{ what I want to BE... }

I recently heard (from an awesome photographer named Mike Larson) that your 'to-do' list should never supersede your 'to-be' list.... meaning never prioritize task above character.

This is SOOOOOOO difficult! How many times have you just wanted to finish up the dishes before you had to be somewhere? And then you end up being late? Was getting that chore done really more important than being on time? Probably not. Would you rather be a reliable, punctual person with a few dishes in the sink.... or the person people always have to wait for? Kind of a no-brainer, huh? But what kind of things are on your 'to-be' list? How can you be the kind of person you want to be and still get the day-to-day things done? I honestly don't know yet, but I'm making it a point to find out! And I think the best place to start is with my 'to-be' list. So here we go (in no particular order, I'm not that organized!):

I want to be:

Happy

Reliable

Creative

Loved

Loving

Healthy

Considerate

Generous

Punctual

Quick to laugh

A good wife, friend, daughter, sister, auntie, etc....

A great mom.... some day

Tolerant

Fair

Relaxed

Confident

Inspiring

Strong

Organized

Fun

Spontaneous

Content

Successful

I'm sure I'll come up with more things, but I think that's enough to think about for now. I guess the next step is learning how to make decisions based on my 'to be' list instead of my 'to-do' list.... I'm taking all suggestions on how the heck to do that... anyone have any advice? What's on your to-be list?

And cuz pictures rule, here's a new one from my awesome bride/friend/future in-law of an in-law's bridal shower:

{ the anderson / white clan }

This post is full of some familiar faces... in fact, you just saw them last week. Turns out Kristin loved the album I gifted her for helping me with my accounting and she decided to have me make an album for her Dad's birthday gift... with new photos :-)

This time around Zane and Andie stepped it up with the accessories... seriously these kids have an awesome sense of style... and Uncle Michael and Uncle Brad joined in to make this shoot something their dad would love.

So here are my favorites... thanks for reading!

How cool is Zane? Seriously...

Kristin, Michael, and Brad haven't been professionally photographed in years and years... hopefully her dad is surprised!

PS this is Kristin's dad's Vintage Motorcycle Museum.... yeah that's right. It's an amazing place... it was Kristin's idea to sneak us in for the photo shoot :-)

They love them some Uncle Michael...

There goes Zane being ridiculously cool again...

Awe, Zane loves his Uncle...

My favorite of the day!!!!!!

2nd favorites of the day!

Million $$ smile...

I had to convince Andie to let me take that last shot by promising HER she could take a photo of ME. And I have to say... it's not bad :-)

{ ozzy john } Orange County Newborn Photographer

Yay! Baby Ozzy is here! He's such a cutie and was blessed with the most amazing ability to sleep through his siblings' noisiness (Big sister Rylee thought she should provide 'music' during the session and banged on various things with some kind of stick, haha). He's also adding to my lucky streak and DIDN'T pee on me during the shoot - yessssss!

Here are some of my favorites from the day... hope you had an awesome weekend!

I LOVE this light and this gate... and this baby... and the blanket.... and the beer Mommy gave me to keep my working conditions pleasant :-)

His profile is sooooooo cute.

He wasn't so sleepy in the end there, but he was still cute... and so wrinkly. Christina said he looks like a shar pei, hahaha.

Baby details!!!!!!

a long portrait... of me.

Ugh! Being in front of the camera is scary... I don't like it! That said, it's amazing that my friend Kiera Faye not only got me to pose in front of the camera, but she got me to pose for a camera shooting video... yikes!

She wanted to try her hand at a 'long portrait' and it turned out so cool. She was playing with the live video function of my Canon 5d Mark II and I gotta say I'm going crazy with the possibilities of my camera. Who wants to play? Anyone want to be my video guinea pig?

Anyway, keep an out in the next couple months for more of Kiera's handy work... she'll be doing a promo video for me. Whoohoo!

Long Portrait: Amanda Patrice from Kiera Faye on Vimeo.

new stuff and cute kids!

A couple weeks ago I got sneaky and did a secret photo shoot for my friend that has been super generous with her time and patience by helping me get my accounting in order (ugh). My accounting skillz are still questionable and I'm sure I'll be running to her for more help in the future, but hopefully she'll be happy to help for a while longer after getting this photo album :-)

It's actually a new product and I'm IN LOVE! It's a great cost effective option for family photo shoots or brides on a budget. I seriously can't make enough of these right now so if anyone is interested in getting one let me know :-) This book retails $325 for 40 pages ($250 for 20 pages).

Here are a few photos....

I love that I can put words on the spine of the book.... don't know why, but I think it's awesome.

The pages are super thick and sturdy.

The images don't have to be cut down the middle so it looks so beautiful and seamless... love!

PS these are 2 of the kids I take care of at my little daycare during the week. I actually started the day Zane (on the left) was born..... I LOVE them :-)

They're so funny! They were so awesome to photograph because they love each other so much and they just had fun the whole time :-) And I bribed them with Slurpies, hahaha.

Andie's smile is soooooooo amazing...

Sarah was babysitting the day we snuck the shoot in and helped me orchestrate the whole thing... thanks buddy!

Vegas inspiration and a new outlook.

So the last couple days have been a whirlwind of fun, learning, sleep deprivation, and junk food. In fact I'm exhausted and my poor body is screaming for a vegetable or a piece of fruit... something, anything healthy. But that'll have to wait just a bit longer....

On my way home from taking my husband to work I got this crazy energy and inspiration (maybe it was the Lady Gaga CD I was bumping or maybe I'm finally going loopy. Or both). I just felt like I had to make an announcement so that 1.) people would know what was coming up and 2.) I would be held accountable for actually following through with my intentions.

Now I know it sounds like something big is coming, but it's not really. It's a big deal to me and it's going to be tough, but it's going to sound ridiculously simple and obvious to most other people. But none the less, here goes: I am going to start being myself. I need to start learning how to be me in the most honest and simple way. I need to stop filtering what I think, write, say just because I think it would be dumb, trivial, embarrassing, or irrelevant.... or scariest of all: judged.

Now you may be saying... uh that's it? And yes, that's it. The photography trade show I attended this year in Vegas was amazing. I went with amazing friends and saw amazing photographers speak and give lectures. I learned unexpected things and got inspired in ways that I didn't see coming (hence this random blog post).

I've decided that this will be my year of character development and reputation building and working like crazy. I want to shoot every single wedding I can get my hands on, meet every newborn, snap every photo I can. I want to connect with people, make friends, document people's stories. I plan on putting myself out there and learning not to be afraid of judgment. I want people to get to know the real me and either NOT LIKE ME or BECOME MY FRIEND. I will blog about whatever I want whenever I want. I will allow myself to go off on tangents about how much I love Thai food and Mexican wrestling. I will be myself.

And hopefully I'll get some blog readers that care and feel some sort of connection with me, my randomness, or my photography. But if not, at least I know my Mom and Pappy (hi Chief!) will read what I write. And that's fine too.

And since photos are my favorite here are the only photos I have from my big photography convention is Vegas (and I didn't even take them):

Yes, it's a photo of a photo. My scanner isn't working, haha. How funny is this one? It's my favorite from the night.

The other two awesome ladies are Stephanie Ann in the middle and Amanda Lynn on the right (yup, the other Amanda Lynn from Fullerton LOL). They are the best and some of the funnest dance partners ever.

Haha, the one on the top left is pretty hilarious too... we obviously weren't ready for that one.

The other two girls are Alice Hu and Connie Chung.