My life...just not on the road I expected (but it's still dang good).

And I owe it all to one man...

Jason Radley (my best friend Jill's husband); who single-handedly brow-beat me for years until I finally agreed to start shooting RAW.

I had been shooting JPEGs since I got my first digital camera and I was quite happy  with the results I was getting.

Most cameras come from the camera shop, set to take JPEGs.  They also come from the camera shop set to automatically sharpen your photos and increase their contrast & saturation.  All intended to give you great looking photos straight out of the camera.

So, when you take a JPEG, your camera first increases the sharpness, contrast and saturation of your photo, deletes any file information it deems insignificant and then compresses/flattens the file in order to fit more photos on a card.  And viola, you've got a JPEG.

Unfortunately, when your camera deletes this "insignificant" information, it is deleting information that is vital to anyone who does much photo editing.

Shooting RAW prevents your camera from deleting any file information, which results in huge files, but allows the most control in photo editing.  When you set your camera to capture RAW images, there is NO in camera sharpening, contrast or saturation boosts, which means that straight out of the camera RAW photos look worse than JPEGs (this was really hard for me to get used to after shooting JPEGs for so many years).

You have to have a special program to read RAW files (I have Adobe Camera Raw which is part of Adobe Photoshop CS3).  So, I download my RAW files and open them in Adobe Camera RAW (ACR) where I do some general adjustments to all of my photos (you can select multiple photos to edit simultaneously).  Once I have done those adjustments, I save all of the edited RAW files as JPEGs.  Then, in Photoshop, I select my favorite photos and do some further editing.  Usually using actions (my favorite combination is from Totally Rad Actions; 10% Derelicte, 25+% Oh Snap, 20% Boutwell's Magic Glasses and 20+% vignette and blur).

And then I save an edited version of my photo.

So here's what that process looks like:

The first photo is what my unedited RAW file looked like straight out of the camera (remember, RAW files usually look worse than JPEGs because they have not undergone any in-camera sharpening, contrast or saturation boosts).

The second photo is what my RAW file looked like after I edited it in Adobe Camera RAW.

The last photo is what my RAW file looked like after I converted it to a JPEG and applied a few actions to it.

All that said, shooting RAW is definitely not for everyone.  JPEGs are ready to print as soon as you download them, no photo editing required (unless you want to).  RAW files require conversion and need editing.  Therefore, shooting RAW is really for people who consider photo editing a part of their regular workflow.

Now that I shoot RAW, I wouldn't go back to shooting JPEGs (but again, I was quite happy with my photos prior to shooting RAW).  I take a ton of photos, so sometimes, the photo editing side of things can start to feel a little daunting.  But overall, the time I invest feels well worth it as shooting RAW has really helped me to grow as a photographer (so thanks for pestering me into doing it Jason Radley).

Photo editing is not currently a part of the Photographers' Workshop.  It's a big subject that really deserves its own seperate class (not sure if I'll ever be up for the challenge of teaching a class like that, although for now, I'm not ruling it out).

Have a great day.

Cabaret

Ross and his friend Ashley performed at the High School last night.

Cole and Courtney went with me (although Courtney was asleep by the fifth song).

Ross and I have been having a bit of a tough time lately, but watching him up there last night kind of put things back in perspective.  He makes raising a teenager so easy on me and I need to remember to cut him a break on the little stuff in return.

And answering a few questions:

1. Annie's polka dot leggings from yesterday's post are called Baby Legs.  You can find them in a ton of colors (for boys and girls) online or in baby boutiques.  She loves them.

2. I used a variety of lenses in yesterday's post.  All of the baseball stuff was shot with a Canon 200mm.  It's a nice lens, but for the occasions when I need a long lens (primarily sports) I would rather have something more versatile (like a zoom lens with a wide maximum aperture), so I don't recommend that particular lens.  The pictures of Courtney and Annie were shot with a Canon 85mm.  It's a really nice portrait lens, but it feels too "close-up" for everyday shooting.  Josh shot the pictures of me on Mother's Day morning with a Canon 24mm.  It's a great lens when you want a wider view of things.  Everything else was shot with my 50mm (my favorite lens ever).  Canon makes three versions of it's 50mm lens (f1.8 for about 90 bucks, f1.4 for about 300 bucks and the f1.2 for about 1300 bucks).

