Ellen Reinis Photography

Family fun in Encino!

2009-04-07T15:41:00.000-07:00

It's been too long....I know, but I've been shooting alot which is a really great thing! My maternity leave starts next week and then I get to really start working on my website and hopefully get most of it done by the time the baby arrives.

A few weeks ago I got to spend some fun time shooting this family at their home in Encino. They were expecting a new baby boy at that time, but I know for sure have now welcomed him into their lives because his due date was March 31st. I hope they are well and am wishing them so much fun and love.

And one last picture of my girl, Alice (the dog) because you know I can't resist!

Lola, revisited

2009-02-03T16:16:00.000-08:00

Not sure if any of you remember, but a few months ago I did a photo shoot with the incredibly beautiful 2 year old Lola. After doing a first round of editing of her pictures, I lost them in a weird sort of way on my computer(long story) and had to start the edit over from scratch so that I could provide her parents with some beautiful pics of their little girl. I'm actually very glad that I got a chance to edit them again because I have learned so much in the last few months and looked at the pics in a completely different way. I'm very happy with the final product.

This is my favorite picture of the bunch!

some Rocky love

2009-01-21T15:57:00.000-08:00

I have been so busy editing pictures for my website that I don't have that many new pictures to post. Lee's sister Debbie and her kids were visitng last weekend and I did take some shots of them, but again - been busy making them look pretty. I wanted to at least post ONE picture today, so here is the Rockster taking a nap.

Making lemonade out of lemons...

2009-01-07T18:31:00.000-08:00

Not sure if anyone remembers that my friends April & Lindsey of Sweet Monday Photography let me tag along with them to a wedding in September, but they did and it was such a wonderful experience. They are amazing photographers as well as amazing women. Spending a whole day with them shooting was such a valuable experience that I can't ever thank them enough for. I feel so lucky that they haven't just been mentors to me over the past few months, but friends as well. Thanks ladies for letting me tag along and for dealing with all of my questions - I had such a blast!!

Unfortunately, it took me months to start editing the wedding pictures which was unexpected, but being pregnant and sick, working full time, and moving took a toll on me. Everything photography unfortunately took a back seat for a few months, but I'm BACK and ready to go with my work. In going through the pictures, I've found some incredible surprises and a few disappointments, but I know that comes with the territory. One picture in particular that I was certain I could not salvage was a shot of the bride and groom as they had JUST walked down the aisle. Lindsey suggested that I wait for them to exit the ceremony space while she and April got them kissing, walking down the aisle, etc. Well, I was perched - ready and waiting for the bride and groom to come around the corner. I had taken a test shot of the space to check my camera settings and THEN my flash didn't recycle quick enough - AH! Right as they walked around the corner, they kissed (they're FIRST kiss that wasn't planned), and my flash didn't go off!!! Oh, and they got married later in the day so it was pretty much dark by the end of their ceremony. I was so bummed, but I realize that these things happen and you have to move on.

Well, as I was going through the pictures, I decided to play w/ the exposure in Lightroom and see what would happen to the image if I manipulated it a ton. By bumping up the exposure significantly, I was able to capture an image, but it is SO grainy. Instead of throwing it out, I decided to embrace the grain and try to give the photo a vintage look. I've gotta say that I'm happy with the result and love the fact that I took an unfortunate situation and turned it into something wonderful!

Until I have more pictures to share, here is the "vintage" shot. Thanks again to Sweet Monday Photography!!

Happy New Year!

2009-01-05T21:08:00.001-08:00

I'm a few days behind on this post, but want to wish everyone a very happy new year!! 2009 is going to be an exciting year, not only because of the new edition to my family, but because of the strides I plan to make with my business this year. I have many resolutions and plenty of goals and you'll all get to see just how realistic they are after giving birth to a little baby boy :) 2008 was an amazing year of learning in so many ways and although it wasn't always easy, I wouldn't want to erase it from my "history" or change 1 thing (ok, maaaybe 1). Last year has brought me to this moment in my life where I couldn't be happier or more excited to embark on a new journey of love, happiness and lots of hard work. I hope that when I'm sitting at my computer a year from now writing a blog post about 2010, that I will have met my goals and made myself proud, not only in business, but in family and friendship. Here's to 09!

As for pictures this week, I wanted to blog something fun and I think I've picked the perfect subject. When Lee & I were in SF celebrating Christmas with the Sestili's, the whole family toured the California Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park. They have a great aquarium where we got to see some VERY cool fish. I took a bunch of pictures, but these jellyfish were hands down my favorite. So while I go through all the christmas pictures and decide which to keep, please enjoy a few of my favs.

Cousins

2008-12-30T11:06:00.000-08:00

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

2008-12-23T08:16:00.000-08:00

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!

2008-12-16T09:31:00.001-08:00

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

2008-12-10T14:44:00.000-08:00

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

2008-12-04T09:46:00.000-08:00

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

2008-12-02T08:45:00.000-08:00

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.

What happens when you move?

2008-11-24T16:32:00.000-08:00

You unplug your computer, can't edit any pictures, your life is completely packed in boxes that you dive through frantically once you're at the new place looking for that 1 thing that you should have left out, and if your place has just been painted AND your preggers, you "camp out" at your old place until the fumes are gone and you sleep in your own bed. This is our camp site complete with a Rocky:

***this was taken w/ my blackberry...fyi

I will be back to writing and editing in the next few days once my office is set up at home and I feel a bit more normal.

Getting ready for Christmas

2008-11-12T11:58:00.001-08:00

When I took pictures of Graham for his 1st birthday, Julie asked if we could do something for their Christmas cards as well. We had a ton of fun trying to get Graham's attention and get him to smile which didn't happen until the very end of shooting. The smiling pictures will probably be the ones she chooses to use, but I thought I'd post this adorable picture of him as a little teaser. I hope I'm not ruining any surprise Jules.

What a little cutie!

YES WE DID!!!

2008-11-07T09:32:00.000-08:00

I haven't really expressed my political views on this blog (maybe subtly), but I just can't help myself to say 3 little words.....YES WE DID!!!! GoBama, GoBama, GoBama!!

Lee & I had a few friends over on Tuesday night to ring in the New Year with us (haha, that's what it felt like) and we had a blast. I only got a sip of champagne, but it was better than none at all :) Here is a pic:

A few more pics before I wrap up

2008-11-05T13:22:00.000-08:00

I am finally wrapping up the edit of the pictures from my photo shoot with Sarah, Ryan, and Kia. It's taken me a while to get everything done, but it's all turned out great. I believe that Sarah is using some of these pics for her Christmas Cards, so I hope she loves all of them as much as I do.

On a side note....oh what a night last night was!!!! OMG....President Obama!

Here are the last few pics of Sarah and her family...

So far behind....

2008-10-31T14:57:00.000-07:00

I am officially and completely behind and swamped with pictures that I have taken in the last few months. Finding the time to sit down at my computer these days and edit has proved almost impossible!! Since August 1st, I have become pregnant, watched Lee start grad-school and study sometimes 8 hours a day, got a new car, went on 2 vacations, started the initial process of 2 new businesses, and am moving on Dec. 1, all while working a 40+ hour/week day job!! Needless to say, my "to-do" list does not have too many checks on it ;) When I do find a free moment to sit down on the couch and watch a little political news, I end up falling asleep 5 minutes later and sometimes sleeping through the night. So, a good friend of mine recently (just on Tuesday) told me that I need to schedule even more - be militant about it and treat even my free time like a job. Starting this weekend...that's what I'm doing. All of my editing time will be scheduled as will laundry, cleaning, and even watching "Countdown" w/ Keith Olberman. To all of my clients that I owe pics too...you will get them soon, I PROMISE!

Happy Halloween everyone!! Maybe I'll have the chance to take some pics of Lee & I dressed up tomorrow night.

It's Monday...I mean Tuesday!

2008-10-28T13:52:00.000-07:00

Wow today for some reason really feels like Monday to me, but I was happy to realize just a few minutes ago that it's actually Tuesday! Whew, I guess Monday passed me by pretty fast! Maybe because Lee & I were away over the weekend in beautiful central coast wine country; Atascadero to be exact. We stayed at our favorite hotel called The Carlton and actually attended a murder mystery dinner that they offered on Saturday night. We thought it would be something fun and different to do and that's just what it was....something different :) I have to say that as much as I love The Carlton, the food at the dinner was not what we expected and neither was the "show". We were a tiny bit bored, but managed to salvage the night by hitting the bar for a nightcap (hot tea for me) and a piece of heath bar crunch cake!! Nothing really makes me happier than heath bar in my dessert.

We also made a stop at Lee's favorite winery (Turley) where he got to taste a few zinfandels and buy a bottle of delicious wine that he promised to hold until I can share with him...whata guy! I watched as he drank and I bought a coaster. I guess if you can't drink - SHOP!

So I've been working away on a ton of pictures and will continue to do so for probably the next month after which I hope to launch my new website (keep your fingers crossed for me!). I thought I would post a picture today of the kite event for the Beverly Fund. You will see more of these soon!

What are you doing with your dash?

2008-10-21T10:04:00.001-07:00

I went to an amazing marketing seminar last night that I HIGHLY recommend to any photographers out there. It was incredibly informative and will definitely define the way I run my business. Mitche Graf was amazing and I can't wait to implement everything that I learned from him. For anyone who's interested, he's going to be at WPPI in February also and holds seminars around the country.

So at the end of the seminar last night, Mitche put a series of numbers on the projector screen for us to look at. Numbers like 1915-1989, 1825-1916, 1957-2008. He asked what they represent and someone correctly replied "birth and death years". He then asked what the dash is in the middle and explained that it's everything in between - LIFE. There was a question on the projector that asked "what are you doing with your dash"???? That question rocked me to the core and really hit home because life really is a dash - a series of events that pass us by SOOO fast. When was the last time that you looked back on the last year and said "wow, that year went by really slowly". We move through this life like a blot of lightening (fast and fierce), so we mine as well enjoy EVERY second no matter how happy, painful, difficult, simple, or challenging and do something that is MEANINGFUL and keeps us in the moment. That is what I'm doing with my dash right now - giving it some meaning. So food for thought this week: "what are you doing with your dash"????

A refreshing Monday....

2008-10-20T09:59:00.000-07:00

It's Monday and lately I've been so tired on Mondays that I can barely keep my eyes open at my desk, but today is different. I had such a relaxing weekend at home - sleeping in, watching movies, napping on the couch, editing pictures, baking apple pie, going to the pumpkin patch, and actually spending some time with Lee...it was great! So needless to say, even though I am extremely tired still, I feel rested and content. I even ate apple pie this morning for breakfast...talk about starting the day off right!

Tonight I'm attending Mitche Graf's marketing bootcamp because I think I'm finally ready to get myself out there and launch a "marketing campaign" for myself. I should learn a ton, so I can't wait.

http://www.powermarketing101.com/

Here is a picture that I worked on last night. Meet Kia:

Another blog??

2008-10-13T15:27:00.001-07:00

Yep, you heard it! My new blog is called "my little bun" because, well....I've got a little bun in my oven :) I have started a blog for my pregnancy mainly for my family to get daily and weekly updates on my pregnancy, but also for me - so I can enjoy every moment of this amazing experience. I hope you'll join me :)

http://mylittlebun.blogspot.com

Of course, this blog will still remain intact with photographs and other details of my life and business.

