Book Bites. Amazing Tool (By Anna)

So many of you know that Michael and I love books. Well... Michael just found this APP that is AMAZING! I thought I'd share it because its soooooo cool. Its called Book Bites and its basically the Cliff Notes version of a book that you can download on iTunes for $0.99. So after reading a book, I normally have to go through it again and try to make out from my notes and highlighting the key points. No longer! I can now just download this little cheat sheet that outlines exactly the main points from the book. I think its really cool and am going to download all the Book Bites of previous books I've read that I want to continue referring back to. Its one thing to read a book and say, "That was some great information!" Its another thing to retain and ACT on that information. I'm working on being better about that! Happy reading! "The difference between where you are today and where you'll be five years from now will be found in the quality of books you've read." — Jim Rohn

Heather + Arturo Wedding

Heather is from America. Arturo is from Mexico. They met while Arturo was here for medical school and fell in love. They got married. And now they are in Mexico together. Ahhh... how romantic.

5 Year Anniversary (By Anna)

Michael and I will have been married for 5 (YES 5!) years this Wednesday, June 24th. I seriously can't believe it. Time really flies when you are having fun. What is truly amazing to me is that I actually found my soul mate and the love of my life. There are so many people that are totally worthy of finding their soul mate but just haven't yet. I feel so blessed that I have Michael. He is absolutely perfect for me. (And hopefully I'm perfect for him too!). He is SO kind and loving and basically spends most of his time thinking about how he can be a better husband/business partner/provider/person for me. I love that he's constantly reminding me to do things that are good for me. For instance, he puts a bag of vitamins on the floor to remind me to take them without verbally bugging me. He reminds me to drink enough water so that I'm hydrated. He is very clean and usually is the one to initiate major household cleanings. He scratches my back and pets my head because he knows that I love it. He is always working very hard on our business because he wants to be the best provider (or strongest hunter gatherer as he likes to call it!). He is always aware of my feelings and whenever I sigh really deeply to relieve stress he always notices and asks me what he can do to help. He always snuggles with me whenever I want and surprises me often with nice cards or flowers. For those of you have forced yourself to read until the end I commend you! I know this is very mushy. But WHATEVER, this is our blog! haha. Anyway, I just feel really blessed that I've already been able to spend 5 years of my life with such a wonderful man. Happy Anniversary Sweetheart!!

Christina / Gary - New York City

If you were to walk into Gary's apartment for the first thing you might noticed that when you are looking either to the left or to the right - you can see out to the street on either side. Which means that his apartment runs the length of the whole building from front to back. Not bad for NYC! Opera playing in the background with incense burning and light streaming in from the large open windows, illuminating the artwork and furniture from around the globe. Too fun! Also, their elevator opens right into their apartment - which I thought was pretty cool. (Reminds me of the episode of 30 Rock where Liz Lemon goes up to the apartment of the guy she is dating that turns out to be her 3rd cousin. He had an elevator that opened right into his apartment too). One of my friends from college used to live in Gramercy Park in NYC and she had that type of elevator convenience as well. She lives in Russia now, and actually got married the day before this photo shoot in Moscow. But I digress. What can I say about Christina & Gary? They are perfect for each other. They are genuinely in love and extremely comfortable with one another. As soon as I pulled out my camera they were laughing and hugging on their couch and had no problem doing any of the crazy things I asked them to do. Like getting into the bathtub and posing in front of their gold fish shower curtain! Easy going, fun loving and relaxed. What a great combination. After taking some preliminary shots in this very cool space, we moved to the Brooklyn neighborhood dubbed the name DUMBO. We've shot here before, but had a great time finding new nooks and crannies. And after it all, we relaxed at a great French restaurant and enjoyed good food with great company. It was a wonderful way to end our trip, as we flew out of JFK only a few hours later! Thanks Christina & Gary!