3. I use preset auto focus points to make sure my images are sharp (which we'll be covering in the Photographers' Workshop).

4. I will try to do a little before/after post-processing post this week on Coley's baseball pictures.

5. Pajamas are my all day, everyday work attire (I must own 12+ pairs).

6. I sent out emails to all of the students currently registered for the June, July and September Photographers' Workshop.  If you paid/registered, but did not receive one, please email me at karen@snapshotsofagoodlife.com.

7. The waiting list for the Photographers' Workshop is really long, so I won't be taking anymore people on the waiting list.  I am hoping to offer more classes in 2009 though and will send out information via my newsletter (you can sign up for it or double-check that you are already signed up for it in the upper right hand corner of my blog).

Have a great day.

The weekend.

Lots of photos to share from the weekend.

Coley's baseball game on Saturday.

And some goofing off with the girls.

And a great Mother's Day morning.

Coley gave me a packet of tea and a hand-made card (he wraps himself up in that pumpkin blanket every single morning - glad to have a picture of it).

Courtney Lee gave me her favorite coloring book.

Annie gave me egg-crate flowers she made at school.

And Ross gave me a note with an I.O.U. in it (2 free hours worth of packing class kits for me).

And those empty frames in the background...they've been empty for 4 years (it's too big of a decision for me to commit to).

That's more of my Mother's Day loot (ergonomic wrist supports for my photography/typing induced tendinitis, the movie P.S. I love you, popcorn, red licorice  and a bunch of love notes).

And then we spent the afternoon at my Mom's (where I managed to fill a 4G compact flash card with nothing but photos of Annie).

Annie and my Mom.

Annie and G.G.

Annie and Papa.

Annie and Grandma Jo.

Annie and Grandma Bev.

Annie and Josh.

And another one of Annie and her Papa.

Happy Mother's Day

   

I love you Mom.

And for all you other mom's...

The Mom Song

Random Annie stuff.

I'm still alive & kickin (just busy).

I had a few random things rattling around in my head about Annie though and wanted to jot them down.

1. She's really into sunglasses right now (those ones are from Gymboree).

2. She's just a tiny, little 27 lb. pipsqueak (and at least a couple of those pounds are in her cheeks).

3. She and Josh have a new game called Dude or Chick.  Josh names a friend or family member and she shouts out whether they are a "Dude" or a "Chick" (it's crazy-funny).

4. My Mom told her she couldn't have anymore strawberries the other night but when my Mom turned her back, she got up on a stool, grabbed a sharp knife and started cutting her own strawberries.

5. Her pediatrician thinks she is having night terrors.  She wakes up screaming every night about 3 hours after we put her bed shouting things like No, it's mine or Let me be.  We're going to try waking her up for a week or so, about 20 minutes before she normally has them to see if we can't change her sleeping pattern.  Poor little thing.

6. She's really hard to get a good picture of lately.

7. She has to go to bed every night with her zebra (which I brought home from London), her caterpillar (that Grandma Jo got for her) and a baby.

8. If I say Annie, you're being a pill, or Annie, you're a little stinker, she says I yar not, I yar a tiny baby.

9. When I woke her up this morning she asked for a bottle (she hasn't had a bottle in over a year).

All things considered...

All things considered, registration went pretty well yesterday.

It certainly was not error-free and I apologize for that.  I don't think I have ever heard of a website launching without errors though, so I was kind of expecting it.

I am still trying to wade through a sea of email, invoices, etc. and trying to get everything cross-referenced for accuracy.

One of the biggest problems I have come across is that I am receiving emails through both my personal email address and the new business email address I have set up through the website which has created a bit of a tracking and cross-referencing nightmare.  Several times now, I have sent an email to someone from one account only to find that in the meantime, I had received another email from them in my other account (which made the content of the email I just sent them outdated).

