A Tribute

Many of you out there have met my wonderful car, Miguel. His full name is Miguel Manuel Santa Fe. (We had a naming contest among my friends when I purchased him. We wanted a name that fit his personality and heritage as a Santa Fe. *grin*) My first car purchase as an adult, he and I have had many wonderful adventures together. Road trips, daily rides to school, driving members of the 2002 Savior of the World cast to the Conference Center...I'm quite attached to him.

As you might imagine, when Diggity suggested at the beginning of this year (after another large repair bill from Miguel's yearly inspection) that we should replace him, I balked. I was not keen to replace him. I did not want a car payment. I was fine, thank you. I may have refused to discuss the matter whenever Diggity brought it up.

Then, President Obama announced the CARS program.

And we found out that Miguel qualified as a "clunker." (Don't worry. I didn't tell Miguel. I didn't want to hurt his feelings with a label like that.)

And then we found out the CARS program was ending soon. So we looked. And we found a new car. And the new car arrived a couple of days ago, and today was the day we had to turn Miguel in so he could be crushed into sheet metal.

Poor Miguel.

I took a few pictures of Miguel in our driveway before we took him to the dealership this afternoon.

I told G-Man we were taking mommy's car bye-bye and bringing home a new one, and he gave Miguel a hug. Awwwww...

We brought home a Subaru Forester. My family drove Subarus until we got a minivan when I was in junior high. I like them, and I'm pretty excited. I was sad to see Miguel go, but I must admit, when the salesman was showing me the car (Auxiliary plug for my iPod! Functioning lighter plugs so I can actually charge my phone! A mute button for the stereo ON my steering wheel! And MORE!), I got more and more excited to have a new car.

Here's our new car (no name yet):

Thanks, honey. I'm glad you insisted. And you even found a way to get me the seat warmers. I love you.

Any name suggestions?

This is What Happens...

...when you don't apply sunscreen evenly to your son's face.





Why, yes! I am an awesome mom! :)

Sheesh.

Luckily, it was gone by the next day. I thought he was breaking out in hives or something. Then I remembered that I sprayed my hands with the sunscreen spray and wiped it on his face. We'll use lotion in the future.

Yes, I Think I Can Dance

While we wait for SYTYCD to return, I've been keeping busy. Busy DANCING!

My BFF Dana's birthday was last month and I was very excited to find these -



We each have a DVD now, and at some point in the future, we're going to switch so we know all the routines. I started with the Tone and Groove DVD and I have been working on Hip Hop with Twitch and Cha Cha with Dmitry. I just have to learn the jazz routine with Katee.

I have to say, it's more difficult and a better workout than I thought it would be. The trickiest part, obviously, is changing my style to match the style I'm performing.

Just kidding. I have no style. And you wouldn't want to watch my performances. It's been fun to try though.

In other SYTYCD news, I'm going to the tour in Boston on September 22 with Dana and her husband, Catalina and her husband and my friend Whitney is coming with me. I'm extremely excited. I'm also excited for the new season to start. The fall season premiere is on September 9. And on Wednesday, September 2, the Fox website says there will be a "Top Dances Special." Set your DVRs!

Playground in American Fork, Utah

G-Man - July 2009

Driving...

...me a little bit crazy today. I'm trying to focus on cute pictures of him so I don't lose patience until I can take a nap.

*sigh*

He IS cute. And we're the ones that taught him to talk and to ask lots of questions.

Heroes and Teachers

* This post is a duplicate of today's post on my photography blog.*

I must share this. Must.

Zack Arias is a photographer in Atlanta. I love his work. He's one of my photographic heroes. He's creative, has great vision, and he is able to teach the technical side of photography - particularly lighting - in a very clear way. Along with my admiration for his photographic skill and teaching ability, I've always admired how straightforward and honest he is.

Then, a few months ago, he did a guest post on Scott Kelby's blog. Instead of writing a blog, he made a video called Transform. It's amazing. There's a lot of photography stuff there, but a lot of great lessons. Especially if you take the word "photographer" and replace it with who you are or what you might be insecure about. Take 10 minutes and watch it here:



Original blog post - http://www.zarias.com/?p=284

Why do I think the video is amazing? Because Zack was so honest. He totally put himself out there. All his insecurities. All his fears. People really related. So much so, that six months later, Zack's guest post is still the most popular blog entry on Scott Kelby's site. Zack has received hundreds of comments - both on his blog and on Scott's - and has received countless e-mails and phone calls about this video. By being honest, by putting himself out there, he has helped a lot of people.

He did it again.

On his blog yesterday, Zack posted an e-mail he received from a fellow photographer, "B", in response to Transform. Zack also responded in his characteristic way. The blog post sparked an amazing number of comments. All people sharing their insecurities and fears. All drawing strength from each other. It was amazing to watch Zack's twitter feed during the day as he posted quotes from some of the comments he was receiving.

Here's the blog post - http://www.zarias.com/?p=388

And then today, another video. Amazing. Again, as you watch, let it apply to you and whatever you might be struggling with.



http://www.zarias.com/?p=440

Heroes and teachers are everywhere. I don't know Derrick, but I really want to buy some soap from him. And I so appreciate the perspective that he has and the perspective I gained from listening to him. I don't know Zack, but I have found it amazing to watch the positive transformation he has had on the industry. And on me. And I'm grateful.

Thank you, Zack and Meghan. I hope one day to thank you in person.

I ♥ Faces - Pets

I entered my face photo for this week's competition, then remembered I had an animal photo I could enter as well. My sister-in-law and I took all our boys to the National Zoo in Washington DC last week and the lion was putting on quite the show for everyone. This is my favorite of the shots I took.

Do you have a favorite photo of your favorite animal or pet? Head over to I Heart Faces and enter this week's competition.

I ♥ Faces - Week 29

I recently did a photo shoot for my lovely friend LL's family. Her youngest son was giving me some half-hearted smiles until I asked him to pull a crazy face for me. Such great timing for the contest this week! (And the smiles we got after these shots were fantastic.)


Now you have a place to proudly post all the pictures of silly faces your kids make! Head on over to I ♥ Faces (www.iheartfaces.com) and post your own picture or check out some of the other entries!

I know I said I wouldn't cross post...

...but I love these pictures of my Grandma.

More pictures on the photography blog.

SYTYCD - FINALE!

SPOILER ALERT/DISCLAIMER
I live on the East Coast and have seen the entire show. I DO reveal the results. If you want to watch the show first, please DO NOT READ THIS POST UNTIL YOU WATCH. Sorry to yell. Thank you. As you were...

--------------------------

I get to watch with Emily again. I'm excited about that. She's been my most consistent watching partner this season besides Diggity (who watched the show last night without me! Go honey!)

Group Number - "A Brand New Day" from The Wiz
Good number to start the show with. Melissa! WE miss you. And I love that this has been updated to include everyone and features the top 4 there at the end. Fantastic. I still hate Kayla's costume though.

But I LOVE Cat's dress, hair and makeup.

Dial Idol says:

1. Brandon
2. Jeanine
3. Kayla
4. Evan

Let's see if they're right after 21.6 million votes.

Recap of the season. Though it just made me miss Janette, Melissa and Jason.

Forgot we get to see the judge's favorites from the season. It gets me really excited for tour.

Adam Shankman's pick - Jeanine & Phillip's hip hop, choreographed by Tabitha and Napoleon. I forgot that I really liked that one. I was so impressed by Jeanine at that point.

Nigel's Pick - Janette & Brandon's Argentine tango, choreographed by some people from Argentina. I love this one too. So impressed with Janette. Brandon's not so shabby either.

Debbie Allen's pick - Asuka & Vitolio's waltz - choreography by Louis van Amstel. I didn't love this one. Emily didn't either. We'll see if I like it more tonight.

An aside - I really don't think these are the judges' favorite dances from the season. I think they decide which pieces they are going to feature and they assign a judge to introduce it. I wasn't so sold, for example, that Debbie Allen loved the waltz that much.

Mary's pick - Jeanine & Jason's contemporary - choreographed by Travis Wall. We think they are in love. That is a great routine. I smell an Emmy nomination!

Mia Michael's pick - Max & Kayla's samba - choreographed by Louis Van Amstel. We forgot about Max. Kayla's doing a better job than I remember, but Emily says she's got sloppy feet in the middle.

I think the top 4 got to see Fame. THEY DID! JERKS. There's Kherington. I want to see Fame. But I want to see it now.

Debbie "picks" again. But now she's introducing a group dance. The hip hop/ballroom one. Go Brandon. He's awesome in the front of that hip hop section near the end. Sweet. Love the water.

Nigel's introducing the winner of SYTYCD Australia. Interesting.

Lil' C's pick - Caitlin & Jason's Bollywood routine. Jason's a little sloppy.

First results. The top 4 just came out. Everyone is in the outfit from the last number, except Evan. He must be doing the butt dance next. Kayla was in 4th place? Wow. Dial Idol is 0 for 1. She looks surprised.

Adam is introducing the next number. It's the butt number. I miss Randi. What a cutie. I have to say, Evan is better than he was the first time. Anyone agree?

Mary is introducing the paso doble from last night by Jeanine and Brandon. Glad to see this one again.

More results - 3rd place goes to....Evan. That's good. I'm cool with that. Congrats to Evan.

Nigel has another favorite moment - that Mary admitted to Botox. But he picks the addiction piece from Mia. I'm not going to type. Just going to watch. Love it.

