Chosen!

We got the phone call this evening that the Pacifica Garden Club has selected our garden to be in their annual Pacifica Garden Club Tour that is held in May! Our whole family is very excited. Congrats to my Mom, the proud gardener!The potting shed where all the magic happens:
I will share my documentation through out this coming spring. Photos shown above were taken last May.

The Garden

I've been excited to see how well everyone's gardens are doing. All the photos on their blogs inspired me to share an update of how my mom's garden has grown recently. Last November I posted photos of her new potting area but they didn't really show how much detail.
If you look closely you can find a ton of owls. Our family friend & contractor, Jeff, crafted this beauty out of a lot of recycled materials that both my mom and him found. The wood paneling is made from our previous fence and the wire work is from screens that were purchased at a flea market. The counter tiling was purchased from a garage sale and the list goes on.
I spent a good deal of time in the garden on Sunday evening, photographing all the color and garden art. Some of my most favorite photos are from low angles. Some of these plants are taller than me and I'm 5'9"!
Here is the path to our front door. Our garden has a ton of color right now. I can't wait for the sunflowers to bloom. They are my most favorite flower.

Around the house and then some

I have a page to share. My cousin Dominique's boyfriend, Kenny, was so excited to have our family meet his new puppy Nika. She was so full of energy and just adorable. Our family fell in love fast. This lo showcases product from the online store Everything Scrapp'n.
Products used:
Pink Paislee
American Crafts
Making Memories
Stickles
MLS
Love Elsie
Heidi Swapp

The following photos are a very eclectic grouping that represents my life right now. My mom's obsession with owls has not faded in the least. I've been meaning to share our kitchen decor and here it is in morning light:
And our beautiful backyard about 1 1/2 weeks ago:
I had another photo gig with a real estate agent's new listing. Here is one of the photos that made it to the promotional brochures. I'm published! ;)
Last Saturday I met Abe in San Francisco and we had a photo shoot with lots of gear in Golden Gate Park. We spent most of our time between the buildings of the Academy of Sciences and The De Young Museum. It was a beautiful day. I taught him some basic photography and he took this great photo of me preparing to photograph him.
Then I shot this photo of him. This happens to be one of my favorite moments that I captured. I shot the majority with film for my photo class. I have finals next week, so I needed some material. He was a great model. I'm always looking for models since I love doing portraits.
This past week was a complete blur. I was really disappointed that Danny Gokey was voted off of American Idol, but I am thrilled that Kris Allen pulled through with his awesome rendition of Heartless. I love it, even more than Kanye West's version of the song.

The weather has been very hot and summery lately. It was really quite hot, especially on Saturday. I had the genius idea to visit Kristi in Fremont after I got off work. Fremont during a heat spell = OMG! I think it was topping out in triple digits in the afternoon.

I had the pleasure of taking out a Nikon D3 this weekend since I worked Saturday in the office. Oh its a beauty. A little too heavy for my taste, but oh how much fun it was. I also took out my fast favorite Nikon 14-24 AFS, along with the Nikon 24-70 AFS and Nikon 16mm fishy (both new to me).

Kristi and I were testing out the gear in her apartment and she took this silly photo of me. I love all of the art she has framed in her apartment.
I captured this moment of Dan with Kristi's cat Kodi. He's goatee is making a second appearance. I do love the quality of these images!
It was so hot that we found refuge in an air conditioned restaurant. I love salads when its hot outside. And frozen drinks really make it bearable too! When we returned, I got a picture of Kodi wearing his tie.
Thankfully, the weather is cooling off a bit!

Winner, Pages, and Easter photos

Well I can't believe how quickly time is passing these days. It's hard to believe that it's practically May already. I have a ton to share! First, I want to announce the winner for the MME card kit. I used a random number generator and the winner is #2, MandieGirl! Congrats. Please contact me with your mailing address. Thanks to everyone who participated.

I fell in love with Cosmo Cricket's Snorkel line the moment I saw it at Everything Scrapp'n. I have been meaning to scrapbook my photos from my Kauai trip in 2003 since I began scrapbooking in 2006. This paper was just perfect for my photos. If you have any summer photos you've been waiting to scrap, this paper is for you! And I love how distressed it is. To see my full post, check the ES blog.

Onto the rest... I just found the time to look through these past two weeks of photos and pick a few favorites for a quick update. Easter weekend was my first weekend to borrow equipment from my job and I was very excited that a Nikon D700 was available for me to test. Look for separate posts on how I like the cameras I try in the future.

I was so excited that I drove straight to Sutro Baths to shoot before the sun went down. I was using a Nikon 70-200 VR f/2.8 lens for this shot and what a wonderful lens that is! I was so lucky that it was such a beautiful evening too. Later that night, Kelly came over to visit and we goofed off looking at photos from her birthday and catching up. It had been a while since we had seen each other. Of course, we were lucky to hang out for a bit the following day at Lynne's Easter party (Saturday). The food is always so delicious. Here is a photos of us taken by Dan.
After a short visit, Dan & I went to our second party for the day. We headed to San Francisco for a lovely dinner at a family friends house in San Francisco. I found a favorite new salad of mine. I can't remember what its called, but it is spinach, apple, and candied walnut. YUM! I was very happy to have Pellegrino too.
We held the Easter party at our house on Sunday. Zena made really fun and colorful jello jigglers and jello jelly beans. I love these!
I took a TON of photos and thought I'd just share food because that's what I really want to talk about. Valerie brought her niece's pastry chef friend who helped her bake INCREDIBLE bread. It was gone before you could say oh yum! The table was so bright and filled with food. I love documenting little things like that. The holiday was wonderful and relaxing. We were surrounded with many loved ones.
The rest of that week was a bit of a blur. We shipped out a record number of boxes at work. I scrapped when I had time (I've already shared). Dan & I went for a walk on the beach in search of beach glass. I got my car back from the transmission shop! I'm really happy to have it back. I had my first shoot for a house being listed on the market shortly. It was such an incredible house and a great experience.

Friday night I borrowed a Canon 50D and then drove to this great ladies' house:
Managed to take the whole night making these ATC's for the Scrap Gal monogram swap.
I pretended to scrap and we lazed around a bit. Kristi took this really fun photo of Dan & I taking a break.
Saturday night we went out to buy My Spanish Coach for my Nintendo DS and ended up having dinner here. I devoured their Apple Harvest Chicken salad. Here is a photo of my mom's ever growing backyard garden:On Sunday, Jenny & Ken stopped by to hang out and chat while I created a quick layout. It was so much fun, I laughed until I fell on the floor. We call Ken "Moses" and he tells such great stories.

Monday night was so pleasant due to the heat wave that my mom and I decided to go for a walk on the beach, and we ran into Jenny & Ken. We had fun trying to search for beach glass in the fading light. Dan met us there and we had a very summery night. Photo by my mom. ;)
I have more to share from last weekend, but that will have to be for another post. Happy Hump Day!