Ok, so maybe Valentines Day is overrated and just a ploy for companies to make more money....but who cares, it makes for cute photo ops ;) 

~*HAPPY VALENTINES DAY FROM LOT116!*~ XOXOXO!!

No, it's not getting kids to smile.....it's something I have ZERO control over. Give up?

The WEATHER. 

Thanks to the craptacular weather we had this weekend, I had to reschedule BOTH of my shoots this past weekend. Not only does that suck for my clients and myself....but it also sucks for YOU because now I don't have any sneak peeks for this week (since my shoots for this week aren't until Friday...so yeah, those won't be up until next week) :( Yeah, major suckage all around!  I absolutely HATE not blogging throughout the week, so instead of posting nothing, I figured I would post some random mumbo jumbo just for boredom sake. 

#1 - First things first, here is how i've been feeling lately.....

Silly, annoyed, goofy, chubby....and wanting a cupcake ;) Diets are no fun....and I truly wish I was one of those people who could eat whatever I wanted and still be thin...but yeah, no such luck in that department....so dieting it is. I'm proud to say that I went an entire MONTH without a single bite of fried food, bread, pasta, ice cream, cake, cookies (yes! Even though it's Girl Scout Cookie time! Uggh!), rice (and hellloooooo....i'm half asian...and married to an asian!?!), etc, etc. I'm currently on a 4 day "sanity break", but will be back on it starting Thursday :) 

 

#2 - I'm completely honored and flattered to say that I now have over 750 fans on my Lot116 Facebook page!!  THANK YOU to everyone who has joined, suggested me to their friends, etc. I would LOVE to hit 1,000+, so maybe I can reach that goal with your help :) 

 

#3 - There are only THREE spots left for the Oct/Nov MINI sessions. Again, these are the ONLY shoots I will be booking in October and November, so book now or forever hold your peace ;) Yes, this includes friends, neighbors, friends of friends, past clients, etc. I will NOT be doing any special favors or "squeeze ins" for those months, so if you know you'd like a Oct or Nov shoot, these THREE spots are the ONLY spots left! Sorry! :) Click on the link above for the info if you are interested in nabbing one of the last spots :)  Speaking of bookings.....here is what I currently have left for the remainder of the months: JUNE (3 spots), JULY (4 spots), AUGUST (4 spots), SEPTEMBER (3 spots). Once all of these spots are booked, I will be booked for the remainder of 2010! Insaaaaaane! :) 

 

#4 - If you love photography and are looking to learn more, click on this banner below and join. You'll LOVE it! You can find me over there under the user name "julieoflot116". Whether you're just starting out, don't want to become an actual photographer but want to take better photos of your kids, etc, in general, this is the place to go. Everyone is SO extremely nice and helpful. You will learn a ton and they have contests, etc all the time :) 

 

Alrighty.....don't give up on me folks. I know there's nothing worse than visiting a blog each week and seeing NO updates, but I PROMISE YOU that this is only because of the weather and that next week everything should be back to normal! :) 

Today marks 2 years that Elyse has been gone. Although she's not with us, we know she's watching down on her mommy, daddy and baby brother, Jensen. We love and miss you, sweet baby girl.

             

Have a wonderful weekend everyone! :) 

Wow....it's still crazy to think that it's 2010! When I was in the apparel/footwear industry, I always seemed to be a year ahead because timelines for those items were always a year ahead, so if anything, I was already accidentally writing the new year far ahead of when it actually happened. Now that i'm a photographer, here it is, almost mid January and for the past few days i've accidentally written 2009 a few times. Whoops. Hopefully i'll snap out of that soon since I was so anxiously awaiting 2010. 

2009 was an AMAZING year for me. I had more business than I could ever dream of (thanks to all of you!)......which also meant more than I could handle....which in turn caused me to be booked for the remainder of the year in APRIL (which is pretty crazy for a photographer who doesn't do weddings). I met SO many wonderful families, children, couples, etc and wish I could have met all that had contacted me for shoots, but unfortunately, I had to draw the line somewhere :( This leads me to my goals for 2010!.....

