I’m battling a little cold…cough cough sniffle sniffle. I’m such a wussy sick person. Scott gets sick and he just likes to be left alone. I get a tickle in my throat and I’m eating ice cream for breakfast and making sad eyes at Scott in hopes that he’ll rub my feet. But there’s a lot to do…Christmas cards to finish and get out…reports at work to get in…laundry to wash and fold. After watching a few episodes of Hoarders, there’s also nothing better I like to do each day at home than throw three things away and scrub four things down with bleach. I am trying to plan ahead for the next three months. I have a few sessions lined up, and I’m also looking to take some much-anticipated vacation. Unfortunately, I’ve had to turn down some clients because my schedule was filled up. So if you’re thinking about booking a session, do so very early!!! I would like to do a few more weddings so I’ll be posting new specials on wedding packages. If you know anyone getting married, direct them this way please. The first weekend of March, I’m traveling up to Vegas to take a natural light photography workshop. I’m beyond excited. It’s taught by Audrey Woulard, a phenomenal natural light photographer from Chicago. Her colors and style had a huge impact on my journey. I think its essential to keep challenging and stretching myself. I want to offer some workshops of my own in the spring, just working out the details and managing time.

And because I love pictures: here’s a few fun pictures taken on the sidewalks of Kailua.

[I think this one is a funky angle but I like!!!]

[Only I can get so excited by a picture that's mostly concrete]

[This one would make a gorgeous canvas wrap. She's beautiful]

I’m at work with the time dwindling down to when I can race out the door and begin my holday activities. I think I managed to get some work done but probably not a lot. My brain was on the fritz. The only thing I could manage to think of was the words to every Christmas song written this century. I’m thinking it’s probably because this morning brings us Thanksgiving but they’ve been piping Christmas music over the PA system for three days already. I cannot believe how slow time is ticking by. I went to the water fountain, I hibernated my laptop, cleaned out my items from the fridge…a whopping three minutes have elapsed.

I used to teach high school science. This must be what students feel like at the end of the school day. I’m distracted with daydreams of turkey (my favorite), mashed potatoes, and stuffing. Aw, sigh. Oh, and Beyonce has a special on TV. So excited to begin the day.

I’m so thankful
-for my husband, Scott, who I think is hilarious and cracks me up every day. The only person who finds him funnier is, well, Scott himself.
-for having a secure and stable day job. Yes, I’m getting furloughed next year but we’ll make it through.
-that our dog, Charlie, is free of any health situations. He seems happier and we’re much happier not having any more vet bills.
-for being able to learn so much more about photography and being able to meet more people who love photography almost as much as I do.
-for being blessed with the most awesome couples, babies, and families on photo shoots. I have been so fortunate to have sweet clients who I still try to keep in touch with, they’re that amazing.
-and of course, loyal friends and family who are there to support me and make me laugh every week.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

1/11/08 Earlier last year I was kinda going through a rough time and all I wanted was a hug from God, for Him to hold me in His arms. Well it was really starting to drag me down but on friday night there was a Holy Spirit rally and while I was up there I was still discouraged and wanted the embrace. Anyway, many people prayed for me ( I’ll write later on what they said) but all of a sudden a man that was praying for me before I don’t know his name, came from behind me and gave around my shoulders a hug it was wonderful then spoke in my ear from behind while hugging me and said this is a hug from my Heavenly Father and that He loves me. At that moment I could feel the presence of God and He answered my prayer. Even when the man knew nothing about it. (found in Josh’s writings)

Mark and Beth were on cloud nine to have their entire family together to celebrate a first birthday party. They have three children and three grandchildren. And I usually only post one picture as a sneak peek but I know these proud grand-parents would be disappointed without seeing at least one of their grandbabies…so here’s their oldest grand-daughter.

Isn’t she beautiful? Wait until you see the rest of the family. Which you can, just check back here next week.

I went to college on the east coast, determined to get the most different experience possible from living in Hawaii and also to see snow for the first time. I ended up at Boston College which I L-O-V-E-D but it was ironic that I traveled 5,000 miles away and still hung out mostly with people from Hawaii. And that’s where I met Mike, the local boy/business major who even lived across the hall from me with my high school classmate, Mark. And sometimes we would get really lucky when he would bring his sweetheart (his high school sweetheart!!!), Beka, to visit. Beka was and will always be drop-dead gorgeous, and just as sweet as can be. Mike’s roommates all seemed to get a little tongue-tied when Beka came to visit.

