Cousins

2 weekends ago, Rocky & Jones had their cousin Pikkle over for 2 nights and 2 full days which was SO much fun! Rocky of course doesn't like having any other dogs around, but funny that when they are around he acts more like a dog and less like a baby :) He and Pikkle took their walks together and he was very much a gentleman making sure that she was next to him at all times...so cute! Jones loves Pikkle so that is never a problem and he used to be so into playing with her (she's very playful), but this time he wasn't so interested. We think it's because of his older age. On the Saturday morning that Pikkle stayed with us, we took all the dogs over to the high school, shut them into the bull pen, and threw some tennis balls around so they could get exercise. Rocky doesn't chase the balls, but I can normally get him to run around the grassy area for a bit. After we got home that day, all of the dogs were VERY tired which was our plan. Here are some pics....

And since Jones doesn't get enough love on this blog, he gets his own photo

Living on the west coast

One huge benefit of living on the west coast is the AMAZING sunsets that we get almost every night...especially living close to the Ocean. Here is a sunset seen from our patio last week.

Happy Birthday to my Rock!

Yesterday, December 15th was my little Rocky's 9th birthday! If you've ever met him you are probably amazed at his age mostly because of his size - smaller than most cats. However, his true age shines through when he gets an attitude and acts like a 150 lb dog. Then you know he's just a grumpy old boy who is so little that he has to be on guard at all times ;) This old boy has brought me almost 9 years of so much unconditional love that I can't imagine what life would have been like without him. It might sound corny, but through many tough times, I thanked God for Rocky's love, friendship, and licks on my nose. He is going to have such a hard time not being the baby of the house in a few months, but he will always be my 1st little love.

Happy Birthday Rock Rock!

2009 Goals

I've been seriously thinking about my goals for next year, especially concerning my business. With the move and being preggers, I haven't had much time lately to really dedicate myself to my passion. For many months, so many nights were spent sleeping on the couch and barely making it out the door in the morning for my "day job" because I felt so sick. Now that I've hit the "good part" of the pregnancy, I have more energy, but most of it was sucked up by moving, organizing, and starting to get our place ready for the little boy. So in an effort to not forget about my dreams and passions, I have decided to make a list of what I'd like to accomplish in 2009 for my photography business. If I publish my list here on this blog then I'm definitely more accountable for it, don't you think?

1. Launch marketing campaign with a retailer
2. Launch ellenreinis.com
3. Print marketing materials
4. Shoot 3 weddings on my own
5. Blog more often
6. Network with other photographers in my area
7. Join more photography groups
8. Quit my day job!!!
9. Take a few design classes
10. Attend 3 workshops (1 of them about lighting)

That's it for now. I may add to this list as the months fly by like 2008 already has!

More of Graham's 1st B-day

A few weeks ago I posted a picture from Graham's 1st birthday shoot which was a blast. I finally got to sit down and work on more pictures from that day and here are a few of the best. If you remember, Graham was such a good sport digging into the cake until he got too much in his nose and didn't like that feeling very much ;) You can see his expression in the last picture...I think he was done!

It's beginning to look alot like Christmas

Lee & I are starting to get settled in our new place, however my new "office" is not set up yet. I am picking up my desk sometime this week from West Elm and hoping that it will look good in the apartment...we'll see! Last night I was able to set up my computer on Lee's desk in order to work on some pictures for Julie & Andrew's Christmas cards. I wanted to share two of the pics that I love most.