Snippets from Suburbia

Happy Saturday!

Allison — Sat, 18 May 2013 15:09:04 +0000

The school year is winding down here and both my kids and I have been busy with lots of extra things going on. We’re all ready for summer, for sure!

Sasha is feeling right at home. As I type this, my husband is off to grab some breakfast for us and both dogs are in the back of the Jeep with the top down. I’d say they have very little to complain about!

Molly sees Sasha as more of a mother, I think. It’s kind of an interesting dynamic. She’s still a spaz.

We’ve been doing some work in the garage to make it ready for a new car. It’s time. My Honda Accord has 110,000 miles on it, and it needs some major work, so we’re deciding still what to do – fix the Honda or buy something new – and if it’s something new, I want to park in the garage, which isn’t possible at this point (two car garage and too much ‘stuff’). So that’s been a fun weekend project that has spanned many weekends. It’s a good thing we have a refrigerator out there with beer and pretty setting sun light…

I took this nifty little self portrait which was done with a Lensbaby, and as a result, was very kind to my wrinkles ;)

I went through a couple more pictures of our weekend away at our friends’ house several weeks ago. I took too many pictures. This is always my problem.

When we got there, Avery heard a kitten meowing (they had gotten on the day before and we weren’t aware) — and said, “It’s too good to be true!” That poor little kitten didn’t walk on his own much that weekend…

All these toys and the cardboard box was the best one of all…

Just a couple portrait type photos of my girls :) They are getting so big and so wise and so much like teenagers that occasionally talk back. Sigh…

A little stab at an idea I’ve seen before…

And who could forget the Dom. He’s the one who is truly in charge of this household.

Hope all of you out there reading this are having a great weekend so far :)

The shabby chic wedding of K + C

Allison — Sat, 04 May 2013 19:39:02 +0000

What a lovely wedding to photograph :) It was tough to pare down and share only a few because it was such a pretty wedding! This was held at the Burrage Mansion in Redlands, CA. Such a gorgeous place to get married!

This makes me laugh…

Allison — Thu, 02 May 2013 04:44:05 +0000

Netflix really knows my husband well. Right down to the suggestion of THREE different Tinkerbell movies.

Can you tell who rules the Netflix in our house? HAHAH

You know what happens…

Allison — Thu, 02 May 2013 04:21:18 +0000

…when you don’t post on your blog for two weeks? Well, only two things here. I got 11 spam replies to posts I’ve made, and one friend who asked when I was going to get off of my behind and post something. So, all in all, not much happens ;)

I have a bonafide excuse. I’ve been busy! I shot a wedding and have been slowly editing those photos. We adopted another dog, too. Let me tell you, it’s a lot like going from one child to two. It’s double the work. So now I have two children AND two dogs. That’s a lot of responsibility that I brought upon myself voluntarily ;)

I’ve still been clicking away here and there, but with this wedding I’m editing, I don’t have much gusto for going out and shooting my own stuff. I’ll get there eventually!

Add that to my failed harddrive and it was just a crappy month of April. Or a busy one. Or both.

So, first things first, here’s Sasha. We rescued her from the animal shelter and she’s been here for a week today :) She’s such a dope, which makes me love her all the more.

We had a family sleepover (after having a Girl Scout sleepover the night prior) and it was more or less one crazy moment after another with lots of children and animals and adults who were all starved for some much needed family-friendly(ish) fun…

This little guy was pretty popular on Flickr one day — #7 for the day! And yes, after being on Flickr for this many years, I still get a little excited when my photo makes Explore :)

And then my sorority sisters and I had an adventurous day in my town one Saturday that allowed me to photograph this parking garage that I’ve been wondering how I could get access to when it’s empty for many, many years. Too bad I wasn’t really prepared for it… but, at least I had my d300 with me that day…

I woke up early to take this very important picture of discarded fruit in my backyard one Saturday (I think it was a Saturday)

There was this one night where my husband and I went for a date. One of our favorite places and occasions (the Palm Springs Market Night, love it!)

And I paid this dude $2 to take his picture…

On the occasion of Avery’s 8 1/2th birthday (yes, I know 1/2th is not a real number)

Pre new dog times:

I walked through mud in flip flops for this, and I’m not even really sure it was worth it:

The harddrive from my computer that got swapped out. So far so good on the new one that is in there…

So, that’s it. I wonder often who visits here, and then I realize at least ONE friend asked why I had nothing new, so I guess that’s reason enough to make sure I post more often!

One Tree Project

Allison — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 05:16:30 +0000

Sharing this from Flickr, where the compression rate is really frustrating me, but it is what it is… this is the little project I’m doing for this year. Just an occasional shot of this tree, purposely at different times of day, in different weather and seasons. So far it’s keeping me interested without totally consuming my brain :)

Macro Attempts :)

Allison — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 00:28:23 +0000

I have owned a macro lens for several years, and have never once felt like I got an excellent macro capture with the dumb thing. I can’t figure out if it’s me, my lens, or my eyesight that sucks. I made it a personal goal to get better, though. Here are a few shots from the last couple of weeks where I was trying to be creative, but also really get a close up that I felt was sharp and detailed. I’m not so sure I’d call any of these GREAT photographs, although the praying mantis composition sure does make me happy :)

Dealing with a hard drive failure over here… sigh

Allison — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 00:19:47 +0000

Fortunately I had my sentimental stuff backed up, but unfortunately I am pretty limited with photography for the time being. I have a new harddrive on the way, and for now, I do have Photoshop loaded onto my laptop, but my laptop is a dinosaur and can’t really handle too many tasks at once. I shoot in RAW so I need software to process my ‘stuff,’ and this has been eye-opening for me as it is very clear that I’m totally obsessed with photography, and I’m JONESING to have my regular old setup back!

Just a few recent photos :)

Beer statistics collection. Important stuff.

Weekend warriors:

The “Mogwai”

Cold morning + hot tea:

Shadow Play:

Occupy the Homework Table:

Hanging in the backyard:

For sale:

Burrage Mansion, Redlands, CA – such a cool place :)

Dog’s eye view:

Bloody Mary Bar complete with Bacon Swizzle Sticks…

Allison — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 01:33:30 +0000

Whatta concept! A friend had a ‘Girls’ Night Out” sort of brunch today, featuring a Bloody Mary bar all set up with lots of different garnishes and concoctions to be made. The best part (to me) was that she commissioned a local dive bar to mix the Bloody Mary mix per their own recipe. It was all just about the most awesome thing ever! A highlight — the bacon swizzle sticks that were available to stir your Bloody Mary with. I mean, come on!

Spring Baby :)

Allison — Tue, 02 Apr 2013 04:48:06 +0000

My friend from work is expecting a baby boy in a few weeks and asked me to take a few shots of her tummy :) She has a teenage daughter, so this really is like starting over for her! So happy for her little family :)

Egg-Decorating :)

Allison — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 16:32:36 +0000

It’s nice that as the girls get older, and want to be more independent, I can trust them to be careful and do things like this responsibly. Although, the very last egg that Ainsley decorated did roll off the table after she painstakingly decorated it with several dips in every color, making different colored stripes along the way… she was pretty disappointed by that, but realized that eggs are somewhat round, and have a tendency to roll… LOL