When It Rains...

it sometimes pours. :) But this is in a good way. As I continue to work on my photography, more opportunities are presenting themselves to me.

I contacted my friend Veronica who has the twin girls and we set off to Palos Verdes. This is how we spend most of our time together since she is also into photography although that has dropped way down when her girls were born.

We stopped by Joseph's bakery which is a little mom & pop bakery in San Pedro that is very good. Luckily, Veronica knows how they sell out quickly and placed an order at 7:15am. Wow, this pastries are delicious. We had to pig  out since Veronica said it isn't as tasty the next day. Okay with me...

Veronica drove us to the Trump Golf course where there is a small parking lot for beach recreation. The weather is typical June gloom so parking was not a problem but usually can be difficult. Really nice walking path with sprawling lawns and picnic tables. Oh and the stunning ocean view is nothing to sneeze at either.

Lots of bunnies sitting around in the grassy areas near the brush and they seem used to people & dogs. We were hoping to taking portraits of the twins but the weather wasn't cooperating very well and frankly having to work with twins makes it extra difficult. Lots of shots of both where one is looking up or the other way around. The few pictures I had them both looking up, I had focusing issues so I can't use those. Oh well, there's always next time.














No sign of the fog burning off today but I like how these came out...

Have a great weekend!!

Newborn Time

It's coincidental that I decide to build up my portfolio and I get an opportunity to shoot our friends' brand new baby girl.

Meet Lexi:

So tiny.

Born June 1, she is welcomed by her ecstatic parents, big sister and doggie siblings. :)

Bizkit.

and Papi Chulo.

Sweet baby.

It was lots of fun to welcome this beautiful baby and finally meet her! Lexi was very cooperative, well as much as babies can be. We had several clean-up "issues" during our photo time but you could never tell by the photos.

Lexi was a trooper...and a pooping machine. :)

Eyes wide open.

Daddy's little girl.

I'm looking forward to capturing more moments as your baby girl & family grows.

Building my Portfolio

I'm not going into the photography business but I do love it a lot and striving to become the best I can be. I just need to push myself to keep taking pictures.

Recently, I have had more chances to accomplish my goals. I've done a photo shoot of my friend's twin girls because she wanted bath time photos.


One couple just had a baby over the weekend so I offered to take some photos of her this week.

Then another friend wanted photos commemorating her daughter's 8th birthday. She usually goes to Sears portrait studio for that but the studio was closed down. She found a Groupon offer which she said was okay but jumped at the chance to try again.



I've known little A since she was a baby so it's amazing to see how much she's grown into a quite a character. :)

8 years old

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My little pony.

Overcast day but not a lot of wind which was great.

Beach girl.

Big sis A joined us at the beach so I had to get a couple of her too. I especially like this one. So I will send off the batch and see how they like their photos.

Sister.
 

Semi-Finals: Game 7

The LA Kings advance to the  third round!! Woo hoo! This entire series has been a well played battle with close games and calls.

It began as a best of seven, then best of three and finally best of one. It seriously could have gone either way but in the end our goalie was better and the Kings scored. As we walked to Staples Center, we met a Sharks fan who was going to game with her friend, an LA fan. She was super nice and chatty for the 3 block walk there. Overall, the Sharks fan were really nice and respectful which sometimes can be hit/miss depending on the amount of alcohol consumed.

Tonight the other Western conference game 7 is being played tonight after which the Kings will find out their next opponent.





I tried recording the excitement of the final minute of play where the crowd is definitely pumped up. Hector sings along to "This is LA" and I just noticed that the three men in each row of the next section are wearing the same identical Brown jersey. HA ha!

Exciting to the last second...congrats to the Sharks on their season. They're such a strong team but the playoffs are consistently tough for them. I sincerely wish them a Stanley  Cup in their future but  I will root for the Kings always. The Sharks will have to figure out how to get there...

Longboard: day 2

So far I have  had the longboard for 2 days which the 2 boys and I have thoroughly enjoyed. I don't know if I can convince Hector to try it.

The boys have taken to it no problem and don't even know they're working out their upper body. Tyler rode it in our cul-de-sac before dinner for about 15 minutes and now wants to take it to the park. Josh rode the board to school this morning then I took over and rode it at the park for 40 minutes.

I got quite a few stares from the older set walking around and didn't even return my Hello. Hmmpff.  A couple of the other moms were cool and talked to me about it so this is definitely a conversation starter.

I haven't taken any pics of me in action but here is a blurry pic of me with the board/stick.



After 40 minutes, I worked up a good sweat too.  My shoulders seem okay or at least whatever issues I have, this didn't seem to bother it.

Thumbs up so far! :)

crazy or adventurous?

I forget how old I am which is good and bad...good to be young at heart but bad sometimes when common sense gets tossed aside. I don't think my newest pursuit is bad but I do need to take precautions for my safety. Okay, it's not BASE jumping or anything extreme although your view of extreme may be different than mine.

It's longboarding...a very long skateboard. It looks almost like a mini surfboard, at least the one I got. My birthday was in April and Mother's Day just passed so I had some Amazon cards to spend. I decided to get something unusual and unexpected. I don't remember where I got the idea but it popped into my head. I looked at lots of longboards and then I saw an ad for the Kahuna big stick, so I clicked on that & watched the video. That made my decision...someone said it was like SUP but on land which totally appeals to me. I do love SUP but those boards are like 12 feet long which I'd have to put on top of the truck, drive to a body of water (which isn't too far) then take the board off the truck and paddle. Plus the costs would be over $1000. I figured I'd rent SUP at $30/hour and save the money.

The longboard changes that up a bit. Once I get comfortable and competent enough, I can board more locations like my neighborhood, the beach or park.

Tyler also wants to try longboarding so this is kind of killing two birds with one stone. :) Summer is coming so we can practice a lot and figure it all out.

Don't worry, I have a helmet and the various padding along with some ibuprofen.



It's long like the name implies. About 44 inches long and I even have my Vans (Tyler's outgrown shoes in a blink of an eye).

My Kahuna stick should arrive today so maybe I can test it out a bit in our cul-de-sac later. I'll let you know how my mini-mid-life crisis goes...

baby time

Switching back over here to post some things...like baby photos. I have a friend that has twin girls that just turned 1 year old. They are adorable beyond words and a joy to play, hold & cuddle. :)

V says she doesn't have bath time pics of the girls so I eagerly jumped at the chance. So much fun...

So enough of me blathering on and onto the baby girls.

Tad blurry of twins but they're together.

K hangs out while the other gets a bath.

Happy.

Not so happy.

All clean and ready to hit the town.

Next up...

b/w

They're coming !!

Springtime.

Exploring.