Being A Spokesmodel Is Harder Than It Looks! Fri. August 28, 2009 photographers
I am so so excited that my company, SHOOTSAC is launching it's first ever laptop bag called HIPSLIP on September 1 (Tuesday!). We pre-launched the hipslip back in March and instantly sold out of all the bags we had preordered, so we had to wait for the new bags to be made. I seriously cannot believe they are finally here!
We decided that there were so many super cool, and not totally obvious features of the HIPSLIP that it would be fun to make a VIDEO TOUR of the product and the NEW LINE of HIPSLIP COVERS. I can think of so many friends who aren't photographers who are going to love these new funky fun, chic laptop cases.
Check it out:
PS -- HIPSLIP covers are Shootsac compatible and Shootsac covers are HIPSLIP compatible. YOU already have so many new options your head will spin. I'll explain more about this later :)
**We want to make sure you are on our list so that you don't miss out on Tuesday! CLICK HERE FOR THE LIST**
Head on over to the SHOOTSAC BLOG for more photos, specs, details, and FUN!!
*Initially designed for the full line of Apple Notebooks, the HIPSLIP, will accommodate laptops from several major brands.
Two Sweet Things Are Finally Here! Wed. August 26, 2009 people
I'm so glad that I finally can post that the new DIRTY PICTURES TEXTURES BY TOTALLY RAD ACTIONS!!!(to find them, just click on the tab that says "BUY" and add them to your cart) I've been lucky enough to preview these during the beta testing and I seriously couldn't be more impressed with their quality.
I don't normally think that textures work well on my work because I generally prefer more crisp and clean photos, but the textures give me the flexibility to keep them super subtle to make a deeper, richer photo instead of a more cluttered one.
I may as well take the opportunity to share them on a sweet new baby, Nixon Hawke Sikes, who arrived a few weeks ago. I think it's a pretty stellar combination!
Look how sweet Nixon looks--he slept through most of the session:
But he did wake up for a few minutes, looking quite adorable!
The effort of waking up was too much, so he decided to go back to sleep:
I love this shot, and the texture on here makes it look almost like a painting:
Nixon's dad, Gary, decided to "man up" the photos a little bit:
Poor Nixon--he'll never even have a choice :)
I'm sure Gary was motivated solely out of love though:
Gary & Jana's hands on Nixon--you can tell he feels so safe when they're near him:
Gary didn't like that there were flowers in this photo, but I think it looks cool anyway. He has plenty of time to be manly later!
If you ever even think that you might use a texture ONCE on a photo, go grab the DIRTY PICTURES TEXTURES(to find them, just click on the tab that says "BUY" and add them to your cart. They will blow your mind. Seriously.
Yesterday was my bridal shower! Two of my BFF's, Chenin Boutwell (click on her name to see ALL her beautiful work and photos--EVERY photo her was shot beautifully by her) and Candice Brooke threw me the absolute most adorable shower I've ever seen and I can't even believe it was for me! These girls sure know how to plan a party, that's for sure.
For the last month or two, Chenin and Candice have been crafting nonstop (seriously, like for days on end, week after week) in preparation for my shower. Being the crafty girls that they are, I knew the shower was going to be over the top amazing and it absolutely was. The shower took place at Chenin's house, she has the most perfect little courtyard and garden off the side of the house, and it was exactly the right size for the girls that were there. They enlisted the help of Mark, Candice's husband to string the decor, and the result was sooooo cute and fun!
The shower had a bit of a happy housewife theme with a sarcastic/kitchy twist, which is very appropriate for both Chenin and I, although she's more homey housewife (she actually cooks and makes her house look cute), whereas I am more sarcastic and throw together food once in awhile :)
One of the most adorable parts of the shower are these tote bags that the Wedding Chicks made for me and the bridesmaids! Normally I think bride tank tops are cheezy, but this one is SO CUTE and totally goes with the whole wedding theme--I can't wait to wear it (also because it says Mrs. Norwood on it right below where it says Bride!). My bag has my new initial, whereas the bridesmaids have ones that have each of their names on the bag:
The shower, as you can see for yourself was incredibly beautiful/cute/adorable/anthropologie:
Anyone who knows me knows that cupcakes are pretty much my favorite food and if there was an all-cupcake diet, I'd gladly be on it. This "Pimp My Cupcake" station was right up my alley:
I got to judge to see who decorated the best cupcake. My friend Summer from Grey Likes Weddings won (see far right photo)! I thought it was quite creative how she used the "gold digger" flag in combination with Cyndie's ring. Good thing I didn't eat the winner--that would have been a rough day for both Cyndie and Michael:
Me opening a gift--I got SO much cute stuff, mostly from my registries at Williams Sonoma and Anthropologie. Wedding showers are so awesome!