Fast-forward a few years and these two lovebirds got married, spent a few years living in Japan before returning to live back home, and have two beautiful kids who are quite the characters. Beka and Mike wanted to have their session done at Kakaako Park, a place they love to bring their kids to walk and bike on the rolling pathways. We had to reschedule our initial session time because their son felt under the weather so we moved it to early Halloween morning. So, you’ll see some adorable pictures of little Miss “M,” the Supergirl Fairy Princess. Little “J” donned his superman cape but, true to his superpowers, he ran faster than the speed of light and I think I captured his back only as he flew up and down the hills.

Meet the family: Mike, Beka, Miss “M,” and Little “J”

This family loves to smile…

and laugh….
and love =)

Litte Miss “M” was my joy to photograph. She was not shy and loved the camera and, obviously, the camera loved her. She has a bubbly personality and won me over by the hour’s end when she reached out and held my hand while we were walking. We’re best buds now, just waiting for her call.

Little “J” was a little more shy and just took you in with these big brown eyes. These next few pictures are from early in the session because he took off like a rocket when he saw the sloping hills around us. It was just your typical morning of playtime for him.

I love kiddies. I photograph weddings and family sessions but I crack up when I photograph kids. Something about having a camera pointed at them and counting to three brings out these expressions and faces. I went through a series of ten images and they had a different funny face in each one. I can’t pick a fave…I’ll have to put them all.

Here is the concentration while eating candy faces.

Little Miss “M” was enchanting as a fairy/super girl/ballerina.

This next storyboard is a lesson on why a photographer should always give the family room to have ideas of their own. I always go in with a plan of what I want to try out but sometimes the family will bring ideas of their own. I told Beka to bring a few toys to let the kids play with and they brought so much toys, we had four grown adults carrying them around the park. I must have been talking out loud to myself because I’m scouring the park for the best places with soft light or shaded light. Because Mike said ‘hey, i know the light may be too bright, but what do you think about us running down that huge hill right there.” So we tried it and I loved the way they came out. So, kudos to Mike for this series.

If you are want to see the rest of the images from this session, please visit www.keaosphotography.instaproofs.com where all images and prints are available for purchase.

Where: Kakaako Park
When: Saturday, October 31st

(I caught a glimpse of a beautiful ballerina with angel wings)

I originally had to work on all Fridays. But we’re a bit short-handed and there’s only three of us on my shift. And then one of my coworkers had to take famlily leave suddenly because his wife gave birth to their daughter a few weeks early. So, the two of us left had to juggle days to make sure that all the days were covered. So, I found myself with a Friday night off.

It just so happened that Scottie left for Japan that morning for his mission trip in Sapporo. So, my roommie, Tricia, and I decided to have a last-minute girl’s night dinner. I picked the theme.

Mystic Pizza Party

We made our own little mini-pizzas and then watched Julia Roberts in “Mystic Pizza.” The only thing our dinner guests had to bring was a pizza topping of their choice. Tricia did all the prep work. She researched possible toppings combination by scouring popular menus like California Pizza Kitchen. She laid out a spread of baked chicken, pears, cheeses, tomatoes, mushrooms, peppers, fresh spinach, sliced red onions, and she even toasted pine nuts. She had a variety of sauces to go on the pizza crusts; your regular but favored pizza sauce, a pesto, an alfredo, and this yummy BBQ sauce. We’re still not done. She even has a little basil plant that we could pick from for our pizza masterpieces.

I don’t really trust my cooking skills so I was prepared to buy pre-made pizza crusts from the store but that had the roommate aghast. Instead, she made dough from scratch following this recipe for Whole Wheat and Honey Pizza Crust and we rolled out our own crusts. This is an awesome idea for a get-together. it’s fun and hands-on like an Arts-n-Crafts project, but then you get to eat it. Followed by a desert of thick brownies covered with rasberries, whip cream and chocolate sauce and we were ready to rest our full tummies while watching “Mystic Pizza.” Ah, 80′s movies…always a sure thing for a good laugh.

(Just some of the ingredient layout, place cards made by the roomie)

(my favorite, shredded baked chicken)

(I think girls were just snacking on the pears. I don’t think they actually made it to any pizza)


(some of our pizza masterpieces pre-baking)