"Even a broken clock is right twice a day."

I love that quote! So funny how we as people strive to perfection. This weekend at David Jay's he also stated that if we strive to understand the why and not the how we will never be failing. We will always have a success because we will be always be learning.

Sometimes we get so caught up in what others think what is right and we don't just go with it ... I say GO WITH IT! Follow your heart or your gut and you will always be right.

freedom

I feel like I'm in 4th grade again and it's the night before school starts! I'm so excited! I'm sure it will be a sleepless night! Not to mention my 3 year old will most likely crawl into our bed at 2 p.m.!!!

Tomorrow I'm heading to Santa Barbara to hang with 10 totally awesome photographers and David Jay , who is our gracious host and who I admire so greatly not only for great photography but most importantly to me, his attitude and generosity towards life and other photographers. I heard DJ speak two years ago at a Pictage event and I was so impressed with his philosophy about helping others ... you know when you hear something and it strikes something in you that just resonates and you are like ... RIGHT ON, YES! That was a moment in my photography career and life I shall not forget, it just made so much sense and since then I've made it my practice to live by the words he spoke ... to help others in our industry and the example he gave of how it takes so much effort to be negative and so little to be positive and help others and help them up. So so awesome! It truly is wonderful how blessed you are when you are interested in those around you. Interested in helping them succeed ... not just in yourself.

I can't wait to get to Santa Barbara and once I return home to share my experience. Stay tuned ...

sunrise

Yesterday I met Bill and Julie and their beautiful girls. They are so awesome. They shared the story of bringing the girls home in the van and I could just imagine their journey. I left their home with such a warm feeling and such a joy for the little ones that bless our lives. I love getting to be a part of capturing the love that my friends have between them. It moves me and makes me wake up each day feeling renewed and happy. Each sunrise I'm thankful for. Enjoy the slide show below.

Jase 6 Months

It is such a blessing to get to be a part of my clients lives and watch their little ones grow! This is Jase ... I met Jase 6 months ago when he was just a little new born and now he is growing like a weed! He is so cute! His little tongue was crazy and it cracked me up the whole shoot ... I think he is for sure getting some new teeth! Too cute!

love

I'm in love! I feel in love this afternoon when I opened my new 20x20 canvas wrap of my favorite photograph of Isabel! I can not wait to get it on the wall! I'm sharing this because I so rarely print large items of my own kids ... I usually print things for clients and love them but I don't usually get things for my own walls ... I was brought to tears my friends, it was so awesome! This is the photo that I used ...


I took this one afternoon when I stopped by a local park to get their wiggles out ... they were driving me crazy so I thought I better let them run it at and like every good photographer I had my camera so I snapped some pics and didn't think much of it. I'm so glad I got this picture ... it captures her so well and the wispy hair ... oh! I LOVE it!

The All Important ...

Spell Check!

All RIGHT! It is true ... I am a terrible speller and those of you who love me dearly have let me know that it is no longer acceptable ... so from this day forward if you loved ones shall find a spelling error on my website and/or blog you will get a prize! I'm not sure what it is just yet because I have to be able to live up to it! But I do promise that it will be a good prize.

Thank you guys for your keen eyes and your love and support! You ROCK!

p.s. I'm not including grammar in this ... a girl can't change everything over night!!!

wine and weddings

Last night was a total blast! A group of us gals got together and brought out wedding dresses and albums and had fun guessing whose dress was whose and laughing, ohing & ahing over each others photos ... and of coarse no gathering would be complete without great food and wine!

Here are some shots of the dresses ...



Here is my dress ... I didn't get a picture of it at my own wedding when it was just hanging there ... so it was fun to grab this one!

Here everyone had written either a romantic or a funny story about their wedding day ... from bees in dresses ... to getting that fabulous tiffany wedding band .. the stories brought belly laughs and tears ... it awesome!

Checking out some great photos ... someone event brought the album from their first wedding ... what a hoot!


I just love this picture of Jenn ... so cute!



Buster had had enough! Cute little guy!

Thanks for a great night Kristen ... can't wait till the next event!

I had to share these! I've really been trying to take more photos of my own kids ... I do grab them here and there ... but not as much as I would like ... so I grabbed this one of Miss. Izzie when she was brushing her teeth ... at 5 ... she was none too happy with me! So funny!

Then Mr. Mason ... oh my gosh this is cute! Nannie got him this faux Thomas the Train razer and of coarse it was ripped from the box and opened right away for the first bath after our get together! I snapped some pics ... who could resist!


He looks so grown ... makes a mommy sad!

Chuck E. Cheese

Oh Yeah! That's right ... Chuck E. Cheese! Today Isabel, Mason and I met my mom and my sister Leasa's little girls at Chuck E. Cheese for a little carbs and dare I say relaxation! It was fun. I even got my picture with the famous himself ... okay ... so it was a plastic version ... it was still fun to ride the car and my mom peaked in the pic too! Now, don't judge on the pic's they were taken with greesy fingers, chasing 4 kids under 5 and all while I was trying to get the most tickets ... and with the iphone! Craziness!

