Tis the season to be ...Thankful

Turkey, Cranberry Sauce, Mashed Potatoes, Gravy.. the list goes on of all the fine foods we are blessed with this time of year, but for me I'm thankful for much more. This is a little morbid to say im thankful and then tell you what Im about to say.. but don't just loose me yet.. read on. Saturday Novemeber 21st, 2009 our family suffered a great loss, Salvador "Uncle Sam" Cuilla. He passed while in his sleep and this passed weekend we said our final goodbyes. In this tragedy I learned how much more I need to treasure my family. It so sad that it takes a death for me to realize how blessed I truly am. God gave me a family that supports me and most of all loves every inch of me, inside and out. Since the loss, our family has obviously been super emotional, and all we have wanted to do is spend more time together... get as much in of eachother as we possibly can. Cause you honestly do never know what might happen, when your last hug will be, the last smile you see or most important in our family.. the last time you will share supper all together at the table. Since Wednesday evening of last week.. we have spend every waking second with eachother and have loved every minuet. We have also started new traditions.. decorating each others trees after we cut them down (one a day of course).. but this also gives us time to eat the millions of pounds of left overs we had from the "BIG" day!!! So here are a few pictures of the weekend thus far... and still the festivities arent over.. lol

with every death there is life... 4 days after Uncle Sam passed away his 4th Great-Grandchild was born. God is truly amazing.

In loving memory of Uncle Sam
you will truly be missed and always loved!!

"Life is a Highway...."

Last night I was yet again able to cross something off my "Life's List"...Attend a Rascal Flatts Concert!!! Tiffany got our tickets about a month ago, and we had no idea they would be such great seats!! We had a blast singing our hearts out, acting like we had boyfriends to sing the love songs too, watching the little too tipsy people sing along, and of course just enjoy time together! Here are a few pictures of the night...

Teens and Pooter <3 Rascal Flatts

Art vs. Hobby

I keep things in... to myself. I let it boil up and then BAM! [Explosion]. I'm very bad at confrontation or even letting people see the angry side of me, cause that's not me. But lately there has been one thing festering in my mind.. Photography and the fact that people are calling themselves "Photographers" because they bought a camera!! I'm not one to boast or brag about anything [except my absolutely adorable nieces and nephews] but there is just something that jerks me the wrong way about how so many people are taking the art and creativity of photography so loosely. I spent thousands of dollars getting a top dollar education in this field, and im not saying that's the only way to be successful because I know plenty of amazing photographers, who I strive to be like, who didn't get the education I got, and that's perfectly fine, because these professionals are truly professional. Yes, anyone can click a shutter, move around the exposure and work photoshop, with a few months of screwing around with the camera my 9yr old cousin could do it! But photography is art.. where you don't have to rely on post production to enhance your images, to where when people see your work they are at a loss for words because they have seen nothing like it, an art to where you are so personal with your clients it shows in your detail and attention to their wants and needs.

Not click "I'm a Photographer"

I admire people who love the art and love the creativity, but either choose to make it your passion and truly consume yourself with it.. or make it a hobby! Dont make websites with price lists and contact info if your showing nothing that can influence photography, or challenge your competitors.

One thing I have learned is that this business is very competitive and you have to be so unique, so creative but stay true to yourself the entire time. Be who you are and your true calling will come.. Photography or not!

..now this is the side people always see...
Im sorry if this offends anyone, but its just something I needed to get off my chest.. this is a blogg and this is what its for right? lol

Foto Friday and Birthday Bliss

This weeks picture is in honor of our beautiful birthday girl... Nicole Taylor Sullivan.. Happy 1st Birthday!!! One year ago we got the call.. Amber was in Labor. Being the most impatient person EVER... I sped over to the hospital only to sleep on in the lobby for hours waiting to hear more news, but I wouldn't change that for anything :) After many hours and family arriving, later that day we welcomed baby Nicole Taylor Sullivan into the world!! The picture above is the first time I held the precious one.. I was such a proud auntie!! Honestly.. Love at first sight!

Its unbelievable that a year has already gone by, the first crawl has already happened, the first words have been spoke (Hi, Mom, Dad... etc)and the first steps have begun.. I cant wait to experience your next first Nicole.. know your auntie will always here for you.. usually with a camera in hand. lol. Here are a few favorite pictures I was able to capture for Nicole's 1st!!

Adventures to Neverland...

Mariposa is not only legendary to our family but a very special bond started there with some of the most important boys in my life.. "The Lost Boys". Yes taken from the very memorable movie Hook, these boys have nick names as each of the lost boys do on the movie. Its like their own little family, a fraternity you might say. It all started back in the early years of High School.. on a church "End of Summer Bash" trip.. and its only grew since that trip. They take it very seriously on who takes part in their group... even special initiations happen!! They recently designed a crest and now each of us have sweatshirts and shirts to represent the crew... Proverbs 17:17 (A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity) reads across the back under the crest. Back to Mariposa.. we have had many camping trips there over the years with family, friends and just the Lost Boys.. but this trip was memorable for many reasons. We were playing around with camera exposures by the fire pit and lighting pieces of wood on fire then taking a long exposure while moving the stick around...it all started out with one letter.. then we thought.. hey if we get 8 people we can spell Lost Boys.. so attached is below is a video and under that is the final photo product of the video...

Were pretty excited of our long exposure.. it pretty much in a nut shell describes these boys to a "T"

...until next time boys...
::BANGERANG::

Spontaneity

..."Carpe Diem"..."Seize the Day"..."You Only Live Once"...