Graham turns 1!!

2008-10-12T21:26:00.000-07:00

Julie & Andrew's baby (my sweet little love), Graham turned 1 on October 9th and to commemorate his birthday, Julie & I did a photo shoot with him, a diaper, and a cake. We had a great time letting him go to town on the cake until he got icing in his nose and had a hard time breathing...that's when we stopped :) Over the weekend, Andrew & Julie threw a great party in the park for G's birthday which I think he'll always remember, with a little help from my pictures and the hundreds that his grandparents took as well. Some day in the future those pictures will make it on this blog. Until then, here is one from the photo shoot.

One more of Rocky...

2008-10-08T21:39:00.000-07:00

Why? well, because I just couldn't help myself :)

My first baby!

2008-10-08T09:14:00.001-07:00

It's been a while since I posted a picture of Rocky so I thought it was about time. Rocky will be the old age on 9 on December 15th. Lucky for me (and Lee), chihuahuas tend to live much longer than most breeds - some up to 17/18 years old! We have many good years ahead of us with the little Rock Rock.

When you love your pictures so much

2008-10-03T08:43:00.001-07:00

I really planned to wait and not post anymore of Sarah & Ryan's photo shoot until I had everything edited, but as I was working last night, I decided that I just couldn't wait to post this one because I'm in love. It's another shot of their backs with the dog, but it's just so gorgeous. I sware I have many of them looking at the camera :)

I'm off tomorrow morning traveling to San Fran for the night while Lee is in Sacramento at class (yes, he has to travel to the Big Sac for one of his classes...Crazy!). The Beverly Fund is holding their 2nd annual Kites for Cancer event where I will be taking pictures and of course, flying a kite - YAY! For any of you in the bay area, please come out and join us to raise awareness and have some fun! It's at the Marina Green from 12-4. I'll be the one with the big camera around my neck :) http://www.beverlyfund.org/kites.html

Next week I'll be announcing something new that I've been working on, so stay tuned for that!

Happy Friday!!

One more picture!

2008-09-30T08:39:00.000-07:00

Here is another picture from my afternoon in the park with Sarah, Ryan, and Kia. This picture speaks a THOUSAND words in my opinion and shows how much little Kia loves her mommy and daddy. She was the cutest! I am still working on this session and will have a full blog of pictures soon.

To all of my Jewish friends and family...Shana Tova....Happy New Year!

This Week - I'm back

2008-09-29T11:40:00.000-07:00

I took a bit of a vacation last week from my blog and from editing any pictures in general. I really needed the rest actually, so it turned out to be a blessing in disguise that Lee needed every minute at the computer to write his papers. Today though, he gets his new computer and lovingly turns over the MAC to me so that I can go to town editing a TON of pictures that I've taken over the last month. I have NY pics to still work on, Sarah & Ryan's shoot, the wedding with Sweet Monday, and Graham's 1st birthday shoot from yesterday which was so absolutely adorable and fun! So, tonight I should have at least one sneak peak picture to show - thank goodness. I was beginning to have photoshop withdrawals :) Happy Monday!!

Computer War

2008-09-19T09:23:00.001-07:00

So the reason I haven't been posting too many pictures lately is that Lee & I have been fighting (not literally) over the use of our beautiful MAC desktop computer. The screen is huge and the capacity is great which is why we both NEED to use it all the time :) The only other computer is our house is a 13" MAC laptop that is old and warn, but great for surfing the Internet and listening to Itunes. Since Lee went and got himself into USC's Healthcare Administration Grad program and is working his BUTT off in class, I have such a hard time asking him to get off the computer so that I can edit pictures...especially when he's writing a 20 page paper!! However, since the happiness of our future depends on both of our success, Lee will be purchasing a brand new MAC PRO laptop that he can take to class AND use at home. You know what that means? The desktop computer will be all MINE and this blog will be flooded with pictures in the weeks to come. WooWoo!

Tomorrow I am shooting a wedding in Malibu with the F-A-B-ulous women of Sweet Monday Photography. I am beside myself with excitement, so check back in the next week or so for some pics.

Sunday afternoon in the Park - sneak peak

2008-09-17T09:42:00.000-07:00

I only had time to work on one picture last night from my fun portrait session on Sunday. I needed to get a picture over to my client Sarah for a project that she's working on. So here she is...meet Sarah. Isn't she lovely?

There will be pictures soon!

2008-09-16T10:10:00.000-07:00

I have been sick in bed for the last four days, so that is why I have no pictures to share :( I didn't even touch my computer this past weekend, except to print directions to a photo shoot with the super fun and extremely photogenic Sarah, Ryan, and Kia on Sunday. I am feeling much better today and will be working on those pictures tonight so I should at least have a sneak peak by tomorrow - YAY! I also need to post my helicopter ride pictures from NYC and my brother's birthday pictures from August...WOW I'm behind!!

My new logo

2008-09-11T21:17:00.000-07:00

Look up! It's my new logo!!! After many weeks of going back and forth with designs, Heidi Kruger and I came up with a design that I'm quite happy with. Many wonderful things to come with this great new logo!!

The Beverly Fund and Stand up to Cancer

2008-09-10T11:44:00.000-07:00

Since today is September 11th and I'm blogging, first and foremost I want to take a minute to remember all of the thousands of people who were lost to severe tradgedy 7 years ago today. I was living in NYC, and like everyone else there, I was devistated by what happened on 9/11/01. NYC changed forever, as did the state of our country. I can only hope that we always remember the many people who lost their innocent lives to such an unexplainable sadness. Hopefully my children, neices and nephews never have to experience anything as horrific.

On a more cheerful note, I want to introduce all of my blog readers to The Beverly Fund and Stand up to Cancer. The Beverly Fund was founded by my wonderful sister in law, Tracy Sestili, as a tribute to her mom (Beverly) who died of lung cancer almost 3 years ago. Tracy has done an amazing job with the Beverly Fund and increasing lung cancer awareness in the community. She even won The Jefferson Award in San Francisco for her efforts and community service.

Last Friday, Tracy and my brother Paul visited me here in LA because Tracy won the grand prize from Stand up to Cancer's telethon contest. She was part of the celebrity phone bank, which took in millions of dollars in donations for cancer research and funding. Not sure if you watched the telethon, but Stand up to Cancer is an organization that was started by Katie Couric and some other very well known women in the entertainment business. Tracy got to spend the whole day hanging out with some really big celebrities and educating them about lung cancer in a way only she can - it's amazing! She got many of them to autograph some TiVo devices that she will be auctioning off for the Beverly Fund. I will keep everyone posted on when that will take place! If you are interested in helping fight cancer (lung or otherwise) please check out these websites.

Here are a few pics we took with Tracy's camera last Friday. My brother and I were Tracy's "talent guests" and got to hang with her in the green room all day...it was quite fun!

Tracy, me, and my bro

I'm back!!

2008-09-09T09:28:00.000-07:00

I am finally back from vacation and back to the world of the living, working, and stressing :) Lee and I had an amazing vacation in NYC complete with a Yankee Game, a helicopter ride around Manhattan, and a day at the US Open....it was glorious! We caught up with all of our friends, had some great meals (John's Pizza - OMG!), and got to just enjoy walking around. Unfortunately, Lee spent a ton of time in the hotel room writing a paper that was due for one of his classes, so I got some quality time with my friends and shopping - ha!

I am surprised to say that I didn't take a ton of pictures while we were there since most of what we did was just walk around and I didn't want to carry the camera with me. I did however, get some great pics of the events we attended and of the helicopter ride. I will share those in the next few days.

As far as my business goes, I should be unveiling my new logo this week which I'm really excited about. I am working on my website design as well, so that will all come together in the next few weeks...YAY!

I am taking some very cool classes at SMC starting this month, so you'll all get to see the benefits of that in my photographs over the next few months.

Also, I'm shooting a wedding with Sweet Monday Photography on September 20th in Malibu which I'm SUPER excited for and can't WAIT to get to :)

In the next few weeks, I'll be announcing something BIG, so definitely stay tuned for that!

On another note, this past Sunday I saw an AMAZING documentary called "America the Beautiful". It's about Americans obsession with being beautiful at ANY cost - eating disorders, plastic surgery, cosmetics causing cancer, etc. It was a bit frightening, but I honestly think it's a MUST see - MUST MUST, especially for parents - seasoned or new. The media will never change their obsession with how people look, so it's up to parents to help their children (especially girls) to see the beauty within themselves and others. Please see this movie if you can!

In less than 24 hours......

2008-08-29T16:35:00.000-07:00

I will be in New York City!!! After 4 1/2 long years, I'm finally going back...to get some much needed relaxation with Lee(funny that I want to relax in NY)and to visit some old friends. We are packing tons of fun into 5 short days that will surely be an adventure. Also, I heard that the weather in the city has been amazing. I will try to blog from our hotel room at night, but don't hold me to it :)

Happy Labor Day!!

Seattle Wedding Photographers

2008-08-26T14:33:00.001-07:00

An old friend of mine is getting married in Seattle next year so I've been helping her to research and somewhat choose a good photographer up there. We've come up with some great choices and I think she's going to be in good hands on her big day. Check out some pics from the photographers we found:

http://laviephoto.com/

http://www.jkhphoto.com/

Since I love weddings so much and I'm always looking on different websites, I thought I'd put together a post of some of my favorite ideas I've come across. Ladies, if you're engaged and out there somewhere, check out this post!!

Dress:
I am a simple girl, but for some reason I'm in LOVE with this dress. It's a bit over the top (Oscar de la Renta), but I can't stop staring at it.

Bouquet:
I've been seeing the Tiffany blue color pop up alot in wedding decor. I love this bouquet that was designed by a florist in NYC. It's classic and stunning.

Decor:
Another thing I've been noticing is umbrellas as bridesmaids accessories and decor which I think is very cool. Check out how this couple used umbrellas and hung them from the ceiling of an outdoor tent.

Ceremony idea:
Andrew Firestone had his guest singing "Living on a Prayer" after he and his wife were married and walked down the isle. WHY didn't I think of that??? Can one of my friends who hasn't gotten married yet PLEASE do this and I will lead the crowd?

Ring Pillows:
I happened upon Anna Whitford's website and these ring pillow are to die for!

First Dance Song:
This song is so old school, but the lyrics are sweet and I don't know about anyone else, but it brings up some great memories for me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Ls7cH3elBc&feature=related

So there you go. I think someone should use all of these ideas at their wedding and invite me :)

Mundane Monday & More Lola

2008-08-25T10:41:00.000-07:00

So it's Monday again and I'm sitting at my desk dreaming about my trip to NYC that begins this coming Saturday. Not only am I excited to see all my old friends and co-workers, but I'm excited to catch up on 4+ years away from Manhattan. I can't wait to show Lee all of the places that I lived, ate, stayed out WAY too late with friends, and where I spent many sleepless night editing my films in college. What amazing memories that I get to share!! So hopefully this week will fly by and before I know it, we'll be on the plane. Get ready for me, NYC!

This weekend was pretty quiet. Lee & I joined friends at the Hollywood Cemetery to watch Rear Window and it was a blast. If anyone in LA has never been, it's a MUST! You can bring food, wine, beach chairs and blankets to spread out on the big lawn inside the cemetery. There is a DJ who plays music before the show and then the movie is projected on the side of a large building. It's pretty cool.