I don't know if that even made sense, but the bottom line is... I am still trying to get caught up on all of the email correspondence that began yesterday (I'm guessing it will take most of today to get through).  If you have more than one email in to me, I could easily be responding to an older email of yours in my personal account before even noticing a more current email from you in my business account.  So please bare with me if I appear to not be up to speed (I will eventually get up to speed).

If you have already emailed me and are waiting for a response, I will be sure to have it to you by the end of the day.

I will also continue to work on class rosters and any necessary refunds today and am going to hold off on taking any more names on the waiting list, as it is already too big and I don't want to get anyone's hopes up.

Thanks for all the encouragement and patience yesterday.

Registration questions.

Kind of feeling like I used to feel on the first day of school.

I've got butterflies in my stomach (they started Friday night and haven't left), I couldn't sleep last night, I can't quit thinking about who's going to be in my class and I'm slightly nauseas.

The only thing different is that I didn't spend the last few weeks trying to decide which outfit from  Sears would make the perfect first-day-of-school attire.

Trying to answer a few last minute registration questions...

1. The information on the registration page is for my records only and as of right now, it does not have all of the the correct fields for non-US students.  Don't worry about though - if you live outside of the US, just fill in the address fields as best you can.  After you've filled in all that info., it will take you to the secure payment site, where you can fill in your correct address.

2. The secure payment site has a section for your personal information and a separate section for your billing information.  Therefore, if your Mom is paying for this class as your birthday present (which one nice mom is doing) it should work just fine.

3. If the class you want to sign up for is not available, it will show up as unavailable in the "choose class" field.

4. If the class you are trying to register for fills up while you are trying to register for it, I am honestly not sure what will happen (but I have an email into my web guy to try to figure this out).

5. If a particular class fills up, you can choose to get on the waiting list for that class by just completing the regular registration process for it.  Unfortunately, this still requires payment in full  (which I think stinks and am trying to change).  I am happy to keep an informal waiting list for any class (without payment) if you would like to email me with your contact information and the class date you would like to be put on the waiting list for.

5. If you are not able to pull up the site after 9am PST, it is possible that the server crashed.  The web guy who set-up the site is going to be available all morning to try to put out any potential fires.  He did say however that if 100+ people are trying to register simultaneously, that the server will crash.  Just keep checking back (if the site is down and a I am aware of it, I will post an update here on my blog).

If I get anymore questions between now and registration time, I will add them here.

Good luck with registration.  I've got my fingers crossed that everything runs smoothly (although you just never know what sort of problems can turn up, particularly with a brand new website).  If you do not get into the class you were hoping to get into, please don't worry.  If there is enough demand, I will schedule additional classes in 2009.

And one I took of Annie yesterday with her very first "ice cream", which technically, was a fruit bar (but she doesn't know that).

The website.

Registration for the Photographers' Workshop begins this coming Monday, May 5th at 9am PST at www.snapshotsofagoodlife.com.

The website won't go live until Monday morning, but I wanted to show you what it looks like and what you'll need to do to register.

From the home page (above) select "photography classes". 

From the photography classes page (above) select "register for a class".

This is what the registration page looks like.

At the time of registration you only have to complete the information under the "Please fill in the following information" section (name, address, email address, class date, username, password).

Although there is additional information on this page, it is not necessary to complete it prior to registration.  In fact, I do NOT recommend filling in any additional information at the time of registration as registration is on a "first come, first served" basis (so you want to register as FAST as possible).

Once you have filled in the necessary information click on the "click her to complete registration" bar at the bottom of the page.

From there, you just have to go through the check-out process, which includes providing your payment information in the secure shopping cart (credit card/debit card/Paypal).

My web guy and a I will be available all morning in case there are any problems (there is always the risk of the site going down if too many people are trying to register at the same time).

Feel free to email me if you have any questions (karencrussell@charter.net) or if you did not receive the Photographers' Workshop newletter I mailed out on Thursday (I'll forward it to you).

Have a great weekend.

I know I've posted this picture before, but every time I look at it, it just makes me happy (so I decided to post it again).

And to answer a few questions (and a few other random things):

1. I get a lot of Annie's clothes at Target or when there's a big sale at Gymboree (there's actually a sale right now).

2. When we were driving to school the other morning, Coley and I had a conversation that went something like this...

Cole:  I know the other reason babies have to sit backwards in carseats.

