Aperture 1.4 {focused blur}

Things that I am loving

So I started decorating and I am in the process of getting everything all Christmased up.  I'll take pictures as soon as everything is done and I can clean.  But for now I thought I'd write up a random little list of things that I am loving right now.

1.  The play mobile Nativity set. It's not really very cute I know but, it is perfect for the boys.  We have a beautiful set that my parents got us our first Christmas but it's made of glass and I really wanted the boys to have something that they could play with and touch.  So last night I pulled it out and we told the story while we put it up.  I just really want them to know that Santa isn't the most important part of Christmas and that we give gifts because the Savior gave us the greatest gift of all.  Anyway, it seems to be a big success and it was only 11.99 on sale. We found our set at Target.

2. I am loving living in Louisville, seriously.  I know that, that is a shocker to everyone in my family seeing as how I wasn't excited at all to move to Kentucky.  I mean come on, it's....Kentucky.  But I love it here.  People are really open and relaxed. The people here are not fans of big box stores.  So in a huge city there is only really one mall and I only know of a few Walmarts and Targets.  Instead the whole city is filled with little shops and boutiques.  Self owned and friendly.  I love that!  And I am especially enamored by our street.  All old Victorians. A huge mix of people.  Old and young but almost all artists.  It's the kind of street where Mark and I can say we are a photographer and an actor and people don't stare at us like animals at the zoo. Plus, the real bonus is that someone on the street made big giant Candy Canes out of wood and painted and hung them on all of the telephone poles and big velvet bows.  No one knows who did it.  But turning on my street makes me so incredibly happy right now.

3. Red is my favorite color with green in a close second.  Christmas and I?  Totally meant to be!

4. Hot Chocolate.  My favorite kind is Stephens  I like the hazelnut but the raspberry and the mint chocolate are so amazing.  However it is really hard to find here.  So here in my new trick to the best hot chocolate ever. 

Buy whatever cheap generic brand of hot chocolate they have at the store and then add, International Delight coffee creamer.  See, I don't actually drink coffee but just adding a little shot of creamer to hot chocolate makes it amazing.  Right now International Delight has holiday flavors and I am LOVING the pumpkin pie spice in my hot chocolate.  Try it!  It is so good.

5.  There are a few new blogs that I am loving to read right now:

I don't know Jenny at all but I love her vintage style.  I could never pull off pink or blue at Christmas because I love red to much but I do think that her decorations are so pretty.

http://journals.aol.com/jennyeveryday/everyday-is-a-holiday/

Sarah from American Crafts has a blog called clippings, it is full of great design products.  I love going there and seeing what she has found.  She has such a great eye for things.  And she has gotten Christmas discounts on everything.

http://sarahchampion.typepad.com/clippings/

These Photographers are so amazing.  I love their work. If I had my wedding to do over I would hire them in a heart beat.  Seriously, amazing.

http://homepage.mac.com/imageisfound/iblog/index.html

6.  Okay, if you do nothing else I have listed here but read these books than I will be happy.  I read Twilight and New Moon a while ago. My sister talked me into them and I was hesitant to get them when she told me the topic, but I have learned to trust her book choosing abilities.  It helps that she has a Masters Degree in children's lit. ( here is her blog for her reading group if you want more advice on books.  http://childlitbookclub.blogspot.com/)   I read the first book in six hours on the flight to Japan.  That left about 7 more flying hours and I honestly couldn't read the other book I had because Twilight was so good I knew that I couldn't read anything else and not be disappointed so soon afterwards.  But I didn't tell anyone about them for a while because how do you tell someone to read a book about a teenage vampire love story and not sound like a fool. However my excitement for them overcame that and I recommended them to a few close friends and they loved it so now I am recommending them here.

Twilight by Stephenie Meyer.   You can find it on Amazon or at any book store really.  Amazon just listed it as one of there top ten books of the decade so I guess I don't feel so bad about recommending it!

Okay that is all for now!  Hope everyone is having a good week!

So, sorry for the week delay in posting anything.  I was gone.  I took the boys to Utah.  I had a meeting there for work and I decided to bring them along so that they could be with my parents. We won't be going home for Thanksgiving or Christmas because the "Christmas Carol" begins on Thanksgiving and ends the day before Christmas. Sigh.  Since we have been married Mark and I have only had one Christmas away from family.  So this year I have mixed feelings.  I am sad that I won't be with my family, but I am excited to decorate and have our own Christmas traditions and celebrations here. In the past couple years we haven't decorated or anything because we were able to leave for the whole month of December thanks to Ohio Universities quarter system. 

