The One with Tiger, Tiger Woods, y'all

This past Friday, Adam and I went to the driving range near my home. Adam really loves golf, but doesn't get to go out very often, so he jumped at the chance to go after work. I went along to try to get some shots of him and maybe help him with his swing.

He looked so happy in his element and I'm glad that I could share in his special time, even just as his special, personal photographer.

So determined and focused...

Is it possible for golfers to be sexy? Well I sure hope so, because mine is so sexy!

And a sequence of shots...




















































What a great time. Maybe one day, when God grants a lot more patience, I can learn how to play this game called golf with sexy golfer husband-to-be.

The One with The Story of Stuff

Have you ever wondered where all your stuff comes from and where it goes? Learn all about it from this website, The Story of Stuff. There is a 20 minute video on that site that explains it all, in a very creative way. (I love the drawings. I also love the UPS commercials where that guy draws with the brown marker on the whiteboard!)



Here are some teaser videos:







Check it out. It will change the way you feel about your STUFF.

The One with a Sweet Surprise...

On Wednesday this week, I had the pleasant surprise of Adam visiting me at work. I was so very in "teacher mode" and would have walked right past him sitting in the office if he hadn't moved. It was so nice to see him and I just felt so loved.

And... he brought some beautiful flowers! Aren't they gorgeous?




They were all closed up in the morning because it was cold.

And then, as my room warmed up... they opened up too.






A sweet surprise indeed. Thanks, Adam. You made my day!

The One with the New Year's Resolutions (better late than never)

I've been sitting on writing this post... especially since it's later and later in January.

So here goes. I'm sending it out to the universe, in hopes that I'll actually do a good job this year of keeping them!

1) Treat my body more like it's God's temple than just something that gets me through my to-do's each day.

2) Blog more regularly. My main excuse is that I often don't take enough photos to post each week, but I guess I need to take more photos then. Ohhhhh..... Adammmm!!! hehe

3) Treasure each moment. It seems like our wedding is coming at us full steam ahead now that it's less than 6 months away. But, as much as I can't wait to be Adam's wife, I really need to enjoy the special moments along the way.

4) Brush up on Photoshop and take this photography thing more seriously this year. (Probably after the wedding madness, but still... very much needed to fulfill my creative side) TAKE MORE PHOTOS! (A point-and-shoot would help in this, but still... NO excuses!)

5) Answer emails sooner. I tend to wait to the weekend to respond... (forgot to add this to the list)

6) Truly cherish my Adam more and more each day because I'm realizing more and more how he's a gift given to me from God.

*Photo taken from PCH trip last summer. Love the composition in this one.

The One with the Drool...

This MacBook Air was revealed at MacWorld today is amazing... *drool*

Just when you thought Apple couldn't outdo themselves... wow.

It makes my 6 mo. old MacBook Pro look huge!


I think it is now official... I am such a Mac Lover...


***UPDATE: Love this commercial...

The One where Putter Poses and Says "Ruff"!

In addition to food shots, I also tried some pet photography. I took some shots awhile back of Putter when Mike and Kelly visited us in San Diego in the fall, but I tried really hard to get some good shots this time. What really helped was getting down to their level. I'm learning that THAT helps a lot with portrait photography and it worked out great for me and the dogs.


Putter wondering what I'm doing on the floor with a camera in his face...


The "I think I'm just going to take a nap because I'm tired of posing for you" look


Sleepy dog! He looks so cute.


"Are you really still taking pictures of me?!"


"You're. still. here..."

Then Sobee, Mrs. Alvarez's dog, wanted in on the action. She didn't want Putter to have all the attention!

Sobee is a crack up. She definitely knows how to POSE.




Love these ones of Putter sleeping away.

So precious!


And in the following, you'll see what I mean by Sobee being a great "model"!




She's so pretty!


And one last one of Putter because he looks so fluffy post-bath and brushing.



The toughest part of pet photography has to be the fact that when you call their name over and over, they really don't respond. Sounds intuitive, but you'd be amazed and how many times I caught myself saying, "Putter! Look here!!!"

Hilarious.

The One with New Year's Day Brunch & Food Photography

On New Year's Day, we had a lovely brunch with Mike and Kelly, her family and her family friends. We all helped out in the kitchen and the food was so yummy!

I also had an opportunity at "food photography" and took some shots of the delicious food. Pulled out my 50mm to get some super sharp pictures. I love how the shots came out and definitely need to use that lens more often. (And perhaps, prepare myself for the 85mm I hope to buy myself eventually?!) Also, I had Richard's flash. Again, rocked my world as a photographer that day. My next photog purchase will definitely be a flash.


A super yummy fruit salad made by Dawn. I just LOVED the colors in this salad. It was topped with a lemon/yogurt mix that was to die for!


One more shot of the fruit salad. The colors just pop!


Kelly's mom made a yummy frittata (sp?). And isn't the plate amazing?! It's like a piece of art.