Me: Why is that?

Cole: So the sun doesn't get in their eyes.

Me: Well, what's the first reason?

Cole: So their brothers and sisters can can play with them.

3. Yes, I am getting married in 3 weeks.  When I looked at the calendar this morning, I kind of gasped because for some reason, I thought it was still 4 weeks away.  As terrible as this sounds, I've hardly even had time to think about it.  It's a good thing that it's small and simple.

4. Josh listens to a lot of talk radio and came home a few weeks ago with the idea that he was going to quit his job and home-school all the kids because of a program he had listened to (a few weeks prior to this incident, he had decided to quit his job as an engineer to go to medical school; also because of a program he was listening to on talk radio).  Both of those ideas lasted for all of about 30 minutes though.  He cracks me up.

5. I don't know how long this has been out, or how in the world I missed it, but this lovely thing is the (least expensive) answer to all of your sports photography prayers.  It's spendy, but it's still a heck of a lot cheaper than the Canon version of this lens (which runs for about $1700).  You could use it for a lot of different things, but the best thing about it is that you can get great shots with it in low light situations (like indoor gymnasiums) even when you've got fast moving subjects that are far away from you.  This one is made to mount on Canon cameras (they haven't released their Nikon version yet...sorry Nikon girls).

6. I use a Canon 16-35mm lens for most of my wide angle stuff.

7. The frame I used in the photo above (and a whole bunch of other frames & brushes) are available now to download at Polka Dot Potato (I think most of them are about .99 cents each).

8. If you didn't get the newsletter that I sent out this morning, email me (karencrussell@charter.net) and I'll forward it along to you.

The polls are now closed.

I guess I was thinking there would be one predominate opinion amongst the polls with the answer being chanted from the rooftops out in blogland, echoing "Karen, the perfect answer is clearly option ___ !"

But alas, there was no chanting (and therefore, no echoing).

The last time I counted this evening (which could have since changed), option "A" was ahead by just 2 votes.  Hardly a landslide.

So that's what I'm going to do (option "A") for now.  If I find it's not working out perfectly, I'll make adjustments accordingly.

I'm working on a newsletter tonight with all the class details, but I'm a tired mess and therefore, may not get it out until the morning (I'm a pleaser, so the fact that the poll ran neck and neck all day without a stand-out winner has done nothing but stress me out).

Being a pleaser is exhausting work sometimes, eh?

Have a great night and thanks for all your comments and input today.

A quick poll.

My goal was to set up the shopping cart for my online photography classes so that students could pay a deposit to hold their spot in class and then pay the remainder of the balance two weeks prior to the class start date.

Sounds easy enough.

However, I spent the last couple of days going over the logistics of how to make this happen and it turns out it's not so easy after all.

And while I could make this decision on my own, I honestly have no preference, so I am going to leave it up to all of you who are planning on taking the class.

So here's the question I am polling (and I will go with whatever the general consensus is):

Option A

Would you rather have three different class dates available when you register so you can choose in advance the particular class date that works best for your schedule (knowing that you have to pay in full at the time of registration even if your class is 4 months away)?

For example, I would open registration on May 5th for the same class, taught three different times (class one beginning on June 2nd, class two beginning on July 28th and class three beginning on September 22).  Students would choose which class they would like to take and pay in full for that class on May 5th. 

or....

Option B

Would you rather have one class date available to register for at a time, with registration open approximately 4 weeks prior to the class start date (and payment due in full at registration), knowing that this option would not allow you to secure your spot in future classes.

For example, I would open registration on May 5th for the class that starts on June 2nd and would not begin registration for the July 28th class until 4 weeks prior to the class start date (June 28th).

Just leave me a comment in the comments section.  You can just say "Option A" or "Option B" (feel free to leave any additional comments or questions you have too).

Thanks a ton.

And a post just isn't a post without a picture, so here's a really old one of Courtney Lee (back in 2005, when her hair was still curly).

An email and an update (but not in that order).

