Oh hey, I was published!

Mostly by chance, though. Here's the story.

Husband takes Wife on surprise just-because weekend to San Diego. Wife brings camera. Husband takes Wife bowling at a super cool sports bar slash bowling alley, also known as East Village Tavern & Bowl. Wife takes sweet photo of the lane, which has a light casting a cool skull and cross-pins on the boards. Husband and Wife return to Orange County after a fun weekend. Wife edits and uploads photos to the interwebs. (Have you figured out that I'm the wife in this story? I sure hope so.) Lady from AAA's Westways magazine, I assume, Googled "East Village Tavern and Bowl" to find a photo for her article. Lady finds super sweet photo and contacts Wife about using said sweet photo in an up-coming issue to the tune of 10,000 pennies. Wife says "Hellzyeah!"

And so, I was published in Westways' June 2011 issue and had an extra hundy in my pocket. Cool!

Said sweet photo.

Published!

Early Ellison Christmas - Orange County Family Photographer

This past weekend, my mother and father in law flew in from Myrtle Beach for our second Early Ellison Christmas since their moving to the East Coast. We spent 4 days with them and my husbands two brothers and their significant others. This, however, was the only day that I took photos. Sometimes it's just easier to not worry about documenting everything.

It wouldn't be a SoCal Christmas without a trip to the beach, right? Well, at least for those of us who are transplants and like to show off to their family in colder climates. On this day we took a short trip to Laguna Beach to visit Shaw's Cove. I'm glad I did manage to drag my camera along, because I got some great family shots that I'm hoping to frame.

We all like to take pictures.

Pat and Sara (of Sara Ellison Photography!)

Mike and Renata

Tom and Chris

The Boys

The Girls

A Walk in the Park

The other day I was feeling the need to pick up my camera. After a few minutes of annoying my pets, I decided to walk over to the park near my house. Here are a few shots I nabbed that day.

Oh hi, Mr. Mantis!

Clever Beach-Related Title

So Jamie and I decided to get out of the house last weekend. Well, Jamie decided. I was happy to lay on the couch and watch our shows... but he talked me into getting out of the house and it was a good idea. We weren't sure where we were going, but like most weekend afternoon adventures we take, we ended up at a beach. More specifically, Reef Point at Crystal Cove State Park. It was a great day to wander the beach and take photos of all the sandpipers and gulls.

My handsome husband.

Dad's Strong Box

My dad had a strong box where he kept old things that were important to him. It's basically a box of memories that lived in the closet. One of my favorite things to do with my dad was to sift through those things and hear the stories he had for all of them. On my recent trip home, my mom and I pulled out the strong box and looked through it, and I decided to document a few of the things we found.

Dad liked pocket knives.

My brother's first arrest in Kindergarten. (Just kidding!)

That's Dad on the left, pretending to hammer.

Dad did archaeological work with a junior college while he was in the Air Force.

"To the hansumist airman in the Air Force"

My dad and most of his siblings.

"How do you like the Browns this year? They sure are getting off to a bad start."

In the box, my dad had a stack of letters that he had written home over his few years in the Air Force. This is one of them. It's a very typical sentiment for any Cleveland Browns fan. I thought it amusing. Given the kinds of things that my dad saved over the years, it's no wonder where I get my nostalgic side from. It likely has directly contributed to my strong urge to document everything I do, so because of that, I thank my dad for his indirect inspiration.

15 Minute Quick Shoot - Ladera Ranch Portrait Photographer

When we moved into the current condo we live in a little over a year ago, we noticed that our neighbors behind us were young and kid-less. We were stoked about this as it is really difficult to find late 20-somethings without kids to hang out with in Ladera Ranch. Unfortunately, we were too shy to go over and introduce ourselves. Luckily for us, our sister in law is not too shy. On a night where we were in our kitchen having some drinks, we noticed that our neighbors, Tim and Clare, were in their kitchen having drinks. It was then that my not-shy sister in law, Sara (of Sara Ellison Photography!), ran over and knocked on their door. Thankfully, this went over well instead of creeping them out. (Their garage was featured in this post!)

Fast forward! Clare wanted to get their Christmas card photo out of the way and asked if I could take a couple shots before they headed off to a wedding, since they were all dressed up, and here are my two favorite shots.

A Day at the Races and Ziggy Marley

My husband and I recently spent a day with a couple friends of ours at Del Mar Race Track. We watched and bet on races, drank beer, then stayed for the Ziggy Marley show. These photos are evidence of those. :)

Throw together some quick caprese!

They sell grown up sippy cups at the race track.

Come early and get good seats for the show.

Uh Oh Bango was a loser.

Waiting.

I took a photo of a guy taking a photo.