If you don’t know who Randy Pausch is, this is somebody that you really need to check out. He is a 47 year old professor from Carnegie Mellon who is dying of pancreatic cancer. He is the father of three young children, who are not aware of his illness, and he has given a lecture on how to live life, a lecture which he says is intended for his children once he is gone. To say that Randy is an extraordinary human being is an understatement; his strength in the face of adversity will surely become legendary and many will benefit from his life lessons. I know I will and already have. If you google Randy, you can find the Last Lecture in its entirety or if you are pressed for time, there is a nice synopsis of his original lecture from an episode of Oprah (thank you, Miss Oprah). He has also released book, and a DVD based on this now famous last lecture. I get goose pimples just thinking about his enormous contribution to the world simply by sharing his story. Thank you Randy. I will keep you and your beautiful little family in my prayers…

I first learned of Randy from watching an a recent interview with Dianne Sawyer (thank you Miss Dianne.) Shortly thereafter, I read a Parade magazine article summarizing his life lessons. It is from that article that I briefly share this remarkable man’s philosophy of life. The title of the article was “Randy Paush, The Lessons I’m Leaving Behind.“ (The words in the parenthesis below are mine).

Always Have Fun

“Each of us must make a decision, best captured in A.A. Milne’s Winnie-the-Pooh characters. Am I a fun-loving Tigger or a sad-sack Eeyore?” (Randy has chose to be a Tigger.)

Dream Big

“Give yourself permission to dream. Fuel your kids dreams too. Once in a while, it may mean staying up past their bedtime.” (He was referring staying up to watch footage of man’s first walk on the moon. Funny how we can take for granted the dream that it took to put a man on the moon!)

Ask For What You Want

“Ask. More often than not, the answer will be sure.” ( How often do we stand in our own way by pointing out all of the obstacles that keep us from reaching our goal when sometimes, the answer is as simple as asking. Who knew!)

Dare to Take a Risk

“Attempt hard things, don’t worry about failing….Experience is what you get when you don’t get what you wanted.” (Imagine the freedom we would experience by not worrying about all the what ifs ….awesome.)

Look for the Best in Everybody

” If you wait long enough, people will impress and surprise you…this takes patience, even years, in the end, people will show you their good side.” (I believe we see in people what we choose to see, which is often a reflection of ourselves. )

Make Time for What Matters

“Time is all you have. And you may find one day that you have less than you think.” (Check out the Jim Croce song, “Time in a Bottle“. Bring a tissue)

Let Kids Be Themselves

” My job is to help my kids foster a joy of life and develop the tools for fulfuling their own wishes.” (By doing so, we in turn give ourselves the freedom to be like children again, where anything is possible. It’s a win-win situation:) )

Please take the time to learn more about Randy, I guarantee it will be worth your while. On a personal note, I recently took a leap of faith and tried a couple of things that I wouldn’t normally do: I asked somebody I was interested in out for a date, and I entered a contest that I didn’t think I had a snowball’s chance in-you-know-where of winning. The results? I crashed and burned on the prospective love interest (nothing ventured, nothing gained, right?), BUT I won a scholarship for the Photo Biz Boot Camp for photographers!!! Whoo-hooo! !!! The workshop is run by a multi-talented, brilliant, and extremely generous woman by the name of Liana Lehman . The workshop is designed for photographers wanting to take their business to the next level (that me!) I am thrilled beyond belief, this opportunity is a prayer answered. The Boot Camp is scheduled for the end of the month in Atlanta, GA. I will blog about how it goes when I return:) I will share the honor with two other scholarship recipients, Beth Daane and Ellen Mc Raney. Beth and Ellen have inspirational stories of their own, you can check them out at http://www.BananasEDU.blogspot.com. Congratulations ladies, I can’t wait to meet you both!

I hope that after reading this blog, you will want to check out Randy Pausch and learn more about him and his story. Let me know your thoughts, and if you have found some inspiration from him too. Be well and have an awesome day!

Attending workshops is a luxury that I don’t often get to do but when my good friend and fellow photographer Tammie Kim asked me if I was interested in spending a couple of days in Solvang, CA , I said “Whoo-hoo!” (that meant yes). The workshop was hosted by the brilliant Jose Villa and his team, the stunning Shelbie and Geraldo, and the drop-dead gorgeous Lacie. Aside from out classroom instruction, Jose took us on location to a couple of awesome places for our photo shoot. If any of you reading this are hopeless romantics, then you must come to Ventura county—I guarantee that you will fall head over heels over all the natural beauty. Here’s a couple of my favorite images…..