Just wanted to share an email that I got the other day, but a quick announcement first:

Registration for the Photographers Workshop (my new online photography class) starts this coming Monday, May 5th at 9:00 am PST at Snapshotsofagoodlife.com (the site is not currently live).  Class is scheduled to start on Monday, June 2nd.

This registration date and time were changed per the recommendation of my web designer to a date/time he would be available in case any technical issues occur (and because there are so many students wanting to register there is unfortunately a high and unavoidable probability that technical issues will occur).

Anyhow, if you are would like to receive updates in regards to this class, please sign up for my newsletter in the top right hand column of my blog.  I will be sending out a newsletter regarding class updates this Wednesday (I will try to answer all the questions I've been receiving in this newsletter).

And on to the email (from a gal who ordered a couple of my kits)...

Karen,

I got my kits yesterday and they are great!  I love your stuff and have a hard time finding it around here.

I especially loved the M&Ms and have to tell you a funny story about them.  In church on Wednesday night we talked about being generous and how if you are generous it comes back to you 10 fold.  They showed a video of a man sitting on a bus and he had 2 bags of M&Ms.  He gave a bag to a little girl sitting across the aisle.  when he opened his remaining bag, they spilled all over the floor and he was really bummed.  The video showed him throughout the rest of the day.  He paid a parking toll and the gate keeper gave him a bag of M&Ms with his receipt.  He went to the bank and got a bag of M&Ms with his deposit slip.  He walked by an M&M vending machine and turned the knob and the machine spilled out all of the M&Ms.

When we left church that night our pastor gave us all a bag of M&Ms and told us we could eat them or we could be generous and give them away.  Thursday I gave my bag away and when I got home there was my package from you with a bag of M&Ms!!!  Coincidence???

Thanks again!

Sherry

I love stuff like that.

I've always put M&Ms in all of my kits...except the Interactive Scrapbooking kit because that little tiny sack of M&Ms made the weight of the box I was mailing the kit in exceed 2 pounds (which increased the postage by $4.00 per kit) so unfortunately, the M&Ms had to go.

And a couple of shots from the other day...

Don't forget to sign up for the newsletter.

Yesterday.

Being the die-hard fisherman that they are, Josh & Coley were up at 4:30 am to go fishing yesterday.

I was on the phone with Josh while they were out on the boat and asked him if he was having fun catching fish, he said "No, but I'm having fun watching Cole catch some".

It's become a bit of a sore subject with Josh but, he seems to do more "fishing" than "catching".  However, when I jokingly said that he wasn't that great of a fisherman awhile back, he quickly replied "You can't say that, that's like me saying you're a bad cook." to which I replied, "Did you just say I'm a bad cook?"...

Coley caught a couple of fish though.

Sorry (maybe I should have warned you that picture was coming).

Ah, there's the fisherman.

And then we had a fish fry at Josh's parents house.

Where Annie made her rounds from Papa...

to Grandma Jo...

to Great Grandpa (who got her a new teddy-bear that is now appropriately named "teddy" and says nice things like "It's always good to share" and "You should always say please & thank you")...

to G.G. (Great Grandma) also affectionately known as "Grandma Cracker" by Annie for her never-ending cracker supply.

Annie's animal cracker lion was "growling" at Great Grandpa.

Dillon came with us (Ross & Dillon haven't been able to hang out together in a really long time because they've both been grounded for bad grades).

We've all missed Dillon.

Josh's parents run and live on a mill (Josh grew up here). 

Every time Annie sees a mill, she starts hollering "Papa!".

Ross & Dillon and Coley ran around the mill for hours last night.

Coley banged up his forehead playing chase.

And Annie started a rock collection...

which she was quite proud of.

She brought them back to show everyone.

But she wasn't quite sure she could trust her Dad with her new collection.

I think this had to have been the coolest place in the world for a boy to grow up.

Oh, and on our way home we ran into Dillon's Dad (he's a cop).

Truth Serum.

The flu has been like a truth serum for Coley.

He's laid in bed for the last four days periodically saying "Mom, I have something to tell you..." and would then begin spilling his dishonesties.

"Mom, one time I spit on the floor in my bedroom."

"Mom, one time Dad asked me if I had brushed my teeth and I said yes even though it wasn't true."

