Jagged Diary

Goodbye blog

2009-10-07T16:28:00.004-05:00

This is the end, my only friend...the end.

I've decided to close Jagged Diary down for good. I just can't keep up with the two blogs, especially since they both are on Blogger and I have problems all the time posting so 1 is better than 2 in this case! I have a lot I want to share but I never have the time to post here so I'm combining my personal and photo blog into one! My goal is to make the "new" blog fun and exciting and to post a lot more. I promise to post fun things like new favorite websites, cool new artists (musical and otherwise), pictures of my family and of clients, and maybe if the mood hits me right, some hot topics in the news! I will also be offering photography specials and maybe doing some fun giveaways in the future!!

So to all my lovely followers out there, please change your bookmarks to http://sarahmaxeyphotography.blogspot.com/

Catch you on the flip side!

I want!

2009-07-27T13:20:00.003-05:00

Remember a while back when I was trying to win a super cute camera bag? Well, I didn't end up winning that one- but my parents got it for me for my birthday! Isn't that cool? Here's the picture of my actual bag, I got to pick out the fabric and everything :)

It was hard making a final decision on the fabric, but when I saw this one with the yellow birds it made me think of Cosmo, our "family" bird. Really it was my sisters bird but Cosmo lived with pretty much every one in the family at some point in his little life so I refer to him as the family bird. He was an extremely loud Sun Conure who enjoyed sitting on your finger, sleeping under the covers with you and looking out the window. He DID NOT enjoy long car rides or hamburgers...did you know birds can throw up? They can. It's not pretty.

Anyway, back to the reason for this post.

I want to win this bag now! How cute would that be as a purse or a diaper bag? It's got lots of pockets on the inside and you can pick a fun fabric for the interior which I think is the coolest thing ever!

LOVE.

This is hard.

2009-07-14T20:49:00.003-05:00

Keeping up with two blogs is almost impossible for me to do. I thought I would keep this one for personal pictures but I think I might just combine the two over here. I'm still on the fence so this blog will be here until I can decide.

For now enjoy these pictures of the cutest toddler in the whole wide world! Bed time at our house starts like this every night. LOVE it!!

He put his face down in the water to blow bubbles and when he came back up

this is what he looked like :)

He definitely has a personality of his own!

It's time...

2009-06-23T14:21:00.002-05:00

...to share my big news!

I have a website!! Yes, it's true. I was getting a lot of requests from people about shooting for them so I decided to get all my stuff together in one place so that it could all be seen, along with contact info and pricing :o)

www.sarahmaxeyphoto.com is the website.

I will be separating my photo blogging from my personal blogging (here) so if you want to follow the photo blog it will be at www.sarahmaxeyphotography.blogspot.com

Thanks everyone for your support in this! I have the most amazing friends and family- I couldn't do it without you guys.

I want to win!

2009-06-16T16:18:00.001-05:00

http://www.natalienortonphoto.com/ is giving away a super key-yoot camera bag that I really, really, really want!! (This chick has some really helpful link on her site too.)

I WANT TO WIN!!

I have some exciting news!!!

2009-06-16T14:28:00.002-05:00

But you'll have to wait a few more days until I can tell you :o) I'm so excited!!

Karter

2009-06-08T15:25:00.003-05:00

Our good friends just gave birth to their beautiful baby boy!! Mom looks great, dad is doing an awesome job and Karter...well, he's just perfect.

I have an extreme case of baby fever right now...not good, people!

Congrats you guys! Welcome to the "OMG, we're parents!" club- it's a crazy ride, but the most amazing ride of your life :o)

The Porter Family

2009-06-06T11:40:00.003-05:00

Our friends Brian and Anna recently added a new member to their family- a little boy named Jackson! His big sister Payton is so funny and super cute. I had a ton of fun running around with her, she's pretty quick! They are such a beautiful family...and their dog is awesome :o)

Jack was getting ready to eat when I got there so Payton showed me her room and her cool princess makeup table, then we played outside for a while.

Is that not the cutest pedicure ever? It even matches her shoes!

Then Jack was ready for me! He is so, so, so cute!! He was really good and very patient...

We couldn't leave Vito out! I told you he was awesome :o)

Then Payton showed me how to be a cowgirl. She was very good at riding her horse!

Thanks Porter family! I had a blast- can't wait to do it again!

Mattilyn

2009-06-06T11:15:00.003-05:00

Last week I headed up north to take some pictures of little 6 week old Mattilyn. She was not too happy to be having her picture taken and let us all know about it! Later on we figured out she was pretty gassy ;o)

She was not having fun at all!!

Nothing a little pacifier can't fix!!

