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It's Coming...

All will be revealed on December 1, 2008. You don't want to miss it.

::b::

I Am So Flexible.

Do you remember the movie "Signs" with Mel Gibson and Joaquin Phoenix? I totally love that movie (even though it scares me still - especially the sounds the aliens make when they talk...). I always end up walking around afterwards wondering if I should be wearing tin foil for a hat, but rarely give in to the temptation. Rarely.

Anyway, there's this one poignant scene in the film where Mel & Joaquin are talking about serious stuff as the world seems to be ending. They discuss "the kind of man you are - the kind that sees signs, or coincidences" in things (roughly). Joaquin's character tells this hilarious story about being at a party and almost kissing a girl, but turning his head to get rid of gum before kissing her only to turn back and discover that she's vomited in the interim (sorry for the grossness...). He uses this as his example of why he's a "Signs Man" since that was clearly a sign that he shouldn't be with that girl. And I totally sympathized with him. Because I am so a "signs" kind of girl.

If you're one of us, you know who you are. You see meaning in things like being caught at a red light only to pass an accident ahead of you that you would have been in had you run the yellow. You see it in small stuff too - like the sale price on the BCBG shoes you've had your eyes on for months (that is so a sign - especially if the only pair left is in your size...). But if you're like me, you wonder if you should ever take mundane things, like, say, fortunes from fortune cookies, as "signs."

Which brings me to my point. Fortune cookies. Preston and I had a wonderful dinner at one of our favorite SCV restaurants (Grand Panda) and finished our meal in typical fortune cookie fashion. I was amused when I read mine:



I mean, who doesn't want to be told that their life will be happy and peaceful? I laughed because I want to have a chat with the writers some days and say things like "Umm, hello? baby on the way... Just what is your definition of 'peaceful'?" My husband and I shared a laugh, and he opened his. This is where I sorta got bitter (yeah, I'm one of those people who struggles with not taking fortunes personally - maybe it's just pregnancy hormones, who knows...).



Flexible? He's the one that's flexible? Ok, Mr. Fortune-Cookie-Writer, show yourself! I am so flexible. I'm so flexible that I'm not moving until you come out here and explain yourself! While my husband continued laughing and totally enjoying the moment, I huffed and puffed for a few minutes at the clear insult from some writer who just doesn't know me. That's about when the ridiculousness of it hit me and I promptly went into female-recovery-mode (aka pretend like you didn't just do that and don't know what they're all talking about...).

Ok, ok. So maybe everything doesn't have to be a sign. Or maybe Mr. Fortune-Cookie-Writer meant it more literally since I can't even see my toes anymore, let alone touch them.

Yeah, maybe that's it.

::b::

Dance. Biscuit.

Sometimes you just need to laugh. One of the ways that happens for me (especially during the political season, though this video isn't political...) is thanks to Saturday Night Live. Last year's Thanksgiving special, hosted by Justin Timberlake, was HILARIOUS. I was excited when I heard he was doing it again. Unfortunately, he had to cancel, but he did come on this past week to do his whole special in under 2 minutes (he also danced for Beyonce in a sketch about her song "Single Ladies" where he refers to himself as a "dance biscuit" - you should watch that one too...).

I hope you enjoy this as much as I did! :)

Christian & Jolene ::Wedding::

I'm done. That's it. Finished. With wedding season that is. And what a way to end the season!

Meet Christian & Jolene. Their story is pretty unique these days. They met in high school (well, the met before then, but it wasn't more till high school) and started dating as seniors. They graduated, she went to Arizona for college to play volleyball, he stayed in California. There were a lot of cross-state trips, a lot of phone calls, too much missing each other. Eventually, she graduated and came back to California and the relationship only grew stronger. They have gone through a lot during their several years of dating, but they have clung to each other through it all. And finally, FINALLY, it was time to say "I do".

Thanks to the fires around southern California this weekend, Christian almost didn't make it to his own wedding and several of the guests were also delayed or unable to attend. Needless to say, things were hectic all morning and the phones were ringing off the hook. They managed to keep it together though and the details still came of beautifully. Check it out!







Jolene was simply gorgeous.


I love catching little cute moments like this.


The whole wedding party was amazing. I had to post this one. When I mentioned that they should feel free to "show their personalities", JP took it seriously. He would be the one hanging off the poll in the back...


