hang on little tomato

Spread the Word!

2011-12-29T16:12:00.000-08:00

Nap Time, Dec 27th. ©Catherine Just

Hi guys!

I wrote an article the other day that was published on two different websites!

It's all about Max and language and respect.

I think you'll like it.

Go check it out HERE and HERE

Also -I'm on the new website most of the time now. The blog there is more about photography and inspiration. I'm not certain the fate of this blog yet. But I would LOVE for you to head over there and continue to be a part of my tribe. I am honored to read this blog at all and would be thrilled if you jumped over there as well.

Much love and happy year endings!
xo
*c

WINNER'S ANNOUNCED!

2011-12-16T11:59:00.000-08:00

Winners of the Launch Party Drawing have been ANNOUNCED!

Go to

http://www.catherinejust.com

for all the details!

YOU might have WON!

It's a Website Launch Party!!!!

2011-12-15T12:15:00.000-08:00

WOOHOO!!!!!

It's PARTY TIME!!!

Grab your party hat and
head over to
the new
improved
gorgeous

CatherineJust.com
http://www.catherinejust.com

with

Beautiful Design by Jo at the Darling Tree!
New One on One Photography Coaching Services
Videos of Upcoming Retreats and the Soul*Full eCourse
Ongoing Video Interview Series with inspiring Life Leaders
New 3 day Personal Retreats
New Blog with the Soul*Full Tribe Tuesday series and Q&A Thursdays
Oh...so much to tell you - just grab your hat and go!

And...

I'm giving away Party Favors all day today!

Flora Bowley, Sheri Rosenthal, Louise Gale, Liz Lamoreux,

Miguel and Jose Ruiz, are giving away freebies.....and more!

You won't believe it!

you really do need to get over there today and see what's up.

And again - bring your friends. Tweet this. Post to FB.

SO EXCITED to FINALLY share the BIG EVENT WITH YOU!

A Big Announcement!

2011-12-08T16:08:00.001-08:00

Hi Everyone!

Just a quick note to let you all know that I have a

BIG ANNOUNCEMENT

on Thursday, December 15th!

just a week from today!

( and no it's not the pregnancy type of announcement!But it's BIG really BIG )

The stars are aligned just right for what I will reveal.

More to be unveiled next week!

Love,*Catherine

Here is your invitation

p.s. Everyone is invited. Please pass this on!

Announcing: Bloom True the eCourse with Flora Bowley!

2011-12-01T08:32:00.000-08:00

I'm a HUGE fan of Flora Bowley. So much so that we have partnered up to co-lead a Retreat together in September.

So today - I am jumping up and down for her - because she has launched a new Website!

Here is the link http://www.braveintuitiveyou.com

AND she's launching the Bloom True eCourse!

Here is the info:

Announcing BloomTrue: the e-course

Bloom true: the e-course’ presents agroundbreaking and transformational approach to painting (and living) thatcelebrates intuition, connects body, mind and spirit and allows unique andexpressive paintings to emerge naturally and authentically.

American painter Flora Bowley’s unique and heart-centered style ofteaching has inspired thousands of people to step boldly into a world where artis born with spontaneity and joy. Now the chance to bloom true isavailable to you wherever in the world you are through Flora’s first everonline course!
Brimming with high definition video demonstrations, new techniques,unique lessons and inspiring prompts, this course will empower even first timepainters to unlock their creative flow while gleaning life transforming lessonsalong the way. This will be unlike any other online painting e-course outthere, and it may just change the way you paint… forever.
Registration is open nowand this five-week painting adventurewill begin on Monday February 6, 2012. See http://braveintuitiveyou.com/e-course/registration/

About the course
‘Bloom True: the e-course’will run for five weeks from February 6, 2012, during which time you will seethe evolution of two large original paintings from start to finish. Professionally filmed in HD and shot on location in Flora’s Portland studio,the course will provide encouraging step-by-step guidance as you in bravely letgo of fear, embrace intuition, find your own style and open up to a new worldof creative possibilities.

The course includes:

More than 20 videos professionally shot in HD, some in real time andsome sped up so you can see the paintings coming together

Daily posts Monday-Saturday for five weeks, including five theorylessons and ten painting sessions

A series of creative prompts and challenges

Downloadable audio painting prompts which you can put on your MP3 playerand use over and over as you work

Basic yoga instruction

An inspiring playlist of great painting music

Five in-depth audiointerviews with Flora about her life and career as a painter

Access to a community of like minded people from across the world

PLUS Six months’ extendedclassroom access so you can watch the videos and access the lessons as manytimes as you like
AND to celebrate thepublication of Flora’s first book ‘Brave Intuitive Painting’ in May 2012, thefirst 100 people to register will receive a signed copy as soon as it hits theshelves.

Registration

All of the above is available for a limited period for an introductoryprice of £119 (approx USD$189), discounted from the standard price of£139/approx USD$219). It could be the most valuable investment you willever make in your creative life. Registration is open now at http://braveintuitiveyou.com/e-course/registration . This five-week painting adventure will begin on Monday February 6, 2012.
PS. Gift vouchers available! Why not give this as a specialpresent to a precious friend? See http://braveintuitiveyou.com/e-course/for details
Any questions? Please take a look at the e-course FAQ page here: http://braveintuitiveyou.com/e-course/f-a-q/
Want to hear from people who have taken a class with me before? Pleaseread some of their testimonialshere: http://braveintuitiveyou.com/e-course/testimonials/

The Happiness Code!

2011-11-28T14:44:00.001-08:00

What’s the secret to happiness? Watch the trailer for Domonique Bertolucci’s new book, The Happiness Code and discover the 10 Keys to being the best you can be.

I just watched this and immediately wanted to share it with you...so here it is! I just LOVE this so much and I KNOW you will too.

here is her website for more info.

http://thehappinesscodebook.com/

xo
*c

back from Cali

2011-11-23T17:36:00.001-08:00

We headed to San Diego last week so that Max could have an evaluation from one of the best Speech Therapists in the country ( in my humble opinion )

We've been HUGE fans of Sara Rosenfeld-Johnson ever since we heard her speak at a Down syndrome conference when Max was about 8 months old. We had a speech therapist named Amy Johnson in Los Angeles who studied her Oral Motor techniques and incorporated them in with the rest of what she did. We actually got on the waiting list when Max was just 8 months old because we had heard that Amy was the best in LA. By the time Max was ready for Speech therapy - the therapist was available! Seriously she was THAT busy! We loved how she worked with Max. Max loved her - and she told us as we were moving that Max showed promise of talking very soon. Then we moved...

