Sandoval Family Blog

Friday evening in Sandbridge

I was off on Friday and took Olivia to Little Island Park in Sandbridge. It was too cool to really get in the water, but perfect weather for sitting (or in Olivia's case, running, jumping, leaping, sprinting, etc.) on the beach. Here are a few photos of our relaxing getaway:

Olivia loves to pretend to be a dog. Specifically, she calls herself a "Tooshi dog" - yes, sounds like the word some people use for the posterior or "peaches" as we call them. I don't know where she got the name "Tooshi dog" but it's become a household name around here. And just wait until you hear the low moan of a howl the Tooshi dog makes when she is abandoned by family and is left alone (one of the scenarios Olivia has made up for the Tooshi dog - whereby she gets in the den cabinets, shuts the doors and howls - her howl is the funniest thing I have heard lately). So, here she is as the Tooshi dog:


I watched her watching the waves. She'd hike her little cover-up up her legs in anticipation of the water coming closer.


In action! Love the reflection of her body on the sand and the way she's still running on her toes.

Running. Non-stop. That's half of what she did on the beach - the other half of the time she was piling up old seaweed. Note the hair in her face - the normal state of things.   

Hurrah! Featured in Joshi Camera Magazine

I was asked back in January about permission to publish some photos in this beautiful Japanese photography magazine - Joshi Camera. How thrilled I was to receive a copy in the mail a few weeks ago and to see my photos in print! Can't read a word of the interview, but basically they asked me a few questions about my favorite things (I see a link to prolenswear.com there, which is where I got one of my bags) - and they also spotlight the tecnical specs on a couple of the photos. It really was an honor to be included - particularly since one of my idols - Brenda - was on the pages literally just before mine!

Congrats also go to Sabra - who is constantly posting mouth-watering gorgeous food shots on her site and Paula Swift, who I discovered thanks to the magazine.

The magazine's target audience is targeted to women in Japan interested in photography - the photos throughout the magazine are absolutely beautiful. The article I'm featured in is about 25 female photographers - "25 Girls with Camera in the World." I am very proud to be one of the four Americans selected for this edition. Here's my featured work:

   

Let's take a few photos...

One of the best things about having the photography side-biz is that Olivia willingly lets me take her photo again. I wanted a little practice with a new wide-angle lens and she willingly jumped at the chance to go outside and jump around with me. I love how her hair is blowing in the wind in the top two - the same photo in color and black/white because I can't decide which one I like best. Either way, we had a lot of fun and she gets more expressive each day!

I call this one "Here I am world!"

April Showers...

Olivia really wanted to play in the rain this afternoon. So she got herself all dressed for the occasion (she got the CareBear umbrella, raincoat and what she calls "rain boots" and went out for almost an hour in the rain. I couldn't resist the opportunity to get some updated photos.

She is changing so fast - not as much physically these days as emotionally. She's so much more of a person - if that makes any sense. She shows so much more of a range of emotions. The other day she told me she was "really sad for me" because I had a cold. She also has her own little relationships forming... she was invited "exclusively" to a little girl's house tomorrow - the little girl got to invite one friend and invited Olivia. That's especially cool since this little girl is from the old school, which Olivia left in January!

She went shopping with me tonight - we literally walked from one end of Lynnhaven Mall to the other side - and back. I didn't get home with her until 9:30, so it was a late, late night. And we had such a good time. I explained the importance of a spring purse and why she'd one day appreciate the fact that there are just certain patterns that petite people should not attempt to wear. She was particularly helpful when I picked up a purse and she said, "No mommy, that's the same one you have now." Well, yes, I guess I've been in a bit of a fashion rut!

She went to work today with Steve for a few hours. Get this: she attended a meeting, watched a movie and played "fort" under his desk. Not to mention the pink doughnut. I told him she was going to get the wrong idea about "work" and think it was all fun and games. She loved seeing the office, hanging with the people and seeing daddy do some number "plussing." (Which she will almost never see mommy doing.)

This is my favorite age so far. It gets better and better for me. Five is full of spontaneous fun, laughter, and a ton of learning. It's serious at times, but in a way that's completely natural for someone learning so much. Five is definitely sensitive in the kindest, gentlest way - not manipulative or whiny but genuine sensitivity. It knows when it's being made fun of - but it also makes some really funny jokes, too! Five is sweet, and sneaky. Five will feed the cat treats when we're not looking. Five will also help itself to a snack and forget to mention said snack until a bit later when five refuses to eat dinner. Then again, five is fully capable and proud of the ability to grab its own breakfast items in the morning while it watches Strawberry Shortcake.

