hundreds of dollars of cheese

Last weekend I traveled up north to stay with Jalayne and Justin. My extended family. My 20 years and counting best friend. They are about to have their first baby. In our relationship, I have always been the pregnant one, the breastfeeding one, the one strapped to a child (four of them) one. The tables have turned. Now I am the one with more freedom and older kids, and her life is about to change forever. Her belly is gorgeous. I am home in her home. Our weekend was filled with shopping in the city, lots of bread and hundreds of dollars of cheese, going through old notes and photos, walks with the dogs, and lots of talking. (Thank you Justin for the photo of us, above. I had just ingested a $20 burger and a Long Island iced tea. I was HAPPY.)

Juicy belly. Shopping in the Marina.

Showing Justin the clothes we picked out for baby Jax.

A note she found from me, dated 7.20.92. It is hard to believe, but so much of who I am today came through in this note. Made me cry thinking of how much we have been through together, as we grew up and our life views shifted. Even when our life views were COMPLETELY opposite for a period of time, we remained connected.

Photos from my junior year of high school that gave me quite the laugh.

And a shot we took to celebrate the impending arrival of baby Jax.

Until next time, dear friends, dear city.

Tara

giveaway (epiphanie bags)

WINNER IS TYAN, FROM TINY BIRD PHOTOGRAPHY. CONGRATS Tyan!!

Maile Wilson, creator of Epiphanie bags, is sponsoring the giveaway this weekend. HOW COOL IS THAT?

One random commenter, (no bribes please), will be chosen to win an Epiphanie bag of his/her choice.

I also have to mention, Maile herself is doing an INCREDIBLE giveaway of a Canon 5d OR a $2500 Southwest Airlines gift card over on her blog. Details for that can be found here.

For more info, check out the blog: www.haveanepiphanie.com.

Winner will be chosen Monday morning for this one – 9am PST.

Only comments left on the blog will apply.

antique frocks \ pink beach cruisers \ champagne \ krysta & sheye

(This is where I almost died.) Even though it is an outtake, it was such a funny memory that I had to keep it in their gallery. This here is pretty much the ridiculous fun of our session in one shot.

Krysta + Sheye + me + champage = a ridiculously giggly good time. I would normally not partake of a zesty beverage while on a session, but these gals were like two of my best friends immediately, and they made me do it, they really did. (It was my first time drinking champagne!)

Krysta hired me as a surprise for the two of them – something to do together on a special California adventure. A reason to get pretty, and a celebration of their amazing friendship.

We had lots of ideas, lots of pretty things, and I pretty much brought my entire house to the shoot. A bike, a kitchen chair, my bedroom quilt, (this is the session in which it accumulated the sticks I mentioned here), along with a LOT of nerves because I was about to meet two people that I had really liked a lot for a long time. We met in a Jack in the Box parking lot, giggled nervously and hugged one another, and then it seemed the nerves were just … gone. One of those times you meet someone and it is like you’ve known them forever.

Krysta is bubbly and silly and deep and beautiful. Sheye is soft and quiet and sharp and gorgeous. It was a treasure to get to know them.

The light was magic, the field was magic, their friendship was magic, and I will remember this forever.

Tara

PS : I was asked to participate in an art challenge at Creative Therapy. The catalyst was “When did you first fall in love?” You can find it here, and you should look, especially if you want to see me in white Bongo shorts from the 1990’s.