FIRST ANNIVERSARY OF MAWWIAGE!

Today is a momentous day, because exactly one year ago, my husband Casey and I got married. :)

Yay, anniversaries! It's only our first one, but I think I like them. :)

We decided to celebrate yesterday and went out for the fanciest breakfast I've ever had...




Of course we needed a silly self portrait to begin the morning. I love that our self-portaits are always back focused. Note to self: GROW LONGER ARMS.



So we ended up at our favorite (and overpriced) breakfast place, Jeannine's on Figueroa. It's definitely our little treat to ourselves once every few months and we decided to get dressed up and get a late breakfast together to celebrate instead of doing the typical "going out to dinner" thing...



Case got some nice champagne to go with his breakfast and I got a Bellini (Champgne and peach nectar) to go with mine. SOOO yummy.



Omelet Capresse with basil, cherry tomatoes and goat cheese. It was definitely way too rich and I only finished half of it. But it's pretty, right?



Afterwards we walked around the little paseo outside and enjoyed the sunshine. Then off to the bookstore to read for a little while. It was so nice to not have anywhere to be...



After a day of laying around the house, watching movies, and going to see "UP" in 3D at the Arlington with our friend Kate (which was FABULOUS, by the way) we took the top layer of our cake out of the freezer to see if it was still intact... I was skeptical, but it actually tastes fine? If we die of food poisoning in the next week or so, you guys will know what happened. :)




Sigh. Such a great day. And now, I'm going to have to get all gushy, so all you others out there in blog land should tune out. This is my "barf alert" to you. :)

Case, I'm so glad I married you. You are my hero and my other half. I can't wait to spend all of our anniversaries together. I'm so privileged to be your wife, and I love you. <3

:)

Hannah and Ben engagement photos!!!

Slowly easing into my morning because it's been a hectic last few days at work! We're really trying to pump out stories at Noozhawk, and so far, we're getting great feedback from the community and in our ad sales. It's been great, but I've lapsed in my blogging a bit.

Last weekend, I had the good fortune of being able to photograph one of my best friends, Hannah, and her fiance, Ben. Their wedding is in September, and although I'm not technically shooting it (although you can bet I'll have my camera there every second!) I'm excited because I'll be in her wedding as her maid of honor! It's hard to express how excited I am about getting all dolled up to stand next to my best friend while she gets married. Hannah was in my wedding last June, and it meant everything that she could fly out and be with me. :)

So... After we shot Michael and Carly's wedding, we drove back to Nashville for a shoot with them downtown before catching a flight back to California.

How gorgeous is Hannah? For reals.

























I love you guys so much! Thanks for hanging out with us!!!

Michael and Carly's wedding!

Just wanted to blog about our amazing weekend we spent photographing our friends Michael and Carly's wedding. It was an absolute blast and I was so honored to be a part of the festivities. Casey was in the wedding, but I got to tag along with the wedding party all weekend and photograph everything! Too fun.


Here they are in front of this giant train that was outside of the reception venue...



Seriously, how gorgeous is Carly?







Downtown Paducah has some really fun cobblestone streets and fun buildings, so we decided to take the girls down there for a few shots...





Michael seeing Carly for the first time... I was tearing up. He was so excited to see her!









The boys in the woods behind Carly's parents house...









They exchanged vows under this incredible arbor that Michael built. I was standing behind it so I got to see all the little moments the audience couldn't! I love this moment of the two of them taking communion.






Then the whole wedding party got on a trolley bound for the reception...







Carly and her sisters. Sooo photogenic. I love it.







Everyone sending them off with little ribbon sticks! So cute!




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Thank you so much, you two, for letting me part of your day! I am so honored!!! :D

Just finished my assignments for the day, and am slowly winding down. I'm thinking it's time to work out and watch "Amazing Race." My old roommate and best friend used to joke about going on the show, racing around the world and hurtling towards the finish line and $1 million. But everyone that goes on the show always ends up having a communication breakdown with their partner, with all the crazy stress, and I wonder if I could actually handle it... Hmm. I will ponder this while I (try to) do situps.

Two other things on my mind.

- I am STOKED to shoot the wedding of two of my very best friends next week! Our friends, Michael and Carly, after years of long distance dating, and many conversations consoling both of them through the crazy lonliness that that begets, are finally getting married! Whoo! Casey and I are flying to Nashville next Thursday to be with them and I am so, so excited to shoot their big day. Man, what an honor. I hope I do a good job! PRESSURE'S ON! :D I can't wait, you two.

-I just realized that I need more pictures of my husband in my life. Since I work two jobs (that I LOVE, don't get me wrong) that involve photography, I sometimes really neglect to take fun pictures, for myself and of my family. I really treasure those, and I need to start shooting them more. I've noticed that a lot of photographers have trouble documenting their OWN lives, myself included. Note to self: work on this.

G'night, all!

Violet turns 90!

So yesterday I had an opportunity I don't get too often, but when I do, I'm always excited. About a week ago, I had a lady send me an inquiry about shooting an event. Not unusual, but as she told me more, I knew it would be a special one. :) Turns out, her grandmother, Violet, was turning 90 and family from all over was flying in for a super fun birthday party!