Which brings me to the other cool thing about five. Five is very, very retro! We're watching the same cartoons we grew up with and shopping for "jelly" shoes for the summer. Five genuinely likes old-school Madonna songs like "Borderline" and "Holiday." But beware, five will also ask for random hip-hop music (and do this by providing the actual lyrics to the songs! - "the dollar,dollar bill song, mom!") that it has heard on the radio. Word to the wise: five has big ears. Five hears all.

Five also starts to read - the mail, notes lying around the house, and even things on TV. Five recognizes her name everywhere it appears - including on brand-name Olivia stools at Target. It pays attention now when mom and dad spell things so as not to be understood. By age six, we joke that we may have to begin speaking pig-latin in order to have secrets! And these days, five also apparently does greater than/less than and basic math. Which, let's face it, is more than thirty-five does on a good day.

I adore Olivia at age five. I feel like everything up to this point has been a sweet and fascinating warm-up for the discovery of who she is and what she will do with her life. I feel parenthood turning a bittersweet corner - the point where we no longer teach basic life-skills and dictate orders, but instead give her the tools to make her own decisions and begin her own little journey. It's pretty amazing to see it all unfold.

Old chair made new, and an Olivia moment

I bought this chair last summer at the small junk/antique store in Pungo (there's only one!). It was $40. I picked out some very funky fabric, got it recovered (finally) and it's my new favorite chair. Of course, the cats were trying it out within 10 minutes of its arrival. 

And now for...An Olivia Moment

A couple of nights ago, Olivia and I were watching High School Musical 2. It's the end of the movie and the main characters kiss one another and then these big golf-course lawn sprinklers comes on and drench them and they all sing and dance off into the sunset, so to speak. So Olivia says during this scene, "I want to do that one day, mom."

"Oh gosh", I think.

So I say calmly, "Oh, you want to kiss a boy one day?"

"No, I want to play in the sprinkler like them," she says all cool.

That was a close one. 

I'm running a little bit behind...Halloween Photos

I am swamped. Completely, totally, freakishly swamped. Whose idea was it to take all these photography sessions anyway?

I can't complain. It's been so much fun. I think it's been the answer to a lot of creative angst for me over the years. So the obsession is totally my own fault. In the meantime, I go through spells of just not wanting to pick up the camera in-between sessions. But I did manage to get some on Halloween of Fairy Olivia.

Look, she asked originally - repeatedly - to be Tinkerbell. But then Halloween night came and although she was in a Tinkerbell costume and I did her hair in a bun (because all the other moms kept saying, "You're going to put her hair in a bun like Tinkerbell, right?") even though I didn't even remember the whole Tinkerbell-had-a-bun thing....well, she just wanted to be a fairy - not so much Tinkerbell.

And so, I present to you....fairy (who looks an awful lot like Tinkerbell) Olivia...

Look at her back hand on the last one - she's really got this cute little gracefulness about her (that I totally don't have!). I think those classes -  tumbling (over for now) and the current dance class might be paying off!

I'll put prints in the mail to family soon - but you know, expect them on or around Thanksgiving! :)

Scary Sky

Took this a few minutes ago - very interesting sky! (Straight out of camera - so this is exactly what it looked like.)

"Interestingness"

So there's this ranking of photos on Flickr (a photo sharing community where I post some of my photos and exchange ideas, learning, etc. with other photographers) that they call "Interestingness." The top 500 ranked photos for "Interestingness" on any given day are in Flickr "Explore" - which is basically a feed of the top 500 photos.

I've been thrilled to have 20 different photos in Explore since starting on Flickr a few months ago. And today I discovered that one of my photos (the one of the funky grass on the left over there <----- ) made it to #4 in Explore. So wanted to take a moment to celebrate because it's totally not as cool as an Oscar or as easily defined as winning a million dollars, but it's still really neat!

New Photography Web site - It's here!

New Web site - It's here!
Originally uploaded by amiefletch

The family blog took a bit of a beating this month as I built a new web site for the photography business. Check it out at www.amysandovalphotography.com

First Maternity: Beautiful Light

First Maternity: Beautiful Light
Originally uploaded by amiefletch

Another maternity photo - loved the light that evening.