the plaza...

eloise. beautiful, vivacious, and smart eloise. she loves to cause havoc around the plaza in new york, and is always learning a new lesson while doing so. she is a perfect namesake for the little newbie i was honored to shoot on friday. i met up with her mama and grandma at their beautiful home to capture her in all her newborn glory. some newborns sleep right through their sessions, making it easy to move and position them just as needed. eloise was not that way. she was alert, and curious, a total sweet heart, and awake up until the end. it was so fun capturing her tiny little toes and lovely smile, and i hope she grows up to be just like the eloise in the books.   

things i love...

i can't believe it's thursday again! this week has flown by.

my favorite things....

1. planning birthday parties. W turns 1 tomorrow, and we are throwing him a little shindig on saturday. i can't wait to put up all the decorations and get all dressed up!

2. griffith park observatory. amazing views of la, and i love the history of the building.

3. a new toothbrush.

4. spring cleaning and organizing. i donated 7 trash bags of clothes and shoes to good will yesterday. it felt so good to clean out the closets! i got rid of a pair of pants i had had since my sophomore year of high school. not because they were out of style, but because they are now too big. sad. i know.

5. bubble baths

life, in miniature

details. some are important, others not so much. but it's the details in life that make it, well, real. a friend called me earlier this week and asked if i wouldn't mind taking some pictures for his family. his mom was going to be moving, downsizing to a smaller house, and her father had built for them a model train track, complete with flickering lights and a tunnel through the mountain. when i got to the house, i was in awe. the details that this man put into his train track were amazing. little birds on the telephone wires, people standing waiting for the trains, a man filling his tank up at the gas station, the priest standing outside the stained glass windowed church. it was remarkable. but even more remarkable were the little details throughout. the street signs, all hand painted with family members names, the ranch that bears his father's initials. the water tower with his mom and dad's names on it (along with a few ex boyfriends crossed out!) the construction sign with their old phone number as the business number. i have never seen such a thing. i know there is that show "i love toy trains" (which i've never actually seen, but i know joel mchale loves to make fun of it on the soup), and this train track would make that guy jealous! 

i loved listening to my friend's stories about watching his abuelos build it, and how he would play for hours with his brother and sister. it was great watching and listening to the excitement as he discovered new details that had been overlooked for so many years.

i was happy to be able to capture all the details for the family, since unfortunately, the train track will be no more after her move next week.

if only we could all see the little details in life, and see just how important they are to making memories real...

things i love...

yesterday was my brother-in-law's birthday, and while he is no longer with us, my family and i said a little prayer, and quietly celebrated him.

he tops my things i love list, and if i did a things i miss list, he would be on that as well.

things i love...
1. a golden sunset

2. lingering goodnight kisses

3. mint chocolate

4. new friends

5. learning something new

and this:

a little blurry, but he cracks me up with his fish face! 

the glow of pregnancy

this time last year, i was in my 9th month of pregnancy. i've said it before, and i'll say it again, i don't know if there is anything more beautiful than a pregnant woman. even when she is feeling the size of a semi, has swollen cankles, and is just over being pregnant, i still see her as gorgeous. kelli hasn't reached that point in her pregancy. she has about 5 weeks left, and when we were doing her maternity shoot last weekend, she was graceful, showing no signs of slowing down, able to get up, lay down, move over here, hike, yes HIKE up the mountain, just so we could get the best lighting and beautiful scenery of chitakwa state park in boulder, co.

her husband was off on his dadchelor party with my best friend's husband, so the three of us ladies had a great time going out to dinner, and walking through boulder's pearl st. mall, and me preparing them for how their lives would be changing in the next few months! 

as we were walking through pearl st, a street performer thought it would be funny to make kelli crack the whip, to show her hubs who was in control! 

                                                      

erin, evan, and the girls

have you ever had one person who seems to be your life's biggest cheerleader? or someone who pushes you to be a better person, whether it be physically, emotionally, creatively, or just all round better? i have a few of them in my life. the obvious ones, my hubs, the parental's, and my sisters. my best friends and inlaw's.  but then i have one who i wouldn't have expected. erin.

she and i met back in high school, and as fate (and facebook) would have it, we reconnected. from the day i started my photography fan page, and actually, even before that, when i was just taking classes and posting my work on my personal page, erin was there commenting on how fabulous she thinks my work is. i have been truly thankful for all her kind words, because on the days when i feel least creative, i can look at them and see that someone out there has been touched by my photos.

erin herself is now breaking into the photog business in denver, and she is doing amazing things already! she has a goal to have an amazing website up for tutorials for other photogs, which i will be a contributing author on (again, thank you erin for including me!) It hasn't launched yet, but as soon as it does, i will be posting the link here for all to see.

erin and her husband have been married for 6 years, and have no professional photos together. so when she heard i would be in denver, she immediately asked if she could schedule a session. i was excited to see parts of CO that i probably wouldn't have, and even drove past, and stopped to say a prayer at Columbine high school on my way to our session.

