Me

Here's a couple of me that were taken in San Diego.... What do you think of my straight hair?

Michela is 2!

Michela turned two over the weekend so of course I had to get some portrait-style shots of her. She really didn't want to do it though so I was chasing her all over the yard. It is amazing how red her hair looks in these, but it really isn't red.

I survived the Spa Party

Our house survived the Spa Party that Abigail had with 5 of her friends for her birthday!

They each decorated a cupcake to look like their face or any other face they wanted to make.


Relaxation.... (for 5 seconds!)



The group still wearing their masks.... so lovely!

Awesome San Diego trip

I don't know why I have such a tough time keeping this blog updated. Andy and I spent four days in San Diego last weekend. It was part mini-vacay and part photography workshop trip. We had the best time. And I learned a ton at the workshop. I am really getting into the boudoir side of photography and I just love it.

I get some really interesting reactions when I tell people that I am doing boudoir photography now. I get lots of "Oh, I could never do that," and "That's not really my thing," but I don't think women realize what it can really do for them. It's not about wearing lingerie or putting a sexy look on your face. It's about a woman doing something for herself! It is also about showing the woman that she is beautiful and sexy, even if there are parts of her body she doesn't like. Why not celebrate who you are right now?!

I had the opportunity to have my own boudoir photos taken by the workshop instructor, Michele Parsley. What an amazing experience! I got my hair (totally straightened!) and makeup done, including false eyelashes. It was so great to just sit there and enjoy the experience. And the photos that I walked away with are utterly amazing! I look at them and can't believe that I am looking at myself.... I look so beautiful!

All of you women out there should really think about it.... you won't regret it.... I promise!

Happy 10th Birthday Abigail!

This post is a little late. Abigail turned 10 years old on September 9. How can I possibly have a 10 year old daughter?! For her birthday we got her, among a couple other things, a gift certificate to get her ears pierced. She had been asking for this for awhile, and I finally got Andy to agree to it. As you can see from the last two photos, she was pretty surprised and excited!

Traveling this summer...

has been such a challenge! I went to Phoenix last weekend. I was supposed to leave Saturday morning at 6am from the Arcata airport. I received a text from United on Friday night around 5pm saying my flight had been canceled and that I needed to call the 800 number to reschedule. I did that and they said the earliest flight they could get me on was at 2pm on Sunday. I said that was unacceptable because I paid for a flight on Saturday. They did find me a flight on Saturday at 5pm so I got to Phoenix at 9pm instead of 1pm.

When the United customer service representative was about done making my new reservations he said, "would you say that you are extremely satisfied with United's customer service?" Um nope, I was very unsatisfied! And I told him so! He put me on hold and came back to say that I would be receiving an email where I could choose from three types of "compensation" to make up for my dissatisfaction. Nice! I chose a $100 credit on my next United flight. Do I really want to fly United though?!

Good thing I had such a great time visiting the Eilertsens because getting home was an even bigger challenge! The flight from Phoenix left on time and actually arrived in San Francisco a few minutes early. I had a 3.5 hour layover there. Then my flight back to Arcata kept getting delayed by 15 or 30 minutes, several times, due to weather problems. Finally they completely canceled it!

They put me on stand-by for the next flight (which they thought would get canceled also) and gave me a confirmed seat on the first flight out the next morning. However, I didn't really think things looked too good so Andy and I decided that I should catch the airport shuttle bus to Santa Rosa. He would leave then (about 8:15) and come pick me up. I got on the bus about 8:45, headed for Santa Rosa. Our good friend, Matt Parlato, came to my rescue and picked me up in Rohnert Park about 9:45. We made a quick stop at their house and then we met Andy in Cloverdale.

Andy and I made it home about 2:30am. What a night! Thanks to Chet and Karen for having the kids and getting them to school the next day....

More boudoir

A couple from last week's session....




I am really enjoying this boudoir stuff. I have two sessions next week and I can't wait!!

Baby Z

I went to Phoenix this past weekend to visit Julie and Eric and to meet baby Zane. We had a great time hanging out, shopping, eating sushi, and taking some pictures. Here are a couple of my favs...

Gorgeous ladies

One of my photography jobs from last week.... see anyone you know?