When we moved to Utah - we searched high and low to find a Speech therapist who incorporates Oral Motor Therapy into the mix. No such luck. It was actually heart breaking to me. Speech is so important - not just that Max can talk, but that he can be understood. We want to give him every opportunity to have articulate speech. Oral Motor Therapy provides the way. I've seen it. I've HEARD it. I am 100% behind it. But - no one does it here in UTAH. So - we found out that we could go to a travel evaluation by someone trained by Sara Rosenfeld Johnson. We picked San Diego so we could see family.
We videotaped the 2 hour session. It was......AWESOME!!!

I will download the entire video and put it on youtube so you can see it for yourself. We plan to see her every 6 months. She is going to send us the evaluation and you better believe I'm having the Speech therapist here in Utah watch the video and read the eval. I think it's the BEST money we've spent on any therapy to date. YES - WE LOVE Michael Workman, Max's PT. But Max doesn't really NEED a PT the way he NEEDS Oral Motor Therapy. I would highly recommend both of these therapists to anyone in search of Speech or PT. However - The Speech was so fine tuned, specific, intuitive, educated, insightful in a way we hadn't seen yet. And that is powerful.

After the session we decided to stay and visit friends in San Diego and Los Angeles and I took GOBS of photos.....ready???

GO:

San Diego freeway at Sunset....yes I took this while driving....

Michelle from Mom's Club Eagle Rock.

Lena and Margaret climbing a tree!

Lisa and Roan!

You know who this is? It's Gwen Stefani's older brother Eric. Yes it REALLY REALLY is. He is at the park where I met all of my friends. He lives in Pasadena and he and his dog "especially" are always playing somewhere - like at the Farmers Market or the park. he is a cool cat.

Juliet!

Zach!

Michelle and her adorable kids!

MAX!!!!!!

here we are - solid as a rock!

Double dose of MAX!

Yep - typical California. Sunny and beautiful.

Juli! Oh how I miss her. Her son Brady and my Son Max were best friends. At least that was what we had decided.

Here is Brady, Max and Nadia playing at Club 21 together. Last time I saw Brady he wasn't walking yet - and now he is walking and TALKING! GO BRADY!!

Bridge

Happy mama - sleeping baby!

VALERIE!!!!!!

you think she's an actress? Maybe?

Fathia!

Farmer's Market at the Grove

WOW a closed mouthed kiss! These are new for him. We love that! SO SWEET.

Dear Friend Emily at our favorite place for Breakfast Mike and Ann's in South Pasadena. And I found out she is pregnant with Baby #2!

I loved seeing this train when we lived near Mission Street in South Pasadena.

Our first night back home and Max and I are both sick with Croup! The good news is that Max is sleeping through the night for the first time in over 4 months. He had double ear infections that kept him up a LOT - every night. Now he just kicks me in the face and sleeps and sleeps! Took him to the doctor today and he is on meds for that now. His ears looks good. Knock on wood. And we are awaiting the speech therapy evaluation so we can get started. One thing we've already started is to eliminate the sippy cup. only straws for him. And only the kind they suggest. This ONE change can make a HUGE difference in his motor strength and on where he gets used to putting his tongue. too much info to type now - Must get ready for my parents to arrive tomorrow......

Have a GREAT thanksgiving everyone!

xo
*c

2011-11-17T08:55:00.001-08:00

Just a quick post - to share with you some very touching words and a photo from one of my favorite photographer/writers Susannah Conway

Click HERE. Enjoy.

My Published Article!

2011-11-14T10:58:00.001-08:00

©Catherine Just

I'm excited to share more news!

Today an article I wrote was published on Meghan Hof's Gathering Light Photography website! The article is a part of the series she is doing called " The Happy Bride Project "

I decided to write

The Top 8 Tips on Choosing a Wedding Photographer

This topic is near and dear to my heart because I was a wedding photographer for about 5-6 years in San Diego and Los Angeles and I was also a Bride in October of 2007. It was interesting to not only be someone who works within the wedding industry, but to also be on the other side of things as a Bride who needs to HIRE the photographer!

I really LOVED getting to know the bride and groom and making sure I was a good fit as their photographer as well as having the couple feel the same about me! It's SO MUCH MORE than just picking someone based on pricing and portfolio.

Ready to go read my article?

Here is the LINK!

http://gatheringlightblog.com/2011/11/happy-bride-project-choosing-a-wedding-photographer/

Once you read it - please use the facebook and twitter links on Meghan's Website to forward the article to others! Thank you so much for checking it out.

EXCITING NEWS!!!

2011-11-10T09:21:00.001-08:00

Oregon Coast Photo Retreat ©Catherine Just

Today I opened up registration for my Oregon Coast Photography Retreat June 7-11th 2012!!!!

The photo above is from the first trip - and let me tell you - it was magical. I miss those gals and I am still in touch with most of them. A few of them are currently taking my Soul*Full eCourse which is in the 5th week. We are all starting to comment that we don't want it to end! It's been a wonderful experience and I cannot believe we only have one more week after this one! I am touched beyond words by the honesty, openness and talent in the group and feel blessed to have such incredible women taking this eCourse.

Here are some things the participants are saying about the Soul*Full eCourse so far:

"Thank you so much for sharing your way of making photos. It touches my heart and helps me to take more attention and time to express the love I feel when I create photos.
I am so thankful to have these weeks with you and with the group." - Anky Floris

"I was thinking about something you said in your video yesterday, with regards to the focus of the class, and I had an image. For me you are a gardener. All of my potential to live a soul full life has always been with me, yet I was not taking the time to nurture it. You have been such an inspiration to assist me, as a flower bud, to essentially bloom. The videos, interviews, photography exercises, journaling, and flicker community have all worked together brilliantly to coach me in my discoveries and encourage me to grow spiritually.

Keep doing what you do so well.

