Returning from extended blog vacation...

Alternate title: Pictures aplenty...
Or: Still finding sand in unusual places...

I finally went through our California photos this week and found my favorites. I know they say you should dig right into editing while the pictures (mentally and physically) are fresh, but I need some time away from my photos to really appreciate them. Going back through these a couple weeks later brought back so many memories and much appreciation for the absolute BEAUTY of our vacation. Time away from our world here at home, away from the business and clients, with friends and family, with each other in a place that wasn't below zero degrees in temperature – was BEAUTIFUL. PERFECT. Just what we needed.

Friday 1/16

• Flight at 7:00a with a windchill that could only be described with an Eskimo's vocabulary. Flight, however, was not delayed or canceled, making us very happy.
• We stayed with our friends for the first four nights.
  
• That night we went to a studio taping of 'Til Death, which was hilarious. The cast even did a little stand-up in the beginning and talked to the audience. Sadly, the producers didn't have an air date for that episode, but we'll be watching for it.

Saturday 1/17

• Dave and Kathy have annual passes to Disneyland, so we bought a 3-day pass ahead of time and spent a day at the Disneyland park. The other Disney option there is the California Adventure park – we went there a different day.
• I only picked a couple shots from Disney, otherwise there are mainly themed attractions and scenery of the parks. The fireworks show that night was awesome, though. It's no Cinderella castle, but Sleeping Beauty's castle was very nice with the light show.
  

Doesn't this look like a movie poster or something?


Love the star lights on the castle.

Sunday 1/18

• Sunday we all hit up Rodeo Drive for upscale shopping that made me cringe a little more with each price tag. Not because I wanted the stuff in the shops, but because I can't believe people spend THAT MUCH MONEY on their fashionables. Really.
  
• The rest of the day was spent with our personal tour guides around SoCal, hitting up Universal's CityWalk and having dinner at Hard Rock.
• That night we saw Craig Lyons play at a bar in Santa Monica. He was rockin' as usual, and especially so with his new band.

Monday 1/19

• Monday we headed out to the beaches. Venice Beach was first. We walked around and saw a lot of the culture there (aka hippie people) – very interesting and cool.
• Next was Santa Monica Pier for exploring, watching the sunset, and having dinner at Bubba Gump's (shrimp soup, shrimp gumbo...). As soon as I saw the ferris wheel, I was like a giddy school girl. But not to ride it, just for the photos. Great day.
  

This one and the next turned out just as I imagined before I shot them. I'm in love.




This photo starts Santa Monica Pier. I love all the people in this shot.


Yes, the sky was really that blue.





Tuesday 1/20

• Went to Disneyland's California Adventure park where they have the roller coaster rides and other fun stuff. I didn't dig it as much as the other park, though. Not surprising.
  
• Afterwards, we drove to my sister's house and stayed there the next four nights. Risa and her family have an amazing house and adorable kids. I wish we could've stayed longer with them, but that gives us a reason to visit again. The fact that Delta has finally lowered their prices out of Cincinnati gives another reason. Boo-yah.
  

Wednesday 1/21 – Saturday 1/24

• We relaxed, visited, enjoyed, tried to get over colds that we caught during the week, and explored San Clemente a bit. We also spent a third day at Disneyland.
  
• On the last day, Risa took us to Dana Point beach for a mini photo session and dinner. She took some really great shots with our camera, including my profile photo. That was awesome because I don't remember the last time we had good shots taken.
  

San Clemente Pier.




Photo taken by Risa.




She also took the great shot of us looking toward the sunset.

Great vacation. Great photos – some that I'm already imagining on my walls. But it's also good to be back, back to reality and some interesting changes that have taken place since our return.

Irie.

Sweet or snarky?

Or, if you're Becca, you're sweet...with a side of snarky, which is totally what I would choose if given the option. Me? I think I was given a double dose of snarky at birth. What about you?

A couple weeks ago we planned a dinner at Panera with Ms. Sweet 'n Snarky herself (I hope she's okay with her new nickname). After dinner, we moved to the couches and had a mini session to give her some headshots, and I'm sure people thought we were crazy. Hopefully, we'll be meeting this week to hand over her sexy, new photos along with a blog redesign.

We ended with a baker's dozen of photos for her, and I decided to post three for a sneak peek. I love them all, so it was pretty tough to pick favorites. We saved the ones we think she'll like best for her special viewing, and I'll post them to Facebook later. Let me know what you think.







Isn't she adorable?
Have a fabulous week!

Last procrastination tactic...

It's sad when I'm using the blog to procrastinate on bigger things that need to be done this weekend, but blogging needed to be done so I think it's perfectly acceptable.

Since I failed miserably (or happily, however you look at it) halfway through my daily photos for 2008, and the daunting task is still on my 101 list, I decided to give it another try in 2009. This time it's more on my terms and much easier. I'm doing an iPhone photo a day, emailing it to my Flickr, and basically calling it done. After that, I can go into Flickr when I get a chance, add the pictures to my new 365 set, and send to a 365 group I joined (purely optional). Viola! No downloading the photos from the camera, editing them, tagging them in Flickr, or any of the other additional steps that stopped me in my tracks last time.

Although the iPhone photo method is a much easier process, it forces me to think more creatively. I don't have a fancy lens or depth of field, and the pictures are pretty craptastic quality-wise. I also have to think about what's in the background and what's messing up my photo because there's no editing/blurring/cropping. Tricky, tricky! Of course, if any of our clients are reading this, make note that I always put this kind of thought into your photos. I shoot with the utmost care and responsibility. ;)


In Rye Designs news, our first big change was our logo. If you're a fan of our page on Facebook, then you've already read about this news. With our old logo, much like a bad relationship, I didn't know what kind of hole I was in until I had climbed out and claimed good riddance. I knew that I didn't like our tagline placement or font, and that was about it. Now that our colors are a little different (as well as Pantone worthy) and our tagline is cleaner, I feel like I have a new, dreamy Prince Charming. No worries, Dan.

Other changes:

• Dan and I have been working on the website and it's coming along! Actually, I should say it's a lot further than our last website design! With our vacation next week, it looks like "going live" will be slated for February unless there's some kind of miracle.
  
• There will be a NEW BLOG integrated in the site design, but as of now it will not roll out with the rest of the site.
  
• We are working from the ground up on this site design, just like our last one. We are not using templates or nasty flash, and custom designing and coding is taking more time than I imagined.
• Now that we have photo, stationery, and website examples for the site, I put them all on my iPhone! If I'm ever out and need to show examples of our work, it's at my fingertips. They all look silky, smooth, and fabulous!
• There will be more changes as we go along, but the website and blog are priority for the next month.

This weekend:
Designing here, photos there, taking down Christmas decor, and maybe a trip to IKEA. We haven't been there to browse in a long time and need to exchange an item.

We'll be leaving for California on Friday, so there's some packing and cleaning included in the task list this week. Cross your fingers that we're not delayed with ice or bad weather. We'll be visiting previous co-workers as well as my sister and her cute family. Didn't know I had a sister?! Well, you're in for a treat because she's much more creative and talented than I am. ;) Musician and friend, Craig Lyons, will also be playing while we're vacationing. Perfect timing!

Come back tomorrow and I'll show you a couple photos we took of Becca from Sweet...with a side of snarky.