memories are made of this

If you know me well enough you'll know that i sort of have this fetish. I'm not exactly sure why, or where it came from. It might have been passed down, or maybe it was just something I grew to love. This fetish, well, it started a long time ago...I'm not sure exactly when. Maybe when I became fond of the camera. Are you curious yet? Well, I'll tell you. It's a fetish for photo's. No, not taking photo's, but going through old family photo's. Maybe it's because I am a photographer and i see more to a photo than just a flat 2D image. I see a story. Something about this intrigues me. And when i find a box of undiscovered, old family photo's...well, i go a little crazy.

This weekend we helped my grandparents move to an assisted living apartment and as everyone was starting to relax from a long day of moving, I found a stack of photo albums that i didn't know exsisted. So of course, I started to go through some of their old photo's. Let me tell you, I was like a kid in a candy store. I just can't help myself. I took a few home with me (We hardly have any old family photos in our home). I plan on filling our hallway with old black and white photo's of both of our families.

I've always wondered what my parents or grandparents were like when they were younger, so maybe it's a little like time traveling to me. I feel like, just for a second, that I was there with them. Sometimes I like to imagine what was going on right before the picture was taken, or why the picture was taken on that particular day. It's like I can enjoy the special moments with them, like getting their first haircut, or their wedding day. I feel it's a way to get to know them better.

Well here are a few of my favorites...I hope you enjoy them as much as I did.

my Dad on his wedding day standing in front of my grandpa's T-bird

(that i took pictures of last weekend...more on that later)
my mom at her bridal shower
My dad's first haircut (his Uncle Stino was a Barber)
My dad's Self Portrait
Nee Nee ( her dad was a photographer as well, he took this of her in his Studio)

An early (trick or) treat

Yup, we carved pumpkins last night. We usually don't go for the templates, because that would just be wrong. I mean we didn't go to art school just so we could use templates. This year we went for the classic Jack O' Lantern (with a twist). We usually try to match our pumpkins with our costumes, but this year it is a surprise (shhh, don't tell mom.), so we didn't want to spoil the surprise.

What do you like to do with your pumpkins each year? Is it always different? Do you use the templates (it's ok, we won't tell.)? Or do you do something completely crazy? Please do tell. :)

So, can you guess whose is whose?

our first visitor

This weekend we had our first visitor in our new house. Chris' mom came to town and stayed with us for the weekend. It was a short visit, but we had a really good time. We don't have a guest bedroom so we let her sleep in our bed and we took the air mattress. It was a good thing too, because the air mattress had a leak and we were laying on the floor by the middle of the night...not exactly the way you want your first guest, let alone any of your guests to sleep. Besides that, we all had a pretty fun and relaxing weekend. Hopefully Rhonda had as much fun as we did. :) Here are a few photo's from the weekend. Enjoy!

we made brownies from scratch...Katherine Hepburn's recipe is the best!

Rhonda helped us make the Magee-Jenks famous Chile

we went on a walk around the neighborhood...cameras in tow of course

saying goodbye :(

keep 'em coming...please :)

...photo shoots, that is. I did another one this weekend, at the pumpkin patch again. That place is perfect for photo taking. I had so much fun with this cute little family, they crack me up. Plus their kids are so well behaved and have the cutest personalities. So here are some of my faves. enjoy!

practice, practice, practice...

...is what I've been doing the past few weekends. I've had my first 4 photo shoots, and so far, so good.

The first one didn't go as well as I had hoped...I gave the kids a little too much free reign...and everyone knows what happens when you tell kids to do whatever they want...they DO.I admit, I was a little nervous. I've been getting familiar with the camera since as long as I can remember, but as soon as someone gives you two hours and wants a bunch of good photo's, the pressure is on. So I froze a little and wasn't sure exactly what to do...especially since I'm not the 'sit here and tilt your head this way' sorta photographer. So there was a fine line between "posing" and running around like banshees. But I offered them a first time costumer second try and honestly, it went A LOT better. Especially since I had two photo shoots in between to get more comfortable. So here is a little sneak peak of what I've been doing for the past couple of weekends. There's still a WHOLE LOT to learn...slowly but surely I'll get there.

pondering...

...chopping it off. What do you think?

goodbye 26...

Hello 27!

O.K. It's really not that exciting...it's kinda scary...it's getting closer to, you know....30. YIKES! Oh well, someone thought I was younger than 15 this weekend, so I can't complain. Here's to a wonderful year of 27! yay!!

Look what Chris gave me (so exciting!)

Oh Alicia, i want to be you when i grow up.