Besaws















While in Portland we ate at this great restaurant, Besaws, in the Nob Hill neighborhood.

Basically it was lunch time, but we had to order breakfast. I could really eat breakfast items for every meal. I ordered a salmon scramble and Grant ordered some hamburger, cholesterol laden egg thing that was super good. Oh, I almost forgot! We ordered mac n' cheese too....only a half order, but still...

We were very happy, especially since our server use to be a sailor. I like to think of him as a pirate though.

After belly's full we took a walk around the neighborhood. Big trees, colored leaves, warm sunshine. Good job Portland.

yellow ranunculus

(don't know where I found this photo, just know I can't take credit)

I think my sister should have a bouquet of yellow ranunculus for her wedding. don't you? and I would like to wear one in my hair to match, thank you very much.

I am in glorious portland oregon this weekend to shoot what I'm sure will be an amazing loved filled wedding. I even brought along my favorite assistant, granty pants. so much to post next week, including mandy and brian's wedding that took place in san diego and three arch bay in laguna beach. tons of delicious images.

now I need to go explore portland. any good food recommendations? I'm so sure....I just ate breakfast and I am already planning lunch. I should have married food.

october 6th

this is a photo of my dad dressed in his dad's naval uniform. today is also my dad's birthday.

happy birthday dad.

I know you are too busy to do much in the way of celebrating but if I were there I would bake you a chocolate souffle and let you stir ice cream into it and not even get mad that you're ruining the "fluff". It's your birthday and you can do what you want!

love you.

old school

this summer on one of many trips out to utah, we stopped by provo to visit some old haunts. number one provo haunt on my list is always wasatch elementary school. this is where my public school education started (imagine me as a 5yr old).
this is the front lawn where we would hold on to the edge of parachute and watch in 80's splendor at the colored fabric being tossed to and fro. I think I might have been wearing parachute pants as I did this.
I kind of miss the old playground set...all steal and bars. this place was rampant with 1st grade kissing tag (why did the boy with warts always chase me?! why?!).
somewhere on this batch of cement I decided my imaginary play name would be "crystal".
this is the hallway and doorway I entered for my 1st day of kindergarten.
this is the door I slammed my finger in during a third grade classroom break in. long story. still have a cuticle in the shape of a triangle to prove it.
best school in the WHOLE land.
I think his name was principal allred...far right.
husband in front of wife's elementary school.
all growned up
this was my family's first house when we moved from fairbanks alaska to provo. It was awesome. indoor pool and racquetball court. views of the provo valley. kate and scott were born when we lived there. we also bought our first nintendo while we lived there. mario brothers, ghosts and goblins and duck hunt.
this is the neighbors house where I would jump on the tramp. my nine yr old self ran over there all dramatic and jumped for what seemed like forever when I found out we were moving sandy. tears were streaming down my face.
my friend annie and I planned to runaway one summers night....another long story. I didn't show but she went through with the plan. we had to have a neighborhood search to find her. she was curled in a blanket in this field behind my house and had pee'd her pants. I felt so bad I bought her a box of twinkies the next day.
sometimes there are random deer in my parents backyard in sandy.

thanks for joining me in a trip down memory lane. happy wednesday!

the one and only


this may be a really weird thing to post about, but I was at office max late last night buying some last minute office necessities, and looked for my all time favorite pen. NOT TO BE FOUND. I'm sure I will be able to find them somewhere else, but it really got be thinking....what would my life be like without these?

It has to be medium point bic and NOT the clear ones, WHITE body (is it called a body?...I don't really want to call it a shaft) and must be blue ink. black ink pens make me kind of sad, UNLESS it's a black sharpie, which makes me happy.

I just really love them, and have for years.

oh, and I am also obsessed with canned air. I have four cans of it sitting on my desk at this very moment.

what office supplies can you not live without? I need to know what else to had to my list.

sound of music sing-a-long

with friends we bought tickets for this ages ago and the day before I lost my voice bossing people around at a wedding. NOT COOL! sing-a-long? SING?! Even though I wasn't feeling my best grant and I made our way to the hollywood bowl. It was so fun! One of my all time favorite movies and everyone was singing along and cheering and hissing. It was magical. kind of reminded me of the same feeling I get when I am in a cycling class...everyone in it together. teamwork. mutual love. I think that's why I like group exercise so much. I love the feeling of a shared cause.

I tried shreaching out the first few songs and then my poor voice said no thank you. we only stayed till intermission, but it was worth every minute.

I must go to austria and dance around on that hilltop, voice intact.

