I lived! Seriously, I had such an amazingly fantastic time teaching this workshop! I was both flattered AND nervous when I was invited to be an instructor there (the other instructors all had such rock-star resumes!) BUT, they asked me, so I figured they wanted me :) How (pleasantly!) surprised was I to find out that my class was SOLD OUT!!?? Um…pressure :) WOW. Just wow.

…and now on to my list of THANK YOUs… (this is going to be wordy, so please bear with me!)

…to my students - you all were SO awesome! Thanks for making my 2 1/2 days of talking, shooting, rolling around in the grass and clicking around in photoshop such a positive experience! Your energy and enthusiasm carried me through the days (which I needed since Lisa and I were up slaving all night!) I think I might have learned as much from y’all as you **hopefully** learned from me!

…speaking of Lisa :) I am So lucky, SO fortunate, SO happy to have such an amazing friend as my good buddy (and crazy-talented photographer!!) Lisa Maksoudian.{{{click on her site right now!! you’ll fall in love with her!}}} Lisa is the ultimate superhero - she knew I had some mini-anxieties about rambling on for days and she VOLUNTEERED to come help out! (leaving her own work and family behind!) If that isn’t the definition of a great friend, I don’t know what is! She stayed up with me each night working on the presentation, she provided moral support AND chips and salsa and best of all, she was such a great *gift with purchase* surprise for the students! They got to hear from *two* photographers instead of just me :) I know they loved her (as do I!) So - thank you, Lisa!! I owe you big time!!!

…GGS people! Thanks for making us feel welcome (and I’m bummed I missed the instructor’s dinner!) I met my new best buddy :) Kim Sayre as soon as I arrived on campus! You know those people you meet and you just know you’ll be friends forever??? That’s how I felt when we met!! (and that was BEFORE I knew that I had her to thank for the referral!) So - thanks KIM! (and she let me try out her killer lightroom presets and templates which are super-awesomeand can be found at Cottage Industry Designs. My *official GGS-designated* trustee was the talented Jonathan Mandel. Jonathan helped keep the class on track and ensured that everyting ran smoothly. I **loved** his gorgeous photos and was blown away when I looked at his portfolio, he has such a great eye for composition and his work was just gorgeous! Lastly, I was flattered to have the President of the PPGBA in my class!! Jeanne DePolo is already a super-successful portrait and wedding photographer, so I was so flattered to have her attend my class. I know I learned a lot from her (and hopefully she learned from me as well!) and look forward to hanging out again in the future! Her award-winning image of a bride and groom locked in passionate embrace was smokin’ hot - I loved viewing her work!

I regret that I did not get an opportunity to socialize/ hang out with the other GGS instructors and staff. Next year!! I will be more prepared and spend my evenings having fun instead of slaving away!

I had lots of help on the homefront leading up to this crazy week, and my hubby not only managed the kids for 4 days without me, I came home to a clean house with all the laundry done!! Petty cool, huh? My friends Jenn, Lori and kay;a are awesome! Jenn helped me learn a new software program and she and her cousin Renee helped with goodie bag stuffing! Her hubby Scott even got in on the fun and helped sort out some computer issues! So - thanks guys! I am lucky to have such generous friends…

One final comment! I had some VERY GENEROUS vendors step up and offer marketing materials, discounts and give-aways for my class. I know they appreciated it and so do I! So - a big shout out to the following peeps:

Jie at J Lee Albums, Patrick at Simply Canvas(he even came and brought goodies in PERSON!), the fabulous Jamie Schultz, my super-inspiring *hello* buddy Marie Cox of Phreckles Photography, the always impressive Lena Hyde at Design Aglow, my new friend (and up-and-coming rockstar photographer) Kate Parker, world-famous Jinky and Dawn at IttyBitty Actions, CB & Roxanne at Pixel2Canvas, the oh-so-stylish marketing gurus at Bellagraficaand the team at Big Folio

**gasp** (must breathe!)
Kevin Kubota for not only his support and gifties with his EVERY-PHOTOGRAPHER-MUST-HAVE action sets, but also with ASUKAbook discounts and giveaways. Plus, I learned so much at Kevin’s Digital Photography BootCamp in April, he totally changed my workflow and made me a *more-organized* photographer!

Jeff and Caitlin at ProDPI(my fabulous lab!) If you are a photographer and are reading this, you should check them out RIGHT NOW! They have such great quality AND outstanding customer service - you will be THANKING me if you make the switch!

Whew. I think I’m done with the *writing* part - now this post needs some images! Some of my students have emailed me photos, I will add them here ASAP.

Meanwhile….good night!

I wish I had the words to say how much this session meant to me. Madeline is a beautiful little baby girl who was born 11 weeks ago. Tragically, her mommy Liz died just 27 hours after she was born. Daddy Matt has been doing an amazing job getting through this obviously painful and bittersweet (and yet full of love) time. I know that when I first visited his blog I read each entry with tears streaming down my face. I was so honored to have been let into their lives for a little while yesterday morning and although I walked in feeling a little sad and nervous, I was SO happy when I left. Nothing can bring Liz back to Matt and Maddy, but I know she’d be proud of what a great job he is doing, and he IS doing an awesome job balancing all the demands of new daddy-hood while still grieving the loss of his beautiful wife. Madeline is such an adorable little peanut - she is still SO tiny (under 8 lbs!). I’ll add more photos later, but for now, here are a few…

This was the very first shot I took, and honestly, I could’ve put down my camera after this one. The love in their eyes when they look at each other is just so heartfelt…

her beautiful baby blues & teeny teeny toes…

One of Matt’s blog-readers sent these staues. How very very sad and yet, isnt it nice to believe that Liz is looking after them….

Matt & Madeline -I loved meeting you both and *helping* with the curtains (ha!) I hope you are enjoying your flight to Minnesota right now - have fun with your family and I look forward to seeing you both again when you return home…

First for graduating pre-school yesterday - I can’t believe he’ll be in kindergarten in just a few months. I am so proud of how far he has come this past year. But mostly, I am just proud of who he is (oh darn - now I’m all teary!).

See that totally adorable part about the luau? He wants to invite “all the soldiers to his luau because they do such a good job protecting us”.

Seriously, I know he is my kid and all - but that is the cutest thing ever, right???