Punk Rock Princess...

Okay, okay...maybe not punk rockin'! But, I'm LOVIN' the wrist band. That just does it for me. I'm telling you, I was SO tempted to just grab the BILLION dress up dresses (and shoes, and hats, and jewelry, and, and, and...) off their bedroom floor this morning and THROW THEM IN THE TRASH! These girls of mine just LOVE to dress up, but I think they LOVE to leave a trail of dressup clothes all around the house even more than they love to dress up!

Seriously...they have SO much in the way of dress up that if they pull it all out, and they do, you can't see the bedroom floor. And, mom, no need to remind me of the state of my room growing up. I haven't forgotten! :-) Anyway, so, Emma got all dressed up this morning. I love that she loves wrist bands. I couldn't pass up this opportunity to photograph her. So, rather than throw their goods in the garbage, I de-stressed by taking pictures! Here's my best shot:

You've GOT to make note of all her accessories. Check out the headband (which belongs to Summer, but I'm thinking Emma will NEVER give it back! HA!), the necklace & matching bracelet, the wrist band...

Anyway...that's my girl!

It's been 5 years...

Well, this is a difficult post for me. It has been 5 years since we lost Michael, my brother. I just can't even begin to try to put into words what he meant to me. I'd be here for hours, and it would still be inadequate. So...I'm going to share two of my favorite pictures of me & him. I would guess the first one was taken in 1981 in Disneyland, maybe? Mom, maybe you know? Obviously, the second one is more recent.

Anyway, I just think that I was so blessed to get to grow up with Michael, and he impacted my life in more ways than I could list. I miss him much.

Shortly after we lost Michael, I was shopping and came across a card of some sort that was intended to be given to a brother...I don't know the occassion. Anyway, though cheesy, what it said really embodied how I felt at the time and still do to this day. It reads as follows:

To My Wonderful Brother

There have been many times in our lives

when we have seemed to be in different worlds.

We are very different in many ways,

but we are also much the same in others,

which is to be expected.

But the most important fact remains:

you can call me at a moment's notice, and I will drop everything to come to you.

I love you more than I could ever tell you,

and I consider myself very lucky that you were born to be my brother.

You are a wonderful gift given to me by God,

and like so many other gifts we receive,

I sometimes forget to be thankful for you.

I'd like you to know that I could never have chosen a more wonderful brother,

and I love you more than you'll ever know.

A couple more from a couple days ago...

These two pictures are from when I was testing the Tamron. I hate to admit it, but I think Curt made the right choice with this lens! This wasn't tops on my list, but he wanted the range, so he won. Really, (but don't tell him) I think we both won! :-)

Please, please, PLEASE weigh in on whether you prefer the picture of Maya in color or black & white. I've been LOVING these moody black & whites lately, but I feel like the pink hat really compliments Maya's big blue eyes. What do you think? I'd also like to go ahead and thank skeefe for her AWESOME B&W conversion that I've been using NON STOP lately! Thanks so much!

Also, on the picture of Emma, I'd love to see more room below her chin, too, but it was an in camera crop. :-(

Backlighting...

Well, it was SUCH a nice day today. I think the high was around 75*. So, when we got home from the "Y," I decided to take the girls out front for some photos. The sun was setting, and I'm getting bored with the same ol' thing, so I decided to try for some SERIOUSLY backlit shots. Here's what I got: (of course Maya is being a MANIAC!!!)

Man, they're gorgeous...

Is that snotty of me to say about my own kids!?! I mean, am I tootin' my own horn here? I don't know...I think I'm tootin' their horns. :-)

But, anyway, we took a few quick snaps this morning. They've dressed themselves, hair isn't brushed, but, gosh, when I was reviewing these pictures I just thought they looked so stunning. It must be something about the light, too, that just really catches their eyes. I love my little models for SO many reasons, but right this minute, I love them because they're so good to me when I get my camera out. Even Maya is coming around. So, here they are. I really, really adore the individual shots. The one of them together is less than awesome, but it's cute...

Oh, and these were all taken with the Tamron again. I think I love that lens. :-)

We got a new (to me) lens today!

Yay! New lenses are so much fun! Anyway...this is a Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8. I was worried, though, because they say these lenses can go either way...you might get a sharp one or you might not. Ugh. No one likes to hear that.

So, it arrived, and I had to test it first thing! :-) Here's what I got:

And a 100% crop of the eyes:

I think it's a sharp copy! :-) Woohoo! I mean, it's not as sharp as a prime, but this is definitely acceptable!

Thanks for looking!

I made a coffee table book! :-)

Anyway, along with the theme this week of 5 pictures of the same object, I thought I'd share my little book with all of you. I wish you all could see it in real life. :-)

Even though I don't have a coffee table, I found a promotion to have a coffe table book made for free, so I took advantage! It was delivered yesterday, and I LOVE it! :-) I've looked at it atleast a dozen times since I got it because I'm just in love...heehee... I'm a dork, I know... :P It's the little things that make me happy. Haven't I said that before!?!

Some older photos that fit the theme...

These are some photos from my family's Thanksgiving feast. :-) We went all out for the table. And, embarassingly enough, I didn't take any pictures on Thanksgiving OTHER than of the table. It looked good, though. Haha!

Trying to make it even...

So, I noticed today that this blog has far more pictures of Maya than it does Emma. That's a total change for me. As I said early on in the blog, Maya doesn't usually cooperate for pictures. But, for some reason, times...they are a changin'! :-) She's been pretty good lately about wanting to be in pictures, so I've been taking advantage of it. Do you blame me!?!

