1 hour.  Got some tea and honey bread while I waited.  The owner of the shop and his assistant were very nice and friendly as well…. got my haircut for $7 and I was off to a Hamam (Public bath…).

photo caption: My new look!

Gino really wanted me to soak on the Moroccan culture right away.  We stopped at a shop where we bought soap and shampoo and rented a towel!  Then we walked across the street to one of the Hamams inside the Medina.  It was way too crowded… full of kids and families.  Gino decided to turn around and take me to another place a few “blocks” away.

It is hard to trust strangers right away, but this guy was really trying to take care of me…

We got to the next Hamam and went in.  This one was pretty empty which felt way more private.  He arranged for me to go in and spoke to the “Scrubber” and gave him instructions to treat me well….  At this point I was just going with the flow…. The “Scrubber” was this BIG man,  bald with a big belly, but with a tender face (It was kind of a cute Quasimoto).  HIs name was Muhammad (surprise!).  I took my close off, but them in a “locker” and went in with Muhammad.

This Hamam was divided into different rooms.  It almost felt like I was taken back in time to a medieval dungeon where the heat and the water was flowing.  There were only4 or 5 other people there so it felt very quiet.  Muhammad didn’t speak english or french, so we had to go to basics and communicate with gestures…  The floor was tiled so it was slippery (didn’t have flip flops) so Muhammand took me by my hand and walked me in until we reached a specific corner.

How do you tell someone to lay on their back, on your side, on the other, on your belly?  Well, he managed to make me understand.  He had to fetch a few buckets and filled them with hot water…. and really what he did was SCRUB me.  Man, I felt like a baby being bathed by my mother again.  He was rough, but gentil…. It felt really good and after 30-45min of this my body felt clean and light.

I got dressed and felt new again.  Gave Muhammad a generous $5 tip ! (recommended by Gino) (The Hamam entrence fee was $1.25) and met Gino, who was waiting for me.

We went to return the rented towel and got a small bite to eat while Gino was giving me a list of key phases that I will need to use in the next 5 weeks… from “How much is that… no it is too expensive…. to Can I take a photograph of you?”

Gino escorted me out of the Medina and suggested I give him a tip for the experience that I had if I thought it was good… whatever I felt like he said…..  Money is so relative and I only had  $25 left so that was his tip for the day!

Rainbow Cupcakes
Add some rainbow or shamrock sprinkles for a fun finishing touch.

Shamrock Paper Chain
This is a cute decoration for almost any decor.

Leprechaun Trap
Set this up with your kids and see if you can’t catch a leprechaun. If you can’t find a pot of gold, just use a small dish full of lucky charms!

Rainbow Jello
This looks too good to eat!

Shamrock Tee Shirts
Your little ones won’t get pinched with these adorable shamrock tee shirts!

Happy St. Patrick’s Day from Roberto Falck Photography!