And a little love from daddy...

2009-06-01T14:02:00.002-05:00

Such a big girl!

2009-06-01T13:52:00.000-05:00

I had the opportunity to shoot a 1 year birthday party over Memorial Day weekend and it was a blast! Little Miss Paige had an awesome party with tons of friends, yummy treats and a truckload of presents! Her mom did a great job with the flower theme and everything looked perfect!

Is this little guy not the cutest thing ever? :o)

In a sugar coma...

Happy Birthday Paige! You're such a big girl now :o)

Keli - Maternity

2009-05-12T18:30:00.001-05:00

My friend Keli is expecting her first child in just a few weeks! She and her husband Kyle could not be more excited! We took a little time out one Saturday to grab a few shots of them together and with their inside baby. This was my first attempt at maternity photos. The clouds were moving in and the weathermen were calling for showers so we stayed close to home for this one. They were in the process of setting up a cute nursery too so I got some detail shots of that as well. I can't wait to take pictures of the baby when he gets here!

I love baby bellies!!!

(Sorry for the inconsistent spacing- I can't do anything about it. I'm trying to find a new place to post my pictures because I hate Blogger.)

Catching up...EASTER

2009-05-12T18:15:00.001-05:00

Just a few randoms from Easter...

Simon didn't want to be left out.

My nephews did well in their Easter egg hunt!

Don't they look handsome?

Jake got a basket of his own too! I love this picture! He looks e-v-i-l...very Chucky-esque.

A Year In Review- kind of.

2009-05-12T11:43:00.000-05:00

Every month since Jake was born we took a picture of him in the same spot so we could watch the age progression. Like this:

Missing 7...

Missing 9...so annoyed with myself.

...which brings us to Month 12. This was a challenge! Jake would not sit still long enough for me to take the picture. He was WIRED! We had just gotten home from Build-A-Bear.

I'm pretty sure Monkey slipped Jake some sugar on the way home that night...

(He pulled down all the art that was hanging from the clips in the background,

that's why it looks weird)

"Hey! What's he doing here?!?"

"Not cool, man. Not. cool."

After 20 minutes of insanity I gave up. We ended up with this as the 12 month shot:

Now the question is when do I stop? I think I want to do this a little longer...maybe 18 months?

Ok, 24 months...

The Birth of Samantha

2009-04-24T15:17:00.009-05:00

You never realize how amazing giving birth is until you've actually watched someone do it. My son's birth was not what I had anticipated so I never got to really get a feel for what a non-surgical birth is like. I must say that's it's pretty stressful waiting around to get "the call'' to head to the hospital to take pictures. It's kind of like I was waiting to go into labor, only without the almost-too-much anticipation, pain and discomfort...and heartburn. Oh, and the waddling...and the annoying comments like "you look like you're going to POP!".

I digress.

So yesterday I was given the chance to capture little Samantha's entrance into this world. I was touched beyond belief by how her parents handled the labor. They did such a great job, especially Jennifer! She did all the hard work while Brett was right there supporting her every second. I cried right along with them as we all got to see her for the very first time!

(Here's a sneak peek at a few images. I have about a million to edit so I'll post more at a later date.)

Jennifer and Brett, thank you SO MUCH for letting me be a part of this amazing day. Samantha is absolutely perfect!

Build-A-Bear

2009-04-17T11:38:00.006-05:00

Let me preface this post by saying "Why didn't I think of this???". Such a simple idea with such immense monetary rewards. For those of you who have never been to Build-A-Bear, it's pretty cool; you pick out an animal "skin" of your choice (and they have many, many choices!), get it stuffed then pay for it. If you want to you can even pick out a little outfit for him! Something that costs Build-A-Bear about $2 to buy ends up costing you $25 and up to own! And that's without the $20 team-of-your-choice outfit! BRILLIANT!

Anyway, so we took Jake to this gold mine- I mean toy experience for his 1st birthday, not that he really cared. We stuck with our monkey theme and got him a...you guessed it- a monkey! His daddy helped him pick it out.

For an extra $3-$5 you can pick a sound to put inside your animal. We chose a monkey sound.

Then we took it over to the nice lady at the stuffing station to get it stuffed. This is my favorite part; you get to watch your animal get stuffed- while that's being done you pick up a little heart cut out and warm it in your hands. Then you kiss it and place it in the stuffed animal right before they sew it up! So cute. Jake was totally enthralled in the stuffing machine.

Daddy hugs!

Jake was amazed watching his monkey be "born".

"It's almost done!! Here he comes....!!"

"Huh. Ok. Well, I guess you'll do for now- I suppose we can be buds."

