The Lovely Kaeli

I JUMPED at the chance to photograph Kaeli.  No wonder.  Just look at those eyes!

We chased light all over town.  Yeah.  You can tell when the light was good and when it was painful, can't you?  Luckily, the train kind of lent itself to the starkness of the higher light.  Had a great time!  This girl is so full of fun.  Super intelligent, witty, and gorgeous.  A killer combination.  Her parents are probably beating away the boys!  

Once again, I'm crazy about the black and whites.  Is there something wrong with me?

I won't be able to think about these field shots without thinking about her grandmother worrying about snakes!! She was good, though, and held it together until long after the shoot, when she probably allowed herself a good, long, anxiety attack.  HA!

Can I say again how beautiful this girl is, inside and out?  Indeed.  

Alyssa

Meet Alyssa!  She's my Forest Hills Ambassador this year.

It was really too hot to take photos--almost 100 degrees--but she was a sport and away we went to get some images for her rep cards.

Alyssa loves art and reading.   Since I can't draw a stick, I'm pretty impressed!

OK, OK.  Here's one colour one.  Just because I love ya!  See?  She's just as beautiful in colour.  :)  Just wait until we do the rest of her shoot--in a sunflower field when the flowers are out.  I can HARDLY wait!  

Thanks so much for hanging out with me in the heat, Alyssa!

Let's Go Do The Hop

So.  The other evening I'm sitting in the living room when something goes flying onto the table.  "Did you throw something?" I ask Meryl.  "Nope."  Then the cat jumps down and acts all interested in something under the coffee table.  I didn't pay much attention.

About half an hour later, HOP!!  Onto the table jumped a huge grasshopper.  When I went anywhere near him to catch him, he'd jump away.  And every single time it startled me and I'll let out a screech and a giggle.  Yes, it's true.  And I'm not too ashamed to admit it.

He had Meryl and I jumping and hopping after him all over the living room, until finally he hopped behind the sofa and that was it.

Cue the next afternoon when:

"MOOOOM!!  *giggle giggle laugh* There's the grasshopper!"

Obviously too tired and probably hungry to complain, he let us catch him and put him on the porch, where he hung out for awhile, crawling on Adam, and the walls and windoww ledges, until finally disappearing.

I love his colors, don't you?

And he was STRONG.  I still can't believe how high he could jump!

And how such a little guy made me jump nearly as high!

Oy.

Gotta love nature!

Dell Demise Contest

Although I have felt like doing this to my Dell laptop many times since purchasing it four years ago, I refrained.  I really did.  I have struggled with it, been frusterated with Dell customer "service," and generally fought with the thing for ages.  About a year ago, I accidentally tipped it off the table, and some of the plastic cracked at the bottom of the screen.  So I duct taped it together, and it worked.  As well as it ever had. 

But on Saturday morning, I tried to turn it on, and it wouldn't.  And I noticed that there was a hunk of twisted metal and broken plastic in the same place where it had been damaged by me.  Upon questioning, I was told it had gotten "bumped, Mommy."  I know that it wouldn't have taken much, so I'm not going to blame the kids, really.

And that was that.  Much of it had been backed up, and Best Buy (bless 'em, they were open on Saturday) backed up the remainder.  But the computer is toast.

Thanks to a generous and much loved anonymous sponser, I will be receiving the computer of my dreams tomorrow. I hear he has a penchant for apples  And I'm thrilled at the possibility of not struggling with a PC.  Or Dell.  Again.

But I think this old computer needs a proper sendoff, don't you?

Some suggestions have been to give the kids a hammer and nails and tell them to go for it.  To drop it into the ocean as part of an artificial reef.  To bring it to the rifle range and have a go at it.  Dynamite.  Car crusher.  You get the picture!

So I'm going to have a contest.  As long as I get enough entries, that is--so share away.  The more entries the merrier!

So make your suggestion below as to what you think would be appropriate after the ...well, you know...that this computer has put me through over the years.  Then we'll put it to a vote through a handy dandy form doohicky or do a random pick (I'll have to figure out the technical aspects of both, since I'm a newbie in the forms and contests department) and the winner will have their suggestion videotaped.  The only real rule is that is has to be something that is possible without putting any dollars into it on my end.  So the ocean, for example, although a great idea probably wouldn't work well in our landlocked situation.

My husband thinks that bringing it to a range and teaching me to shoot, strictly for this purpose, would be the best.  He may be right, but I want to hear what YOU have to say about it first!

Contest closes Tomorrow July 18 at midnight EST.  It's our anniversary, and Meryl and I will both find your responses a fun addition to our day.

So have at it!!!

Ambassadors

Hey everyone!!  

Check out the ambassadors tab above!!  I'm sooo excited to start this program, so if you're interested in participating or know of anyone who might be, please send them this direction for more information!  

At The Old Ball Game

"Take me out to the ball game...

Take me out to the crowd...

Uh...sure...

Buy me some peanuts (or a hotdog) and Cracker Jack

I don't care if I never get back

For it's root-root-root for the home team

If they don't win it's a shame

(let's talk about this, guys...)

For it's one...

Two...

Three strikes you're out (noooo---not THIS guy!!!!)

At the old ball game!!!"

(Goooo Al-Tuna!!  We WON, incidentally!  Bottom of the ninth the team came through after being behind for an age.  Whoot!!!)

Friends

I recently had the opportunity to photograph three bffs.  It was one of those things where I had the perfect background in mind that I've wanted to take photos with for ages.  So away we went to the orangy/red/peeling painted wall.  But the only parking was in a HVAC place.  Where I immediately stepped into a puddle.  But gamely we crossed the street.  I took out my camera and...

No memory card.

Seriously???  I couldn't beliiiiiieve it.  I ALWAYS have an extra in my bag, but was it there?

Noooo.

So in the cars we went and to my place, where I grabbed a card and a new pair of shoes, since mine were covered in what could very well have been sewage.  So we changed routes and went someplace else, and I'm still wanting to do the red wall, so if anyone wants to brave the HVAC company's parking lot, let me know.  HA!!

Lesson learned.  ALWAYS check for the memory card, even when you are CONVINCED it's there.  

Oy.

Anyway, the girls were great and game and couldn't stop talking.  

Here's Annie.  She's a musician--plays the cello among other things--and she's the intern for the choir my kids sing at.  They LOVE her!  Annie, Julia says to tell you that I made your face and eyes go all red when I edited these.  It has to do with the masking tool I used, but she said it made you look really cool--like a vampire!!!  Bwahaha!

Shelby.  Shelby's a dancer, and you could tell from the way she carries herself.  And the fact that when I said, "Use ballet hands," she knew EXACTLY what I meant!

And Jessica.  Jess is into clothes.  Oh yes, she is!  And it came about it conversation that she used to be a model.  So I was all excited--and then she said it was when she was a baby!  The girls kept bugging her that she should STILL be a model--she just needs to stand on a stool.  She's seriously a pretty girl, yes?

After we did some "normal" shots, I dug out the tulle and brown paper and a vintage hat and experimented a bit.

For some reason, I really like this one of Jess.  So she gets another mention:

And we HAD to get some together.  So here are they are!

Thanks girls.  Sewage aside and AWOL card aside, I had a great time hanging with you!