You are making a beautiful difference in this world." Love, Sarah K

"I wanted to make sure you know how great your eCourse is. Your content is interesting, thought provoking and nurturing....thank you thank you thank you!" - Heidi Beucking

"I am so enjoying Soul*Full and am happy that I signed up on a whim..It has really changed me..for the better!" - Sandie J.

I'm so touched ladies! Thank YOU for being a part of this eCourse with ME!

The January Soul*Full eCourse is open for registration! Don't miss out on an incredible - life changing opportunity!

Click HERE to find out more.

And if you are interested in heading to the Oregon Coast in June you can CLICK HERE!

Hope to see you in the online class or along the magical coastline!

For those of you who haven't seen it yet - here is a video I made from the last Oregon Coast Photography Retreat enjoy!

Let Go!

2011-11-03T17:23:00.000-07:00

the Soul*Full eCourse is in it's 4th week right now.

I'm soaking in all the deliciousness of the content and discussions from the participants.

I'm touched by the feedback I am already receiving about it:

” I wanted to make sure you know how great your eCourse is. Your content is interesting, thought provoking and nurturing….thank you thank you thank you!” – Heidi Buecking

"Dear Catherine, You inspire us/ me so much with the eCourse. I am so thankfull I am participating in it. The pure and natural way you share what you are and believe in is really enriching."xoxo Anky

I am still soaking that in!

This week we are hunting for our Power Objects.

What is a power object?

It's something - that when you see it - it reminds you of who you really are. It has a message for you. It calls to you.

Some people find heart shaped rocks

others find messages written on windows or license plates

When I took my son Max out to swing in our backyard yesterday and he opened up his arms and closed his eyes and smiled big - I knew that this was the "power sign" or "power object".

The ease he had letting go.

The joy he expressed so openly and freely

Taking it all in and being present for it.

All a big message for me.

"Let Go!"

It's so easy for me to see all the areas in my life where I need to practice letting go. There's a little voice in my head - who sounds like a 5 year old who says " I don't wanna wait! " " I want it NOW ". I call her my inner Veruca Salt. Remember her from Willy Wonka? Yea - She lives in my head. If I act on what my inner Veruca says - I am all sorts of controlling and trying to push things the way I want them. But if I Let Go and Trust that the universe supports me - My life feels so much more free. Like Max in the swing.

What Power Signs or Power Objects have you seen this week? What was their message to you? Do you have an inner Veruca Salt? What does she say to you?

*And don't fret - If you want to join in on the Soul*Full eCourse - there's a new session starting January 16th! Here is the link to register.

And the Winner is..........

2011-11-01T06:28:00.000-07:00

Sophia

who said:

"What an awesome contest! While I don't have a fancy camera, I would like to learn how to better compose photos with the point and shoot camera that I have."

Congratulations!!!! I'll be e-mailing you today to get started on our month long adventure!

Thank you to EVERYONE who signed up for this contest. I loved reading everyone's comments and what they wanted to explore or learn with their cameras.

There will be more opportunities like this one and all of you who entered the contest are already first in line to hear when it's time to enter.

Ok Sophia! Let's Get Started!

CONTEST! One on One Photography Coaching for FREE!!

2011-10-24T14:44:00.000-07:00

Soul*Full ©Catherine Just

Need more Soul infused into your images?

( Who doesn't? )

I'm giving away a Free Month of One on One Photography Coaching !
( and you don't need to live in Utah to receive this special offer ! )

What does that mean?

*I will create sessions specifically based on what your needs are and what results you are looking for with your photography.
*We will meet over skype once a week, and regularly on a private flickr page to share photos and you'll get feedback and tips for the month of November!

This is a $500.00 Value! Can you stand it?

Sound good?

There are TWO steps to enter this contest:

1. Comment on this blog post below letting me know what you would like to learn most in photography.

2. Add your e-mail address in the safe and secure form down below where it says
" Enter this Contest! " and click "Join".
You must take this step in order to officially enter. I won't know how to contact you when you WIN if you don't do this step!

The Winner will be announced on Tuesday November 1st! Yep You only have a WEEK to enter! So go for it! What are you waiting for??

You + Camera + Soul = Juicy Photos!!

~~Ready GO!~~

This Contest is Closed! Check out the post for November 1st to find out the WINNER!!!!



Enter the Contest! Email:

For Email Marketing you can trust

Friday Link Love

2011-10-21T17:46:00.000-07:00

Trees at Silverlake © Catherine Just

A little photo from our trip to SilverLake today. It was GORGEOUS up there.

Here are some things I'm lovin right now:

This video!

I'm loving the video interviews here and that it's free!

I've known about her for a while and I am LOVING her work.

I want to buy everything they make and take their classes! And they are in UTAH! yay!

Should I sign up for this? It's here in SLC! How can I resist!

COUNTING THE DAYS until Jo from The Darling Tree gets back from her month long European vacation. We've got lots of new work brewing and I cannot launch it without her talent.

I ran across this CD and cannot stop playing it.

I purchased this back in May and I think it's the best book I've read on lighting your own fire! The resources, videos, content....kicks ~~ass~~ butt!

That you can pre-order Susannah Conway's book on Amazon.com! I've already purchased mine.

Quote by Andrea Scher of Mondo Beyondo
"Are our dreams just intuitive hits on our future?" " None of them are impossible if you dreamt them from your heart. It's just a matter of how much you want to bring to them "

Have a great weekend! I'll be over on my Soul*Full eCourse hanging out with some incredible women. I'm so glad that each and every one of them signed up for my first run of it. It's been incredible. People are already signing up for the January Session! I'm pinching myself.

xo
*c

2011-10-20T12:08:00.000-07:00

Can you believe you would have to PAY to LOOK! That just makes me laugh.

I must say that looking and discovering new things is on the top of my favorite things to do list.
Not just through the viewfinder. I mean - in every which way.

I love to go on a road trip with no destination and see what I see.
I love to take a walk with my camera and discover new things in my own neighborhood.
I love to go to new restaurants, boutique shops and parts of town I've never been to.

Another way I love to "look" is what I call research. I love research so much it feels like I'm on a luxury vacation when I'm doing research! Isn't that odd? But I love it. I love researching artists, bloggers, cities, towns, photography techniques, photographers etc.

But one of my all time favorite things to research is.....
the beginning phase of starting up my own business.

When I am inspired by a new project - I dive into it like it's a big fat piece of Chocolate cake.
And new projects revolve around my new business ventures and it's yummy here!

