Crooked Palm

Today I helped Greg & Renee straighten a crooked palm tree while Anna supervised (& took blackmail photos). It would have been easier if I wasn't wearing flip flops.

This is one of the gift certificates I won from the raffles I bought at the Barked Goods Jax 2nd Annual Charity Dog Wash. It looks like real money!

After her playdate with Tory, Stella wore herself out running up & down the stairs.

Then she took a nap with her lion. So cute!

Royal Pains & Neiman Marcus at Catalina

There were 2 shoots today at Catalina. Sandy called early to let us know that Royal Pains started setting up at 4:30 am. There were lots of big production trucks & motorhomes in the parking lot when we arrived.

Evan & Hank run on the beach.

After they were done filming for the day, Mark Feuerstein (Dr Hank Lawson) came over & asked if we wanted to pose for pictures. He was so nice, as always. I think this is the 4th time I've watched them shoot at Catalina.

Andrea & Helaine both posed with Dr Hank.

Rob, whose flight luckily got canceled last night, also got to see the show's production.

I've always loved shooting Oceanview early in the morning, before the cabana boys open the doors. I'm gonna have to do something about the color of the 3rd cabana from the right on the 2nd floor, so they don't paint it the same weird color next year.

Neiman Marcus was shooting fashion for their upcoming catalog & advertising. They had a pretty cool setup. Their MacBookPro was on a tripod outside using a softbox as a hood & they had an iPad on a lightstand in the cafeteria. Everything was transmitted wirelessly so the pix could be reviewed in real time. They really should have had a ThinkTank Pixel Sunscreen™ v2.

There were a couple of cool rusty umbrella stands in Oceanview.

Don't even think of trespassing since there are new security cameras everywhere.

It was Rob's sixth visit to Ralph's in 5 days. I think he really liked it.

Buried Treasures

I found some great old pix in the attic.

Two books from my dad's Time-Life Photography Library. Very cool collection!

I was a flower girl at Sandy & Larry's wedding when I was 3 years old.

 

I noticed this old NY Telephone medallion lit by nice light streaming thru the trees outside my mom's house.

Annual Family Beach Party

It was a picture perfect day to have our party at Catalina.

There's always an itinerary.

Beach volleyball

Bobby & Howie ... one of 3 sets of twins at the party.

The Sandras ... Larry & Cal

It isn't easy to get over 60 people to look at the camera, but Rob pulled it off with a lot of help from Photoshop! ;-)

After dinner, over 60 relatives started singing!

Apparently, we were celebrating my "big" birthday that was in March.

The sunset was AMAZING!

Friday Dogs

Stella is staying with Anna, Tyler & her boyfriend Hank. They are SO in love! It's one big nonstop lovefest, lizard chase & playdate. Stella's gonna be exhausted when she comes home. Anna keeps me in the loop with pix & funny videos every day.

Howie brought Bailey (Stella's brother) over to my mom's house for a visit. He totally remembered me from his puppyhood & gave me an amazing greeting! I miss Stella so much!

NY Bound

Rob & I flew to NY for my family's annual beach party. Rob designed the new Catalina Beach Club website & was invited up for the weekend.

Love the peeling letters!

My protégé ...

I shot this beautiful strike plate just in time! Two of my favorite things to photograph are rust & peeling paint. The carpenter replaced the door frame a few hours later, with a boring new strike plate. The old one had such great character & dilapidation.

Rob continued to train for the Ironman in the pool at Catalina.

Rusty sign in Hewlett.

Before we went to NY, I sent Rob the link for Ralph's Famous Italian Ices & suggested he study the flavors. He didn't & was overwhelmed! There are even way more flavors than are listed on their site.

Wet & Wild

Since I knew I was gonna give Stella a shower before her sleepover date with her boyfriend Hank, it was the perfect time for some backyard fun. There's nothing she likes more than playing with the hose. It's even better than chasing lizards!

Some curious ducks swam by to check out the commotion & see my flying dog.

 What do you mean it's time for a shower? I'm not done playing with the hose yet!

FirstWatch ... The Daytime Cafe

After Rob & Lisa finished an 80 mile bike ride we went to the soft launch of FirstWatch, a new restaurant in PVB. The grand opening is tomorrow so today, all of the food today was free! Rob was obviously way more hungry than Lisa .

Mmmm ... ice water.

I had the Power Wrap ... egg whites, turkey, spinach & swiss wrapped in a sun-dried tomato basil tortilla.