Michelle and Kevin: a little romance in downtown San Diego

Kevin is one of my boyfriend Dick's best and oldest friends, so I've known him as long as I've known Dick: thirteen years. When you spend that much time with someone, travel with them, join them for midnight karaoke, spend holidays with them, you start to think of them as family.  And two years ago, our family grew when Kevin met and fell in love with an amazing woman, Michelle.  We were super fortunate and excited to travel with the two of them to South Korea two years ago for their wedding. ...and I just realized I never finished blogging photos from that trip... coming soon...

I recently asked if they would be willing to model for Dick and me while we tried out some new lighting equipment and I couldn't be happier with the results.  It turned out to be a great opportunity to spend a fun evening with them, celebrating their new lives together, living in downtown San Diego.  (and the lighting worked well too).

Huge thanks to my good friends, and a beautiful couple! Please enjoy!  :-)

Love To Breathe

Some of you may know that when my dad isn't taking photos, he loves to go down to the beach with his metal detector.  Often he finds coins and jewelry (his hobby has been great for my silver ring collection!) but the other day, he found something even more special and as a result our paths have crossed with a special lady.

Dad was a few steps into the surf when he found this pretty little token with a heart on it. He brought it home to show Mom and Dede and they noticed the URL on the token LoveToBreathe.com.  It turns out, this site is hosted by Somer Love. Somer is an artist who has been living with Cystic Fibrosis since she was 11 months old. She has used her artwork and website to raise awareness for Cystic Fibrosis and to spread love wherever and whenever she can. She created these tokens, featuring her artwork, to help spread the word.

We later learned from Somer that, while on a trip to San Diego, she had been taking photos of one of her tokens at the beach when a wave washed it out of her hands. She thought she had lost it for good, so she was super surprised when Dad contacted her four days later to tell her he had found it. They decided to meet up so she could give him more tokens - and that morning, before she arrived, he found a ring with the word 'LOVE' on it.  Of course, he gave it to her.

I couldn't resist taking some photos of the tokens. And of course, I also wanted to pass along Somer's mission of sharing love and Cystic Fibrosis awareness. What a beautiful person and a beautiful message! I encourage you to check out her website and facebook page and pass it along!

Happy Mothers Day to my best friend

If you know me, you know that my mom and I are close. We are in business together. We sing together. We have coffee together most mornings. And even with the hours and hours we spend together, we never run out of things to talk about.

My mom is my biggest supporter and my best friend.  When I was little, if I was hurt she comforted me. And if I did something good, I would tell her immediately because I knew that no one could be more proud of me. And while our relationship has changed in many ways from a mother-daughter relationship to friendship, those things haven't changed. I still share my every tragedy and victory with my mom and she is still there for me to dry the tears or help me celebrate.

The things that are most important to me in the world, the things that I aspire to be, I learned from my mom. She taught me integrity, honesty, work ethic, compassion, and music. And I'm still learning from her.  I'm so lucky to have grown up in a home filled with her love. And I'm so lucky to have such a beautiful friend in my life today.

I love you mom.  Happy Mothers Day!

Izzie, Angie, and their favorite ladies

Last Sunday the family came to our place for brunch. Now, I could have taken photos of all of the loved ones there, or of the food that we prepared, but no. I left the camera safely tucked away in it's cupboard… that is, until I couldn't stop myself from capturing a few photos of the littlest of our visitors. Each weighing in at less than 5 lbs, Izzie and Angie may be small of stature, but they're big on personality.  And they clearly love their mommies!

Izzie enjoys a little love from Mom

The cats are going to hate smelling her on their blanket when they come out later.

Angie in her favorite spot

What a sweet little fluff ball - she goes well with the shag carpet, don't you think?

Happy Fathers Day

Thank you Dad - for so many things.  For the camping and sailing, for crab popsicles, for the acting chops, for knowing how to do so many things, for making me believe that I can do anything because I'm smart enough, for the first camera, and the darkroom when I was first learning, for teaching me so much, for letting me grow to become my own kind of photographer... and person... and for always making me feel so loved and so special.  I love you.

Photo circa 1980 - Dad loaned me some slides so I could try out an old slide projector... and I came across this gem.  What a handsome devil that one is!  (Dad looks pretty good too...)  ;-)

stop and smell the plumeria

Today was our last full day in Kauai and with no real plans, we spent some time on the beach and took one last short drive into Old Koloa Town.  We'll definitely miss it here.

Plumeria in the shade

Old Koloa Sugar Mill