Things have been quiet here. What was I doing? I took some time to enjoy family. Given the recent experiences, I had a very strong urge to spend more time with family and friends. Which involved 3 weekends in a row in San Diego. This is unheard of for me, especially since San Diego is a 5(ish) hour drive for me one-way. I took one kid each weekend, so we had some cool mom-daughter bonding time too. It was well worth all the driving.

Too bad I didn't have my new toy with me on all these trips! Check out my new FLIP HD video camera. That's right, this little tiny object is actually a HD video camera. It takes up to one hour of video, has no wires, no cards, and even has the USB connection built-in on the top (it flips up). And, did I mention it is tiny?! That is a regular sized pen for perspective. It easily slides into my pocket. I think every hospital should give this out as parents leave with their newborns. TOO cool. By the way, the name of the camera above is actually a link if you are interested in buying one of your own. I'll be posting up some new video of Holly doing the hula-hoop soon. It is really funny stuff.
 

Dear all...I am going to be out of town for a few days on an a last minute, very important wedding.  I'll explain all when I return home, but please be patient if I am not posting images for about a week.  I will return text messages, emails and phone calls...but no photo processing will be going on as I will be away from my Photoshop.  Thanks!

I apologize to everyone one...it has been unusually quiet here at the blog. Not that a lot hasn't been going on. I was just giving my fingers a little break from shooting. We've been doing things like Christmas shopping, Disneyland (again, but I think you knew that), and cleaning the house. Nothing too far from the ordinary, and that's why I've been enjoying it so much.

Holly and Anna are super excited for the holidays. They are out of school for the next two weeks and I'm really looking forward to seeing them some more. I don't have a wedding until January 17th...so there's a little bit of non-wedding time in there. Of course, there are coffee table books and albums to design, engagement sessions, a few family sessions still, and other odds and ends to take care of. The dreaded end-of-year tax preparations are due to start soon, which always leaves me with some good New Years Resolutions about how organized I will become. I am going to share my New Years Resolutions here on the blog for 2009 in an effort to commit to them. Keep me honest as it were.

Yesterday, Holly went to see Santa at the mall. She told him she wanted "Barbie Diamond Castle". Well, today in the store she saw a *different* one of the Barbies from that line and was devastated. Tears started welling up in her eyes. She'd told Santa the wrong name of the doll she'd wanted. So, at the store (brillant) me says "I'll take a photo of the right doll with my phone and email it to Santa so he knows. Ok? That way he might be able to get the right one for you." She calmed down a bit as I took the picture, but still seemed nervous about it. Fast forward to tonight. Santa came through our neighborhood with a police escort and Humvee tow (reindeer are getting their rest). Holly and Anna rushed out to see him. As we are running out the door, afraid that he's already gone by...Holly yells out "MOM, GET YOUR PHONE SO I CAN TELL SANTA ABOUT BARBIE!"

It just made me smile.  She still firmly believes in him.

Tonight's experience was so embarrassing. So...here's the long-ish story. I used to have an iPhone. Bought it on August 17, 2007 and sorta lovingly enjoyed it until October 28, 2008. It revolutionized my life. It redefined my "I can't live without _________" list. Kinda like when you buy that first car with electric windows...you can never own another manual roll-up window. I just can't live without my integrated email, calendars, contacts, web browsing, and POPSUGAR on my cell phone.

The iPhone love affair was destroyed though by my problems with AT&T cell service. It was non-existent. I had to walk into the backyard to send text messages. The phone wouldn't ring. At one point, the diagnostics confirmed that the phone had dropped 54% of my calls. It sucked as a phone.

Enter the Verizon Blackberry Storm...a great change for me. Back on Verizon's network, I can once again make and receive phone calls. I can still get my POPSUGAR, emails, etc. The lone problem in this whole thing has been my home computer is a Mac. Blackberry devices are far more friendly with PCs. :(

After spending ridiculous amounts of time trying to get my Storm to sync, I finally gave up and called customer service at Verizon tonight. I was in a fairly foul mood since this cell phone saga has raged on for over a year...and I am desperate to have it all resolved. Verizon Sue promptly (and nicely) told me that she would transfer me to the Blackberry-specific technical support people. Verizon Sue told me it would be about 15 minutes.

7 minutes pass...Sue tells me it will be "just a bit longer"
15 minutes pass...nothing
20 minutes pass...nothing
30 minutes pass...

I am now going insane listening to the hold music. I have it on speaker phone, waiting. Finally after 42 minutes on hold...I *SCREAM* at the phone "PICK UP ALREADY!!! DAMN IT, PLEASE PICK UP ALREADY. I am going insane here. For the love of God, please answer! UGHHHHHH." There might have even been some swearing in there...hard to remember, but I did let loose a lot of frustration.

That's when I heard Verizon Sue say (in the kindest voice) "I'm so sorry the wait is so long. I understand your frustration." Ummmm...she heard me?! I was on hold, I thought it was safe to scream and swear at the phone. I thought I was alone. BUT, nooooo...apparently the good customer service places have voice-activation and can detect when you try to talk to them *even while on hold*. I have learned a lesson. Watch my manners even while on-hold listening to elevator music. As a punishment, I will share a photo of myself (something I usually hate doing). Taken by one of my 4 year old clients one day recently... (P.S. The Blackberry people did fix the problem and I am soooo happy now!!!)
 

Watch out, time just jumped ahead faster than it normally does. Both my kids grew years this past week. It was downright frightening. Here's some photos to prove it. Holly sleeping like the older woman she is. I nearly peed my pants when I opened the door and saw her sleeping with the eye shield on. What is she? 80 years old?
  And, in the most amazing of experiences...Anna decided (after seeing her younger cousin Devan) that she wanted to learn how to ride a bike *without training wheels*. She learned in about one hour, without crying and without falling. I didn't think that would be possible. My memories of learning to ride a bike involved LOTS of crying, hitting a telephone pole, and blood out of each knee, elbow, and palm.