I REALLY loved this quesadilla that Kelly's mom made. It was garnished with this salsa that was yum-o!

There was also this great cabbage dish that the Moroch's brought over that was really tasty. Wish I had got a shot of that too.

What a delightful brunch!

Some shots of the PEOPLE that actually were at the brunch other than the food.


The amazing chef herself!


Kelly sharing her wedding album with her family friend. Her wedding album was so beautiful.


Mike and Putter.

Come back for my first real attempt at pet photography soon!

The One with the Sarcasm

I think this is hilarious...



Gotta love sarcasm.

The One with Mike & Kelly on New Year's Eve

Adam and I had the wonderful opportunity to spend time for New Year's with our close friends, Mike and Kelly, at their parents' home in Palm Desert. It was such a treat to getaway from San Diego just for a little bit for a mini-vacay. Plus, they were so hospitable and we enjoyed staying in their "casita" (little home), or guest room that's detached from the main house. I should have taken photos of how beautifully they decorated it, but I forgot.


I love this decoration in the doorway. Too bad, I couldn't remember the actual line from the Frosty song.

We came in late Sunday and watched Ocean's Eleven in their newly renovated movie room. Oh, it was so sweeet. I could totally hole up in there for a week with movies and TV (if this stupid writer's strike would get resolved). The next day, the boys went to play golf while Kelly and I chatted about anything and everything (mostly wedding-related). I got to see her amazing wedding album and got excited to see what our wedding album might end up like. The boys came back and then everyone spent some time in the hot tub. The boys looked like they enjoyed it after their long day of golf.

Our New Year's Eve plans were to go to the party at the club, which felt a lot like a gala. We had a fun time getting dressed up. Here are some of the photos of us before we got to the party:


The boys in the movie room relaxing before the girls were all ready.


A couple of Adam looking oh-so-debonair... and he graciously smiled for my camera.



Mike and Putter. Isn't he precious? (Putter, I mean. hehe)


The beautiful newlywed couple. Isn't Kelly's dress from Anthropologie GORGEOUS? I couldn't never wear something like that because I'm so short, but... WOW! Very beautiful.


Putter wondering why he can't go to the party too.


I love this photo of Kelly and her mom.


What a beautiful family!


And finally one of Adam and I... the six-months-out-from-being-newlyweds...


I love this one of the boys... with the totally unintending light from the side.


We had a great time at the party. They had these amazing ice sculptures that were lit with shrimp cocktail and caviar. Adam and Mike both tried the caviar and Mike seemed to acquire a taste for it. I, on the other hand, enjoyed the shrimp cocktail, which could easily be one of my top ten favorite foods. YUM-O! Kelly's mom had this martini in a glass made of ice that was super cool, but started to melt because we were standing by heaters.

The party had a winter wonderland theme. Very cute. I especially like this picture I took using Kelly's camera, which only fed my desire for a new point-and-shoot camera that I can carry everywhere.

Centerpiece (Photo by Kelly's camera. Hehehehe)


New Year decor. Fun streamers and noise makers.


Adam and I at dinner. (Photo by Kelly)

The dinner was AH-MAZ-ING. Everything was delicious. I especially liked the cup of wild mushroom puree. (Very tasty and I usually don't like mushroom soup.) The lobster was delish... and the champagne sorbet came in it's own self-lit ice sculpture!


How cute is that?! I was a little disappointed when the server took it away because it was such fun to play with. Reminded me of the ice sculpture at Mike and Kelly's wedding that I kept playing with at the wedding too. hehehe. Shh... don't tell nobody.

And last but not least, our very creative dessert. A raspberry chocolate brownie-like cake with chocolate ice cream and a White Russian milkshake. Mmm. Too bad we were too full to fully enjoy this.


We were probably the youngest people at the party, but we were the ones sitting down and not on the dance floor. Like Kelly said, it really wasn't "New Years Celebration" music. But Peter Tork, which we later found out was one of The Monkees sang and I did enjoy the Monkees' songs. We DID however, have a great time playing with the streamers at our table and the noisemakers. Everyone put on their hats and there were streamers EVERYWHERE...


Kelly and I, wearing streamers. Hey, it matched!

We rang in the New Years at the table and celebrated a Cuban tradition of eating 12 grapes right at midnight, one for good luck every month of the year. Kelly was so cute about it and even brought all of us at the table, grapes, so that we could partake in her Cuban tradition with her.



Adam and I had wonderful NYE and it just makes me look forward to many more with friends and family that we love.


And one of Adam and I at our usual "best"... being dorks. I'm trying to blow the streamer in his face, but it wasn't working. I love the look on Adam's face.

On a photog note, I did get a chance to borrow Richard's flash and I'm just wondering, can you register for a flash? Hehe. It just totally changed my world as a photographer. Man!




Happy New Year, everyone! Here's to a 2008 full of blessings for you and your loved ones!