Yesterday I edited more pictures of Lola. I wasn't going to post more, but as I went through them, I realized that I can't resist because they're WAY too cute. Here are a few more from our shoot:

More with Mom & Dad

Lola loves the Crackberry!

More Lola!

2008-08-19T09:29:00.000-07:00

Last weekend my parents were in town and it was SO much fun! We didn't stop moving for a minute that they were here. Lee & I took them to our favorite Italian Deli, we went to the Hollywood Bowl, and spent ALL day on Saturday at the Laguna Beach arts/sawdust festival and then had dinner at Las Brisas staring at the incredibly beautiful ocean. After the left on Sunday morning, I was exhausted!! Never thought that my parents would tire me out, but they did ;) I fell asleep at 9pm on Sunday night, but last night had time to work on a few more pictures of the most beautiful Lola.

Lola & her Daddy who she Looooves!

Lola with Mommy & Daddy

Lola & Mommy

Being adorable

Bio Bags and more favorites!

2008-08-14T10:25:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I've written about my favorite products and I have a few new things in my repertoire of green goods, so its a good time to share.

First up is the dog waste bag from Bio Bags. Not sure if I've written about these before, but this is one product that Lee & I have been using for over a year now and absolutely have to have around. These dog waste bags are made from corn and completely biodegradable. They fit around your hand nicely and are perfect to stick in your pocket before a walk. Think about how many plastic bags you put in the landfill if you walk your dog twice a day, every day, for their life span? Roughly..13 years x 365 x 2 = about 10,000 plastic bags just from picking up after your dog - SO not good! Check Whole Foods or any health food store to buy these or shop on-line.
http://www.greenfeet.com/itemdesc.asp?ic=8011-00080-0000

Also, tell everyone you know who has a dog!

One of my new favorite products is the plastic bag dryer from Greetfeet.com. You might think it's a bit weird, but plastic sandwich bags and freezer bags can be washed JUST like your dishes and dried on this handy little accessory. You can potentially use a bag 20 times before it needs to go in the recycle bin. Saves $ and the environment...what could be better??
http://www.greenfeet.com/itemdesc.asp?ic=6005-04087-0000

Keeping with the theme of sandwich bags, another new favorite product of mine is the waxed paper sandwich and snack bags from Natural Value. They are also completely biodegradable and landfill safe (they will not contaminate ground water)They coolest thing about them though is that they are microwavable. Again...CHECK them out!!!
http://www.greenfeet.com/itemdesc.asp?ic=6006-00009-0000

Last but not least, for all of my friends who are new moms...Williams Sonoma starting selling a french product that my friend Sophie actually told me about 2 years ago. It's called Beaba Babycook. It's a steamer and a grinder/masher all in one little machine and Sophie swares by it. One day when I'm a mommy, I will most definitely get myself one of these. It would make a great shower gift also!

http://www.williams-sonoma.com/products/sku5279732/index.cfm?pkey=xsrd0m1%7C16%7C%7C%7C0%7C%7C%7C%7C%7C%7C%7Cbaby%20food&cm%5Fsrc=SCH

On another note, my parents are coming to LA tonight for the weekend and I couldn't be more excited. We are going to the Hollywood Bowl tomorrow for "Havana Nights" which I think will be a blast, and then to Laguna Beach for the day on Saturday to show my dad where they should REALLY retire :) I mean, who retires in San Jose, CA?! Just kidding Dad....I'm just happy that you'll finally be on the west coast next year.

More pictures next week!

Summer BBQ...fun times!

2008-08-12T09:13:00.000-07:00

I am definitely behind on editing and blogging pictures. I am still working on Lola's wonderful portrait shoot and in the midst of uploading Paul's birthday weekend pictures to my computer. Last night though, I took a few minutes to edit a handful of pictures from the super fun BBQ that Lee & I had at our place a few weekends ago.

In other news....I am working away on my logo right now with a great designer named Heidi Kruger. It should be ready in a few weeks, and shortly after that I will be launching my website - YAY! In the meantime, it's all about the blog.

August is really really busy for me, but I'll try to blog as often as possible.

Here are the pics:

I had to take this picture because of how my dogs were just WAITING for Julie to give them food. Little did they know it was probably mashed sweet potatoes!

The cutest baby!

Great friends

Andrew taking his hot dog VERY seriously...

Lee taking his MAN spatula VERY seriuosly :)

888

2008-08-08T10:38:00.000-07:00

Do you feel lucky today? I do! Too bad we're not going to Vegas tonight to test our luck, but instead Lee & I will be driving to San Francisco to spend the weekend with my whole family (parents included) to celebrate Paul's BIG birthday. The plans for tomorrow are a secret, but should be super fun. I of course, will take tons of pictures, but it might take a while for them to reach this blog since I'm incredibly behind!

Here are some interesting facts about the number 8:

Chemistry
-The atomic number of oxygen.
-The number of allotropes of carbon.
-The most stable allotrope of a sulfur molecule is made of eight sulfur atoms arranged in a rhombic form.
-The maximum number of electrons that can occupy a valence shell.
-The red pigment Lycopene consits of eight isoprene units.

Biology
-There are eight known B vitamins that play important roles in cell metabolism.
-All spiders, and more generally all arachnids, have eight legs. An octopus has eight tentacles.
-Timothy Leary identified a hierarchy of eight levels of consciousness
-In the human adult dentition there are 8 teeth in each quadrant. The 8th tooth is the so called the wisdom tooth.

In religion
-The Jewish religious rite of brit milah is held on a baby boy's eighth day of life
-Hanukkah is an eight-day Jewish holiday that starts on the 25th day of Kislev
-Shemini Atzeret (Hebrew: "Eighth Day of Assembly") is a one-day Jewish holiday immediately following the seven-day holiday of Sukkot
-The Eight Immortals are Chinese deities
-Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints believe that humans are responsible for their actions by the age of 8. Before that age, children lack sufficient knowledge to commit sin and are therefore exempt from judgment for their actions.
-In Christianity, it is allegoric to: what is beyond time (because the number 7 refers to the days of the week which repeat themselves), and is the number of Beatitudes.
-In Islam, It is the number of Angels carrying The Holy Throne of Allah in heavens.
In Neopaganism, there are eight Sabbats, festivals, seasons, or spokes in the Wheel of the Year.
-In Hinduism it's the number of wealth , abundance. The Goddess Lakshmi has eightfold forms. There are eight nidhis - seats of wealth.

In superstition and divination
-If each of the classical elements is assigned a cosmic projection, the resulting number (8) represents them.

As a lucky or unlucky number
-Eight is considered a lucky number in Chinese culture because it sounds like the word "prosper" or "wealth".
-In numerology, 8 is the number of building, and in some theories, also the number of destruction.

In astrology
-In Astrology, Scorpio is the 8th astrological sign of the Zodiac
-In the middle ages, 8 was the number of "unmoving" stars in the sky, and symbolized the perfectioning of incoming planetary energy

In music
-A note played for one-eighth the duration of a whole note is called an eighth note, or quaver
-An octave, the interval between two notes with the same letter name (where one has double the frequency of the other), is so called because there are eight notes on a western scale between the two, including the notes themselves
-There are eight notes in an octatonic scale
-There are eight musicians in an octet
-"Eight maids a-milking" is the gift on the eighth day of Christmas in the carol "The Twelve Days of Christmas"
-The 8-track cartridge is a musical recording format
-Eight Seconds, a Canadian musical group popular in the 1980s with their most notable song "Kiss You (When It's Dangerous)"
-"Eight Days a Week" is a #1 single for the music group The Beatles.

In sports
In football, the number 8 has historically been the number of the Central Midfielder while in rugby union the number eight central back row position wears the 8 shirt. Similarly in baseball, in its numbering system used to record defensive plays, eight represents the center fielder's position. The Philadelphia Flyers once had a line called the Crazy Eights with Eric Lindros at center (88); Mark Recchi (8); and Brent Fedyk (18). Kobe Bryant wore this number for most parts of his career. 49ers Quarterback Steve Young wore this number. In chess, each side has eight pawns and the board is made of 64 squares arranged in an eight by eight lattice. The eight queens puzzle is a challenge to arrange eight queens on the board so that none can capture any of the others.

Eight ball billiards is played with 15 balls; the black ball numbered 8 being the middle and most important one. Magic 8 Ball is a randomized process of predicting the future or answering various questions, packaged to resemble this ball and often sold as a fortune-telling device.

In rowing an 'eight' refers to a sweep oar boat with eight rowers plus a coxswain.

In rugby union, the only position without a proper name is the Number 8, a forward position.

It is the retired jersey number of Baseball Hall of Fame players Cal Ripken, Jr., Joe Morgan, Willie Stargell, Carl Yastrzemski, and Yogi Berra.

In hockey, Alexander Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals, widely considered the most talented player in the league, wears the number 8.

Happy 8/8/8 everyone!!

I've missed my blog

2008-08-06T07:27:00.000-07:00

So normally I always write a post on either Monday or Tuesday because they're the highest traffic days on my blog and also because this blog is cathartic for me in many ways - additional therapy :) However, with a full time job, a photography business, a husband, two dogs, and a book club to read for....I struggle to fit everything in. This week, unfortunately my blog was the one that suffered (poor thing). So here I am, back again writing to you in the morning, before I leave for work and hoping that the next few days will provide me with some time to work on editing my pictures.

In the meantime....

Last Saturday Lee & I had a BBQ in our backyard to celebrate summer and our great friendships. I only took a few pictures because I was having a blast and didn't want to have my camera strapped around my neck for too long. Before I share all of the BBQ pictures, I wanted to post my two favorite.

This is what Graham was doing at the BBQ. Julie, better watch out for this little guy ;)

And this is what Rocky was doing. He couldn't stand to be away from the party, so I brought his bed outside.

More to come tomorrow!

Happy Birthday to You....

2008-08-01T09:23:00.000-07:00

Today is a BIG birthday for my BIG brother Paul. I'm pretty sure that I was the first person to call him today (which was my plan) and wish him a happy birthday, but I wanted to post something here as well. Paul is not only my brother, but my best friend. He's almost 9 years older than me, so when I was a little 8 year old kid, he was in high school and would take me to basketball & football games with his friends and I always felt SO special. What other 8 year old kid was that lucky??

Paul moved out for college when I was 10 and I think I cried for 2 days when he left. Through the years we remained close from summers he spent at home and visits that I made to wherever he was living. He used to write me letters that I cherished; addressed to the nickname he had for me.

When I was 27 and decided to move to California, I took 6 weeks off to travel to Europe and Paul met me there for 2 weeks of it. We met in Paris and then traveled through Italy together. In those 2 weeks we made so many memories that will stay with me forever - most of which I will laugh about for years! Bruce Willis! (inside joke)

So Paul, on your BIG day over the hill (ha!), I want you to know that I love and admire your intelligence, your good taste, your willingness to always have fun, your passion for golf, love for the gym(weird, I know), for the OCD tendencies that we share, for the way you're exactly like dad, but most of all for the unconditional love that you give, which I've counted on since I was little.

Happy Birthday!
I love you,
Wuchums

A sneak peak of Lola

2008-07-30T10:06:00.000-07:00

I met Lola's parents at a park in Culver City on Saturday for less than 2 hours and shot 653 pictures!! As you can imagine, it's going to take me a while to get through editing all of them, but here is a sneak peak...a picture I worked on last night so I could show everyone how beautiful she is....

In other news, I am signing up for an InDesign class at SMC today IF there are still seats available. I've heard that InDesign is a fun program to learn so I'm very excited.

A bit of advice....DON'T wait until the last minute to book your airline tickets ANYWHERE!! For some reason, I thought it would be a good idea to wait for a while to book flights to San Francisco for a trip celebrating my brother's 40th birthday in a few weeks. Well, waiting did not get me a better deal....and I'm bummed because I should have been more prepared. Take it from me...just BOOK it if you find a decent price!

Earthquake yesterday! I work on the 3rd floor of a building in the valley and I'll tell you something - our whole office was swaying and it was pretty SCARY. I even got a bit queasy like I was sea sick. Anyone who's lived here less than 14 years and says "oh, that was nothing" must have not felt it like I did because it was the biggest quake since Northridge in 1994.

What I've been up to lately

2008-07-28T14:50:00.000-07:00

I had a great portrait session on Saturday with the most beautiful 2 year old girl around...Lola! I have not started editing the pictures, but when I do, they will be on my blog immediately (this week).

I thought I'd take today; a boring Monday and talk about what's been on my radar lately in regard to what I've been reading, listening to, and searching for on the internet :)

READING:
A few months ago I started a book club which has been a BLAST and allowed me to read some pretty interesting books including this month's selection which is interesting to say the least. We're reading Fear of Flying by Erica Jong which was written in the 70s and very controversial because it's one woman's exploration into her sexuality, among other things. It's proving to be a nice change from our last book Profiles in Courage by John F. Kennedy ;)

I am also reading Understanding Exposure by Bryan Peterson and it's given me so many amazing tips for shooting which I've already implemented. I LOVE this book!

LISTENING:
Lately, I've been listening mostly to Air America in the car (I'm a huge fan of Stephanie Miller) so I don't listen to much music except at work, where I tune into all 80s stations on Itunes!

SEARCHING:
Well, this is where I spend most of my time....on the internet doing research on photography, being environmentally friendly, and being inspired. Some of my favorite photography sites are:
www.sweetmondayphotography.com
www.jasminestarblog.com
www.drewbphotography.com
www.julesbianchi.com/blog
http://briankhang.blogspot.com/
www.thebschool.com
www.photographymentor.com
www.opensourcephoto.com
**the last three sites listed are great for TONS of information that applies to shooting***

Some other sites that I love:
www.edbegley.com/environment/ - great tips on how to make your home more eco-friendly
www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/ - I read this book and it totally inspired me!
www.kayak.com - my favorite place to find good prices on flights

WATCHING:
I will start off my saying that I'm not as big a TV fan as I used to be. Maybe the older I get, the more I want to read...who knows, BUT there are a few shows that I really can't live without right now, including:

FLIPPING OUT!! If you haven't seen this show on Bravo, it's a must, especially for people who have any inclination in themselves of OCD and can laugh at it. The show follows Jeff Lewis, a well known house flipper/interior designer in LA.

TOP CHEF - This is Lee's & my favorite show...we are big fans and just found out that Top Chef season 5 started taping in NYC this month and will continue taping WHILE we are visiting. Let the stalking begin... :)

WEEDS Season 3 - I don't have Showtime so I just finished watching WEEDS season 3 on DVD last night. Such a good show, but not sure I can wait that long for Season 4!

And almost nightly (when we can), Lee & I watch Countdown with Keith Olbermann. Can you believe that one of his first jobs was as sportscaster on KTLA? Gotta love that he's a true New Yorker though.

DOING:
Besides taking pictures, I have been playing tennis every sunday with Lee trying to improve my skills, spending lots of time with my friends, and LOVING my dogs :)

That's my life...pretty fun!

More From the Hollywood Bowl!

2008-07-25T14:21:00.000-07:00

Here are the rest of the pictures that I took while at the Hollywood Bowl last Sunday. If anyone here in LA has never been....it's a MUST! Mom, when you and dad are here they're doing "A night of old Havana...Mambo Style". Wanna go?

Hope everyone enjoys the pictures as much as we enjoyed our night!

Lee & Richard

Me & Achee

The nice spread...yum!

Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings...fabulous!!

I absolutely LOVE these little girls

More Sharon Jones

Feist

Today one of my oldest friend's Jennie just had a baby boy - Curtis William (Curt). I met Jennie in the second grade along with our friend Sherry and the three of us have remained friends ever since. These girls, although I don't get to see them much, really keep me grounded and know me in a way that many people don't. Their friendship is one of the jewels in my life - precious and irreplaceable. Seeing pictures today of Jennie's baby touched me so much because omg....my little 8 year old friend just had a baby! Where did the last 23 years go?!? Jennie & Will - I'm so incredibly happy for you both - you're going to be great parents! I'm ready to buy my plane ticket to meet him :)

Here is a picture of Jennie, Sherry, & I. Pictures of Curt will come when I get to Chicago for his photo session!

August special on portraits!!!

2008-07-24T09:00:00.000-07:00

I planned to finish editing my Hollywood Bowl pictures last night to post on the blog, but I fell asleep on the couch at 9pm reading a book called "Understanding Exposure". I was waiting for Lee to finish working on our good computer, but couldn't keep my eyes open. Thankfully I made it to bed at some point in the night so I could turn the alarm on. I slept until 6am this morning...so good! Hopefully I'll post the rest of the pics tonight, if not tomorrow morning. Happy Thursday!

In the meantime, for an update...I'm working on my logo right now which is SOOO exciting, and then I'll be aggressively working on my website when the logo is done. My blog will also look a bit different which will be fun.

I am advertising a "new business" special starting in August, so if you know anyone who would like family portraits (kids, pets, couple), please let me know.

The special is $250 and includes a 1.5 hour shoot, CD with 15-20 edited images, and 2prints of your choice. This is a great deal so don't pass it up! I won't book more than 4 clients on the weekend (2 on saturday and 2 on sunday), so let me know if you're interested.

Only in LA....

2008-07-22T08:56:00.001-07:00

This past weekend was a blast! Saturday night we attended GLOW in Santa Monica - the all night art festival and it was amazing! There were 40 thousand people at the beach and the Pier....it was incredible. I searched for some pictures on Flickr and here they are.

http://www.flickr.com/search/?w=all&q=GLOW+santa+monica&m=text

I didn't bring my camera because I knew we'd be sitting on the sand all night and I didn't want to take any chances. We arrived at 8PM with our dinner in hand to spend time with friends. We didn't leave until 3AM and it was so awesome to see how the beach filled up with people of all ages, even babies. There were massive art installations all over the beach that all glowed in the dark. Come to find out the significance of the whole event was the Grunion run that took place late at night. We walked to the surf and were able to see the Grunions mating...so very cool!

On Sunday we slept in, hung around the house and then went to the Hollywood Bowl for the night with some friends. It was a beautiful night with great music and great company. We heard Pacifika, Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings, and Feist. Lee & I made a fabulous dinner and took the bus from Santa Monica instead of driving which was SO GREAT (I highly recommend this to anyone going to the Bowl). I got some great pics, one of which I will share today. We got home very late and I was EXHAUSTED, but I couldn't stop thinking about how lucky I am to live in such a great place that offers so many unique experiences. Only in LA......

Stop and smell the flowers....

2008-07-18T13:42:00.000-07:00

Is what I had to remind myself many times this week. Sometimes I get completely wrapped up in life, work, responsibilities, deadlines, and more responsibilities. I started a book club a few months ago and have failed to finish the last two books on time because I've been "too busy". The second one, I didn't finish at all. I know that my life is important, but sometimes I wonder if I worry too much about the responsibilities and not enough about stopping to take a breath(or read a book). I literally fell asleep this week sitting on the couch with my laptop on my lap - no joke. So this weekend I'm going to remind myself to stop and smell the beautiful flowers...especially the ones in my backyard.

This weekend, we're hitting the streets of Santa Monica with our friends to attend GLOW, an all night art festival around the city - FUN! Then on Sunday night, we're going to our annual KCRW concert at the Hollywood Bowl. Gotta love LA!

More from the Dodger Game

2008-07-16T08:21:00.000-07:00

Here are the rest of pictures from the Dodger Game with Graham....so fun!

Graham's First Dodger Game!

2008-07-14T13:33:00.000-07:00

There is nothing like experiencing a child's first of something. The first time they eat peas, the first time they stand on their own without holding onto anything, and of course....the first time they go to a DODGER GAME!! :) On Friday night, Lee & I had the pleasure of taking Andrew, Julie, & Graham to his very first Dodger Game at the ripe old age of 9 months. It was so fun....he was SO overwhelmed. Can you imagine those little eyes seeing tens and thousands of people for the first time? Considering the circumstances, he did incredibly well and only shed tears once the whole night. I will be posting more pictures this week, but here is a peak.

Is he not the cutest thing ever? Look at his little outfit!

Friday night was the kick off to such a fun weekend celebrating Lee's BIRTHDAY!!! This year he turned 29+3! On Saturday we went to the LA Wine Fest with 7 of our friends and had a blast (to say the least), followed by the most delicious burgers at the new Father's Office in Culver City. If anyone likes wine/beer tasting events, definitely check this event out for next year...it was truly amazing. On Sunday, we spent time with Lee's family which was so nice. I think it was a successful birthday celebration all around....Lee seemed very happy.

Santa Monica Beach Club

2008-07-10T11:03:00.000-07:00

You know those moments when you've been thinking of something - an invention or business idea and then find out it's already been done and you're a bit disappointed that you didn't think of it first? That happens to Lee & I all the time, like when we found out that there was ALREADY a car seat towel/cover in production somewhere!!

Well last night I found out about something that I've been talking about FOREVER - something that we need in Santa Monica, something that I even mentioned to Lee last Saturday when we were driving down the PCH from Malibu. A public beach club!!! My friend Achee informed me last night that one is being built at 415 PCH!! The difference with finding out this information as opposed to the car seat towel is that I'm ELATED and HAPPY as can be...someone has answered my prayers. Supposedly construction has been underway for at least a year (not sure how I didn't know about this) and should hopefully open in Spring of 09'.

The only details I know right now are from the Friends of 415 PCH website, but there will be a pool, cafe, clubhouse, beach activities, and MAYBE paddle tennis. All of the $ to build it was donated by the Annenberg Foundation...how cool! This is going to be amazing for all of us beach lovers. I'll see you all there in 09!!

If anyone is as excited as me, check out the website of Friends of 415 PCH www.friendsof415pch.org.

My little friend

2008-07-09T08:21:00.000-07:00

Lately my feisty little companion has been overly sweet and loving. It all started Memorial Day weekend when we left the dogs with our wonderful new dog sitter Marcela. I'm not sure what she did, but Rocky was like putty in her hands and he's been a little different ever since. Maybe she's the REAL dog whisperer!! Needless to say, I'm pretty much in love with Marcela now and actually can't wait for her to watch the dogs again. Next time I'll have her work on Rocky's sleeping habits. When they're good, he's the cutest thing EVER, but when they're bad he's up 5 times a night and can't get on our bed himself. You know what that means...I'M up 5 times a night! Thank God for coffee....

Here is a picture of the SWEET sleeping Rocky.

**If anyone would like Marcela's #, please let me know**

More of Freddy & Laura's WEDDING!

2008-07-08T09:27:00.000-07:00

Happy Belated 4th to everyone! I spent 3 wonderful days relaxing at the beach, riding my bike around town, and catching up with friends...it was blissful! Oddly enough, I didn't take any pictures, but for your viewing pleasure I have the last handful of photos to show from Freddy & Laura's beautiful wedding.

Later this week I will be posting a few cute shots of Rocky my always faithful companion and best subject along with some info about what I've been up to in the last few weeks - reading, researching, and doing.

Enjoy these pics!

Here is a picture of Lee & I - happy as can be for our friends!

More green

Ketubah signing!!

BABY at the wedding...so adorable

Amazing cake from Jamaica's Cakes on Pico Blvd. Isn't that red wall amazing??

Love the table setting

First Dance

Now I know this picture is blurry, but I couldn't help posting it because Freddy's expression is just SOO him.

Laura at the bar....CELLL-E-BRATE good times!!

The room at the end of the evening

There is a very cool wall outside of the Marvimon and Sweet Monday had a great idea of "ending" the night there with some pictures. Here is my take on them.

LOVE the peace signs!

Laura & Freddy.....WEDDING!!

2008-07-02T10:24:00.000-07:00

This is so exciting for me to post wedding pictures on my blog!!! I absolutely LOVE weddings, not just because they are always SO beautiful, but because of the sheer energy and emotion of the day when families and friends come together to celebrate the promise 2 people make to one another. It's just really cool! It's especially cool when you know how right those two people are for each other...like Freddy & Laura. They are a perfect match and their wedding day was a perfect day.

I will post a few images and then include a slideshow that I created at the bottom. Part 2 will come later...I have a few more pictures to work with.

Enjoy!

Beautiful location...The Marvimon in downtown LA

Gorgeous flowers everywhere!

Lee & Mike

Freddy's adorable nephew

The ceremony!

Isn't Laura's bouquet beautiful??

I am in love with this picture...my fav

And here is the slideshow...I hope this works!!

Bon Jovi in Central Park....need I say more?

2008-07-02T10:17:00.000-07:00

To all of my NY friends....PLEASE for the love of God (or for me) go to this show!!! This is a Bon Jovi/NYC lover's fantasy!!! If any of you do go, please call me during "Wanted Dead or Alive". I will be waiting for the call :)

Finally...bigger blog pictures

2008-06-30T09:43:00.000-07:00

I finally figured out how to make the pictures on my blog bigger!!! Now all of my *few* readers can actually see my pictures the way that I do on my big MAC screen at home. I'm VERY excited. In fact, I got the sweetest email from my mom yesterday after she saw my test photos...thanks Mom for your compliments. You are definitely my most loyal reader ;) My older posts might look a bit weird now that I've changed the picture size, but I'll be trying to re-edit them when I have free time. I've been learning some fun stuff on photoshop lately and am finally feeling comfortable editing my photos and trying to make them look even better than they do straight out of the camera.

On to my weekend which was extremely low key. Lee and I spent the weekend having dinner with friends/family, doing laundry, cleaning the house, watching Law & Order Criminal Intent re-runs, and playing tennis. I have to say....it was one of the most relaxing weekends I've had in a long time! Lee has been working tirelessly on some professional projects and so this was the first weekend in months that he didn't have to work and it was so wonderful.

One of the things we were researching this weekend as we were sitting around is a good vacation place in CA that allows dogs (of all sizes). We're thinking escaping for the 4th, but we want to take our pups with us. We found some houses/cabins in Big Bear area & Lake Arrowhead, but I was thinking more of a resort - pool w/ drinks/tennis/maid service, but we couldn't find anything really great that allowed are doggies. Anyone out there know of such a place? I don't think I can take anymore searching on the internet.

I worked on the last few images from Colin's b-day party, so enjoy. This week I'll be working on the few shots I have from Freddy & Laura's wedding which I'll post a little at a time.

Happy Week!!

This is a test post

2008-06-27T09:56:00.000-07:00

I'm trying to make my photos bigger!

What is your life's purpose?

2008-06-25T11:04:00.000-07:00

That might sound like a pretty heavy topic for this blog, but recently I came across Steve Pavlina's blog (which I highly recommend reading) and his interesting article titled "How to discover your life's purpose in 20 minutes". I was completely intrigued by this because I have always wondered what the bigger picture is for me - what my life's meaning is; my purpose. Many women say that once you have children you know what it is - to be a mother, but I have a feeling that for a lot of us, it is so much more than that (but including it too). If you read Steve's article he explains that his purpose is layered - it's not cut and dry or just ONE thing.

So I haven't had a chance to do this exercise yet, but I plan on taking some time this weekend to sit down in a quiet space and see what happens. I will post my results next week.

What is your life's purpose?

Recycleable toothbrush & Colin's B-day party

2008-06-24T13:13:00.000-07:00

This past weekend was great for Lee & I because we did alot of relaxing. Actually I did alot of relaxing while he was working on a big project, but me being relaxed is relaxing for him :) Friday night we went to dinner with some friends at Lily's in Venice Beach. They have a great outdoor patio with hanging lanterns and yummy French food. On Saturday I got my hair done and then Lee and I spent the day working on his big "project" which was pretty cool. More to come on that later. Saturday night we ate left over lasagna that Lee had made during the week (Maybe he has a little Italian in him....it was SO good) and then went out and got gelato at the 3rd street promenade. Then on Sunday I went to the market and found something that I've been researching for a while now and finally found....a Recyclable Toothbrush!!! Recycline has come up with a toothbrush that is 100% recyclable (including all of the packaging) and made from recycled products (yogurt containers). The only hard part is that you have to send the toothbrush back to Recycline, but they pay for the mailing, just download the label from their website http://www.recycline.com/toothbrush.html These toothbrushes are now sold at Trader Joes and Target, along with a variety of other stores so you really have no excuse NOT to start using one. Think about how much plastic we could save if each of us used a recycled toothbrush every month!

The rest of Sunday was spent playing tennis with Lee, taking the dogs to this incredible dog park in Kester Canyon, and doing laundry - it was fun.
I also did work for my photoshop class and edited some of my pictures. Remember the sneak peak I posted of Colin's b-day party a few weeks ago? Well here are more pictures from the party. I will post the rest tomorrow.....

Operation Welcome Home Brunch - Part 2

2008-06-18T22:07:00.000-07:00

I had a personal growth experience on Wednesday that I thought I'd share. As I wrote in Monday's post, I took a bunch of random pictures over last weekend at my friends' wedding which I was SO excited about. This is the first wedding that I've taken pictures of with the intention of wanting to shoot a wedding "for real" some day (get paid). When I uploaded the pictures to my computer, a TON of them were out of focus. Not extremely out of focus, but enough that you wouldn't really want to look at them for long :)

I was really bummed and felt awful mainly because I am really hard on myself and strive too much for perfection which leads me to be extremely disappointed when, well.......I'm not perfect (which is most of the time). So I wallowed in my sorrows that night, even after Lee reassured me that this was all part of the learning process, and then went to bed. On Thursday morning, remembering what he said and determined not to wallow, but learn and move on, I logged into the Digital Wedding Forum and created a new thread asking other photographers why my pics were so out of focus. I also emailed Lindsey from Sweet Monday, hoping she would have pity on me ;) After a few rounds on my thread and a few emails with Lindsey, I realized what mistake I had made - manually focusing my lens. At an event like a wedding, I should NOT manually focus - nope, never, nada. Makes it WAY too hard since it's an event and an uncontrolled environment.

Although I felt a bit like "DUH!!", I realized that I really DID learn something. Although I may only have about 15 pictures to show for Freddy & Laura's wedding, the other 200 are a great tool to learn from! So that was my instance of personal growth; embracing my mistakes instead of expecting perfection. HUGE!

So, on to some pictures. Here are a few more from the ND Brunch.

Toni Reinis, Executive Director/co-Founder

John Keaveney, Founder of New Directions
Rudy Grimaldo, Board Member and a veteran who fought in Operation Enduring Freedom

Cindy Young, Director of Development for New Directions

Operation Welcome Home Brunch - Part One

2008-06-16T22:06:00.000-07:00

Here is Part One of pictures from the New Directions, Operation Welcome Home brunch on Saturday. I had such a good time taking pictures of this event and meeting some new people who have a commen interest and beliefe in helping our Veterans.

The Family Room at ND was set up so nicely:

The tables were labeled with very meaningful words that are the foundation of New Directions' mission. I wasn't going to add all of them to this post, but I think it's very inspiring.

Each person was given information about New Directions Inc., Chris's Place, and ND dog tags.

Nice Spread!
The wonderful LaShanda and the registration table...

Lee speaking with former Board Member, Troy Evans

Toni Reinis speaking with guests

More tomorrow!

My weekend & my boys

2008-06-16T07:21:00.001-07:00

Wow - my weekend was so busy!! First, on Friday night I bought a new lens (Canon 50mm 1.8) and couldn't wait to get home and try it. Much to my delight, it turned out some amazing pictures. On Saturday, I took pictures at a brunch for New Directions to support their new program Operation Welcome Home which provides housing and rehabilitation services for vets returning from Iraq & Afghanistan specifically. They just purchased a new house for the returning vets and they've named it Chris's Place in memory of a former board member who passed away earlier this year. The brunch was so heart-felt and I felt lucky to be part of such a great organization. I will post the pictures later this week.

On Saturday night, our friends Freddy and Laura got married! Much to my luck, they used the same photographers that Lee & I used for our wedding - Sweet Monday. Over the past year since our wedding, I have kept in touch with the ladies from Sweet Monday and I feel lucky to call them my friends. They have given me so much support and advice about the photography business and I owe them many thanks for being so great. They even encouraged me to bring my camera to the wedding on Saturday night to take as many pictures as I wanted. It was slightly close quarters, but I managed to get some cool pics....can't wait to show everyone!! So Freddy and Laura got married at this rad place in downtown LA called the Marvimon. If you or anyone you know is looking for an intimate space for a wedding or party that has a New York loft feel, definitely check this place out.

After the wedding, me, Lee, our friend Mike checked out the Edision Lounge on 2nd street in downtown LA. It's the old CA Edison generator building and it's extremely hip and cool. The whole night I felt sort of like I was back in NYC which was nice. Check out the pics of the Edison on their website, and again - great place for a party.

So essentially, that was my weekend. I was too tired to do anything on Sunday except eat, laundry, and sleep ;)

Here is a picture of my boys taken with the new lens. For anyone who knows them, being that close to each other is not something that happens often. I'm SO HAPPY that I got this shot.

Happy week!!

It's just not right......

2008-06-12T11:44:00.000-07:00

That it takes $49.87 to fill up my tiny little Honda Civic gas tank...*sigh* Gas at the CHEAP station near my house was $4.49 a gallon this morning!?! What's happening? When I moved to LA almost exactly 4 years ago, it was $21.00 for me to fill up. I will not write about my political views on this blog, but I'll just say this....we need CHANGE ;0)

**If you want to save $ and free yourself from gasoline dependence....crack into your natural gas line and buy a Honda Civic GX NGV. It's one of the coolest cars on the market and it's actually afforable (the same price as a Toyota Prius). A gas pump is installed in your garage that directly connects to your natural gas line. Reviews claim that the price to fill the tank comes out to roughly $2/gallon - wooohooo! That's SO 2004.....

The Artichoke Flower

2008-06-10T21:57:00.000-07:00

Isn't it amazing when you find something new; something that you never even knew existed, but that is so beautiful and unique? That's how it was for me on Saturday when I stopped by the artichoke stand at the farmer's market with Jody and saw this huge plant/flower "thing". I immediately asked the woman at the stand what it was and what you do with it. "It's an artichoke flower" she said and continued to tell me that if you don't cut the artichoke off of it's huge stem to eat it, it actually flowers and looks like this:

I find it to be so spectacular. I immediately bought one for $5 and carried it around the farmer's market for the next 30 minutes or more, making marks all over my arm because it's really heavy! I got it home, put it in a vase with some glass rocks so the vase wouldn't fall over, and am now enjoying it every day. The woman at the stand said that it should last 3 weeks, so we'll see. Lee said it's the best $5 I ever spent because I was outside forever on Sunday photographing it - what a perfect subject. I think I took 100 pictures :) Here are my favorites....

I took these pictures so you can understand how big it is....HUGE!

So my challenge for all of you today is to learn something new or discover something that you never knew existed - anything. Maybe you already have by reading this post :) Be aware and in the moment....it's amazing what life will show you.

kids, a dog, and a flower

2008-06-10T06:59:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I mentioned that I forgot to post this picture; sadly the only one I have of Max. These boys are so adorable!

I know I post a ton of pictures of Rocky, but I can't help myself this time because I'm in love with how these two pictures turned out. Of course they always look so much better on my big computer screen at home then they do on my blog (mostly because they're alot smaller here). I am in the process of working on getting bigger pictures on my blog - hopefully that will happen soon.

So as I was baking away on Sunday, Rocky was laying in the only patch of sunlight in the house and of course I thought it was the cutest thing ever because Rocky really IS the cutest thing ever :)

And here is a little sneak peak of the next post that I'll be blogging either tomorrow or later this week.....The Artichoke Flower......

My weekend and more from Denver

2008-06-08T23:05:00.001-07:00

I thought that since it's Monday, I'd start my post with a recap of my weekend for anyone who's interested and maybe this will start a tradition for every Monday post. Not that my life is super exciting and fabulous, but I always seem to have so much going on. This weekend however, I spent a lot of time at home which was very much needed.

Friday night, Lee and I went to a birthday party for our friend Frank who just turned 21....I mean 31 :( We enjoyed a few beverages and fun conversation with our friends.

Saturday morning I went to the farmer's market with my friend Jody where I purchased an incredible artichoke flower (if you don't know what that is, check my blog later this week). After the market, we went to brunch in Venice Beach and had such a good time talking. Jody always has such good advice and encouraging things to say - she's like a big sister to me and I love her!

Later on Saturday, I washed my car without using any water! A few months ago I went to an alternative fuel car show and purchased Lucky Earth Car Wash which is an environmentally safe and non toxic spray that can clean your whole car without water. Saturday was the first time I used it and it really does work. You need about 6 microfiber cloths and an hour of your time, but it's a great way to help the environment. After the exercise I got from "washing" my car, I sat on the couch and watched movies all night. My picks were The Jane Austen Book Club and Weeds Season Three -disc one, both of which I enjoyed. (Lee did not watch the Jane movie with me if any of you are wondering. He's a great man, but doesn't really give in to chick flicks)

Sunday was spent baking with some of the fruit I bought at the farmers market. Did you know that there are at least 5 different varieties of strawberries grown in California? I found this out from a vendor on Saturday. Anyway, I used the Diamantes that I bought to make strawberry bread which turned out to be amazing! After the bread, I spent three hours making a butterscotch-praline cream pie which we took to our friends John & Paula's house for dessert and it was divine. I think Lee was in heaven yesterday. I also did a photo shoot later in the day with my artichoke flower - haha. I can't wait to share the pictures with you.

So that was my weekend. It was extremely domestic, but so much fun. Thanks for reading!

Below are more pictures from our trip to Denver:

Debbie and her family have a dog named Rocky. Their Rocky is a bit bigger than my Rocky and named for the Rocky mountains as opposed to Rock Balboa

Alexa - the oldest and only girl!

Joey who is number three

And more of Teddy - the baby of the bunch, but the most rambunctious

He wants to play every sport that his brothers play.

The only picture I'm missing in one of Max who is number 2. I will post that later this week.

Happy Monday!!!

How many grains of rice have YOU donated today?

2008-06-05T12:08:00.000-07:00

So far today I've donated 120 grains of rice and learned 3 new words!! Check out Free Rice and learn how you can help end world hunger AND increase your vocabulary - it's amazing.

About FreeRice:

FreeRice is a sister site of the world poverty site, Poverty.com.

FreeRice has two goals:
1. Provide English vocabulary to everyone for free.
2. Help end world hunger by providing rice to hungry people for free.

This is made possible by the sponsors who advertise on this site.

Whether you are CEO of a large corporation or a street child in a poor country, improving your vocabulary can improve your life. It is a great investment in yourself. Perhaps even greater is the investment your donated rice makes in hungry human beings, enabling them to function and be productive. Somewhere in the world, a person is eating rice that you helped provide. Thank you.

Teddy at the pool

2008-06-03T22:29:00.000-07:00

Teddy will only be 3 in August and he's already taking swimming lessons. As I'm not a mom yet, I didn't realize that kids actually learn how to swim this young - amazing. I didn't start until I was 5 and I thought that was early! I tagged along for Teddy's swim lesson so that I could see what they were teaching and how cute Teddy was at learning. Enjoy....

The instructors gave Teddy a special pair of shark goggles

One of the first things that they want the kids to learn is to go under the water. One easy way to get them to do that is have them jump into the pool while the parent "catches them" and dunks them under.

And here is Teddy after his swim lesson all wrapped up in a warm towel :)

Lee & Teddy

2008-06-02T22:09:00.000-07:00

Lee and I spent Memorial Day weekend in Denver visiting his sister Debbie and her most adorable family. We had the best time doing all sorts of family stuff while enjoying the incredible crisp and smog-free air! Too bad we don't live closer to them because we have such a good time together. Maybe someday....you never know where life will take you :) Teddy is the youngest of Debbie's clan (4 gorgeous kids) and he is definitely a charmer ;) He was sitting on Lee's lap one night because Lee was making him cheese and cracker sandwiches - so cute! Instead of saying cheese while I was taking the pics, Lee got Teddy saying "cheese and crackers".

More to come this week of the other kids and Colin's B-day party.

And by the way, Sex and the City was SO SO good!!

Tomorrow Night

2008-05-29T13:23:00.000-07:00

Guess what I'll be doing at 11:35 Pm tomorrow night? That's right, I'll be on the edge of my seat watching the Sex and the City movie anticipating what I predict is going to happen. I've watched the trailers enough times now to have drawn my own conclusion of the story, so we'll see if I'm right.

Since I've been watching the trailer so much lately and getting ready for the movie, I've been thinking about the 6 incredible years that I spent in NYC and missing it terribly. Don't get me wrong, I love my life here in LA, but there is something so intense and electric about New York that is virtually impossible to find anywhere else and that's SO different than LA, especially Santa Monica :)

I remember getting together with all of my girlfriends every Sunday night at a different apartment around the city to watch the show, starting in college all the way until right before I moved away. The groups of friends changed a bit, but the love for the show stayed the same. I felt like Sex and the City WAS my life, just in a much more fabulous and expensive way - ha!

So as I'm watching Carrie, Charlotte, Miranda and Samantha on the big screen tomorrow night, I'll really be thinking about all of the amazing memories I have of New York and all of the incredible women who I met and remain my friends to this day.

Colin's turns 5 - a sneak peak

2008-05-27T22:20:00.000-07:00

A few Sundays ago I had the pleasure of taking pictures of Colin's 5th birthday party! There were so many kids and it was over 100 degrees in the valley - yikes!! Despite the heat though, it was a great day with the cutest family and some of their wonderful friends. Here are just a few from the day....more to come later.

This is Colin's sister Arden who is one of the sweetest little girls I know

The Birthday Boy - Colin! It was impossible to get a picture of him looking at the camera because he was running around like crazy, but I grabbed a few of him when he wasn't paying too much attention :)

I think this picture would be a good advertisement - maybe for the brand of shirt Colin is wearing, don't ya think?

Santa Monica Chihuahua

2008-05-21T22:32:00.000-07:00

So if you haven't noticed by now or don't know me well enough to know this already - I LOVE my dog. This might sound cheesy, but Rocky has been sort of the light of my life for the past 8 years (until I met Lee of course) and he has made me fall in love with Chihuahuas in general. So you can imagine how excited I was last night while watching American Idol (YAY David Cook!!) when I saw a commercial for a new movie coming out called Beverly Hills Chihuahua!!! OMG, can you believe it? This movie is pretty much my dream movie in every way - little chi-chis coming to life. Unfortunately it doesn't come out until the fall, but you can view the trailer here. And if ANYONE wants to go with me and Lee (only because I'm dragging him) to the show on opening night, let me know.

Now back to my Rocky. Lee and I were on Montana Ave. on Saturday for their annual sidewalk sale when we popped into one of the pet stores. Lee saw a Lakers harness and had the woman behind the counter re-size and fix the straps so it would fit Rocky. Rocky wasn't too thrilled about it when we got home, but I got it on him last night for our nightly walk. Only problem was that it took me three hours to finally get it off cause he kept trying to bite me ;) Does anyone know the dog whisperer? In honor of the Lakers victory last night over the Spurs and the new Chihuahua movie coming out, here are some pictures of my Rock Rock.

We are traveling to Denver this long weekend to visit Lee's sister who is a portrait photographer and her kids, so I'm sure I will have some killer pictures next week. I still have pictures to post from Colin's Birthday Party last weekend as well. Lots more to come!!

Light Posts on a Saturday afternoon

2008-05-19T13:05:00.000-07:00

A few months ago I went to the LACMA with Lee, Andrew, Julie, and Graham for a little weekend culture. It was a beautiful day, but a little cold. Kinda hard to imagine if you live here in LA and are sweating because of the seriously hot temperatures today!!!

Right in front of the new building at the MOCA, there are these really great light posts. Kinda random, but pretty cool I think.

My first Birthday Party

2008-05-16T08:54:00.001-07:00

Happy Friday everyone!
I'll be shooting my first birthday party on Sunday so stay tuned early next week for the pictures. It should be a fun one and the birthday boy is a gorgeous little thing which will make for some great pictures.

A little update on my business for everyone who has so wonderfully been reading my blog. I love you all and thank you!

I am starting a photoshop class at the end of this month so that I can become as close to an expert as possible. I'm really looking forward to it.

I have a few events lined up to shoot in the next few months which is so exciting! No weddings yet, but I'm working on it and hoping that I can assist a photographer this summer to get some experience with the wedding thing.

New equipment is on the horizon for me too. I have my eye on a new lens that I'd like to add to my repertoire of camera equipment (right now that includes a Canon 5D body, a 24-105mm lens, a few batteries, and a filter) :) Hey, I like to keep things simple.

I am looking to do more portrait shoots so if you know anyone who's interested in having their kids photographed or maybe someone who needs headshots, please send them my way. For the next few months I'm not charging anything for portraits, so it's a no-brainer.