Rage Boyz Crew. I love these kids. That little tiny boy is the cutest thing I've ever seen. Glad they brought them back.

Oh, Tyce. What happened to you this season? Not sure if I like this new fun & fierce side of you. If you'd been this ferosh from the start, I wouldn't have minded. It's that suddenly we have the snaps and the chin and the sassy comments. Though I'm super glad to see this disco again. This was my favorite. Go Janette & Brandon!

Glee and SYTYCD are premiering on the same night in the fall. That makes my life so much easier. Thanks, Fox.

Mia is introducing the breast cancer routine. Not nice to show Christina Applegate crying. That made me cry.

I loved this Chorus Line number. So twisted on the original. Love that the judges came out at the end. That was perfect. They all looked so nervous on their poses except for Adam and Tyce. And Adam was my favorite to watch. Mia - stop dancing. Smile and wave. Smile and wave.

We're back from commercial - they pretaped the Chorus Line number. No one can change clothes that fast.

And America's Favorite Dancer is...

JEANINE!! YES!!! I'm thrilled with that. Hurray that Dial Idol was wrong!!! HURRAY!!! So excited for her. She is just so cute. Loved what she said about giving an acceptance speech on the stage of the Kodak. Adorable. And I'm so glad they planned in time at the end for the winner to talk. Usually they announce the name, shoot off the confetti cannons and the show ends.

SYTYCD - Top 4 Performance Finale

They're at the Kodak! The Kodak!!! Awesome. They've never done the finale there before. Cat has a fabulous dress and and fabulous hair.

It's going to be interesting watching them dance on a new stage. Fun to see such a huge audience. How amazing.

Adam Shankman is back!! He's been so excited to come back. He was tweeting all day yesterday (the taping was last night).

We have quite the party watching here at my BFF Dana's house tonight. 9 people. Big screen. I'll be a bit more brief in my comments tonight. I sometimes pause the recording at home so I can type and I won't be able to do that.

Top 4 Group Number (choreographed by Wade Robson - woo hoo!)
Football and cheerleaders! Cute. Kayla is working hard. They are all doing really well, but Kayla is really throwing the cheerleader persona out there. Funny and super cute. Resounding approval from the room.

Resounding cheers through the preview of next season, and resounding groans when the shirt removal occurred at the end. Yeeikes!

Evan & Jeanine - Contemporary (choreography by Sonya Tayeh)
That was fantastic. I thought Evan did really well. Sonya's choreography really suits Jeanine well. They did a really great job. Adam likes it. Mary likes it. Nigel likes it. Everyone likes it.

Brandon
I love these interviews. We miss Janette. That solo was a bit frantic, but so was the music. Total technique showcase. Favorite part was when he got up off the floor at the end. My buddy Adam agrees that it was frantic, but great. Mary always gushes about Brandon. We are concerned about Mary's makeup - a smoky eye, or a strong lip, not both. She's looking a bit drag queenish. Nigel says Brandon is the best. After the first solo. 1-888-TEMPO-01.

Brandon & Kayla - Broadway (choreography by Tyce Diorio)
That was a great routine. They danced it well. There was some crazy technique in there. First double positive for Kayla. Corny, awful joke from Nigel that was saved by Cat. And the dirty old man appears at the end of Nigel's remarks. *sigh*

Jeanine
The kiss with Jason wasn't choreographed?! What?! We'll vote for you, Jeanine. Awesome. She's got amazing control. That open pirouette was outstanding. She's gotten a standing ovation from the judges panel, Travis Wall was out of his seat. That was awesome. She totally killed that. Dana: "Mary sees everybody coming. Everybody." 1-888-TEMPO-02

Evan & Brandon - Pop/Jazz (choreography by LaurieAnn Gibson)
Carolyn is excited. She likes LaurieAnn. I really want to know why she always wears headphones. Dana beautifully observes that the guys dance is a duel every single season. Those were WEAK SAUCE barrel rolls. From both of them. They started out with a lot of energy and they are pooping out. Love the dance off. We think Brandon won. Shankman said on twitter last night he got booed three times during the taping - there was number one. And here comes the dirty old lady. Love that Cat made them cover the grandmas' ears. That is why Cat should be nominated for Best Reality Host. All the judges were pretty hung up on the paradox of Evan dancing as a tough guy to the song "Nasty" by Janet Jackson.

Kayla & Jeanine - Contemporary (choreography by Mia Michaels)
I loved that. Loved it. Loved the left to right movement. Loved the choreography. Loved the symbolism of removing the layers. And they danced it so beautifully. DIRTY OLD MAN! Half the people in the room thought when Nigel was saying that the dance didn't go on long enough that he was talking about the dancing, not the clothing removal. The rest of us - me included - think he was talking about the clothing removal. He had the dirty old man gleam in his eye.