"Mom, one time I peed in the bathtub."

"Mom, one time I took some playdough home from school even though the teacher said not to."

It went on for days, until yesterday when the stomach ache and the trips to the bathroom stopped.

And the whole-hearted honesty stopped along with it.

And the Best Mom award goes to...

Ross thinks that award belongs to me.

He even got me a trophy while he was in Disneyland to prove it (or perhaps he got it to make up for the fact that he never called me back after the bus accident).

In any case, Josh is out of town and I've been feeling like a failure of a Mom all week (the house is a mess, the laundry is piling up, I haven't cooked a single meal, etc.).

But, I've decided that they don't just give out awards like that for no reason...so I really must be the "Best Mom" regardless of...

The sink full of dirty dishes.

The piles of laundry.

The mess on my desk (yes, that's all paperwork for my online photography classes).

Or the fact that Annie has eaten mandarin oranges and almond butter sandwiches for dinner every night the last three days in a row.

However, when I refused to drive Ross down to Subway to get a sandwich the other night he (temporarily) stripped me of my trophy.

By the way, Ross had a blast in Disneyland (and thankfully no one was seriously hurt in the bus accident).

I love these guys.

She said she got a "tweety" (birdie) in Wii golf the other day.

She snaps the elastic straps on my white sandals every time she sees me wearing them and then takes off running (and giggling).

When I told him that I loved him because he is such an emotional guy, he replied "I'm not emotional...I haven't cried in like 2 days."

He came into my office with his guitar the other night when I was mad at him and said "If I sang you a little song, might you forgive me?"

She asked for "more butter" tonight  (butterfly kisses).

Her favorite new word is "What?", only she says it with a German accent, so it sounds like "Vhwot?"

He winks at me when no one else is looking and without saying a word, I know it means "I love you" (and whether or not it's  true, I'd like to think that I'm the only person in the world he does it to).

He was telling me about a little girl at school who said he's cute.  When I asked him what he told her, he said "I told her O.M.G., that's gross!"

The whirlwind weekend.

I left for Salem last Friday.

Josh and I decided that he would stay home with the kids (because Annie had the stomach flu) and if everyone was healthy come Saturday morning, they would drive up to meet me.

I taught class Friday night at Scrapbook Fever.  That store is always one of my favorite stops.  Some of the gals there have never missed a class of mine, so it's always like hanging out with a bunch of girlfriends.

I got back to the hotel around 11pm and went straight to bed (because I had to be up at 5am).

At 1:45 am I was still wide-awake, doing some quick math in my head (If I fall asleep right now, I can still get 3 hours and 15 minutes of sleep)...

Got up to Portland around 7am to set up for class at Scrapbook Attack.

My 7 hour photography class ran for 8 hours (no matter how many times I extend this class...it is never enough).  I loved every minute of it though (lots of gals who were at the class last year and lots of new faces too).

Took a quick dinner break with one of my friends who drove in from Bend and then headed back to the store for the evening class.

I'd like to say that the evening class went off without a hitch...but I get kind of rummy when I'm running on 3 hours of sleep (lucky for me, some of the gals who had been in class with me all day were just as rummy).  Lots of laughs, lots of stories and a little booty shakin'...

Got on the road around 10:30 pm and drove back down to Salem (got to the hotel around midnight).

Josh and all the kids had spent the evening in the pool and everyone had crashed for the night.

Josh forgot Annie's playpen, so she was sleeping in a makeshift bed (two chairs pushed together) and Cole & Courtney were sharing a bed.

I had just started to fall asleep when Annie woke up crying.

Got her settled back in bed just in time for Coley to start hollering about Courtney being on his side of the bed.

I just laid in bed for the next several hours, trying to fall asleep to the sounds of Josh snoring, Cole complaining and Annie crying intermittently.

At approximately 3:45 am, the sounds and smells of the stomach flu filled our hotel room (poor Coley).

Courtney Lee slept through it all (she can sleep through anything).

Josh had a full day of military stuff on Sunday, so (instead of meeting my friend Tanya and her kids at the Portland Zoo like we had planned) I headed home with a car full of kiddos at 7am.

