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It has been a strange lately as I have been so busy with other facets of my life. However, I feel bad as I realize how much this blog has been neglected.  As I look through photos from the past year or so, I find photos that I really would like to share, but just didn’t have much of a venue to share them all.  I am contemplating on introducing more of a photo blog aspect to this blog and post a new photo, whether new or old, everyday or two. The post may contain text or not and may contain information on how the shot was taken or what camera settings were used.

So here goes!

I had been pondering this for a while. Rain boots for dogs? Well lately, I have seriously been considering this.  Not only has it been raining for the past week (which I love btw), but every time I take my dog out for a walk her paws get all wet and dirty. So instead of subjecting my poor girl to a paw wash every time she comes in, I can subject her to rain boots instead.

And what about rain coats?

I did a photo shoot for a couple last year and while I was looking through my old photos, I decided to pull this particular photo of a sunset at Laguna Beach out. I post processed it using two actions from MCP Actions.

The first photo was processed with Color Burst.

Second photo processed with Old School Vintage.

I’m not sure which I like more; both have their merits.

Okay, one more from the shoot. I love this shot. Processed with Old School Vintage.

For all the mothers out there, Happy Mother’s Day! Know that we love and appreciate all you have done for us!

Whether it is green tea,  jasmine tea, oolong tea, black tea, or a yummy mix, I live off this stuff (way better than coffee ). I would love to try a few tea houses, but don’t really know of any around here. If you hear of a one, let me know!

The holidays always seem like a flurry of activities, parties, cooking, and baking.  To celebrate the incoming new year, I spent a few hours baking yummy gingerbread cookies. Though Christmas is over, our tree is still up with lights twinkling every evening, holiday music still plays in our household, and I am still in the holiday spirit. So to ring in the new year, I thought I would share a few images of the gingerbread making process.

A collection of cookie cutters that I use for the holidays.  We recently found this adorable Mickey Mouse cookie cutter so I had to make a few gingerbread cookies of out it.

One cup of butter. So bad for you, but so good!

Ground ginger, cloves, and cinnamon.

Mixing the dough.

I hope everyone has a safe and festive new year!

I have been so bad about blogging lately. I am sure like everyone else, the holidays are one of the craziest times of the year. Trying to manage the time of attending all the holiday events hosted by family, friends, and myself keeps my days busy! It seems like there has been no downtime.  But despite the hectic schedules around the holidays, it really is one of my favorite times of years.  My friends and family all come together to share meals, coffee, tea, or yummy desserts. I love it!

I hope everyone has been enjoying their holidays and continues to until the new year. Be safe, eat lots, and have fun!

I have to admit that I love the rain. I love the cold (provided that I am properly bundled up). And I love snow (just not shovelling it). I was so happy that it finally rained for more than a single day this past week. Sure we have had rain earlier this year, but only for an hour or two, but not like the rain we had on Tuesday and Wednesday. I loved every bit of it. What surprised me the most was when I stepped outside on Thursday morning and saw snow on our local OC mountains! Sure I have seen snow on them before, but not this much! It was beautiful. So much so that I considered packing up my dog and heading up to see the snow.  But if I recall, I don’t remember many roads going up that high. Oh’well. At least I get to stare at them and dream of snowflakes, hot cocoa, and warm fires.

The sun is out now, but the weather forecast says that it may rain next week as well. Yay!

This past weekend I attended my good friend’s wedding. I don’t specialize in weddings but I thought it would be a great opportunity to take a few photos for my friend.  His wedding was small, low key, and intimate (the kind of weddings I like!).  They didn’t have a wedding photographer, so I took as much liberalities that I normally do not do at weddings (don’t want to get in the way of the photographer! ). Needless to say, I had so much fun just shooting for the sake of shooting.

I have to admit that I had dabbled in the idea of second shooting weddings.  I have been thinking about it for a few months, but never really pushed for it since I want to be mainly a portrait photographer. What I love about wedding photography, though, are the details. I love detailed shots. Photos of the dress, shoes, corset, jewelry, cake, toasting flutes, and especially the flowers! There is something so glamorous and beautiful about everything that goes into a wedding. I hope I get the opportunity to shoot a few more weddings, as a guest, or as a second shooter in the years to come.

Out of respect for the privacy of my friend I have only included a few detailed shots below. Thanks for understanding!

The bride’s dress was a beautiful ivory color.  I love how her bouquet matches her dress but the lace, being white, offsets the bouquet just a bit.

Her maid’s bouquet had cute pink roses to distinguish it a bit from the bride’s. I love rose in bouquets. My bouquet had all roses and was absolutely stunning. 

Their champagne. I believe I shot this photograph with a 50mm at 1.4 because the reception area was SO dark.  Actually, both the ceremony and reception were very dark. I had to shoot wide open at ISO 2500 to get the shots that I did.

Okay, I am a professed chocolate snob (a post about this coming). I normally do not like M&Ms, but these M&Ms were actually pretty good! The favors they gave out were like gourmet M&Ms. These had yummy almonds in them. I managed to ‘borrow’ another guest’s (aka friend) favor and had a few of their yummy coffee flavored M&Ms.

Their cake was pretty good. It was made by a bakery that I normally go to for our birthday cakes. So I already knew that the cake would be very yummy. I had a giant slice which filled me up nicely. Speaking of cakes, maybe I should get one for our holiday party? 

Every last Thursday of November, friends and families across the United States come together and celebrate a warm meal together.  I love this time of year.  Not so much for the food, the lights, the gifts, or the frenzied shopping, but for what it stands for. At least for me, Thanksgiving is a chance for me to see my loved ones (friends and family alike) that I normally do not see as often as I like. The great food, apple stuffing, carmelized yams, green bean casserole, and pumpkin pies, are just an added bonus!  I am grateful for the family that raised me and the wonderful dogs and cats that I grew up with. I love them all and look forward to this time year after year.

I hope you all have a Happy Thanksgiving! Be safe, eat lots, and enjoy your black Friday!