Grid for 8.24.2009

I get annoyed too easily. This doesn't have anything to do with this set of photos, I'm just putting it out there.

Here I go again trying to take my own picture. I kinda like these, although I'm a little frowny. Hell, I'm always a little frowny.

Saturday Afternoon Fiddling (8.21.09)

As you can see, my basil has gone to seed and its far too late to fix it :(

Also, I would like to draw your attention to the novelty steins. Jay and I each have one, Avon made them in the 90's and there's basically one for every nerdy interest. Jay drinks from the Country Music one (preferred beverage: Simple Times beer from Trader Joes) whereas I hoist from the "Conquest of Space" stein (not as preferred beverage: Coors Light). Check that thing out though, the handle is a Saturn rocket! The Eagle Lunar Lander is on the side! There's an astronaut on top! I can't say as much about Jay's, I think the Carter family is on it.

I would like to encourage a trend of hip internetty types drinking out of Avon novelty steins. To do so, I have found ebay links for other amazing steins so that you too can get in on the action!

For the history buff, a tribute to the Gold Rush

For the acquirer of California facts, a Rainbow Trout stein

My personal favorite, "Great Dogs of the Outdoors"

So, awesome people out there! Get a stein, they're only like 20 bucks and you can fit not one but TWO cans/bottles of beer in them.

(A small ebay complaint: I wish they had some sort of social networky "share" feature so that you all could actually see pictures of these instead of clicking on links. I know how lazy you are and I know you don't want to click on anything.)

Heston (8.21.09)

Jay and I got an English Bulldog, who we named Heston. You know, after Moses. He is probably the cutest thing ever, people even stop us in parking lots to tell us that, so its not just me. He is smooshy and cuddly and he snores, so he fits right in with Jay and I.

It has been unexpectedly nice to have a dog. Growing up (on the farm, yehaw) we always had at least three dogs, usually more, so Heston has filled a little gap that I wasn't even aware of until we got him.

Vaughn's First Birthday Party (8.16.09)

Maybe I'm posting too many of these in a row, but I don't know how many people even read this, much less how many of those people care that I'm going to post 5 updates in a row.



This is my nephew Vaughn, he just turned one. He is a happy baby, also a very photographed one. At one point I counted 5 cameras on this kid. It made my efforts seem a little futile, but I like to think that I took the best pictures. The kid with the black hair is my other nephew, Trace, who is a nice kid and photographs exceedingly well. The other kid, who doesn't photograph well is my brother Caleb (its a Schumacher thing I suppose).

I adore Caleb. He is 13 and is so awkward that I can't help but stick up for him all the time. Which makes him feel more awkward. What a sister.

8.16.09

I'm a little embarrassed about these ones because they are of me! Not that you could really tell I suppose. I have always been wary of self portraits, I don't like showing my face, I don't like coming off as self obsessed. I hate showing people pictures of myself, even just normal ones. So I forced myself to deal with it a little, forced myself in front of the camera and tried to show a version of myself that I was comfortable with. I like these, there's something powerful there.

Mayra & Luis' Wedding (8.1.09)

This was a hell of a day. Woke up early and took my last walk on the beach before entering into a frenzy of getting-ready-for-wedding-ness. Jay picked me up in Cayucos and we hauled ass to Monterey to be there for Mayra and Luis' wedding. However, Mayra is a cool lady and Luis is a cool dude, so it was worth it. I was their table settings photographer (because Luis knows like 80 bazillion photographers so everyone did a tiny part of the photography), which sent me into a details oriented bliss for a while.

This was the only wedding I've ever been to where there was tequila instead of champagne, and I definitely approve. The shot glasses had the date of their wedding on them, but of course Jay and I are fools and left ours at the wedding.

Re-restart

So, I'm trying this again, thanks to some gentle prodding from my friend Luis and some very strong prodding from my own self. I've redone the format a little, the pictures are bigger so you can, you know, see what's going on. Maybe I'll write a little more, too. Maybe.



This was from 7/30/09, so I guess its a little old by now, but I love these images. The kid is my cousin Ben. Doesn't he have nice hands? I love his thumbs.

Last year for Christmas I made Ben a photo calendar with pictures of animals. While we were walking on the beach he told me, "Centa, you know how you can make money taking pictures? You should make calendars, because you make really nice ones. You can make them about all kinds of things, like you could make a beach one or even one just about rocks." So these pictures are for our calendar about rocks.