Of course, not being one to turn down a party, I said "Absolutely!" And I'm so glad I did! Jana and her cousin, Lori, did a great job planning the whole event and it went without a hitch.

They were so welcoming and their family is amazing! I was so honored to be there shooting - with my own family living across the country, I know how important family pictures are. When you finally do get together, you want to save those memories forever.

So here we go... :)

When Violet first walked in, she was totally swamped with hugs and kisses!






Cousins Jana and Lori who did all the planning..







One of our big group shots. Love it.





This one might be one of my favorites. Violet was so cute.



Thanks so much guys for such a fun afternoon. :D

L




This from last night's game and my good friend and old co-worker Dave Smith, who's following WKU out here in Portland. Here's the link to his fabulous slideshow.

SEE YOU SUNDAY, GONZAGA. Also, I've missed seeing my amorphous mascot.

Packing up snacks and burning cd's for the car because I'm about to drive down to Beverly Hills for a writing conference. Yay! Fun times. If only I can survive the traffic... :/

The MUni article is running tomorrow and has been posted. Check it out! Yay.

Great weekend. Definitely need to catch up on some sleep though... Meh.

Great article from the Wired blog.....



Times Techie Envisions the Future of News

By Ryan Singel

Nick Bilton, an editor in the New York Times research and development lab, doesn't think much of newspaper. In fact, he doesn't even get the Sunday paper delivered to his house.

Thankfully for Bilton and his employer, he's bullish on news. It's just the paper he hates.

"Paper is dying, but it's just a device," Bilton told Wired.com ahead of his talk Tuesday at the O'Reilly Emerging Technology conference in San Jose, California. "Replacing it with pixels is a better experience."

Bilton, a youthful technologist who programs mashups in his free time, is charged with inventing the future for the Gray Lady in an era of troubled times for newspapers. Fewer people are subscribing, classified ads are decamping for the internet and online revenues aren't making up for lost print ads.

But Bilton envisions a world where news is freed from the confines of newsprint and becomes better.

He speaks of smart content, smart sensors, avatars reading the news to you from your television and even interactive newspaper boxes that print out a personalized paper and automagically orders your customary drink at a nearby Starbucks.

That means Bilton is thinking of a world where traditional news stories show up on little mobile screens, laptops, e-book readers and television screens.

"If I start reading something on my laptop, why should I see it on my phone if I've already read it?," Bilton asked, pointing to one of problems he wants to fix.

And what if the accelerometer and cell site data indicate he's going 60 mph? Well, then the Times mobile app on his cell phone should read the news aloud.

Ebooklongform That app might look something like the upcoming Adobe Air reader the group helped build for the Times-owned International Herald Tribune.

The reader gracefully re-lays out pages based on screen shape, uses Flash for video and interactive ads, and provides an option for a bird's-eye view of stories to let users browse the paper. That's perfect, Bilton said, for people using reading the news on 800-pixel-wide netbook screens.

In-depth reporting can get a second life being re-packaged as a standalone e-book. Stories can be made to work with networked televisions, letting people see video interviews, high-res pictures, map views and timelines. They could even read excerpts from or even buy books written by experts quoted in a story.

The Times is already adding notes to stories about how users can follow a story by sending a text message and soon will be adding computer-readable images called semacodes, as well.

Bilton's lab is working on a custom NYTimes application that will only show stories you're interested in and let you save videos for playback at home. It would allow you to use your phone as a TV remote control when at home.Customprintout

But don't all of those technology changes mean that newspapers will die?

Bilton thinks not, pointing out that in 1876 news accounts of the telephone predicted that concert halls and churches would be empty because of the new device, and a year later, predicted that the phonograph would kill the telephone and concerts, because people could choose when to listen.

"Newspapers and news organizations are not going anywhere," Bilton said.

Except onto your phone, e-book reader, laptop and maybe even your shower wall.

YAY, TEAM!!!!

So proud. Last year, we made it to the Sweet Sixteen...

HOPE SPRINGS ETERNAL!

Saturday morning...




Gah. How much do I love this show? I decided to start watching disc three of season one while Case is out doing Viewpoints this morning. I think I love it so much because the underlying message of the show is that it's okay to be nerdy and that whenever you can supercede mere mortals with your crazy math knowledge to solve crimes, that's a good thing. I barely made it through highschool math (oh, the horror) but have great respect for those of us who are numerically nimble. Go nerds.

muni!

Taking a break from my stories today for a quick blog post. It's been a busy Friday and an even busier week. A great one, but I'm definitely ready for a break.

Wanted to post some pictures of my shoot from last Saturday and my three hour hike on the Jesusita trail with the muni guys. Check them out, if you haven't already. They are fantastic guys and I'm hoping to have a story and a slideshow up next week of my images and interviews with them.



Here's Eyal, riding while balancing on this ledge thing.




And Dennis hopping from rock to rock on his uni.




The trail was so awesome. I'm trying to talk Case into going up there with me this weekend. Okay, I'm off to keep writing. Oh, and here's the slideshow from the amgen race that I said I would post, like a million weeks ago. Eesh.