Day 121

I especially love this dream like quality to images I make of Liam because I know that someday, down the road, all of these little every day moments I am blessed to share with him will appear to me over and over in my dreams as the best memories I have.

Day 120

Because I've always wanted to, I painted a door in the new office with chalkboard paint for Liam to have his way :) Today was the first day he used it. Let the fun begin!

Day 119

And yes, once again, a trip to Ikea to return and exhange. There starting to know me by name, I swear. I could actually stand to go again today, but that would just be ridiculous . . .

Day 118

A couple of keys on my desktop keyboard aren't working so I'm a little slow on posting . . . have to email the photos to my laptop, blah, blah, blah. But still snapping away. And oh Ikea, a vast source of visual inspiration as of late. I think I could draw a floor plan of this place I've spent so many hours inside. It's dangerous now especially with Liam in school and me trying to get my office together. I'm afraid it's going to resemble a page right out of the Ikea catalog by the time I'm finished, but I think it's awesome!

Day 116

Voila! My new office space, what. This is a project we've been working on since late last year. Handyman converted half of our garage into drywalled space and sleeping loft. I took on the task of finishing it off with a few coats of paint. I thought with Liam off to school in January that I would be finished by the first of February. I finished yesterday. But oh so worth the wait, no?!

Day 115

Clearly my offspring with that sweet tooth of his. Enjoying a cupcake at the Spring Festival.

Day 114

Slipped a bit behind on the blogging this weekend. Keegan had the day off on Friday, which also happened to be his birthday. We started the evening with birthday drinks, shown below, had a nice dinner at Incanto in the city, and then down to San Jose for some partying to the music from his absolute favorite cover band, "Zoo Station." We danced for 2 hours straightand rushed home to the babysitter at 2 in the morning. Felt like the youngins again!

Day 113

My ferocious cat baring his teeth at the very threatening birthday ribbon mess. Grrrrrr....

Day 112

Spent a little time shooting one of my favorite subjects this morning, Gritty Urban Landscapes. I could walk around the industrial, warehouse district of Oakland all day and find stuff to photograph. I really like this image. I love the relationship of the tracks to the words and the implication of travel. I love the hierarchy that the door gives to the word "domestic" and the for me at least, the implied tension it creates between the words . . . as in, "What door will you choose?" and of course the irony of having only one door to choose.

Day 111

Day 110

Well crap. Here it is, 5:30 p.m. Photo of the day?! What?! This is what I've been doing for the past 3 hours as it took Liam an hour and a half of monkeying around before falling asleep even though I know he is exhausted. I secretly don't mind when this happens occasionally because he monkeys around quietly enough in his room so I get that time to work plus the actual time that he IS sleeping. Firing on all cylinders here, but photo of the day neglected. Solution: set up camera and take a picture of photo of the day being neglected. Of note: I only get half a seat because my cat (shown behind me) apparently believes he is entitled to the other half of the chair whenever I am sitting on it. Also, this picture makes me want to clean my refrigerator off. Clutter be gone. The end.

Day 109

He's not always perfect, but for the most part, such an awesome, funny, creative, interesting, and mild mannered little guy to be around. It was a pleasure spending that kind of time with him, playing, entertaining, and enjoying his presence in our family.

Day 108

Weird sea creature-like articles on the beach made for some fun creative games with a 3 year old! And, with the right lighting, a good photo too, of course.

Day 107

Hiking the bluffs just down the way from our backdoor. If only that sky had been blue!!

Day 106

My boys and I just returned from our first official mini family vacation getaway. Keegan took Thursday and Friday off and we headed up to a way cool place about 2 hours North up the coast called Sea Ranch. The ten mile stretch of land was purchased by a development company in 1963 and envisioned as a second home community integral to the land, weather, plants and animals. There are just under 2,500 residences in the private community, many which have won design awards, and open only to owners and renters. Given my architecture background, this has been on my list of things to do while living in California for a while now and it did not disappoint, even with the foggy, overcast weather. It was really sweet to have that time together as a little unit of 3 without any distraction (i.e. NO internet or cell phone reception for 4 full days!!) Liam was so excited to have our undivided attention. We hiked along the bluffs and through tree tunnels, frolicked on the beach in the sand and in tidepools, created spontaneous, creative, silly games (given the lack of kid toys), watched deer, fox, and Seal mommas with their freshly born Seal pups, relaxed on our deck facing the ocean, ate bbq, drank wine (for the 21 and over crowd). SO glad I didn't go with Disney Land. Liam didn't want to come home. Likewise Buddy, likewise.

Day 105

Just a little bedtime nake nake. These 2 made just the cutest pair and I couldn't decide which was cuter. My bathroom has been so photogenic lately. Must be that little bit of black accent that makes it pop.

Day 104

Why are little dangling barefeet so cute?!

Day 103

A sweet and quiet moment this afternoon. I love the tousled post-nap hair, sporting the undies and skinned knees, sitting this awkward way that only 3 year olds can sit.

Day 102

Mmmmm....snuggly Liam. And this was AFTER a 2.5 hour nap. We are recovering from a fun visit with my parents. Lots of wine, food, project completing, and laughter. Nice to have a restful day before getting back into the swing of things.

Day 101

Spent the day in beautiful Alexander Valley.

Day 100

Ahhh Oakland. Pretty much the opposite of yesterday's photo of the day location.

Day 99

Took my parents and my new 5D Mark II out for a spin this morning to the Conservatory of Flowers in San Francisco. That's right . . . I said my new 5D Mark II. I have been lusting for this camera for about a year now. It's on.

Day 98

Bathtime cuteness.

Day 97

Beautiful weather we're having around here finally. The cloud coverage, of course, is sign of the sunny weather coming to an end. But it gave us enough motivation to get out in the yard and do some work. My mom, my son, and I created my first vegetable garden out in the backyard. It is so cute and I can't wait to see it grow! Spring = happiness.

Day 96

Clearly feeling better here, prancing around the backyard on a beautiful 75 degree spring California day, pretending to be the Hungry Caterpillar.

Day 95

Definitely been a bit off my game with the stomach virus thing and having the parental units in town. Keegan got the virus too, but I think today, finally everyone seems back to normal. Back to work, back to school tomorrow, back to having my camera with me full time!! When my parents come in town, they are so very kind enough to help me knock projects off my list, not least of which was hanging this way cool light in my office space!

Day 94

Not for the faint of heart, but this is the photo of the day because this is pretty much what I looked at for the better part of this afternoon. Apparently, Liam came home with a nasty stomach virus on Thursday. I felt like we had reached some rite of passage as parents when Keegan and I were cleaning up kid puke in kid bed at three in the morning for the first time. Liam summed it up quite succinctly and wisely the next morning when he was recounting to me the events of the evening, "I told Daddy my tummy hurt. I didn't know what was in there . . . . . then I did . . . " What son has, Mommy usually gets, and boy, today did I ever. I even had to miss the Final Four games. Bleh. Literally.

Day 93

Liam and I were sitting outside on the front porch waiting for Keegan to arrive home this evening. All of a sudden, Liam says, "What's dat, Mommy??" Me: "I don't know, Buddy, I didn't hear anything." "Coooo coooo..." Liam: "Dat Mommy, dat sound . . . I think it's a Mourning Dove, Mommy." I looked up and there it was . . .