I must be crazy!

Over the Thanksgiving holiday, we welcomed yet another member to the family.  Who can resist a cute and cuddly little kitten, especially one that has this sweet a face.  Welcome Koda!  He reminds me of a little tiger cub, he's so sweet.  Both girls are fascinated by him, and no one wants to ever give this little guy up.  However, the other two furry members of our family are less excited that he's here.

A bit of a celebrity {portrait}

Bend is small, but we have our hometown celebs. The girls love listening to the radio in the morning as they get ready for school. Their favorite morning show USED to be "Dave & Bryon" in the morning, until they went their separate ways, and no longer have the morning show together. Kaci's favorite is Bryon, she think she's so funny. Well...he is really funny.

I've done a few freebies for Dave and Bryon, and was excited when Bryon emailed again about some promotional photos. I photographed all of the radio staff still needing head shots. Apparently Bryon thought they rocked, and asked again if I could do some photos...this time for his church.

He and his awesome wife Shawna, along with a few others on the church staff met me at my favorite Bend location for some very funky head shots. That morning Kaci heard who I was meeting. After she rattled off his favorite candy, what him AND his wife were for Halloween, I thought I should probably let her come with me for this one.

Just like I figured, Bryon was amazing with her, let us take a photo and let her be completely star struck. Her first experience with someone famous! She bragged for days! Thanks Bryon and Shawna for thinking of me....I had a great time, and so did Kaci!

Bryon and Kaci

Bryon Mengle headshot....

The adorable wife...Shawna.

New Moon...to go or not go?? {personal}

To go! That was the decision, which was made on a whim, two months back. We bought our tickets and the girls have been anxiously waiting ever since. The night as a whole, besides the whining when the flashback movie broke, and the complaining because we were in a different theater than all of our friends, it was an adventurous night.

We ran around the Old Mill theater for hours, the kids had free reign of the whole place. There were hysterically drunken 30-somethings just as excited as the tweens, all decked out in their favorite "monster" garb.

4 hours of waiting in a theater, the lights lowered and the screams began. Within 5 minutes of the first scene those same 30-somthings were yelling at a lit screen to "Take it OFF" in anticipation to see "Jacob" shirtless. I will not say I did not enjoy the glimpse of the brown shirtless chest, but isn't the guy actually 17? ODL! Pick someone we don't have to feel guilty for drooling over.

Both girls stayed awake through the entire movie and made me laugh every time Kaci would whisper..."Mom, he's so HOT, Jacob is soooooo HOT!" She's nine!

We made it home shortly after 3am, thank goodness we could literally walk to the theater if is hadn't been for the 40 degree night we had. But we made it to our warm beds before half of the theaters even let out....did I mention we had a dream parking spot just outside the back theater doors....it was wonderful!

The next morning I let the girls stay home, Taylor actually didn't have school...conferences. Since Kaci is the sleeper of the family there was no way she was actually getting up. I unfortunately did not have the luxury of sleep that night. The stress from knowing how tired I was going to be made it harder to fall asleep and if I remember right... 2 hours is about all I got. The nausea set in that morning, I had two pots of coffee and it still didn't help. I was miserable. The girls called me every hour after they woke up to complain about each other and I had such a busy day I didn't make it home until 4 pm, with loads of homework and editing to still finish.

I hope they had fun....I paid for it the next day for sure!

Belly bumps and giggles {maternity}

Yesterday I met the cutest little brown eyed girl. She was a complete ham for the camera and for the exception of her modesty getting in the way a a few great shots mom and I wanted to get, this little cutie was a dream to photograph. She was all smiles and giggles, and I know she's going to make a great big sister.

Thanks for making my job so fun. I hope this cute little family loves their photos, it was a bit cold outside, and we definitely had to improvise on our backgrounds. The priceless shots of the "belly bumps" made it all worth it in the end....you'll see....it is just TOO cute!

See...belly bumps! I love this shot!

A Graphic Designer in the works! (design}

So, I have been taking classes online since August at The Art Institute. It's been going very well, and my previous experience has made the classes fairly easy for me. I feel confident when I turn in a project, and usually get very possitive feedback from my class mates.

I saw an add online for a logo contest. A local company needs a new logo and are offering to open it up in the form of a contest. We don't win anything, except for the pleasure of seeing your logo all over town. I decided to enter, I need the practice. now I just can't decide which logo to submit...so I need your help. Which one do you thing is contest worthy?

"What's Your Sexy?"

With the help of some amazing friends, some gorgeous women, and lots of wine and food, I was able to pull off a very fun evening this past Saturday night. It was a tiny idea, formed from several brains that blew up into a very successful event.

The whole crew, Sophie, Carie, Tambi and Chantel

My "marketing guru", aka Carie, helped me advertise, organize and facilitate our "What's Your Sexy?" boudoir night. Thanks to Royal "T" Antiques for hosting, and giving us an awesome venue to hold our party and take our photos. This store is ridiculously fabulous inside and you must see it! Tabree (the owner) is a rock star when it comes to setting up her style in the quaint little store. I had two assistants that night, Chantel and Sophie, I couldn't have done it without you! Their eyes for the details let me focus on lighting, posing and the girls without having to "see" when a tiny hair was even out of place....if I could pocket these two and take them everywhere with me, that would be ideal. While I was focusing on the woman in front of me, these two were already scouring the store for more fabulous finds for photos....You were AMAZING! We had a killer soundtrack, thanks to my friends Kat and Chantel, to get everyone in the mood, and some great food. Let's see....am I forgetting anyone??

I was so unsure of how the evening would work out, and I honestly wouldn't have changed much. (except for the blisters on my feet by the end and the exhaustion that set in...I was a mess, running all over the place.) There were six women brave enough to face the camera that night, and possibly several more ready for next time. We had a blast. Each women found she was a different sexy, and all the photos were great! We had cute sexy, sultry sexy, curvy sexy, and more. All of the girls were so great and they made it a wonderful night for me. The comments I received from these women were heartfelt and wonderful, and it's why I love what I do. Some women were there for a husband, a boyfriend and we even had a few there just for themselves. It was AWESOME! A few of these women were even gracious enough to let me share a few with you. I still don't have permission from everyone yet, so there could be more coming, but here are a few to entice more of you sexy women to come out for the next event...yes, we are already in the works, and have women anxiously awaiting a date to be set. So, all of you ladies out there, you are sexy! If you don't know what kind...you should come find out!

This girl can ROCK a pair of heels.....{Senior}

I met "L" and her mom a few weeks ago at a local tea house, to go over senior photo packages. Her Mother described her as glamorous, and "L" was every bit of that. I found a great new location for us to tackle her senior photos at, something unexpected, something very contrasty from her typical great taste and amazing wardrobe. On picture day "L" and I drove to Redmond for what turned out to be, round one, of our photo shoot. This girl shows up in some rockin' shoes....pair after pair after pair. He tells me she wears them everyday, and NEVER wears a pair of jeans. Glamorous is a bit of an understatement when it comes to this High School Diva. To top it off....she tells me she's a softball player! I had a great time with her...both days...and I hope she's as happy with her AMAZING photos as I am. Thanks "L" for laughing with me....I still like the big laugh the best!