Photo(s) of the Day - Day 60

**These are not MY photos today - they are hubby's!

I decided to post two of Al's photos from our shoot last weekend and use them as my photos of the day. The thing that I love about us in our new little business is that we shoot with different cameras (I'm an Canon girl, he's a Nikon boy), we have different shooting styles (I like to get close and he prefers the landscape or broad shots) and we process our images differently. I truly think that clients/friends/family get the best of both worlds when we photograph them. Two different styles!

You can check out his work here.

Here are two of my favorites from Al:

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Photo(s) of the Day - Day 59 of 365

I will probably use these images for a few days here and there. The girls are too cute.

Only a couple tonight. I'm way tired and I'm *hoping* to go to the gym tomorrow morning before work. We will see.

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Photo(s) of the Day - Day 58 of 365

Today we finally got to shoot our friends Roxy and Jasmine. First time it was scheduled we got rained out, second time it was scheduled they had to postpone, so third time was definitely the charm. These girls are best friends and are so much fun. I met Roxy through Incahoots (country bar - I met my best friend there, too!) and she is seriously one of the sweetest girls I know. I met Jasmine through Roxy and Jasmine is a ball of energy and definitely LIVES life. These two are great girls and I'm blessed to know them.

Kudos to these ladies - it was HOT today. When Al and I left for the shoot, it was 99 degrees at 3 something in the afternoon! It was 92 degrees when we left around 6 something! And kudos to Al, he has been sick the last three weeks and is FINALLY going to the doctor tomorrow. He was a trooper as well.

Some sneak pics for the ladies:

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Thank You.

I just wanted to say "Thank You" for those on here and MySpace and at work that said something nice to me about Dozer's death. I still hurt (I'm sure I will for awhile) and getting up this morning to walk the dogs was painful because I just wished that Dozer would have waited one more day so that I could have seen him one last time. :(

I want to thank our blogger friend Cassandra for sending us this nice poem. I truly believe that it speaks about Dozer and all he went through before he arrived at our shelter. The poor guy had foreign objects in his stomach and the fur and some skin on his body looked like he had some run-ins someone or somethings that were not good. :(
A Dog's Soul
Author Unknown

Every dog must have a soul
Somewhere deep inside
Where all his hurts and grievances
Are buried with his pride.
Where he decides the good and bad,
The wrong way from the right,
And where his judgment carefully
Is hidden from our sight.
A dog must have a secret place
Where every thought abides,
A sort of close acquaintance that
He trusts in and confides.
And when accused unjustly for
Himself, He cannot speak,
Rebuked, He finds within his soul
The comfort he must seek.
He'll love, tho' he is unloved,
And he'll serve tho' badly used,
And one kind word will wipe away
The times when he's abused.
Altho' his heart may break in two
His love will still be whole,
Because God gave to every dog
An understanding Soul!

Two things that helped me feel better today.

• Cassandra said that our loss is God's gain. Love that.
  
• Al held me while I cried again this morning and told me that now Dozer is probably a Guardian Dog watching over me. I thought that was sweet and then he made my heart warm when he said, "and it's a great thing when your Guardian Dog is a pit bull!" (Dozer was a mix. I know the thought of pit bulls and I had the same thought until we met Dozer and a couple of others. We've had chihuahuas meaner than some pit mixes!) I laughed through my tears when Al said that and I do love that thought. A pit bull (mix) Guardian Dog. A girl can't get much better than that.
  

I found this image online and it made me smile.


God Bless You, Dozey-Doze. Miss you.

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My heart is broken.

Do you remember Dozer from this post? He passed away at our shelter this morning. Suddenly collapsed. I loved this dog. I am so incredibly sad.

God Bless You, Dozer. We loved you so much. Thank you for all the affection and tail wags you gave me. I truly hope that there is a doggie door in Heaven.

We will miss you so much, Dozey-Doze. Love you, love you, love you.

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Photo of the Day - Day 55 of 365

All-Star shopper. Converse All-Star.

I am NOT a shopper. I prefer online shopping over going to the mall or any store. I can't stand the crowds, the parking, the trying on, the salespeople, etc, etc, etc... So I mostly online shop and ONLY go shopping when I have to! The shopper genes that my mom carries did not get passed down to me.

Today I stopped by a little "whole in the wall" store. No name. Not that I could see. I browsed around thinking there is NOTHING I am going to want here. Until I saw these babies. I am a "heart" girl. I LOVE skulls, hearts, and crosses. So if something has one of those three on it, it's almost a sure bet that I'm going to get it. In fact, my first (and only so far but I want to get another) tattoo was a heart. A pretty big heart! Maybe I'll take a picture of that someday.

Anyway, here are my babies that I picked up for $17! I need some more slip on shoes. Al and I go out for Starbucks or Golden Spoon on a whim and cutesy sandals or heels just don't look good with jogging pants or PINK Victoria's Secret sweats (also bought online - ebay, actually!). And sometimes I just can't find my favorite HEART flip flops. So now I have these!








