I’m cleaning up a very much cluttered folder on my hard drive and chuckled when I came across this:

Coming soon: Ida-Laurinda and John’s wedding!

Hey there!

No photos in this post today. Just a teeny, tiny request.

If you aren’t registered to VOTE, and are qualified to, PLEASE go here.

Si habla espanol y necesita informacion sobre como votar, por favor, visita Ve y Vota !

This is probably theeeee most important election you’ll ever vote in, and I truly believe in the power of the people in this country, but we have to learn to utilize our voices, in order to make change happen.

I promise I’ll be back with photos this weekend! 

kthxbye

Growing up sooooo fast! I got a couple snapshots of my nephew running around the other day, and I’ll definitely be back with more but this picture CRACKS ME UP. My little hammy is transforming!

When I wasn’t sneaking into class late from running around Howard’s campus shooting assignments for The Hilltop, Arica and I used to sit at rickety desks in Oral Expression II, while Professor Tibbits click-clacked about in her impossibly high (but CUTE!) heels, helping us better improve our diction in Spanish conversation, but really, because her and I are both fluent speakers it was a nice GPA boost (okay I will speak for myself.)

Manuel came along, and totally swept her off her feet. When he first came to her house and meet her family, he not only brought Arica flowers, but flowers for ALL of the ladies in the house. Can you say KEEPER? Oh and he’s a great dancer, and LOVES LOVES LOVES God. KEEPER!

They are such a great couple, and have such a beautiful family–Janelli, who is full of energy and just plain ADORABLE, and Manuelito Jiovani, who had these CHUBBY cheeks I just wanted to squish the whole time I was there, but then we’d have no photos

They were married last Sunday at the Gala Center in Baltimore, and oh man, it was such a beautiful day. You can tell that sooooo many people loooooove these two and their family! I only teared up about 50 times

Okay, enough of my blabbificacion (yes I made it a word), and on to the pics. I had lots and lots of favorites, so be forewarned!

She did this with NO practice y’all! YES!

Manuel is totally looking over at Arica’s twin sister Amber and is like ‘ARE YOU KIDDING ME? MAMI IS GORGEOUS!’

No for real though, Arica is BEAUTIFUL! She and her sister could be/should be MODELS. Tyra, come to Baltimore!

And Janelli gets it from her mama!

A quick prayer:

And another:

Handsooooome! (and nerrrrrvous/excited LOL)

Arica claims that she never cries, but when she came down the aisle, waterworks :)

Un besote!

Manuel is thinking: SHE IS FLY!!

Arica and Manuel, I know that with God at the center of your relationship, your marriage will be full of nothing but blessings. Thank you so much for allowing me to capture your special day and I look forward to hanging out with you two in the near future!

I’m back!

Last week, I got to hang out with Zion, her mom Tabitha, and her dad Brian at Glen Echo park, to have some fun on the carousel and the playground (it was Zion’s first time ever on a carousel! And I’m perpetually 8, so um…FUN for me!)

I had too many favorites. My bad in advance. But for real. I kept saying ‘OOOH I LIKE THIS ONE, AWWWWW, OOOOH, YAY!’ and Cory was all ‘WOMAN BE QUIET SOCCER’S ON, WHY DO YOU TALK TO YOUR LAPTOP!?’

(I mean, I know it’s not gonna answer or anything. I learned I also yell at the TV. Especially during the DNC and RNC. But wait, I’m not gonna wax politic. That’s a whole ‘nother blog.)

Okay, back to pics!

This is Zion doing her best Blue Steel face. WORK IT! FIERCE.

Did I mention I’m perpetually 8? Okay. It makes it perfectly okay to keep bubbles in my camera bag. Because sometimes when life gives you Palmolive soap, you pour some of that bad boy into a little container, add some water, mix it, and blow some bubbles.

Oh, and lemme tell you a secret. Parents of two year olds LOVE bubbles. See? Zion’s trying to channel her inspiration for the next photo, and Tabitha and Brian are remembering childhood.

I just like the look on Brian’s face in this photo.

 Favorite!

Zion loved the carousel (the second time around. Oh BTW I’m thinking this carousel’s like 50eleven years old, it probably only goes like .02 mph but I was WRONG! Where was my seatbelt?!)

Tickled. Favorite! Love love love the dimples!

 Kissed and tickled = Awwww-ness!

 :-D

Thank you Zion, Tabitha and Brian for such a fun-filled day!

Literally

I’ll be back with more, I’m editing as we speak, but while chimping through today’s shoot I could not RESIST posting this up

*waves hiiiii to Zion’s mommy and daddy*

…after hours of watching curtains of rain drench the sidewalks, and the wind shake and bend with invisible fingers the branches of trees so hard and low I thought the leaves would kiss the asphalt, the clouds finally broke.

I ran out to replace Aloicious Leicester, finally made it home from the store, (most of the roads in my area were closed due to flooding), and saw this sky as I got out of the car. And smiled. No matter how much it rains, or pours, the sun will always shine once the clouds break.

