This photo was almost not possible today..

We had someone break into our house yesterday. I had left the garage door open the night before until about 9PM with my purse in the car and it unlocked. Someone helped themselves to about $80 from my purse, however, they didn't touch any of my credit cards, my checkbook, my TWO iPods sitting in the front seat. I didn't even realize anything had happened until yesterday morning when I took the girls to get their 'Twinkle Toes'.  I went to pay for them and realized that someone had stolen all the money out of my purse.

I figured it was probably a neighbor kid. Since they didn't take anything else..

Well, when we got home, we realized that someone had broken in our house. They probably took the spare house key out of my car and waited for us to leave.. They had gathered up piles of things they were going to take, my golf clubs, our wii/wii fit, video games. I am not sure what deterred them.. Maybe we came home too soon, and they didn't get to finish? Maybe it was neighbor kids and they chickened out.. I DON'T KNOW..

But I counted it as a MIRACLE>

First, they only took the money out of my purse..

Second, thousands of dollars worth of Camera and Lens equipment was UNTOUCHED. OMG. Camera and Lens equipment that I am NOT in a position to be able to replace right now if stolen, equipment that I haven't insured again since my divorce.. I wanted to cry. From relief, from the violation of SOMEONE actually being in our house.. If it had been someone more seasoned in burglery, I may be singing a different tune today.

The break in REALLY freaked the girls out. Even though we didn't actually lose any of our things. The fact that someone was in our house, a 'bad person'; the images of the piles of things that they had gathered around our house.. It was scary. Brenna's room is downstairs and I know it will be quite awhile before she is ready to sleep down there alone again.. It made them feel better that the police came and dusted for fingerprints, it made them feel better that we had a locksmith change out all the locks in the house. I think too putting in a few extra measures of security will also help calm their nerves, and you can bet that my car will ALWAYS be locked and garage door closed.

Being a single mom in a new neighborhood, there are many of my neighbors that I haven't ventured out and met yet.. Mostly because there just are not enough hours in the day. The funny thing about cops coming to your house though, is it brings everyone else out of theirs. It was almost surreal. And it was an amazing 'after-effect' of everything. Neighbors came out, showed their support. One neighbor noticed a sprinkler that was broken and fixed it on the spot, another offered to help me with my weed garden I have been cultivating. My parents were also over there with me offering support, and it almost felt like a neighborhood block party.

Still, sleeping last night was a little hard at first, every creak the house made Brenna would anxiously exclaim, 'Did you hear that?'. Even in my bed she had a hard time sleeping.. But that will pass, We are all ok, nothing major was lost, and we've met us some new friends. All is good :)

"Mom.

Pretend we are worker girls, and this is our job.

This is very hard work and not many people can do it."

 Lorynn and I spent our afternoon today addressing baby shower invites, she thought she was hot stuff to have such an important job, as she is an expert envelope licker and stamp sticker-oner.

I created some custom baby shower invites for my friend, Jen. I normally use WHCC for all of my printing and when I ordered her cards I noticed they are now offering press printed cards on recycled paper. Since Jen is a self proclaimed hippy-girl I thought she'd appreciate that. However I was kind of disappointed in the finish as it ended up very dull.  I guess you just can't save the enviornment and have vibrant prints at the same time ;) I am wondering if anyone else has had the experience before using recycled product?

So, I've been working this week on Fancy Pants goodies, I believe we will be posting some sneak peaks soon of our new product releases! So stay tuned for that!

Also, we have some new things a brewing for Little Dreamer in the month of August :) I think you will all be pleasantly surprised! I can't tell you much yet, but we will be having a huge bash August 1st and of course you will all be invited! :)

Hope you are all enjoying your summer!

Dang, my photoshop is being wonky today, every time I try to work it ends up inevitably crashing ... Hmm. I could take this as a sign that in fact it's NOT photo processing day, but it could actually be go enjoy an iced soy chai and relax day ;) Hmm.

I did want to share a few photos from my session last night with Sweet Vanessa. It was a long session because she was 6 weeks old and NOT inclinded to just sleep or cooperate. But I did manage to get some sweet shots of her still:

YEP, she's a cutie :) But babies are just FUN, even when they are not ;)

Yep. You know that summer has hit when I disappear from blog land completely :)

And yes, I have plenty lately to keep me busy.. Summer usually brings an onslaught of photo sessions, extracorricular activities for the girls, Day Trips, etc.. And while I have been keeping these things merely sprinkled here and there, it has been enough to keep me RUNNING. And running is not always a bad thing.

So. A few things I have been working on :) A new photoshop action. I am not sure on this one whether it will work in PSE or not. SO. If you are action savy, and would like to give it try.. PSE users send me a note with your email address and what version of PSE you are using and I will send you a link to try it out :)

I wanted to create a sepia action, but with a very slight color tint.

I think this action would be perfect for heritage photos, and it obviously works great for baby photos too ;)

So, PSE testers, drop me a line, I will take about 20 or so testers, but it is first come first serve.

This photo is actually from a baby session that I took last night :)Today is photo processing day ;) So, I might have to pop in here and upload a few more.

*ETA: First round of testing has been done, I'll be making a few tweaks to the Elements version and will contact a few more testers next week :) Thanks for all your help ladies!!