More "personality"...


Ah. Yeah.






The fires were good for one thing - nice gorgeous fall light.


I love the emotion in this one - especially Jolene.




This was one of my favorites.


Bustin' a move on the dance floor


Did I mention that there was some hilarious, off-the-hizzy dancing? :)




Thanks again to you both for letting me be a part of all the crazy awesomeness! It was beautiful to watch and the party was fantastic (as was the food, btw)! I hope you enjoy the honeymoon cruise to Mexico!!

To see their full slideshow, *click here*.

::b::

Jolene & Christian ::Teaser::

I just finished my last wedding for the season and it was amazing!! Can't wait to show you the rest of the photos, but first I plan on indulging in my prenatal massage my husband scheduled for me in anticipation of the glorious (and somewhat painful) moment in the wedding season (he SO loves me).

Enjoy the teaser! More images and slideshow coming soon!

Roman Family ::Creative Couture::

Whenever Liz calls me, I get really excited. Like silly, giddy excited. I guess you could say that, in my photography career, home girl and I go way back. Liz has been coming to me for her family photography needs for a while now and it's seriously so much fun to work with her, her husband and her kiddos. I've had the pleasure of watching little Izzy spring up in front of me since she was just months old to now being 2! Vanessa has grown into a beautiful young woman (these girls seriously look like their mom!) and I was lucky enough to shoot Liz & Alex's awesome Leap Day wedding. So, yeah, when she calls me, I get pretty happy. :)

This year, for their family portraits and Izzy's 2 yr. portraits, we headed back to Big Tree Park in Glendora. By the way, if you have never been there or haven't ever driven by it, when they say "big tree" they should probably say GI-HUGEMONGOUS. I have no idea what kind of tree it is, but goodness gracious, it's ridiculously big.

We started with Izabel's portraits in her cute-o red dress.




Awww, sisters....


Time for some family shots...








I don't like to talk about my flare.... (that's for the Becker fans out there)


Not hard to see where the good looks in the family come from with parents like this!


Mom got some extra special love. :)


Thanks again for letting me work your family! You know I enjoy it every time and I can't believe how grown up the girls are now! Looking forward to the next time. :)

::b::

Amari ::Kids Kouture::

Meet super adorable cutie-patootie 4 year old Amari! I love doing Kids Kouture shoots - especially when I get to work with such fantastic people like Amari and his mom, Amani. Amari came prepared for his shoot too. He had three outfits and four toys all set to show me (not to mention his Taekwondo moves and some killer dance skills). We met up in Pasadena near the Rose Bowl and jumped right into it!

I try to encourage parents to help prepare their kids for shoots by hyping it in a positive way plus I ask that parents let their children bring a few items that they really like to "show off". It usually helps loosen kids up a little bit and it always makes for more enjoyable photos. I was excited to learn from Amani that Amari did really well for his school photo after his experience with me - I'd like to think that part of that comes down to just providing an enjoyable experience for kids to just be kids in front of a camera. Plus you get to see their real personalities come out - which is so much more fun. Check out what I mean about Amari's adorableness and some of the toys he decided to bring!





I had to show Amari the only cool move I knew.... crab walking. :) He was instantly a pro.




Amari is a total Laker's fan (a kid after my own heart!). His favorite player is Kobe - so this is his "Kobe face".


Ahhh-Yaaah!


Dance moves - no music necessary. :)


He had to show me his push-ups - he's gotten good at them in Taekwondo classes...


Just because he's cool.




Surveying his kingdom. :)


Special thanks to Amari & Amani for letting me be a part of documenting such a cute time in Amari's life! It was truly a pleasure to work with you both - I hope to have the chance to do it again in the future!

Info, Discounts, Promises & PROOF about J. Elway

I've been totally slacking on my blog-life lately and I must apologize. I have tons of stuff to blog now (I'm oh-so-nicely backed up on that front!) and I promise I'll be getting that cooking soon. Especially those of you who had family portraits with me and gave me permission to post - those will go up soon, I promise! Wow, I just said "I promise" a lot in this paragraph. I better hop to!

