Going Away Party in Carmel Valley and the $900 oil change

Scott is moving from San Francisco to Chicago due to his job.  So, he decided to have a weekend party at a posh mansion in Carmel Valley with some of his closest friends.  He wanted to have a photographer come and take some pictures of their weekend together and that's where I come in!

The night before I was to drive to Carmel, it had poured and poured and was extremely windy.  Matt wasn't going to come with me, and I knew that our car needed an oil change.  So... we went and got an oil change.  I had a coupon for $19.99 and we thought yay!  We'll be in and out with an oil change for $20!  The appointment was going to take an hour, so we decided to go find a coffee shop.  Then we got the call... we were already on our way back to the shop, so we waited to hear the news when we got there in person.  Matt and I said we'd pass on everything for now since we just wanted an oil change and didn't want to be sold on anything else.  :)  BUT, our alignment was WAY off and all of our tires were about split due to the alignment.  We needed all new tires!  And it was already 5pm on a Saturday afternoon.  We had no choice but to buy the tires and have our alignment fixed.  We told them to change the air filter too.  Our $20 oil change turned into a $900 oil change!  Grrrr!!!  It had to be done and we couldn't pass on this fix.  And when we say we would pass on everything, we were thinking windshield wiper blades, upgraded oil, etc...  The poor guys at the garage had to stay an extra two hours to get it all done.  We were hungry, our poor dog had been home alone all day long.  So, we stopped by Chevy's for that really yummy steak salad that I love, to end the evening.  We were sat in a booth and behind us were these two guys who didn't know how not to use the "F" word and or how to talk about women with respect.  One of the guys was talking about a girl that wasn't a "10" but an "11!"  They were completely drunk and when they left, we got to enjoy the rest of our meal.  We got home and Biskey was so ready to go potty!  It was literally raining sideways the weather was so bad.  And I was just hoping that the drive to Carmel the next morning wouldn't take 5 hours.

I got up the next morning and thankfully, the storm had passed through the night.  I had a peace of mind driving our car with the fresh oil change, brand new tires and an aligned alignment.  (I hate the potholes in San Francisco, which is probably what caused the bad alignment!).  I got there and toured the mansion.  All I can say is wow!  So, here are some pictures of Scott and his friends at the mansion.  They were quite creative and had a great sense of humor!  Good luck Scott in Chi Town.  I'm sure you'll love it there!

I don't know when the last time I had laughed so much during a photo shoot, but my cheeks were hurting by the time we were done.  Unfortunately, there is one gal missing from the pictures.  Poor thing was so sick with food poisoning and a hangover.  Yikes!

Thanks for reading my blog today.  Please contact me if you'd like to schedule a photo session!  jaime@jaimelee-photography.com

San Francisco Family Shoot with the Ewarts

I first met Dave and Tracey briefly at our good friend Helen's birthday party last summer in Golden Gate Park.  I was just starting out my photography business, or I should say, I was building my portfolio up for my photography business in order to launch my website.  www.jaimelee-photography.com.  Matt and I were just about to leave Helen's party when Dave and Tracey, and their new baby, Cameron were arriving.  I asked if I could take a picture of their baby and they said, sure!  Then, I introduced myself and had offered to take pictures of their new baby if they'd like, but they had just had some pictures taken.  Bummer!  I still offered to take some when their baby got older.  We became friends on facebook and have a handful of mutual friends.  Recently, Tracey messaged me about setting up a photo session and we set it up.  We happened to pick a gorgeous, chilly, sunny day for the shoot at Alta Plaza Park in San Francisco.  After we did some outdoor pictures, I took some of Cameron playing with her toys indoors and the lighting was AWESOME!  You'll notice that Cameron is a very pretty, baby girl and has some amazingly beautiful, blue eyes!  Dave and Tracey are such loving parents and you can see how much they love their little girl!  Here are some images from that day.  I hope you enjoy! 

Thanks for reading today's blog post!  Look out for more to come.  And to become a fan of my Facebook page, please visit:  https://www.facebook.com/pages/JaimeLee-Photography/131365916880836

It's been awhile...

Man, oh man!  I feel like I've not been around in ages!  I have been keeping up with photography, but this last month and a half has been a bit of a transition for me.  In mid January, I sprained my ankle pretty bad.  I was on crutches for about 3 days and got so fed up with them, that I only used them when I was going out in public to protect my ankle from people, uneven sidewalks and dogs.  I was just about to start my new dog running job and literally sprained my ankle the day before.  Talk about bad timing!  I let my ankle heal with rest for about 5 weeks and began dog running in mid February.  I am on a pretty consistent dog running schedule now and my first full week was this week.  I logged 33.5 miles of running this week!  And I think that will be the average amount of running a week, maybe even up to 35 miles.  Yikes!  I don't remember running that many miles when I was training for the Chicago Marathon!  It feels great and I have so much fun not only with the dogs, but running... rain or shine!  Here are the pooches I run with throughout the week. 

This is Bessie.  She's a sweetheart!

