#4 - Check!!!

I'm so excited that I can check off number 4 on my101 in 1001 list! Especially since this is one of the CUTER goals on my list. ;-) This is Sophie - our cute little Pembroke Welsh Corgi.




She's only 6 months old but she's tough! Which is good since we knew that she was going to need to be if she wanted to hold her own with our first dog, Kipper (a border collie/Australian shepherd). We got her from a couple who is found out recently (about 3 weeks after they bought Sohpie) that they're expecting twins! And with a 2 year old and only an apartment for everyone, this little sweet pea was a bit much. We were only too happy to step in!

She's already taken over Kipper's bed - though they just share it at night usually. ;-)




Corgi's are apparently the smallest herding dog and are used to herd cattle and horses (!!!). She's definitely a strong willed little tough chica! Kipper pretty much fell in love with her the first moment he met her. We'd been warming him up for a few months telling him we were going to find him a "girlfriend", so that might be part of it. ;-) As soon as we brought her home to try things out, he started bringing every toy he has to her and licking her face and playing. It's been happily ever after ever since. :-)

He still thinks that she wants to play with his toys (even though they're practically bigger than her!), but she doesn't mind as long as she can chew on his ears!




Isn't she soo stubby and cute!? Look at her big 'ol Will Smith ears!



And one more of Kipper - he still gets the award for "dog that knows what to do when he sees a camera". :-)

#63 - Check!

This Monday I finally got to go back to La Super Rica with my sister! Number 63 on the List! Her birthday is in February and we usually try to take some kind of trip or something. Last year, we went to Santa Barbara for a few days (which was awesome), and discovered this AWESOME little taqueria on Milpas St. I'm telling you, there is nothing like it. Hand-made corn tortillas (you literally watch them make YOUR tortillas while you're standing there), amazing chuletas and tamales and guacamole.... Mmmmmmm.....

We couldn't stay or do a trip this year, but we did drive up for the afternoon, and even visit our favorite little Chocolaterie (double Mmm!) for some dark chocolate truffels. I even tried one called "Belgian Nirvana" - I concur with the name. ;-)

If you're ever up for a drive, or if you live in the SB area, you have to tried this place. It's really amazing. :-)

We're Homeowners!!

I know that we officially closed escrow and took possession of our FIRST HOUSE at the beginning of this month - so the "we're homeowners" news is probably pretty old to most of you - but I guarantee these pictures are not!

While Kristen was out here 2 weekends ago (has it really been a week and a half since you came?) she graciously agreed to take a few pictures of me and my husband as he carried me over the threshold. I LOVE the photos she took - take a look!







I don't brag about my husband enough (mostly because I know it embarrasses him and I try to respect that 90% of the time), but I can't help it right now (sorry baby). I think I truly have the most amazing husband out there - and not just because he pretended it didn't hurt to carry me over the threshold! He has been my biggest supporter almost since we met. And he has definitely been my biggest fan and encouragement since deciding to pursue photography as a career. He has sacrificed some of his own dreams and worked his tail off in a field that isn't his first choice to make sure that I can have this opportunity - he is my Man in every sense of the word. I have heard some women comment to me before about "Where are all the good Men?" and there was even a song about it in the 90's ("Where Have All the Cowboys Gone" by Paula Cole) but I'm proud to say one found me.

Ok, back to pictures. I'm sure he's begging me to stop by now. I love you baby. Happy Birthday and Valentines Day. ;-)

Number 100 - Check!

I actually completed this a little while ago, but I'm still going strong! I used to be sorta bad about getting back to all my emails in my inbox (I know, I know, lame), but then I went to a workshop led by the beautiful and talented Jessica Verma about the business side of the photography biz and she mentioned the Nike mentality of "just doing it" when it comes to this. I took it to heart and resolved to keep my inbox down to less than 2 emails by the end of each day. My 101 in 1001 goal was to do it for a month, but I've gone for about a month and a half now! :-) I'm trying to keep it up as a general rule (and not beat myself up when I close down the computer with 3 emails...). ;-)

The Whirlwind - Part 3: Surreal

After driving home from Palm Springs on Saturday night, I crashed almost as soon as I got home. By this point I think I had only gotten a total of 4 hours of sleep for the previous 48 hours, so I crashed HARD. ;-) I had planned on going to church in the morning, but Chris Brown's words came to me as I lay there willing my alarm to shut up. It took me back to my APU days when he was the Campus Pastor and he said something to the effect of "Sometimes the most spiritual thing you can do is sleep." So with my body, mind and spirit in agreement, I slept in till 10am. ;-)

However, I still needed to travel back up to Santa Barbara - Kristen & Natalie were still stuck up there - so I got details from them, and started driving. Btw, if you want to see what they got to do on Saturday, check out Kristen, Jessica Claire, or David Jay's blogs - it was a pretty amazing day.

There is one photo of them that I LOVE (taken by Natalie too!) - here's the photographer troupe in all their Shootsac glory!




After lunch with the whole crew (Crystal, Paul Rogers, David Jay, Jessica Claire, Amy Nave, Kristen Leigh, Natalie Poelma, and me), we headed up to DJ's AMAZING house. Kristen was interviewed for Freedom Club (she really did mean to mention you Sarah!) and I got to hang out with all the awesome people in the house. Not only that, now I have my very own Shootsac!!! I'm so so so excited - especially since it was Jessica Claire's personal one. ;-) lol.




