Getting ready.

Planning for sessions with newborns is so exciting. So many colors, textures and arrangements to chose from. I hope future mommies will smile with this little sneak peak into what's coming :)

I'm back!!!

Just one day after my last final I'm back to what I {LOVE} - I'm shooting :) This one was taken by Dh - and was a crappy dark sooc but I saved it ;) LOL. This is my "HI" and please don't give up on me.... I will be posting a lot until the end of Jan.

AWESOME sunset to keep my spirit up.

Truth be told I'm not in a great shape lately. Life is catching up for all those peaceful moments I've had last 3 years and it's kicking my butt big time :( But I can only do as much about it so rather than crying over my misery I choose to get happy on the side. Like this photo - it makes me happy.

Job - provides money - money buys things - things don't make me happy
Home - I don't love being home so I should be there only as much as required to get things done
School - I actually like is so far
Dh - he's coming around - I hope.

Summary - let's just focus on the photo, shall we? :)

Greece - {Kerkira} {Ioannina} {Athens}

I'm so proud to present you these. I knew coming back from Greece that my memories and the instant beauty of it will stay with me forever. Our whole trip was so intensive we could barely catch a breath during those hours spent moving from one place to another under the cruel, harsh sun that never gave us any relief. Majority of houses there were not air conditioned and we just didn't have the energy to fight it so siesta wasn't even an option - it was a necessity.

We started of in Corfu {Kierkira} where ALex got Baptised. That took a ton of our time to prepare for. Then took a ferry to Ioannina from where we drove to a village so old and separated from any everyday pleasures that I take for granted like drinking water that I can't even remember the name of it. I didn't even know that close member's of Dh's family grew up there.... This was by far the most impressive place from all of our trip. From there we moved down ( down the mountains driving those nauseating roads) to stay in Ioannina only few hours and back on the plane to go to Athens. I saw absolutely nothing in Athens because: a) we were wiped out of energy and any good will what - so -ever , b) we got there the day the fires started and it was difficult to move around the city, c) Danai's baptism was a big event we had to attend to and prepare for, d) and that probably was the biggest reason - we were invited every day to spend time with Dh's family which was very nice but ohhhh so "family like" - if you know what I mean.

4 days after arriving in Athens we were back on the plane to go where we started off in Corfu... and that was the time we all could relax some. We did the beach, local taverns, and a short trip with a boat and that was the end of our trip. I'm very happy with our stay there even if it wasn't as relaxing or didn't include as much sightseeing as would have imagined... but that's what happens when you hang out with your family. It just required some extra organizing skills.

So here's a little bit of Greece in my eyes :)

Danai's Baptism

My SIL's daughter is the sweetest little angel. I love her so much and it was a pleasure being invited to her baptism. I wasn't asked to take photos but when you have a camera you just take it every single place you can. Here are the results. Some taken before the ceremony, some after... I have so many more but those caught my heart right away.

WHy do we ALWAYS leave stuff for the very last minute??? WHYYYYY??

I've purchased out flight tickets over 2months ago.... I knew exactly what will be needed for this trip and what paper stuff needed to be finished. Guess WHAT??? Everything is happening NOW - 24h before our flight and I feel like I'm about to scream....

Here's the list of things that where important and got done in the past 24h.

• Get the translations of our marriage certificate from English to Greek - $ 450 ( AAAAAAAAAAA!!! - why so much???) Dh drove 1h one way to pick it up and pay this OUTRAGEOUS amount.

• Laundry + ironing - I HATE ironing. I never do it and for people following this blog I don't have a dryer so everything gets hung outside my window and really doesn't look like it was ironed since it came out of the packaging... or a hanger in store lol. So 6 loads of laundry + 2h of ironing and I'm still not done.

• Buying suite cases - we thought we had some.... we didn't. Thankfully our Chinese store on the corner has EVERYTHING you'd need. $70 for 2 huge ones. DONE

• Nails. I'm not a princess type of a girl ( I always wished I was ) but you just need to get that stuff done when going nice places..... I showed up 25 min before they were closing so I only got pedicure... wonder if I'll have enough time tomorrow to get the my hands done?

• Fish - I have a saltwater 10 gallon tank with 2 clown fish. One is Ocellaris the other one tomato - you're not supposed to mix 2 species like this, but of course those eager sales people didn't tell me that - so I have them both. They're doing just fine... I think they they both hate me for putting them in this glass box and this feeling unites them.

• ..... oh so about the fish ..... knocked on my neighbor's door to ask him to come upstairs twice a day and turn the light on and off for them, feed them, clean their water and pamper in every way. As you can imagine he said that he always dreamed of doing this..... NOT :) lol
• Missing gifts. Since we're going to Greece to throw a baptism party for our son we jsut had to get a ton of gifts for family and friends. As if we were religious in first place. So after getting " just a small thing" for everybody out budget for this trip is now cut 50%. pheeeewww.

• Multiple trips to the bank.... transferring from one account to another to another... just to stay on the budget.

Things to get done that I STILL didn't do - scratching my head - why didn't I???

• This one is a good one..... I need to drive to Manhattan tomorrow.... just few hours before our flight to................. TAM TADAH DAM.......... exchange the remote that I got fo my camera to use with my tripod because IT'S NOT WORKING!!!! That's what happens when you buy generic $20 brands. But I'm determined to get shots that will throw you off your chairs so...

• I have to call 3 different departments in my college to inform them that I'll be back a week after the classes start. This one's a good one too no?

• Mail a check to Alex's daycare.

• Narrow a dress. I got it on sale and never bothered to wear it before. Now I just have to do it, because it needs to be presented in Greece. Boy I'm stubborn sometimes.
• Fish - I forgot to tell my neighbor that there's a crab too that needs to be hand fed so he'll need to take the fish food and stick his hand in the aquarium every day and make sure that the crab grabs it.... I'm sure he'll be delighted with this news.

