Is the year REALLY half over already?

June.  The halfway mark for the year.  How is it possible?  Wasn't it January just a few weeks ago? Time is brutal. 

Just ask the crows feet around my eyes and the grey hairs on my head.

I wanted to post about this right after the trip like a normal person but today will work.  Especially when I SHOULD be packing for the big move tomorrow.

Procrastination is a very misunderstood and undervalued talent.

6 months ago while recovering from a very mellow New Years Eve....so mellow in fact I have no memory of what I actually did. Probably just went to bed after watching the fireworks from mom's balcony - that sounds about right.

What I do remember is excitedly getting ready to travel outside of the country, for the first time in several years.  People who know me understand why this was such a huge deal. It had been over 3 years since I had left the country, something I used to do multiple times a year.  I was jones-ing in a bad way for a stamp in my brand new and pathetically empty passport.  Yes turning 40 meant a brand new passport and it looked far to shiny, new and lonely without stamps and visa's from other countries. My old one was 2/3 full  and I am optimistic in the next 10 years I can do the same or more to this one.

Meanwhile this virgin passport was headed to Nicaragua.

I was thrilled to be invited on this incredible trip.  My roommate from college Betsy decided to organize a trip there for HER 40th birthday, 1 month after mine and I was flying to meet her, the 2 Heathers (the other half of the "fearsome foursome" (don't ask) and about 24 of Betsy's closest friends and family.

I could write and write and write about the trip, but I think it is better shown photographically with a brief summary.

Great food & drinks, old friends, new friends, sun, heat, pool time, exploring, lakes, mountains, buses, horse drawn carriages, boats, roofs of busses, monkey's, bats, mean ducks, volcanos, tunnels, adventure, hiking, volcano surfing, dancing and more drinking.

Almost there!

Here are just a few of my favorites, in no particular order - actually completely and ridiculously out of order. You can check out more on an album on my Facebook Photography Page if you are so inclined.

Just hoping I get to go on another adventure during the second half of 2013!

Choices Choices

The Fearsome Foursome still going at 40 and Fabulous!

This is just a given

Thanks to our hosts this was home for the week

Private Island - oh ok.

Splash

Perfection

Hike to the top and then surf down?  Ummmm Ok.

Close to the top now as the sun starts to set

Yup. Volcano Surfing.  We did that.

Sunset Post Surf

Our lodgings were an oasis 

My new friend

Sunset on Lake Granada

Volcano Gasses

Happy Birthday Girl!

My Favorite spot

Mean Ducks

Seeing the photos makes me want to go back! I miss everything! 

Well except the mean ducks.

Another Holiday Pet Session

The Ryan Family Pets. Maxine, Haley and Stan.

Try getting an excited 70 pound lab to sit still in front of a Christmas tree and then add a Mini Australian Shepherd and a half blind kitty....hence we had to go with individual shots....it was comedy but I seriously don't think I could shoot pets for a living - except the ones I know.

Then again...

Stan (Who's an annoyed Kitty?)



Maxine


Haley

Son of a Nutcracker!

I just paid $16 for a bag of All Purpose Flour!!!! Now granted it is Gluten Free All Purpose flour and seems to be considered the best product out there that can mimic baked goods with Gluten in them - but REALLY? $16???

And I don't even BAKE that often!

Which is interesting because I have brought that up before and something began to dawn on me. Prior to Celiac - I almost never baked. Now I realize it was because I would just buy cookies or pies and bread of course - without much though other then the calorie and fat content (sometimes). Now if I want baked goods that don't taste like sawdust or even worse super sugary sawdust - I need to learn to make things.

So tonight's annual cookie exchange holiday party courtesy of the Ryan sisters - aka our very own Martha Stuart and her sister so of course they would be bakers - I needed to find a gluten free cookie recipe and I was not psyched about it.

Then a friend told me about Pamela's Gluten Free All Purpose Flour - and told me to make a regular cookie recipe and just substitute the flour. So that is what I am embarking upon at the moment - while I type this my hand candied pecans are baking in the oven, and I am trying to figure out where to put the borrowed behemoth of a Kitchen Aid (also courtesy of the Ryan sisters as they of course had 2 when they moved in together)

Why do I for see more baking in my future?

Fun Family Holiday Cards

It's that time of year - when people realize the Holidays have begun and it is time for taking family photos for the holidays cards.

Scooby was such a good little model. His owners were fully prepared for him to be a menace for the shoot - but in reality - other then the bow - I think he really enjoyed himself and acted like a professional dog model!

Family Matters

So on Friday I did a photo shoot of the largest family I have worked with to date.

Always a challenge to work with more then a few people and when you add in all the children and a 10 month old baby - wow! Almost 100 shots to get a handful where the MAJORITY (never all) of them are looking at the camera. However "perfection" is not all that is important. to me some of my favorite photos don't have every single person looking directly at the camera with perfect smiles pasted on their face. A Family is never perfect - it is full of all sorts of different personalities and my goal is to try and let those individual personalities shine through wherever possible.

I really enjoyed working with this family, but as
always my biggest joy is working with the children. The three girls in red live in my neighborhood and the girls in white are their cousins. The girls know me by sight as I walk by their house with Asher a few times a week, but until the day of the shoot they really had no connection to me. As always with kids - they start off a little shy, a little unsure, and sometimes more then a little annoyed at having to "sit still" and smile for a stranger. When working on family portraits , it is always a challenge to get them to settle in, which is perfectly natural, and also why I love to let them run and play and try to capture them in action. It doesn't take to long before they are having FUN with the whole process and of course those are the moments where the best photos come through.




One of the lovely girls even became my "art director" when it was her idea for them to pose for this next photo.














Some people may not be happy that all 5 girls are not looking at the camera and smiling in perfect unison. But as I said - that isn't family, that isn't life. Instead the natural beauty of all of their individual personalities shines through in this, and I believe that is what makes a photo special.

To me it is important to let the kids feel involved and when they come up with ideas or poses I always go for it, because the more fun they are having the bigger the smiles. The bigger the smiles the more genuine and beautiful the photos turn out. Natural life, my favorite way to capture such beautiful children.