I love taking eCourses on doing what I love
I love reading the Spark Kit forward and back and foward and back again. I bought it back in May and I think it's the one book that I recommend the MOST for people who want to Spark their own Fire!
I love learning about social media, being a great business woman, and making it fun, exciting and helpful for myself and for people who want my "products". I love watching videos by Marie Forleo .

I love looking at other artist/blogger gals like me. Making connections, hearing their hearts spill onto the page and relating to them. I think of that as research too - the "where are my people" research.

I love how one website leads to a list of other amazing places and people.
Yesterday I went on the Alt Summit website ( still thinking about whether I should go to this or not - since it's in SLC and I live in SLC and there are FANTASTIC speakers ......no brainer? )
And found out there is an incredible printmaker that lives HERE in UTAH. I mean....I keep feeling like my "people" live " there" over there not HERE - but there she was! And yep I signed up for her newsletter. I'd love to take one of her letterpress classes. More yum. ( and her work is sold at.....Anthropologie.....I'm in love )

I love creating something out of nothing. That just turns me on. And research plays a big role in that for me. Even researching what happens when I use new film from the Impossible Project. Or what happens when I mix a red ink with a little but of orange ink....you get the idea. Research is like playing. It requires my attention, and requires some letting go and just moving forward.

That's what's happening over here late at night after Max goes to sleep. Lots of Research. I'm having a great time. And this weekend we are going to research Silver Lake. I've never been and am so excited to explore unknown territory. Yea - I guess you could say I'm an explorer of the unknown. It excites me. Especially when the unknown leads me to a greater understanding of myself, how to run my business successfully and authentically, learning about others and what feeds their soul, and the world around me.

When you think about who you are - and what you like to do - what comes to mind? Not in the usual sense of "I like to paint" but what else makes you feel like you are on vacation even if others might find it grueling work or boring.

Curious!
xo

Max shows us his sign language

2011-10-18T08:54:00.000-07:00

I've been trying to make a video of all of his signs for a while now - but each time I turn on the camera - he gets shy. This time he did it! He was tired and distracted - but he did it! We wrote out all the signs we thought he knew and asked him to show us each one. Some are more obvious than others - but because we are around him a lot we recognize his "baby" signs. It's just like baby talk. Only the parents really understand them! This morning he showed me 3 more signs that I didn't realize he knew...so I'm going to add to the list and do another one in a month or so. It's truly incredible to me how much sign language he has picked up. He LOVES Rachel Coleman and Signing Time DVD's. I cannot recommend them enough. We have a portable DVD player and we have it when we go out to eat so he can watch and learn while Jerry and I actually have conversations with each other. It's so helpful on many levels! I don't think I would be fond of it if all he did was sit in front of it watching any such thing. But I'm so grateful that they made Signing Time DVD's because the singing and dancing and repetition create a fun learning experience....for all three of us. I literally wake up with the songs in my head.

Right now Max is outside swinging in our backyard with our babysitter! We hired someone to come here 3 times per week so I can actually work on my photography business and get some much needed time for myself. It's been a hard thing for me to actually do for myself. I feel guilt. I feel inadequate. I feel like I'm missing out on time I could be with Max. Time that I can't get back. But I do notice a big difference inside my being. I notice that when I am with Max I feel more present. I feel more light hearted. I feel less distracted by my business and all the things I want to get done that I cannot get to. Mama NEEDS this time. I've got my tea, my favorite candle is lit, I'm going to turn on my itunes playlist and let myself sink deeper into my own skin so I can be an even better mama for Max - and a better friend to MYSELF! I do notice that Max benefits from having a mama who is more fulfilled. Don't get me wrong. It is very fulfilling to be Max's Mama. AND it's fulfilling to create my artwork, create my business, be alone, take a bubble bath, sip tea in a quiet room and wear my favorite boots and dress up for no reason. Yes - I put on make up and did my hair for my day in the studio. I'm curious what fills you up when you get time away from mamahood? What is on your dream list when you are deep in diaper duty and dream of having time to just do what ever you want? Add a comment and let me know.
xo
*c

Costume? and an Anniversary!

2011-10-13T06:33:00.000-07:00

This was what Max wore on is first Halloween.

The next year he was a cheeseburger.

What should he be this year? I'm thinkin Pizza?

on another note - Today is our 4 year anniversary! HOORAY FOR US! Thank you sweet Jerry for being my partner, my favorite, my love.

We are actually going to a movie tonight. Can you believe that one. We've only gone to ONE movie since Max was born! What should we see?

YAY US!!

2011-10-11T15:40:00.000-07:00

The Handcar Regatta - Santa Rosa, Ca. One of the best events I've ever attended. Look at the costmes! People really did it up. Loved them. And the handcar designs were out of this world. I wanted to sink myself deep into this culture. It was fascinating. It was a cross between Goth and Punk and Science and Old Time Period Piece and just outlandishness. Loved it.

The owl was on her shoulder and his head turned back and forth and all the way around. a mechanical Owl. It was AWESOME.

The Bird wings are REAL.

He rode his bike through the crowds with ease!

She was inside the coffee shop getting her favorite drink

Here is one of MANY interesting inventions for the Handcar races.

Lots of people with goggles. This guy was a little bit spooky.

Huge mural. the wheel with hope and fear you can walk up to ans spin it.

She's making sauerkraut the old fashion way. The gal below was beautiful and totally in character.

for more info here is the linkhttp://handcar-regatta.com/

Mondo Beyondo dreams do come true!

2011-10-08T02:42:00.000-07:00

Mondo Beyondo Dreams do come true.
One of mine was to meet Andrea Scher.
I wrote the dream down and put it in an envelope and sealed it. This was about a year ago when we were living in Los Angeles. I remember sitting at the dining room table writing it down and sealing it away. One day as we planned our trip to Santa Rosa for our cousins wedding - I thought I'd e-mail Andrea and just see if she would meet with me for coffee. I felt like "why would SHE want to meet with ME". All of that self defeating chatter came up. But I asked anyway. Sometimes the earth/universe moves my fear away for a brief moment so I can ACT in behalf of my self and my dreams. I hit "send" and waited her response. She was into it. Actually - it felt a bit normal to be emailing back and forth with her. I had seen so many photos of her, had interviewed her on skype for my upcoming Soul*Full eCourse ( Which starts this Monday by the way! ) and had corresponded with her for several years. I've also taken her Mondo Beyondo eCourse ( Life changing by the way - you should take it if you haven't already ) - I took her Dream Lab eCourse - Super fun - and most recently participated in her Superhero Photo eCourse - which was not only super fun, but I learned a bit more about being present, seeking more gratitude and joy and how in the bleep to pack my camera gear AND my diaper bag and child with me...not an easy task but doable.
I've also worn her Superhero jewelry, and must say it does make magic happen.

