Lovin' It

Just got back from mailing off some prints to a client and buying Halloween candy....its a wonderful spooky day out there. Cloudy, cool , and drizzly! Love it! I wish we could somehow hand out Halloween candy from the back patio so we could sit by the firepit tonight. We should just bring everything to the front porch.

I think I'll be going for a run this afternoon to enjoy the weather some more.

So then I checked Mammoth's forecast and apparently they got 5 inches of snow yesterday!!! The best part is they are expecting more! So Sweet! I'm so excited that winter is almost here. Hope to be on the slopes in early December!!!! I need to enjoy skiing while I can. :)

Busy Busy

My new thank you post cards came today and I LOVE THEM!!!! Pearl paper rocks!!!! Hmm...I think I know what I'll be using for our Christmas card this year! : )

Here's a shot of them...you may not be able to tell but the light blue has a damask background. Love it!


Tonight I shot engagement photos at this tiny cute little park by the library in Palmdale. I think I got some great shots. Hopefully I'll get some time to look at them this week and post a few to the blog. It seems like once I get caught up on photography, I just get behind again. I am flying out in a few weeks to shoot a wedding in New Jersey.

Great Customer Service

On another note, I got some great CS from WHCC the other day. I like to include thank you cards with every print order/CD release that I do for my photoshoots. I've been just using generic stuff from Target, but I finally decided I should just create something on my own. So I sent in an order of postcards on pearl paper to WHCC. I guess I dind't quite size the file right (it was bit small). They noticed it duirng the print process and called to tell me, cancelled the order, and asked me to resubmit. I thought that was nice. At least you know they have some quality control going on. They could have just printed and mailed them.

Dave will be home tomorrow...yeah!!!!! He went to go visit his family for the weekend. Being that I hate Florida (and I was helping to shoot a wedding) I did not go . Besdeds we will both be back there for Thanksgiving. I do miss him so very much. So I can't wait for him to get home tomorrow night. It's just so weird having this big house all to myself. I was hoping to be more productive then I was, but I was very tired today. In fact my run was just awful tonight. I managed to edit my wedding contract, post more photos to the blog, go grocery shopping, cook dinner, do some reserach for our Thailand trip, and complete about 6 pages of a wedding album. At least I'm off on Friday. I know I have a lot to keep me busy! My To do list just grows and grows!

No New Progrees

I'm thinking I should have dropped some of my engineering babble on Adobe. Maybe tell them not having CS3 could be in violation of their configuration managemnt policies, blah blah blah.Just maybe then they'd realize they aren't just dealing with just some Joe off the street but an engineer who is heavily invovled with a software department. Well we shall see what happens when Dave calls on Monday. This stuff makes me to mad so I don't deal to well with it. He's much more cool and calm then me. Their email reply I got is just some form cut and paste email. They didn't even address anything I wrote. In fact it’s the same email I got 2 weeks ago. What great customer serivce…not! After doing some research, I'm apprently not the only one with issues on adobe customer service. They even have an unsatisfactory rating with the BBB. Nice.

Need to Vent

So I have legal copies of photoshop and lightroom. I just got my new Mac, which I first investigated to make sure I'd be able to switch my software over from windows to Mac. Now lightroom isn't an issue since the software is compatible with both systems. CS3 is my issue. So I received an email from Adobe saying yes we do have a program where you can switch platforms. I call adobe today like they told me to, and I get the bombshell dropped on me that they can only give me CS4! And no its not for free, I have to pay the normal upgrade fee! Not even a discounted fee, but the normal fee! I don't even want CS4, I'm totally fine with CS3. They tell me they can't give me CS3,..which is obviosuly just a ploy to get me to spend more money. So here's the funny part...as my red headed temper kicks in (yes I have a bad temper when my buttons are pushed) , I asked the lady if they threw all the CS3 discs in the garbage can. Dave got a kick out of that one. So then I ask to speak to a manager, and of course I get hung up on. I call back this time after taking to the guy in India who is obviosuly reading from a script, I'm on hold for over 20 minutes. I think its rather funny that when I call orinally I get right through, but as soon as I start to complain I'm on hold forever. I finally hung up becuase I had been on the phone for close to an hour. So I am totally unhappy with adobe right now. Errgggh!

Fall Splendor

Warning...long post...lots of photos. :)

Our trip to Mammoth was meant to enjoy fall, but we actually got to expereince some winter too. The lows were in the 20s and the weather was a bit odd. It just made us anxious to get back on our skis. I keep hoping they will get more snow and early season skinig will be decent this year.

So on Friday we traveled up to Mammoth Lakes to celebrate our anniversary. The condo was fantastic. A corner unit that was actually more of a townhouse. It had a flat screen TV with surround sound and amazingly conformable beds. We went to Whiskey Creek for dinner and went for the full thing...appetizer (artichoke dip), Entrees, and Desert (mud pie). Everything was delicious. Desert is always a nice treat for me, since I rarely ever eat it. The downfall with the condo complex was that the hot tubs were apparently closed until 1 Nov! How can you come to mammoth and not use the hot tub! But we figured out a way to enjoy hot tub time anyway!

On Saturday we got up enjoyed breakfast and some coffee and then headed out to the trail head for a bit of a hike. We were planing on doing a 10 mile hike up to Duck Pass and back, but once we got to Mammoth we didn't think we'd actually get all the way up there, because there was a good amount of snow on the mountains! But we decided to try and see how far we would get. Well as soon as we got on the trail it started to snow! Yup, you read that right! It was actually the weirdest weather day..we had snow, rain, hail, wind, and some blue skies. Dave for some reason decided he didn't need to bring a jacket to elevation in October...so once we got to the third lake we ate lunch and turned around. IT was windy and quite chilly up there. So the hike ended up only being about 6 miles.. but we decided to want to go back there and backpack.

A not so good photo of me...but you get the point!

Apparenlty Dave thought it was still summer!

After we got down we were both pretty cold so we decided to go have hot chocolate. Then we drove around June Lake to see the leaves changing. I just love the color of the leaves against the white trunks of the aspen trees.

That night we ate at Angel's, enjoyed the hot tub again, and watched a movie in the condo.

Sunday we got up early and drove to Convict Lake (the place on the nature valley commercial) for morning photos, but soon realized first thing in the am isn't the best time as the other mountains cast lots of shadows. So I took a few shots then we drove back to the condo.

While at the condo we drank coffee and watched skiing on the Mammoth Channel. Then we packed up and then went to some other spots, before going back to Convict Lake.

The next two are at Lake Mary

Then we had lunch at Erik Schat's and drove up Bishop Creek Canyon. Most of the leaves here dieed already due to the cold snap last week, but there were still some pretty spots. Our last stop of the days was Alabama Hills in Lone Pine. We had nver seen the famous arch, so we decided to seek that out. Pretty Sweet!



Now we're home and wishing the weekend was not over!

4 Years Already

Happy Anniversary Dave!

Photo courtesy of Jennifer Skog Photography

It's been 4 wonderful and amazing years together. It seems like just yesterday when we were flying back from Hawaii and starting out as Husband and Wife on the west coast. 4 years later we've had quite an amazing journey and I am looking forward to the rest of our future.

How to get in a really good workout...

find out you've had fraud on your checking account and then go to shadow boxing and act like the criminals are right in front of you!

Got a good workout in tonight...and to think I almost wasn't going to go.

Just One

Photo from the pumpkin patch last weekend...and no its not pumpkins!



It's a short week for me (only 4 days of work) and I love those! But we will be celebrating again this weekend. This time we are celebrating our 4 Year anniversary! Seriously...4 years already. Wow time had flown by. We are celebrating by going to one of our favorite spots in Cali...Mammoth Lakes. We're hoping to go hiking, but they did just get some snow. Other than that we're going to enjoy the hot tub, the fall leaves, and beautiful mountain scenery. I can't wait. And the condo we rented rocks. It looks so nice...its actually a townhouse. Should be a ton of fun.

Wonderfully Cold!

It was so nice and cold yesterday and last night. What a great birthday present mother nature gave me. I realllllyyyy love cold weather. It was about 58 or so during the day and I think down into the upper 30s at night. Dave and I walked to the mailbox when we got home from Pasadena and it was just so nice. We got a little taste of winter and whats to come. Yeah! This is why we need to move to Colorado...we both love cold weather.

So the birthday went well. I got some accessories for my new macbook, including a case and a wireless mouse. Then we drove down to Pasadena. Dave told me to pick out something I wanted. I really wanted a pair of jeans from banana republic and I happened to find a pair that fit me perfectly. Then it was off to the melting pot. We had the Boston lager aged cheddar fondue, the land and sea meal (which we split), and cookies and cream fondue for dessert.

Another Birthday Quickly Approaching

Seriosuly, is it just me or does the time really fly by quicker as you get older!

Ahh…as my birthday approaches, I was reminiscing back to my birthday last year. It was truly amazing…the most wonderful birthday of my life. I spent the day in Costa Rica rapelling down waterfalls, hiking through the volcano park, and relaxing at Tabacon Hot Springs. Seriosuly an awesome day. So awesome we never had time to go eat dinner. We ended up eating cookies in the hotel room while watching the arenal volcano erupt. Ahhh…wish I was there right now.

This year will be much more low key. My routine workout at the gym, attending a wedding shower in the afternoon, and then dinner at Melting Pot and shopping in pasadena. I am excited about having birthday fondue at the melting pot. But boy do I wish I was in Costa Rica! :)

Cold Front!

SWEET….you know how much I like cold weather….it's supposed to reach down to 39 on my birthday (satruday)! Yipee!!!! That's a nice present for me.

Race Season Begins

Fall marks the beginning of the running race season for me. The temps drop so I like to start to race. Today was the 6 Flags 5K run and both Dave and I completed the course. This is a tough one with the hills in the park. I didn't to anything great, but did place 1st in my age group. Dave did awesome, despite the hills. He completed a personal best and took almost 2 minutes off his previous best time. This year they had a santa clarita olympian hand out the awards. She competed in the track and field events in Beijing. Afterwards we got to enjoy some time riding the roller coasters at the park. It was overall a good day, now I'm exhausted and want a nap.

A Summer Evening

So today I've been spending a little bit of time cleaning up my external hard drive. I havene't been so good about deleting files that I don't want. I tend to shoot a lot during my photoshoots. I don't use all of those photos as proofs, so I need to start making sure I delete stuff or else there is a lot of wasted used up space on my hard drive.

Anyway, enough rambling about that I found some photos I have never looked at today. Dave and I enjoy going to the minor league baseball games during the summer becuase they have $1 beer nights. Seriosuly, where else can you get a beer for a $1! One night I took my 5D with me the game. I found this fisheye with a sunburst shot that I thought was pretty cool.

Dustin and Amira Got Hitched

Back in August my brother got married. It was a very laid back wedding. Basically a short ceremony in the woods behind his house, then a BBQ in the backyard with a bonfire. Everyone had a ton of fun. I was their phtoographer. So I put together a slideshow with some of their photos.

You can also see it in full resolution here

Fall is on the way!

I was so excited to check our local weather forecast for this weekend.

A chance of rain and a low of 47! Yipee!

I think I'll be enjoying some time out on our back patio this weekend and taking in the cooler weather. Hopefully our summer weather is gone for good!

October 1, 2008

A good day for my photogrpahy world!

1. WPPI registration opens - I'm now registered
2. B School starts
3. My new Macbook pro should arrive today!