A sneak peak of Lola

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

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!

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!!!

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....

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....

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

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