Disneyland

We (Diane, Amanda, Mike, Mackenzie, Brendon and my dear daughter Cassi) spent the day at Disneyland today. It was an amazingly clear, beautiful southern California day at Disneyland. The park was super super crowded but for some silly reason...we never really had to wait in long lines...the Disney gods must have been with us!

Mike, Amanda's boyfriend was forewarned before going to the park that Aunt Donna would make them take a bunch of pictures. I controlled myself...I really did...even sneaking off under the guise of getting Space Mountain Fast Passes so I could take pics without holding up everyone. I only shot 200 images and I have to say that more I use my Canon SD630, the more I love it.

I thought I'd share a few pics that I was able to take today. Enjoy! The images are straight out of the camera! Enjoy!

My list of 100 things I want to do in this life

I started this blog to be a visual reminder of things I want to do in my life. Last March I posted about wanting to post the 100 things I want to do in this lifetime. I read another photographer's blog (Jessica Claire) and she posted the 101 things she wants to do in the next 1,000 days. She must be a type A personality to want to achieve all of these things in the next 1,000 days but I'm a realist. I haven't even updated this blog to average once a month so I guess I'm a slacker.

I have been compiling my list of 100 things I want to do and am going to add them to this blog and as I come up with more goals will revise this. Hopefully, this will serve as my kick in the ass and I'll put my money where my mouth is and actually accomplish some of these things!

1. Blog at least once a week for a year

2.Take a web design/blog class

3. Go see the Padres play spring training

4. Take a random (wherever we end up) road trip with Cassi

5. Cruise to Alaska

6. Visit a chocolatier in Switzerland

7. Photograph on another continent

8. Start my own business

9. Take a healthy cooking class

10. Actually buy good utensils and pans for cooking

11. Go on a blind date

12. Make an album showcasing my favorite work

13. Create a website of my work

14. Start a real exercise program

15. Go back to my natural haircolor and add chunky highlights

16. Do the Three Day breast Cancer walk

17. Take Cassi to viist and volunteer at a rest home

18. Take Pilates

19. Run in a 5K

20. Do something charitable anonymously

21. Go to a playoff game (Go Chargers and Padres!)

22. Start a 401K

23. Drive to Vegas with the top down

24. Reconnect with at least three long lost friends

25. Cruise to the Bahamas

26. Go to New York and see World Trade Center Memorial

27. Take my Mom to Sun Valley Idaho

28. Read three classic masterpieces

29. Hang all the frames sitting on the floor

30. See fall foliage back east

31. Visit Great Great Aunt Carrie Chapman Catt's birthplace in Iowa

32. Organize my mounds of pictures

33. See a psychic/Tarot card reader

34. Live where it snows for one season

35. Host a foreign exchange student

36. Write an article to be published

37. Invent something

38. Go to Disney World again

39. Go to Disneyland without a camera

40. Watch the season of "Dirt" with Courtney Cox

41. Buy myself something frivolous from Tiffany's

42 Have a makeover done at a Mac counter and replace everything!

43. Watch all the podcasts on my iPod

44. See Joe Buissink speak DONE!!!

45. Second shoot a wedding for a photographer I idolize

46. Put all Cassi's class/team pics into one organized place

47. Become good enough friends with someone via computer (not for dating reasons) and travel to their hometown and have them visit me!

48. Purchase a laptop computer

49. Do laundry once a week for a whole month

50. Go o Salzburg Austria and take the "Sound of Music" Tour

51. Get my passport

52.

So far so good...definitely a trend of travel throughout this!

I will add more as they surface in my brain!

my new scrapbook

I used to be super passionate about scrapbooking. It was an obsession. I shopped the local scrapbook stores daily, purchased the best and newest stuff, and attend seminars and universities devoted to this art. I had boxes and boxes of "must-haves" that were going to help me archive Cassi's life...one day at a time. I stalked the message boards and devoted endless hours reading everyone's newest layouts. But then blogs started to appear. And I realized that what I loved about scrapbooking was being able to read about other people's lives. I have always been an inquisitive (yes...call it nosy if you will!)voyeuristic person and love to know other people's business. Now I have a new way to do it and the blogs just scream...come read me-

So most of the scrapbooking stuff went on ebay. I learned to use the computer to digitally scrapbook and devoted my freetime to reading about others through their blogs. Now I am sharing some of my favorite digital scrapbook pages on here so you can get a glimpse of my life. My blog is now my scrapbook.

Enjoy!

Melissa and Linford

Geri Goodale and I had the opportunity to work with a fabulous couple who are getting married in March. They both attended UCSD and wanted to be photographed at the college. What an amazing place to be photographed at! Everywhere we turned there were unique, cool places to shoot. Melissa and Linford were an absolute delight and they indulged the artists in both of us. (Thanks guys!!)

On a different topic, I started this blog because it seemed everyone else I know is doing one. I haven't really invited anyone to view it because I think I would sensor what I put in here. So if I have finally invited you to view it...welcome to my life. If you happened here by chance...welcome also!!!

Mr.P...you'll be missed...

