Christmas Photos

This evening I was able to take a few pictures of my parents. My mum was trying on a new outfit that she purchased for a special occasion that's coming up soon.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to each one of you! For Christmas, my parents, Ann (my aunt from England), Duncan (my brother), Marlene (Duncan's fiance), Bob and Betty (Marlene's parents) were all here to celebrate.

The Glory of Christmas

The snow melted enough today so that we could go see the Glory of Christmas at the Chrystal Cathedral. Before the program, we had supper at the Cheesecake Factory. My aunt from England had never been to one before. The Christmas program was really good with Angels flying through the top of the church, live animals and great costumes. Driving home the roads were good except the last 6-8 miles which was mostly black ice due to the freezing temperatures. (not my pictures)

More Snow!

What a winter wonderland. Yesterday, we had about a foot of snow. Quite exciting for my parents and aunt that haven't seen this much snow since living in New England and I hadn't seen this much in years. It looks beautiful everywhere. Who knew SoCal had this much snow?! I cleared off my driveway with a dustpan and rubbermaid lid as I didn't have anything else that resembled a shovel. I closed the office around noon (yesterday). It took me 1 1/2 hours to drive home and get the car into the garage...usually only takes 15-20 minutes. Work was cancelled today as the parking lot was covered with a foot of snow and roads were pretty bad in the morning. It was our bosses last day and we had a big thing planned, so we had to postpone it until January when he'll be back this way.

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow!

This morning we had a light powdering of snow. It looked really pretty, but didn't last.

Christmas Decorations

Tonight, I put up the Christmas tree. Tomorrow is cleaning night, then family will start arriving for the holidays.

Christmas Lights

This evening, I went with some friends (Ovi, Stephanie and their two kids) to the historic Mission Inn in Riverside to see the Christmas Lights. I took a few pictures of their family.
Here are pictures of the lights

Fire! Fire!

When my friend Steve moved into his house, he had a cleaning crew coming in and clean. Apparently, they missed the broiler plate under the oven.

On Friday evening, Steve was having about 30 people over for dinner. He had the oven on for about 4 hours cooking lots of lasagna. After everyone was there (except me), the oven caught on fire. Thankfully, he had a fire extinguisher to help put some of the fire out, but he used that all up, so had to call the fire department. People said that when Steve came out the kitchen, there was some coming out his mouth and nose from when he was in there trying to put the fire out. The wall behind the stove was 160 degrees and there was a concern that insulation might catch on fire, but thankfully it didn't. When I got there, the trucks had left, but there was ash on everything. The evening still was a success, there was plenty of other food and people all had a great time.

NOTE: If you don't own a fire extinguisher, go buy one. Safety First!

Mini Family Reunion

Last night we went out to eat at Cheesecake Factory in Scottsdale, AZ. Left to right, yours truly, Neville (my nephew), Duncan (brother), Marlene (Duncan's fiance), William (my nephew), Dawn (my sister) and Todd (Dawn's husband).

Engaged

Tonight, my brother, Duncan, proposed to his girlfriend Marlene. Congratulations to both of you!

Visit from LeRoy

Yesterday evening, my youngest brother called to say he was a couple hours away to pick up a tractor and was going to be driving by my house so would like to stop by and visit. It was nice visiting with him for a couple hours. We also talked to his wife with iChat. He left early this morning to try make it back home to Colorado by Thanksgiving.

Nikoli 1994-2008

Today, Nikoli went to sleep for the last time. What a sad day. He was a great cat and I have may happy memories of him. The first picture was taken in June this year. The second picture was taken in March. He loved to find a patch of sunlight to sleep in. As you can see from his partly opened eyes, he never missed a thing.

Learnfest - Sold Out

The Learnfest photography course near Atlanta next April went on sale today and sold out in three hours. Amazing! I guess that means I won't be going. I'm still so excited that I got to go the the first one that was offered. The class material for this one was going to be the same as the one I went to in Bald Head, NC, as there was a long waiting list. So, now I'll just have to spend the time practicing taking pictures.

One of my friends, Steve, wore a new suit today that he bought a couple weeks ago. He was a good sport and let me take a some pictures of him with a couple of his new ties.

New Book Arrived

I'm was really excited that the photography book I ordered came today in the mail. It's called "The Art of Children's Photography" by Tamara Lackey. She is one of the amazing photographers from Raleigh, NC that taught at the Learnfest photography workshop that I attended in Baldhead, NC. Her family is currently living in South America for several weeks while they adopt their third child, a little girl. Their first child is biological, and their second child is adopted from Ethiopia. All this and she has time to write a book and is working on her second. She is an amazing photographer of children, wedding, presidential candidates, Olympic athletes and other famous people. I also found out that she is donating all author proceeds from the sale of this book to the Worldwide Orphans Foundation and Save the Children. What talent and generosity.

Today, I learned how to encode website links into the words that are in blue and underlined. Learning new things everyday!

Gimbi, Ethiopia

The church I went to today had an Ethiopian lunch. This lunch was in honor of several people that will be going to Gimbi, Ethiopia this week. As I lived in Gimbi for several months in the early 70's (a total of 3 1/2 years in Ethiopia), I was interested in going and seeing if I recognized the food. It was actually much better than I anticipated...and not too spicy. The flat bread is called injera, and is broken into strips and used to dip into wat (the sauce). The Ethiopians use the strips of injera instead of utensils.

Election Day

The people have spoken, and now we have a new President Elect.

Chateau Elan

Just found out this evening the new location has been released for the 2009 Learnfest. This will be the same class that I went to Bald Head, NC. I'll have to see if it will fit in with my financial calendar for 2009. Chateau Elan is a beautiful 3500-acre spa, winery, and resort located about 40 minutes outside of Altanta, Georgia. (Not my picture)

Anniversaries

Today is my 1 year anniversary in my current role (and company). Yesterday was my 12 year anniversary with my parent corporation. I've held four roles: Senior Financial Analyst (3 years) in Knoxville, TN; Plant Controller (5.5 years) in Merritt Island, FL; Director of Finance (2.5 years) in Knoxville, TN and now Vice President/Cheif Financial Officer for 1 year in my current location in CA.

Orphanage, Puerto Vallarta

Today, I received an updated group shot from the orphanage that I went to last April. It's fun seeing an update of the children.

Malibu Creek State Park

Today, I went hiking with a friend at Malibu Creek State Park. The park features hiking, fishing, bird watching and horseback riding opportunities. There are 15 miles of streamside trail through oak and sycamore woodlands and chaparral-covered slopes. Twenty-five-mile Malibu Creek in the park is the principal water-course of the Santa Monica Mountains - from Boney Mountain to Malibu Lagoon.

Visitors

This weekend, I also had a visit from an old friend from college and her family. It was fun seeing them as I hadn't seen them for 12 years.

Kids Photoshoot

Today, I took pictures of a friends child and his cousins.

Avalon

This evening, I went with a friend to hear Avalon. I wasn't real familiar with the songs, but it was fun to go do something.

Photographers In Action!

Here are a couple of pictures of me at Learnfest that one of the other photographers (Veronica Reeve) sent to me. In the first picture, I'm in a pink top and khaki pants and the second picture I'm in a brown sweater and off-white pants (near the center).

Barbeque

Today, I went to a barbeque at a friends house. I didn't take any people pictures, but got a couple of this great dog. When he was born, he was the runt of litter, but now is a healthy grown dog.

New Pictures

I finally got the pictures from my Blackberry that I took at Hearst Castle. They have been added to my September 1 blog. Also, the IT person at work was able to retrieve all the photos that were on my memory card that got formatted, so I have added some pictures to Learnfest, Day 1.

Also, some more pictures with some Photoshop mats that I purchased from Design Aglow.

Bald Head, NC

Here are just a few pictures of the island.

Learnfest, Day 2

My classes today were with Tamara Lackey and Laura Novak.

http://www.tamaralackeyblog.com/

http://www.lauranovak.net/

Today, I had better luck with not accidentally formatting and erasing all my pictures. Here are some pictures of the photoshoot with Tamara Lackey.

Learnfest, Day 1

What a great day. I learned so much today from Audrey Woulard and Lena Hyde. They are both amazing photographers (blogs below) and shared so much with us. With Audrey we had a photo shoot and I took loads of pictures.
http://www.audreywoulardblog.com/
http://lenahyde.com/blog/

So, where are the pictures??? Well, after dinner, I took some pictures of the club house after dark. I decided to drive a little further down the drive and get another one, but when I stopped to do it, my camera was formatting my disk which erased all my pictures. I hadn't turn off my camera, as I wasn't going to drive far down the drive and I guess my camera hit the series of 3 buttons that are required to format a disk...what are the chances of that happening??!!

Hey, our IT person at work was able to retrieve my pictures...so here are a few...

The Oddie Children

Today, I arrived in Raleigh, NC and stopped by the NC Museum of Art so I could see this painting of my ancestors. The Museum was closed and the painting was in storage, but they museum had made arrangements for me to see it the week before. They sent me this picture of the paining and well as the write up below.

Department: European to 1910
Title: The Oddie Children
Classification: Paintings
Artist: Sir William Beechey, British, 1753-1839
Label Text: Before the eighteenth century, British artists often portrayed children in family portraits as if they were small adults. The subject of children at play reflects a new attitude of tolerance for childhood games in the second half of the century, although an opposing puritanical philosophy still viewed play as sinful. This charming picture of Sarah, Henry, Catherine, and Jane Oddie, the daughters and son of a London lawyer, must have achieved some popularity, since it was reproduced as an engraving. Young Catherine, careless of spoiling her white muslin dress, rests on all fours, gazing out as if to invite the viewer to join the children’s activities. The artist simulates the textures of fabrics brilliantly, contrasting the simple white dresses of the girls with their colorful satin sashes and matching leather slippers. He also manipulates light and dark areas to great effect, silhouetting Jane’s brunette hair against the sky and the heads of her fair-haired siblings against the dark foliage.
The Oddie Children was exhibited with six other Beechey portraits in the Royal Academy exhibition of 1791. Appointed portraitist to Queen Charlotte in 1793, Beechey also painted her husband, King George III, and the couple’s sons, and gave painting lessons to their daughters. These services to the royal family earned a knighthood for the artist.
Date Label: 1789
Culture: British
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 72 x 71 7/8 in. (182.9 x 182.6 cm)
Credit Line: Purchased with funds from the State of North Carolina

Up, Up and Away

Soon I'll be headed to Bald Head, NC for my photography course. The setting looks pristine and gorgeous (not my picture). Can hardly wait...

The Oddie Saga

A few years ago, my dad put together a family photo album which he titled "The Oddie Saga". It had pictures of our ancestors and ended in the mid 70's (okay, maybe it was more than a few years ago!). Here are a couple of my favorite pictures. The first one is when I was 2. I wasn't behaving for the family photo and I'm sticking my tongue out at my sister. The second picture is when we stopped in England on our way from Ethiopia to America. I always liked soft serve ice cream and my sister would always get a popsicle. On the rare occasion that we got ice cream, it was from an ice cream truck called Mr. Softee.