I've seen these little cartoon characters popping up all over Flickr. So I decided to put off doing housework and make my own. I think it's pretty darn accurate. :D What do you think?
Go make your own at Face Your Manga. It's fun. :)
I've seen these little cartoon characters popping up all over Flickr. So I decided to put off doing housework and make my own. I think it's pretty darn accurate. :D What do you think?
Go make your own at Face Your Manga. It's fun. :)
My 08.08.08 wedding was an absolute blast! I had so much fun with this couple, the wedding party, and their friends and family. It was an intimate wedding up in Gainesville, and the bride and groom are just two of the nicest people I've ever met. They are all a bunch of goofballs too, so I fit right in. :D
This is actually the first wedding I've ever shot completely solo, and I was feeling it the next day. My back was KILLING me. I think I'm getting too old for this stuff. :D
Anyway, I posted tons of photos over on my Eclectic Photo blog, and I hope you'll go take a peek. :) I also hope you all had a great weekend!
One of my favorite shots from the night...
I was driving home from my 08.08.08 wedding when I decided to turn on the radio to keep me awake. It was about 11:30, and I was beat...and it was a long drive home.
I am so out of the music loop these days it isn't even funny. But I heard a vaguely familiar tune come on the radio, so I turned up the volume to listen.
It was "Free Fallin" only it wasn't Tom Petty's unique voice or even his melody. It was different but distinct, and it took me a while to place the sound. Only I wasn't able to figure it out with certainty so I had to check iTunes first thing this morning to decide the debate I was having with myself. lol
The funny thing is, now that I know who covered the song I feel embarrassed to have ever thought it was anyone else. Now it doesn't even sound like the other band, but last night I could not figure it out and it drove me nuts. As I'm sure you all know John Mayer covered the song at a concert in L.A. and the live version is available on iTunes. I love it. Many times an artist will remake a popular song, put their own unique spin on it, and fail miserably in the process. But I love JM's rendition and have happily added it to my current playlist...alongside the Backyardigans, Naked Brothers Band, and numerous other "kid friendly" bands. lol
Do you all know who I thought covered the song at first? I honestly thought it was Dave Matthews Band. The music more so than the voice sounded like DMB, but I really could not figure it out on my own. It was driving me batty too. lol Stupid late night stupors. :D
Anyway, if you're a fan of the original be sure to check out JM's version. It's much more mellow (duh), but he did a great job making it his.
It was a jam-packed weekend, and I'm actually kind of relieved Monday is here. LOL
Friday night my family and I had our family portrait taken by AltF. It was a lot of fun, and I can't wait to see the photos! :)
Saturday was full of family stuff the first half of the day, and then I had a maternity session that afternoon. The studio is not air-conditioned back in the shooting space, so it gets pretty freaking hot in there. The owner is about to bite the bullet and have one installed, and I have to tell you...I cannot WAIT. He currently has one of those fans that cools water and blows it into the space, but all it does it add to the humidity back there. Blech.
Anyway, my summer sessions tend to be rather short because it's just miserable back there. But this mom-to-be was a total trooper and didn't mind the heat for the most part. We were there for a little over two hours, and she really put me to work! :D It was fun despite the heat, and I got a lot of photos I love. Most of them aren't safe for work, though, so I can't post them. But I do love the way this one turned out:
I cannot believe school starts in a week! I'm looking forward to some quiet time during the day, but I am NOT looking forward to waking up at 6am again. Yuck. :P
I honestly cannot remember if I blogged about this here on Vox, so if I'm repeating myself I apologize. lol
Dalisa and John Michael from AltF are traveling across country on their Very AltF tour. I have no doubt these workshops are amazing, and I wish I had been able to attend the one in Atlanta. I was, however, very fortunate since my family and I were one of the local families selected for the Pay It Forward family portrait project.
In addition to traveling all over the place teaching other photographers the secrets behind his amazing photography, JMC has also decided to donate family portraits to lucky photographers and their families. We all had to send in an email to Dalisa pleading our case, and they have selected a few different families at each stop. The only catch is that the selected photographers have turn pay it forward by photographing another local photographer and his/her family. What a neat idea. :)
So my family portrait was last night down in Decatur outside Zack Arias' studio. It was short and sweet, and I cannot wait to see the results. I had all kinds of plans for our portrait, of course, and none of them really panned out, of course. LOL
I bought a couple different cute outfits for Kaelin and refused to even try them on. The girl was in full stubborn mode and would not put on anything except her pajamas. Ok, I can handle that. It's who she is, right?
