Yay!! I am proud to say #3 is marked off my 101 in 1001 goal list!!  Celia is the lucky woman that gets to experience something she never has before.   A time to shine, to feel alive, womanly and exotic.  This woman is unbelievable.  She lives for her children.  She has a day time job that she is surrounded by children all day.  When she gets home, there is no time for resting.  She has to cook, clean, do homework.  Things that mothers do.  When is there time for her?  Well we are going to make time!  She deserves every bit of this contest that I ran without a doubt.  Her story made me cry.  It made me want to grasp life by the horns and take control of it.  It made me want to dance.  Just like Celia did in her younger years.  I will not share with you what she wrote as it was very personal but I did get permission from her to post a little section of the story that stuck out and grabbed at my heart. 

 ”This boudoir session leaves me to wonder, will it help me?  Will it be one of those things that make me remember that I was once a vibrant beauty, dancing on stage and her way through life?  Regardless of whether I get chosen, writing this has actually helped me remember some of the things I often forget.  And that is to live life fully and that no matter what I am at home, my responsibilities are not what makes me and that I am important to myself and I need to allow the time for myself to be nurtured and cared for.  And always, love myself.”

Wow.  Congrats Celia.  We will have a rockin’ time photographing you and all your beauty!! I can’t wait!

And a shout out to the Boudoir Vixen who inspired me to do this in the first place… Courtney Dellafiora.  Be sure to check out her boudoir site.  She is an awesome photographer!!  She also does weddings and all kinds of other wonderful stuff. Love her!!!!!!

The Maddela’s are great friends of mine. I first met Darshan while working at Capital Title, about 11 years ago and we became quick friends, best of friends. Then somehow my boyfriend tricked him into being his friend. End of that story. LOL. Over the years I came to know his wife, Bhavna and their two beautiful children. We have had so many great times with them and I hold them dear to my heart. Now they are so far away and it was sooo wonderful to be able to see them again and capture a few snaps of their gorgeous family!! I just love the attire they wore…. bring it!!! Vibrant and fabulous just like their personalities. I heart you guys!!!  Thank you for giving me the opportunity to photograph you. xo

These ladies are beautiful!  Stunning!  Breathtaking!

Gorgeous!

Neena didn’t even know I was taking this shot.  She is definately a little model.

Don’t you love their outfits?!!  Awesome!

Such a little cutie!

Handsome

Captivating

Vegas is always a great place to go.  It’s only 4 hours away.  They have great breakfast buffets.  And the people watching is absolutely phenomenal.  I have so much fun every time we go there.  Maybe too much fun.  This time around we went to Pure (compliments of my fabulous cousin Angel who manages it, thanks cuz!) and had a blast!!! Afterwards we hung out and played some poker on the machine’s by the bar and then headed home.  Or so we thought.  Little did we know we ended up going to Terrible’s to try their $9.99 chicken fried steak.  OHMYGOSH!!!!!!  Ok the hotel is ghetto fabulous.  Ok I am definitely not classy Internet.  But the food.  OH THE FOOD!!!  Be still my heart.  It could’ve been that it was 4:30 in the morning.  Or it could’ve been that it was really that good!  I would like to think the latter because I am def going back there again!  One really cool experience I had while I was up there is that I was able to meet up with the Fabulous Photog/SEO guru, Mr. Lawrence Chan or as most of you togs might know tofurious!!!! AhHHHhhhHHH!!!!  Yes I just screamed like a little high school girl.  Talk about inspiration, total awesomeness.  Non Stop Coolness.  Radder than the Raddest of them all!!!  He was so down to earth and gave me little insights to new things coming our way!! Wink. Thanks Lawrence!!!  I appreciate you taking the time out of your busy day to chit chat.  Your knowledge leaves me baffled.  Your kindness leaves me with hope.  By you giving and not taking is something that I cannot describe.  Thank you from the bottom of my heart!!!  Lawrence was working editor-in-chief of Grace Ormonde Wedding Style Magazine!!! What an honor!  Wow!  Check out her daily blog as well.  So far my 2010 has started off with a bang.  I hope yours has as well!

