Tomorrow Night

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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!!!