After he was all done and sewn up we took him over to make a birth certificate for him. We had to pick a name to give him so we went with the most obvious name. Monkey. I'm glad Jake and Monkey can share a birth date! Pretty cool, huh? Jake wasn't so sure...

"Look dude, I'm cool being buds or whatever but I am NOT cool with you riding in the stroller with me."

"Get.Out.NOW."

So I guess he wasn't as excited about Monkey as I was. I hope he gets used to him being around for a while! I'm growing quite attached myself!

How can you not love this face?

While we were waiting in line the little girl in front of had made a birthday bear too, so they took her to the center of the room and let her ring a bell really loud. We all clapped and said Happy Birthday to her. I was so choked up about it I couldn't even talk, I just clapped. I knew there was no way I could do that for Jake without turning into a puddle on the floor so we didn't mention that it was his birthday. I hope he can forgive me.

The Birthday Boy!!

2009-04-15T13:27:00.007-05:00

Jake had his 1st birthday party last weekend! Seriously- where does the time go? Since Jake is our little monkey we decided to do a monkey theme. I had fun obsessing and planning for the past 4 months :o) We had it at a local community center with about 35-40 people.

I decorated with the monkey theme in mind. On the tables where people were sitting I used yellow cover, then put 3 balloons tied to a small bunch of bananas set on two small banana leaves as a centerpiece on each table (I forgot to take a picture). For the food table I put a banana print cloth over a yellow table cover for a a little something extra. We served chicken salad sandwiches, chips & pretzels, fruit kabobs on these cute little skewers, meatballs and tortilla roll ups.

The gift table was really fun to do! I made "vines" by twisting rolls of brown packaging paper and hung some monkeys on it. We also put the cake and punch here as well as a little cluster of photos- in the three pictures Jake is wearing monkey related clothes at 1 month, 6 months and nine months old. This was a hit! I borrowed monkeys from my friends to use around the table. We put the gift underneath. We had a pile for Jake and a pile for toy donations to take to the monkeys at the KC Zoo! I'm really excited about that! I think our guests liked it as well.

My Mother-In_law made the super cute cake. I was going to make a banana cake for Jake but didn't have enough time in the end so we just got him a store bought cake (actually it came free with the sheet cake we got.)

We had a bean bag toss... (idea stolen from here)

...and played Pin the Tail on the Monkey! (I found the image online and had it printed at a 24x36 size at Kinko's for $4.50, then I colored it in myself. I have the large b/w PDF if anyone wants it.)

Then I had the kids go around and count all the bananas in the room, write their guess and their name on a piece of paper and drop it into the monkey box on the gift table. I drew a name at the end of the party and whoever got it right first got a prize! Prizes for the games were little monkey banks like this:

After the games we moved on to cake. Jake had never had anything like this before so I was worried he would be really careful with it. I was wrong. He dove right in!

He got most of it in his hair, ears and up to his elbows...

...but he still somehow managed to get a little in his mouth!

He was bouncing off the walls for the rest of the day until he FINALLY went to bed at 8:30. We were exhausted trying to keep up with him! No more cake for a year!!

I know Jake had fun at the party and I think all the other kids did too! It was a little chaotic, a lot stressful and a ton of fun!!! However, next year we'll have a small party at home with the grandparents :o)

Here's Jake with the loot! The stuff on the left is his, everything on the right is for the zoo monkeys!

He also got these two awesome gifts from the grandparents!!

Awesome jogging stroller complete with 4 cup holders for beer- I mean water and a MP3 plug in and speaker....

...and a water/sand table!

Folds up nice and neat!

It was a great 1st Birthday!

If you've made it this far, give yourself a cookie :o)

Baby Jayson

2009-04-14T11:58:00.003-05:00

My friend Julie and her husband Mike are celebrating the arrival of their beautiful son Jayson! They were kind enough to let me come see them at the hospital where I was able to get some shots of this little cutie. He was such a good boy, although he didn't appreciate mom and dad waking him up to put clothes on him :o) Mike and Julie are the cutest couple ever. This girl looked AMAZING right after she gave birth- RIGHT after! I don't know why I'm was surprised, she looks great all the time!

So back to Jayson...isn't he sweet?

Funky toe!

Congrats guys!! You make beautiful babies!

Long time no see!

2009-04-13T13:05:00.001-05:00

I have a lot of editing to do and have been putting it off for a while now. I'm hoping to have several new posts over the next couple of days.

Stay tuned!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!

2009-03-17T09:58:00.003-05:00

Jake is super psyched about taking a half day off of work and going out for a few green beers with his peeps!

Oh wait...that's me!