Have a great weekend!

What a coincidence

2008-05-14T09:27:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I have a feeling that roses are going to be some sort of theme throughout this blog or maybe throughout my life - who knows. What I do know is that ever since I posted about not knowing roses existed in LA, I can't stop seeing them. In fact, they are pretty much smacking me in the face. What do you think this means? Maybe that I need to stop and smell the roses more often :)

On Saturday after the Revlon Walk, we were navigating our way back to the car when we walked by - you guessed it - the LA Rose Garden!!! I literally starting laughing and thought of this blog immediately. Roses in LA? Heck yeah, there's a whole garden full of them!! If any of you LAers haven't been downtown to the rose garden yet, I highly suggest it because it's gorgeous. If there are any brides who you know that are getting married downtown, suggest the rose garden to them, it would make for great pics. Maybe if I had been more of an explorer in my almost 4 years here, I would have known that yes, roses do exist in LA :)

Revlon Run/Walk for women's cancers & New Directions

2008-05-13T09:03:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday was the Revlon Run/Walk for women's cancers and what an event it was!

If you didn't read my post about this a few weeks ago, I am on the Spring Board (Jr. Board) of New Directions Inc., an organization that rehabilitates homeless veterans. If you haven't heard of our organization, I highly suggest you check it out because this program is something so unique and absolutely amazing. New Directions treats men and women both, so the Spring Board thought it would be a great idea to walk/run with the women from the program (none of which are pictured here) to honor other women who have struggled with cancer and other tough battles. We had a great turn out for the event that totaled about 35 people. We're hoping to make this a tradition and in future years our numbers will keep growing.

I had the most amazing time at this event - meeting all of the women from the New Directions program, catching up with some friends, and getting to see all of the other participants who came out with signs of love to honor women who have fought hard to survive whether they won or not.
The weather was very overcast for most of the morning. It was great for walking, but not so good for my pictures :)

Here is the coliseum at USC before the race:

I love this picture - these women had on pink tu-tus

Here we are getting ready - Kelly stretching

Lee drinking his pre-walk coffee :)

Achee with our lovely New Directions sign

I just love this hair
So many signs - it was amazing!
We were able to fill out these signs that said "I am participating in support of", so me, Lee, and Lee's mom all had pictures on our backs of Lee's Nana who just won her battle with Lymphoma at 90 years old!! Can you believe that? What an inspiration she is!

Some interesting shots....

Here we are walking in downtown LA

This little boy was adorable. He was skateboarding all over the street running into people. The back of his shirt says that he was supporting "His Mom". I couldn't resist these pictures of him

More signs of support

water break!

This guy was the life of the party! He had a big group supporting Grandma Lupe who I believe from reading their signs, died from cancer. They were chanting and shouting throughout the walk and it was so powerful - it gave me chills.

Now for my favorite picture of the day. Before you look at it though, please read what I have to say. If you ever have a bad day and don't feel like moving or you're down in the dumps and don't believe you can do whatever you put your mind to - please remember this picture. If this guy can walk 3 miles to support women with cancer, YOU can pretty much do anything!

Approaching the tunnel to the finish line

Finish line! Can you see the Go-Go's on the big screen?

50,000 people!

Here are some pictures of the wonderful people who came to walk with New Directions!

The Spring Board

Here I am with my fabulous mother in law Toni who founded New Directions

For Nana....
Thank you so much to everyone who made this a successful event! We will see you all next year!!!

Sweet Dreams

2008-05-08T22:23:00.000-07:00

To me, there's nothing more precious and calm than a sleeping baby. This is Graham again, taken on the same day as the other photos but later, after we tired him out. How cute is his little outfit that he's swaddled in? I can't get enough of this guy and luckily I get to see him tonight!

This coming weekend I'm walking in the Revlon run/walk for women's cancer. I will post some pictures early next week so stay tuned. Also, please comment on my posts if you feel inclined - I love to read what people have to say.

Thanks and Happy Friday!!!

My newest Nephew

2008-05-06T06:54:00.000-07:00

Ok, so we're not blood related, but we mine as well be because I love this little guy as much as my own family.

He'll be turning 7 months old in just a few days and I haven't seen him in over a week because he and his mommy had to go out of town. Julie - I'm dying :)

I shot some pictures of him a few months ago and I've been very slowly working on them while I teach myself photoshop. I'm starting a class at the end of this month, so I should crank out more soon! I only have three today to show.

Everyone.....meet Graham......

couldn't you just die?

Roses in LA....continued

2008-05-05T09:03:00.000-07:00

I will post more pictures tomorrow, but I'd just like everyone to know that since I posted last week regarding the roses - I have seen them EVERYWHERE! So yes, it's my naivete that lead me to think roses don't grow in LA. Maybe I need to read my Martha magazines more carefully! :)

Roses in LA?!

2008-04-30T09:44:00.000-07:00

I might be completely naive, but being from the East Coast and all - I didn't realize that roses grow in LA! Yes, I've been here for almost 4 years now, but I have never seen a rose growing anywhere. Maybe it's because of my black thumb that I haven't noticed, but you can imagine my surprise when I saw them growing in my back yard a few weeks ago (It's our first spring in this place). They remind me of growing up in MD. Luckily we have a Gardner and Lee or everything in the yard would be dead ;)

Here is what I found in the yard yesterday...

I tried something different with this picture and I love the way it turned out!

Look at what else I found in the yard! Jones & his monkey.

1st Anniversary

2008-04-29T08:37:00.000-07:00

So yesterday, April 28th was my first wedding anniversary. It's amazing that one whole year has gone by since the day that Lee & I got married - AMAZING! We went to the Fairmont in Santa Monica on Saturday where our wedding was held and it was very nostalgic for us to sit by the Koi pond and remember our wedding taking place there a year before. Sadly there wasn't a wedding going on that day as I hoped, but it was still fun to be there and walk around the property.

Our wedding day was so magical and something that we'll never forget for the rest of our lives. When we were deciding what kind of wedding to have early in our engagement, my friend Sherry gave me some advice. We were thinking of a small wedding somewhere remote and she told me that there's nothing like looking around the room during your reception and seeing everyone that you love surrounding you. That sold me on the idea of a big wedding with everyone that we know and care for. She was completely right - there is NOTHING like it. We felt so loved and honored that people traveled from near and far to spend the weekend with us. It was truly magical as was actually marrying Lee. I told him this last night that I would marry him over and over if I could and it's true. I feel so lucky to have met him and have him as a husband. He's one of a kind :)

To see an incredible slide show of our wedding from the best wedding photographers EVER - Sweet Monday, CLICK HERE and choose our wedding on the bottom of the page - Ellen & Lee. These women have totally inspired me to take pictures. If there are any brides out there reading this, please check out their site.

Here are a few other images of our wedding day, courtesy of some friends and family....

Did you know that....

2008-04-24T09:47:00.001-07:00

The post office will take your recyclable small electronics? Check this out. I was at the post office this past weekend and saw these cute little bags for recycling small electronics. You can take as many as you want. I HIGHLY suggest doing this if you have old cell phones, cameras, etc. at home that you don't know what to do with.

USPS - Recycle
Every year we recycle about one million tons of wastepaper, cardboard, plastics, cans, and other stuff. We also generate about $7.5 million in revenue from those recycling activities.

We purchase more than $200 million worth of products containing recycled content each year. Many of the containers in our mail system are made from recycled materials, and so are the stamped envelopes, post cards, stamp booklet covers, and packaging materials we provide.

The adhesives used in our stamps are biodegradable, and our Priority Mail® and Express Mail® boxes and envelopes are Cradle to CradleSM certified. So they can go right in the recycling bin.

Through various continued successful partnerships, we’ve facilitated reuse or recovery of overstock and outdated electronic equipment, saving tons of potential landfill waste. This spring in select Post Offices, customers can get free prepaid mail-back envelopes for recycling inkjet cartridges, cell phones, PDAs, digital cameras and other small electronics.

Fun day in Manhattan Beach

2008-04-22T22:40:00.000-07:00

A few weekends ago I spent a fun filled day in Manhattan Beach with some of my fun filled friends from college :) I met these lovely ladies 10 years ago (Holy Crap!) when I moved to NYC to go to film school. I ended up staying for 6 years which was hands down, the time of my life! I met Jen (in the sweatshirt) on my second day in the city because she was my roommate!!! I prayed for no bunk beds in our dorm, but low and behold - that's just what we had. I will always be grateful to Jen for taking the top bunk!!!

Briana and Andrea were part of my very first intro to Film Production class, called Sight and Sound film. Because of the intimacy of the program and the class, we all made fast friends and have remained close since. Now, ten years later, Me, Jen and Briana live in this beautiful city of LA, and Andrea lives in Seattle. West Coast baaaby!!!

And a west coast baby is exactly what will be added to our little group because Andrea is pregnant!

After finding out that Andrea was going to visit us a few weeks ago, I got so excited that I was going to get to see her in all her preggo glory - and it is just that. She's completely glowing and SOOO darn cute!!!

We spent a very relaxing day having brunch, sitting by the pool at her hotel drinking mojitos (Andrea's was virgin), and reminiscing. It was such a great day and one that I hope can happy more often. Love ya my NYU girls!

**As I was writing this post, I lost an great establishing shot of the Pier. I will have to add it tonight from home. Until then, here are some pictures that I took ON the Pier:

V-Ball!

Love the Ocean
Gotta love the surfers...
View from the other side

Briana taking a picture of me taking a picture of her!
Close Up!

The three musketeers

Isn't she the cutest?

Jen and Andrea sharing a laugh

Always remember....

After the beach...later in the day

Andrea and her husband Pete - cute couple!

Just the four of us

The End :)

Fruit

2008-04-17T15:02:00.000-07:00

I had to order something today from Manhattan Fruitier, and even though the reason was somber, the ordering experience was a pleasure so I thought I'd blog about it. I've been ordering from MF since my days working for Martha in NYC. They make really great baskets of fruit and other goodies for every occasion. Their prices are fair and they even hand deliver in LA & NYC!! Check them out:

http://www.manhattanfruitier.com/

Farmer's Market Goods

2008-04-16T09:00:00.000-07:00

I live two blocks away from a small, but fantastic Saturday farmer's market in Santa Monica. I try my hardest to go every week to buy fruits & veggies because I believe that it's important to support the local economy. Most of the vendors travel hours to sell their products at this market, and let me tell you - they're better than ANY grocery store. So many people think that it's more expensive to shop at the farmer's market, but it s not - TRUST! Here are some of the lovely veggies that I saw while I was there recently. If anyone wants to meet me there some Saturday, just let me know - Pico & 23rd!

I tried muting the colors on this last picture to see what it would look like. I like.

On a separate note...I am on the Jr. Board of Directors (we call it the Spring Board) for an organization called New Directions. New Directions helps homeless veterans get off the street and rehabilitate themselves to become successful, working and functionial members of society. It's an incredible organization and something that is so important, especially right now with the state of our country and the state of the war. We have formed a team to walk on Saturday, May 10th at the Revlon run/walk, in the name of New Directions. We will be walking with the women residents of the program and it should be amazing. If you are interesting in participating check out the ND website under Revlon Run/Walk and then contact me. http://www.ndvets.org/ . We will have more events coming up this year (like a poker tournament), so if you can't make it to the walk, there will be plenty of ways to get involved.