All this to say that I am clearly a huge fan(!) and I am grateful she took the time to sit with me. I actually brought my son Max and husband Jerry with me and the 4 of us sat and had coffee ( well, Max sat and tossed food onto the floor ). I promised her that next time we meet I would leave the fellas at home.

I think what stands out about Andrea for me is that she is so BRAVE. She tells it like it is. Authentic and Honest. I've always adored her transparency on her Blog and it has helped me to let down my "professional photographer" mask and just be myself. She is talented and surrounds herself with amazing creative wise women. And is married and mother of two children on top of all of her creative projects. She talked with me on the phone after my first photography retreat on the Oregon Coast and had such supportive words for me as I processed it all. She is a dear soul. She believes in dreaming big and helps others to go for the secret dreams you don't want to say out loud because they are that big. I LOVE that about her. Don't you? Ok - thanks for joining me in a peek inside my Mondo Beyondo Moment. She is largely responsible for the Soul*Full eCourse happening at all. Does she know that? I guess I should send her a link to this blog post...

xo
*c

Transform your life!

2011-10-03T08:03:00.000-07:00

7 Days until the highly anticipated Soul*Full eCourse gets started!

This is an amazing opportunity to shift your awareness

Create, let go, breathe deeply and sing our heart songs

Come join us!

Soul*Full eCourse

Happy Birthday Jerry!

2011-09-28T22:00:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday Papa! Love you xo Max!

Minneapolis - Day 3 and then we are off to Santa Rosa!

2011-09-27T11:12:00.000-07:00

On the third day in Minneapolis - they took me to Izzy's Ice Cream. I decided to eat everything I normally don't eat - and this day was no exception. I normally refrain from wheat, dairy and sugar....however I must admit that the latte ice cream was worth it. And on top I had a taste of chai ice cream. Um...holy dairy and sugar products! That was tasty. And I ate it in a waffle cone. Yes. Indulged.

Just before I headed to the airport - Amy and I took her two kids across the street to a Buddhist temple. They were having a day of healing and meditation. When we walked in we couldn't believe it. On the outside - it just looks like another house on the block. then you step inside and BAM! High ceilings and a large room filled with GORGEOUS Statues and Relics.

The Man Sitting in the chair is a Monk who left Tibet with the Dalai Lama. He was offering blessings or healings ( not sure what they call them ) so we went - and I must say when I sat in front of him and he placed his hands on my head - I actually felt the energy. It vibrated and was so clearly healing energy. I have only felt that one other time and that's with Miguel Ruiz. It was so incredible.

There's Iris and Vera getting their turn.

And Amy. And while we were having this experience with the Monk...My husband and Max were having a totally different kind of experience but by the looks of it - it produced a similar effect!

They were at the Utah State Fair ! This was on the Merry Go Round. weeeeee!!!!!

So - I hate to fly. I get all sorts of uncomfortable when the plane has ANY turbulence whatsoever. And this gal sitting next to me held my hand and we both helped each other through any bumps along the way. SO sweet of her. We talked the entire way home, Exchanged facebook info and e-mails. A new friend in Utah.

My first morning home I took this panoramic with an app called DarManDar on my iPhone. I love it. Thanks to Amy's husband for telling me about it! This is what I see every morning when I feel Max his breakfast. I love our open floor plan and all that light coming in. And I love being back with my family!

My first day home was so fun just getting back to simple abundance of the everyday moments. Sitting out on our driveway while Max plays with his car. Seems so perfect. And I miss Amy. I miss her all the time. I've missed her since our days back in Minneapolis when we lived together and she decided to move to San Francisco. We've never lived int he same city at the same time again. I cannot wait to go back to Minneapolis again to see her and her family. I love all of them.

I got back on Sunday night - and then on Friday we all packed up and went to Santa Rosa, California for my cousin Andy's wedding. I'll post those photos soon!

xoxox *c

Minneapolis Day 2

2011-09-22T13:25:00.000-07:00

Day 2 in Minneapolis - Power lounging with Amy - we watched 1/2 of the Sex in the City movie ( the first one ) with a giant bowl of popcorn covered in earth balance and sea salt. I couldn't stop eating it. Vera - Joined us and I couldn't help but play around with my iPhone and some goofy portraits. Then Sean, Amy's husband got in on it. It was pretty hilarious actually.

In the afternoon Amy and I went to the Creative Connection to go to a Panel that was moderated by Beth Nicholls. And Kelly Rae Roberts was on the panel! HAD TO GO! I took Beth Nicholls Do What You Love eCourse and it was incredible. I interviewed her for my Soul*Full eCourse. She was so fun to talk with, but meeting her in person. I was over the moon. She lives in the UK so the chance to meet her was really unique. And Kelly Rae! Are you kidding? I'm a huge fan. I took her flying lessons eCourse, and own a few of her things in my home.

Kelly Rae Roberts

Beth Nicholls

And - we had no idea that Curly Girl was going to be on the panel! But she is one of Amy's all time favorites as well! YAY! What a great surprise.

AMy's husband Sean taught me about 2 apps for my iPhone that I didn't know existed. One is called DerManDar - and creates panoramics like this one above that I took sitting at the table at their house. The other one is called Camera +. Both I used for the photos on this blog post. They are incredible. Check them out.

What a great day it was!! Loved hanging out with Amy - we often kid each other on the phone for the other one to "GET OVER HERE" and we come up with dream plans if we could see each other. One of course is to just lay in bed and watch movies so it was great to actualize it. The weather was cold and rainy so it made it even more perfect for that kind of lounging. And going to the Creative Connection was over the top mainly because I had no clue it was happening the same weekend I just happen to be in town - so you can imagine my thrill when I found out!! Amy is the only friend really that would want to go to something like that with me so it was icing on the cake to have her there when I went up to introduce myself to Kelly Rae and Beth Nicholls.

