New Year & New Changes!

Happy 2011!  Please forgive me!  It's been a whole 3 months since my last post!  =P  The holidays always pull me in every direction almost causing me to stress out.  Can anyone else relate?  lol 

I was very busy before Christmas...doing quite a bit of shoots for friends that were trying to get their holiday pictures done.  It was a great experience, and I survived!  I did finally manage to take some photos of my own family a week before Christmas AND design a card that I did send out before Dec. 25!  YAY!  =)  Here it is...

I did take January off to relax and recuperate from the holidays, and I am currently revamping my website and finally working on my 2011 Session Prices.  I did learn that overscheduling myself is not a good thing for me or my family, so I've decided that I will be limiting the amount of sessions I do to 2 - 4 a month... starting in March.  I thought I'd be ready this month.. but sorry.. not just yet. 

Thank you to everyone who is waiting patiently for my calendar and new website to open!  Hope your year is going great so far!    ~Cheryl  =)

I Heart Faces - Silhouette

  

I like to browse websites and blogs for photography inspiration.  "i heart faces" is one of my favorites and run weekly photo contests.  I've been watching them and hesitate to enter... but I had to jump on the bandwagon for this week's "Silhouette" contest. 

 

 Living in Hawaii, I have many of the typical "silhouette beach" images... but then I remembered this one and thought it would be different to share.  =)

Purple Dragons!

Here are some recent shots of my 9-year-old playing with her current soccer team, the "Purple Dragons"!  I designed these images as an 8X8 storyboard page so I can just print it out later, and slide them into a scrapbook.  =)  I think I'll be doing that more often, so I can get my personal shots off of my computer and into an album! 

Youth Soccer

I've been a soccer mom for 15 years, and now when I look back, I REALLY wish I had a DSLR camera back when my oldest was playing AYSO and HYSA.  You can capture so many great shots (and memories!) that a regular point & shoot camera is not capable of.  Now I have 2 daughters playing soccer, and I have NO excuse for missing those moments!  haha!  Below are some images that I took this past winter season.  The athlete here is not my daughter, but her family are good friend of ours.  She is SO expressive which makes these images SO much more precious!  You can FEEL the energy and excitement when looking at them!  Enjoy!

idkwhat2wear

Okay... we'll be rewinding for the next few posts so I can share some images from photo shoots I did earlier this year.  =)  In mid-March I had the privilege to do a shoot for idkwhat2wear. 
You can view their great products and most of the photos from the shoot at http://www.idkwhat2wear.com/ 
Here are some of my favorite shots:

and here's the entire group...

This was my first commercial shoot, and my first experience with such a large group.  I learned so much and had lots of fun! 
Thanks again Karl & Terri!  =)

A Time to Reflect

It's been quiet the past couple of months.  I haven't been asked to do a shoot recently, and that's a good thing... really.  Besides losing Sweetie in early June I've also lost a 3 other special people in my life ---  A dear neighbor friend in May, a classmate that I've known since elementary school, and a wonderful woman we called "Auntie Jo" that was just like a mom to my husband as he was growing up.  As they say.. God knows what we can and cannot handle... and I would not have been able to be as busy as I was earlier in the year while going through all the emotions that I've been experiencing.  I actually haven't picked up my camera for probably about a month... but I will very soon.  =)  It's been tough... I've never cried and experienced so many losses in such a short amount of time.  It just makes me appreciate the people and pets that I still have, and never take life for granted.  Life really is too short.

On a happy note, we did get a new puppy!  Her name is Lily, and she is the sweetest thing!  She's a blessing because she has really helped me since losing Sweetie. 

She's 1/2 Chihuahua, 1/4 Fox Terrier, & 1/4 Jack Russell Terrier, and she currently weighs just over 4 lbs. 

When she's really tired she loves to sleep on her back!

She's a little younger here than in the top picture.  She's a cutie!

Our Sweetie

Last Friday we had to say goodbye to our beloved Sweetie.....  =( 

This pic of Sweetie was taken about 2 weeks ago as she was sleeping in our kitchen.  She was a wonderful dog.  Alot of people are surprised when we tell them she's a long-haired chihuahua (a purebreed AKC dog too!) because of the calm temperment she had. We got her 16 years ago from an ad in the newspaper.  We met her parents and they were also very friendly, so we knew she'd be a great fit into our little family.  Back then we only had one child - haha.  =)  She had cost $300, which was alot then ... nowadays I think I'd have to pay atleast a $1000.... but she was worth it . Thank you to friends and family for your encouragement and prayers.  I didn't think saying goodbye to a pet would be so difficult.  She will be missed.