Oh, and the cheapest I could find online was $36.54 from "shoedeals4u". I'm sorry "shoedeals4u", but that's not a deal. $17.00 is a deal. :)-

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Photo of the Day - Day 54 of 365 and a little fun...

20.1 lbs lost since January 2nd! Whoo hoo! I weighed in at Weight Watchers tonight and was so happy that I finally beat the 20 lb mark. I'd like to lose a bit more, but not too much.

And I lost it while eating these lovely little circles of joy. Plain M&M's. One of my favorites! Although, I might have lost more by NOT eating so much of these! :)-


Also, my friend Ruby tagged me! We haven't actually met - just online here but I already consider her a friend and I can't wait to meet her. God works in mysterious way and I believe that He brings people in your life for different reasons - even if it's for a short time. I'm not sure what Ruby's reason is, but she makes me smile anytime I think of her, so that's a blessing in itself. :)

I'm not tagging anyone because I'm afraid they won't play so I'm not setting myself up for any disappointment. :) Thanks for thinking of me, Ruby!

The rules are:

• 1. The rules of the game get posted at the beginning.
• 2. Each player answer the questions about themselves.
• 3. At the end of the post, the player then tags 5 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know they've been tagged and asking them to read your blog. If anyone wants to play, feel free to copy and then let me read all about YOU!
  

What I was doing 10 years ago: 1998. I was recruiting too, Ruby!

Five things on my To Do List today:

1. Send out weekly report at work.
   
2. Do laundry. (this didn't happen)
   
3. Take "photo of the day".
   
4. E-mail a potential wedding couple.
   
5. Weigh-in at Weight Watchers. I either love or hate this part. Tonight I loved the WW scale. :)
   

Snacks I enjoy: chocolate, chocolate, chocolate :)

Things I would do if I were a billionaire: This is easy. Take care of my family. Donate a bunch to animal charities, our shelter, and our friend Cathy who rescues with her own money. Hire Jillian from the Biggest Loser to train me 4 days a week. Buy my hubby that incredibly expensive lens he wants to shoot his birds. ;) Travel. And Al and I said that if we became rich, we'd leave crazy good tips for people who gave us great customer service. We gave one to the Red Robin waiter a week ago and you should have seen his reaction! :)

Three of my bad habits: Too much time on the computer (I'm with ya, Ruby), checking outlets a million times to make sure the iron, flat iron, or whatever is off, not returning voicemails quickly. :/

Five places I have lived: California all my life!

Five jobs I’ve had (in order): Teacher aide, account executive, regional trainer, regional administrative assistant, photographer.

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Photo of the Day - Day 53 of 365

Today was a day where I actually looked forward to what I was going to post. I knew exactly what it was going to be about.

Dr. Suess. No... our wedding guest book. No... the places Al and I will go. No... well, yes! All three! ;)

You see, I had heard about one couple reading this in their wedding on some wedding forum. I thought it was a GREAT idea! Al and I like to be unique (hence our Roarin' 20's wedding with zoot suits and all!) and this would be a perfect touch. I asked my friend Dina to read the book during the ceremony and it was AWESOME. We laughed and laughed and Dina would even pick up the book and slowly show the pages to the guests like they were a group of school children. It is such a happy memory. :)

We decided to take it one step further and use it as our guest book. Hopefully, we will have kids one day and we will be able to read this book to them and show them nice little notes from our friends and family from "when Mommy and Daddy got married". :)

So without further ado... the incredible, amazing, exciting, fun, and memorable Dr. Suess (and our guest book!):




This one makes me sad and happy at the same time. My friend (and boss's - is that correct?) wife wrote the note at the bottom about us being great doggie sitters to their dog Jake. She even put "Jake" and an arrow to the dog in the top left corner. Jake got unexpectedly ill in a period of almost 24 hours (months after our wedding) and they had to put him to sleep almost instantly after that. It was incredibly sad and I still tear up thinking about the message Andrea left for me on my voicemail. We all miss you, Jakey. You were such a great dog and it was a pleasure watching you. You were a crazy, howling doggie and we loved you. God Bless your sweet little soul.

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The Gratitude Campaign - from our friend Cassandra

I recently stopped by our blogger friend Cassandra's blog (check out her work and stories - beautiful!) and I saw the following "movie". I've wanted to blog about something like this for so long, but didn't want to come off as show-off's or do-gooder's or what not. It's just something Al and I do but sharing it didn't seem "right". But it does now.

Watch this video and come up with your own way of saying thanks. Al and I started buying coffee for any military men or women that were behind us in Starbucks. Then we started buying their sandwiches if they were behind us in Subway. Most of the time they are shocked, but are grateful. One man in Subway seemed extremely blown away by his free sandwich and I told him it was the LEAST we could do - and we always tell them "Thank You." Thank YOU Cassandra, for sharing this. I'm glad I finally got to encourage people to say "thanks" without feeling "goody two shoes" about it.