So I was trying to figure out exactly how "Irish" Jake is. His great-grandma Helen is 100% Irish. His great-grandpa Cliff was about 75% Irish. His great-great grandpa on my dad's side is about 90% Irish. I'm not sure what the Irish line is on Jake's dad's side, soooo...to make a long story short, Jacob is at least 80% Irish. So he is completely justified in wearing a shirt that says "Kiss Me I'm Irish". Sorry, I don't think they make ones that say "Kiss Me I'm about 80% Irish", although I could probably make a few extra bucks if I made shirts like that! There's got to be some kind of demand right? Happy St. Patrick's Day to everyone!!

May your glass be ever full.

May the roof over your head be always strong.

And may you be in heaven half an hour before the devil knows you're dead.

Sláinte!!!

(pronounced 'slawn-cha', "cheers" for the non-Irish folk)

My attempt at fashion photography

2009-02-27T10:40:00.008-06:00

I never shoot people- unless they are under three feet tall :o) Me thinks I need more practice working with models, I have no idea what to do with them! I will say the blond model was awesome and never stopped posing. I guess it's true that models DO work and aren't just a pretty face for the camera.

(why is this one so small???)

9 months old

2009-02-04T11:05:00.002-06:00

Our little monkey is 9 months old! Well, actually he's technically 9.5 months old, but who's counting? It was SO nice outside this past weekend so we packed up and went out for an adventure. First we made a stop at the KC Power & Light district for some lunch at ChefBurger (yum!). Next we went to Raglan Road to enjoy a beer on the patio which was fun- Todd had a Blvd. Wheat while I savored the yummy goodness of a Stella Artois. The we decided to check out the new hyped up Cosentino's grocery store downtown- we were not disappointed! This place has everything- sushi bar, nice deli, wine & cheese samplings, gourmet pizza, a chocolatier...the list goes on and on. I had one piece of chocolate (caramelized banana) and it was as good as it was pretty! After we walked around a bit and sampled some wine and had a treat, we headed off to Loose Park to take Jake's 9 month pictures. It was a really windy day and he had a hard time keeping his eyes open against the sun and wind, but I managed to get a few decent shots of him. He has a bit of a cold left over from a week ago so we tried to make our visit short and sweet. I can't believe he's going to be one year old soon...

Reid's Birthday Party

2009-02-03T16:38:00.003-06:00

My nephew Reid recently had his 5th birthday at Emerald City. It was a really fun day and the kids all had a blast! This place is pretty cool, I wish they had Adult Day so I could go and play!

The Birthday Boy!

I've been waiting for this day for 8 months.

2009-01-21T14:51:00.002-06:00

LOST season 5 premiers tonight!!! Those of you who watch the show are sharing in my excitement and anticipation- those that don't watch the show are probably thinking "what's the big deal?".

You have no idea. I feel sorry for you.

The 6th Picture

2009-01-16T16:22:00.004-06:00

I saw this on a random blog that I read and thought it would be fun to start here.

Go to your documents folder (or wherever you store your photos) and go to your 6th picture folder, then go to the 6th picture in that folder and post it on your blog. Tell a story about it.

This is our dog Simon. He's a 2 year old mutt (boxer, dane, pit mix?) and about 180lbs. I was in the backyard taking some pictures of Jake and Simon was running around with a huge stick in his mouth so I tried getting some shots of him with it. However, I just wasn't fast enough and kept missing him. He has the energy of a 6 month old puppy :o) So even though I didn't get the shot I was going for, this one is kind of cool.

tagging:

1. Blog Soup

2. Kentiga

3. Cast Sugar

EDIT:
Ok, my dog does not weigh 180lbs!! That is supposed to say 80 lbs. Sorry! Thanks Todd for bringing that to my attention.

Rub-A-Dub, Dub...

2009-01-13T10:13:00.004-06:00

...the cutest baby EVER in a tub!!

Birthday

2009-01-12T13:53:00.005-06:00

A couple weekends ago my nephew, Cade, celebrated his 8th birthday at the Lakeside Nature Center in KC. Before the festivities began, all the kids got to walk (ok, run) around the place and see different animals and reptiles living in their natural habitats. There were rabbits and turtles and birds- oh my!! Then the kids were corralled into a large open room where they created "nature art", color pictures of animals and chilled out for a bit. After a while it was time for the animal show! We saw a rabbit,an owl, and a snake (some of the kids were brave enough to touch it!). Then we moved on to cake & ice cream and presents. I had fun so I know my nephew did too!

The birthday boy.