For the love of JBJ!

2008-04-10T08:57:00.000-07:00

So I must have screamed so much last night that I opened some sort of flood gate for germs. At one point in the middle of the show, I was singing so loud and screaming that I started to lose my voice. It didn't stop me though from trying to belt out "Wanted Dead or Alive" or "Living on a Prayer" - my two favorite Bon Jovi songs. I got home from the concert and immediately made tea to soothe my burnt out vocal chords, but to no avail. This morning I woke up coughing with a runny nose! What happened? All I could think about on my way to work this morning is how these guys get up on stage night after night and belt out the same old songs, but make each concert/city feel special? I guess that's what talent is all about. Here are just two pictures from last nights show. They didn't turn out great, but the show was incredible as always. Also, the band just announced today that they're going to end their tour in NYC at Madison Square Garden on July 14th & 15th. I think it's an experience that I can't miss. NYC anyone??

I'm off to bed....peace!

This is the only picture I could get to load...

24 Hours of Fun

2008-04-09T09:01:00.000-07:00

Last Wednesday at 4pm Lee & I departed LAX and landed back there on Thursday evening at 6:20PM. 26 hours and 20 minutes of vacation that felt like a whole weekend. It's amazing the amount of fun we were able to have in such a short period of time. It's a testament to all that we can accomplish in our lives in just one day, let alone a week, month, or a lifetime. So for anyone who's not putting all of the hours in your life to a good use - get out there and DO something with them!!! Just make sure that you get enough rest too (I'm a believer in the importance of sleep) :)

Our adventure started at the airport in San Jose where my brother and sister picked us up before the Bon Jovi concert. We had dinner at Blowfish Sushi in San Jose which was DE-licious!! After a great dinner and a few glasses of Saki, we headed to the HP Pavilion to see the greatest band of all time :) I knew that my brother had gotten incredible seats for the show, but they were better than I even imagined! We were the first section from the stage in the risers - 4th row. Our seats bumped up right to the backstage area too, so we could see everything going on back there - it was amazing. I think I've been to at least 15 Bon Jovi concerts, I've sat on the floor, stood in Times Square for 8 hours, and stood in other various lines just to hear them sing, but these seats were by far the best I've ever had. I only have a few pictures to show for it though and they were taked on my blackberry so they're not the best.

I screamed and danced for 2 1/2 hours to one of the best concerts I've ever been to and guess what? I'm going to the LA show TONIGHT at Staples - woohooo!!! Can't get enough of my boys!

After a good night of sleep, Lee & I ventured to one of my favorite places on Earth - Alcatraz. After living in San Fran for a few years and visiting often, he had never been. This was...I think...my 7th time there! I think it's one of the most fascinating places in our country.

Lee took these first few pics. What do you think?

Leaving San Francisco:

That's me!!

I love this picture that Lee took of everyone looking at the Island as we approach

Welcome to the ROCK!

This is the social hall that was used for the guards and their families. In case any of you have not been to Alcatraz, the guards actually lived on the Island with their families and it ran itself like a small city. Totally amazing!

water tower

School House for the guards' children

warehouse and manufacturing - many of the prisoners worked here

Cell Block C

Cell Block D - The "HOLE"

Kitchen

In the Cafeteria

Part of the Warden's House. In the early 70s, the American Indians occupied Alcatraz as their home. At some point during their occupation there was a fire and many of the residential buildings were severely damaged and some burned down.

This was the Vault in the office used by the guards

I'm not sure if this is exactly true, but I remember reading somewhere that Alcatraz Island has become a bird sanctuary. Here are a few of the many that are the new residents of the Island.

Views from the boat on the way back to the city

After we worked up an appetite on the Rock, we went to the famous Swan Oyster Depot for lunch and let me just say that I wish I had known about this place YEARS ago! They only serve cold seafood and clam chowder, but it is GOOD! Lee and I will definitely make this a regular stop when we visit in the future.

Look at all of this seafood!

You have to wait in line outside because there are only 20 or so seats at the bar. They guys who run the place (all brothers) serve beer/wine/vodka while you're waiting. Here's Lee...
Lunch from Heaven

Look at these crabs!

How cool?

I'll be blogging again in the next few days with a few pics of Manhattan Beach, a few friends, and hopefully a few pictures of the Jovi concert tonight!

The Chicken's Debut

2008-04-01T22:34:00.001-07:00

If there is anyone out there who reads this blog and doesn't know me well yet (I hope there is!), you may not appreciate this post as well as say... my mom would, but I hope you enjoy the pictures none the less :0 I decided to do something funny over the weekend with the love of Rocky's life - his chicken. She is the apple of his eye and even more of a companion to him than I am. He loves her dearly and so I thought I'd take a few portrait shots of her. You may see alot more of her in the days to come because she really was a very good subject. Didn't move at all!!! :) :)

Here she is....

And here is little Rocky who was waiting patiently while I paid more attention to the Chicken than to him!

Last week I wrote about my 31st birthday and as a follow up to that post, I wanted to tell you about a very special birthday present I received. My brother and his wonderful wife got me incredible tickets to the Bon Jovi concert TONIGHT in San Jose at the HP Pavilion. Lee and I are leaving this afternoon to fly up there for a fun filled evening of rocking out to my most FAVORITE band EVER. While I'm screaming the words to "Wanted Dead or Alive" I will be remembering an inforgettable Decemeber day in 2004 when I actually was overcome with excitement to the point of being speechless. This is what occured:

That's right - I actually met Jon Bon Jovi in person which at that point in time was the greatest day of my life! Unfortunately, the only thing I could muster the courage to say was "I like your shirt"!! I was a speechless star-struck mess that day, but I couldn't stop smiling. So tonight I will be thinking of that moment and wishing that I could have said more, however, maybe it was even more magical since I didn't!

My Favortite Things....

2008-03-26T22:49:00.000-07:00

My 3 most favorite "things" are the boys in my life.

My extremely handsome husband Lee who doesn't let me take his picture often:

My baby Rocky, named for THE Rocky (Balboa) who I got when he was big enough to fit in the palm of my hand or the pocket of my winter coat. Our 8th year anniversary just past!

My new baby Jones who has become Rocky's brother (in theory) since meeting Lee. He likes Rocky, but Rocky doesn't like him so much :)

How lucky am I? Who wouldn't want to come home to these three EVERY night?

Random Wednesday.....

2008-03-26T14:18:00.000-07:00

So yesterday I turned 31 years young! It's incredibly amazing to me that I'm actually 31 because I don't feel a day over...maybe 26 :) Maybe it's because I'm trying to start a new business in an unfamiliar field, but I think it's also because I feel like all major life experiences are JUST starting to unfold in front of me. So many of my friends are married or getting close to that point, some are having babies, buying homes, and almost everyone I know (me & my husband included) are really trying to figure out what we want to spend our lives "doing", and changing our path to fulfill our goals. I never really bought into the expression that you need to LOVE what you do - until now!

So this year, my birthday wish is to turn my hope for a successful photography business into a reality so that I can spend my time professionally and personally - doing something that I really care about. So in case anyone was wondering - that's what I wished for when I blew out my candles this year. I have everything else I've always wanted like a wonderful husband, family, the sweetest dogs, the best of friends, and good health. And no, I don't think it's superstitious to tell everyone what I wished for!!

Oh another note regarding being 31, I came across a website the other day of another photographer named Kristen Lewis who just turned 31. She is working on a really incredible project called Eyes Open Project to donate money to some seriously wonderful causes. PLEASE check out her website and see what she's up to.

Tonight I will be posting some pictures of a few of my favorite things. Check back tomorrow!!

Just for the sake of putting a picture up today though, this is what Lee & I did on Easter Sunday (we're Jewish)

this picture was taken with my blackberry.

Random Wednesday.....

2008-03-19T10:23:00.000-07:00

I have crossed over to the dark side today - I bought a crack-berry! That's right! In an effort to be more organized with my life and new business, I decided to get a blackberry pearl. Now people can get in touch with me via phone OR email at ANY hour of the day! How lucky am I? :) Isn't it just so cute? I think I'm in love.....

Photoshop

2008-03-17T11:57:00.001-07:00

I worked on Photoshop for a while last night which led me to realize that I need to take a class! I was able to do some basic editing and color correction, but I definitely need some further instruction. I suppose I could buy an instruction book or find some on-line tutorials, but I don't work well that way. I need to have someone actually teach me what to do. So today I'm on a quest to find the best photoshop class in LA. From previous searching and talking to some people, I think I'm settled on Santa Monica College, but if anyone reading this knows of a better class then please let me know.

I'm also on a mission to save enough $ to afford a "tea for two" session from Jules Bianchi. Her work is amazing and she does customized learning sessions for anything from lighting to building client relations. So today is day #1 of my savings. We'll see how well it goes!

I'm posting a few pictures from a photography workshop that I've been taking. This is called "A study of shadows" haha :) Images are not edited!!

My Kitchen Chair

My dog Jones

Random grass.....

Tree on Main St.

My weekend with Lia, continued....

2008-03-10T19:25:00.000-07:00

This is how our day began - with a smile and a pose.

Lia getting her nails did....

Lia took this picture of me while we were shopping....nice work!

MMMUAH! (can you see the earring in her left ear?)

Here are some pictures of Lia and her younger brother Gino in their back yard:

Look Ma, dirty hands!

Can you believe this girl is only 12. Oh, and she's only 1/2 an inch shorter than me :)

Looks so good......

Time for dinner!

Lia & Gino - Thanks for being such great models.

My Weekend - Lia's Birthday

2008-03-10T12:32:00.000-07:00

Today is my niece Lia's 12th birthday! I returned last night from an incredible weekend up north celebrating with her. I can't believe that 12 years ago she was a tiny little thing that I held in my arms and that I was only 19!!! From the minute she was born we formed a unique bond and I remember wondering how in the world I could ever love anyone as much as I love her! I know people always say this, but it really does feel like that was such a short time ago. Now Lia is this incredibly smart, sweet, loving, and charming 12 year old girl that I admire and am so proud of.

We made a plan to pretend like Saturday was her birthday from the time that we woke up until we went to bed since I couldn't be there today. She planned the day herself and it couldn't have been more fun - it was the PERFECT girls day. We started with breakfast at Mimi's cafe where we talked about school and 6th grade life. Then we went to get our nails done (manis and pedis) which included a fabulous 10 minute leg rub. After nails we headed to the mall to do what girls do best - SHOP! Lia needed the perfect outfit for her birthday dinner that night, and....she got her ears pierced!!! That's right - Lia now has her beautiful lobes pierced and I'm so lucky that I got to share that moment with her.

We ate lunch at Lia's favorite place in the mall and after hours of shopping, we did indeed find the perfect outfit for her and she happens to look 14 wearing it, not 12. So that night we went to dinner at the Cheesecake Factory in Palo Alto and 8 of us celebrated Lia's birthday in the best way possible - with huge portions of food, luscious cheesecake, and a VERY loud rendition of Happy Birthday. I think that everyone helped accomplish the goal of making Lia feel as incredibly special as she is.

Lia - I had so much fun with you on Saturday, it was an unforgettable day. Thank you for letting me share it with you. Start planning for 13!!! I love you.

I will post pictures of the weekend either later tonight or tomorrow. Thanks for dropping by!