The girl who forgot how to blog...

Seriously. I haven't forgotten about my blog – on the contrary, I think about it everyday. And every day that passes greets me with more PRESSURE that I don't have a handful of photos and interesting commentary on my life. Let's just relieve that pressure now with a short list of things going on around here, and call ourselves even. Of course, twitter, facebook and flickr are ways of following my incredibly mundane happenings in between posts.

Shall we? Bullets, please!

• At the end of January I was laid off from my full time job. I was given notice of my "job eviction" the first day I went back to work after California. Welcome back, the economy sucks, Friday is your last day! I worked with some great people who organized a dinner on my last day, gave me flowers and chocolates, and a lunch the next week for those that couldn't make dinner.
• I've been devoting my time to Rye Designs, research, brainstorming, and finding all sorts of cool things online. I wake up every day, wipe off my wet cheek from Merry's wake-up-call licking, open up all the blinds and let sunshine fill the house with light. I figure out what's for dinner (you can call me Betty or Martha or somebody), work on the biz, and enjoy it all. I know that my resume needs to be finished (thanks for the constant reminders, Dan). I know that I need to apply for some part-time jobs, I know, I know. BUT THIS IS MY DREAM COMING TRUE and I don't want to turn away from it now. Our bills, however, have a different idea of what my dreams should be and I'm not amused.
  
• Valentine's Day was a nice, low-key day. Just time at home together, that's how we roll. Dan went into work that day and I had a special dinner and dessert planned, and I decided to throw together some framed California photos for his desk at work. Mucho easy, and I was happy to devote the day to him. Of course, he walks in with an ice cream cake for me. Chocolate is always appreciated. And he always knows how to surprise me.
• Remember Becca? I showed some of her headshots a couple months ago? Well, we also did a blog re-design for her and it went live recently. Check it: Sweet...with a side of Snarky. Tell all of your snarky friends.
  
• This year's all-church 6-week journey has started. It's called Reset and we're on week two. It's all about resetting your thoughts, assumptions, and myths about Jesus and truly learning who he is and what he's about. I heart these journeys and the learning/friendship that can develop from being in a small group for six weeks. I miss being in a group with Scott and Mary Ellen – hope you guys are loving your new group!
• New music I'm digging: Griffin House and Charlie Mars. GH is from Cincinnati and he came to play in Newport last month. Charlie was his opening act.
• I was feeling a little sentimental last weekend because it's been a year since we closed on our house. I still look around and feel the need to pinch myself. Picture from last year after our offer was accepted...
  

Those are the big things of February. I still don't feel like I'm caught up, but that's okay. I'd like to squeeze blogging into my daily schedule somehow – stop laughing – but I'd have a better chance of giving blood, or not covering my eyes from a puke scene on tv. I'll see what I can do, though.

I almost forgot! Since more people have been visiting our website recently and our old mess was staring them in the face, we posted this today...swoon.



After some heavy consideration, our services will stay the same but will no longer state "websites | photography | stationery." Rye Designs will now be a photography, design & development studio and I'm really excited about that. It gives us room to take on various types of projects and expand in the future.

Now that I've gone completely off my sleeping schedule the past couple days, and it's two in the morning, it's time to say goodnight.

Goodnight.

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!