What makes you happy?

Can I ask you a question? It's a bit personal.

What is it that honest to god, one hundred percent, makes you happy?

It's not easy, is it? But I bet a few things come to mind. And they might even surprise you.

I had the loveliest day recently. A day where I shirked all obligations (ok, not all but most) and I just hung out with Evan all day. We didn't do anything special. We went grocery shopping, cleaned the house, made dinner together, and  . . . that's it. And it was so amazing. I've realized that I have a tendency to fill up my calendar, and that's great. I love all the things I'm going out and doing, especially if they're photography related. But sometimes it's just perfect to be with the person you love, and no one else. And do nothing special.

Ice cream makes me happy too sometimes. If it's really, really good ice cream.

Tomorrow a whole heap of people are coming to my house to bake cookies and be merry and drink some wine. I'm really looking forward to it, because it will make me happy too. I need both - the time to be a hermit, and then the time to be a social butterfly. And really, don't we all?

Second Shooting - With Kali Kraum

This post is LONG overdue. I was lucky enough to get a chance to second shoot a wedding with Kali Kraum, who is an amazing San Francisco wedding photographer. The only thing is, it was in September. And it's December now. Oops!

But it was a great experience, and it was so wonderful to work alongside Kali. She's an amazing woman, and a fabulous photographer.

I was lucky enough to start the day with the groomsmen. They were a bunch of really wonderful guys.

That's Chris, the groom, in the center. He was great, and seemed just thrilled to marry the love of his life, Teresa. 

They chose the Sir Francis Drake in the middle of downtown San Francisco. It was a great location, and of course, the doorman didn't disappoint!

Got to get some cable car action in SF!

Meanwhile, the girls were getting ready . . .

The flower girls were just precious.

Isn't Teresa gorgeous?

The reception lighting was so fun! A different color every minute. 

And then the dancing got kind of crazy at the end of the night!

Thanks again Kali for letting me come second shoot with you! It was a really great experience.

*To see Kali's blog post about Chris and Teresa's wedding, click here.*

Gift Idea Resources

I wonder what he's getting HER for Christmas

If you're together, you'll have your Christmas/Hanukah/Winter Solstice shopping well in hand by now. But if you're like me, well, you might find yourself staring blankly at your shopping list hoping some divine inspiration strikes.

If that's the case, you might want to visit a few of these links.

Less stuff-related gifts, consumables are always a nice idea. I enjoyed the take on SHU box blog. Yes, get someone a llama! Or you could always go the Zen Habits route and buy no gifts at all . . .

If you're like me, and not quite ready to give up gifting, and you just want to find something small and beautiful for someone in your life, you could do worse than looking through this online gift magazine, courtesy of  Creature Comforts.

If you know someone who loves the Princess Bride, this iPhone case is a no-brainer. Almost makes me want to buy an iPhone 4 just so I could use the case. "Anybody want a peanut?"

If, like so many of us, you know a few nerds, Behance has a nerd gift list that seemed kind of fun.

Of course, education always seems like a justifiable gift. I'm sure the photographer in your life would appreciate a trip to CreativeLIVE, especially if you took advantage of their year-end sale. I'm just saying.

And there's a new photography bag on the market that looks like it might, in fact hold everything. Finally!

And I have to admit, these camera cookie cutters, while admittedly not very practical, look too cute to resist!

Happy shopping, everyone!

Kelly, I'm Sorry

I was running late on my way over to Oakland last Saturday morning when I realized I had a decision to make: arrive on time or even early but bleary-eyed as well, or take a chance and pop into the Starbucks near the BART station and run the risk of being a few moments behind schedule.

If you've ever met me in the morning before I've had my coffee, you know what I did. It's self preservation, is what it is.

Starbucks was jam packed. Seven-day-a-week business people crowded in front of me, rattling off orders half a mile long. A mother with her children in a stroller promised hot chocolate to quiet her brood. An aging hippie asked me the time, and the baristas were foaming, frothing, and steaming as if their lives depended on it.

I got my order in: a tall lowfat latte, whole wheat bagel and some cream cheese. I gave them my name, and waited to be called. A bit impatiently at this point, I was really flirting with completely upsetting my entire timetable. Finally they called my order. I grabbed it, ran down into the station, and hopped on the next train. Just in time!

I think it was in the transbay tunnel that I finally relaxed enough to look down at my coffee and think to myself, "Why would anyone ever order a grande? A tall is super big." I perused my cup. And that's when I saw it: Kelly, written there plain as day. Kelly, who ordered a grande, nonfat latte. And whose coffee I had stolen.

I sincerely hope they made her another one.

Kelly, I don't know if it means much, but I'm sorry.

New Promotional Materials!

For Cyber Monday moo.com had a site wide discount of 30% off. If you don't know moo, you should. They are the ones responsible for the addictive tiny business cards and the super cool concept of 'printfinity' (meaning you can order a pack of 20 cards, and each one can have a different image - catnip for photographers, in other words).

And man, did I ever take advantage of the discount. I think I made like a bazillion promotional postcards to send out to people. Here are some of the fronts of the cards. I think they turned out pretty well, and I can't wait to see them in person, especially since I know how gorgeously their postcards have printed out in the past!

I also bought some of their pretty gold envelopes to send the postcards out in. I know, is an envelope for a postcard really necessary? I say yes! Why not?

If you're interested in trying moo, why not use this link? They'll give me a couple cents toward a future purchase if you buy something, and you won't pay any more than you would have already.

State of the Blog, Part 2

Click to view larger.

First of all, I'd like to thank everyone profusely who took the time to do the survey on the blog last week. I'd like especially to thank those who commented in depth or emailed me because they didn't simply want to check a box and call it done.

I've said it before, but I'll say it again: this blog would be nothing without its readers. I appreciate all of you so much. Thanks for putting up with me!

So, what did the survey tell me? Well, it told me that quite a few people don't really care whether I post religiously every day. And it also told me that most would prefer that I talk about photography on the blog, which is hardly surprising. I really have been meaning to do more posts about gear, technique, post processing, and all of that, but I just haven't made the time to really sit down and do that well. So I'll be sure to put that on the list for the future.

Interestingly enough, the second largest group of responders didn't care what I post about. I'm going to take a wild guess and venture to say that those seven people were probably family and friends. Still, thanks for the unconditional support, guys!

So, what's going to change? Well, not too much. I'll probably cut down to five posts a week, give or take one depending on the week. That just seems eminently more manageable. I'm not saying I will NEVER post on weekends, just that I'll now view it as optional. I'm also going to make a concerted effort to increase the quality of the posts, even though that's rather hard to measure. And I'll try harder to talk about photography in all its forms.

Anyway, once again, thank you so much for all of your feedback. It's so nice to feel like I'm not shouting just to hear the echoes of my own voice!