Heights Archives - BigPinkCookie

Mike’s Birthday Weekend, Part 2…

Saturday, April 6, 2013 by Christine

Heights First Saturday Art Market

The weather outside was so absolutely perfect, we decided to head over to the Heights First Saturday Art Market. The musicians were playing, there was great art to check out, and Elaine was there with our former booth set-up selling her TTV and miniature series of prints. It was great to see her & Mitch, who coordinates the event each month.

After a stroll around the market and visiting with the two of them, we went to Hubcap Grill for dinner. Somehow, we kept talking about burgers yesterday, so it was my request. I wanted a good burger, and it absolutely hit the spot. I love Hubcap Grill! After we finished eating, we stayed for a bit just enjoying the perfect spring day weather.

Houston, you amaze me.

Day 14 of 365. Photographs taken with my FujiFilm X-E1 (straight out of the camera, only resized) on April 6, 2013.

Hubcap Grill in the Heights

Filed Under: Houston & The Heights, Picture Time Tagged With: Burgers, First Saturday Art Market, Heights, Houston, Hubcap Grill

Spreading the Hot Mama Mission Far & Wide!

Thursday, July 26, 2012 by Christine

Heights Boudoir Photographer Featured in the Houston Chronicle

OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG!!! *Squee!!!* That is ME!!!

Yes, that sums up rather effectively my response both when I was asked for this interview in the Houston Chronicle for the Ultimate Heights section and when I saw the paper today! OMG!!! Since the article isn’t online, I transcribed it on to my main Houston boudoir photography studio blog.

I’ve been working SO hard on discovering exactly what my mission is and then how to put it in to words. To really know my WHY, and to find the words to communicate it with others. Then there is the uphill battle of making people aware of it. It feels like I’m just starting, but I’ve really been on this path for over a year now. It just takes time. Thanks to Twitter, Facebook, my blogs, my friends – all have been helping to spread the word. But to get an article in the paper like this? That means so much to me! I want a chance to touch the lives of as many women as possible, and so knowing this is in the hands of people all around the Heights today? YES!!!

The best part about all that hard work is that while I was nervous about being interviewed, once we got started talking I knew exactly what to say about glamour, beauty & boudoir photography and my WHY. It is all right there in the article, which makes me THRILLED!

The back story of how this interview came to be is quite amusing. You might recall that a few years ago I did a personal project that involved photographing a number of local business. One of those business was Mam’s House of Ice – one of my favorite treats in the Heights, especially in the hot summertime! Turns out that last week, the Ultimate Heights section wanted to feature Mam’s, and they contacted me to see if I would be able to send some of the photos I had taken for use in the article. I was more than happy to say yes, and I pulled the files and send them on. In the editor’s follow up email, she asked if they could interview ME to be featured too!

Serendipity, man. Serendipity.

I did that project to meet a lot of really GREAT people all around Houston. I never expected things like this to come from it though.

Their write up of my mission and WHY I want to help women was so fantastic! “Christine Tremoulet believes the culture of beauty is changing for the better, and she’s found a way to combine her passion for photography with the mission for a new standard of how women should look.”

Opening line. Perfectly said. I love what I do with boudoir photography, and I could not be more excited to share it with the world!

Filed Under: Picture Time Tagged With: boudoir, Heights, Houston Chronicle, Photography Blogs, Studio

Goodbye, Old House…

Monday, January 30, 2012 by Christine

Eight years ago, Mike & I got engaged on New Year’s Eve, put an offer on a house at the end of January, bought the house in mid-March, moved out of both of our apartments into the house, and got married at the end of May. Seems we aren’t the type to stand still long enough to let moss grow under our feet.

The house we bought back was in Lakewood Forest, in northwest Houston. Ok, technically a Tomball mailing address, but nowhere close to Tomball, and we didn’t get to vote in any city elections (either Tomball or Houston) so I’m still claiming Houston. It is a nice, quiet neighborhood. Older trees, big houses. Great schools, close to where I lived before so that Jason could stay in the same Scout troop and new people at his new school.

It was a good house for us.

But we always wanted to live in the Heights.

So in May of last year, everything aligned, and we bought that house in the Heights that we had always wanted. The house I had always dreamed about, since it is a 1920 Bungalow. With the oppressive heat of last summer already underway, we moved the essentials from the old house to the new (much older) house and put the other one on the market.

Six months later, we finally got an offer at the beginning of January. Just shy of the 8 years since we made an offer on the house ourselves. This past weekend – the actually anniversary of our offer – we had a HUGE garage sale to sell the furniture we had left behind that we didn’t want but staged the house with. Now we’re packing up the items we want to keep, donating the items that we don’t but didn’t sell in the garage sale, and finally getting it all moved out. The closing on the house will be next week. We will finally be back to having just one mortgage. It has been a looooong 6 months.

