O'Mamaversary

The mom's group I belong to here in Austin (which is now called the O'Mamas but was originally 'The Other Mothers' which I liked better) celebrated its first birthday. So what did we do? What any self respecting mother would do. We left the kids at home and went out and drank. A lot. And we gave out funny awards. I won two awards that basically said that you could find me at the next shindig by looking for the one who is drunk and badly dressed.

The Ears Have It

I have the worst ear infection right now. Not even vast amounts of ibuprofen and alcohol can make me feel better. I went to the doctor yesterday and he said I have an outer ear infection from my overuse of Qtips. Josh has been telling me for ages not to use these, but I can't help myself. I am truly addicted. Until now. I have been in so much pain the last two days. I have been scouring our medicine cabinet in search of leftover narcotics, especially at three in the morning when I can't sleep. Last night and today it was ten times worse so I went back to the doctor's office today to beg for some good painkillers. Turns out that the meds weren't getting in my ear because it is so swollen. So the doc put a wick in my ear (yes like a candle) to suck up the meds like a tampon and deliver them where needed. I then informed him that he would need to write me a heavy painkiller prescription unless he wanted me camped out in front of his office door moaning (and you KNOW I would do this). I am so high on Vicodin right now. But it STILL hurts. Can you believe it? I thought Vicodin would solve all my problems. It worked for 1950s housewives, didn't it?

The Birthday Party Weekend

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Ben had not one, but two parties on Saturday. What fun! Here are photos from the one in the morning for three year old Flynn. Annika's in the afternoon had the bad camera fortune of being held after the wedding the I second shot for a couple of hours in the July heat, so I had a migraine and didn't want to touch a camera with a ten foot pole.

A La Prochaine

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I hate goodbyes. I am no good at them and I find them painful. One of my favorite French sayings is "a la prochaine" which means "until next time". It makes goodbye so much easier for me. On Friday, Sam got to have a very special day. Two of his school teachers are leaving to go on to new adventures in their lives. We are so sad to see them go, but excited for them and their futures. Zoe and Deborah took Sam and Lillia on a neighborhood adventure. They took them out to breakfast and to the local pool and on many other little excursions. By the time I met up with them the babies looked so tired and SO happy. I asked Zoe and Deborah to let me meet them at the end of the day at the laundromat right by the school so we could take some photos to commemorate their day together. I could tell that they thought I was a little crazy. Who the hell takes pictures in a laundromat? But they quickly warmed to the idea and we had a great time. So here are some of the wonderful Zoe and Deborah and the babies that love them, Sam and Lillia. We will miss you so much Zoe and Deborah and we are looking forward to "la prochaine".

The Grand Finale

Here are the last of the California photos. Just in time for me to go back in a couple of months and take more. The first few are from one morning when we went to a favorite Berkeley spot for breakfast called La Note. Then over to my friend Maura's for a visit with her and her son Will. The last one was taken in the house we were staying at while we were just hanging around.

The Newbie on the Block

This is baby Lina. She is the beautiful new little girl of our neighbors Rob and Emori. Isn't she adorable? I haven't figured out which one she should marry, Ben or Sam. We look forward to watching her grow and blossom.

A Good Time Was Had By All

I had so much fun with this family. The kids were all really into the shoot and just had fun while I chased after them. And they were even making shot suggestions. Pure heaven for me. I was taken with them all, but particulalry the oldest girl Chloe. She is so beautiful in an unconventional way that I couldn't keep my camera off of her. Hell they were all stunning (as you can see). And it was also nice to be able to capture the puppy Suki once again (here was the first time).

A Perfect Day

Here is the last post from my session with the Jason, Camille, Theo and Zach. More of the session here and some other shots from our May visit here and here. I will never get tired of photographing this family (as you can see by my track record). Not only are they dear friends, but as documentary filmmakers they "get" it. They never question my vision which makes them so easy to work with and the results so amazing for me. They were real troopers for this shoot. I think I was there for about three hours. Finally we hung up the camera and headed out to brunch with Josh and my boys. Beautiful weather, beautiful people, amazing conversation, unlimited laughs. It was a perfect day.