We had to make several stops on the way home.  At one of those stops, I was standing in the snow, changing Annie (who was still having some flu related problems of her own) on the seat of my car while Coley was heaving into the plastic ice bucket that we took from the hotel, thinking to myself just how grossly comical it is to be a mom sometimes.

Home now and still (crossing my fingers) flu-free.

Disney.

Ross raised enough money to go with his choir class to Disneyland (he's been giddy-excited about the whole things for weeks now). 

They headed out on four buses Wednesday night and were going to drive all night to Anaheim.

He called me from his friends cell phone at 7am yesterday to tell me that the buses got in an accident.  One girl and a bus driver had to go to the hospital (Josh read online last night that they are ok though).

He didn't know what they were going to do next or if the buses were ok to drive, so I made him promise to call me back to let me know what was going on.

No call.

How can a kid just forget to call his mom like that?

I tried to call back the cell number he called from, but no one picked up. 

Maybe I need to finally cave in and buy him a cell phone (I've always been very much opposed to the idea though).

Just glad he's ok and hoping that he's have a blast right now in Disneyland (even if he doesn't care enough to call and ease my mind).

I'm heading out of town this afternoon.

The whole family was supposed to come with me, but Annie ended up with the stomach flu yesterday which has kind of put a damper on our whole plan.

I'm teaching my Interactive Scrapbooking class tonight (April 18th) at Scrapbook Fever in Salem, OR (503 763 3501).  I think they are just taking a waiting list now though.

If you couldn't get in the class in Salem though, Portland is only and hour drive - I'll be at Scrapbook Attack in Portland, OR all day on Saturday (April 19th), teaching both my Interactive Scrapbooking class and the Photographer's Workshop (which is a 7 hour workshop now).  And there's still a couple of spots available (503 641 3554).

Just praying that I have escaped the stomach flu.

I updated my (very small) teaching schedule in the left hand column of my blog.  I'm still not booking too many teaching gigs right now (sorry) but, will keep you posted of any changes.

Have a great weekend.

Time-out and mangos.

Took this one of Annie in the time-out chair the other day (funny thing, she's in the time-out chair again right now for hitting her Mommy).

Hard to believe that anything so cute could ever be naughty.

Prior to going in the time-out chair though, she was sitting on my lap looking at pictures from Wildlife safari.

We came to a picture of the zebras and she said "zebas".

We came to a picture of the giraffes and she said "graff".

We came to a picture of the flamingos and she said "mangos".

We came to picture of the ostrich and she shrieked, dug her head into my chest and yelled "Oh my gooness Mommy, dat shared me!"

Poor thing.

ETA:  She just saw this picture and said "Uh-oh, Yannie taking time-out."

Scrap Fever

Still trying to sort through all of my pictures from London, but in the meantime, I wanted to thank Amy for putting on such a great event (that's Amy in the middle).

I don't think things could have run any smoother (and she somehow, made it all happen with a brand new baby boy named Harrison in tow).

And thanks to all you gals who made it so fun, listened to my stories for hours, shared your own, cried, gave me sight-seeing advice and laughed when I messed up (more than once).

And thanks for filling me in on what blood pudding was before I ate mistakingly ate it.

But mostly, thanks for "getting" what I was trying to share.

And thanks to Claire for taking my extra luggage and class supplies off my hands for a few days so I didn't have to lug them all around London and Paris and for greeting me at the airport with them, a hug and some traveling supplies (magazines, chocolate, etc.).  I hope you know how much I appreciated it.

And Shimelle (that's Shimelle pointing at me), you might just be the most adorable cupcake-making, scarf-knitting, cute-kit-packing girl I've ever met.

All of this and Scrap Fever had quite the venue (it was held at the Latimer House in Buckinghamshire).

And some unexpected April snow.

And the (little known) rumor is true...if you are the first person to dance on a table in one of my classes, you do indeed get a doorprize.

Classes

Just wanted to mention that I'm teaching my Interactive Scrapbooking class this coming Friday night (April 18th) at Scrapbook Fever in Salem, OR (503 763 3501).  This one is sold out, but they are taking a waiting list.