The Gratitude Campaign

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Photo of the Day - Day 52 of 365

While uploading Dan and Soo's images to a different gallery, I came across another that I love and I don't know why - I just do.


Ruby, if you're reading this - I'll respond to your tagging tomorrow! :)

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Photo(s) of the Day - Day 51

No photo for Day 50. Sorry folks. This thing is hard! I've thought about giving up a few times, but stick it out for another day or two. We'll see how long this thing lasts. It may last 365 days, but we will be missing a few, and some will be "cheats", I'm sure.

Anywho - had a FABULOUS morning this morning. I decided to finally use my spa gift certificate that my hubby gave me for my birthday (in Dec!). I told him that I haven't wanted to use it because then it will be gone. He said that maybe if I used it, I'd get another... we will see. ;)



Then tried to pull of the Quackmaster skate action shots at the park. He's much better at it than I am - and I felt really out of place being there.




Happy week, folks...

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Photo(s) of the Day - Day 49

Do you ever have days where something fabulous happens and it's something that you weren't expecting? Well, today was one of those days! My husband and I decided to forgo the gym tonight to spend some time with our shelter dogs. We spent a good hour after work just loving on the dogs. There's such a great mix right now - from chihuahuas, to boxers, to huskies, to good 'ol plain hound dogs! There is never enough time to spend with each one and you hope that just a couple of minutes petting, kissing, and talking crazy baby talk :) are good moments that will stay with them until you see them next time (which in this case will be tomorrow morning!). It was great time spent, but really, when is it not?

We decided to take another photo walk in another area we are not familiar with. This time, it was only a couple of streets away from the care center. And wow - what a photo walk it was! I've been dying to find a place where we could shoot some sessions with wildflowers and vines and dirt roads and all that in the background. We found it by accident!! And it's almost in our backyard!! Here are some of my favorite shots from our hour long walk.

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Photo of the Day - Days 46-48

Sorry, I've been crazy busy this week so I have to cheat on my photos. I promise to get some new, fresh ones up this weekend (if not tomorrow). Thanks to those who have noticed I've not posted and especially to my Mom. She checks it regularly now, I see. :) Thanks Mom!

Day 46 and 47 more images from the wedding we helped photograph for our friend Jason's company.




Day 48 - our 2nd God-dog that our friend Cathy rescued with the money Al gave her. Here is Cathy's e-mail and the dog she saved. Thank you again, Cathy, for all that you do. You are a blessing to us and the animals.

Hello:)

I wanted to let you know that with the remainder of your donation went to rescue Rocky today from Carson. I met Rocky last Saturday when he was dumped at Carson. Covered in ticks the size of Texas and fleas running a couple of circuses. He was dumped with his sister Chiquita (I will get her tomorrow her first hold didn't show up tonight). My hold for Chiquita is tomorrow from noon to 3pm. She'll get bailed then.

Rocky is a sweetheart! He is safe & sound tonight in Irvine. He will find a great home.

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Photo of the Day - Day 45 of 365

“Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in, forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day, you shall begin it well and serenely...” Ralph Waldo Emerson

and that's all I have to say about this day. That, and the fact that God blessed me with not only a husband, but a best friend.

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Photo(s) of the Day - Day 44 of 365

After the gym, Al and I stopped by our local park to see what we could "shoot". ;)

Our park has this cute little train that we have yet to ride. The train passes through an "old town". I think that Al gets his hair cut here! ;)




I thank my blog/photographer friend David for saying something nice about me finding the beauty in things in yesterday's post (that was nice David, thanks :). I don't feel like I really do that at the park, because I don't really "see" anything but trees and birds when there aren't any flowers or other things around. Don't get me wrong, trees and birds are beautiful, but I'm more than a trees and birds kind of girl.

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Photo(s) of the Day - Day 43 of 365

Al and I decided to "see where the neighborhood took us" and walked through a neighborhood near downtown Long Beach. I wasn't too impressed with my images when there, but after looking at them later, I found some interesting things that I do like about some of them. Here's my favorites of the 80 or so I took today.

My absolute favorite. I focused on the fence and just wanted to show the strength of that and then the softness of flowers in front of the old Ford behind it. I just love the feel of it:














The roof on this house was amazing:


I always smile when I see a garden gnome. I think they are so funny and I love to randomly see them - especially when they are tucked away:

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A great day for life...

I entered a contest on Pioneer Woman's site and don't feel I have a chance to win as I am entry 2989 (and there's some grammer mistakes because I was typing too fast! LOL) . But I reviewed my post and this is truly a wonderful day (to me, anyway). I'm thankful for today.


Now I am going to head to the gym for that run and crank this song


and this song


Happy Saturday, peeps!

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I'm *almost* willing to admit...

I have an addiction to cropped body shots (headless sounds too awful). It's very odd.

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