My brother is going to BRAZIL!!

So my brother Daniel just got his mission call and he's going to Brazil!! He is going to be serving a mission for our church and he is SO super excited! (and so are we). He was happy because he wanted to go somewhere foreign and wanted to speak another language but something close to Spanish since he took it in high school. So he pretty much got his wish b/c he's going to be speaking Portueguese. He is going to Sao Paulo - which is evidently a really nice climate and is going to be somewhat like the weather in in Cali. Anywho, I'm really excited for him and can't for him to start his adventure!!

(Oh, and in the upper left corner of this map is Colombia & Venezuela where my Dad served his mission in the 70's!) :)

PUG Holiday Party! What a blast!!

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Last night was the PUG holiday party and we had a rockin' time! David Jay graciously hosted the party at his unbelievable home that he just moved into. It has the most AMAZING view of Santa Barbara!! Here are some pic's that I grabbed off his blog. (my iphone pictures didn't turn out that great!! I need to remember to bring my camera to these thing!) So here is Michael and I taking our pic in the "photo booth.' Is my smile kinda big?? I think Ricky Mia took this pic of Michael - isn't he so cute! And then this group picture is of Shaun Austen, Amy Nave, Ricky Mia, me & Michael. And of course the great big group shot of everyone (yes I am in the hot tub doing something crazy with my arms!). And lastly here is a shot of me being a "poser" - again a shot by Ricky!! What a fun night! Thanks DJ!

Ahhh...To have a clean house...

This is the best day of the week because it's house cleaning day! Our fearless (and when I say fearless I mean FEARLESS) house cleaner Aquilina came over today and made our house spick and span! It's funny because since I cook - Michael is in charge of the dishes. (Which he does meticulously well) until, of course they start piling up to the point where he says, "Honey, can you call Aquilina?) hehe. 

She usually comes a few times a month, so it's nice that we can save time by having her come by to help us out.  AND she does our laundry - washes/dries/folds and puts away! She's the best! 

Unity Shoppe

So, I am a youth leader at my church and our activity tonight was serving at the Unity Shoppe in Santa Barbara. It was a really great experience and it was so great to see the kids in our church donating their time for a good cause. They are all really smart kids who most likely have a ton of homework and other things that they could be doing - but they all chose to come and help out in the community. 

The people at the Unity Shoppe were really nice and so if anyone is looking to volunteer definitely give them a call!! Here are some pic's of my kids!! I love them!! (These images were taken with my iphone so a couple are kinda blurry)

My Husband - Winner of TWO WPJA Contest Awards!!

What can I say? I am a very proud wife!! My husband keeps winning all of these awards all the time for his photography. He is so talented and I feel so lucky to be married to such an amazing man. (It's okay for wives to brag about their husbands, right?) :) Check out the photo's at the WPJA website. He has one image in the "Creative Portrait" category and the "Detail" category. Congratulations to my bear! :)

Oh, and Michael also won the 9th place award for this last image in the "getting ready" category from the previous contest!

Daily Schedule...

What is your daily schedule? This is what I did today:

9:00 am - Woke Up/Took a Bath (I am a soak in the tub kind of girl)

9:30 am - Read Scriptures

9:45 am - Ate Breakfast

10:00 am - Returned Emails

10:30 am - Got ready for the day

11:00 am - Interviewed a possible intern/studio manager

1:00 pm - Had lunch with a girl I recently reconnected with from High School/Networked

3:00 pm - Deposited Checks at Bank of America

3:15 pm - Returned home and gave my bear (aka husband Michael) a hug

3:30 pm - Started working again. Emailed people etc

6:00 pm - Barbecued Chicken with my new Barbecue

8:00 pm - Went to the store. (Originally to get Michael some "Green Machine" to help him feel better - but then I ended up doing a full grocery shop)

8:30 pm - Ate Dinner/watched "The Royal Tenebaums" with Michael for the 100th time. :)

9:00 pm - Continued watching the movie while paying bills

10:00 pm - Got sucked in to reading posts on OSP!!

10:45 pm - Decided that I wanted to write a post on my blog and started a post about my recent experience at the dentist office...then thought better of it. 

11:08 pm - Finishing up posting this post.

It's interesting how I do business stuff all day - but mixed in with other things too. Maybe I'll try working for 8 hours straight one day without doing one personal thing and see what happens. Okay, I'll let you guys know how it goes... :) 

I just auditioned for a musical! Can you believe it?

Many of you probably don't know that I am actually an avid singer & actress and LOVE performing in Musicals! I went to UCSB for Theatre and at one time really had a dream to be on Broadway.
But then I married Michael and realized it was much more fun running a business and being a photographer! (And the pay is WAY better!) But I still like to keep my toe in performing as much as possible. :)
So, I drove all the way down to Thousand Oaks this morning to audition for the musical Jekyll & Hyde - The Musical. It went pretty well, see we'll see if I get a call back! I was auditioning for fun more than anything since it is a big commitment to do a musical - but still it would be fun!
It's funny b/c I left at 9:00 am, audition around 10:15 and then got home at 11:25 or so. When I walked in the door Michael had JUST gotten up! It kind of made me realize that you can really accomplish a lot in a short amount of time! Maybe I should start waking up earlier....fascinating....!