   My Mom is a fabulous interior decorator so she took me to all her favorite haunts in Utah and we collected lot's of fun things for Christmas decorating.  I think I'm going for a sparkly look.  I love Vintage Glass glitter and honestly, how often can you go for glitter and not have it be over the top but at the holidays?  We left with three suit cases and came home with 6.  Our maximum.  I was a bit embarrassed at the cardboard boxes I was checking but all in the name of Christmas right?

  We are home now and I am valiantly trying to resist the urge to pull everything out and start decorating today.  But I believe in the beauty of Thanksgiving.  Plus, growing up we spent the week before Thanksgiving cleaning and getting ready.  We would decorate as soon as Thanksgiving dinner was over but ONLY if the house was clean, it was the rule. I loved our family home at Christmas.  Most of my friends compared it to living in a Christmas shop for the month of December because it was filled to the brim with Nativities, lights, wreaths, Santas, stockings, trees, you name it.  My Mom was great at creating a holiday full of traditions and my Dad was great about going a long with it.  I think that it is one of the reasons we all remain close today.  It was a magical time and I hope that I can create that for my Children this year and in the future.

  Anyone out there have any fun family traditions?  Or fun things to do with the kids around Christmas?

Are you surprised?

At the fact that I am posting more photographs. I didn't think so.  I have been going through a little photography break down lately.  I love taking pictures but sometimes I get so caught up in the work end of it that I forget just how much passion I have for it. I have a tendency to be really hard on myself and my work.  Sometimes I feel like I am better at turning other people into great photographers than being one myself. But then there are days like yesterday.  Mark finally had a break from the theater and so we had like 20 minutes to do an impromptu photoshoot down the street.  And I found that without having time to worry about it I just had a good time and enjoyed it. 

  My favorite part of photography used to be opening up the envelope from the printers and catching that first glimpse of magic that was your film in real life.  There is something so amazing about seeing the real photograph after waiting and anticipating whether or not you caught the image that you had hoped for.  Now it is coming home and looking at the computer screen.  It's not quite the same, but I still love the first time you see an image that is clearly magical.  The true essence of the subject. 

The photoshoot yesterday made me feel that excitement again.  So here is Mark with his long, "Christmas Carol" hair.  Pretty handsome if I do say so myself.  And I am.

Fall Light

So, I have noticed over the last few days that since the time change the light around 4:00 hits the front of our house with this beautiful orange glow and I wanted to find some way of using it without having the subject squint into it. So I explored a few options and found this.  Ladies and Gentlemen, I will now be using the stairs in the front hall for lighting portraits until I or one of my subjects gets sick of seeing it.  Look at this beautiful light!  There is no photoshop editing or anything.  This is just the way that it was.

We have also been taking a lot of fun fall leaf pictures.  Here is one using Rhonnas Polaroid frames from two peas.

Now, onto some not so happy news.  I have recently been informed that people have seen a few of my images in other places that have been used or posted without asking me. For the most part the pictures that I post here are of my children and family and I have never intended for these photographs to used in any other way than here or in my classes.  These aren't even my best shots so it never occurred to me that anyone would want them besides me or someone like my Mom.  I have never watermarked things because I hate having to look at images through peoples names.  But I may have to start. Either that or take this whole blog down.  Please, please don't take my photographs without permission! Thanks!

Japan day 2 and 3

So on the second day we taught again and then we were able to go down during lunch and see the Creating Keepsakes convention.  It was fun to see the products that were popular in Japan and to see the product that we don't have.

  That night we went to dinner in Harajuku.  Tracy's translator and her friend was our guides.  They were great!  Tracy and I had both really wanted to go there.  Harajuku is a place that they call the "teen gathering" and on weekends teens dress up in costumes and crazy gothic clothing to hang out together.  It was amazing to see them.  We missed most of it because we waited a long time at dinner but we still had such a good time!

Dinner was really nice.  This time instead of a pot on the table we had a grill and you drilled your own food.  Here are a few pictures:

Tracy and Anita Laughing at dinner.

I sat across from Lance from Rusty Pickle.  He was very entertaining and a really nice guy!

This is Miki( I hope I spelled that right) Tracy's translator and her friend.

This is my favorite image from Japan I think.  Something about how the lighting and the composition and Joey all came together and I love it.

The we went outside and here are a few of the teens that let us take pictures of them:

 

Then we caught the train home and here a few pictures of the train inside and out.  The train is super fast and always seems to be pretty packed.  Lance had to push us all in!

I lifted my camera up above my head and took these without seeing what I was taking.  When I looked at them later and found this image.  The couple here noticed me taking them and made faces.  I love happy surprises like that!

Lastly, if the photograph of Joey isn't my favorite than this one is.  There were some superhero characters dressed up on the street.  They must have been pretty popular there because all the little children were really excited to see them.  I love the look of awe in this child's face.