Happy-ness

I could sit here and apologize for my poor neglected blog, but I wont. Because neglecting my blog and other "work" related ventures was necessary to focus on my lovely family. :) During this amazing holiday season I felt the need to focus. To offer my undivided attention and truly milk the holidays for all they offer... being with family, reliving traditions, and savoring life.



Aside from twitter, I essentially cut myself off and loved it.

But now it's back in the saddle.

As we embark on a new adventure in '09, I've been reflecting and forecasting... I thought back to a sweet little gift given to me by a dear dear friend of mine before I left to go home for the holidays. She said it reminded her of me and I was so honored.
Looking at it (especially while in life-thinking-mode), It is a perfect pictoral representation of how I want to live life now, in '09, and always!
The tag line on the box read...

"Happiness... FREE to sing, laugh, dance,...create!"

It made me smile and I couldn't help but share.

So my friends.....CHEERS to a New Year... cheers to being free to sing ( at the top of your lungs, sound of music style), being free to laugh (with good friends till your sides ache), free to dance ( in the empty aisles at walmart at 3am...not that I've done that recently or anything ;] ) and being free to create (creating your life and your impact on the life surrounding you).

Most of all CHEERS to Life, Happy-ness and the Great Adventure of which we are all apart.

(ps) can you tell I'm smiling? :)

Fashion Victim

Being home these last few days have been full of attic digging. Unearthing old pictures and memorabilia has left me in states of nostalgia, laughter, and embarassment. I've rather enjoyed digging up the last 7 years of journals and thumbing through them. Or even discovering lovely lil' gems among the last 20 something years of pictures.
Amidst the "big dig" I stumbled across SEVERAL pictures that make me curl my toes in sheer horror at the sense of fashion I portrayed. Heaven forbid I just wear touches of tie-die, polka-dots, or stripes.... Oh no, I was apparently an all or nothing kinda gal.
Where was "what not to wear" when I was 10?!

Dear Ma,
despite the awful outfits you allowed me to don as a kid, I promise not to let you wear pastel nylon track suits when you are 90.
Devotedly,
me

(ps) Im Persian... that dress is from Iran. I also found that dress in the attic...sadly, it doesn't still fit...darn? ;)

snow.

So I am officially home for the holidays. (yay.)

annnnnd, its snowing! I know it doesn't look like a lot, but I got a little excited so I ran out to the patio in my PJs this morning to make my snow angel. I shoulda let the snow pile up a little more, but like I said.. I was excited. Plus, Portland/Vancouver never gets snow so this is a huge deal.

ha. who says you have to "grow up"?

:)

**Hint Hint**

Dear Mom & Dad,

We go over this every year... and every year I leave you exasperated and utterly frustrated that I COMPLETELY REFUSE to give you a Christmas List. I understand you want to play it 'safe' and ensure I get gifts I actually like, but I'm a hopelessly stubborn mule and continue to take make your life difficult. For that, I apologize.

When it comes to gifts, though, part of the specialness to me is that whoever chooses to give me a gift, gives it out of the fact that they know me and THEY think I will like it. I constantly remark that it takes the magic out of it all when I know what I am getting. Come on, you know I was never the kid who wrote letters to Santa, or even TRIED to peek at my presents before Christmas morning.... I am one who revels in the magic of surprise. Always have been, always will be :)

But this year... I thought I'd meet you half way and give you a little hint. OK, maybe a BIG pictoral hint. :) [see attached]
From here, I go back to my regularly scheduled stubborness.

Love Always,
Shy




























(ps) I know it's not practical because I can't take it back home on the plane with me but I thought I would at least try. (insert batting of eyelashes here) If anything, I had a wonderful time riding up and down the escalators several times to get this shot on my phone. :)

Ohana means family!

While in LA for Thanksgiving I had the privilege of spending time with the wonderful SD Ohana Family!
Now if you are anything like me, you have seen and memorized every cartoon Disney movie (and if they are musical the songs as well) so it came as no shock that the whole time I spent with them I kept randomly blurting out... (in a high pitched voice) "Ohana means Family!"

yup, Im a dork... I know this. ;)

Anyway, Most of you already know them but if you don't.... meet my friends the Baxters...

This would be Rain... David and Kimi's little model. She made my life easy! haha

And this would be the photo rockstar April. Look out world because this gal is the photo dark horse that will put us all out of jobs some day! ;) This whole time I thought she was like 14 or 15 but NO... I made a fool of myself. She's 20! oops.... sorry April love. Anyway, she is quite the little shooter, check her out!

Mr. Ohana himself.

And Mrs. Ohana.

and a totally random moment that I just loved. I think its because this is what I saw several times when the camera wasn't pointed at them and it sums up the two of them to me :)

THE END :)

(ps) they shot OUR family photos too! but you will have to wait for those until mom gets to see them ;)

Show and Tell... (Elyse + John)

I was the kid in kindergarten who took show and tell VERY seriously.... whether that meant bringing my kid sister doll ( along with her ENTIRE wardrobe) into class, gathering every sea shell I had ever collected and dumping them on my desk, or simply lugging my whole toy box into our share circle, I always loved to share more than required, necessary, or even desired... but much like today, I couldn't help it.
I sit here at my editing perch for hours trying to pick images to share on the blog but each time I do, I feel like I am enduring a form of chinese water torture.
No, I am not being dramatic.... just honest.
With each rejection, saying goodbye to an image is one drip...then another drip and another and another.. for hundreds of images. drip. drip. drip. Don't get me wrong, it's not that I think all my images are blog worthy or even that good for that matter... I just want to share my whole experience with each and every one of you EVERY time. I want you to experience everything I experienced and see everything I saw!
I've been told I post too many images, I've been told I need to play a little hard to get and not be so willing to share everything all at once (I think that particular comment was directed at more than my just blog though...hmm?) and I was even told tonight that a good photographer should be able to tell a story in 5 images or less. And yes, I agree with all of them.... but for yesterday, today, and probably for many many posts here-forth, I will continue to post too many images and continue to share more than I need to because I just can't help it.... I don't want to help it. I love life, I love taking pictures of life, and I love sharing life. So cheers to many more hours of chinese water torture and blog posts that are way too long... thank you for being apart of the "share circle" and enduring the full wardrobe display! ;)

[and thank you to all my lovely friends who receive countless emails that say..."which image do you like better, I cant decide?" ;) ]


Now onto John and Elyse...
You all saw the surprise engagement, .... now here is what took place during the day leading up to the moment :)

With Elyse assuming she was just modeling for my portfolio, here are some of the fun images we got.

xoxo!

(ps) special thanks to the Zickell family for granting us access to your lovely cape house to shoot!