(found this clip on youtube..not the best quality but you get the idea)

she said yes!

my sister kate is marrying jake!! engagement official and wedding date set for december. I am pretty excited. I can't stop daydreaming about the perfect photo shoot locations for their engagements and her bridals.....they must be perfect!...but I have my concerns that no photo will do her beauty justice. from the lines of "sound of music", " how do you hold a moonbeam in your hand"? not easy, but I will try.

kate+jake= great


more photos from that one awesome night at classic skating...








birthday surprise

husband came home from work one day this week and presented me with his laptop. I clicked through the powerpoint presentation and saw these....














best early birthday surprise ever!!!!!

I have recently become ever increasingly obsessed with getting back to my island, somehow with someone (I know I went to hawaii 3 times last year, but to be fair, only once to kauai).

It's true I am in charge of travel...online forms just give the mr too much trouble. so, this week in between editing I have been planning and daydreaming. I booked the tickets today and november is the month!

I know it seems like we travel a lot, and we do, but most of it is for work and although those trips can be relaxing at times it's not the same as planning REAL r&r . also, some of you may be thinking "you've been to kauai how many times? don't you want to spend your time and money vactioning someplace else?" for those with any similar questions, I'm guessing you haven't spent much time on the garden isle. it just doesn't get old.

(is my husband a dreamboat or what?)

yosemite- labor day weekend

ansel adams isn't the only one who can take yosemite landscapes. so can YOU!
lil' banan joined us for family fun. she was lovin sharing a tent with the newlyweds. I had no choice but to sleep smashed in the middle...but guess who was toasty and warm?

brilliant food tent. bye bye bugs.

sometimes grant carries a lot of electronics.
I didn't take very many photos this trip becuase unfortuantly I wasn't feeling too well. allergic reaction on my lip, upset stomach and motion sickness. wristbands as proof.
happy baby.
did you know they can catch bears in this contraption? makes me kind of sad to think about it. oh, also there were signs everywhere that said, "driving slowly saves bears"....true... but what about, "people beware! a bear might eat you!" I want to protect the bears but I also want to protect myself.

swimming hole. icy water...but we were brave and dipped in.


my fish, mountain river or ocean.

love this one of half dome. want to backpack it and maybe sleep in a hammock off the side of a cliff.

took a short STEEP hike to vernal falls. ate lunch on top of a rock.
"wingapo"



nanny goat bought anna her own raft but the water level was so low we didn't use it. she was very sad not to use her special boat for special people.

I think I was wearing 5 layers at this point. I should have taken measurements.
(ps. thanks to anna for taking photos of me so I can remember how ridiculous I looked)

one of the best things about camping, cooking over a fire. tinfoil dinner night.


on the way home stopped at a little food fair. had these aweseme smoked pulled pork nachos with bbque sauce, ranch and a coleslaw salad on top. SO delicious.
we also tried a navajo taco. ok, but not the best. the bread was too fluffy.
of course we had to get the baby boy a hand dipped corn dog. when you look this good in your 30's you can afford a little grease.

thanks hugh and nancy for inviting us. we had a great time. next time more photos and more star time. next time winter at the ahwahnee?

smoke signals

(photo taken by grant m. porter)


my really talented husband took this photo with his iphone. he has been transfixed on the smoke clouds formed by the fires near our home.

he showed me this photo today and I thought it was poignant considering the anniversary of 9/11. two towers, smoke...blue skies.

It's hard to imagine that a day that knew so much tragedy also shares it date with babies being born, people falling in love and someone inevitably laughing somewhere, somehow.

how can extreme tragedy and joy exist together, sharing space and time?...It's painful to think about.

part of my heart will always be in new york city.

today my heart feels quiet for the pains that all of us experience. my heart feels quiet for the lives lost that tragic day.

glacier point-yosemite national park


believe it or not BOTH of these photos were taken at night.

the moon in the first image looks as bright as the sun...but if you look closely you can see stars in the dark blue sky.