My sister with her two boys, Cade & Reid

Cade loves Jacob! He wants to hold him and carry him all the time :o)

The Lakeside Nature Center is located conveniently near the Kansas City Zoo. There is an actual building (a pretty cool one!) where they have lots of different kinds of animal displays, both living and not. There are several critters residing at the nature center including fish, snakes, lizards, rabbits, a HUGE turtle in a big tank and a couple friendly squirrels in an enclosed habitat. There are several bird species as well- bald eagles and owls to name a few. They also have a nature trail you can walk along that winds through a wooded area where you can observe native animals living in nature.

The center also serves as a rehabilitation place for animals native to Missouri. Animals are brought in with injuries, treated and released back into their natural habitat. If for some reason an animal can not be re-released, it becomes a permanent resident of the nature center, where people can visit and learn more about that species.

You can explore the center on your own or sign up for a wildlife program where you get a more hands-on experience with lots of different kinds of animals.

(Can you tell I liked the squirrels?)

Christmas

2009-01-05T14:25:00.002-06:00

We had a really great Christmas this year and got lots of fun stuff! Jake wasn't too sure what was going on but he managed to pull through with very little fuss and fight. We did a little traveling, ate a lot of food and got lots of family time in. It's my favorite time of the year! We can't wait for next year when Jake will be more aware of what is happening :o)

Christmas morning with gifts from Santa

Visit with Santa (taken by Heather Cole)

Christmas with Jake's cousin Payton

A shiny new wagon from Grammy and Papa!

Good morning, son...

2009-01-05T13:27:00.004-06:00

The other morning I heard Jake softly talking to himself in his crib as he was waking up. I had just woken up, too, so I lay there listening to him and smiling to myself. Finally I went in to get him and the sunlight streaming through the curtains into his room was so pretty! I wasn't able to capture it exactly but I tried to get close. My kid has unfortunately inherited my hair, which is fine and thin, so he has Fraggle hair right now. I think it fits him perfect though...my sweet little man.

My beautiful son, patiently waiting in his crib for me to bring in a bottle for him:

"there you are, mama! I'm starving!"

"whatcha got in your hand, mom? Is that a bottle I see?"

"well...can I have now it or what?"

"aahhhh...nothing like a bottle first thing in the morning...."

They like me! They really like me!

2009-01-05T13:18:00.002-06:00

So remember that photo shoot I did on the Plaza with Digital Labrador? Well, I won 1st place!! (after the Grand Prize winner, so I guess technically it's 2nd place, but whatever.) I was awarded a Canon Rebel XS kit (body and kit lens) for my image. I am pretty excited!! I sold it to my friend/coworker and plan to use the money to help pay off the camera I already have. I hope to do more photo expeditions in the very near future! Maybe I can win more cool stuff!

The winning shot:

Slacker.

2009-01-05T13:11:00.002-06:00

When I started blogging I said I was going to be really good about updating it frequently. I guess it has kind of gotten away from me lately and I've been slacking. First I got busy with work and then I was on vacation for two weeks and didn't have access to any photo editing programs. But now I'm back and joining the land of normalcy- which means my kid is in day care, I have to actually get out of bed in the mornings, we get back on our routine and I get to focus on other things besides nap time, breakfast/lunch/dinner time and bedtime. I have a lot to share with you all so bear with me as I catch myself up.

5...4...3...2....

Plaza Lights

2008-12-10T12:13:00.003-06:00

So last Saturday I went with Digital Labrador to a "photo safari" on the Plaza. In my 10 years in KC, I have never really taken pictures of the lights so I thought this would be a fun learning experience. There were a couple pros stationed around the Plaza with fun equipment to use and tips/tricks to share. They had a Canon 5D Mark II that was amazing! I didn't use it but I saw some of the images it was producing and it's truly a fabulous piece of equipment. If I had an extra $2700 laying around I would buy one.

It was FREEZING that night but I managed to hang in there and shoot for 3 hours straight. It was hard to shoot with numb fingers but I got a few shots I was happy with. I was hand holding everything because I couldn't find my tripod- which was fine because I hate lugging that huge thing around anyway.

My favorites:

Jake

2008-12-10T11:58:00.002-06:00

Just wanted to post some pics for the grandparents!

Trixie has kept any tree damage to a minimum, Simon is obsessed with chasing the reflections of the lights and Jake just wants to eat the branches. Every so often there will be an incident involving Simon trying to "get" Trixie behind the tree, but so far nobody has been hurt. And I don't know if it's the weather, the season or the fact that my cat Gabby is losing her mind, but she has been coming out into the living room a lot these days! This is the cat who practically lives in the bedroom, only to leave for the next room where the litter box is (if we're lucky).