Anyway, today I decided to focus on Emma. When I decided to try to get today's picture of the day, Emma just so happened to be getting into mischief. (No surprise there.) I think this week's theme is 5 different photos of the same subject but at different angles or something like that. I also think that I might be a little early for the new theme. I don't think it starts until tomorrow, but I like to be an over achiever. Anyone who knows me can vouch for that! (Ha! SOOOO not true...I'm quite UNambitious, actually.)

So, here's Emma. She is flipping through my preschool handbook notebook that she snuck into my stuff to get. (Insert eyerolling guy here.)





These last three shots are my favorites. :-) Thanks for stopping by!

A few things...

So, I've got lots to say, but I'll try to keep it short.

First, remember the pictures of my every Wednesday? You know, Emma went to speech therapy, so Maya & I got to go to BK all by ourselves? Well, sadly (and at the same time a blessing...) that is no longer. We had a meeting with the speech therapist, and thankfully Emma is no longer showing any signs of disfluency. However, that means Maya & I are done. :-( Sad day. I am thankful, though, that I decided to document that time with photos. It may seem lame to some of you, but it really was a special time for me, and I'm happy to have those memories in pictures.

Second, Curt & I got out last night without the kiddos! WOOHOOO!!! (Nothing against them, of course, but it's been a while...) Anyway, D. Brown aka David aka literally the NICEST guy I know invited Curt & I to go to the David Ramirez Band CD release concert. I totally intended to bring my camera because I know David (Brown not Ramirez) really had his heart set on "making my blog," but I forgot it. Bummer... So, anyway, you'll see him one of these days, but it'll be atleast a month because he's our "once a month friend" as he calls it.

But, back to the concert. It really was a good time. It's rare that D. Brown, Curt & I all enjoy the same music, but David Ramirez fits the bill. He's quite a talented kid, and he's a REALLY great songwriter which is what sells an artist for me. Plus, on a fun note...David Ramirez used to open for the band Norwood which is named for Michael Norwood which is one of the "photographers I love" which is also a guy that Curt & I went to college with which is also one of Curt's old band mates. (A lot of "whichs," I know, but Michael is a jack of all trades. I had to cover all the bases.) Also, oddly enough, David Ramirez's album Human has many, many songs on it about one of his ex girlfriends. That ex girlfriend happens to be one of Curt's former choir kids, and I happened to shoot pictures at her wedding last year. Anyway...small, small world. But, like I said...fun night.

Here's the EP that was officially released last night:
If you'd like to give The David Ramirez Band a listen, you can check out their myspace here:
http://www.myspace.com/davidramirez

Third, since I officially joined the picture of the day challenge (at which I'm failing miserably) I thought it about time I stuck with the weekly theme. This week's theme is botanicals. I know this is a stretch...a BIG stretch, but here's my botanicals shot:

And, finally, here's one of Maya from this morning that I just love. :-)

A little outside time...

So, the high today was somewhere in the low 70s! Woohoo! The girls got to go outside & play today, which meant that I got to go outside & take pictures today. Fun stuff. Of course, the girls didn't want to do anything but ride their bikes, so there aren't TOO may photo ops there. I decided I'd try a little panning today (for those non-photographers, that's when you keep the shutter open for a relatively long time, and follow a moving subject. Hopefully, your subject is in focus, and your background is blurred, thus showing motion.) I don't think I did a great job! HA! It was WAY harder than I thought it would be. I don't know if my shutter speed was too fast, or if the girls weren't riding fast enough...I don't know. But, this is my best shot:

And, as I'm sure everyone's come to expect, here's a headshot! :P
The high Thursday is supposed to be in the 40's. Don't hold your breath for anymore outside shots for a couple days! :-)

Something a little different for me...

Well, I had all weekend to take pictures, but I didn't get the camera out. So, feeling guilty about having nothing new to put on the blog, I pulled out my camera tonight just before the girls went to bed. Honestly, they weren't into it, I wasn't into it, and these pictures probably show it! I don't just love them, but, when it comes to photography, I rarely love things that aren't my norm. I'm sure I'll love them when the girls are grown & out of the house, though...

They're quite grainy, high contrast, etc... Anyway, here they are:

I do like that they capture little things about the girls that I just love. I love Maya's little profile, and I love her short, chubby little fingers. (I don't love that she bites her fingernails, but whatev. --We just had to take Emma to the doctor because she bit her thumbnail in such a way that it caused an infection. She had to take antibiotics to clear it up. I'd love an eye rolling smiley right now, too.)

And I have ALWAYS loved the way Emma naturally rests her feet when she's sitting on the floor. LOVE it!

So...that's that.

Lucky me = lucky you! ;-)

(Can you sense the sarcasm in that title?) :-)

Really, though, I definitely got lucky today! Whether or not you consider yourself lucky because you get to see double the pictures of Maya today...well...I'm gonna tell myself you do! If you don't consider yourself lucky, I DON'T want to hear it! Okay? :-)

Anyway, I just thought she looked too stinkin' cute. Plus, Craig mentioned getting some outdoor shots, so...here we are. It was probably 35-40 degrees outside when we did these, but she was exceptionally cooperative with me this afternoon, so we were only out there for 5 minutes or so.

These were all shot with the 85mm f/1.8 at 100 ISO, f/2.0, and varying shutter speeds.

My every Wednesday...

Today I'm gonna give you a little glimpse into my life. Every Wednesday at about 10:15am, this is what I see:

I just love it. It seems so simple, but I really adore this 2o minutes out of my week. It's just me & Maya hitting BK to pass the time while Emma is in speech therapy. It's not often that Maya & I get to spend any time alone as she's the youngest & all. She's always had big sister around. But, for this 20 minutes, she gets all my attention, and I get all of hers. (Okay, okay...if I'm gonna be honest, her attention is actually divided between me & the fries. Ha!)

Anyway, we got a double dose of it this week! Emma had speech both Wednesday & today...