Alley Cat.

I bought Zachary this jacket and immediately knew I had to find an "alley" to photograph him in it.  Unfortunately, I forgot to take some with it unbuttoned since he has a pretty short window for pictures nowadays. His shirt says "seriously handsome" =) (from Carter's). His jacket is Target, pants Old Navy, and shoes are Converse. 

I love this boy.

And yes, I know it has been a while since I have posted. I do so many shoots and take so many pictures. I have gotten so backed up on blogging because of that and when I finally sit to do a blog I don't even know where to begin. It can be a bit overwhelming. But because I had to start sometime and with something, I started with these. Just because they make me smile. 

Hoppy Easter!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter/Passover/Sunday! We spent the day eating a big homemade breakfast, finishing The Hunger Games (LOVED it!), opening Zachary's Easter "basket" and dying some eggs with Mimi. Well most of it was spent rocking the baby pleading with him to sleep but that's not as interesting. 

Zachary and I had a bit of an adventure the other day going to take these pictures. I had read about this little spot not too far from me on Facebook and decided to check it out. It was part of a very nice housing community so we had to park in someone's spot to get to it. I told Zachary that we needed to be quick to make sure to get out before they got home. I take him out of his carseat then, slam both doors shut. I go to open the front door and.. you guessed it... locked. I have never locked my keys in my car before. I'm not overexaggerating when I say I have a bit of OCD about having my keys in hand before shutting a car door. I had put them down so I wouldn't poke Zack with them and didn't have pockets. 

Not only were my keys in there but so was my phone, my wallet, everything. Thankfully a sweet older gentleman let me use his phone several times to call for help. Did I mention he was sweet? I'm pretty sure I owe him a batch of cookies on his doorstep. Thank goodness for him and for AAA being so awesome. And the owner of the house I parked in front of being so kind. After having to walk around in the cold, with Zack in my cardigan to keep him warm, I wasn't going to leave without my picture.  

It was a bit chilly and the sun was setting but my boy is a trooper. 

As I was taking his picture a sweet family came, tripod in tow, to take their own picture in the spot. The dad was so sweet and asked if I wanted a picture with Zachary. Even though I looked like a mess I'm glad I agreed. I love that last photo so much. Crazy hair and all.

It was a crazy adventure that I will always think of when I look at these images. I will be reminded by the kindness of strangers and remember to always pay it forward. Without that we may be all "Hunger Games", stranded and feasting on wildlife to survive.

What did you all do for Easter/Passover/Sunday? Have any of you read and fell in love with the Hunger Games too?

Project 52: Absence of Light, Shadows, Night

Our theme this week for Project 52 was absence of light, shadows, night. I had plans to do a little family portraits outside tonight but the rain had other plans. I was just thankful that it held out for my shoot today. So instead I just rounded up some fake candles (don't worry I did not let my baby play with fire-lit candles) that we had and let Zachary play. I would still love to do the family portrait I was planning so hopefully I will get a chance when the rain lets up.

To continue with the circle and see what the other ladies did for this theme please check out Jennifer Capozzola's post: http://jencphotos.com/photojournal/?p=244

Laughter.

I just joined a group with some wonderful women/photographers that I met through the Bloom Forum. It's a Project 52 where we take a picture every week based off of an overall topic. This was our topic was laughter. Normally this would be the perfect topic for me. I LOVE, I repeat LOVE, photographing laughter. This week however has been a rough one. I don't really want to get into details but we are going through a tough time at the moment so in case you were wondering why I have been posting less that has a lot to do with it. Sometimes life hits you with one thing after another. It really teaches you to stop saying "Could this be any worse?" Because it can. I said this once two weeks ago and ended up backwards on a freeway so I learned my lesson. Eventually there will be nowhere to go but up. So bring on the April showers. I will find the puddles to splash in until it stops and the rainbow appears. 

As much as I try to teach Zachary everyday I should really take a lesson from him. That boy smiles through anything. His little baby giggles are infectious and can really brighten any rainy day!

Please check out Marsette Guerrero's beautiful portraits of laughter. The images of her son and dog are so beautiful:  http://mdgphotographyonline.blogspot.com/2012/03/52-week-week-1-laughter.html

If you're a bird I'm a bird.