Ive been trying this act.. and Ill say, I'm pretty impressed with myself! lol

-------Foto Friday

"TAKE 2"

So its that time again... Foto Friday

This week's feature is from back in College. Being in a photography school with a ton a friends in the business, we would always ask friends to model for us in return we would model for them. This particular photo shoot was for a Stock Photography Class and the subject that the photographer needed to portray was "Fun" so what better fun than a water balloon fight!!! We literally went to an open field filled up water balloons and had a good ol' fashion water balloon fight!! The picture shown was the last shot of the day.. they popped a HUGE water balloon over our heads and its probably one of my favorite pictures ive ever modeled for!!

::Friends Day::

Through it all she has been there, she has seen every tear, heard every cry and laughed beside me countless times.. shes what I call my "Frrriend" There is no other like her and her name is Amber "Stefani" Sullivan. We don't get to see eachother as often as we'd like.. due to crazy schedules and baby colies naps..lol.. so as often as we can, we declare any normal day a "Friends Day!!" This day might include nothing at all or a million and one things thrown into a 24 hr period... this particular one was one of my favorites... a "nothing" day!! Veg out on the couch, do a little goggling, snack on Nicole's snacks and catch a few terrible reality TV shows.

So in a few weeks their precious daughter is turning "1".. its unbelievable!!! So as a request from Nicole's grandpa.. we took a few snapshots of this adorable one.. here are a few that make me smile :)

::FOTO FRIDAY::

I follow a good handful of my friends blogs and my best friend Amber posted something about a month ago that struck my interest... and yes Im going to steal her idea..its okay I talked it over with her.. ;)

Foto Friday
- noun
1. Gives one a chance to look back on past and present photos.
2. Memories.
3. Lets you finally explain yourself for that 'one time'

So here's my 1st entry for Foto Friday......

3 words... "Spice Girls Concert"

One man's junk is another man's treasure...

Garage Sales......Antiquing...Estate Sales.. these are a few of my favorite thing ;) I LOVE when I driving by on a lazy Saturday afternoon to find there is a stocked full garage sale down the street from me.. or even miles away!! First of all I love being nosy.. seeing what other people have interests in...and second of all i LOVE finding one of a kind things, and what better place to do that at Garage Sales. But in all honesty most of the 'treasures' we find soon end up in your ::SALE:: piles... but for that moment in time.. its worth that $0.25-$5.00

It looks like its become a tradition in the Smith home to have a Garage Sale at least once a year.. and that time has rolled around again.. I just dont understand how much CRAP one can accumulate in just one year. When I moved home from school last year we packed up everything labeling "Room" "Attic" and "Sell" so it was a little easier to get through and decide what was going and staying. This time around we started from scratch, went from the back of the house forward. Starting in the garage.. moving to the back bedrooms and bathrooms (You'd never believe how many old floral arrangements and baskets I found in the bathroom cabinet.. 6??) to the Middle Bedroom!!! Ohhh the sight of opening that door to the "Storage Closet". If you cant find a place for something "Throw it in the middle bedroom" mom yells... or if you cant find something, have fun searching.. its like the needle in a haystack. So Mom and I tackled that last night. Clearing the boxes of miscellaneous junk out of the way was the first task then hitting the closet of moms "layaway" outfits while shes on her diet... lets just say I did her a favor by tossing 90% of it!! lol.. Oh the treasures we found. Pictures upon pictures.. man did I look tore up growing up!! hahaa.. to the Mickey Mouse hand gloves to Moon shoes... I had a tough time giving them up. lol. Then we hit the other side of the closet.. High School Formal and Bridesmaid dresses.. ohh man.. Time to sell!! How many times do you hear the famous quote "Its such a nice dress... ill shorten it and wear it again!!" lets be honest.. its time to let go! ;)

Let the selling begin.....

Celebrating 70 Years of Tsunami Living

"We've been spending most our lives living in Amish Paradise..." Those lyrics by weirdo Weird Al Yankovich sure came to mind while exploring 858 miles on Pennsylvania!! Recap of why we went to PA (cause its not a common place to Vacation...) My Grandma Beverly is turning 70 this October and we decided to celebrate earlier due to schedule conflicts around her actual birthday. All she wanted was to take her girls to PA and meet up with my Uncle Mike and explore, adventure and experience the true PA. Sooo.. 9 days, 9 women, 1 man, color coordinated days, Jarassic Park theme songs, 1 1/2 car rides, a 15 passenger van and 858 miles later we did just that!! There are over 700 pictures and too many to chose from to put up, so here is a sample including all our group pictures (I tried to get one from every day so make sure to notice that color corrdination!!)

Friday

Saturday

Sunday

Monday

Monday

Tuesday

Thursday

Friday

Thank You Grandma for taking on this trip!! I had a blast spending time with each of the amazing women in our family as well as the Annoying Chet (Uncle Mike) ;)!!! And a special thanks to Auntie Wendy and Uncle Mike for opening their house to 7 other women and letting us invade your space!!! CHET... YOU ROCK!! You deserve an award for spending 9 days with 9 women!! And you spoiled us like no other... above and beyond!! Thank you for all you did. Love you all :)

Life Support

"You Will Always be My Friend.... You Know to Much"

There is no quote that could be more fitting for my friends. In this past year I have learned so much about myself and my friends. I have learned that they are more than just 'friends' they are my extended family. We have done everything together from sharing secrets, laughing at the most obseen moments, giving/taking advice to crying with one another when you lose a loved one, your job, or just because (cause we do that a lot!!). We have been through it all.. and all I can say for it is that I am truly blessed.

I have been through a lot this past year... graduating from college, moving back to San Jose, loosing some friends, reuniting with old and of course gaining new ones. But in the end there are a select few that are my life support. The ones I can entrust anything to. The ones who will stand up for me even if I were wrong.. and most of all the ones who tell me like it is... good or bad.

These are just a few pictures that make me smile :)

Thank you to you all.. you know who you are! Thank you for being you and being apart of my life.