OH. MY. GOSH.

I think I might be in trouble down the road with miss sassy-pants Maya. Good grief. Just look at her at barely four years old. What the heck am I gonna do with her when she's fourteen?






This is actually a little bit of commercial work. Anyone who knows Maya knows that she's not a cowgirl. BUT, she definitely has the real-life attitude! Ha!

I also needed some shots of some SERIOUS princess attire. I used Emma for that. It just suits her. Sweet little thing...




And, one final one of the red headed bandit modeling some froggy gear. I had about five minutes with him in the middle of the road, but I managed to snap one I love! :-) Plus, check out the awesome brick road! My parents just bought a house on this super cute little street.

The Lab

Okay, so, I've been wanting to blog this for the past few days, but man... there's TONS to blog. It's kind of daunting, actually.

So, The Lab Workshop was earlier this week. Can I just say that it was one of the single most fun experiences I've had in a LONG time?!? It was the busiest, craziest, most sleep-deprived time, but I wouldn't have changed a thing! The group of photographers that attended were ALL so stinkin' fun, talented, and so diverse. I really grew quite fond of our little group, and I was sad to say goodbye on Wednesday. I felt like I was saying goodbye not knowing if I'd ever see some of them again. And, well... I don't like the thought of that.

I have SOOO much to say about this group of photographers... SO much. I have so much to say about the workshop & the models & the fun, fun times. BUT, I've also got to get the Norwood family back to the airport. So, this is gonna be a quick post. I'll be back later, though, with links & more photos. :)

Okay, here's our AWESOME group:
And, some models from the first day's shoot. Here's sweet Makenzie (Michael's daughter.)
And little miss Kora. You may remember her & her beautiful curls.

And, a special thanks to my sister Heather who secured the next three gorgeous models for us. :) Here's Kelsey:
Brooke:
And Mandy:
And, then from day 2, here's the gorgeous Ainsley:
And my current camera bag: Ha!
This is Ashley & Eric. They've been married since August, and they were kind enough to stand in as our "engagement" couple.
And, from day 3, this is Fred's oldest son Harrison:
Rockin' the Chucks:
Our beautiful bride, Hannah. Man, look at that bone structure... this girl is AMAZING!

And, yeah... so there's that. :) I feel good about finally getting something blogged, though I feel rushed. I really want to tell you all SO much about the workshop and the amazing photographers that came. But, that'll have to wait for now. Soon, though. You'll be blown away by their work. :)

Play along?

Let's just pretend that today's date is March 10th, okay? You'll notice, then, that I'm on a two day in a row blogging streak. That's right.

So, with that out of the way, I'm sharing a couple of sweet Emma. This new little mischievous grin is one of the recent additions to her "grin repertoire" that I've really grown awfully fond of. I like to see it. There's a glimmer of sincerity in her eyes when she shoots me this look... a glimmer of a more mature understanding than that of her little sister. It's just sweet.
Okay... I just can't begin to tell you what my past few weeks have been like. It's been SOOO nice having my parents home. Busy, too. :-) It's a good busy, though. We've had picnics, egg hunts, work projects, dinners out, dinners in, shopping trips, birthdays, Christmas. It's just nice. Nice to have them home, you know?

Lots to blog...

Oh, man, so I've been a lazy blogger. I've had a few things to blog, but I just haven't sat down to do it. It's not that I've been very busy. It's just that I've been very lazy. :-)

First, though, I want to give a shout out to a few folks. To Julie, precious friend & Chinese sister, congrats on the pregnancy! That is so exciting! I am so pleased for you and your husband. You are in our prayers as you begin your family. I miss you much! Thank you so much for the beautiful sweaters that you made for the girls. I am touched by your kindness! They're a tad big yet, but hopefully they will be able to wear them this coming fall. :-)

To Alicia, Julie & Shelly - thanks so much for your kind words about my blog (and my hair!) It was great to see you all throughout the course of the past week. I appreciate your visits to the blog, and I'm feeling slightly self conscious in my nerdy-ness now. Haha! :-) I'm sure I'll be seeing you all more often these days. Thanks for being loyal friends, supporters, encouragers, etc., to my parents over the past several years.

Chelsea - Update your blog, girl! (This coming from me? I know, I know! But, at least I've blogged THIS month! Ha!) No, really, though, I've enjoyed your pictures & watching you evolve as a photographer. You're gonna love the 85! I KNOW it! I can't wait to see what you capture in China! We should get together again sometime soon. :-)

Okay, okay. So, is there anyone out there that's been reading this blog from the get-go? From day one? If so, you'll remember what I said in my first post ever. For all the rest of you (that would be about everyone!) I talked about my reasons for starting the blog. The big reason was for my parents. They'd recently been here for the holidays but were headed back to China where they lived. I wanted this to be a way for them to stay connected, to watch the grand kids grow & change over the days, weeks, months that it would be until we saw them again. And, THAT is why I started this blog.

I can remember what it felt like when my parents first told me they were moving to China. It was late fall of '99, and I had just turned 21. Curt & I had just started dating that August. I was absolutely astounded. Seriously. It just threw me for a loop. I remember crying often. After they left, I remember feeling an emptiness in my heart, almost like grief. I mean, I guess it was grieving the loss of them in my day to day life. We've experienced a lot of losses... a magnitude of losses... while they were gone. If it weren't hard enough in and of itself, how must it have been for them clear across the world without family? We've also experienced a wealth of new life, as well. My goodness! Four grandchildren, 3 great nieces & nephews... all born while they were away. There's been a lot of change... this family has changed. The fall of '99 seems an eternity ago, both in time & life stages.

We've missed them tremendously, as they have missed us. But, that season has come to an end, and I'm just beyond pleased to be able to say that they are home! The girls & I have been counting down the days for a few weeks now. Let me tell you, trying to explain how long 16 days is to a young 4 year old... not fun. No, really.

On Friday, I think maybe there was some sort of kink in the time-space continuum causing the day to last about four zillion hours rather than the standard twenty four. Do you remember being a kid on Christmas Eve? You know how the day seemed to drag on FOR. EVER? Remember how it was impossible to get to sleep that night because of the anticipation? Remember that? Well, that was me on Friday... the day before my parents flight arrived.

Let me try to convey to you just what I mean. I had to get up at 6am to get myself & the girls ready & out the door to the airport on Saturday. When the alarm went off, I hopped outta bed. Ha! For anyone who knows me, you understand the seriousness of that statement, right? This is the girl that MUST have a minimum of eight hours a night. I would like to have ten hours. Pure bliss would be twelve. I don't hop outta bed. I usually sorta roll out shuffling my feet & rubbing my eyes all the way to the bathroom or the kitchen or wherever. And, that's only after Curt's told me to get up at least a half a dozen times. :-)

ANYway... this is getting way too long. Whatev. We all headed to the airport to welcome them home. I, of course, took pictures.

Waiting...

Waiting not so patiently...
Finally...





Okay... and this. This is gonna take a lot of 'splainin'. Did anyone notice the dog sitting on top of Craig's luggage? Yeah, that would be Spike, Craig's dog. Spike is not a real dog. Spike is a life-sized stuffed dog. Craig thinks Spike is real. Sigh...

He got this thing in China & sent out pictures to all of us of him with his new dog. We'd hear tails of his new dog. He would strategically place the dog around their apartment, whether it was to scare my mom or to find other such mischief. Spike is apparently not house trained fully and would have an occasional "accident" on the floor. At least, this is what I hear. Craig would reprimand him. There were times, too, when Craig would return home from a trip to find that Spike had chewed one of his slippers. I think Craig probably deserved that given the fact that he would place Spike in places to frighten my mom first thing in the morning. Good, interesting family fun. ("Interesting" is such an ambiguous word, isn't it?)

Apparently Craig felt the need to bring him home. So, he carried him on. To all his flights. Ay yi yi. You can imagine how that must have gone for them in all the airports. I see hours upon hours of family fun with Spike in our future.

Headed home, grand kids in tow:
We're so thankful that they have returned home to us, though we know it was a bittersweet decision for them. There's lots more I could say, but my goodness, this is an insanely LONG blog as it is. Oh, one last thing... ignore that nasty white balance issues. :-) Please.

Do you hear that?

Sing it with me, now:

It's the eye of the tiger,
It's the thrill of the fight,
Rising up to the challenge of our rival,
And the last known survivor
Stalks his prey in the night,
And he's watching us all
With the eye of the tiger

Bwahahaa! Oh yeah, baby! Guess who had her first track meet of all time!?! And, guess who ROCKED it out!?! That would be Summer!

So, yeah, I got to go to it, and I brought my camera, OF COURSE! I was hoping to inflict a little embarrassment on the girl since her mom couldn't be there and all, but she played it pretty cool. I'm pretty confident that I did embarrass her on some level, but she wouldn't let on. So, yeah, I didn't feel that satisfaction. Oh well... I'll have to try harder next time.

Anyway, Summer ran the 800 meter relay, the 200 meter, and the 1600 meter relay. I only got to see the 800 meter relay because, well... track meets take FORever. BUT, Summer ran the final leg of the relay, so it was super exciting for me. She was MEGA nervous beforehand. She admitted that. She may deny it now that she's a rock star, but she really was. Here are some "before" shots: (this first one's my fave.)

Like I said, she was the last leg, so it made it more exciting for me. This girl is F.A.S.T! I'm sure you're supposed to measure the magnitude of the wins in seconds, not feet, but, ummm... I'm no good at that. I have NO concept of time. So, I'm going with how far AHEAD Summer looked compared to the rest of the girls. Ha! I'm gonna guess that she came in a good 12 feet in front of the second place girl. That's right... Summer brought it home for the big win! Woot! So, here she is approaching the finish line:
And crossing the finish line...
Way to go, Trooper! You made me proud! :-) But, hey, even if you hadn't won, I still woulda been proud of your mad runnin' skillz. Unfortunately you cannot be as cool as me. With my... "you know, like numchuck skillz, bow huntin' skillz, computer hackin' skillz..." :-) Keep at it, though.

Love ya, Summer!

Okay, okay. I guess it won't get better than this.

I know I should have posted a haircut picture before this, but I just kept hoping to get a better one than this. I don't think this is a good representation of the whole cut because the back is shorter than the front, and you can't tell from this photo. Oh well. I just love it, though, because it's SOOOO stinkin' easy to manage. This has probably been my easiest haircut for styling. YAY!
So, that's out of the way.

Also, thanks for all the support about the workshop. I really appreciate it! We've had several register already, and we haven't even announced our sponsors yet. We've got some REALLY cool stuff in the works! Keep watching for news on that. We'll be launching a workshop website soon, too, with full details.

Finally, I took some photos of Maya the other day. It warmed up, so we headed out midday while Emma & Curt were at school. She's such a nut, this one!




I can't wait for it to warm up regularly. Thanks for stopping by!

Exciting News!

Well, for starters, I cut my hair tonight! And, yeah, no picture yet. It's just plain mean to post that without sharing a picture, but... ummm... you KNOW you always come out of the salon lookin' a lit-tle funny. Am I right? Hopefully soon, though!

Next, check it out... I've made mention of this in passing over the past couple months, but it's official now. I'll be joining the most incredible & talented photographers Michael Norwood and Fred Egan in hosting a workshop. Let me tell you that these two guys are absolutely the BEST of the best, and I'm not sure how I ended up in their company! Ha! No, really though... we all have something different to bring to the table, and I KNOW we'll make an awesome team! It's gonna be TONS of fun. So, yeah, read on for the "official" announcement with LOTS of info.


Fred Egan: Portraits
Amy Coffey: Kids
Michael Norwood: Weddings

We're three photographers who love what we do and want to share it with others. Come hang out with us and learn how we work, how we shoot, how we interact with clients. Come be stretched technically and inspired creatively. Change the way you think and look at your photography and leave with the knowledge you need to continue growing and some killer images to add to your portfolio.

WHEN: April 20-23, 2008
We'll get together Sunday night to meet, eat and get to know each other. Monday morning everything begins with some classroom time covering marketing and the technical side of shooting. After lunch we'll head out for a live shoot and then to dinner. Tuesday we'll cover post-processing and the artistic side of shooting. After lunch we'll head out for another live shoot and then to dinner. Wednesday's schedule looks the same... classroom time, lunch and the workshop concludes with the last live shoot.

WHERE: Glen Rose, TX... a little town outside Dallas with a lot of charm and a million places to shoot. You'll stay at a charming lodge on the bank of the Brazos River.

COST: $1500

Tuition includes 3 days of in-depth training with Fred, Amy and Michael, lodging and all meals, 3 live shoots, one on one portfolio critique.

We'll cover the technical and artistic aspects of shooting (camera settings, composition, seeing the light, being inspired, working with clients during the shoot), workflow (from raw files to finished product), post-processing, marketing, getting published.

Space is limited so reserve your spot soon! Email info (at) thelabworkshop.com

(photos by Nick Onken, Curt Coffey and Trever Hoehne respectively.)

A quick one...