Evan
Thanks for reminding us of how they so rudely saved the brothers until the end. Evan is just the cutest ever. I miss Randi. Everyone is upset by the swit (My SIL Emily's word for armpit sweat - sweat + pit = swit. She has other words like swack - sweat + back = swack. Try it. It's fun.) every time he lifts his arms. It was slow and fun and personality filled. The judges aren't as enthusiastic about the solo - especially Nigel. Nigel totally brought the bummer. 1-888-TEMPO-03

Kayla & Evan - Jive (choreography by Tony Meredith & Melanie LaPatin)
Kayla's costume is so cute. Except for the boots. She's not going to be able to point her toes at all. Fun routine. Not sure how memorable it's going to be. There's boo #2 for Adam. Dana totally said what Mary did about the arms. Dana = Mary. :) Nick made an excellent point - it must be hard for Evan to comeout after that solo and kind of getting bashed and be able to dance with energy. Awww...the audience is chanting for Evan and Evan is crying. Cute. And Nigel congratulated Kayla on having a personality. Or showing it. Or something.

Kayla
She should really just move to New York and start dancing in theater. This is the best solo we've seen from her. Someone must have choreographed it for her. Much more musical. Not nearly as frantic. And there is boo #3 for Adam. Though he did pay her about the highest compliment ever by putting her in the Travis-Danny-Will club. 1-888-TEMPO-04.

Brandon & Jeanine - Paso Doble (choreography by Louis Van Amstel)
That was fantastic. I liked the choreography and I think they are great performers and really pulled that one off. I think that was our first Mary scream of the night. Okay. I love Jeanine. Love her facial expressions.

Nigel was the only one brave enough to call it for Brandon or Jeanine. An informal poll here says:

Brandon: 3
Jeanine:6
Evan: 0
Kayla: 0

So, we agree. Do you agree?

------
Edited to add....

Here's our group from the viewing party tonight! Thanks for the fun time guys! Carolyn - we will miss you!!!

They're Excited!

You might think they're excited about their face painting, or about their balloon animals.

I think they were.

Okay, I'm excited.

I'm excited about my article and the fact that some of you have found it helpful. And I'm excited because I'm keeping up with my goal to blog every day on the photography blog.

I usually let you know over here that there is something over there.

I'm not sure if I can keep up with that, but I'll try.

You can just add the photography blog to your reader by clicking here. That would be much easier.

Or you can follow my tweets here. I usually tweet when I blog something. Or when I eat something really delicious.

Or you can become a Facebook fan here.

I didn't mean for that to become a social networking pitch. Sorry.

I'm just glad I've been blogging every day. I hope I can keep this up!

Thank you for reading.

See you tomorrow night for the SYTYCD finale!!

Store and Style

*If you read my photography blog, this is a duplicate post of what is there today. Just to let you know in case you already read it.

In May, some photos I took for the editors of Store and Style were part of their feature article on creative teacher gifts. My photos also accompanied another article by the fabulous Heidi Green on upcycling kids' clothing. It was such fun shooting the photos and I loved seeing which photos the editors chose to accompany the articles.

The new Store and Style for the month of August launched over the weekend, and this time I had the opportunity to write the feature article.


I adapted some of the tips I share in a basic photography class I've taught locally. Since teaching is my primary profession, I rely on the spoken word and visual examples when I'm sharing information. I enjoy writing, but I'm not accustomed to taking material I have taught in a class or lecture and translating it into the written word. Thanks to the fabulous Christine Vick, the article actually makes some sense. Thanks to Rebecca Wallace who combined my text and pictures and made the article flow so nicely.

If you've never visited Store and Style, take a moment and click over there. Be sure to check out their archives. Especially from last month. They have an interview with organizing maven Julie Morgenstern that is fantastic. There is new content at the beginning of every month, but additional tips are posted weekly, so be sure to check back. And you must be sure to register for their giveaways. Don't believe me? Click here to look at the beautiful, useful things they've already given away. That's what I love about Store and Style. They're about helping you create a simple, beautiful home and life.

If you've clicked through from Store and Style, welcome! I'm sharing more photography tips, sneak peeks from photo shoots, Holiday card previews and a possible giveaway later this month, so I hope you'll come back and visit again!

Yes. I have a lot of dancing pictures.

All the wedding related posts are up on the photography blog if you'd like to see them.

For the temple, click here.
For the luncheon, click here.
For the formal portraits, click here.
And for the reception, click here.

Or, just go to macyrobisonblog.com and start scrolling down through the many, many pictures.

Yup. More.

I'm posting more wedding pictures on the photography blog today. It's my prerogative as a proud stepmom. :)

The temple pictures (the first of four posts coming today) can be seen here.