We are looking forward to our first Christmas with a child- I get teary just thinking about it! I can't wait to see him get excited about Christmas morning and watch his eyes light up as he see's what Santa has left him. Of course, it will be a couple years before this happens...it's still fun to think about!

Fun with a tilt/shift lens

2008-12-04T11:13:00.005-06:00

A photographer friend of mine sent this video to me a while back and I came across it again today. I love it! It looks like a scene of miniatures but it's really a time lapse "video" shot with a dSLR using a tilt/shift lens. I believe it's all stills put together to look like a movie. SO COOL! I'm diggin' the song too...

Bathtub III from Keith Loutit on Vimeo.
From this blog.

*About tilt/shift lenses:
A tilt shift lens looks like a complicated little piece of equipment with movable parts, but it's pretty simple to use. I've never used one on a dSLR but I played around with one at KCAI on a 4x5 camera. The tilt controls the position of the plane of focus which results in a very shallow depth of field, so most of the image is out of focus except for a small area that is in focus. The plane of focus can be adjusted to make a large scene appear much smaller, as the shallow depth of field is similar to that achieved by a macro lens on miniature. You can't get this effect using a large aperture on a regular macro lens. Shift controls perspective, and this can result in some cool effects. Shifting is used a lot in architectural photography so that there is little to no distortion of lines. You can shift the lens to be parallel to the subject, instead of tilting the camera back to be perpendicular...catch my drift? Shifting lenses have a much wider field of vision than a standard lens of the same focal length. These lenses come with a pretty large price tag- around $1100 and up.

Santa's favorite elves!

2008-11-20T13:03:00.001-06:00

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Jack

2008-11-19T10:22:00.003-06:00

I just tried writing a whole big blog entry on this but I really can't even find the words to say what I want so I'll make it short and sweet.

In January of this year, I found my way to this blog, Multiple Baby Pileup , and it has really has changed my life. It was here that I was introduced to an amazing mom and dad, two beautiful girls Charlotte and Katie...and a brave little guy named Jack. Charlotte, Kate and Jack are triplets (how cool is that?!?!). The girls are so cute and funny! Each has a personality all their own and it's been so great watching them get bigger and bigger.

Charlotte and Katie are very special in that they have an angel watching over them....their brother Jack. On January 2nd, 2008 Jack passed away from complications of Mobius Syndrome- he was just short of 3 months old. The strength that their mom and dad have shown over the last 11 months has blown me away. There have been days where I would sit at my computer and sob over what I was reading and how destroyed mom and dad must be feeling. I began to miss Jack, a little boy that I had never even met. Just reading their story and learning about Jack and his sisters has brought me close to them somehow. I think of Jack often, and I look forward to every post on the blog.

So now to the reason for this blog entry-

A couple people have organized toy drives in Jack's memory- this one has been made super easy for you. All the toys are being donated to the Children's Hospital of New Jersey so that some little child will have a gift to open on Christmas, and so that they know Santa thinks they are special too. Please take a minute to send a toy if you can. I know Jack would love it! And if you have some time please read some more about these three little babies. You might just learn something about yourself through them.

"I'd like to thank all the little people..."

2008-11-11T10:19:00.002-06:00

My friend Nemmie tagged me for the Kreative Blogger Award! Thanks girl, I'm flattered and you're thuper thweet! You guys should check out Nemmie's blog. She has the most amazing baked goodies on there that will make your mouth water- no joke. Nemmie could take Martha Stewart in a bake-off easily...with one hand tied behind her back. Love ya, Nems!

And now I shall pass on the award to my other favorite "chefs", Sarah at Chomping the Big Apple and Jules at Julie's Foodie.

Closer...no, closer!

2008-11-07T17:01:00.004-06:00

I got a new lens (oh, by the way Todd- I got a new lens :o) ). It's a Sigma 28mm 1.8 and I'm pretty much in love with it. Thanks to Josh Solar for the recommendation!

So last weekend I wanted to see how close I could get to my subjects and have the image be in focus. I started at about a foot away. Everything still in focus. I moved 8 inches closer....still clear. I moved closer- about 4 inches away and it was STILL in focus! Finally I just put the lens right on the subject (not in focus) and moved back until it was in focus. How far back you ask? About 2 inches. I can focus on an object at 2 inches!

In. love.

Payton

2008-11-06T12:44:00.005-06:00

This past weekend we went to visit my in-law's to surprise my father-in-law for his birthday. We had lots of fun and lots of good food- as usual. I had a chance to snap a few shots of my niece as she played outside in the leaves. She's the cutest, funniest and sweetest 16 month old I know!

Meet Payton.

