Lisa, Bonnie and Spike

I did this photo shoot of Lisa and her babies back at the end of last year; we went over to Fort Funston, where I go all the time, but Lisa showed me this really great little forest area that I never realized was there. That place is just so full of little marvelous spots!












Lisa emailed me a picture of Bonnie before we did the shoot and I think I laughed out loud when I saw it. I did so in the kindest of ways, really, but I was just so caught off guard when I saw she had a half-kangaroo dog. Those ears!

Gotta love 'em.

Dog in the Fog

I wanted to do some pictures of the dogs in some foggy SF headlights the other night. It didn't really work out like I wanted though :( I think I need some more practice with this setting. Oh well, I still thought I'd post just one of them on this rainy foggy day today.

Chess and Family Night

One of my goals this year, as you maybe saw, was to leave work by 7:00 every night. Well, that goal is going . . . so-so, but comparatively, I think it's going great. Basically, in the past I've always worked with the goal to get a particular project done, and then if there's still time, I go do something fun. Well, these projects always, no matter what, take longer than I plan for, so I'm often disappointed. But my new plan has been that I just work until a certain time and whatever gets done, does, and the rest goes to the next day. This is a difficult approach for me since I always want to get "just one more thing" done, but it's being made slightly easier with the advent of "family night".
Monday is Family Night and I'm trying to leave even earlier on that night, like at 5:30 (holy moly!), and then Shawn and I play. I've been trying to incorporate an element of newness into our Monday night activities, having it be something we've never done before, or at least not often. So far, we have played the Wii with some friends (where I was a total maniac novice virtual boxer and accidentally stepped on their real cat's tail), we had music night on Haight St. where we went shopping for a harmonica and exchanged all our old cds for money at Amobea (btw- the guy totally scoffed at the music we were trying to turn in- poor Shawn had to be associated with some of my choice selections- and in the end he offered us $30 for about 150 cds!), we did a beach clean-up on MLK Monday, and highlighted here in this post, Shawn taught me how to play chess.

In case you don't know Shawn at all, I should explain that he loves chess. He lettered in chess in high school (and frequently uses that fact to support his case that he was in fact technically an Athlete since he lettered in it). He was team captain (hot!). Anyway, also if you don't know Shawn at all, I should explain that he is very excited in these pictures :) Sometimes it's hard for people to tell.

I, on the other hand, was not quite as thrilled with my introduction to chess. I mean seriously, who thought to put this in the "game" category. It really shouldn't be a game when you have to think that hard and remember that many things!! Needless to say, I have been kind of a baby about learning, but since I know Shawn loves it so much, I've promised to continue to give it a chance. So far, I think the farthest I've made it is like 8 moves in.

Anyway, along with becoming familiar with all the new game pieces- bishop, rook, knight, etc., our particular model of chess also comes with a Gremlin piece.

Drew's Bar Mitzvah

Up until a few months ago I had shot only three or four Bar/Bat Mitzvahs total, but in the last 4 months I have doubled that! There is a group of friends down in the South Bay that have all hired me recently, and I have to say, I kinda like photographing these! They don't have quite the same amount of emotion attached to them that I enjoy so much with weddings, but they also don't have the same level of stress, which is nice! And they are super creative; they always have a theme and they go all out with their theme, and there's just something kinda fun about hanging out with a bunch of 13-year olds. Plus, I'm always so impressed with how much these kids do to get ready for their Mitzvah. They plan, and do a huge service project, and they learn Hebrew for cryin' out loud! I keep coming home from them and telling Shawn that we should become Jewish cause I want our kids to be that good.

Anyway, here's the first of these recent ones I've done. This is Drew, and he has the best red hair ever!



This is so cute. That is Drew with his two best friends, Alex and Josh, who had two of the other three Bar Mitzvahs I have done since this. The 3 of them have been best friends since they were in diapers. I got great pictures of the 3 of them at each of their Bar Mitzvahs, and just thinking of how much I treasure pictures of me and Holly growing up, I think those will make such wonderful keepsakes for them throughout their life. (yes, I guess that was me patting myself on the back :))


And it gets better, as the 3 moms are all best friends too.






Friday night I just did a few family pictures before Temple, and then Saturday was the big party! Drew's theme was basketball. He had a basketball court dance floor, seating assignments done as real game tickets, Converse centerpieces, concession stand food, even a personalized basketball logo and ice sculpture!


















Watching the slide show together.


Kari is such a cute mom, and a short one :)

Holly's Birthday is for Lovers

I've never been that great, or even cared to be that great really, at remembering people's birthdays, but there are a few key people's whose I always remember, but lately I've been in this habit the last year or so of forgetting important people's birthdays, and I mean like really important people- people like my mom one year, my dad another and now this year Holly's, my best friend since the age of two! I know- kinda sad!
So I was feeling really bad about not calling Holly on her birthday but I knew there was one thing I could do to make it up to her; I've debated with whether or not I felt that bad. . . . There's this shirt . . . I don't even remember the origins of this shirt- well I do remember it came from a thrift store. Anyway, we both loved it and would both wear it all the time when we lived together. When we no longer lived in the same house, this shirt was a point of concern- who would get the Virginia is for Lovers shirt?!! Well I've had it for the past 7 years now (all the while with Holly checking in occasionally and begging for it) but after this goof-up, I think it will be your turn Holly. I had to take a picture of it first though since I look so dang cute in it :) Anyway, it's on it's way to you; take good care of it and I still want it back in another 7 years.

Biscuit

Isn't that just a perfect name for a fluffy little Shih-Tzu with a bow in her hair! Anyway, Christine introduced Biscuit to me as her "special needs dog", and indeed Biscuit does require more than her fair share of attention :) She does not appreciate being left alone, and is perfectly content to just sit in a lap all day long, unless she's feeling particularly feisty, or there's Cheetos involved!











CHEETOS!




They have this beautiful library, which doesn't quite remind me of the library Shawn has been working on in our place :) but it was the perfect spot for some picture-taking of these two.