I'm famous

So last week, I took a little trip to LA. It was warm and sunny. I was in Manhattan Beach where I had never been before, and I stayed in this hip little boutique hotel called the Shade, 4 blocks from the beach. I was there for a photography workshop with a husband and wife photography team. I am a huge fan of their style and vibe and so I was super excited when I got one of the spots for this workshop. I am in a few of these photos on their blog, see if you can find me. It's like "Where's Waldo" only more like "Where's Big Red?"

I learned so much and was so grateful to G and my family for helping out with the kids so I could go and learn. There are a few more photos on this guy's blog, Quincy who I met. He is a engineer by day, writing test programs for government fighter aircraft in a high security building with no windows in San Jose, and by evening and weekend an awesome photographer. I learned a lot from the other people there too. It was a great experience to feel connected to other people doing the same thing as me, and to get a little feed back and push to do better.

Amelia Lyon is a mom of two little boys and so I really wanted to see how she does it (she has a nanny twice a week) and how she stays sane doing it (shooting over 50 weddings in a year, plus family sessions & engagement sessions!).

I could go on and on. Amelia & Justin were so great. Answering any and all questions, being so warm and friendly and cool and just awesome. Here are a few of my photos from the session.















And this is completely vain, but one of the best parts for me was that NO ONE could believe how old I was. I told them how many children I had and I could see everyone trying to figure it out in their heads... so I would put them out of the misery and say, "I am 32." Jaws dropped, eyes rolled, guffaws were expelled from guts... It was awesome. Okay, maybe it wasn't that dramatic... but still. :)

It was a great little trip. I want to go back.

Yesterday one of the kids asked, "Mom, why is it still winter?" Good question. Because we live in Spokane. I came back so fired up and ready to work, but... it is too cold. :( For now.