Last week Daniel had to fly to Dallas for a couple days for work.  I realized when he was gone that I eat differently, mainly just not as well or gourmet as I do when he is cooking!  HA.  The other thing that I realized is that when he is not home, I eat a lot of my meals standing up in the kitchen.  It is not out of necessity or because I am in a hurry by any means.  I am not sure exactly why I do it, I think I do it because it just feels less lonely.

I wouldn’t recommend this way of eating, eating while standing that is, for as a friend of mine pointed out, we should slow down, appreciate our meals, make it a ritual that is to be blessed and not taken for granted.  Meals should be not just a necessity, but also a time of love, laughter, and blessing.  We should let the food nourish both our bodies and our family time.

But heaven knows, there is a lot of out there who eat some meals standing up in the kitchen.  So this week’s Food Friday is in support for all the people who eat standing up.This is a taco I made from all the little odds and ends in our fridge one night when Daniel was away.  It was pretty gourmet compared to the bowl of oatmeal I usually endure.  And of course, it was eaten standing up.

Today’s Feature: Everything in the Fridge Taco

I am totally sure that every little girl at one point in her life modeled in front of her mirror.  Flipped her hair around.  Pretended to walk the runway.  Kristi told me she never did it.  Once you see her pictures though, you won’t believe her, just like I didn’t.  Although I will admit, maybe there is some truth in her statement, because I totally DID model in front of the mirror as a little girl, and practiced my runway walk down our long hall, and I am a complete goof in front of the camera. In that case, the lesson here is , you may actually be a better model if you have never practiced.

I don’t know what wrong with me the day of her shoot, but I was like, CRAZY tired.  I mean, like I just wanted to close my eyes and fall asleep right on my camera.  No joke.  On my camera. BUT THEN Kristi got in front of my camera and we snapped some shots.  She was a natural in front of the lens!! (you know, cause she didn’t practice modeling as a little girl, like the rest of us did) ..and THAT was when I suddenly forgot how tired I was.   My heart started racing, my blood was pumping, my eyes opened up, and I was SO EXCITED.  If you asked Kristi she would probably verify the story.  I went from strangely sluggish and sleepy-eyed into a giddy school girl, squealing with delight.  Cause that is just how I get when I know we are going to have fun and get some great shots!

A beautiful girl with a gorgeous maternity glow, who is a natural in front of the camera, in a stunning downtown setting, that is the recipe for AWESOMENESS.

Then Mike met up with us and the recipe went to WAY AWESOMENESS.  Two naturals. Two of the most laid back, coolest, and fun people ever.  And to top it all off, Kristi is pregnant with TWINS.  Doesn’t that just add to their total awesomeness?  It does.  I know.

This little spot is a hidden pot of gold right in the middle of downtown. I was dying to shoot here, and I LOVE LOVE the images we got! Totally my style…fresh…clean…kinda Crate and Barrel -ish, no? I want to get pregnant if only to do my own maternity photography session here!  The one above and the next 3 are all in the same little spot!

Like this one. LOVE. I am in LOVE with this image. If I could, I would marry it.

Isn’t this brick wall the coolest looking ? I have driven by it at all times of day, wishing and dreaming the light would hit it right, with no luck. On Kristi’s photo shoot day, the day was overcast…and I said…BRICK WALL here we come! Overcast skies is a like a photographer’s candy.

And lots of color? Yes please.

Told you she is a natural. Just look at this girl.  Stunning. WORK IT GIRL.

(and yes she is laying on the street downtown…but that is just one of the many reasons that Kristi became my hero that Saturday)

We passed this patio and I loved the way it looked so I asked Kristi to jump in for a shot. I totally love this, the urban nature of it, and the way she looks like she is on a movie set or something. Then I realized we were totally on the patio of a BAR and she is PREGNANT. Whoops. But still, I love this picture…..

Next we headed to Seaport Village and met up with Kristi’s husband Mike.

Who knew that Seaport Village had these awesome trees? These roots rocked my world.

This is right after we got kicked out of Seaport Village since apparently there is no “professional photography allowed” there (who knew?).  That is when Kristi became my hero…but that is a whole other story.  The ending….we kept on shooting…and got some of my favorite maternity images of ALL TIME.  I mean, who says that lollipops have to only be for toddlers?  That is right, I brought a lollipop to a maternity shoot…cause I thought it just might be this awesome.



And here it is…ending with my very favorite maternity image of all time. A vision that came life just the way I hoped.

Another BIG canvas to put up in my office one day. *LOVE*

Thanks to you both for a ton of fun and being stunning models that I had the pleasure of capturing! I am SO excited for you and the journey and blessing you have ahead!

You have to realize that this regular Food Friday blog post started mostly because I have a husband who is passionate about cooking new things (and I thought it would be fun to get better at photographing food!).  I love cooking too, but not to the extent that he does.  I do play a very important role as well, eating the new things.  And now photographing them too!  These are both essential to the food process,  I am sure of it.

With that said, I am going to proudly share with you that Daniel made English muffins the other day, and they were AWESOME.  I am totally proud. And Thomas would be proud too.  And of course, yes, I was there to eat them.  Although it was him who photographed them this time….whoops! I am slacking on my duties.

Without further ado, the English muffins debut!  You too can make your very own if you get the amazing (and yes, intense) bread book “The Baker’s Apprentice”

Today’s Feature: English Muffins

I had forgotten how CUTE her little laugh is.  If I had recorded it, I would post it.  It is to die for.  Deep as a fog horn, from the gut, and with a whole lot of enthusiasm.  She has the kind of laugh that makes everyone around laugh….the best kind of laugh if you ask me.

I got to do a photo shoot with Mallery when she was a newborn and again when she was 9 months, and then again a few weeks ago!  I can’t believe how big she is now at 18 months, and how much personality she has!  She is a total hoot who loves her mama and has a laugh the lights up the room… and I wanted to eat her up! If you were to ask me what my “goal for success” is as a photographer, it would be to have families that call me every time they need a picture, families that I would get to watch grow, year by year, and see their little personalities come out and shine.  Nothing sounds like more of a dream job to me than that. I can’t tell you how much it means to me that I have gotten to capture little Mallery from newborn to now…a true gift if you ask me.

Jen and Jeff and Mallery were actually the reason that I got to travel up to Sacramento for a work weekend back in May.  Jen has been a friend of mine forever and so when she told me that she had friends who loved my photography and wanted me to take their family photos, I didn’t believe her.  I mean, that is what every good girl friend is supposed to tell you, right?  That you are good at what you do.  I knew she was exaggerating.  So when I told her to go ahead and see if she could arrange a group of families on one weekend and that I would come up and hang out with her if she did, I was certain it was a long shot.  Much to my surprise, she totally pulled it off! And it was AMAZING!   To top off all the awesome families I got to meet up there, we had a weekend of bonding, girl time, and re-living all sorts of old memories from when we were kids, as well as trading mom tips for the here and now.  AND she made me watch Twilight (and I totally loved it).  Everything that a perfect weekend with a best girl friend is supposed to be.

To top it all off, we did a photo shoot so I could capture her little Mallery again!  Just wait til you see this little girl!

Because I was staying with Jen and Jeff, I got to snap a few pictures of Mallery in their home, just being her (my favorite kind of shoot!)  And I don’t know what it is about little babies showing skin, but I think it is the cutest!

Mallery is truly one of the smartest 18 mo. olds I have ever met…and I am not just saying that because she outsmarted me several times. (My mantra for the weekend became, “I AM smarter than an 18 mo old, YES I AM”.) All my usual 18 mo. old tricks got me the face below. I don’t know what you see in her expression, but I see, “This lady has got to be kidding me.”

Luckily, mom knew all the tricks!

I LOVE this set below! Just relaxing in the sun. Maybe it is my inner cat….but relaxing in the sun pictures just make me smile.

The next pictures have the pleasure of coming with a brief story.

I have thought for a while about doing a photo shoot in a field of flowers, or fruit trees, or corn….but those are all hard to come by in San Diego. You know, it is a desert down here, so fields are a few an far between. That being said, when I saw this giant field of mustard flowers on the side of the hwy, I started to drool. Literally. Jen had to get me a towel. So I did what every photographer does, put on my “please make my dream come true and I will beg and plead until you come with me” act, and I dragged the family to a mustard field that we passed on the side of the road. Needless to say, these last ones are all my favorites (but I am a little biased!)
I LOVE MUSTARD FIELDS!


I have always thought Jen would make an awesome model….can you see what I see here? She’s hot. Work it girl.

Got to love those large lollipops!

But ending with my very favorite….snuggles for mom.

Thanks so much you guys for making my weekend amazing! Getting to capture your little Mallery one more time was totally the highlight to me! AND THANK YOU for being willing to go out and make my mustard field DREAM SHOOT come true too! Love you all so much!

Okay, this is very loosely related to food.  I am just going to confess that upfront.  I could make excuses (like, I have been SO busy that it is unbelievable) or tell you that we just closed escrow for our first home (which is CRAZY exciting, awesome, and most the reason I am so busy), but I am not the kind of girl who likes to tangent from the point (yeah right) or make excuses (too late). So I am just going to share something fun we did ON a Friday (see that connection there?)

Last Friday we had the pleasure of going as a family to the PETCO suite to watch a Padres game, our first baseball game with Dayla.  Much to our surprise, our little 2.5 year old girl LOVED IT and cried when we had to go!  You would have thought that the highlight for her was being in the suite, or meeting “Red Ruff” the dog and Marmaduke (who threw the first pitch), or even that she got her dancing self on the jumbo-tron.  But much to our surprise the part she liked the best was eating two bags of cracker jacks, shelling her own peanuts (there is the food connection to this post), doing the wave, and ACTUALLY WATCHING the game!  She loved hearing all about the man who had to take his turn to hit the ball with the stick and glowed with delight whenever the crowd roared in applause for a run.

So for all you baseball fans out there….

Today’s Feature: Cracker Jack’s

A couple other shots….just for fun.

This one below was literally Dayla’s face the entire time she watched the game.