Tomorrow - the final post of my Minneapolis adventure. Stay tuned - you really won't believe what happened on the third day!

xo
*c

Minneapolis - Day 1

2011-09-21T11:10:00.000-07:00

Me and Amy Friday Sept 16th - My first day in Minneapolis. I visited with Amy for a while and we headed out for lunch at one of our favorite places called Birchwood Cafe! GO THERE if you live in Mpls. You will not be disappointed.

That night I was off to the Self Revealed Art Opening. Curated by the incredible Doug Beasley. It was like coming home for me. Seeing people I haven't seen in years, being in a city I lived in for 8 years. It just felt like.....ME. Like the "me" that is rooted in creativity and personal growth. It all started in Minneapolis.

A few photos with Doug - Above being corny! And there we are with Tom BeBiaso, who is Amy's step dad, but also was the Media Arts Chair at MCAD when I went to school there. I adore him. I was touched he and his wife Laura ( Amy's mom ) stopped by.

Doug and Donna - I just met Donna at the opening. She is beautiful isn't she?

Who is this with Doug? I don't know - but when I saw his face - I thought - " I need a photograph of HIM" I think he is beautiful.

I met this gorgeous gal at the opening. She had a photograph in the show as well. We had a lot to talk about and lots in common. SO great to meet kindred spirits.

There's my photograph called "Nest". It was amazing to see it up. My photograph was hung right next to one of my favorite photographers Linda Rossi. In College she was my photo one instructor. I wanted to BE HER when I grew up. And here I am having my photograph up next to hers. It was incredible for me on many levels. I was honored.

PAT! We haven't seen each other since 1994 ( we are guessing ). Somewhere in the mid 90's. It felt like no time had passed. We talked for hours. After the opening we stood outside and talked even more. He was one of my very first friends when I moved to Minneapolis. He actually has a very large version of the "nest" photo in his house from way back then. I got to meet his lovely wife Ellen at the opening

Here we are together. They have 2 children together. I've seen them on Facebook, but next time I'm in town I plan on meeting them. Dear souls these two humans are. So GRATEFUL I was able to see them on this trip.

Some of the photographs in the show.

ok That large self portrait doesn't look right in this photo - I mean what I did to it in instragram makes it look blown out on his forehead and it doesn't look like that in real life. You must go see this show. The art is incredible.

Clearly Doug has a few friends! This opening was PACKED the entire evening. After the opening a handful of us joined Doug for dinner. It was so nice to just sit and get to know more about his friends. The trip was so fast - I was there Friday - Sunday - that I didn't get another chance to see Doug. So many reasons to head back there - SOON! I so love it. The rich culture, the creativity - so much to see and do there. People that I feel so deeply connected with. I miss it. I don't miss the freezing cold Winters and the humid Summers...but I miss the warm souls that make me feel like I am home.

I'll post day 2 tomorrow......
xo
*c

2011-09-19T14:33:00.001-07:00

SO much to tell you from my trip to Minneapolis. And SO many photos! I got home around midnight last night and have been on my full time Mama duty ever since. The best I've done today is actually unpack everything and put it away or toss into the laundry basket - which usually NEVER happens. I leave it in the luggage for DAYS. Hey... a girl can change!
Until I get a moment to download the photos to post them for you - I'd love to share something I just found out about.

It's called The Salty Streets Flea Market. HOORAY! I'm so excited to find out about this. And yesiree you can bet you will find me there.

http://saltystreets.blogspot.com/

I'm on a mission to find more of "my people" here. Going back to Minneapolis reminded me of the amazing friends I have there who are all creative, introspective, groovy, against the grain, intellectual, highly crafty and talented, spiritually minded, or fabulously rebellious in a not so harmful way, etc etc. I actually NEED that. I need my tribe. I actually have an amazing tribe already established here in AA and also in the Down syndrome community and I am so grateful for them! Hello Friends! - and now I need to find my creative tribe. Hello? Salt Lake City? Where are you??
So I'm snooping around online - looking at the art classes in town, The printmaking and photography courses, galleries, communities that I can plug into.

If you know of what I speak - Please comment below and send links!

A re-cap of the big Minneapolis Adventure will come soon!

And YES I met Kelly Rae Roberts and Beth Nicholls ! And YES I had a Buddhist scarf blessed by a monk who left Tibet with the Dalai Lama......curious for more??? Stay Tuned!

xo
*c

2011-09-16T15:10:00.000-07:00

Source: flickr.com via Amanda on Pinterest

I'm in Minneapolis over at Amy's house and we are fooling around with Pinterest.com. What an AMAZING website. I found this photo and gasped. Isn't it GORGEOUS! The lighting is just right and the colors are so rich and vibrant. Inspiring me. Both of us are laying on her bed - we both have our laptops...on our laps - and we are finding inspiration every where.

Packing up for Mpls!

2011-09-15T22:31:00.000-07:00

I'm really excited to get back to Minneapolis. It feels like I haven't been there in a Bazillion years. The best part is seeing my friend Amy. Amy has Hodgkins Lymphoma. Even though my dad is a cancer and blood Doctor, ( Oncology and Hematology ) I still have more to learn about what that is. But I do know this:
Amy is pretty damn courageous. She has Chemo every other Thursday. And is pumped up with a ton of steroids and other medications to combat all the side effects. Yep - Lost her hair. She actually looks incredible without hair! She throws on big hoop earrings and looks pretty bad ass.
So this trip was planned so that I could see her, and when I found out that one of my photographs was selected in the Self Revealed Photography Show - I decided that I should plan my trip the same weekend so I could see her and actually show up at the opening.
But right now - I'm packing - It's 11:15pm and I'm almost done - and - I get to wake up at 4am and leave the house at 4:30am to head to the airport. It's the first time I'm going to be away from Max. EVER. I mean - I JUST started to leave Max with his Grandma for up to 2 hours. But that's when I am still in town and not too far away. THIS is a big deal. This is AWAY. F.a.r. Jerry took the day off to be with Max tomorrow and through the weekend. I know Max will be fine. He has an ear infection and is on his antibiotics now so I'm sure he will get more sleep now which is good for everyone involved. When we were laying down at bed time and he snuggled up to me and held on to my ear like he always does ( as if it's the corner of a blanket ), I got emotional. I want to put him in my pocket and take him with me. I want to curl up with him each night like we always do. I want to see him smile at me and give me kisses. I will be grateful to not be schlepping the car seat, stroller, diaper bag, toddler, bottles, snacks, toddler luggage, etc on my journey solo. But I will miss him desperately. Amy left her daughter in Mpls when Jerry and I got married. Amy was VERY pregnant. It was a BIG deal for her to come out and leave her daughter home with the Grandparents. It is amazing the things we will do for each other. Leaving your child at home doesn't seem like a big deal - unless you are a parent! We've been friends since college. Roommates after college. Pen pals for a gazillion years, and favorite friends to call and talk about art, creativity, family, marriage, our parents, life, love and the pursuit of happiness. I'm so so glad that I will be there solo so that I can just BE with Amy and not be split focused. And I will miss my baby Max. But worth it for this trip! And good for Max too! I am ALWAYS with him! ok - Must. Go. Finish. Packing.
xo
*c

