It's A Girl!!!

Who knew when I asked to shoot this last picture that the first signs of labor would kick in that very morning. It's a good thing I thought to take this then and not wait until closer to her actual due date (July 4th). Being the calm 2nd time mom that she is, we actually met at the beach that day to shoot this and then went and grabbed some lunch. I sat by the phone for another day and a half just waiting for the good news and checking in for updates. At 7:42am Friday morning, I got a text message saying they were finally heading to the hospital after already enduring about 18 hours of smaller contractions every 30 minutes. (Kinda breaks into your sleep schedule at that point, eh?). Approximately 9 hours later on June 29th, at just over 6 lbs, a beautiful baby girl "came out" as her big brother said. I have to tell you, as far as labor and delivery stories goes, this one is the one I hope to emulate when it comes time for me to experience the joys of children. I've never seen a more calm, peaceful, relaxed and confident mother than this one. Dad too though, but he wasn't doing the hard work, so he gets just a little less of the credit. We visited the family in the hospital today and things are wonderful. Two happy parents, one beautiful baby, and the excitement building for the introduction of big brother and new baby sister. I can't wait for our turn!!!

Furry & Round

I have been fortunate enough to borrow a friend's camera for a while. It will ultimately be mine when he buys another "back up" camera for his kit, but until then, it is on loan to me when he is not shooting. It is a Nikon D2H and I love it. It actually makes me shoot more. I am still getting used to it but here are some of my latest.

Venice Reconstituted

So I spent my evening yesterday, during the "Golden Hour" of course, shooting my very dear friend down at the beach. She is due to give birth in the next couple of weeks, and I have become quite fond of photographing my girlfriends in their 8th month. Big round bellies. Beautiful! Anyway, I walk my neighborhood all the time and feel like I am pretty good at taking note of the new things that are happening to it and enjoying the things that have managed to remain untouched. Maybe I am not as aware as I thought because yesterday I noticed a horrible addition to Venice Beach that I feel I am quite sure I would have noticed by now. At the corner of Winward and Speedway there is an iconic mural that was painted in 1989. You have seen is a million times in movies like "La Story" and dozens of TV shows. It is called "Venice Reconstituted" and painted by a local artist named Rip Cronk. (Check out some of his other Venice work here- Rip Cronk.) I remember the first time I saw this mural in a movie. I wanted to know what Venice Beach was all about. When I moved here, it became one of my favorite things to ride my bike past. It IS Venice. Which is why I am so upset at the current condition of it. This "tagging" is new. Within the last month kind of new and it makes me so angry. Have a little respect! The worst part about it is the kids who are tagging it are local Venice kids. They grew up here. I guess I must have come from a different thought process and a different upbringing. You don't destroy that which defines and embraces the area where you grew up. And it's not just murals that are getting tagged. It is getting out of control and getting harder and harder to deal with. I think it is funny that there is so much money coming into this area right now, to the point where even the locals can't afford to live here anymore, yet there is so much more crap coming into the area as as well. Venice Reconstituted.

Mr. Who wants my appointment???

Just a quick note before I let the Darvocet kick in and I head to bed. I got the stitches taken out of my mouth today (hence the evening chemical addition to my nighttime routine) and there seemed to be some confusion about when my appointment was supposed to be. It seems Mr. Vidal Sassoon desperately needed to see MY Endodontist at 11am (my appointment time) and I got instantly bumped to 10:30am. Hmph. Wasn't he famous in like the 80's??? Geesh, I went home feeling very unimportant. Brad Pitt, I can understand, but Mr. Sassoon??? Oh please let me go get my Sergio Valente jeans back out and feather my hair. The nerve.

You can call me Mrs. Barber

I gave my husband a haircut last night for the first time. It may sound strange, but I felt so close to him during our brief new adventure... as if we were taking another step forward in our marriage that no one ever tells you about. Just the way he rested his head on my chest as I took the clippers to the far side of his head... made me smile. I am a firm believer that it is the little things in a relationship that keep it together and not so much of the grand gestures. Yes, the big events are memorable and wonderful, but it is the little everyday things that have always made me smile in times when smiling seems impossible. The notes left by the door, the flowers for no reason, the text messages simply saying "I love you, " the silly gifts given just because... the little things. **SIGH** OK, so yes, cutting his hair saves us time and money if we do it ourselves in our narrow little bathroom with our newly purchased hair clippers, but part of me thinks it isn't so much the time and money we will save that prompted my hubby to ask me to cut it. I felt like it was an effort to share something new with his wife. (That and the fact that it was getting too long and he just didn't want to go to Supercuts again.) There are very few things we won't do in front of each other and there is nothing we won't tell each other, so our comfort level is pretty high, but let me tell you when it comes to cutting a man's hair, there is a bit of nervousness that accompanies the act. I am honored that he let me do it. I did a pretty good job considering that I have never done it before, and I was too tired this morning to see if he left with a hat on or not, but he is still talking to me, so I must have done something right. I figure by the time I am cutting our children's hair, I should be pretty good at it. Maybe I'll even have a little area in our house named "Rotten Haircuts" where my family will happily sit while mom cuts their hair and creates memories that will last a lifetime. That is of course, until it is just too embarrassing to admit that mom cuts their hair, and I will simply be left again with just my loving husband as a customer.