• I bet there's a least 10 more things to do but my tired mind now refuses to process any more....

....so goodnight and please cross your fingers so we don't forget anything major.

Thanks and see you after the summer!!!! YEY

Getting ready for tomorrow's shoot.

I thought I'd give my zoom lens a last try and see if I can use it for tomorrow's shoot which I'm very excited about ... but I think it has so stay home. It just won't perform as I'd want it to. LOVE the bokeh but it's just not sharp :( It's not easy to see here but if you pay close attention to his hair is shows.... not to mention the clarity of the eyes when I zoom in. I think I'll start playing mega millions os something..... that could buy me a GOOD lens huh- hahahahahaha :)

First one with a 50mm 1.8.

And another with my 55-200 4-5.6

Charleston suburban style.

All taken on my brothers property :)

Charleston, SC - first time visit to the south :)

My brother has been living there for 2 years now and this was my first visit. I really didn't know much about Charleston and it was a real surprise to me that it was so amazingly cozy. No tall buildings, a ton of sweet little cafes and galleries. I didn't spend as much time sightseeing as I'd like but it's been a while since I last saw my brother so I wanted to catch up on relations with him too.

We did one trip downtown and then unfortunately we had to cancel out trip to the plantations... the weather got a little stormy on us :( Next time. Also I got to see the beach which was really a great destination. It had that surfing, free vibe to it. Something everybody taking vacation should experience.... shame the sand itself was so dirty and the shore was packed with ugly trash cans.

Photography wise I didn't take a full advantage of my stay but that's fine by me. I ran into new situations where people working on the local market refused to have their pictures taken ( boy was I embarrassed). But I'm happy with the memories I captured over there.

Alex took the whole trip like a champ. He slept, ate and traveled without any trouble. I dare to say that he's a better child when away from home :) Must have taken that after me - not his couch potato father :)(with all my love for him).

Here's a little bit of Charleston from me to you :)

Long time without a post.....

Where were we all this time? Well EVERYWHERE to be honest. All of a sudden my stay-at-home-mom life with an easy flow got on a roller coaster and I barely stay home. So I'm a stay at home mom that doesn't stay home :)

I bloom with the weather and now every single day as soon as I finish my morning coffee and Alex stops lingering over his bowl of cereals we get in the car/ on the train and we hit the road. We go to the beach/ to parks/ run crazy around sprinklers/ visit kid's action parks and museums. Sound like a great opportunity for photos huh??? Well - it's NOT. Because with all the stuff that we have to take along like towels, change of clothes snacks etc etc.... and all the cheerios that mingle together will all this stuff while I'm trying to prevent a tantrum camera is the last thing I want to carry with me. Plus if I have it on me then my thoughts are on the photos of ALex - when it's home I'm just enjoying my little monster.

So after this long and thorough explanation of our absence please accept our apology- we're just having fun :)

I have few pics from out trip to the museum of natural history in NYC









Oh yeah... and there's lots of pizza going on lately.

For the very end I'll just tell you that I have 2 very exciting trips ahead of me within next 2 months and there will be lots of photos to look at when I'm back.

Raining... raining.... and raining some more.

Rain brings out creativity. In my case creativity usually transfers into cleaning and re-organizing forgotten corners of my apartment. Add the morning project and I think I came up with few images that represent my little home. Granted it truly NEVER gets cleaned ( by then I mean I usually leave some tasks behind ) but if I don't trip over stuff on the floor I'm happy with the work I did.

I also added a little desk that really made me happy. It's very narrow so it doesn't add to all this mess but it's big enough to fit what I need. My mac and my wacom fit - what else could I ask for??

Hopefully this will let you peek into my little world - it's nothing special but it's all about the details right? One day when I move to my big mansion with dining room and marble kitchen counter I'll think of this place with some sentiment...... ehhhh....... LOL.


Ps. Have you noticed that everything about my apt. is little accept for the BIG mess :)

The morning project.

Let me start by saying that I'm NOT a morning person. Trust me - I'm just not. I have my coffee while ALex watches Tv and for a good hour I'm just not there yet. But there has been a big turnaround lately to how I wake up and what I think about as I open my eyes.

Few friends from 2peas's forum gathered together and started a project where photographers from all over post a picture that lets us peak into their mornings. I'm part of it and so proud of the company I got to be around over there. You should check it out. It's interesting how different mornings can be.

It also brought some sunlight to my house. I don't plan on what kind of a shot I'm going to take. I just let the morning be what it is and try catching that little moment that could show what it really looked like - well the first day I posed my composition, but don't say anything.

This one was a total snapshot.

And a Morning Project link for you!

My new logo.

How wonderful is it to be around helpful people??? Yes Mel I mean you. Thank you for helping me with this... and here's the result. Isn't this watermark just beautiful?

What to do on rainy days??

Think about all those sunny ones and hold on to that :) hahahahahaha

After 6 days of constant rain in NY all I can say is that I can't take it anymore! These few pictures where taken not so long ago and even though they're technically imperfect ( not to say crappy) they definitely do it for me... they make me smile. 

Another advantage of rain is lots of editing and learning in photoshop, lots of coffee/ tea and cookies ;) 

How do you like my new frame???

What would a morning be without a coffee...

I made a GREAT deal recently. I bought an espresso/coffee machine worth $150 for $39!!! And all would be good had it worked??? Thankfully 2 hours of Dh's time and it came out a little tube came off. .. phew.... it was a final sale so exchange wasn't even an option.

I drink coffee A LOT! And having a cappuccino or frappe as an option just makes my day :)