November 4, 2008

2008-11-04T09:54:00.003-06:00

Today will be one for the history books as we elect either the first African American President or the first woman Vice President into the White House! Can you believe it? I never, ever thought I would see this day in my lifetime- I underestimate the American people sometimes. Let's just hope we can pull it together and make the right choice ion this election.

So if you've voted- congratulations! If not, get out there and cast your ballot. If there is a line, deal with it. Men and women die every day so that we have the right to vote. Consider it a privilege. Vote, vote, vote!! (Unless you are voting for McCain, then you can just stay home! ) I kid, I kid....

This time tomorrow we will have a new President (hopefully- I'm praying for very few snags)!

Happy Halloween!

2008-10-31T13:04:00.005-05:00

We had Trick or Treating at my work yesterday- Jake was all treat! Would it be weird if he wore this costume every day of the year...it's too cute to take off! He is possibly the cutest monkey EVER!!

I better enjoy the cute costumes while I can. Pretty soon he'll be asking to be a ninja or a monster or some freaky thing from the latest horror flic. Maybe someday he'll want to be a monkey again...no?

EDIT: I forgot to show you what he looked like when I took the costume off! Note the hairy armpits and chest :o)

Light

2008-10-27T12:42:00.003-05:00

Saturday afternoon, Jake was laying on the couch being lazy (he takes after me in so many ways!) and I looked over and he had some really cool light falling over him. The sun was coming in the window just right so I grabbed my camera to experiment a little bit.

I'm kind of obsessed with his big head so here are some pictures of it.

I can't get this any bigger for some reason. I am hating Blogger lately!

Lil' Tiger

2008-10-17T11:48:00.009-05:00

Our little tiger turned 6 months old last week!! He's growing so fast, which is good...and kind of sad. I miss my little monkey :o( although I love my big monkey! Anyway, Todd put Jake's MU hat on the get him warmed up for the big game last weekend- and what do you know, it's almost too small for his huge noggin. We thought we should get some pictures of him wearing it while he still can! And if he ever comes home telling us he wants to be a Jayhawk instead, after I pick Todd up off the floor I will remind him the he has been a loyal Tiger since he was a little baby and that KU is out of the question!! Unless they want to give him a full ride...then we can talk about it.

We also started Jake on veggies last night!

Yes, I'm in a hurry to get to the next step: on his 4 month birthday we started cereal, now he's on "real" food..and on his 1st birthday we will say 'audios' to formula and HELLO milk (hey, formula is expensive!!!!)

I figured sweet potatoes would be a good starter food- sweet, good texture...and that's what everyone was telling me to start with. So I did. I have a video of this truly amazing event (insert sarcasm) but I really don't feel like trying to figure out how to get it on the blog, so you'll have to settle for a picture instead.

Happy 6 Month Birthday Jakey!!

I've been tagged!!

2008-10-15T12:53:00.002-05:00

I'm just giddy with excitement!! Thanks Leslie! I really wish I had some witty things to say, but I don't.

5 Joys
1. My son
2. drinking beer and eating nachos at a (winning) Royals game with Todd
3. spending time with my family and friends
4. the early days of summer when the weather is just warm enough to drive with the sunroof open and the radio blasting
5. the first snow, where everything has a light dusting and the world goes from dark and mean to soft and clean

5 Fears
1. something bad happening to my son
2. my house burning down
3. family dying
4. my teeth falling out
5. terminal illness

5 Obsessions
1. reality TV
2. LOST
3. RB
4. money...even though I don't have any
5. my son (duh, we all saw that one coming!)

5 Surprising Facts
1. Some weekends, I'd rather go to bed early than go out.
2. I've been to 33 US States. I was lucky enough to have a photography job that took me around the country for three years and I got to see some really amazing places...and some not-so-amazing places.
3. I have VERY vivid dreams with super saturated colors and textures. Sometimes they are so weird it freaks me out, more often than not actually.
4. I love the smell of skunks, plastic, gasoline and Pickle scented scratch-n-sniff stickers.
5. I hate that more than one goose is called "Geese" but more than one moose is not called "Meese". What is up with that?!?!?!

Ok, now passing the torch on tooooooooo....

1. Julie at her Julie's Foodie
2. Jocelyn at The ZOG Blog
3. Michelle at The Hoopers
4. Courtney at Cjeanette’s Weblog

Very exciting news!!

2008-10-09T11:40:00.002-05:00

So this weekend is going to be awesome, awesome, awesome! First, my friend Layna is going to be on Deal or No Deal this Friday! No, not as a briefcase girl (although she is hot enough to be one) but as a contestant!!! She's going for the million dollars and there are 6 million dollar cases this time! I'm praying for some big bucks for her, she deserves it so much. Tune in to watch, NBC 8pm Friday October 10th.