1) More time with my family. Last year was a whirlwind, and because of that, I spent countless hours shooting and editing. This year, since PJ will still only be in Pre-K for 2 half days a week, I will be doing a few less shoots per month so that I have more time with her. There were many, many days in 2009 where I felt terrible that I was editing ALL day while she was left to keep herself occupied. My goal for this year is to continue to try and do most of my editing while she's at school (which like I mentioned is only for 4 hours, twice a week) or if i'm lucky, when she happens to nap or is asleep at night. As fast as kiddos grow, before I know it, she'll be gone to school all day long (and i'm sure it will be a nice "break", but I will miss her like crazy!), so for now, I would love to spend time with her.....REAL time, not "sorry, I have to work, so how about you play with your Littlest Pet Shop toys or Leapster for a while?". After all, she IS the reason why I started photography (and my own business) to begin with. I wanted to spend as much time as I possibly could with her. Last year I just took on a little too much, and I don't want that to happen again. As much as I love my job and all of my awesome clients, just like the rest of you guys....family comes first :) 

2) Try and be healthier.  My goal is to try and eat healthier and exercise a few times a week. Although chasing all of your kids counts as SOME kind of exercise (yes, plenty of you have seen me sweat to death during shoots, so you know i'm burning SOME kind of energy LOL), it's not enough. Now i'm not saying i'm going to be working out 7 days a week and never eat a bite of bad stuff, but compared to last year, I have already started trying to change my ways. I WANT to be a grandmother one day (of course a LOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG ways away from now), so making steps to make sure I WILL be one day is what I need to do. 

3) Travel. I love to travel....but unfortunately don't get to do it nearly as much as I would like. In fact, the last vacation we took as a family was to Maui....in 2006! Part of this is due to the fact that I have been booking so far in advance. Last year we talked about going to New York (which I LOVE) in the fall....but of course by the time we really started thinking about it, I was already booked for the year, there was NO way I could have gone. This year, I REALLY want to go somewhere....anywhere...even if it's for work!  Although I haven't traveled out of CA for shoots....I would LOVE to. In case you missed this blog post, check it out! Have camera....WILL TRAVEL! So yeah, for anyone interested, shoot me an email! Get me out of San Diego for a few days! ;) 

 

Since a blog post isn't much without photos, here are some photos of PJ from the other day. I have been working on goals 1 & 2 already, so last week we packed up a picnic basket (turkey sandwiches (mine was on whole wheat - PJ got the last of the white bread that I will be buying), Triscuits and grapes), grabbed a blanket and headed to a park to have a picnic and play for a bit. It was a gorgeous and sunny day. We will definitely be doing this more often......

 

Last but not least.......

If you love photography and are looking to learn more, click on this banner below and join. You'll LOVE it! You can find me over there under the user name "julieoflot116". Whether you're just starting out, don't want to become an actual photographer but want to take better photos of your kids, etc, in general, this is the place to go. Everyone is SO extremely nice and helpful. You will learn a ton and they have contests, etc all the time :) 

 

Also, don't forget to add Lot116 on Facebook! Why? Well since comments aren't enabled on my blog just yet, you can leave comments for shoots there, see when I post new blog entries, hear about upcoming news, etc :) My goal was to reach 600 fans by Christmas...and that goal was not only met (THANK YOU!!!!), but surpassed!.... and not even 2 weeks into January, i'm around 650 now, so a HUGE thank you to all of you who have added Lot116, suggested me to friends, etc. You sure know how to make a gal feel good :) 

 

Here's to 2010!!! It looks like 2010 is following in 2009's steps and I might be booked up for the year quite quickly. I'm currently booked until May (with only 3 spots left in May), so please don't hesitate to email me to book a shoot for this year.  I look forward to seeing (and meeting!) so many of you this year! :) I will be posting FALL mini-shoot info within the next few weeks, so be sure to check back if you'd like to nab a spot.  Thanks!! :)