We love book fairs – lots and lots of books !!! This was one of several piles! Yikes!
These ridiculously fun creatures are part of our annual Flower Show.
One of our scores at the book fair was 139 episodes of MacGyver for $8. We spent the weekend binge watching MacGyver!
Their is a certain fascination with our cart escalator at Target. 
“Holy Unanticipated Occurances.”
The boys wrestling.
And Raja.
Happy Mother’s Day!!!
Losing a pet can be overwhelming. After our cat died recently, I felt so lost and alone yet the memories were so vibrant in my mind. I knew I had to find a way to channel the energy into something that would help me overcome the sadness. A photo book allowed me to tell her story in photos and words and start my healing.
I searched my photos on Lightroom using keywords pertaining to my cat and put them all in a “Collection”. I used the Lightroom “Book” mode and created a quick and easy book linked directly to Blurb. The simplicity was just right for this project where I wanted to quickly get my words down. I made a 7″x 7″ soft cover book.
The following are some excerpts of the book:
How she came to be with us.
What she was like as a kitten.
Her relationship with the other animals.
Her relationship with people.
How she played and her favorite toys.
Fun photos and a story about a specific day.
Favorite details – her sounds.
Her personality.
Her physical characteristics.
Her favorite treats.
Her favorite places.
Her impact and what she taught us.
And a good-bye.
We all miss you soo much. We now have this wonderful book to look through and remember all the things we love about you.
Hellllllloooo!
Waiting for a friend at the train station. (Love how little he looks among the larger architecture.)
A Scavenger (Silly Faced) Egg Hunt
Inside each egg was a picture and the picture led to the next egg and so on and so on…
There was an egg in the sock drawer among some many other crazy places.
A picture of a dishwasher?
What kind of crazy Easter Bunny leaves the Easter basket ( full of pool and beach toys) in the dishwasher?
Patrick was out of town, so Harry and I splurged on a special Easter Brunch (complete with a yummy pomegranate mimosa.)
An Easter Selfie.
Ready, set……
Go!
The aftermath.
Trying a new type of Easter Egg art with crayons called Volcanic Explosion. It sounded great in theory but it was an epic fail. We will always remember the disaster we created!
Easter Bunny Harry Rainbow Looming Wild Man.
This may seem like abuse but our cat really likes it. No really! He is actually trying to catch the water stream with his outstretched paw.
A soaking wet Moomba!
Hope your weekend is filled with silliness!
While I love taking photos, sometimes I get in a rut and need inspiration or I think everything feels the same so I want to try new things and learn new techniques. But where to go? Often it is Pinterest, or a new online article, or perusing the book store but there is something about magazines that call to me. I don’t know if it is the pictures or the articles or even the advertisements or the combination of all those elements together. Photography magazines have beautiful photos of landscapes, interesting people and exotic animals but they don’t necessarily talk about capturing the story of the everyday. I finally found a magazine that was meant for me – Click Magazine. Click is the perfect combination of narrative, photography techniques, use of light, inspiration and so much more. There are six issues a year and I anxiously await each one. Click Magazine is a great place to start for people looking to tell stories through photos and improve their photography skills.
This last week has been rough as we lost our sweet baby girl – Syberia.
Good-bye princess! I imagine her dancing among the grass chasing butterflies.
And some photos from this week….
The lone Elmo lost on the bench waiting for his home.
Our shadows.
Harry pretending to be grouchy dad. Watch out! 
We still seem to be in the rainbow loom dragon phase. Meet Thunderdrom.
My goofy boys at dinner.
Science night at school – testing the laws of physics of force and pressure with a balloon.
On a field trip. Art at UCSD.
Hope you have a good weekend.
Back to reality…..
A rainbow loom hippo in a rainbow loom lake.
A Costa Rican inspired toucan.
And we are moving into the dragon phase.
Sunset. 
Yes, I draw pictures on his lunch every day.
Cat nip is soooo good.
“No, it’s mine.” “No, it’s mine”
Have a great weekend.
What does a week in your life look like?
For years, I have been taking one week of a year and going in depth with what a week looks like for our family, inspired by Ali Edwards. I usually take a week where I know it will be a fairly ordinary, average week (if that actually exists).
The following are examples of what I photograph and document:
The list goes on and on. You will be amazed with all the parts that make up your story.
I used Ali Edward 8.5 x 11 templates for my pages. Once I created my digital pages I put them together at Adoramapix. The quality of the book is just incredible – the vibrance of colors and clarity with thick lay flat pages. This is one of my favorite photo book printers! My one and only complaint with the company having very specific page count restriction is now gone, you can choose exactly how many pages work for you (up to 76 pages). This project is so worth it!
The final parts of our Costa Rican Adventures…..
Aren’t they cute when they sleeping?
The very elusive toucan.
The toucan in flight. (It is not the greatest photo technically but how neat to capture a toucan in flight).
Paddle battling before white water rafting. 
That is the tiniest frog. 
Enjoying a new day at our fancy hotel in Guanacoste.
The kids had an evening to themselves and they all colored shirts. This is Harry’s version.
If you are last to arrive you must dance down the aisle to “Hakuna Matata”.
Flying, spinning Devil Rays.
Off on snorkeling adventures.
He is either singing or pontificating.
And life is excellent with a virgin pina colada nearby.
Relaxing after a long day in the sun.
Enjoying my newly created mojito (from the mojito making class).
Trying to do some last minute stocking up on all things good Costa Rican – coffee and chocolate!!!
Not really ready to go home yet.
Thanks for coming on this journey with me.
The adventure continued near the Arenal Volcano….
We were so lucky to see the top of the volcano as we were told it is a rare sight.
Ready for zip lining.
Almost 2 miles of zip line. Definitely not my thing but I was very proud to have made it through.
Harry was too little (weight wise) to go by himself, not that he didn’t want to.
Love the heliconia – the vibrant color, the unique shape. 
Postcards in the town of La Fortuna.
Beautiful colored sarongs enticing shoppers and giving a flavor of the town.
Mosaics everywhere.
Painting gourds with indigenous Maleku tribe of Costa Rica. “Capy Capy” means a warm welcome.
Lots of Marco Polo playing at the pool.
Sunset over the Arenal Volcano.
Enjoying the natural Hidalgo Hot Springs.
More to come…..
On to day 3 of our crazy Costa Rican Adventures by Disney…
I love butterflies and they were absolutely everywhere. 
Another boat cruise through the canals. Along the way we encountered this tree full of Howler Monkeys.
And some close-ups of the Howler monkeys. Just amazing to see them in their natural environment. Swinging through the trees.
The little one holding on is just precious.
A beautiful house along the way.
A rhino beetle.
It actually felt soft and fuzzy. 
Enjoying the playground at our lunch restaurant.
It is important to stay protected from the rain. 
There is something so beautiful about cemeteries.
Time for an incredibly silly, laugh your a$$ off pineapple tour. Patrick joined in the fun.
There is nothing like fresh pineapple from the field
It is imperative to enjoy floofy pineapple drinks when on a pineapple tour.
The photobomb trend was in full force on the trip and Harry couldn’t resist.
We finally saw the elusive sloth.
Enjoying the stories along the bus journey.
I can’t resist a good fruit stand, the colors, the smell, the mouth-watering goodness.
And still more to come…
surf and sea design 