This is a sad day in San Diego today. A man who made a difference in so many lives passed away this morning. Mr P. (as he was called by everyone who knew him) was an amazing man. My family met him when my sisters and I were very young and played softball. He was a softball coach that we came to know very well over the years. My mom and Mr. P and his wife were great friends over the last 30 or so years. I recall growing up and spendiing time at his home. There was always a glass candy jar on the counter and you were always greeted by Mr. P with a big hug and sloppy wet kiss on your cheek. He always had a way of sing songing your name that made you laugh uncontrollably. Whether it was Donna bo Bonna or some other silly rhyme...he made you feel special.

Over the years we could still count on Mr. P to come down to the local fields to see my nephews, nieces and daughter play ball. He would come down to the field on his bike and everyone would know him and he would stop 100 times on the field to hug, kiss and catch up with all the people at the lake. He was larger than life.

He was a Blue Angel in his younger years and flew fighter planes. Recently, I came across him on a local street and he was standing next to his car looking lost. I stopped and asked what was wrong. He said his car needed a jump start and he needed some help. I got out of my car and jump started his car for him. He was very gracious and I remember saying it was the least I could do for him. After we got his car started, I got a big old hug and kiss and I remember thinking that he did so much for so many people, I was glad I finally could do something for him.

In September of last year, I was at my nephew's football game and Mr. P showed up to see the high school football game. He greeted all of us and sat down with us to watch the game. I was photographing my nephews game and for som reason turned my camera towards Mr. P and took the photo enclosed in today's post. I remember feeling a little apprehensive about taking his pic but for some reason but took it anyway. I'm glad I did...

A friend asked me today who Nello Pierozzi was and it occurred to me then...He was the greatest man I have ever personally known and I will miss him.

God Speed Mr. P.

guess this is the 6 month update!

I promised to share some pics that I have taken. I photographed a friend's three year old son right before Christmas. He is three years old and named Derek. I have always wanted to offer a session called, "A Day in the life" and spend a day candidly photographing a child's normal everyday events. I was able to do so with Derek and love what we captured. he is an amazing child who is wise beyond his years!

I told myself I would keep this current and I haven't. I know that life getting in the way is a flimsy excuse but sometimes...it just does. I just reread my last post and realized that the 6 months flew by!

Cassi's dad was in a motorcycle accident in late October and we visited daily until he was released (well demanded his release) from the hospital in mid-December. It was truly an eye-opening experience for both Cassi and I.

We saw and heard things that I just never imagined existed on a day to day basis. I have tremendous new respect for anyone who works in the medical field on a day to day basis. They are truly inspiring people. From the doctors, the nurses, the food servers, the elevator operators, the physical therapists and all the other people who work together to give quality care to those who need it...I am thankful.

The day after Scot was released from the hospital, he asked me to go back to pick up the charger for his cell phone. As I waited for the elevator to take me up to the eighth floor I realized how fortunate we were that he was walking and still alive to be there for Cassi. I realized there were many people in this hospital visiting relatives that weren't coming home. There were new patients being brought in that were just beginning their hospital stay. The workers at the hospital would still go about their routine giving care for others long after Scot's stay was a distant memory. We are fortunate and for that I am grateful. Hug your loved ones tonight because every day is a new day that we are blessed to be able to hug them.

Off my emotional tangent!!

I thought I'd update this blog in the hopes someday I will actually have someone reading this! It seems like the time flies by and my plans seem to need to be adjusted all the time! Cassi and I are moving into a smaller place next week and as I sit here amongst all the boxes with our two guinea pigs on my chest (fabulous photo cassi took of our new one, "sugar baby") I have to admit, I never saw my life this way!

I am hoping to expand my photography horizons beyond the 20 years of in-studio portraiture I have. I want to shoot outside the box, on different continents and see things and have adventures I never thought possible.

I have the knowledge, the passion and need to stop making the excuses! Once Cassi and I move, I am going to post pics from previous sessions to give you a chance to see some of the portraits I have taken and give people a sense of what I have accomplished and what I hope to accomplish in the future!

If you happen to read this, thanks and keep coming back!

Why I love what I do!

I love reading blogs. It has taken hours of my time. I find myself drawn into other people's lives. It helps me see that the craziness in my world isn't so abnormal. My everyday issues are everyone elses everyday issues. I find that when I think my world is at it's craziest...reading someone elses blog soothes me!

I love my life. I love my family. I love my daughter more than I ever thought I could love someone. I love what I do for a living. I love capturing those moments in a person's life that are never EVER going to happen again. Think about it. I have taken one single moment in time and frozen it. I made that one moment stop. I captured it so that it can take on a significance in someone's life.

I don't know at what age my memories started. Are they my memories or a polaroid shot of a time and place in my life that someone captured so I could look back and know a little more about myself. My mom has pictures of my three sisters and I lined up at the entrance of Disneyland when we were kids. All dressed exactly the same. White tennis shoes, white shorts and blue and white stiped shirts. Do I remember this exact moment? No.

But I do remember my parents only being able to afford the ticket packages with only a few E tickets for us to use on the rides. I do remember walking down Main street and believing that my parents had brought me to the happiest place on earth. I still feel the same as I walk down that Main Street with my daughter in tow.

My mom captured that memory for me in that picture of my sisters and I. That image brings back memories that would have been stored somewhere in the back recesses of my mind. Thanks Mom for caring enough to share those moments with me.

I hope this blog will share a part of me with others. I hope to share my love of photography here and show those moments I have captured for someone else. Moments they can look back on and retain a piece of who they were at that one moment in time. Thanks for wanting to share a part of your life with me.