...and that second photo...lets just say I have a major star crush. I could lay and stare forever.

we spent labor day weekend in yosemite. it was very pretty indeed. after camping, I flew straightway to utah for work. I make my way back home today...excited this week to work on a wedding, some family documentaries, pretty jewel photos..and really excited to lay on the hammock and continue crushing on the the sky from my own backyard.

happy thursday.

tea, skating & scones

in celebration of banans birthday I took her and kateford to the beehive tea room for lunch. I think we ordered one of everything. anna had peppermint tea while kate and I enjoyed dark european hot cocoa. I think my favorite thing we ordered was the scones (english scones w/jam). love the food and the quaint decor.

then after a short photoshoot in memory grove, we wizzed on over to classic skating were we pretty much owned the floor....well.....they did. I was a bit rusty. I think the last time I was on skates was junior high. I think if I had a couple more hours I could have gone pro. It was pretty awesome. great idea ann. your birthday was fun.
then we started our roadtrip back to LA with a stop at mom's cafe in salina ut for some hot scones (the utah kind, deep fried and covered in honey butter). I had been craving and we had to have! we got there right before closing and gave ourselves gut bombs gorging on delicious gooey bread.

(all photos taken on my iphone)

....next adventure, yosemite national park!

girls camp 2009



































these girls are so amazing. I wish all of you could have been there for testimony meeting the last day. I had tears in my eyes the whole time. I just want so badly for all of them to know the power they hold. their potential is endless. their ability to influence the life's of others, immense. I hope they left camp feeling a little more of their divinity. I just love them all so much.

bananer's birthday

today is my wittle itty bitty baby sisters birthday. she's now 20. not so wittle anymore.

I remember when she would cry for "raychdoe" from her crib. I remember the day she was born..being pulled from finger painting and holding her for the first time. I remember feeling fiercely protective of her from the start. I remember when she suddenly became old enough to have adult conversations and I was like, "what?!!!". I remember taking her on a super sleuth bra shopping excursion. operation get her to buy a bra without her knowing it. I remember a time when eating/sleeping/doing was hard and she made me soup and helped me buy christmas decorations.

It's strange that I can remember things that she can't, because now I feel like we are almost the same age. but don't get it twisted, I am the older protective sister and NO ONE better mess! she has things to do and I am here to help make sure her life happens as it should...just like any good sister would.

I thought it appropriate on this the day of her birth, to post photos from our trip to texas in her honor. we were all there a few weeks ago to celebrate her mission call to milan and go through the dallas temple with her. only a couple more months to go!!!!

today I am in utah with her and can't wait to spoil her with food and birthday hoopla.

love you banans. celebrating your next birthday in italy will be sic!!!










whoolia's shower

back from camp, with time to finally tackle the photo projects piling up.

here are some shots from julia's shower that we had at the little blue house last saturday. I was helping to host (along with some other amazing woman) so wasn't able to shoot as much as I would have liked, but I think you can get the general feeling....fun, happy, dim sum, cupcakes and some candy bars melted in diapers. all I pretty much did was offer up my backyard, colored lanterns and put citrus on the tables.

only a few weeks now till another newborn enters the world.

girls camp

(little planters I put together for the girls...the burlap sacks are full of soil)


off early this morning to girls camp for three days. mixed emotions. I am relived that the end is only days away and at the same time I am sad thinking the end is only days away. being at camp, surrounded by pines and talking about how awesome it is to be women, is just the best.

I am pre-blogging so there will be posts for the next two days I am away. I will not be reachable till wednesday night, so if there are photo emergencies leave emails and voicemails and I will get back to you by thursday.

feelings


g and I saw this a couple of nights ago. I liked it, I did...but for some reason it also made me feel a little teary. this could be for many reasons one being I am a girl and like to get teary around the same time every month. I talked it out with g after the movie and this a short list of things that watching brought out in me:

  • a deep desire for my nyc
  • furthered my itch to live in europe
  • made me really want to go to culinary school (the french culinary school in ny to be exact)
  • am I living up to my full potential?
  • I make a lot of mistakes
  • nervous that if I wait too long I might never be able to bear children.
  • I would love a WAY nicer kitchen (I think about this daily).
  • do I feed other people enough?
  • what's my storybook ending?
  • am I ok accepting and recognizing my own success without the validation of others?
  • I want to write/compile a book.
  • I'm pretty sure one of my best skills is eating. I am growing in front of your very eyes!
  • there is something about the act of "creating". nothing is more satisfying. whether it be the act of seeing , composing, capturing with my camera or growing, stirring and eating. magic!!!! complete magic. I think if I had a nice garden I could eat out of, meal time would make me cry with happiness. thank you earth. thank you sunshine. thank you for the ability to see and create.


after this post movie rant, g wrapped his arm around me and told me he loved me. then we walked arm in arm back to the little blue house. despite all my never ending questions and earnings for more, I have something I never have to question...and every time his arm wraps around me and he looks at me with those eyes that say, "you're crazy, and I love that crazy", I am reminded.

with g my questions feel safe. how awesome is that?!

the end.