Being there this weekend and visiting with our old neighbors made me realize how fantastic our old house was. The new owners will have a great neighborhood to be a part of, and I hope they enjoy their time there as much as we have.

Meanwhile, I’ll be figuring out what to do with all that stuff we are moving. Seems a 1300 sq ft house is a LOT smaller than 3000 sq ft. This should be interesting!

In a way, I can’t wait to say goodbye to our old house. In a way, I hate to see it go. We started our marriage there. We enjoyed the company of many friends and family there. It was good to us.

But I can’t deny it – the Heights is where we belong, and I am so glad to be living here at last. It has always felt like home, both within our house and within the neighborhood. Saying goodbye to the first house is bittersweet, but knowing how many amazing times are ahead, I’m looking forward to signing the papers!

(PS – For those of you playing along at home, yes – I went to Imaging USA in New Orleans, ALT Design Summit the next day in Salt Lake City, and then came home to clear out our old house. All within 2 weeks. Whew!)

Filed Under: Houston & The Heights Tagged With: Bungalow, Heights, home, Houston, Houston Heights, Lakewood Forest, moving, Texas

Halloween & Feeling Witchy…

Friday, October 28, 2011 by Christine

Yesterday I was out & about town with my friend Kelly (yes, the same Kelly that saved me when I almost drowned after the destination wedding we photographed in Bermuda), and I was on the hunt for a witch hat for the Heights Woman’s Club luncheon I’m going to later today. It is the Witches Lunch at Stella Sola, and they asked us to wear a hat, so I was on it!

First I headed to a Michael’s store. Walked up to an employee. Asked where I would find a witch hat. He looked a bit puzzled and said, “Oh, I don’t think we have those.” Standing in front of an explosion of Halloween display, with the rest of the store looking like Christmas threw up on it, and no hats. Ok, fine.

Next we headed to Hobby Lobby. My Mom is visiting family right now in Minnesota, and she told me that Hobby Lobby had a lot of witch hats – really cute ones even. Excellent! Because the women normally decorate their hats for this luncheon, but I was more than happy to buy one off the shelf already looking cute. I thought the Michael’s experience was odd, but this one was even stranger! I walked in, asked the first employee I found where I would find a witch hat, and she seriously looked at me as if I had horns growing out of my head! “We don’t sell THOSE here!”

Sure, I’m reading a lot into this – and they did have an aisle filled with cute Halloween stuff, pumpkins, aprons, and the like – but what was up with the weird attitude about the witch hat? Was it the idea of dressing up like a witch? Costumes? What? Just to make sure it wasn’t just me, I confirmed with Kelly. That woman looked at me like I was crazypants with devil horns sticking out of my head!

Driving around in the suburbs yesterday was such a stark contrast from the Heights. I hardly saw any decorations in the suburbs other than some pumpkins. Everywhere around here in the Heights, there are Halloween decorations. A block from my house they have an 8 foot spider web with a big black spider and a giant stripped spider in bright colors. Ghosts are hanging from the porches. Tombstones. This place DOES Halloween!

On Facebook people are talking about how their schools won’t let kids wear costumes or do Halloween parades anymore. Man, I remember those from elementary school – those were good times! Halloween was FUN!

Why do we have to be so damn politically correct? Your kids aren’t going to start worshiping Satan if they dress up for Halloween, people! UGH.

Meanwhile, for the first time in a long time, I bought a TON of Halloween candy for this year. These Heights kids better not let me down! I’ll be waiting at the door in my witch hat – which I finally found at Walgreens! (Yay, Walgreens!!!)

Filed Under: BlahBlahBabble, Houston & The Heights Tagged With: Candy, Halloween, Heights, Hobby Lobby, Michaels, Trick or Treat, Walgreens, witch hat

Heights Gratitude…

Wednesday, October 26, 2011 by Christine

It has been a busy week around here. I traveled with Elaine up to Brenham to photograph Catherine & Rich’s wedding. Something in the air beat me up pretty hard, and I was down and out with allergies on Sunday. I had spent the night on Saturday at my parent’s house since it was closer to Brittany and easier to hand off the memory cards to her there, and spent much of Sunday there too as well.

As I was driving into the Heights on Sunday night, I had a familiar feeling. I was taking the same route I always used to take to my former studio before we moved. Southbound on I-45, exit N. Main, take right on to N. Main and an immediate left on to Pecore. It really hit me as I sat at that light at 11th & Studewood, where I used to turn left but now I go straight.

I am home.

After all of those years of wishing we lived in the Heights, after all of those days that I dreamed and lamented that my house was 40 minutes away, I’m here. I live here. It is my home. It is the first time I’ve ever really felt like Houston is my hometown. After 25+ years, that is saying a lot.

I’m so grateful that I had to note the feeling. It could have just been the allergy drugs, but I don’t think that was the case. I’m just so happy to be home at last.

In case you missed them, here are some other recent posts I’ve made…