practical and meaningful

my summer "to do" list

go to the beach. go to trapeze school. read books. have a girls weekend with my friends who I grew up with. drink some adult beverages. get back to the gym. get back to pilates. spend time with friends. teach jack to ride his bike. have an intown retreat with my working mom friends. circle. take photos. go to london.

i am a mompreneur

Raising my daughter and running my businesses simulaneously takes a lot of effort, refined systems, and balancing.

I am grateful I get to do both. I am aware that not everyone can carve out their work day to pick up at the bus and be with your kids until bedtime - even if it means staying up til midnight working after they go to sleep. I love working and the example I am setting for my daughter. She is ripe with ideas for businesses, and I cannot wait to see what she does in the world with her talent and drive.

Not having much time to myself, and not having a perfectly kept house - is a fine exchange for the benefit of my children  - my daughter - and my businesses.

Tonight I am honored to speak on a panel of extraordinary mompreneur's as part of a fundraiser for Larchmont Charter West Hollywood.  We will hold the event at the art studio in Hollywood- and feel free to come support the school and be inspired.

how do I know maya brenner?

My good friend Maya Brenner is incredible. I met her thru my friend Marika -many years ago when we all went to the korean spa together.

I have been her personal photographer of sorts for years and also her friend. I have had the honor of photographing her wedding ,her pregnancies, her first born, her family portraits - as well as catering parties for her. She is one of my favorite people in the world - and she has taught me so much.

She helps me see beyond my own ways to work smarter, be more current, and have fun.  She is a girls girl who is beautiful, brave, and so much fun to know.

She is the reason, I started to hire more people to help me with my catering jobs - which led to growing my company. She came to my house one day and I was prepping for a party - where I was doing everything myself. She helped me see outside of the day to day and look at the bigger picture.

She is the reason, I finally took a digital photo. I was dedicated to film photography and unwilling to go digital, until she needed a portrait for her book that she wrote and they needed the photo in London in one day. So I rented a camera and the we shot, downloaded, and emailed the photo with ease. I have never looked back.

This is one of my favorite photos from her wedding.

She is a jewelry designer whose work is amazing. This past year was a really great month for her business - after being featured on the today show, she received over 20 thousand orders.

She is one of my favorite people and I could not be happier for her success!

me and maya in Mexico this week!

the album cover

priceless

a week with my family on vacation

time to connect and play and reboot

perfect

my daughter telling me she loves me all day

priceless

leave you with

Going on a much needed vacation tomorrow with my family and friends! Going to our favorite house in the world  - with the best surf, internet(part of what makes it perfect!), a cook(guacamole and salsa at 3 pm with a margarita EVERY DAY!), pool, beach, and total heaven! Wanted to leave you with these photos of my daugher that I shot today. talk soon.

fourteen years

happy anniversary to my husband!                                       downtown los angeles 1997

money matters

I am pretty practical about most money matters - but here are the things I am always willing to spend money on. Making memories. Having parties. Photography. Making photos for people. Getting art framed. Travel. Gifts for our parents. Making photo books. Boots. Massage. Good food. Friends.

What special things do you splurge on?

the magic driveway portrait series

I have a very special place that I love to take photos. It is a magic driveway and the light is amazing, and the walls are perfectly distressed, and everyone photographs well there.  Especially people with light eyes.

Last year I decided to offer portraits to all my friends in the magic driveway as a personal project. We would meet at the driveway and shoot for approximately 5 minutes. Done. Natural light, no flash, quickly shot, while dodging traffic. Here are some of the portraits from the magic driveway.

 

California Roadtrip - a week of surf, sand, mountains, desert and a dash of home

 

 


   
 




The week after Christmas came fast this year. We did not really plan this adventure as a whole - but the various parts just worked together.  We made a plan to rent a boat the day after Christmas with our friends who just moved here from Minnesota and we had a wedding to attend in Palm Springs on New Years Eve. Everything in the middle, just found it's way.

In one week we went from our home in Los Angeles, to Oxnard, to the Santa Cruz islands on a boat, to our friend's house in Santa Ynez, a quick stop at home and now we are in Palm Springs.  It was nice to be away from our normal worlds and even better to all be together. That was the only goal of the week - to spend it as a family and hang out with some friends along the way.

Unusual for us, we were very disorganized in our packing and planning - which meant for a couple extra tanks of gas, and a few lost hours.  We joked that to top it all off, we should head to the snow on our way home from Palm Springs , but I think we will actually head home and do laundry and make black eyed peas for New Years luck. It was a great California roadtrip - with lots of terrain, great friends, delicious food, and time together.

Happy two thousand and eleven. I am very excited for the new year.