The lovely Miss Lacie. She is Jose’s assistant and is a photography student at the Brooks Institute.

I must have a hundred images of Lacie and I have to say that she is one of the most photogenic people I have ever had the pleasure to photograph. And she is soooh nice! Thank you, Lacie:)

This classic beauty is Shelbie. This brave girl has the daunting task of acting natural while 25 photographers took turns shooting her and her companion Gerardo.

The tall, dark and handsome, Gerardo.

This is how the camera sees it…..

This is the reality. Yikes!

One of Jose’s favorite poses. I love that even though they are looking away from each other, their body language says we are together.

Wow, what a face.

There were probably 10-15 photographers standing behind me, so I ducked to get out of the way. I’m glad I did!

This is Tammie, she is Korean and one of the funniest, kindest, most knowledgeable people I know. Thank you Tammie for bringing out the goofy in me, I still smile at all the fun we had!

It was a great surprise to learn that my buddy Rowena was also attending the workshop! She was in charge of setting up the room for us, her only request was that no one snore! I fell asleep first, so am not sure if anybody did or not….;)

Every year for the past twenty years or so, Redlands has hosted the a series of bike races collectively known as the Redlands Bike Classic. Although I have been here for almost 5 years and live less than two miles (that’s right, two miles away) I have never attended the event! Most of the time, I found myself out of town or busy doing something else with the intention of going downtown but never quite getting there. That is until this year. Yeah! Thanks to my wonderful friend Jan, who is a member of the Redlands Rotary Club, I was invited to photograph the Rotary Bike Ride which took place in conjunction with the bike races. The club sponsored three rides, the Simple (6-12 miles) the Scenenic (33 miles) and the Savage (a whopping 60 mile). Besides our reputation for being a scenic little community, Redlands is also quite hilly. I was fortunate enough to be chauffeured from rest stop to rest stop (thank you Linda!) but found myself wanting to participate in the ride sometime in the future…..I have no bike, no fancy bike shoes, no cute little shirts or shorts, but I will find a way to make it happen just the same. For now, I will enjoy the race vicariously through the amazing men/women/ and children who allowed me to share in their experience through my lense. Here are some of my images, I have a ton more if you’re interested. There is also a cool little slideshow to view.

ROTARY BIKE RIDE SLIDESHOW 

These wonderful people are part of the committee that made it all happen. Thank you Rotarians–you rock!

Sarah turned 12 the other day (sigh). My little girl is fast turning into a young woman; while part of me is so looking forward to all of the wonderful things that await us, the other part can’t help but feel a bit nostalgic and wonder where did the time go?? Sarah was originally supposed to be named either Mary or Rose, two very old fashioned names, chosen by her two very old fashioned parents. Lucky for her, she left the hospital nameless and it wasn’t until we reached the elevator and asked her big brother, who was not quite six, what we should name his baby sister, that she was given the name “Sarah”, because it meant princess, he said. It also means strong willed or determined, and she is all that too, but mostly, Sarah is awesome: she’s smart, extremely funny, creative, warm, nurturing, clever, and just plain good company. Here are some photos of her party and a SLIDESHOW too (click on the word slideshow to see it, silly).

The girls were supposed to dress up like superstars so each put on whatever outfit made them feel the part. Nicely done, ladies!

The girls are all dancers and were showing off their skills. How low can you go?

Even though there was no music playing in the background, that didn’t stop them from dancing!

Sarah gets “carried away”.

When I grow up, I want to be just like them!

They look pretty refreshed for not having slept more than a couple of winks……It’s good to be 12:-)

The other day I was asked to photograph the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO) Honoree Reception for the Inland Empire. The event was attended by some 30 outstanding women (and men) as a prelude the the awards ceremony which will take place on the 23 of this month. This type of assignment is always a lot fun for me, mostly because it gives me an opportunity to talk to some pretty amazing people. The lighting at these events is typically poor which is always a challenge. When I was asked to photograph the board members, I took the opportunity to take them outside where I knew the lighting was my friend. We also had an opportunity to do some impromptu head shots for promotional material….bonus! Thank you NAWBO ladies (and guys), I had a lot of fun connecting with you! See you at the Awards Ceremony. NOTE: My apologies for not including your names by your photos–I remember some but would hate to leave someone out)