Kieran decided his "personal" object would be his Gator football helmet. It's not really a bad choice but you can't really SEE his face when he puts it on. lol
It was quite warm and toasty out, so I'm hoping JMC will show me a little Photoshop love and tone down the shiny happiness that was my face. LOL I have no doubt his photos will be true depictions of my family and who they/we really are. :)
Our photos aren't posted yet (of course), but be sure to visit JMC's blog to see some of the other portraits:
And I'm still looking for a local photographer to participate in the project, so if you'd like to have a family portrait taken please let me know!
I didn't get a chance to take many photos last night, but here are a few. They were a fun bunch, and I'm really glad I got to participate in this project. :)
I had a mini-maternity session this afternoon, so I took the kids to the studio with me. Since we were there I decided to snap a few photos of them. They're being goofy in 99.9% of the shots, but this one is actually kind of cute. Kieran's smile is fake, but at least he's trying to smile and not stick his fingers up his nose. LOL
I really need to get them in the studio for some real portraits. They are both growing up entirely too fast!
Yesterday was actually a pretty mild summer day here in Georgia. Which was nice since I had an outdoor engagement session. lol
The session was up in Gainesville, Georgia and it was with my 08.08.08 couple. They are incredibly sweet people and I have no doubt we're going to have a great time at their wedding. We were supposed to get together for their session last week, but the weather was lousy at best. So I met them at their church yesterday and the weather was just beautiful.
My neighbor and I have been trying to get together for a while now so I could set up another session for her little girl. We were finally able to schedule it for today, but I'm afraid the weather was a little uncooperative. The light was kind of touch and go with the thunderstorms, but I was still able to get some really sweet photos of her. She's almost six months old now. The last time I photographed her she was only four days old!
Here are a couple I really like:
Except I can't insert them for some reason...
I was importing my credit card and bank statements into QuickBooks when I noticed a charge I didn't recognize. The merchant was SYS INC and the amount was $9.10. I logged in to Bank of America so I could review the charge, but it only listed the merchant as a Stationary, Office & School Supply store. There was no phone number or other identifying information.
I do quite a bit online shopping, but this was my business Visa card so the charge really bothered me. When I checked the date of the transaction it occurred on the day I went to Six Flags for the first time. I know I didn't use my business card that day.
A friend of mine worked some Google magic and found an online forum where people were complaining about this company and its fraudulent charges. Apparently the scam usually involves a phone call first, but I never received one. Charges were always the same, too...either $9.05 or $9.10 (my charge). Sometimes a phone number appears on the statement, but no one ever answers...it's just a generic voice mail message telling the caller to leave a message. The recording doesn't even mention a company name. The number, in case you're curious, is 866-529-6539.
I was able to call Bank of America and have the charge removed without any issue, but now it makes me wonder how SYS INC got my credit card info to begin with. So, please be sure to carefully check your statements. If you see a charge from SYS INC in the amount of $9.10 or $9.05 go ahead and file a dispute with your credit card immediately.
I was about to just ignore the charge and chalk it up to me being forgetful. My guess is SYS INC counts on this very thing. There were probably hundreds of complaints in that forum thread, and there's no telling how many people have been suckered without realizing it.
As you all know by now, my niece (Julia) is spending some time up here in Atlanta with us for her summer vacation. Well, yesterday was her 8th birthday, and it was the first actual birthday she spent away from her family. So we tried really hard to make it extra special. :)
The day started off early with tennis camp, and we were going to head straight to the pool afterwards. It didn't open for an hour, though, so we headed home to regroup and plan the rest of the day. The birthday girl decided she wanted to go to Monkey Joe's to jump around for a while, so we packed up and headed over there so the kids could jump themselves silly for a few hours.
Afterwards we stopped by my sister's salon so Julia could be transformed into a Hannah Montana rockstar:
Yes, we got permission from her parents first and it's only temporary color so it'll fade before school starts. But she was so excited to get a pink streak put in her hair! Kieran wanted a green one. :-D
I had to finish up some work stuff and get cleaned up, so I took the kids home to chill for a bit before we met Tricia at Benihana's for dinner. Julia loves sushi, and hibachi is always fun for a birthday. We were a little disappointed with the lack of tricks and fanfare during the cooking (no fire??? no onion volcano??), but they made up for it with the birthday balloon hat:
Julia is just so cute and so cooperative about pictures! She's obviously not one of MY kids. :D
I think she had a great birthday, and I think it helped her not be too sad that her family wasn't around to celebrate with her. There were lots of phone calls to Florida, though, so they were here in spirit. :)
More photos from the day: