I took a little bit of time off from shooting headshots and baby photography and family portraits to embrace life, enjoy the holidays with family and friends, and recharge.  Friends said I should post about my life too - to let you know who I am and what I’ve been up to.  I love to write… so here we go!

One of my girlfriends had her 30th birthday in New York.  I thought I wouldn’t be able to attend, since I live in LA until I realized that I had a JetBlue credit that had to be used by Jan. or it would expire.  I went for a short weekend and had a fantastic time.  The weather was in the 50’s which isn’t bad.  

Spent one of the days with my friend Katherine, who lives in NY, and we met some nice people who were visiting from SF.

I talked all of them into going ice skating in Bryant Park.  They weren’t having any of it at first.  They’d have much rather stayed inside to drink hot toddys at the Bryant Park restaurant but I insisted they wouldn’t regret it if they skated.  So we walked over, paid the extra bit to not wait in line, and rented our skates.  As soon as we all hit the ice they were grinning and laughing. No one fell!

I’m a big fan of doing things you wouldn’t normally do!  And creating memories is always about having fun.  Here’s me skating - and the gang at the subway when we were all heading to the West Village(above).  It was a very short, unexpected trip, but with the bday party, ice skating, spending time with my friend Esther, and simply relaxing, it was well worth the trip.

J

ust before that I visited family up north.  They live in between Auburn and Truckee, in gold rush country.  It’s very, very beautiful up there… and very rural.  Pretty much the complete opposite of living in LA. This waterfall is near my dad’s house.  It always reminds me of my mother, who passed away in ‘05. One of the reasons I so enjoy taking pictures of families, and of moms and babies, is the close bond I had with my own mother.  She was an amazing woman.  Smartest person I’ve ever met, and also one of the most dignified.  She loved this river and we went there together a few times.  She loved the country so much, and bought her retirement house up there.  Now my dad lives there, and my siblings aren’t far away.

My sister “came into” some donkeys.  Ha.  She has a couple acres of property at her house and when someone in town needed to get rid of their donkeys, Shannon jumped at the chance.  Free donkeys!  Who wouldn’t?  I wouldn’t… but I’m a city girl.  ;)

Here’s one of my crazy nephews, Liam.  I have 6 nieces and nephews. All, thankfully, are great kids.  And they know how to have fun… as you can see here.  He’s doing this specifically because I am photographing him.  No noise was made during this pose.  Silent scream, I’ll call it.

And just for the fun of it - because I’m addicted… let me plug my favorite holiday find.  This is the pumpkin loaf from a box which I found at Trader Joes. Oh my goodness… so GREAT.  Put some Cool Whip on it.. or eat it by itself.  But I have to say, drinking my morning coffee while snacking on pumpkin bread topped with Cool Whip… THERE IS NOTHING BETTER.  You will either thank me or curse me for this!  But I’m pretty sure it’ll be the former…