Inspiration

I'm a quote junky! I love inspirational quotes and I have a habit of saving them in this crazy file and then pulling them out when I need 'em. Not so long ago I left a 9 to 5 job that had me pulling into that file on almost a daily basis ... I remember sticking one of those quotes along with something my neighbor told me on my monitor ... What my neighbor said to me that made me really smile inside was "I like the way you do life" WOW! I just loved hearing those words ... so once we were done being friendly outside I wrote them down in my notebook and on a sticky for the monitor ... I then added it to the quote on the monitor already that read ...

"Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up." ~Thomas A. Edison

I kept that quote up there because my goal was to be a full time photographer.

Last night I was going through a box of files and my quote fell out ... wow ... I am now a full time photographer and I still love those words .. .but seeing them again really made me think and reflect on how if we stick to our dreams we can achieve them and then have even more dreams.

Never give up! No matter what the trail is ... no matter what ... if you believe ... you CAN!

I posted this picture of my buddy Peyton because I just love it ... we did the shoot at Standford ... Peyton is 6 and wants to goto Standford and I tell you friends ... If I were a woman who bet ... i would make the sure bet that he will indeed do it .. I love Peyton's spirit ... he is full of life and every time I photograph him I laugh and run and laugh some more!!! I love Peyton! His mom totally ROCKs too not to mention the rest of the fam ... but truth be told ... Peyton cracks me up the most ... I love the way he does life!

Newsletter

Finally! After too long we've finally launched our Newsletter. If you would like to sign up feel free at the link below.

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It is interesting ... I've had this conversation with about 5 friends in the last few days ... why is it that we know what makes us feel good and keep us happy and healthy but we don't do it. The things that are the most important to us, Spiritual Things, Exercise and Eating Healthy are the things that we give up first or we seem to not have the time to do. It seems we put off ourselves to do the unimportant things, that seem oh so important at the time and then the important things, the truly important things, suffer the most...our relationships, our health both physical and emotional. It's craziness.

I told each of my friends, relax, take some time out for yourselves, pour a glass of wine, take a bath, get back in touch with your spiritual needs, exercise ... and then I thought ... "hey there Ms. Penny, you need to heed your own advice!" So last night I did because I was really getting into a funk and I have to tell you that today I woke up and felt like myself again. It was great!! It is amazing what a hot bath, good wine, good ready and a little reflection and goal setting can do for oneself!

Balance. It truly is key. I didn't make it to the gym today ... but I did think about it and promised to make it there tomorrow.

Cool

Penny Lane ... How cool!

I got to hang out with Jacob and Aruba recently ... oh yes, and their parents! I so enjoy visiting them. I tell you I have the best clients! I'm so blessed to be able to photograph families as they grow ... it's awesome! This was Jacobs one year session and here are a few of my fav's. I always take pictures of Aruba when i visit ... I'm in love with Arubadouge! Oh yes, and of coarse Jacob! ;-)

A special project benefiting Make A Wish

It is with great excitement that I'm announcing an awesome project that I launch this year ... Penny for their thoughts ... it is a special project benefiting Make-A-Wish in honor of their 25th anniversary I'm offering a limited number of sessions for an exclusive coffee table book. 100% of the session fee goes to Make-A-Wish. For your donation those participating will receive a copy of the limited edition book once it is published and an images of your child will be featured in the book on behalf of your donation to Make-A-Wish.

The session fee which is normally $200 is $100 for 1/2 hour session for this project and again 100% of that session fee goes to Make-A-Wish!

Make-A-Wish has always touched my heart. When I met with them to get the ok for the project Debbie was telling me about the stories of wishes for different ones and my eyes just welled with joy and I truly feel honored to be able to be a part of such an awesome thing.

This evening I visited Maren and Jason to grab a family portrait for them. Marens grandpa recently turned 87! He is amazing. I always enjoy seeing him and spending time with their family.

This evening I grabbed these two photos ... and I just had to share them. They were off to Fats for dinner ... soooo good!

Two years ago I had the wonderful opportunity of photographing Vinnie and his mom at the park. Vinnie was so darn cute! He captured my heart instantly! I'm a total sucker for dark eyes, long lashes and curly hair! I never forgot little Vinnie ... he was just too cute! Recently I had the pleasure of photographing his beautiful sister ... just 9 days old. Sophia is such a sweetie! Here are a few images that I just love.

Today I got to meet with Renee of RGPhotography and what a sweetie! She loves photography and enjoys photographing little ones ... so you can image we had lots to chat about! We met where any serious momprenurer would meet when bringing a combined 4 mini assistants (aka kids) ... McDonalds, of coarse! In silly Penny fashion I busted out the camera to take grab a snapshot of us ... notice that Mason avoided the picture entirely ... he was even on my lap but made it a point to lean out of the image ... silly guy!

Hot Mamma!

Hot off the presses! I just got the new KidAround and the cover and feature spread I shot with Jada turned out so Hot I have to share!!! Moms truly are sexy!