she and evan picked a beautiful, albeit windy, park over looking a valley called daniels park. the air was chilly to this Cali girl, but apparently it was warm for them! i had to keep wiping my drippy nose i was so cold, so it was a good thing i was on the back side of the camera! their goal was for not only pictures of the whole family, but of the two of them as well. we had a blast climbing around, and i even did some rock climbing to get to a few awesome angles. I'm an adventurer on occasion! it was a fun session, which we ended back at their house with a picnic for the girls.

like i mentioned, erin has an amazing eye for detail. when i told her my idea of a vintage picnic for the girls, she ran with it and had a whole little scene set up for us.

things i love...

today has been hard for me to come up with my 5 things i love. probably because i've been in a mood. one of those moods where everyone should stay away from me, and i better stay away from everyone else. i've just been, grrrrrrr to the world. for no particular reason really, it's just one of those days. i'm happy it's one of those days on my things i love thursdays though, because it is forcing me to think a happy thought and try to get rid of this funk of a grey cloud i have hanging over my head.

1. hiking. we hit up a trail down the road from our house today called the hummingbird trail. it wasn't so spectacular, but got us out and moving. plus i got a good laugh watching my city boy of a husband walking the trail with half a tree in his hand hitting at all the bushes making sure there were no snakes/ squirrels/ mountain lions around. seriously, half a tree.

2. target's dollar spot. i found the CUTEST notebook for my J* workshop there yesterday: yellow patent leather. i'm giddy thinking about all the amazing notes i'll get to write in it!

3. figuring out how to make an action on CS4. i'm self taught in the photoshop department, and so figuring that out on my own, made my whole day!

4. pb&j sandwiches. with more jelly than peanut butter. oowey, gooey goodness.

5. mrs fields chocolate chip cookies.

and since this is a boring entry, here's a cute picture of my boy. i can't even call him my baby anymore, he looks like such a little man now! at least my baby still looks like a baby, but even he turns 1 at the end of the month!










ps, erin, steph, and kelli, i haven't forgotten about y'all, my CO blogs are in the works still, it's been hectic since i was gone for 4 days!

a home for my computer

check out my awesome new computer bag! so it's not actually supposed to be a computer bag. in fact, when it was made, people didn't even have computers, let alone one that would fit in a bag! 

i found this beauty at our local salvation army yesterday. i'd never been in the store, only outside to drop my donations off. so yesterday, with nothing better to do, the boys and i took a trip inside to see what kind of treasures we could uncover. i had in my mind that i wanted to find a new piece of furniture for our kitchen. i have my hair chair in our breakfast nook, and need something to use as my station. i love repurposing old furniture, it's my way of helping keep it out of the dumps (my hubs says i rescue old chairs like most people rescue lost puppies), and the quality was so much better back then, i just can't help it. unfortunately, no furniture caught my eye, but there was this bag, sitting all by itself under a rack of beat up old purses. i was instantly attracted to it's robin's egg blue, and then when i saw it was a sampsonite, i knew i wanted it. i checked the tag, never having actually shopped in a salvation army, i didn't know how their pricing would be. $5.25. that's it?!?! five dollars and twenty-five cents. i'll take it! the zipper needs to be stitched back on where the string has broken, but that is an easy fix. i think i'll do that in yellow, to give it a little pop! 

hubs says it looks like an old lady's bowling bag from the 60's. i say it looks like a vintage bag of awesomeness. and he should be happy i'm in love with it. i could have come home with the $300 coach computer bag i liked instead! 

another little CO teaser

this time for kelli! she was just glowing!

check out those beautiful blue skies! amazing!!

the brannan family

i just wanted to get a quick sneak peek in for the brannan family. i'll get to blog about them when i get home and get all the photos edited, but i know erin is sitting on pins and needles waiting to see how the day turned out! so for you my dear: 

holy wow i saw buffalo! 

things i love...

i flew for the first time today without my boys. it was a weird jaunt through the airport, not having to worry about shuffling so much crap through security, making sure we didn't forget anything behind, then schlep it  all to the gate. it was weird, and i didn't really like it. and of course, i was on the flight that had 7 babies on it, so all the families were huddled together waiting for family boarding. out of habit, i couldn't help but smile and watch the families, and out of habit started to head to that section. then i realized, duh kym, you just look like the crazy lady hovering near the babies! so i sat in the one seat available between the two old businessmen.  it made my heart ache for my babies and husband, and made me realize how much i love having my family with me.

so in honor of flying, and the fact that i actually had time to read a magazine on the plane, here's my five things i love about flying.

1. sky mall magazine. where else can you find an exercise machine for your lungs, a hammock for your dog, and a "fashionable leather" wrist holster for your phone (just flip your wrist and the phone is on your ear! never again will you miss a call!)

2. people watching. i saw a man with a mickey mouse top hat, giant clock around his neck (a la flava flave), and super skinny jeans, a man with tube socks on with shorts and a hat inside out, and another woman with arms bigger than hulk hogans. i wish i had the guts to take pictures of each of them!

