Photography by Alison, San Diego Family photographer

My yard is taking up all my concentration.  I really need to work on this project but I am over the excitement of it and now it is just the giant, mundane project that I can’t seem to get any drive to complete.  I am dragging…dragging… dragging through it.  And the scary part?  I have so much more to do.  I can’t even imagine being done with it.  That is what is so scary about it.  At least I know what has to be done.  For awhile there, I didn’t even know that. 

This weekend, my neighbor girlfriends and I are going to stay at my dad’s at the beach (because he is out of town) and have a girl’s weekend.  It is totally planned with no real plan.  Should be fun.  Everyone is looking forward to it.  It’ll be interesting.  We have all done family trips together but I think this will be the first ‘just the girls’ trip.  Hmmm… I didn’t even realize that until now.  Anyway, the plan is movie, dinner, shopping, spa, more eating out, maybe trying surfing… again, hanging out and talking… 

In boy news, Dallon had a major meltdown over his hair yesterday morning.  It just didn’t look right and when I asked what it should look like so I could fix it, he said "I don’t know… I can’t remember."  And he is in tears.  The bell is about to ring.  Just a few weeks ago I saw an Oprah with people who were deathly afraid of what everyone was thinking about them and they couldn’t go out in public.  So I was quite worried that Dallon was surely going to turn into that if I didn’t try to nip this in the bud.

I told him that most people are really just worried about themselves just like he is about his hair and they won’t even know there is a difference from the day before to that day’s hair.  And then he was upset about his face being all red from crying. I  would get him calmed down and then he would start thinking about I don’t know what…and then cry and say his stomach hurt… he was a mess.  It took a half hour to get into school.  He finally made it in and he said his day was just fine.  I think this happens about every six months (let’s hope so anyway). 

All I could think about was that Oprah show and the people (college age) on it were very good looking people.  And the parents were in the audience just devastated.  I told Dallon that he was definitely going to school and there was no getting around that.  I am sure he is fine… but I was getting worried during this morning ordeal. 

Note to self… don’t watch Oprah or any other show that has exteme cases of phobias (I don’t even watch Oprah:P)

Not a whole lot new is going on.  We are finally doing our front yard.  It was one of the first things we were going to do when we moved into this house over 7 years ago.  We kind of decided that the inside stuff was more important since we live in the house.  Now we are finally doing it. And I decided that we really should paint the front of the house as well, so we are.  I will show before and after photos when it is all done.  But they did all the demo today and should start painting on Wed.

Picking a color for paint is so hard.  It’s like picking flooring.  Flooring for me is really hard to pick.  It is so final.  So picking a paint color is just tricky.  I have several colors painted on the house right now to help with the decision.  I almost have it narrowed down.  And I suppose if i were going with a light tan or gray, it wouldn’t be that big of a deal but I am going with a deep charcoal and it is dramatic.  But everything I have done to my house from interior paint to the color of my driveway has not been dark enough.  Color, and lots of it is very rich and comfy to me. 

That’s pretty much the news from here.  I have been busy with hiring contractors and paint colors and working when I can fit it in… I haven’t been able to read at all.  I did finally spend a day cleaning up my office and making it workable again.  That has helped a lot.  Now I just need to get back into my work groove again.  Trying…

Teanna and her daughter Savvy came over for the 35 week pregnancy photo shoot.  Wish we could have spent more time together but was so happy to take pictures for her.  Pregnancy shots are not something I have ever attempted to do and lately I have been feeling sub-par on my photography skills.  But I was really happy with how these turned out.  Teanna is beautiful and Savvy is as cute as ever.  Love the shots of the two of them together.  There is a shot I did but it goes with one when the baby is born so I am holding that one back.  I got the idea off someone else’s photograhy website but it was so beautiful.  So in a month and a half, I will post the before and after photos… should be really cool.  The first shot today turned out beautiful.  

I took the boys out to visit my grandmother who they haven’t seen since they were like 3 and 5… too long.  I have been meaning to for years.  They weren’t super keen on the idea.  Tucker was all, "What are we going to go do, knit?"  But we had a good visit.  My grandmother is very witty and funny.  And as we left, Tucker said, "Your grandma is… is.. COOL."   Tucker was definitely surprised.  It was a good visit.  I will definitely take them out there again and much sooner than later. 

I love craftsman homes.  LOVE them.  I am so drawn to them and if I could make my home look more craftsman under $100 I would do it;)  I have visions of doing a shingle front to my house and adding a porch with big pillars that lead to the wide wooden steps… I dream of it often.  It would take a LOT of mu-la to get my 1957 track home looking like a craftsman though. 

And when I see homes like this in my Sunset magazine… I would die if I had this house. The full article is like 6 pages long and shows so many awesome features of this house.  It has asecret sleeping porch off the bedroom.  How cool is that? And it looks so cozy.  I just realized you can go tour this house.  I would love to but the owners would have to pry me away from it and it would be an ugly scene. 

Anyway, it’s a beaute. Maybe one day… one day…