{Tag! I'm it! X's 4}

I really am a team player and I love this cyber game of blog tag. I hate that I haven't been able to play being so busy but now I'm finally able to sit at my computer and play. Woo hoo! The most recent taggers who've tagged me are Elizabeth and Rebecca Tyler.
The rules seem to vary from tagger to tagger so I'm going by these rules since each of my taggers may have slightly varied rules.

The Rules.
*Post the rules before you give the facts.
*Post eight random facts about yourself.
*At the end of your blog post, you need to tag 3 people and list their names

*Leave the people you tagged a comment on their blog, letting them know that they've been tagged.
I'll try not to tell anything that I told you all the last time I was tagged. ;-)
1) I'm kinda a germaphobe.... I admit it. But I really try to hide this quirk since I know it's irritating to a lot of people. I get soooo grossed out by dish towels - are they being used to dry your hands off? Or to dry dishes? Or are they used to wash the counters down? Whatever they are used for, I used them once and then they go in the wash. I'm addicted to the Clorox cleaning wipes (low-streak formula) for washing my counters and kitchen table. They ROCK! Oh on that same note - sponges are just a haven for bacteria and other nasty things - so after I use them, I rinse them off and put them in the microwave for 2 minutes - it kills 99.9% of the nastiness sponges collect. I know, I need help.... or just a big glass of wine.

2) I'm adopted. My parents were living in Idaho at the time and suffered the loss of a baby girl, Kristen, to SIDS. What's totally weird - is my parents were supposed to get another child but their OB went on vacation and the birth mom delivered early. Well the OB taking over gave the baby to his sister in California rather than to my parents. Of course my parents were completely heart broken. But 9 months later, they got me! Another crazy thing is that Kristen had a little stork bite above her eye and I had the same stork bite over my eye {goose-bumps...} . God had a plan for our family and I'm thankful we were brought together.

3) I had a freckle on the tip of my nose as a child and I always wanted it to go away. I even remember seeing a commercial on TV for Oxy Pads, you know the blemish fighting pads, and I got so excited thinking that the Oxy Pads could take away my freckles. I insisted that we go to the store and get some. Anyway, I fell one day and skinned the tip of my nose and other parts of my face, pretty site I'm sure, and what happened? It skinned my freckle right off! I remember being so happy that my freckle was finally gone! Never-mind the fact that I may scar from falling, thankfully I didn't.

4) I swear I was a fish in my prior life. I grew up in Southern California and we had a pool in our backyard. So from a young age, I learned to swim and immediately fell in love with the water. I was in that pool every day even in the rain. If I wasn't in the pool I would be resting right next to the pool with one hand in the water - usually falling asleep.

5) I broke my tibia in preschool {my daughter gets her 'accident prone' tendencies from me}. My sister and I collided going around a blind corner - I was running to get my cool red original 'big wheel' bike back from her when we crashed. I still remember my big wheel and how much I just loved it.... Anyway, I had a cast from my hip to my toes and I just remember being devastated that I couldn't go swimming. Instead I sat in the hot tub with a big black garbage bag wrapped around my leg and propped on the edge of the hot tub. So miserable for a little girl in love with the water.

6) I was voted class clown in junior high. Uh-hu, really proud of that one. Then I somehow I was elected to be the school president the following year. Hmmmm...

7) I love the piano, it just soothes me so I have a bunch of CD's of piano music - Jim Brickman is one of my favorites. Anyway, I played the piano when I was young and when we moved we found a new piano teacher. She happened to be my 'new best friend's' mom. But her mom, was the Hitler of piano teachers. If my wrists weren't raised properly while I was playing she would slap my knuckles with a ruler. And she would write the most hateful notes about my abilities (or lack thereof) in the margins of my music sheets. I quit after a couple of months. Her daughter and I remained best friends but her mother never seemed to take a liking to me... or any of her daughters friends :( .

8) Lastly, I have two wedding rings. I know what you're thinking...and to clarify, I've only been married one time. Jeff proposed to me with a ring that we were going to find a setting for. So we looked... and looked.... and decided that we wanted to design the ring (that looked a bit vintage) and my uncle's best friend was a ring maker. So he made our ring. About a week before our wedding we weren't sure if we were going to get our ring so we went shopping for another setting. We found one we really liked and decided to buy it. Well, the next day our ring came from my uncles best friend - it was beautiful! So we went back to the store we had purchased the ring from the day before (since they did have a return policy) and found that since my ring size was 3 1/4 it was considered a custom size and it couldn't be returned. :( ..... ;-) Luckily my husband (fiancé) was willing to let me have two rings.

Now I'm tagging my photog friends Brooke Drellos, Kelli France, Alicia Caine & Kara Elmore (sorry ladies.... Brooke, just getting you back ;-) )

And I don't want to leave you without a picture so here's little Miss Lilly....

{EarthGroovz Designs}

Oh take a peek at my latest featured designer's work! Kerry, the creator of 'EarthGroovz Designs', makes funky, hip and earth-friendly clothes! I love these dresses and I even paired them with some pants for a fun look! My daughter was feeling a little spunky in them too, she was full of attitude when I put her in the dresses. She grabbed her hat, put it on her head and went on her way (in search of ladybugs, what else?). And cutie patootie Kendall, is modeling the 18 month old size. I've already used these during some of my photo sessions. Love them and the many fabrics Kerry offers with her designs. I just can't get enough of the big flower prints- they have such a fun 70's, retro, carefree feel. And Kerry is really wonderful to work with - contact her if you have any questions!

{Dirt, Tractors & Tutu's.... who knew?}

What a combination! Even with the threat of thunderstorms looming in the dark grey sky, we managed to move quickly and have so much fun during this session. Lilly and Freeman - first off, how cute are those names?! Just as cute as the kids themselves - seriously. Freeman is almost 2 and has the most adorable pinchable cheeks and he loves playing with dirt (feeling it slip between his little fingers, digging in it and tracing his fingers in the mounds of dirt we came upon)! Truly 'all boy', we couldn't pry him away from the plowed field we were in. And Lilly.... oh Lilly...she was meant to be in front of the camera! She's adorable and magnetic, simply put.

Here's a little sneak peek from our session!

{Gallery Wrap Canvas Wall Display!}

Oh my lonely, boring, creamy white walls are no longer bare. I've been working on this project since late March and a couple of weeks ago it was finally complete! I've had too much going on to post it sooner (not that I have time now... sorry to my clients who are waiting on their galleries to be posted, sneak peeks to be blogged and orders to be packaged - I just needed a tiny break and decided to quickly pop these up here on my blog - then back to work on all the important things you're waiting on.) ;-)

The walls in my entry way are two stories tall and about 18 feet wide and were just screaming for some visual attention and appeal. I couldn't decide on a black & white display or a color display since some images just scream for color and others beg to be a classic black and white. So I did both and mixed it up! I didn't want the images to be lined up perfectly - I wanted more of an abstract, non-linear display so I did some staggering (this will also allow me to add to the gallery if I decide to in the future without feeling restricted to one specific size). The sizes vary from 16x20's to 30x40's. Excuse the images - I'm used to photographing people and not the interiors of homes - the color looks a bit crazy on the images but in reality it's a bit more tame and tolerable {wink} ).

{Pretty Me...}

Oh check out these adorable dresses by my next featured designer Angie of Pretty Me - sweet clothing for hip girlies! I've already had clients see them and say - 'oh, I have to have that dress'!! Can't blame them - they are just adorable!! Brielle of course loves them too and kept dancing in them (like a ballerina -'her' dance...) - she's a hoot when it comes to girlie girl clothes - she's all over them!! Angie's designs are inspired by sweet vintage styles with whimsical and creative details - she hit the nail on the head with that! I love them. Simply adorable clothing - I think I need to do some shopping!