We came down to Charlotte this weekend to hang out with my parents and sister, and on a whim decided to hit the beach, and with a bit of Google magic set the GPS for Kure Beach, NC. Sort of awesome, because I haven’t been to the beach in a few years, and because Cory’s never been fishing before, and since my dad can sit at a pier for DAYS, I figured I’d torture give him the opportunity to spend some quality time w/Pops-in-Law

I didn’t snap that many photos primarily because I was terrified of sand getting into my camera, and also because I spent the majority of time getting sunburned in the water and/or reading a seedy novel on the sand (I finished Oscar Wao on the way down to Charlotte, don’t judge me!) up until we left, but heeeereee goes

So my dad went away for like 10 minutes, and in that span, Cory caught his first fish!

I think they were set up on the wrong side of the pier or something, because after that catch, nothing else was biting, except for the little boy who caught an angelfish and the dude next to him who caught like five fish, and a skate (which kinda freaked me out because I saw the catch while I was in the water, and it was less than 25 feet away. Plus I watched Jaws the day before, and while I know it’s just a movie, it gave me the heebiejeebies.)

***

So…I’ve always wondered what the inside of a lens looks like.

I found out yesterday My Nifty Fifty, Aloicious Leicester, my walk-around lens, decided the world was too much for him and fell apart. I guess this means I’m going to have to replace him with Alocious Leicester II, the 1.4 very soon. It was a good run, chap. Rest in Pieces.

Last night I got to see one of my favorite up and coming artists, Janelle Monae, in the D.C. area, no less

She’s an independent artist hailing from Atlanta by way of Kansas, got her break with Outkast, did her own thing and started the indie label the Wondaland Arts Society, and recently signed with Bad Boy, so I’m positive she will be a familiar name and (hopefully) change the state of music.

Her sound is a mix of everything, I think, and the kitchen sink, her band is amazing, and when I think nobody’s watching, I sing out loud (and loudly) to her CD in my car (and not to toot my own horn, but you’re looking at an All County Chorus finalist, for Lake Ridge Middle School, REPRESENT), and hope that whoever’s looking at me rock out doesn’t think I’m having a seizure or anything. But I’m certain that all other Janelle Monae fans have similar reactions to her music, so it’s whatevs :) 

Anyway, some snapshots from the evening

So I’m back! I survived ALMA awards, didn’t take thaaaat many pics (mon dieu, how did that happen?), chatted my head off with one of the Getty guys who covered the event, wore a dress the night of, lasted 2.5 hours in my heels (I got a pedi to feel pretty, but part of my oh-so-fabulous heel rubbed up against my toes and irritated it to the point where I was limping, which is never a good look, so I donned ballet flats for the rest of the night), got my makeup done @ MAC-though I’m not sure if I’m ready to post the pic of the makeup; I’m not used to seeing myself with more than lipgloss on :)…

and…hmm…what else? I was around sooooo many celebrities, which was surreal, but I think I managed to make my squeals internal (especially when I was 2 feet away from Shakira, got smiled at by Lisa Lisa and Mario, stood next to Paula Abdul and didn’t realize it was her because homegirl is TINY–as is most of Hollywood)…I had my bracelet admired by comic Alex Reymundo, totally gushed about how awesome his sister, Margo is (she was the singer @ Conference whose name I could not recall!)…and overall felt an overwhelming sense of pride about the ALMAs, and being a teeny tiny part of it all.

As I said before, I did get a *couple* pics, but not that many, and most are behind the scenes, and reveal the winners, and I don’t want y’all knowing who won what until SEPTEMBER 12, the air date

ohhh ohhh ohh, and if you look reallllllllly closely the night of the awards, you might see a few pics integrated in the show taken by yoursssss truly :)

So..then I got back, and went to hang out with my mom and pops and NEPHEW! He’s getting soooooo biiiiiiig!

Of course, when I walked in the door, he was soooo happy to see me, he chucked a toy at me, as if to say ‘WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN WOMAN!?! I MISSED YOU!’ and laughed maniacally as I ducked.

Then he grabbed my car keys and pondered on if he should make a trip *now* to Babys-R-Us and pick up a few toys and his girlfriend, or wait until after he was fed… 

Instead he opted for strained peaches mmmmmm and decided to put off the road trip until later, until Mom and Dad got home. Besides, the Navigator is much more roomy

After a filling meal (aka running away from my mom as she chased him around the living room with a spoon and jar), he decided to show off his new toys, and the best way to do this is by throwing them ALL over the living room. Baby Feng Shui!

But wait, he didn’t want to miss Casos de La Vida Real, his favorite show (my mom has him HOOKED), so he dragged his toys over to catch the rest of it.

 During commercial breaks, he played Chase with Gramps.

 …but was dismayed that the Chase didn’t continue into the TV area of the room.

Dejected, he took a seat in one of his most comfortable pieces of furniture and watched the rest of the show with Abuela.