Buddy Walk and Hebrew School!

2011-09-12T07:01:00.000-07:00

This weekend was the Utah State Buddy Walk. It was incredible. Not only because the event was really geared toward the kids and there were a lot of things for the kids to do. ie: a train ride, a bouncy thing, lots of booths with games like at a fairground, and then........there's RACHEL COLEMAN and SIGNING TIME!We got there early - because Rachel Coleman has a facebook page and we were talking back and forth about her schedule. We joined her Signing Time team, and knew she was going to be there at 9am for her sound check. Jerry and I felt like this was the most important day in Max's life! He LOVES her. He watches her dvd's every day several times a day and when he wakes up crying at night - guess what soothes him?? Signing Time Dvd's. During this photo above we had JUST met her and Max was like "WHAT????" " HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE"! "I DON'T GET IT!!!" But when she started her performance on stage - we made sure to be right in front and he flipped out! He was so happy.Here is the first video I took when she started to sing. He is actually signing to almost all of it. When you see him moving his middle finger back and forth, that's his sign for "play". I love that he has his arm up in the air like we would at a concert! It's partly his sign for rainbow - but I think also his excitement at seeing his favorite human. I should say favorite humans because her daughter Leah was there and her nephew Alex was as well. Incredible. Jerry and I were emotional.On top of that we got to see lots of our friends from the Down syndrome community who I am so fond of. Kristin, Kecia, Jodi, Darla, Heather, Brooke, Phil and all of their kids!Do I have photos of them? ummmmm......( this photographer is sad to say that NO I don't. ) I do have one photo of Max and his friend Max right before the actual walk started but then we had to download all of the photos off of my iphone and poof. gone. so lets' just pretend I didn't totally blow it at the buddy walk and move right along......the next day was his first day of Hebrew School at the Jewish Temple near us. YES there are Jews that live in Salt Lake City. Lots of them. There are several Jewish Temples in town and one in Park City. The first day was a celebration of Noah's ark, they dressed up in costume, and brought in real animals.....like a CAMEL. BEST day of Hebrew School I have ever seen in my life.CamelPetting zooMax is the youngest in the class. They don't care if he wanders and guess what? Max doesn't sit still. Ever. He was walking all over the school/Temple. The gal who suggested we sign up told us that they brought their daughter early and it took her being in the same class for two years to get comfortable with the idea of school, sitting still, being involved etc. So that's probably what we are going to do. I must admit - I'm not used to hearing the word "LORD" sung in Hebrew School, but whatever. I really like the Temple. It's very warm, inviting, pretty, and I enjoy who've we've met there. I plan to take adult classes there. I want to learn Hebrew. Jerry and I feel a little bit different this morning. Lots happened over the weekend that was what I would consider epic. Rachel Coleman? A Camel? Hebrew songs? Oh and we ran into Greg Kogan. The friend of ours who has Ds who is a certified preschool assistant - he works at the Hebrew School. So great to have that connection and see him in action.

** The Soul*Full eCourse is Filling Up! If you are still interested it's time to sign up. Here is the link

Happy Monday!xo*c

9/11/11

2011-09-11T11:34:00.000-07:00

Just visited Girls Gone Child and LOVED the video she posted there so I'm posting it here. No words today. Just song.

don Jose Ruiz

2011-09-08T12:24:00.000-07:00

On August 30th, my friend Jose Ruiz was in town giving a lecture and booksigning. I was so excited to see him and hear him speak. When I got there I noticed this poster. The photo of Jose on the poster is one that I took of him! It made my heart flip a bit to see it.

Here I am with Jose - doing my best to take a photo of the two of us with my iphone.

I asked him to sign two of his books for me so that I can give one away here on my blog in a giveaway day! Stay tuned for that one....The Fifth Agreement is a GREAT book if you haven't already read it.

Here he is with his lovely Tammy. She helped run the event and made it all go smoothly.
I'm scheduling a video interview with Jose in the next few weeks. I'm really excited to sit down and chat and ask him some questions. He was such a great speaker - and had a brilliant message that was entirely his, and not just a bi-product of his father's message. Most of you know that Miguel Ruiz was my Spiritual teacher for many years - and his son Jose was a friend of mine during that time. Jose has really come into his own power. It's incredible to witness the transformation. I hope you all get a chance to hear him speak and read his book. I asked if he would start a group here in Utah and he says he is considering it next year. Oh I do hope that happens!

Miguel Ruiz was kind enough to do a video interview with me for my upcoming Soul*Full eCourse and I plan to incorporate Jose's interview into the next session.

Space is filling up for the eCourse and I'm so excited about who is signing up! Lots of people I already know and some I cannot wait to meet!!!

My son Max has never really seen his mama so focused on her own creative pursuits.

Creating this eCourse has felt very similar to creating a new body of work. I feel wired, excited, obsessed, focused and a bit high off of it!My son probably thinks I'm a nut! I bought an art easel at Ikea so that we could start painting, drawing and using chalk together. So far all he wants to do is throw the chalk after I write "I Love Max" on the chalk board. I guess we all have different ways to express ourselves right?

xo
*c

A Summer of Naps!

