and here she is now ...

Amazing Tintype Photo by: Kari Orvik

We recently had our family portraits done with Kari Orvik Tintype Studios - if you are looking for a unique way to celebrate your family in photos - look her up! As a photographer myself,  this was so special to me. I always press my clients to print the digital images I deliver to them and so this year we had an amazing opportunity to get tintype portraits done. And now, we will do it every year! We actually won the tintype portrait session at a charity fundraiser for an Oakland charter school that my friend help start - it is a French Immersion public charter school called Francophone.

So today didn't go as plan, and since most of life - never really does - you just learn to roll with the punches. Thursdays happen to be one of my full workdays. We get the kids off to school and I either have sessions, appointments or editing to get done and today was set up to be no different.

I had been planning for awhile now to visit with a furniture designer to do some lifestyle studio work and take images of her in her element as well as a letterpress designer but then at about 4 am this morning my little Raima bird came down with a fever and then also proceeded to throw up. Which means things would not be going as planned today and will have to be rescheduled..but I'm thankful..I'm thankful that I get to spend time with my family more so than I ever did before and yet still get to pursue my art and creative work - which has always been my dream as a kid..so yeah, I'm pretty darn thankful...and thankful that Raima is feeling better too.

Here is a little snippet of today, during nap time:

oh yeah we have a dog now..her name is Lola, she was a rescue..then twenty days of having her having thought she was dying - she gave birth to 11 puppies, only 10 survived...{we will be adopting them out through Rocket Dog Rescue - not the one we got her from - that will help us get them vaccinated, dewormed, fixed and off to good homes} - It was all - very much like TLC's I didn't know I was pregnant, except for dog owners, or something...

Hi all!! - anyone still here?

Sorry I have been MIA but you can find me more regularly on my photography blog.

I am still getting the hang of being home with my kiddos and trying to run a full fledged photography business.

So if you are curious as to what I have been up to, at least photography wise, then come on over here and take a look.

If you are in the SF Bay area and are interested in a photography session or want to chat about photography, then please drop me a line here.

In the meantime here is a little bit of Jax:

Jax with his bday present - lasers from Mathilde

{Currently} Lately, I have been feeling like I'm on a roller coaster (but you should know that I like roller coasters).

One minute, I feel like the decision on quitting my desk job (did I just say that "out loud" over the internets?!) is the most effed up thing I can do to my family. And I let my fear overtake my wild, worst case scenario thinking mind and I begin to hyper ventilate. It's that part of the roller coaster ride that is not so great..

Then the next minute, because of something that may seem small yet is so significant, like a text from a midwife where I documented a birth, thanking me for being there and documenting her client's journey and that she would definitely refer me. That she would like to use my images on her website with photo credit. Then being accepted to an exclusive stock photo agency, and getting more photography inquiries...it goes on. The feeling of these, one after another is like that wonderful feeling of a roller coaster ride. Where you scream at the top of your lungs out of pure exhilaration..It's that push, that sign from the universe (or so I tell myself) that tells me - this is the right thing to do. This is the path you need to follow.

Then I get hit again with the horrible feeling, gut wrenching feeling of when you look at your bank account and know what bills will be coming and thinking - are we going to be able to cover that? It is a sinking feeling. A terrible deflated feeling. I look at my kids and am so glad they don't have to know any of this. And then I think back to my own childhood and think: wow, this is probably what my parents were going through...and then I understand them more, and feel closer to them more than I ever did. And I also feel totally terrible knowing how much of a brat I was..sorry parents!

Anyway...there are going to be a lot of changes in the coming weeks and months, so I hope those of you who are still around, will stick around to follow along on this journey of mine.

Until next time...here is a throwback from the past:

Jax, only a few days old!

Visit the other wonderful blogs over here to see what they all are up to and link up your own:

Hi folks! Remember me? Hello?? Is there anyone out there?...

I'm sorry I have been neglecting this little blog of mine..but there are big changes coming...BIG changes!!!

Don't worry, you'll start seeing/hearing/reading more from me...woo hoo! (you're excited, right?!)


(Images above are from a long while ago..maybe I even posted them here but I can't remember now, and it's 1 am and I should really go to sleep now....)

Click on the images to view them larger

To see more of my photography, please visit me over here. THANKS!