3. listening to other's conversions. the two sitting on the plane behind me had me laughing. "oh your from mission veijo? i was born in mission veijo! what a small world! do you know so and so?" " uh, no dude, i was just born there, i moved to colorado when i was 2" " well what year did you graduate, he's about your age" long pause, "umm 98" "oh, your a lot older than i thought, i graduated in 08, but i think he graduated in like 01" "yeah dude, i moved away like 29 years ago. i don't know him".

4. seeing family members and friends waiting for their loved ones on the way to baggage claim. i think i'm just uber emotional right now being away from my family, because seeing all the cheesy signs and the huge hugs that people were getting melted my heart.

5. seeing my best friends pregnant belly for the first time! my oh my i don't know if there is anything more beautiful than a pregnant woman's belly (besides the newborn of course)! we haven't seen each other since her wedding in july, so this is a long over due visit, and perfect time too, her hubs is on a "dadchelor weekend" in vegas. yes, you read that right, a DAD-chelor weekend. one last hurrah before the baby comes! hilarious!


now off for bed, i have 2 sessions tomorrow, and cannot wait to shoot in the beautiful colorado tundra!

20 random facts...

a friend emailed me one of those forwards that i normally just erase. but some nights, after the kids are in bed and the house is clean, i'll actually read those cheesy emails. this one said to list 20 facts about you that no one knows.  i thought it might be fun, and a good way for people to get to know me as a person, not just the photographer. so here i go:

1. i eat my oatmeal with a fork.
2. i hate apples- and i don't mean the computer. i try and try to like them, and i just don't.
3. i'm a "compartmental" eater. i have to eat all of one thing on my plate before moving to the next.
4. i didn't know how to drive stick shift when i bought my first car. it took me an hour to go 3 miles because i stalled out every time i had to go into 1st gear.
5. i am naturally introverted and socially akward. being behind the camera gives me the security and confidence to be in large groups.
6. when asked what my favorite color is, i always respond "clear".
7. i collect vintage cameras. my favorite is a 1951 Vitar. i found it on ebay and paid more in shipping than for the actual camera. but i don't care. it has my name on it!
8. i love snapple facts
9. we watch jeopardy every night.
10. the lead singer of the crash test dummies hit on me when i was 16. in front of the entire audience. i was mortified and flattered at the same time
11. i have a weakness for sam edelman flats.
12. i am neither a morning person or a night person.
13. i never spell the word guarantee correct.
14. i dream in color
15. my husband and i play a game called "how'd you like to be the one who..." when we're driving. we try to come up with what would have been the worst job ever.  example: how'd you like to be the one to pound all those posts into the ground (as we're driving up the 5 and there is nothing around)  or how'd you like to be the one who had to unroll all the wires through the forest to get phone lines...
16. i would love to live on 17 acres of land. i want a property with a giant oak tree on it that i can hang lights from and put a loooooooong table under for summer dinners with the whole family (a la brother's and sister's, even though i've never seen the show) and a decrepit barn that would make for an amazing backdrop for photos.
17. i am scuba certified. although i haven't been in 10 years. sad
18. i'm going to italy for my 30th birthday. my hubs promised :)
19. i wear my great grandmother's wedding band along with my own.
20. my favorite color is.....

i'm not gonna give that one away!

xo

Spring!

 i love the newness of spring. the greenness of the hills, the blue skies, the fact that one day it is 85 degrees and the next i am pulling my sweater back out, and then the very next i am sitting poolside again. spring is beautiful.
 sunday was w's first easter. while it was cold and ugly, and on the verge of rain all day, we dressed him and e up in their "easter best" for brunch with the family and a little mini egg hunt. after brunch, we made a quick wardrobe change to head over to malibu to meet up with some friends on the beach. it turned out to be a gorgeous day by the water, and the rain held out until we packed the kiddos in the car and were heading home.
this next week is going to be a great one for me, i'm heading to the mile high city, denver, to see my pregnant best friend! while i'm there, i have 3 sessions lined up, so i'm looking forward to getting to explore the state and take some amazing photos. but until then, i'll leave you with a few of my favorites from our easter sunday!

on your marks, get set, WIN!

i'm starting off the month of april with a giveaway for a session of your choice (maternity, newborn, children's, family, engagement, or a just because). Here's the rules for this month: my fan page has been sitting at 213 people for a week now, and i need to help getting my name and page out there! SO... i want each of you to promote my page, and the 250th fan will win a free session ALONG with the friend who referred him or her! That is 2 free sessions for the month of april!


Get to it and good luck!!

here's the legal details: 

*winners receive free sittings only, this does not include photos or discs of the images, although prints will be offered at a discounted price, and a full disc of images can be purchased for $75.

*Family sessions are for families of 6 or less. if a group is larger than 6, the difference will need to be paid between the family session and the large family session (approximately $100 depending on number of people) I will go over all options with the winners so we can find the package that will work best for their family. 

*if the winner already has a session scheduled with me, that session cannot be replaced with the free one, it will be for an additional session (how lucky!) 

*sessions must be completed before June 2010.