This was the very first shot we took. I was driving down to our first location and looked in my rear view mirror at all the fog...to die for. He thought I was crazy for making him jump into the middle of the road. Craziness pays off sometimes. We got a couple more really cool ones out of this location. 
As many of you know this girl means the world to me. It becomes more and more clear why we drawn into each other's lives (and maybe even more confusing as we try to define it). She makes me want to be a better person, photographer, mother, and most importantly, a better friend. I have learned so much from having her in my life and I treasure every piece of it. The picture above is a picture that I took at Jesh's workshop that I thought was ironic because I put a nice label on her as being a "closed book". The picture below was a self portrait that blows my label away and opened my eyes a bit more to who she is without the labels from me. It says she's strong (clearly indicated by her huge bicep) and in fact, open...yet guarded. She is Shannon...no labels...no perceptions...just Shannon. Love ya. Thank you for your friendship and for being "my mirror" last night.
Don't you just love the "ideal communication" sign above your head. We weren't allowed to talk at all during this shoot, but we found ideal communication anyway:)
Just thought I would add one more because she's so hot. 
I forgot to mention that I topped my lovely weekend off with a family shoot that I have wanted to do for quite a while. The kids got to be the photographers and we all got to be the silliest people that we could muster. Jake and I always make fun of each other's fingers when we dance. I snap a lot, so he says it looks like I dance with my thumbs in the air...whatever! His dance that I captured made the cut for a canvas in the house and Christmas card fun, so I can't show it yet. I'd say that we might both want to be a little more conscience of our extremities in our dancing future:)
Tré took this shot. He is all about direction. There were many times that he was so caught up giving us directions that he would miss the shot. Clearly, Jalena has been taking notes from watching me, because she is an Over-Shooter. The lights couldn't even recycle fast enough when she was shooting. This was Jake and I waiting for Tré to get the kiss...clearly he missed the romantic kiss that was right before this one:)
The decor was right up my alley and it took everything in me not to snag this to die for chair!
Then we ate a flawless dinner at Ruth's Chris where we ran into the Dallas Maveick's team. Jake and I watched the boys eating a lonely dinner with a rep smoozing them and thought that our life could have been just that. We both agreed that we felt blessed to have exactly what we have now instead of him being on the road without us. This was a really cool wall that lit up when you walked by it. Entertaining:)
The next morning we went shopping around downtown Portland together. There was nothing to do but hold hands, talk about whatever came to mind, and spending money...I'd call that a day!
As if the weekend wasn't enough, we topped it off with a night at the movies with the kids. I love our movie nights because the kids get so excited and we all had a blast.
I just want to thank Jacque for giving us the gift of LOVE. She got me this amazing quote book called Brilliance, Uncommon voices from uncommon women. There was just the perfect quote for her from us...."You have not lived a perfect day, even though you have earned you money, unless you have done something for someone who will never be able to repay you." Jacque and Christina continue to give us this gift of love that I just don't know that I could ever repay. I love you girls and you mean the world to us!
If something isn't going right, he looks at what he can do to fix it right now. I start looking at the reasons of how we got there, did I have a part in it, and now what do I do. One of the valuable pieces of knowledge that I grabbed onto from Jesh was the definition of Buddhism (that it's not really defined as a religion, but a way of life). The motto that I have been focusing on the last week is "one thing at a time". When my mind starts racing with over-thinker thoughts, I try to focus on the here and now. What sounds are around me, what do I see, what am I currently doing? This week I have been thinking much more clearly because I am keeping it simple.
So back to passion....I've got a lot of it! I love that Jesh opened my eyes to a whole new world of new feelings, emotions, and awareness. I love Jake for opening my eyes to the simple things and for continuing to b my safe place to understand myself. Each time that things get crazy in my life and I feel like I'm not juggling everything well, he just brings me back to the NOW. When I am totally connected to him (mind, body and soul), everything else seems to fall into place. I know that I am doing an amazing job as a mother. I am having clear thought on direction of my business. I am very excited for the future of Heaven's Eye and all the doors that it will continue to open for me. I am ecstatic that I have amazing kids that love me for me. And I am blessed to have someone by my side that loves me unconditionally and keeps the passion ignited in me. So here's to passion...go get it!
These pictures were taken by a fellow workshop attendee that wanted to feel the power (o.k. weight) of my camera. Thanks for the great shots Heather! I am going to have to brainstorm on passion topics that I can keep bringing up so that the posts don't have to be this long each time I feel like this. I leave you with this..."ONE THING AT A TIME"
This should say it all. This was at the end of the shoot and I thought I would try to make the "I'm a fool picture" complete. I know he loved the whole experience deep down:) I know I enjoyed meeting him and his sweet, sweet mom! Thanks guys.
Best skating award goes to Ariel and Flounder.
This was our favorite story because of the cute constumes and our favorite music.
I love this shot because it is priceless to me because it tells an enchanted story. Little 'E' is in amazement of the moment and her Mom is being brought right back to childhood with a smile of bliss on her face. I was just as happy as Jalena to watch all the amazing performers and getting caught up in the Disney moment!
This was Jalena's favorite part in the finale. The fireworks were unexpected and very exciting!
The start of our night. What a fun night to experience with my daughter. A night of awakening my imagination,making a memory for my daughter, and embracing the little girl inside me:) Thanks Little Lou, I love you. 
Safety first...had to put protection on before she tried on wigs. 
This is the hairstyle that was the favorite to emulate the color. I think Shannon should try these colors out.
This is him coming back down with his hair all frazzled. Shannon swears that he is a cat trapped in a dog body because all he did was lie around like a feline while we were there. 
A fun time was had by all and I am sure that you'll meet both of their alter egos soon that they developed while trying on new styles:)
There were so many details that I can't goo into explanation about because he asked us to keep some of the details a mystery so that he could use similar ideas in other workshops and keep them a surprise for others as well. There was a self portrait project that we did and this was mine below. I wanted to capture the way a shot coming into the workshop, hidden behind the camera. And the way I want to shoot more like, which is open and connecting to the people that I am capturing. Since the workshop I have been thinking a lot about labels that we so easily put on one other and things just so that we can understand them. Labels be-gone and hello connections. Before I go on and on about this experience you have to check out some of the sites of the people that were significant to this journey with me. What an amazing group of people, oh yeah, and they were amazing photographers too! Lots more to come on this trip. Wait until you see the wig day I had with Shannon and Sara France!!!!
Jennifer, Sara F, Shannon (of course), Heather, Lisa, Sarah, Ed, Justin, Susan, Nate& Jaclyn, and Jesh
Driving right into the wall of ash!
Even their dumpsters were amazing to shoot by.
Can you even imagine a shoot by this craziness. I decided I am just going to start taking pictures of the places that I imagine shoots even if I can't do one there. We ran out of time and I was burned out mentally to do any kind of shoot after the workshop. 
Two other Amy Winehouse impostors showed up at the party with their brilliant ideas as well. I would say that I was the only one that looked like the true train wreck that she is. They were both way too put together. To all you that still think any of the tattoos were real...I have to thank my tattoo artist Jake for all of his amazing talent, but none of them are real (at least none of the visible ones were real). If you were fortunate enough to catch a glimpse of "the crack of dawn" that night, that is the only real one:)
There were also two other versions that showed up of this brilliant idea as well. But, Jake and Josh were superior in this category and they took home the grand prize that night for best costumes.
For your viewing pleasure. Thanks Amy.
