fairies, flowers, and a fourth.

Elena's best friend turned four a little over a week ago,
and in celebration of such a momentous occasion,
she had a fairy party.
Turns out her mom, my dear friend Rebecca
is one of the most amazing DIYers I know
so the party was filled with amazing details.

The cupcakes were the piece de resistance.
So.
Flipping.
Good.

I am thinking she needs to take up baking
as a profession.

hint hint, Rebecca.

Here are some photographs from the party
(in case you were doubting my claims of its awesomeness)

Between Rebecca and I
there are four girls between the ages of four and one.
Which means, there will likely be at least
one more fairy party in our future.

For which I am extremely excited.
Hello!??
Did you see those tutus?
(That Rebecca made!?!?)

I know, right??

Cheers,
A

Guest Room

My mama is visiting right now.
My brother, too.

We sat outside
on the balcony
for quite awhile this afternoon.

I busted out the Nikon.

I hadn't shot since the wedding a couple weekends ago.

I need to get better at taking photos
every day.

Or at the very least
much more often.

But I digress.

Cheers,

A

Project 52

I haven't been keeping up on my P52 submissions.
I haven't really been keeping up on taking the photos, either.

My friend Rebecca and I were talking about it
the other night.
If I had stopped doing it.

I told her that it started to feel like work.
Which took some of the fun out of it.
So I stopped spending any real energy on it.

Tonight,
I uploaded the photo above
into the pool for last week's theme:
Lights and Darks.

It's definitely a loose interpretation,
but I thought it fit.

I then found two more photos
taken during "missed" weeks
that I added to my flickr pool.

As it stands,
I'm only missing two submissions.

I think I can handle a P50.
It's kind of like me to be a little different.

Or finish just short of the mark.

But I digress.

Happy Monday,
friends.

I hope to start blogging more regularly
this week.

I've had my break.

And I feel better....

Cheers,
A

Promises, Promises.

I promised you photos.

Photos of damaged moving goods and breathtaking wildflowers.

I am nothing if not true to my word.

Would you LOOK at these flowers?

There were fields upon fields of them in Southern Oklahoma.
As far as the eye could see.
Which was almost all the way to Colorado.

Now that I've buttered you up with beauty
feast your eyes on this!

All of my dinnerware was in this box.
Notice it IS marked fragile.
"Fraa-gee-lay. Must be Italian."

Another shining example of sturdy box construction.

Our broken chair.

And now that I've saddened you with these horrific images,
allow me to up your spirits once again with this:

And last, but not least.
The piece de resistance.

Jad Jergens, benefactor of the Throttle Tan craze that is sweeping the nation.
*more on this later*

Yes. He is in his underwear.
In Mexico.
While holding an iron.

And no,
I am certain he is not ashamed.
And he shouldn't be.

Just look at that perfectly bronzed skin!

Cheers!
A

Upgrade

This is my current camera.  A beautiful, friendly, happy little Nikon D60.  Santa brought me this camera two Christmases ago, and it birthed a love of photography that I never knew I had.

It has served me well.

And it is leaving me a week from Thursday.

A friend of Nadia's has agreed to buy it.

She's about to become a mom for the first time.

She'll have her hands full...but when she has room in them, she'll have a wonderful Nikon to hold, too.

This really is an amazing camera.

It's the perfect starter for anyone wanting a DSLR. It's quick. It's easy. And even on full auto it takes amazing photos.

I'm about to order the Nikon D90 from Amazon.com.

I'm so giddy my fingers are shaking.

A winter's worth of hat making and it's finally mine. My fingers are calloused. I have carpal tunnel syndrome.  But it's all worth it.

(And I'm kidding about the carpal tunnel. And the callouses. I'm just a whiner.)

The only thing that could top this moment is...

A 70-200 2.8 falling from the sky and into my lap. Free of charge.

Even a 24-70 2.8 would be fine.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: I'm not picky.

Goodbye, D60.
 Thank you.

Cheers,

A

Two

Today marks the two year anniversary of this small blog.

Two years.

Two camera lenses.

Two children.

Two pets.

Two minutes remaining until I completely lose what's left of my sanity.

You get the idea.

Today I was asked to take headshots of two fabulous interior designers.

A friend and her colleague.  The women behind HautHaus Design.

Their office was fantastic.

Flooded with natural light.

Even today when it's grey and cloudy and gloomy outside.

I set my camera to aperture priority, the white balance to cloud,  and the ISO to 400 and snapped away.

If you look closely at the center of this photo, you can just barely make out my reflection.

Proof that I am keeping at least one of my New Year's Resolutions.

Thank you HautHaus.
You girls are awesome.
Now come fix my house...

And happy Blog-iversary to me!

Cheers,
A

Best of 2009: Photos

These are some of my favorite photos of 2009.

Some of them you've seen before.  Others are new to the blog.

There are so many photos that I love that it was almost nearly impossible to choose these few "favorites."  But these are the photos that always jump out to me when I'm looking through iPhoto.

And so I thought I would share them with you.

A rare portrait of Elena truly smiling.

Big.

Infectious.

I have an 8x10 print of this.

Two actually.

One in color, one in black and white.

It's stunning either way.

This is a perfect picture of Logan's personality.

Fun.

A little mischievous.

Middle name: Danger.

I call this shot Elena's "Michael Jordan."

Maybe because the basketball is black and red - the Chicago Bulls colors.

Or maybe it's the "don't you mess with me, homey" look in her eye.

This is Nadia.

We've been friends since the fourth grade.

She has always been this remarkable.

She always will be.

I cannot take credit for this photo.

DRL took it.

I just tweaked it a bit in Photoshop.

*The worm was NOT injured in the making of this photo!*

Daddy and his girl.

Playing in the park.

Photographically this might not be the greatest photo.

But just look at their faces.

This is what happy is all about.

This is bliss.

This was taken at Auntie Kristy's.

There is something about it that I just love.

The neutral colors.

The retro feel.

The pretty bow in Elena's hair.

*meow*

This is how you do sultry in a wedding photo.

I can't take credit for this one either.

Jenna Reye's mom Theresea took this photo.

With my camera and a rented 50mm 1.8.

Speaking of my friends' daughters.,,

This is Erin.

She's my friend Annie's girl.

She's 18, and she's trying to figure out her place in the world.

I remember 18.  All too well.

Best of luck, Erin.

The world is your oyster.  Go out there and seize it.

I shot this the day we took Elena's two year photos.

It never made the blog.

But I did get a 5x7 print of it.

I just love the angle.

The look on Elena's face.

The color of the Autumn sky.

Tina Logan.

I guess it's Janeshek now.

She was 18 when I started working for Timberlodge.

She was a bridesmaid in my wedding.

Here she is on her wedding day.

Stunning.

The Walstead boys.

One in focus, the other in the background.

Brothers.

These two were so much fun to photograph.

It could have been the D90 I got to use to shoot them, but I think it was their spirit.

Their smiles.

The way they played.

My newest nephew.

Alan J.

He's only a few weeks old in this photo.

And precious.

There you have it.
My favorites of this past year.
So far anyway.

I might have to do a round two.

There is that photo of Nadia's ring...
And Elena eating watermelon....
And DRL skateboarding and that one of Belle..
and...

Yeah, there will definitely be a round two.

Cheers,
A