Curt & I were able to spend Valentine's Day on the Riverwalk in San Antonio by default. He had a music convention to go to during the day and early evening hours, and I shopped during that time. That evening, though, we went to dinner on the river & just had a really lovely time. This is a quick self-timer snap on the balcony. Nothing fancy, but I have to have a shot of us together anytime we're away from home overnight.

Me & my valentine:

We had a nice Sunday...

I've got a few random photos to share with you. But, first, I want to thank you guys for weighing in on the hair thing. Mom says no to the side burns. Okay. I can handle that. I'm not sure that I would have gone for that particular part of the look or not. Of course, when I first looked at the cut, I wouldn't have called them sideburns. Now that she has, though... Ha!

Also, there were a couple questions from the ballet post that I thought I'd answer. First, both Tracey and Jordan asked about the age difference between the girls. They are very close to the same size, and, in fact, they wear the same size clothes, shoes... everything. Emma's a tad taller, so she can go between 4T & 5T in pants while Maya wears a 4T all the time. It's pretty awesome that I can buy one big ol' wardrobe (and believe me I do!) for them to share. Oh... the age difference is 17 months. Emma is five and a half, and Maya turned four in January. Poor, sweet little Emma is INCREDIBLY small for her age. She always has been. She's fallen to the 10th percentile for height. And, well, Maya's just about right size-wise for her age. Thus, they're about the same size. People often think they're twins even though they look almost nothing alike.

Second, Amy Chamberlain asked if I had any tips for those that can't get outside to shoot. Well, let me be honest with you, Amy. I think the weather played a LARGE role in my recent photography slump. I know that's not what you were looking for, but it's the truth. I will say, though, that when the desire DID come over me to actually take pictures indoors during the short, short cold season (that's debatable,) I'd just stick to nice window light. Find the best natural light in your house and work it, girl! Ha! Really, though. Also, a good flash can be your friend. I didn't believe it for a long, long time, but my good photographer friend Michael Norwood taught me otherwise. Thanks Michael!

Oh, and speaking of Michael... if you haven't headed over to his blog in a while, you should definitely go check it out. The man is on a roll! He's going on something like nine blogging days in a row. Showin' me up, that's for sure. Also, he's hittin' the big time. I always knew he was big time, but it's just a matter of others noticing. Well, they have been, for sure. And, this month, he's got a photo in Vogue! Yeah! Vogue! Rock on, Michael!

Okay. So, yesterday the girls & I went to the coolest birthday party EVAH! Seriously. It was a themed party. The girls were asked to come dressed as princesses. Ummm... my girls are ALL over that. This party was so jam-packed full of activities & games that there was NO way my girls would slow down for pictures. Bummer, too, because it was at a tree farm. A. MAZ. ING.

Anyway, here's a quick one that I DID manage to snap. I think the level of fun directly correlates to how filthy she is. So, yeah... based on that theory, you could say this was the most rocked out fun party of ALL time! Ha!
And in B&W:
When we got home from the party & I started looking through some of the photos, I realized I didn't get any good ones of Emma. And, after that, I realized I haven't been taking as many of Emma lately. So, we went out at sunset to play with some backlighting. Just she & I... I LOVE those golden tones & long shadows.


She was actually jumping off the curb in the next one. There was one of her in mid-air, but this one appealed to me more, I guess. She's watching her shadow. :-)
And I last quick snap. Goofy little thing. :-)
Thanks for stopping by!

Should I do it?

So... uh... it's that time of year again. Okay, okay. Maybe it doesn't happen exactly yearly. But, I go through phases, and anyone that spends much time with me in real life is probably rolling their eyes about now. See, this is the way it works. I get a hankerin' (yes, I said hankerin') to chop my hair. I chop it (usually in some close variation of this style,) and I grow it out. It gets to be about as long as it is now, occassionally a tad longer, and I get the hankerin' again to chop it. Over & over & over. When it's short, I wish for it to be long. It's just a mess, really.

But, I don't know... there's something about this cut that just keeps drawing me in. I guess I'm hoping maybe one day it will magically look better than the last time I cut it short. I don't know. This time, though, if I do it, I'm going all the way. No more wimping out at the last minute and asking the stylist to do a "longer version." You know what I mean?

I thought I might go looking for pictures of me in the past with my various short haircuts to share with you guys. But, alas, my billions of pictures are strewn about on several different external hard drives. It makes that task seem quite daunting. Maybe some other time.

Anyway, chances are that even if you say, "NO! Don't do it!!!" I'll still do it. :-)

***Oh, and by the way, I did NOT take this picture. Just need to say that.***