This is the middle of Holiday Portrait craziness for me right now and I have one wedding left to shoot before I'm done for a while (thanks to maternity leave) and it's this weekend. I still have a few slots open for portraits if you're interested, but mostly weekday times. If you're interested in doing a weekday shoot between now and December 1, I'm offering a special 15% discount! Remember, that's for weekday sessions! Weekends are almost completely booked.

Anyway, like I said before, I WILL be getting caught up on session posting, but in the mean time, I wanted to address a nasty rumor. I have heard via a few emails that some of you don't believe I shot John Elway (with my camera). I was righteously indignant at this until I realize that those photos too were un-blogged. So to put you at ease, here's a quick shot from during the filming portion for ESPN's new show "Homecoming". :)



Told ya. :) You can also see one of my photos of Mr. Elway on the cover of the SFV News magazine this month.

More blogging coming soon!

Bishop, California - #89 CHECK!

This past weekend, my husband and I traveled to Bishop, CA and the surrounding areas in the Sierra Nevada mountains for a little anniversary getaway. We seriously don't take enough vacations and since we figured this would be the last chance before 2 become 3 (or 6 become 7 if you count all the pets), we wanted to go somewhere beautiful, relaxing, and not too busy. The small town of Bishop was perfect.

I come from a family that likes to DO things on their vacation. Visit landmarks, go to museums, hike, watch movies, etc. However, Preston is definitely a "I don't want to do anything, I just want to relax" kind of guy. Given the insanity that has been in our lives lately (which will only get worse I'm sure), we opted for the latter. We packed up our happy little Subaru and headed north with no plans other than a hotel reservation (plus golf clubs for him and a camera for me!). Keep in mind though - I am no landscape photographer. In fact, I rarely even attempt to shoot landscape and even more rare is when I show anyone what I shot. I really want to learn, but for all of you out there that have a natural knack for this, bear with me...

I slept in the first morning while Preston golfed (in 35 mph winds, lol) and then we sleepily headed up to the snow. It was nice and stormy (my kind of relaxing weather, personally). We drove up to Lake Sabrina first. It was right at the base of the snow level, but since that was pretty high in elevation, we decided that we shouldn't push it (since I was already getting a wee bit of altitude sickness).



I don't know if the temperature translates in the photo to you, but holy cow, it was cold. Right around freezing, but the wind coming down off the peaks was way too cold for this California girl.

We started back down and stopped briefly at both North Lake and South Lake. These next photos are from North Lake. There was actually a guy out there fishing too. Craziness. It was so gorgeous and quiet though. Nothing but the sounds of the wind.



I think our Subaru was so happy to be in its element. :) By the time we were done with the long weekend, the Sub (pronounced "soob" in our family...) was covered in mud and dust after driving through puddles, off-roading on volcanic rock, and driving through a lot of rain and dust. The drive to North Lake through the aspen trees and mud puddles was one of my favorite parts. Totally worth it to get here.



There are several places in town that were quite beautiful also. I loved this blood hound hanging out on the back tool box of his owner's truck and had to grab a quick pic with my point and shoot. He was so happy when his owner came back out too - started thumping his tale on the toolbox as soon as he caught sight of him. He also appeared to enjoy having his photo taken.



I loved this little creek down the road from our hotel.



This truck hanging out in the front yard of a repair place down the road was very eye-catching to me. I have always loved old cars and this one was no exception, even in it's state of disrepair...



Preston and I were also totally amused when we found this just up the road from us. Especially since we rarely see our last name spelled correctly!



Throughout our trip, we spent time exploring and relaxing every way we could. Preston napped, I got a pedicure (holla!), and we enjoyed visiting some local photography galleries while it was raining outside. I've been wanting to do this for a while, and I was thrilled when I realized I get to check this off my 101 in 1001 List! Not only did I go to Vern Clevenger's gallery on Main Street, I also went to the Mountain Light Gallery as well (mostly made up of Galen Rowell's work). Check out his shot of North Lake! It was inspiring and beautiful - and I even bought a book on landscape and nature photography so maybe someday I can get good at this too. :)

The next day, we drove up onto the volcanic tableland mesas just a bit further north. It was still wonderfully blustery and I loved how the clouds looked.



We also spent some time lounging in the Looney Bean - one of our new favorite coffee spots. :) All in all, we really enjoyed the nice, relaxing time - just the two of us (well, three if you count Cameron). I highly recommend it for a nice, quiet, picturesque getaway. :)