New York Shoot Sneak Peak at the Carlye Hotel (Michael)

Here are a couple sneak preview images from our creative shoot with our beautiful bride, Michelle Matz (now Michelle Hyland :) at the Carlyle Hotel last Saturday. We're stoked as the Carlyle has asked us for some images to include on their website. Check out this very cool luxury hotel if you get a chance - thecarlyle.com

A fun side note: As we were getting off the elevator, on our way to Michelle, we saw Elaine Stritch who plays Alec Baldwin's mother in one of our favorite shows, 30 Rock (short for Thirty Rockefeller Wy.) Interestingly, half the residents at The Carlyle live there.

Factoid: The tiles in this concave ceiling are coated in platinum.

Subways make me tired! (by anna)

Here's the thing about NYC that California people don't understand - walking! We sit in cars when we want to go somewhere - and it's usually doorstep to doorstep. I'm soooo tired from all the stairs and walking what seems like forever to get to a train station. I would lose so much weight if I lived here! Haha We are having such a ball and can't wait to shoot our wedding Saturday! :)

We are heading to The Big Apple Tomorrow!

Tomorrow we are off on a whirlwind adventure to NYC! We are shooting a wedding for the most fantastic and fabulous couple, Rob & Michelle who we first met in Mexico in 2007. They were there for one of our wonderful couple's, Amy & Mike's wedding and asked us on the night of the reception if we could take some pictures of them the next morning. So bright and early at 8 am we were taking pictures of this beautiful couple! Fast forward two years later, and Rob gives us a call saying he is proposing to Michelle where they had one of their very first dates on the Santa Monica Pier and wants us to take pictures incognito! It was seriously the most amazing experience, I totally started to cry! Now, a few months later they are getting married in NYC to photograph the culmination of everything - their wedding! We are so honored and excited to be apart of their life in this way and look forward to many more experiences that we can share/document for them in the future!

Avery & Elliot and Sam (by Anna)

My sister Sarah came down for a visit last week and brought her two unbelievably adorable daughters with her. She has definitely set the bar pretty high for cute kids! I took these pictures while she was here. It was a pretty packed week because my OTHER sister Leah just had a baby and we had a baby shower for her too!(See pictures of baby Sam below). It was so nice to be with family - but its always so sad when Sarah has to leave. Its funny because before Sarah left we all went to Carl's Jr. for lunch - which is kind of nostalgic for us! haha! We grew up a few blocks away from a Carls Jr. and would often walk over there for lunch. Also, my Grandpa Ozzy would take us to Carl's Jr. when we visited him and my Grandma in Van Nuys. Anyway, I'm not sure why I went on that random tangent - but now you know! : (Here is little 2 week old Sam. We are gearing up to take more pictures of him because he's already getting so big!!)

Change Your Thoughts, Change Your Life by Dr. Wayne Dyer (By Anna)

I've been reading this fabulous book by Dr. Wayne Dyer called "Change Your Thoughts, Change Your Life." Basically what Dr. Dyer does is uses the teachings of the Tao and relates them to modern day problems and issues that we have. I've found this book to be incredibly insightful and thought that I would related some of what I'm learning to things that pertain to MY life. Here are some great passages: 15th Verse (a portion of it) But the muddiest water clears as it is stilled And out of that stillness life arises I find that most of my time is devoted to running around kind of crazy doing "things" that ultimately don't really matter all that much. But when I choose to be still and let my mind settle, everything becomes clear and obvious. For instance, Michael and I tend to be a bit on the workaholic side. But for Michael's birthday I decided to take him on a mini vacation for a few days up in Cambria. We took a little hike, had a picnic at the beach, lounged around the pool, read books and discussed ideas and philosophies. We felt like we had a great awakening by the end of the trip! We had realized SO many things about ourselves and our life that we wouldn't have even had thought of had we not taken the time to let our minds relax. I think it sometimes seems easier to try and find meaning in our life by running around being busy, rather than let stillness guide us. Anyway, this was a great reminder for me. Who else out there has found this to be true?

Julie + Blake In The Club & Mediterranean Architecture!

We had the pleasure of photographing our beautiful couple, Julie & Blake in some really contrasting locations- A Few shots below for a little taste, but check out the slideshow for the full effect: Blake is a professional model & photographer (his site) so I wanted to do him proud. Also, you can see the prototype of our new logo in the show.