Vegas hangover and a big welcome to little Darioush

Congratulations to Brian and Shebreh. Baby Jamshid has now become baby Darioush and is adorable from the pictures I have seen. I think he looks a lot like his daddy right now but that will surely be an ongoing debate. I am still recovering from my Vegas hangover. No, I did not drink the $20 beers at the casinos. I mean to say that Las Vegas itself gave me a hangover and it has been a rough transition back, though I did have a lot of fun and it was incredibly inspiring to be around so many talented photographers. And I even got to meet one of my favorites, Jose Villa. Not only is he extremely talented, he seems to be a really sweet, down-to-earth person.
Being that I am still recovering, here are just a few more shots of Shebs and Brian. I will write more about my trip and hopefully put a few photos up from it soon.

Shebreh is so beautiful!

Thirty amazing years

So, this is me at 30...I had a wonderful birthday today and feel like my life is truly blessed because it is so full of beautiful people who love me and show me how much they care about me. I did have a few moments of melancholy thinking of all of you who I wished could be nearer to me physically, but I could feel you here with me and know that I am so lucky to have you in my life wherever you may be. Thank you all.

En attendant baby Jamshid

Last weekend I made a mad dash to California hoping to escape from the eternal winter that has set in here. It did rain the entire time I was there but it was such a beautiful, torrential, humid rain that I could literally hear my skin go "ahhhh" as I stepped off the plane. Tiff and Jörn and Shebreh, Brian and baby Jamshid were all kind enough to let me harass them with my camera. Here are a few preview, warmup shots of the belly. The rest will be coming in a few days.
It was so wonderful for me to get to spend a little bit of time with Shebs and Tiff and their amazing significant others (who know how to just get out of our way) and as usual I made sure to squeeze in visits with as many family members as possible and eat lots of good food (of course with the Hintzes those two always go hand-in-hand)! Karen even braved the storm sick to come to down to see me. I sure am a lucky girl.
My cousin Matt's band, the Spurts, had a gig Saturday night. They were awesome and we were not too cool to dance. How could you not?

If I had known there was a striped shirt dress code I would have worn one of mine too!

The fans love the Spurts so much you can see it in their auras (maybe I stayed in California too long - words like aura and hotboxing have crept back into my vocabulary)

Here are just a few of my favorite shots from Tiff and Jörn's "engagement" portrait session. They were all taken on location at Jörn's kiln.



Thank you to everyone who I spent time with last weekend. My visit was much too short and now I am back to the dreary Montana winter. But it was wonderful to see all of you. It was the perfect kick-off to my never-ending 30th birthday celebration.