When Canon announced the new 5DMII would have a video feature,
I'll admit was a bit leery. I didn't think "point and shoot" features belonged on my SLR.
I have been proven WRONG WRONG WRONG.
Creative folks will now have another outlet to explore.
This will all come with MORE HOURS in front of the computer, I'm sure,
and I'm not crazy about that aspect of the video revolution,
but that's a topic for another blog post.

To see what sold me on the 5DMkII video GO HERE and watch that video.

Here's a behind the scenes movie from the shoot, too, which I thought was just
as cool to watch as the final product!

email subscribers, go to the blog to see

I have a pre-order for my new camera at RITZ and at ADORAMA, so we'll see which
place gets me my new baby first!

Is it November yet???!!!

~Carey

Zak and Jennifer made the trek down from Temecula on the last day of summer,
for a fun day at the beach and a photo session with me.

Check out their site!

I've been taking pictures of this family for years now,
but this year was a bit sad for me.
I can usually make Emily laugh & smile more than anyone else around.
At this year's session, Emily was thinking daddy was way more funny.
...sniff sniff...
Oh well. I still make better fart noises! And baby Jack thought those were pretty funny!
You may remember Zak & Jack from our SOCCER WEEKEND earlier this year.
Their family owns that yummy Italian restaurant, Palumbo's, up in Temecula.

Here are some of my favorites from their session:

funny daddy:


cute moments:


yup, I got pretty wet during this session! (totally worth it!)


Enjoy!
~Carey

Is anyone else excited about the new Fall TV lineup?

We'll all be watching Survivor (at least the first hour), then the kids will be tucked in bed
so I can watch the premier of Greys Anatomy.

How many of you stare wide-eyed at the still photographs of the Survivor contestants?
Man, what a fun job that would be!!! I bet they use Canon.

This is just a tease, though, because the REAL premier is still a few months away.

Jack Bauer will be back in our lives on November 23rd, and I can hardly wait!!!



Now the race is on ... which will come first: Jack Bauer, or my new 5D??
I wonder if I can get Jack to bust one out of Canon headquarters for me!

On another TV note:
How many readers out there were "Little House" watchers back in the day?

Chanel 704 has been replaying old episodes every afternoon at 3pm,
and Mat and Rory are enjoying watching them with me (big mommy grin!).
I've been telling them how Laura grows up and becomes the teacher, and
I've been describing to them how Mary loses her vision. We've been waiting
and waiting and waiting for that episode to come.

I browsed forward a few dates on our cable info, and that episode is on MONDAY!!

I can still remember watching that episode when I was young, and I vividly remember
Mary's scream when she woke up and couldn't see, and Pa's face of sorrow.

So, I'm excited about seeing that with Mat & Rory on Monday, too!
(I know, I know, you can get all of those on DVD. But there's something about
watching it on TV that makes it feel more special... funny how that works, isn't it?)

~Carey

MPIX sent me this "Wall Cling" last week, and Mat's LOVING IT!
I've seen these things called "Wallbangers" and "Fatheads" and "Wall Clings."
I don't care what you call them, but there's no arguing that these things are NEATO!

Mat's room has a pretty cool decoration now:



He's said he wants to get his room re-painted "Chelsea Blue" for his birthday in November,
but we're keeping his Wall Cling! They're totally portable and can be removed & re-stuck!
Mpix also provides great instructions that made it really easy to get Mat up on the wall.

If you've got an athlete in the house, check out Mpix's tips here and order one for your house!

~Carey

PS: One more thing to share about Mat... today he set a new record at school!
He was only at school 4 minutes before he got SO DIRTY that he had to go home and change.
He slipped in a mud puddle playing soccer before school, got up, saw his clothes, and cheered.
Good thing I hadn't left yet! We zipped back home, I snapped some pics
(he was a very reluctant model, as you can see),
and he was back on the playground before the school day started.

A large number of squirrels were sharing Balboa Park with us this weekend.
The funny thing is that, even though I've taken pictures here many times,
I've never had BOYS at this location!
I quickly realized this when the squirrels came under attack.
Not to worry, though. These squirrels are battle-tested, quick, agile, and sneaky.
Here's one squirrel that seemed to enjoy teasing his little antagonist.
This little dude was SURE he'd just seen that squirrel at the base of the tree:


Here's the same little dude, turning his attention to a more evenly matched rival:


I have a few more pictures to share with you, too.
Moms often ask me, "How do you get those natural smiles?"
I have many tricks up my sleeve, but one of my favorites is the "crazy face contest."
I'll ask for the craziest of crazy faces, then I'll try to match or beat it.

My attempt at a better crazy face usually gets some good laughter:


Enjoy!
~Carey