Sneak Peek....

More to come!

Capturing Your: Future

I love the newborn phase! I love the way the smell, how squishy they are, the fact that if you leave them on the bed, you know they are going to be in the same EXACT position you left them because they don't know how to roll, their small hands and feet, the silly faces they make...especially when they are all gassy and that you can pretty much take them anywhere and forget that you have them since all they do is sleep. I know...there are a lot of people that would disagree with me...I mean, after all, what is so fun about sleepless nights? I guess for me, I love the newborn phase because it only lasts just a few weeks. It seems like just when you start adjusting to the whole newborn thing, they suddenly change and now are more attentive, awake longer hours, start cooing....I mean...it JUST doesn't last long enough.

Baby Ally was born just this past Christmas and was a healthy 6lbs 10oz! Seriously, Christmas doesn't get any better than welcoming a new healthy baby to the family...the ultimate Christmas gift! When I met Ally, she was just 4 weeks old....and even though I have two boys of my own...it's crazy how I forgot how teeny weeny newborns are! She was this cute little doll all cuddled and content in her baby swing. Ally shares the same eyes as her Daddy and already she is Daddy's little girl since he had the perfect charm for comforting her and putting her to sleep. It is always special to see the bond between children and their parents....especially between Father and Daughters.

Congratulations Ryan, Brittany and Big Sister Hayden!

Sneak Peek...

More to come.....

Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Blue....

*Ahem*...noticing anything different?? Ok, look a wee bit closer...closer....there! Do you see it? Yes, that...at the bottom of the picture?? Yes, it's my new logo! Finally, after fiddling with Photo shop a bazillion times, screaming at the brushes I was using for messing my circular border, hating the PS again because it totally messed up my action when I was recording it and wasting a lot of sleepless nights trying to think of colors, logos, etc (I know...it may look like I lost no sleep..haha) but hey, it's done! I wanted to keep it simple and I think I more than achieved that. If you look real real close, like with a magnify glass, you can see that there are little squiggly shapes and flowers on the logo...but I mean, you have to be real close :)

So, to spare those looking to create an action for their logo, here's a tutorial that made it pretty easy peasy. There are three tutorials available, so depending on where you are at in your process, each should help you along the way. Next step for mwah....exporting this from Lightroom...yes there is a tutorial for that!

Happy Friday.....and a BIG Happy Birthday to my best friend and beautiful husband Chad! I love you!

http://www.slrlounge.com/2009/09/how-to-create-a-logo-watermark-in-photoshop/
http://www.slrlounge.com/2009/09/how-to-create-a-photoshop-watermark-action/
http://www.slrlounge.com/2009/09/how-to-automate-photoshop-actions-in-lightroom-using-droplets-part-3-of-3/

Capturing Your: Anticipation

I don't even know where to begin with this post. I guess I will flash back to 1991, 7th grade, Mr. Stanfield's English class, and my new BFF. I met Alina just about 19 years ago, all cute and yet awkward...we just "graduated" from elementary school and now we were "big" kids from about 5 local schools....all thrown into one. It was a hard adjustment for me....we went from having 1 teacher to 8 teachers, a lot more peers that were all strangers, friends separated into different schedules, and pimples were a thing of the present while playing on the playground was a thing of the past. I am sure you can all relate with the whole puberty awkward and emotionally challenging era as a tween. However, there was this super cute blondie, blue eyes, with freckles, teeny weeny little waist but a super huge personality...meet Alina. I remember hating my new English class and dreaded going....I mean, the thought of ditching was so appealing, magically becoming sick with some incurable disease was enticing...seriously ANYTHING but my English class....until I met Alina. I have never....even to this day....met someone as fun, unique, adventurous, and outgoing as Alina. Ever. Seriously, ever!

Alina was the girl that allowed me to color her beautiful blonde hair with crayola markers (kids,please do not try this at home)...every color...nothing was off limits, put a lot of blush on her nose and pretend that she had a "cold" (she even spoke like she was congested all day), prank call all our crushes on the phone...I mean...do all the silly stuff that in theory I would love to do and mastermind doing...however, just didn't have the guts.

Fast forward today....Alina is that same fun loving person, except she has a few crib midgets of her own and a super cool husband. Taking Alina's maternity pictures was like flashing back to 1991 when we were those silly junior high girls....except I think this time, since we are a lot older and both have had two kids....Depends...those big bulky diapers.....were necessary to keep us from having...*ahem*...an accident. I had SUCH a fun laugh-til-you-pee-your-pants time with Alina...it was as if no time had lapsed since we've seen each other and we both were up to what we were normally up to....no good.

As you will see, our photo shoot had many different looks... it first started out on the streets, then to the beautiful hills...then to the "I really want to do a barefoot, pregnant and in the kitchen photo shoot but have never found anyone one who would be willing to do it"....to the "I WILL" milliseconds later. I was laughing at all of Alina's facial expressions which really captures her true personality as I looked over her pictures. I simply could not omit those pictures because it just would not be Alina. And even better, her husband was so game for everything too....a perfect match made in heaven! I am so glad that Alina found her twin and it is so funny to see that her little girl is not only a mirror image of Alina, but personality wise...OMG....it is Alina all over again! Love it!

Thank you so much Alina, Jeff and the kiddos for such a fun time! I can't wait to meet the little new addition and wish you the best of luck during your delivery! I look forward to getting together again next time I visit, meeting the newbie and causing more trouble together. Good times!

Special thanks to: random people driving in their cars honking at a pregnant woman, the cops for making sure that the drunks on the Sunday afternoon weren't going to bother the white girl with her pink hair and her Mexican sidekick, the ghetto-ness of the back of the Farmer's Market store, the two boys riding their bikes who gave Alina a shout-out while doing bare belly shots, and Mc Donalds....you satisfied the GET-ME-FOOD-NOW craving for yet another preggo mama!

This by far was the coolest tree... Ever.

Alina doin' her thang!

Work it baby, work it!