We have been having such rainy, cold weather here. After 3 months of Zachary being sick I am eager to get out of this house. Today I was on my workshop in the Bloom forum and we had an assignment to try out different lighting than we are used to. Zachary was climbing all over this vintage suitcase his grandma got me that I carry props to my shoots in. the sun looked like it was breaking through the clouds finally, so I swooped him up, threw on a sweater and rainout of the house to chase the light and play. Well, by the time we got to the location it had gone back to hibernating behind the clouds. I happen to love shooting in overcast light so still began shooting. It was freezing. He as hungry and tired. He hates hats. There was goose poo everywhere and he kept falling over. What was I thinking? Needless to say it didnt last long. This is what we got while there:

Reminds me of the Notebook a little. I had no idea there would be so many geese. Pretty cool! I was nervous one would attack him so we stayed a little bit away at all times.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Happy St. Patrick's Day from this partly Irish family! =) We're off to a little family get-together to celebrate.

My mom got all of these super cute props from Etsy shops! Too cute huh? Love all of them! Thanks Mom!

PS. Sorry for the lack of posts recently. We are looking for a new place to call home. Wish us luck!

A field of flowers.

A very sweet client of mine told about this gorgeous field of flowers tucked away right around the corner from the mister's work. I couldn't believe that something this beautiful was right there under my nose, in the middle of the suburbs, and I never knew about it. Living in the South Bay Area there just isn't a lot of pretty landscapes so I definitely got very excited. I jumped in the car with Baby Bear and drove out to take a look. Plus, it was a good excuse to surprise Daddy at work. I must say it was absolutely breathtaking. I didn't want to leave. And Zachary was loving trying to eat leaves and flowers. It was one of those moments where you feel like real life almost matches the magic of your imagination.

I know that I'm a photographer but I have to say that the pictures don't really do this justice. It's still magical though. I already have a few shoots planned for this area while it's still this way. I may even just take Zachary out there to have a picnic and play. Or art journal in the middle of the field where no one can see you. Wouldn't that be wonderful? Thanks Tasha for the tip!

I hope you all had a fabulous Leap Day! Happy Birthday to my sister-in-law Leah today! She is quite literally the sweetest woman I know. So much so that I use her name as noun for someone sweet as can be and amazing in every way (it's true!). I love you sister!

Caps for Sale.

I don't know how many of you have heard of or read the children's book Caps For Sale but it's awesome. i thought it was a classic everyone knew but turns out I was wrong. Or at least no one I know has heard about it. Once we had Zachary I knew I had to buy it for him and he already loves it. Mostly because of my silly old-time Boston accent and monkey noises I do. I however love it for the gorgeous color palette. It's swoon worthy for sure. I just had to do a little photoshoot inspired by it's beauty with my beautiful boy.

Like always I hand-made the crafts used for the set (out of construction paper). His hat is from this Etsy shop.

I hope you enjoyed our silly little shoot!

365 Zachary: November

Here are some of the 365 pictures I took of Zachary back in November that I haven't shared yet:

November is Dave's birthday so he got to celebrate his first birthday as a daddy! We went out to a comedy show with our friends and Pop-pop watched Baby Bear. My dad HATES having his picture taken and ducks out of every shot I try to take so that picture of him with Zack asleep on him is very special to me. I love those two lots and lots and they love each other lots and lots. Melts my heart!

Dino stare down. In his super warm jammies from a cold night. Eating his first solids! (rice cereal)

We took him to his first wedding in November. He was the best dressed guy there. Let me tell you, it is not easy finding fancy clothes for a 5 month old. 

Lots of eating pictures. I think I was a little too proud of this new step. I love how he always used to eat in a heel stretch when we used to feed him in the swing. Too funny!

While shopping for his fancy clothes my mom got him this adorable bear hat from Baby Gap. So fitting for my little baby bear.

After a year of trying to get Dave to help me pick a new duvet I just went ahead and bought this one. I love me some gray stripes. And clearly so does Bubs!

Usually I'm the one putting my foot in my mouth. This AMAZING quilt was made by the mother of a friend of ours. Isn't it spectacular!? I'm still in awe. Zachary loves pointing and staring at the different robots. We called the little mister Baby Bot a lot in the womb and are a robot loving family. 

Woodland Wish is one of our favorite books. I get excited to read it and even Daddy (who is picky as heck) loves it! It even comes with a free song to the book. It's whimsical and adorable and has amazing illustrations. I highly recommend it.  That's Bubs in the crib standing all by himself!

We got Zachary his first jumperoo. He loves that thing. I swear sometimes he is going to jump himself right out of it. He now thinks that whenever he stands he needs to jump. I swear his chunky thighs are stronger than mine. I'm so impressed with how many squats he can do. The second image is his cousin Sophie very sweetly reading him Time For Bed on Skype. Another moment that seriously melted my heart and another one of our very favorite books. It was wonderful to get to see all those sweet faces again and have them "see" Zack. 

There you have it. There was a little very late glimpse into our November. I'm pretty sure the Xfinity turtles posted their pictures before me. Slow and steady. Winning!