This is Athena and Natasha.  They're are quite the duo!

This is Tula.  She's crazy cute and fun!  She's so spunky!

Also, since early February, I've been nannying for a sweet family in the Fillmore area of San Francisco. The little boy's name is Ian and he's 10 months old.  He's such a great little boy and he is a chunk!  I only take care of him from 6:30am to about 8:30am.  This has changed me!  I used to never be a morning person and now, miraculously, I am!  I really enjoy taking care of Ian and helping out his family.  I feel like I'm learning a lot which will help prepare me for when I'm a mother someday.  No babies in my belly yet, but hopefully, soon!  Just yesterday, we were getting ready to go and his mother and I thought he smelled pretty poopie.  So, at 7:45am, I went in to change his diaper.  I had always heard of those untimely blow out poopie diapers from my parent friends, you know, the ones that happen when you're in a hurry, ready to get out the door and then, dun, dun, dun... there's the dreaded poopie blow out.  I took off his outfit and was unbuttoning his onesy.  And I noticed there was mushy poop that came out of his diaper.  I lifted him to sit up and I saw that the mushy poop was all the way up his back and nearly into his armpit!  I called his mom in and it was a tag team effort to get this little guy cleaned up.  It was so bad that we had to give him a shower even after we cleaned all the poop up just to get him out of the onesy, diaper and into the bath tub.  Wow!  My first blow out experience!  We call it the Bouncy Blow Out, because when I put him in the bouncer, it gets his bowels moving and if we're not careful, the Bouncy Blow Out will happen!  I know... gross, huh?  But I'm sure all you parents with babies and toddlers will appreciate this story and can totally relate!  Anyways, here's a picture of Ian in his bouncer.

This was not the day of the Bouncer Blow Out.  :)

I have lots of pictures to post and things to blog about.  I thought however, to get back into the swing of things, that I would blog about what's been going on in life lately.  Aside from the new dog running and nannying jobs, I did travel up to Washington last minute to attend a dear family friend's funeral (so sad) and to visit my aunt who is dying of cancer.  I did manage to see a couple of friends, but mainly was there to spend time with my family.  When I got back from that trip, Matt, Biskey and I moved into the top floor of our apartment building.  It's half the size, but feels more like home.  :)  And then shortly after we moved, we had visitors from San Diego one weekend, and then a visitor from Seattle the weekend after that.  I love having visitors!  It means I get to show them around town, eat good food, and enjoy their company.  :)  There will be blogs with photos to come of their visits, as well as a project of a local high school and a cool vertical garden project, as well as a recent meeting with some of the San Francisco mayoral candidates, and a sweet family shoot.  So, look for these posts to come!

Thanks for reading... I know, it's much more than usual, but there have been lots of changes!

Engagement:: Jamie + Tim :: Half Moon Bay, California

It all began with a photo I took of my friend Chandani... and her feet!  Not Jamie and Tim's relationship, but Jamie, Tim and my relationship!  After moving to San Francisco and meeting my dear friend Nicole, she invited me to do a photo shoot with fellow photog, Ziada, to photograph their friend Chandani.  There's an image I took of Chandani, sitting on top of a car, of just her legs and feet.  I fell in love with the image and it has become the photo I use for my business cards and my facebook photography page.  Chandani and Jamie happen to go to school together and are friends on facebook and Jamie liked that picture.  So, Jamie checked out my website and she emailed me about meeting to potentially photograph her wedding, and I happily obliged.

Tim, Jamie and I met at a Starbucks in Redwood City on a sunny Sunday morning.  I had quickly learned that Tim is a UW Husky Grad and is originally from Washington State.  He's a huge San Francisco Giants fan.  I learned that Jamie is studying to become a lawyer and she enjoys scrap booking and they have a sweet English Bulldog named Bear!  I learned how they met, how he proposed and began learning the details of their wedding day.  Before we parted ways, I had asked how they heard of me, and Jamie told me through Facebook, and that I had done a portrait shoot of a friend of hers from law school.  I asked, "Chandani?"  And she replied with, "Yes!  I loved the picture you took of her feet sitting on top of the car!"  And the funny thing, is I had just seen Chandani the night before and had told her about my meeting with Jamie and Tim the next day, but she had no clue which Jamie!  We had a great first meeting and they decided to hire me as their wedding photographer.  :)

Jamie, Tim, Bear and I met up in Half Moon Bay for their engagement session.  I had never been to Half Moon Bay, but it's such a cute beach town!  Here are some images from their engagement session for you to enjoy!

Here's the image of Chandani's sitting on a car, with her legs and feet, (and her red sexy shoes!)

Thank you Tim and Jamie for choosing me to be your wedding photographer!  I can't wait for our session in San Francisco and for your wedding day!  

Thanks for reading today's blog posting.  Please visit my website at:  www.jaimelee-photography.com.

Referrals are the kindest compliment.  If you know someone who is getting married or looking for a family photographer, your referrals would be greatly appreciated!  Should they book a session, you will receive 20% off your next session!