And I'll be at Scrapbook Attack in Portland, OR all day on Saturday (April 19th), teaching both my Interactive Scrapbooking class and the Photographer's Workshop (which is now a 7 hour class)!  Last I heard, there were still some spots available (503 641 3554).

Later gators.

Wildlife Safari.

We drove up to Wildlife Safari today.

I hadn't been there in forever (Josh takes the kids up there a lot when I have to work though).

It's like a drive-through zoo.

You can roll your windows down (except in the lion, cheetah and bear sections of the park) and can stop your car right in the middle of the road to get a better look at the animals (except in the rhino section because the rhinos can get mad and charge your car).

I think the animals are most active earlier in the day before it gets too hot (we really lucked out today with tons of animals walking right along the road).

Checking the map to figure out if we were looking at buffalo or bison (turns out they were bison).

Not sure what they spotted, but it must have been something good.

A self-portrait.

A few laughs (although something must have been stressing out Annie enough to start pinching her neck...which is how she "de-stresses").

And (of course) a little fighting.

This is a terrible shot (because you can't roll your window down or stop in the bear section), but this guy was within a few feet of our car.

My favorite shot of the day.

A nice ostrich.

And an ornery ostrich (he came within inches of pecking my lens).

Josh thought it was hysterical to lock all our windows open while the ostriches tried to peck us.

Annie didn't think it was funny at all though (in fact, she's probably scarred for life).

And that's Josh's ostrich impersonation (he went around the car pecking at all of us until he smashed his nose on Coley's window).

Went to lunch and then back again to walk around for awhile.

Annie checking out the flamingos.

And the last shot I got before my camera battery died.

I was swapping lenses quite a bit.  Most of the shots inside the car were taken with a wide-angle (17-35mm) lens and most of the close-ups of the animals were taken with a 200mm.  Even though I love my 50mm lens, I didn't find it much use today (in the car it was too "close-up" and while I was trying to take pictures of the animals it was too "far-away").

The Birthday Boy

 

Bella Union is his favorite place too.

We met up with my Dad and Step-Mom.

Courtney was stuffing a birthday card down the back of my Dad's shirt (yes, my Dad is a Beaver's fan too).

Courtney gave Ross a "credit card" for his birthday (which was very generous, considering that Josh had her convinced there was $200 on it).

Annie's in love with glasses right now.

Ross kind of likes Annie's glasses too.

And so does Josh.

Love this one.

Love this one too.

He's such a smart-ass.

And then a baseball game.

Some gymnastics during the baseball game (cracks me up that Courtney's undies are always hanging out of the top of her pants).

And a race.

Happy 16th Ross.

Birthday waffles in bed for the birthday boy this morning.

London.

I'm heading out to London today (actually, I fly up to Seattle today to my Sister's and then we fly out together to  London tomorrow).

Will spend a few days teaching and a few days wandering around the city.

The last time my Sister and I went on vacation together was back in 1999 for Cancun part II (Cancun part I took place in 1998) with Dawn, our best friend from college.

Both trips involved dancing on tables, staying out until 6am, syringes full of alcohol (as shown in the photo above), sleeping off hangovers on the beach, foam parties (where they shoot out foam onto the dance floor until it is up to your chin...which now that I am 35, just seems like an injury waiting to happen), swimming in the Pacific Ocean at 5am and a bunch of Canadians (one of which, Dawn is now married to).

However, what was my dream vacation in 1998 (and 1999) sounds like my worst nightmare in 2008.

I'm not much into alcohol syringes and foam parties these days.

I'm a however, a little more into history, sightseeing and a good nights sleep...all of which I think I will find in London.

Just dropped off all the kids at school.

Kind of a hard morning (knowing that I won't get to love on any of them for ten whole days).

Coley handed this to me before he hopped out the car door to head to class (to take on my trip).

   

The good news is that I always come home a better mom (a few days of missing them always helps me get things in perspective and makes me appreciate them even more).

I usually regain my perspective within about 24-48 hours though, so ten days is just feeling like a bit too much right now.

Back on April 10th. 

If you order a kit between now and then, I'll mail it out on the 11th and will (hopefully) get caught up on my emails on or around that time too.

Later gators.