About Me

Welcome to Lights and Letters! My name is Leslie and this is where I document and share my stories and photographs about family, my experiences and the things that I find magical, beautiful, nostalgic or inspiring. Our lives, yours and mine, can be both everyday and extraordinary. I hope to inspire you with these stories and pictures, and that you see that your own life also has magic and beauty and is unique and special. I am passionate, enthusiastic and I really enjoying connecting with people and talking about the things that we are all doing and learning to live our most fulfilled, happy and magnificent lives.

My Passion

I like to live a creative life. I've always loved art and photography and started borrowing my Dad's camera when I was 14. I attended the Alberta College of Art and Design in Canada and studied photography and graphic design in the Communications department. I worked as a web designer for almost ten years in New York City before leaving the work force to have a family. Now that my kids are getting older I have more time to put towards my creative passions again. I am learning to paint, I am taking my photography seriously again, I am drawing and hand lettering and illustrating. I love making art. I also love writing. I've been writing a blog for over six years and it's become a critical part of my process. I've been flexing my creativity in my Advice to Myself series and in the online course called Get Your Paint On.

My Family

I am married to Chris. He is a musician and a passionate researcher of rock and roll history. He takes good care of me and inspires me to challenge myself. He's always got something going on and his latest project is a book called 1950s Radio in Color. We have two boys, Milo and Quinn. Milo is six and such a sweet and empathetic boy. He loves to know how and why things work. Quinn is three and is naturally strong and athletic. He can correctly name and pronounce about a dozen dinosaurs including Quetzalcoatlus. They amaze us and make us laugh every day. I recently wrote about being a Mother of boys.

Where I Live

We live in Warwick, New York. It's a small town with a down to earth, metropolitan atmosphere, just 50 miles from New York City. Our mid-century modern home is on 2 acres at the end of a dirt road, next to a lake. The woods are our backyard. It's a unique house that I love, even though it's needed a lot of work since we moved in. We dream one day of building a new modular home, somewhere with a view. We've got the best of both worlds, with wide open natural spaces and farms all around, but we are close enough to New York City to spend a day visiting a museum or seeing a show. I have begun a photo series called Photo Walk Fridays in which I've been documenting my favorite spots in the city and closer to home.

My Roots

I grew up in Alberta, Canada and moved to the United States almost 15 years ago. I still visit Canada often, all of my family still lives there, and the distance has certainly made my heart grow fonder. I have an appreciation for the country, my family and my history that I didn't have when I was there. One of my favorite recent projects has been taking photographs at my family's abandoned farm.

Contact Me & More Information

I encourage you to talk back to me! Send me a private email at leslie (at) lightsandletters (dot) com or fill out the form on the Contact Me page of this site. You can also leave a comment on any post. Interacting with you is my favorite part of the process.