Hostess With the Leastest

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I have many strengths. Hosting is not one of them. I make a damn fine and appreciative guest, but not so good with returning the favor. But after almost a year of showing up at people's houses, I decided that it was finally my turn to buck up and have some O'Mamas over. After I got to Austin I joined a group called 'The Other Mothers' (could I join any other type of mom's group). Many of my good friends in Austin I met through this group and I am so grateful for it. So I decided to host a mom's night in. I thought of two of my favorite things, photobooths and alcohol, and that was my theme. I called it the 'Boozing Booth'. So here are the results. I think they are pretty fun.The gang:

Sara jumping:

Tanya and Jenni:

Sara was SO much fun:

Here she is loving on the Tucker Man:

Even baby Alex was not safe from the booth, but DAMN he is cute!

Christen wins most creative:

The beautiful Jasmine:

Jasmine and Sara show what they look like when they are REALLY drunk:

Newbie Stephanie:

Miss Heather:

And everyone back together again:

The Passport

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I really need to update my life. My passport, my driver's license, my car tags. All expired. Quel disaster. So Josh and I took each other's photos the other night in order to renew our passports. And since I had Josh right where I wanted him, I managed to snap a few other shots of him. He is pretty good about being a photo subject as long as it does not entail his getting off the couch. And can you blame him?By the way, I totally borrowed (okay stole) the iphone idea from the image is found. And don't get me started on iphones and Apple. They killed my phone this morning and apparently many others' as well. Now it seems (cross your fingers) to be working with thanks to Josh for scouring the internet for solutions and constantly updating me throughout the day. Where would I be without him? I would be swearing at my non-working computer, banging on the keyboard and drinking from a bottle of vodka. All at the same time. I'm talented that way.

Y'all Come Back Now

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Although I was raised in California, I was raised by Southerners. My parents both have no accent to speak of anymore, but I did grow up thinking that saying 'y'all' was perfectly normal. Normal that is until I started saying it to Californians. They would just look at me and say "Where are you from honey?" My mom said that every time we returned from a trip to Kentucky she couldn't get the Southern drawl out of me for a couple of months. And I still remember the shock of the first few days back in Kentucky, when my mother would become someone else entirely. At least her speech did.When I grew up we had a little mosaic tile above the phone that said SHALOM Y'ALL. Apparently my aunt had brought it back from Israel after working on a kibbutz there for a few months. For years I would look at it, the humor completely escaping me. It all seemed par for the course for me. But I was a Californian and therefore required to say "you guys" instead. And oh how I disliked it. Almost as much as I dislike being called DUDE. When I did my year abroad in college there were exchange students from the UC system and many from UNC. Many of us became friends and the constant argument was which was better: 'y'all' or 'you guys'. People fell completely within geographical lines, except me. And then we moved to Texas and I have to admit that I was more than a bit excited at the prospect of being able to dump the 'you guys' and firmly commit my self to the 'y'all' camp. I don't think we had even made it across the state line before I switched teams. And I have to admit that I relish at the prospect of someday being able to utter "all y'all" to a group. Mmm, it's like butter.

New Life

Josh has just informed me that he has a new job and that we are moving to NYC despite the negative publicity the show has gotten lately.Edited to add: Okay. I have gotten way too many "You're moving?"s on this one. This is a J-O-K-E. We are NOT moving. Josh is NOT the new voice of Diego on "Go Diego Go!" This is what I get for trying to be sarcastic on the internet. I promise if we ever move out of state again (aka when hell freezes over) that I will write at least 500 words on the subject, probably more.

What to Get the Girl Who Has It All

Today is my friend Amy's birthday. Happy Birthday Amy! Amy (like me) is not a big fan of being in front of the camera, so I don't have any photos of her at the ready, but I have plenty of her two girls. So I rounded up a few that I think she hasn't seen yet as a little birthday present. Have a wonderful day Amy and welcome to your thirties. They are so much fun. Trust me.