Me with Chenin and Candice looking lovely--These girls are the best friends anyone could ask for. They worked so hard on this shower, and I couldn't thank them enough if I tried (which I will):
In other news, SEPTEMBER IS COMING AND SO ARE HIPSLIPS (September 1 to be exact). In honor of this, September is creativity month at shootsac, and this party fits right in! Go check out the SHOOTSAC BLOG for a few more photos of the more creative touches.
Wedding Planning is not for the weak hearted Fri. August 14, 2009 plan!
The big wedding countdown:
That's right, less than two months from now, I am getting MARRIED! I absolutely cannot believe how fast time is flying. This weekend, Jeff and I are heading up to Napa to do the vast majority of the wedding planning: caterer, cake, dj, and lighting.
You can imagine the difficulty of trying to plan a wedding and work my way through wedding season, as well as find time for ordinary life! The truth is though, that I have two really really big weapons of mass destruction on hand to help navigate the wedding planning process.
The first is my absolutely amazing, calm and cool, perfectly centered at all times wedding coordinator, Angel Swanson. There was never a more aptly named person that has ever lived--she is truly an ANGEL! When I was deciding on a wedding coordinator, although I know and LOVE several, I wanted someone who was not only creative and original, but a calming presence in case I got all whacky and bridezilla. I've worked with Angel before, and I just don't think she has the gene that causes stress!
Plus, she's got a really funky, awesome sense of style and is just too darn cute (this amazing photo of Angel & her husband Erik is from Amelia Lyon) :
If you are getting married in Orange County or anywhere reachable by car, train, or plane, I highly recommend Angel. You can find here **RIGHT HERE** She has not only been able to flawlessly manage every detail of a fairly complicated scheme so far in terms of sheer volume of items needed, but she has done so with absolute grace and kindness. Her ideas are always perfectly suited to the wedding, and I can't wait to see her on Monday to meet with each of our vendors up in Napa! Yay!
I do have one other weapon, my cousin's wife, Kabrel. Kabrel and I have poured over wedding magazines for the past oh, five years or so, scrutinizing each floral arrangement, gown, tradition, and photo down to the very last swarovski crystal. Kabrel has been doing an INSANE amount of work for my wedding, spending literally countless hours on ebay, at garage sales and flea markets, on the phone, with invitation people and florists. It has literally been her full time job for the past six months to make every single detail incredible. Here's Kabrel (It's an older photo, but I'll have newer ones soon):
So as Jeff and I are headed up to pick the last of our details, and we are fully armed with a complete itinerary, people waiting to meet with us, and even a little relaxation time. I can't imagine any better way to do this :)
Our invitations go out next week, so stay tuned for pics of all the printed stuff we've done--I have to say, I absolutely love it and can't wait to share it, but don't want to ruin the surprise for the guests!
In other news, should I do a crown of flowers or a birdcage veil? Please discuss!
A Beach Week Sneak Peek Tue. August 4, 2009 my life
This is the 28th consecutive year of Beach Week, the annual week my family spends together, all in one house, at the beach. I have never missed one.
I'm not quite ready to tell the story or blog all the pictures yet, but from what I can tell, it's a typical family beach week, with a few small exceptions :) Here's a couple of shots from yesterday:
The house this year is painted bright orange--everyone is complaining about it, but i am LOVING it for the pictures! Each bedroom is painted a different crayola color too, I'll try to get a few shots of them.
Last night was spaghetti night. My little cousin William was really into it!
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