HPL Opened It's Door's Today

Yippee! Historic Plaza Liquors is open to the public as of 10 a.m. this morning. Christian opened the doors to family for the first purchases before opening to the public. The first dollar was spent on a pack of dark chocolate M&M's (which we later toasted with).

The day went really smooth. A lot of people came in and were awed by the changes made to the space. Christian was super proud, as he should be and it was fun watching him work his own store. I'm really excited for him, for our family, and our community for getting this town's liquor store back.

If you're in Sonoma, stop by, check out the renovated space, and say hi!

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The first dollar spent...

...on a pack of M&M's

I know Christian would have loved to share this day with his parents in person, but this gorgeous bouquet that his parents sent was a wonderful way to know that they were there in their hearts.

It's official.

My dad and sleepy nephew.

Two More To Go

Only two more months until Milo is one-year-old. I just can't believe it! As tradition has it, we set out for his "special" photo shoot celebrating another month past since his birth. With only 40 minutes left of daylight, we threw his overalls on and grabbed the adorable OshKosh B'gosh hat and headed to Depot Park where we caught the last bit of sun. The hat came from Sandbox, a wonderful consignment store in town, and since I can't photograph Milo in the same hat more than a couple times, I love digging through their ever changing assortment and being inspired by what I find.

Being a mama has brought so much joy, inspiration, and motivation to my life. I know the hubby Christian feels the same.

Milo, thank you for being who you are. Watching you grow is truly the most amazing thing I have ever seen. Happy ten months!

This one looks a little scary.

Congratulations Christian, You've Made It!

This is a huge CONGRATULATIONS shout out to my husband Christian. For the past year he has been working on purchasing the local Sonoma liquor store and obtaining a liquor license from the state. The past six months have been absolutely grueling with lots of ups and downs. Mid-last week he got approved for the liquor license, and yesterday took over the store. He'll be remodeling and re-opening fully stocked at the end of next week.

To Christian:

I'm so excited for you babe! You've worked really hard at this. You deserve this. Milo and I are so proud of you!

Love, Your Wife

Time Flies After Vegas

Well, I managed to slip away from the homestead for a total of 36 hours to experience WPPI (Wedding and Portrait Photographer's International), one of the largest photography convention and trade shows around. This year it was in Vegas, and man, did I have a crazy schedule. It all started at 3:30 a.m. Monday morning heading to SFO to catch a 5:50 plane. With such little time I wanted to squeeze as much photo geekiness out of the trip so I rushed strait from the airport to an eight o'clock class.

My next day and a half consisted of four classes, a HUGE trade show spanning two incredibly large convention halls, lugging my 30 pound backpack everywhere, and eventually walking or hailing a taxi to my hotel a mile away (on the map it was across the street). Oh, and don't let me forget to mention, I'm still a nursing mama so pumping was also worked into the schedule (unfortunately, twice in the casino public bathroom).

All in all, I did what I needed to do, picked out some great companies to start producing my wedding albums, met some fellow photographer's, learned a little bit about marketing and photo merging, and did a little gambling.

Even though I didn't see much of Sin City in the short amount of time I was there, I got the gist of it's craziness. My hotel's facade looked as though it jumped out of a Disney film, the Statue of Liberty on one side and a pyramid on the other. Who ever dreamt that town up. Some day I'd like to go back and try out the who experience. Those hours without Milo felt like the longest 36 hours ever. I hope next time, the whole family can go.

That's my funny hotel.

View from my window on the 18th floor.

Artefact Studio's featured a few of my photos for their new Video in Print product. It was pretty exciting to know that fellow photographers were seeing my work (and extra special, 'cause because pictured is my nephew).

Puffy Clouds in Rutherford

I love photographing on days when white puffy clouds fill a rich blue sky. That's what I got this past Thursday when photographing this super modern estate amongst the vineyards in Rutherford. This property made me feel like I was in Italy. I've never been to Italy, but I suspect there is an estate of this sort there.

The facade of this spectacular building was built up with carved masonry, plaster, and huge polarized windows. My favorite little scene was the outdoor dining area, which Lorna, from Beautiful Places staged beautifully. She found a wonderful flowered sheet, used it as a table cloth and dressed the table with Tuscan style dinnerware, filled small vases with olive tree sprigs, and filled a bowl with colorful fruit for a splash of color. All this was set on a backdrop of lights on a string, a mini olive tree orchard, and acres of vines. Beautiful!

Here are some of my favorite images from the day.

Whenever opportunity presents itself and I am able to take pictures for my own simple artistic pleasure, I do. These are some personal photos from that day.