We even teamed up and made some hysterical video history while DJ was out picking up Allie. I don't want to spoil the fun though, so hopefully Paul will post it soon. ;-)

DJ's house has a view like you can't believe and it definitely is more impressive in person. We tried to take a picture in front of it, but it was right during afternoon sun and blew out the windows. Look at what a nerd I am! (PS - no one told me DJ is like 6'3" or something)




And here's Crystal - DJ's wonderful, funny, and very resourceful assistant! :-)



It was pretty amazing and certainly a highlight for me in my photography life. I know that makes me sorta pathetic, but oh well! :-)

After we left DJ's house, Kristen, Natalie and I headed to the pier for some pictures. Our final photoshoot. Here are some of my favs:






















And thus ends my Whirlwind Weekend blog series. I have more pictures to post up (including pics from a cute shoot Kristen did for us as new Homeowners!), but that about sums up the craziness before they flew back to Maryland.

And now - on to wish my husband and happy birthday!
*Muah!
~Brienne

The Whirlwind - Part 2: The Wedding

After driving home to Santa Clarita on Friday night, I got up early, and drove to Palm Springs to the lovely Parker Hotel for Rob & Val's wedding. Since I was shooting with Melissa Jill, that checks #93 on my 101 in 1001 list! AND, since I was in the mood for fulfilling goals, I went ahead and shot the entire wedding in manual - #6 CHECK!




I had a blast shooting at the Parker - it has a fab 1050's vibe (as is appropriate for Palm Springs) and the weather was gorgeous. I was also excited to meet Melissa's assistant, Jamie Hammond. Turns out she and my husband went to Jr. High and High School together! How random is that? Anyway, I loved the day and the bride and groom (and their fantastic friends) were adorable too. Check out some of my favorites (including the bride's Armani gown...)

The fab lobby of the hotel



When I say it was a beautiful day, I meant it...



That beautiful silver Armani gown



I couldn't decide which shoe shot I liked better, so you get two






The bride getting her nails done



The guys have it so easy.... they got to chill at a lemonade stand on the hotel grounds while the girls continued their flurry. ;-)



Some cute details








Ok, the good stuff...


















Ok, so that's all for now. More on the whirlwind weekend to come! Trust me - there's a lot more!

~Brienne

The Whirlwind - Part 1

I can't even begin to describe the craziness of these past 5 days. It has been absolutely incredible and amazing and stunning and surprising (and exhausting!) all rolled into one blurred stretch of time. I'm going to attempt to blog a lot of it (with photos OF COURSE), but it will definitely take more than one blog, so this is just part one. ;-)

So Thursday, my friend Kristen Leigh arrived with her bff Natalie from Maryland. I think that California knew that Kristen was considering a move here, so she put her best face on and turned the weather to clear blue sunny skies with 75 degree weather the entire time. ;-)




We headed home in the wondrous LA traffic (4:30pm from LAX to Santa Clarita baby!) and enjoyed some laughter, stories, and music (I HAD to throw together a playlist for the drive - some country for them, some rock and r&b for me, and of course, some Justin Timberlake for everyone else on the road too - we totally brough sexy back).

After dinner, which my husband and our friend Jared made for everyone (with my husband's famous SAUCE for the pasta - not gonna lie, it's amazing every time), we headed to the bowling alley. :-)




Preston whooped us all, but I gave Nathan a run for his money - we were like Hillary and Barac out there for the points. ;-)

That didn't spoil the mood for Natalie though! She gave a valiant effort!



The next day, we got up and drove to Santa Barbara to cruise around and check out the sites for Kristen's big day shooting with David Jay, Jessica Claire, and Josh Newton.

We had to pick up smoothies from Coffee Kiosk on the way though. ;-)



We also got to eat at one of my FAVORITE places on the planet - La Super Rica. I ate there with my sister last year when we were up on Santa Barbara and it knocked my socks off. It was still as good as I remember - authentic mexican food, home-made tortillas & guacamole...mmmmmmm..... I'm so glad Kristen took a picture of it. ;-) (a lot of these pictures are hers, btw)




We definitely wandered around had had random fun though. :-) Check out the hats from Cost Plus World Market. I don't know why I couldn't talk them into buying them....



After that, we enjoyed some good chimping on our cameras comparing what we got for the day. You'll notice I do that a lot...



About the time that we were doing this in the hotel, I got an email from Melissa Jill - one of my photography heroes - saying that she could use some help with a wedding she was shooting the next day in Palm Springs. After frantic phone calls all over the place to DJ, Josh and Melissa, we got it all worked out so that DJ could pick up Kristen for their wedding the next morning, Natalie (the Trooper) could go along, and I could drive from SB to Palm Springs. :-) Isn't amazing how God works sometimes?

So I hopped on the road, drove home for a quick nap (that's what it felt like), then got up early to drive to Palm Springs. I felt like I was bursting with excitement the whole time, so I hardly even felt the tiredness.

Next post -- the wedding at the Paker Hotel (amazing!), Melissa Jill and Jamie Hammond (her assistant), and Kristen's adventure in Santa Barbara....