Blonde

I had a "blonde" moment this morning that actually made me chuckle out loud. It was a beautiful day and I went for a walk along the beach this morning. Sometimes I forget the fact that I live this close to the water. Walks are a good reminder to enjoy how peaceful the ocean is and how great strolling in the sand can be. Now, I have been in Venice for 10 years this October, minus a small stint to Mammoth (where I believe my IQ actually dropped 10 points but that is a whole different blog), and it has taken me until this morning to realize that the Venice lifeguard towers are numbered by the street that they are in front of. Tower 19 is actually at the end of 19th street. Imagine that! If ever I had a light bulb moment, that was definitely one of them. I never could understand why it went Tower 19 and then jumped to Tower 21. WOW! Maybe marriage really does make you wiser.

This picture makes me smile...

...but not today. I have a mouth full of stitches and just can't do it. Now my dentist did not lie to me. There was no pain DURING the one hour slicing into my gums, blood gushing ordeal that I went through this morning, but as I sit here on my couch watching "Failure To Launch" and letting the Darvoset kick in as the numbness wears off, it is starting to hurt. What was the maximum dosage per 6 hour period again???? Eating has been an adventure as well. Let's see... "no straws, no hot food, no spicy food, nothing with seeds or kernels, no crunching, no soda, no alcohol, no smoking, no NOTHING, but please be sure to eat to keep your strength up and stay healthy so you can heal." Are you kidding me? So I blended up some bananas, ice-cream, and milk in our handy dandy Magic Bullet (an "As Seen On TV" wonder!!) and sliced the crap out of a chicken pot pie after I let it get cold. (I even contemplated putting IT in the Magic Bullet) I am now starving!!! The only good thing really that happened today was that I got to relive the week I started dating my husband minute by minute in my head while I tried to ignore what the dentist was doing AND my new "married name" driver's license showed up, and now I feel official. Hell, the picture is even really good. Oh yeah, and I found out that without insurance, my surgery would have cost about $3000. I still think it is bullshit, but $790 doesn't sound so bad anymore.

HMO, PPO, WTF

My Italian cousin recently had brain surgery in Helsinki, Finland preformed by the 2nd highest ranking neurosurgeon in the world to cure a disease that was causing him to have aneurysms which one day might have killed him. It cost him nothing because his heath insurance covered it. Why the hell am I bringing up such a random thought?? I am having minor surgery on my gums tomorrow to find out what is wrong with a tooth that a hack-job of a past dentist screwed up and my co-pay is $750. The surgery takes about 30 minutes, no pain, in the dentist office, and I can drive myself home. $750!!! Are you fucking kidding me!!

My Friend Loves His Job!!

Spent the day paying back part of a favor to a dear friend. Seems when I invited said friend to our wedding, he only wanted to come if he could shoot it for us. OK, twist my arm... done! I am still sifting through the 3000+ images he shot, but I am OK with that. Anyway, when he called for me to assist for him on a stills shoot, how could I say no. And besides that, he is so much fun to hang out with and has fun and expensive toys to play with. This location, although it may not seem so, is in the middle of a desert... Palmdale to be exact. Desert air, summer heat, white ass reflective walls.... ahhhhh, livin' the dream in California! These girls are all young athletes and fit as hell. Made me feel old and so out of shape!! At least I got to come home to my sweet husband who thinks I am sexy as hell. Life is good.

Married? Yes Mawwied!!

I thought I might try blogging for a while. New changes for a new life change. I recently got married and although I spent my whole life thinking that it would be this life altering decision, in the end, it just ended up being one of the best decisions I made with very little alterations in my daily life. I love hearing "I love you my wife" from my husband in which I respond "I love you my husband." Simple and fun. It is all quite surreal as well. I look down at my wedding ring sometimes and just can't believe I am a married woman. It is like I am 12 years old again. Remembering to use my new last name is going to take some getting used to though. I can remember as a little girl signing the my name with the last name of the boy I had a crush on like it was my own. Now I have to remind myself to sign my married name. Again, very surreal. I imagine by the time it finally hits me that I am married, I'll be pregnant and having to convince myself that I am about to have a baby. Life is funny like that. It keeps me on my toes.