RIVER RATS

Drove up north for my move to Sacramento, but my first stop was to meet my family for a whitewater river raft trip on the American River. My first (unofficial) familiarization trip! Steve Markkanen drove up as well and we had a blast on the river. Kelly braved the very front of the raft for these shots. Dad and Markkanen were next in front followed by my Mom and Metro, then me towards the back. Our guide, Ravi, got bounced around on this set of rapids called "Hospital Bar"...it looks like he was about to fall on top of me!

Dance, Dance, Dance

Dancing the night away in Monterey...a lot of my dance friends came out to send me off in style before my move to Sacramento. Thanks to Robbie, Laurie, Wil, Margarito, Torsten and Mary Beth for dancing and to Matt & Kate for coming out to show support!

Shot Shots

My last night in Monterey before the big move to Sacramento and a bunch of my friends met me at Sly McFly's for a night of dancing!!! My friend Robbie and I often go there and we have a tradition of buying a shot when we first arrive so it doesn't seem like we're free-loaders just using their dancefloor. Once the shot is done, we're out boogie-ing for the rest of the night. My other friends decided to join in to celebrate my last night. Following the shot, you can see that I have this bitter scrunched up facial expression...but that went away when I started dancing! :)

The Lovely Matt & Kate

So here are a few of the engagement shots I took of my good friends Matt & Kate while we were on our convertible Big Sur trip. I'm just glad the scenery was as beautiful as the couple! :)

One More Big Sur Convertible Breakfast Trip

Sunday, Sept. 2 was my last full day in Monterey. The weather was spectacular and I wanted to head down to Big Sur for breakfast with my friends. There's no better way to do it on a sunny day than in a convertible!!! This has been a bit of a tradition between Markkanen and I when we both have a free morning and the weather's good. Thanks to Matt & Kate for supplying the convertible this time so that Markkanen could check out their wheels. We headed to Big Sur River Inn and had a yummy breakfast. After that, I took engagement photos of Matt & Kate and then finished the afternoon with some Bernardus Lodge wine on Markkanen's deck.

Going away party with my Co-Workers

Ryan and Lina hosted my going away party for work and it was full of good food, good people, and good times. I'll miss everybody at MTR, but plan to visit often! Didn't take many pictures, but took a few of Brian and Kate holding sleepy baby Maddie. Thanks again to all the Monterey crew for organizing and participating in a great send-off party!!!

SMORES!!!

After the wine tasting, we were running out of wood for the fire pit. Matt & Kate went to get more firewood and they also picked up chocolate, marshmellows and graham crackers. We had ourselves a lovely smores party to top the night off!

Malbec Wine Tasting

In honor of my last week in Monterey, a group of us decided to get together for a wine tasting at The Lazy A, my friends' abode. Everyone brought a bottle of Argentine Malbec wine since I'm into Argentine Tango. Each bottle was wrapped up and numbered for anonymity and we took notes on the color, bouquet, texture, and taste. There's a picture of Markkanen actually eating a carrot...I've been on his case to eat more fruits and veggies lately! Then me looking all confused while trying to decide the appropriate notes for wine color. At the end of it, we each selected our favorite number, then did the big unveiling. Thanks to Steve & Suzanne for hosting!!!

Lunar Lunatic

My co-workers called me crazy, but after working 3pm-11pm I slept for a couple of hours then woke up to shoot the moon! Grabbed my tripod and went up on the roof to take my first try at lunar eclipse photography. Even though I didn't get back to bed until 5:30 am, it was worth it to capture a rare event. The fact that we didn't have stratus at night was rare enough...throw in the eclipse and it made for a special evening!

Baby Maddie...part 2

Just a few more fun facial shots of Maddie, plus one of me holding her - check out her long legs! The last picture poses an interesting question: I'm sure she was just pointing something out to me...not flipping me the bird, right? :)

Baby Madeleine

I finally got to visit my friends, Lina, Ryan & Makena to see their new family addition....little Miss Madeleine. Here are some of my favorite shots of her including shots with her family! You can see that Ryan has already learned how to multi-task as he discusses sports with his brother on the phone while cradling Maddie. Makena is a super-great big brother and Lina's so happy to be a mother of two (plus, she's excited that the score is now even with 2 guys and 2 gals in the house)!

Last day in Bisbee

On my second day in Bisbee, Doug gave me some water and we headed up a hill near their house. The rocky road up became very steep and the sun was beating down upon us. We finally made it to the top and the view was AWESOME! The little suburb of Bisbee called Warren looked spectacular with all the greenery from the recent rains. Even more exciting was looking south and seeing Mexico. I could see the Border road and a town called Naco, AZ and Naco, Mexico straddling the border. Unfortunately, I didn't have a camera with me, but the first picture shows the hill that we climbed to the right of their half-painted house. And speaking of their house....the second picture with the flower illustrates their new home color - a bright yellowish green that reminds me of a brand new tennis ball! Next, I have a shot of the inside of their living room with a tiki bar in the background. Later that night, we went out to the Bisbee Grand hotel for some drinks. Amy likes to dress up and pose for the camera....she delivered! I just went with polka-dots. It was a great visit!!!!