(I told you she was hot!)

Second...

My friends Sean and Ashley are getting married on Saturday!! I'm so excited for them. I love them both so much and I wish them all the love and happiness in the world. Congrats Sean and Ashley!! (sorry, I don't have a picture of them on my work computer).

Deanna Rose Children's Farmstead

2008-10-06T14:11:00.004-05:00

Saturday was a fun day! Todd and his brother Scott went up to Nebraska to watch the Tigers slaughter the Huskers and left myself and my sister-in-law, Mary, to fend for ourselves. It was a beautiful day out so we took the kids to Deanna Rose Farmstead for a little while. This was my first time visiting and I was extremely surprised to see how cool this place is! I had no idea. It's much bigger than I thought and they have some really cool animal displays. Best part? It's FREE!!! You can fish, watch a cow get milked, feed baby goats with bottles (I'm totally doing this next time!!!), ride horses, sit in the butterfly garden...so much to do! And ina couple weeks they are having some Halloween events too. Check it out! And while you're there, leave a few dollars in one of the donation boxes so this place can continue to stay open. Did I mention it was free? Here's some shots from the outing.

Payton and Mary

baby Jake with a baby cow

baby Jake with a big cow

Bugs eye view.

Milk for the nerves? And all this time I thought it was wine for the nerves...hhmmm.

He's got his daddy's eyelashes!

Jake, me and the goats. Look at his face!!! He can't figure out what is going on...

See that little girl in the background? We ran into her later in the day. As we were walking by her, we saw that she as feeing the goat something. At that very exact moment her dad (grandpa?) was talking to someone on his cell phone and says "Oh my God, she just gave a goat a cookie!". I about fell down laughing! I'm laughing now just thinking of it!! It was funny. I guess you had to be there.

Just do it!

2008-10-02T11:12:00.000-05:00

Slim-Fast

2008-10-01T10:15:00.000-05:00

I'm not a good breakfast eater. Usually if I do eat breakfast it's a fatty, greasy something I pick up at McDonald's on the way to work, which is niether good for my waistline nor my bank account. So yesterday I decided to pick up a 6 pack of Slim-Fast, the Milk Chocolate flavor. It's packed full of vitamins and protien, 99% fat free and only 220 calories! It even smells like Coco Puffs (and who doesn't love Coco Puffs?). I need to shed the last of my baby weight anyway so this will get me off to a good start.

What I assume will taste like a chocolate shake actually taste like plastic... chocolate plastic. It's pretty vile. BUT, if it will help me lose this squishy belly I will just gave to deal. I'm supposed to have one for breakfast then a healthy snack, one for lunch, then another healthy snack and a sensible dinner (I'm pretty sure their idea of "sensible" is much different than my idea of "sensible").

Hypothetically speaking, if I drink Slim-Fast shakes three times a day with two snacks in between and zero meals...how much weight can I lose in the shortest amount of time? Assuming I would have fruit as snacks, and drink lots of water...let's see...add the 2, carry the one...I would only be consuming about 900 calories a day!!! The pounds would FLY off! One can live on 900 calories a day, right?

I mean, hypothetically speaking of course...

2 Years

2008-09-30T10:23:00.000-05:00

Todd and I have been married two years today! I can't believe it, seems like just yesterday I was obsessing over linen colors, wedding favors and DJ options. Now, two years later, we are happily married and have a beautiful son. Time flies.

Let's take a trip down memory lane, shall we? Here's a few of my favorite moments from the day. Enjoy! (all photos by EpagaFoto)

Getting ready with my girls.

Seeing each other for the first time. I could NOT stop laughing!

Getting ready to walk down the aisle. I'm smiling so I don't throw up...

We're married!! (Still laughing)

My super cute nephews.

First Dance to The Luckiest by Ben Folds

I loved my centerpieces!

This is my mom and dad. I love the look on my dad's face!

They have been married for 36 years! If I can be half the parents they are, I will be happy.

Happy 2 Year Anniversary, Toddy!! Love you!

My first post.

2008-09-29T14:44:00.002-05:00

I guess I'll start with some pictures. I took these with my new Canon over the weekend. I'm still getting used to the thing and I really need a new lens but for this being the first time I used the camera I think these are decent. I tagged along to a downtown airport photo shoot for my sister, her boyfriend Matt and her two boys Cade & Reid. Matt is a pilot so this was a great location for them. I stayed out of the photographer's way (a friend of mine) and got some shots from the sidelines. Here's some random's of my nephews from the day.

and of course I have to have a few of my little guy:

(Jake, 5 1/2 months)