I love the mountains against the beautiful blue sky…something so calm and serene about it.

Hoover Dam

Can’t wait for this bridge to be finished.  Maybe we could get to Vegas in 3 hours rather than 4.

I wanna stick a couple in front of this mess.  I love the chaos!

My beautiful friend Tanya

The birthday boy

The GURU, tofurious

Don’t forget to check out his website

Breakfast buffet time.

My fantastic cousin Angel and his lovely girlfriend Gemma.

So much fun!!!!!!!

It’s like chicken soup for the soul.  A really hot, yummy, tasty bowl of chicken soup.  Yes.  That is how I feel when I am around them.  My heart soars.  I love this little family.  They are so adorable.  We started the night off watching some football and then making some Pico de Gallo (YUM!).  Marcos was flippin burgers and hot dogs outside on the grill.  The girls were upstairs painting their nails and doing all kinds of crazy, girlie stuff.  Fitz was chillin in his little sling across his mother’s belly.  If they make one of those for adults.  I will take two.  OMGosh.  Babies are so lucky.  They get to get carried around everywhere.  Josh and Marcos were joking about the swing he was in and how Fitz had no care in the world while that thing was rocking back and forth.  Josh said, “I need one of those for my football Sunday’s”.  He then said he was gonna invent one.  Too funny.  We wait our whole life to become adults to only get there and wish we were kids again.  Ironic.  Either way we proceeded to play poker.  Ah poker!  One thing Josh and I actually have in common.  The love of it.  He likes to say he taught me everything.  I like to say I learned by being so good at Yahtzee!!!  Holla atcha girl if you have something that you enjoy doing with your spare time.  I would love to hear about it. 

I know this picture is out of focus but my daughter, Leilani caught such a great moment of Bella in her comfort zone.  I absolutely love the color and mood of it all.  I think I have a mini Photographer on my hands.  What do you think?

 Here she is…. L eilani in all her glory

 Here is another one taken by Leilani.  I ABSOLUTELY love it!!!! For Real!

 Look at that tummy!  That’s the only way I can get passed the sassy look on her face.  She is my chubby little baby.

The infamous Fitz

I just love his hands and his belly

Check out this contraption.  It’s pretty nifty eh?

I really do want one.  Who is gonna carry me around?

Soul Sistas

Setting up shop

Ok here is the swing the boys are talking about.

I’m pretty sure life is great for him!

Vodka and Tonic can pretty much cure any sickness.  I’m just sayin.

I love the happiness in this photo.  Happiness of winning.  He really should do this professionally.  I keep telling him to.

Decisions, Decisions.

My heart melts with his laughter.

I love that the girls made little slingy’s for their babies.

She really does brighten my day

He cracks me up

and he just completes me.

Aren’t they the cutest ever?!!!  I sure do love them.

One place that makes me smile is Buffalo Wild Wings.  The atmosphere, the food, the video poker, the beer and of course our company that we surround ourselves with.  There is nothing quite on earth that can compare to the joy I feel when we are surrounded by friends and family.  I am a sucker for that.  Totally and uncontrollably.  Thanks for coming out and joining us for a few hours David and Liz.  I heart you guys!

My Handsome Stud

David and Liz 

Aren’t they adorable?

 Fishy Kisses

Doh!

 This napkin is perfect!

My little Cindy Lou Who!

My Rock! My Everything! I love you baby! 

Ok yes I know these photos are super old.  But I just came across them and I didn’t have the heart to leave them behind, getting dust all over them.  So I am going to post them and I really hope you don’t mind!  Something about the water makes me want Summer to be here. Now.  I love the Summer, I love the sandals, summer dresses, polished toenails and BBQ’s.  Here’s to hoping it gets here quick. Cheers!

I know, I know another Christmas post.  I have to put them in their own sections as I have a large family and we have to spend an entire day with each one of them.    Oh how I love the holidays.  The closeness, the laughter, the games, the food, the fun, the food.  Ha!  Yes I mentioned food more than once.  Well, what can I say?  I love to eat.  So here is my lovely Step-Mom, brother and sister and close friends of the family.  My brother Eric’s friends are hilarious.  It’s never a dull moment when they are around.  I think I had to weed out some photos because of their obnoxious ways!  I don’t get to hang out with them often but when I do, I don’t EVER want it to end!  My sister Rene lives in Chicago so she visits a few times a year and I really enjoyed our sisterly time together eating pizza and going to a movie.  We need to do that more often.  When are you moving back to AZ sis?  Arizona needs a good lawyer here. 

I love Christmas Day.  A day to lounge in our PJ’s and open gifts with my little family.  A time to play games and spend quality time with my loved ones.  It really makes my heart sing.  With my son growing up so fast it’s hard to be able to all get together any more these days.  He is always playing sports, hanging with friends or upstairs on the phone.  So it’s nice to be able to sit around and enjoy each others company.  I love my family.  There is no gift in the world that can make my heart sing the way they can. 

He is so spoiled 

Yes, that is me talking baby talk to my dog.  You such a good boy arentchu? 

Did I mention internet how spoiled my dog is? 

Head Shot 

Kahne waits anxiously for his treat

Sit! 

 My nephew Dominic, surprised us with a visit.  He was a little sleepy while I snapped this photo of him.

Santa knows how to make this man happy 

Oh internet, how I love him so.

He is quite the stud

Santa knows how to make me happy

I know this one is out of focus. But I just had to post one of Edward!!! Ahhhh!

Lani wanted a boy barbie that looked like Joshy.  And she got one that looked like Joshy and Mommy.

She is quite the drama queen

OMYGOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! IT’S JUSTIN BIEBER!!!!!!!AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!

 And this one wasn’t even on her list.  Score!

Books and Bookmarkers.  Makes me all giddy inside. 

A book on wine. Oh how I love thee.  Thanks Ang!

I love magnets.  One of my heart’s little desires. 

He totally kicked our butts on this game.

Reading a very heart felt card that my son wrote to him.

And this pretty much sums it up for me.  Twilight, Lemon Drops and books… wow.  I am in heaven.

Off to never never land

It took 2 hours for Robert to finally get the ball on the tee.

I know I am behind in posting these, but I really wanted to get them up on the blog.  I do not get to see my dad’s side of the family very often.   I have such a large family it’s so hard to get everyone together in one place at one time.  So we get together for Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve.  I had such a great time seeing them all and laughing at all the silliness that was going on.  There is always tons of food, drinks, laughter and of course presents from Santa.

 Here are some pics of my favorite Christmas ornaments.

And here is the lovely girl that put up all the ornaments by herself.  She did such a great job!

I love the look of a bored teenage boy.

And then I love this look once I tell them a silly joke.

My babycakes

She is quite funny with her facial expressions

She did not want to smile for us.  At All.  Then my little 8 year old photography assistant (above photo) bribed her with one of the yummy cookies behind her and we got this smile!

My Aunt Dee Dee came all the way from Colorado

Nothing like being a kid.  Wow I remember when this was us playing football and now our children do so. 

Waiting anxiously for their gift from Santa

I love how gangster he looks with gumballs in his hand.

My Fatboy

And this is how we get greeted when we get home

  I mean look at this guy.  He breaks my heart.

He is such a dummy.  :0)  I say this with all the love in my heart.

More Christmas ornaments.  This one was my son’s first ornament from my dad & stepmom. 16 years old.

They get my children an ornament every year.  I love it.

This lovely ornament was from my mother-in-law Angie.  Isn’t it precious?

Here is one of Lani’s first ornaments

How can you not love a face like that?!!  She has half my heart.

#11 Create contracts for clients.  This is one of my goals in my 101 in 1001.  This is one of my smaller goals, but none-the-less something I was dreading to do.  I don’t like contracts, they are scary, hard to read, difficult to understand and just plain boring.  However, I need them to run my business.  So I have finally created them, nothing fancy but good enough for a start.  Yay for me!!! Checking this one off my list.

And because every post is better with a snap, eat your heart out ladies: