For me?

This Sunday, I had no plans. I decided to pop over to Target to shop for a bit (which I never do), and I found this perfect little journal set tucked away in the "weird gifts" section.

I picked it up, thought about who I could get it for, and then put it down. No one came to mind. Then I thought about why it had caught my eye in the first place. I thought it was beautiful. I loved the coral colored cover, the stitching along the spine, the compact quality of it, and especially the packaging. Look at that script font! The red twine! I have fallen deeply in love with Rifle Paper Co.

Guess what? I bought it, because sometimes I need to remember to treat myself. I can much more readily spend money on gifts for others, but I have a hard time buying anything for myself JUST because I like it. For some reason, that stuck with me, and as I opened up my journal set today, I took time just to enjoy it. It was a gift to myself, because damn it, I love myself. And you should love yourself too. Don't forget to let yourself indulge sometimes. You deserve it.

O Brave new world, that has such people in't!

I am reminded of this quote as I look out over my stomping grounds of Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky today. This city is full of great people and exciting movements! I learned about CityLink today from a friend named Katie Denlinger who volunteers there to help support local people in need. They offer educational tutoring, financial consulting, child care, professional clothing, a community garden with nutrition classes, and more! I'm so glad to learn about how my neighbors are reaching out and supporting others. It really agrees with my mantra that we are all responsible for one another, and when we truly learn to care for one another, we will finally have peace. Mother Teresa pointed me to that concept:

"If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other."

Adventures with puppies

Couldn't get much better than this!

Dream House Rescue saves dogs from kill shelters and the entirely-volunteer team fosters them until they are adopted at events! These dogs are fostered in home environments and socialized often. Every week they interact with volunteers at the adoption events, and meet new friends visiting the Petsmarts in Oakley and Tri-County.

This month, I started volunteering to take photos of the dogs for their Petfinder account that offers profiles on all the dogs being fostered by Dream House Rescue. I could not be more happy! I have met and photographed and fallen in love with 50 dogs so far.

Here are a few of my favorite photos of these cute pups:

Dreaming of Summer

Today was the first day in about a month that made me feel truly comfortable to be outside. So, I'm dreaming of Summer with a popsicle shop photo shoot! I started working for Kiki Magazine, a DIY/fashion publication for tweens and teens girls, and planning our June/July issue took me to Streetpops to photograph the store and owner.

It's a really awesome spot in OTR that sells amazing small batch gourmet popsicles. The flavors being made on the day I visited were raspberry lemonade and mango lassi.

I met Sara, the owner. She was kind enough to save a part of her popsicle-making routine for me to photograph: the pour!

Streetpops yet another breath of fresh air coming through OTR. I worked there for a couple years, and I loved seeing it grow around me. It's becoming an accessible, active community with art popping out its ears, and playful shops like this one springing up from the empty storefronts! Congratulations to Sara for winning Entrepreneur of the Year OTR award. I am glad to see her contributing her delicious talents to Main Street!

P.S. Streetpops is having an opening celebration on Friday, March 29 with a sweet photo booth, kickin' tunes and yummy popsicles! They'll be open Thursday-Sunday 1-6 in April. That sweet taste of Summer!

Digital photography: what the f-stop?

Last week I heard a startling statistic:

The most popular camera on Flickr right now is the iPhone. 

For a photographer who started off in film, gradually tested the waters of digital, and finally jumped in with an SLR, this is difficult for me to wrap my mind around. Don't get me wrong, as SLR-snobbish as I can be, I noticed the quality of Apple's phone cameras right off the bat, and even used my husband's iPhone to take all of our honeymoon photos (sand is NOT good for expensive cameras).

After receiving an iPhone 5 for Christmas, I am sold. It's no substitute for a real, 15 megapixel SLR with interchangeable lenses... but it gets the job done in a remarkable way.

I was tickled to discover the panorama feature, even though I was equally bummed that it distorts anything closer than a city skyline, and mutates people's faces into comically bizarre caricatures if you move the phone too quickly, or if the subjects moves during the exposure.

Still, it's a lot of fun, and that lazy part of me that doesn't want to carry a camera case with me everywhere I go is silently nagging at me to "just use your iPhone- it's got a camera too!"

Shut it, Siri.

Enjoy my iMadness!