Welcome 2009!

Just a brief note to welcome 2009! I am way behind on blogging. I just can't seem to catch up. And for months I've been beating myself up for it. It's 2009 and I am now starting fresh. It's a new year, new expectations. I do hope to get a few of the weddings/engagement sessions blogged from last year, but I'm not going to promise anything to you or myself. As a very wise man once said, "Keep moving forward", or as the whole quote goes:

"We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we're curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths."
~ Walt Disney

(Since I don't have any images of Walt - the man - I am including a quick image of the kids at Disney World, from earlier this year)

With the start of 2009 comes my look back to 2008 and all that I was able to accomplish as a business owner as well as all that we were able to do as a family and I am very proud of all of that. In such tumultuous times it's very easy to get down (and this cold NE weather doesn't always help) by focusing on things that aren't going as well as we would like. But what is more important is that we focus on all the great in our life. And that is where you all come in. Thank you for reading my blog, viewing my work, and more importantly, being a part of my life in some way.

Here's to a great 2009 for all and I hope you all are able to accomplish for yourselves what you set out to.

New Canon!

I've been wanting a point and shoot camera for a while now. I seem to find myself at different occasions wanting my camera, but not wanting to bring my whole DSLR kit everywhere. For example, we are leaving for Disney in 55 days (or so I've been told!) and I really want to be able to get some images of the kids at the parks, but I REALLY don't want to have all my gear with me.

So I think I finally have the answer! Today we bought a Canon Powershot Digital Elph. This thing is soooooo cute. And at 7.1 megapixels, it's got some good-sized files. Plus, it fits in my pocket!!!!

We just bought it today, so I haven't had too much time to play with it, but it seems pretty good. It can actually capture these cute little videos, too. I mean, I can't compete with MGM or anything, but I can capture videos and share them with family who can't see the kids everyday.

I took the following image with it set on fully automatic. I take this time to also introduce our new living room set up....we moved the couches and added in a huge white bookcase. I love it!!
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Notice RJ hamming it up for the new camera?!

The auto flash went off - I'm not crazy about that, but I'll read the manual and figure out how to get a little more control over it.

Now, I'm not sure if this will work, but I'm going to try to post a 12 second video of the kids fooling around for the camera. They are sooo cute!

We have our first little league baseball practice tomorrow (weather permitting), so I think I'll bring it with me and test it out some more.

Until then, have a great night!

Free Photoshop Online??!!

A couple of days ago I read about Photshop Express from Dane Sander's blog (he's GREAT!); then today I read a post about it from Gary Fong, so I decided I needed to check it out.

This site is AMAZING! it allows you to import your images from your computer, or from various sites - including Facebook and Picasa (two I use). THEN you can touch the images up through various very user-friendly tools. Right online! For free!

Adobe has really done something great here. I really like their products and this is yet another great one.

Google Apps

While I'm talking about cool technology, I've also spent a bunch of time in Google's world and they really have created a TON of cool applications. I've been using their reader for a while now and I love it. If you check multiple blogs to see when /if they've been updated, the reader is a great tool. Just copy and paste the URL into the Add subcriptions box and it will track them for you. It's so wonderful, I think I've added WAY too many!!! But I can easily bypass those I don't want to read.

Upcoming Wedding!

Ok, I'm done promoting the fun technology I've found lately....I'm off to pack for a very exciting wedding in Portsmouth, NH!!! We leave later today and have the wedding tomorrow. I'm sooooooo excited. This couple is great and we are going to have a BLAST! Plus it gives us a chance to check out some other venues up in NH that we also have weddings at this year.

Busy, busy, busy!

I want to start this post by wishing my favorite boy a very Happy 7th Birthday! It's hard for me to imagine that I actually have a seven year old son, but he's the best little man any mom could ask for.

Since his birthday is only 3 days before Christmas, we try really hard to keep the two celebrations completely separate. So this year we allowed him to choose a few friends and took them to a restaurant with tokens and games....and chaos! He and his friends had a blast, and that's all that matters to me. Plus not having to clean the house after the mess was a HUGE plus!

Christmas Eve had me in the kitchen preparing Wiligia (va-lee-ah) - a Polish Christmas Eve tradition in my mom's family. I made homemade cheese pierogis, keilbasa, kapusta, and other great favorites of mine. Every single food there is one of my comfort foods. Christmas Eve has always been my absolute favorite. We would gather at my Babci & Dziadziu's (grandma and grandpa in Polish) house and just have a blast with our family. Those are the fondest memories I have of my childhood. Family, food, presents and fun - who could ask for more?!

My family has since scattered across the country and I miss each and every one of you terribly. But I take great comfort in sharing the traditions I grew up having with my own children.

Christmas Day was pure chaos as the kiddies ripped open all their gifts. They were so cute!!! We then spent the day at my parent-in-laws house opening yet more gifts and eating still more food! I will have to really make a New Year's resolution to lose weight after this weekend. Speaking of, I've seen a few photographers that I really admire come up with a 101 things to accomplish in 1001 days. I really want to do that.

It's resolution time for me, so I plan on sitting down over the next few days coming up with my goals for the year, but I plan on creating the 101 list and posting it online to help keep track (and maybe get a bit of help/support from all of you to complete the list).

Merry Christmas to you all!!!!

Catching up is Hard to Do!

Hi everyone!

I must apologize to everyone - I have not had a chance to blog at all this month! Things have been so (wonderfully) busy. We have done and witnessed so much since the last time I posted, it's amazing!! I am just going to give you a brief synopsis now, but I PROMISE to follow it up with detailed posts and images throughout the weekend.

Here is what October has been for us:

• I started October editing the images from Brittany and Brian's AWESOME wedding. It was SO much fun! (I'll post some images for you to see).



• I had two e-sessions (engagement sessions) with two wonderful couples that are getting married next year. They both happened in great locations and were so much fun to do. (Again - images to come soon!)



• We made a last minute decision to attend the PDN- PhotoPlus Expo in New York City. It is a huge photography expo full of great vendors and tons and tons of cool photographers to network with. It was no where near as big as the Imaging USA expo my dad and I attended in frigid San Antonio in January, but it was really great! (I'll share more details in another post - oh, and images, too!)



• Because of the location of the expo, we decided to make it a family trip and see as much as we could in the process. So, we planned on going through Long Island so we could tour Sagamore Hill, which was the summer/retiring home for President Theodore Roosevelt, one of Ron's favorite people in history. What an amazing experience!



• Lastly and MOST certainly not least: THE RED SOX ARE IN THE WORLD SERIES!!!!!!!!!!! (And won game one in spectacular fashion!) Dustin Pedroia's amazing home run that started the 13-1 win. Photo credit to photographer John Wilcox. (I'm thinking he had to have the world's longest lens to pull this shot off - how cool is that?!)

September = Start of Football!!!

It wasn't until I turned on the game today that I realized how much I missed footbal season. Sitting here watching the Patriots tromp all over the NY Jets (21 - 7 in the 3rd as I type this)....OH Wait!! it's 27-7....I am reminded of how much I love football.

GO PATRIOTS!!!

New Harry Potter Coming SOON!

Not soon enough......BUT I just saw the new extra-long (but not long enough for me!) trailer for the upcoming Order of the Phoenix movie.....sooooooooooooooo cool!

Most of you don't care, so I will just leave it at this...new movie comes out in July just a week before the last book of the series. I can't wait!!!! I think I'll add a counter on the side of the blog...hmmmmm.

I just got back from a night at karate in which Maddy was inducted to their Gold Belt club. She got to break a board with her mighty fist. I'll go through the images tonight and post them up here tomorrow.

Goodnight everyone!