{Tea Party, Baby Dolls & Tutu's!}

It was so fun doing a session with 2 sisters! I love all my sessions, each one has it's own style, flare, personality and feel. And this session I was able to make everything so 'girly'! Kendall & Emily had a tea party, played in tutu's, rocked the baby in the baby cradle (not shown, oh I should've.... now I'm kicking myself) and the list goes on. Why didn't I have photo sessions like this when I was young? ;-) Anyway, Kendall, the oldest, was so good with her little sister Emily. She knew just what to do to make her sister comfortable. We found that Emily wasn't a huge 'nature girl' - I'm sure it will grow on her in time. She didn't like the feel of grass tickling her toes, shoes solved that and Kendall was right there, helping her sister. She also was a big help with all my props...even carrying my wrought iron tea table (wow, she's little but she's strong) - very helpful.

Here's a little peek!

I thought this session would look great with an old classic vintage conversion, so I've shown samples of that conversion along with some of the color or b&w images I'm posting. :)

{Woo Hoo! -- brings giggles & wiggles}

This past weekend I had a photo session with 2 year old Sophie! What a cutie - and she's so fast. The wind was whipping during our session but that didn't stop this little munchkin from running around checking everything out. At first Sophie wasn't sure what to think of me-- then when she got a hold of her mom's cute shoes, the smiles and giggles came out. My sister-in-law was in town and was my assistant during this session (thank you Jen!). Anyway, Jen said 'woo hoo' and Sophie heard and couldn't stop repeating 'woo hoo' and giggling hysterically. Of course we couldn't help but laugh watching, what a doll! Here's a little sneak peek. Thought I'd make two 10x20 storyboards.

This first one - I couldn't resist... Sophie is 'all girl', she's already giddy over shoes {trying on momma's shoes}. The second is black and white with my touch of mocha conversion.

{Autumn Bookings & Happy Mother's Day}

I'm currently booking for Autumn- summer sessions are full and fall sessions are quickly filling up. In order to allow plenty of time for holiday orders, my session cut-off is November 16th. After that date I'll be booking for January 2009! Thanks to those of you who have already booked your holiday/Autumn sessions! :)

This is one of my favorite videos... I saw it a few years ago and it still makes me giggle. Happy Mother's Day to you all! Oh and you'll have to press pause on the music player on my site to be able to hear the video. :)

{Little Miss Personality...}

Oh my... on Sunday I ventured to Hartsville and photographed one of the most amazing 3 year olds - Elizabeth Grace! When she came walking up she took my breath away - seriously. She's stunning with with her long, curly, red hair; peaches n' cream skin; piercing blue eyes and perfect heart-shaped pouty pink lips. And she was so calm and a little nervous in the beginning, but about 15 minutes into the session she became a little entertainer. She was in awe over the petticoats and tutu's I brought - that's when the real entertainment started! She had me and her parents laughing at her cute little expressions, songs she was singing and dance moves she was proudly showing me. Anyway, I had so much fun photographing Elizabeth Grace!! Here's your sneak peek!

And I couldn't resist creating a quick storyboard!

This first one is a 10x8 and the next one is a 20x20 :)

{Kait Emerson Designs}

Wow, you don't know how fun it is for me to do fashion photography and spotlight such talented designers. My daughter and son have started to really get into the sessions too and each day when I get Briella dresses she says, 'Are you going to take my picture in this mommy?'. Today when I told her we were just getting dressed for the day in response to her question, she said - 'but I want you to take my picture mommy'. I wish she was like that all the time - ha!
So check out these chic & bold designs Feanna Otta, of Kait Emerson Designs! She's has such an eye for tot fashions that have a fun and relaxed yet hip and classy look to them. Yeah, all of that packed into her designs. I love them! And she hand makes each item she offers; pants, tops, dresses and other clothing and accessories and is a very busy lady - with so many on-line stores featuring her clothing. She lives and creates her designs in Huntington Beach California but sells her items at the following online high-end boutiques: Kait Emerson Designs, Hip & Little, Haute for Tots, Jaela Fredrick, The Refined Cubbyhole, Modern Mommy and Starlooks Boutique. Wow, that's a lot and look at these boutiques!! Anyway, here's just a small sample of her clothing line.