2011-09-01T07:58:00.000-07:00

The last nap photo I posted here was August 3rd! I need to catch up! here are the rest of the August Nap photos. Looking over these just makes my heart sing. I LOVE how he cuddles with me. Thankful for the iPhone and how easy it is to take these shots right when he falls asleep without moving much on my part. Just closing my eyes and snapping the pic. I wonder how long Max will take these afternoon naps before he decides that staying up all day long is more fun. I take these nap photos because I know this time will end and naps will be a thing of the past. I will miss the cuddling. I will miss the sweetness. I will miss the big chunk of afternoon time to cuddle. I will miss how little he is and I want to document such a sweet time in his life and in my life....ok Max is letting me know that he wants to go swing in the backyard ( using his sign language ) so I must post these quick and get back to mamahood! here you go.....

August 4th, 1:02pm

August 5th, 1:40pm

August 8th, 12:37pm

August 9th, 1:57pm

August 9th 1:57pm

August 11th, 2:38

August 12th, 3:22pm

August 12th, 3:24pm

August 12th, 4:09pm

August 16th, 3:29pm

August 17th, 12:25pm

August 18th, 11:19am my sobriety date - look at the gifts Sobriety gives to me! M.A.X !!!!

August 18th, 11:21am

August 19th, 11:18am

August 20th, 11:33am after his swim lesson at Cottonwood Heights Rec Center.

August 22nd, 1:25pm after his first Dentist appointment

August 23rd, 12:01pm after our first playgroup at our house. It was hard for him. Too much noise.

August 24th, 12:00noon last day of Summer music class

August 25th, 11:00am

August 26th, 11:46am

August 29th, 11:46am

August 30th, 12:11pm, after a wagon ride at Wheeler Farm

August 31st, 12:40pm after a trip to the Discovery Center

Looking forward to September naps - when the temp cools down and I can open the window and let the breeze roll in. I LOVE naps with windows open and my baby cuddling!
Happy day everyone...I'm off to push Max in his swing.
xo
*c

birthday wishes, a cupcake and a TWO for ONE special!

2011-08-28T10:30:00.000-07:00

Vegan Birthday Cupcake, on my favorite plate. Yum....

First off - a treat for YOU!
I'm giving a TWO FOR ONE special for anyone who wants to take the Soul*Full eCourse. Just for today - my Birthday. So hop on over and register! Space is limited - don't miss it.
Grab a friend and split the cost of one. What a dealio!

Here is the link.
http://www.soulfullphoto.com

In the Paypal notes just write the name and email address of the friend you want to take the course with you. done.

Go register - then eat a cupcake - then hop back over here and read the rest of this post. k?

Did you register? ok good

Yes - today is my birthday. How am I spending it? I'm here in the house alone while the fellas head out all day so I can just "BE". I must say it's REALLY nice. I needed it. I have my favorite candle lit and my incense burning, I spent a long time talking to my favorite friend Amy on the phone. I'm editing the interview with Miguel Ruiz today for my Soul*Full eCourse, and working on the text for the Aqua Nicaragua Soul*Full Women's retreat .
What else?

I wrote out 43 things I'd like to accomplish in my 43rd year:
ready?

take photos of Max swinging in the backyard as many days as possible. ( it's his favorite thing to do right now. he signs " swing swing swing please " all day long.
take Max on more mini adventures - Zoo, Red Butte Gardens, Thanksgiving Point, etc.
Plant Black Eyed Susan in my yard
Visit Amy in Minneapolis ( I get to do this in September HOORAY!!!! )
Lay in the hammock in the backyard and read for hours and sip my favorite iced tea.
Video and Audio interview 43 inspiring life leaders and post them on my blog
Update / Revamp my blog ( getting started in about a month )
Paint the walls in our bedroom a rich gray color to compliment the intense turquoise wall behind our bed.
Visit Chings Animal Sanctuary
Strip the paint off the kitchen table
Wear a dress.
Get a reading with Cindy Dale
Lose those last 5 points and keep them OFF
Learn Wet Plate Collodion Process
Print and Frame "Nap" series and have a show.
Meet more artists in SLC ( take art classes here, get involved in art scene here )
Visit Zion,
Visit Moab
Teach Soul*Full eCourse and Soul*Full Women's retreats
Team up with Flora Bowley ( in the works! )
Meet Susannah Conway ( in NYC in June?)
Meet Andrea Scher ( In San Fran in Sept? )
Meet Beth Nicholls ( in Sept in Mpls? )
Create the "year 24" project - complete it by 8-18-12
Get up earlier and take a walk in the morning
Learn Encaustic Painting
Go see a movie.... or two.
Make my favorite green tea more often
Go on more dates with my husband
finger paint with Max
Grill outside and eat meals out back with the family
Take more naps with Max
Visit Park City often
Be barefoot in the grass more often.
Go on a picnic with my family
Go to more outdoor concerts
Visit the Wheeler Farm Farmer's Market on Sunday mornings
Go to Alt design summit
How about a little family vacation....to Hawaii? Napili Bay, Sea Turtles, perfection
Focus my attention on my spiritual practice in the every day moments. Shift.
Get help with Max so that I can dedicate more time to my business and artwork
Less judgement and more love all around - inside and out.
Be true, authentic and real. Speak from the heart.

Can I do all of this??

Y.E.S!!

Why? Because I want to!

I'm excited to get started on this years adventures. So much is already going on and so many things to be grateful for.

So I'm off to GET TO IT..

Tonight - we are grilling dinner outback and hanging in the hammock and pushing Max in the swing. I say it's a perfect way to celebrate. I used to try to have big parties but felt overwhelmed and stressed out - didn't really get to connect with anyone at the party and felt exhausted after wards. I'm learning to be true to who I am and do things that fill me up rather than make me feel dizzy.

Do you remember a favorite birthday?? Share it with me here. I would love to hear what made it special.

xo
*c

A Summer Afternoon...

2011-08-25T10:32:00.000-07:00

here he is - Over joyed by the flower toy thing he is holding.

Last day of Summer Break for these Neighborhood gals. They came over to hang with Max on the hammock and push him on the swing. Fun to see everyone hanging in our backyard.

Took a walk close to sunset. There's a trail a few blocks from our house.

Max LOVED picking up rocks and sharing them with Papa.

These flowers are everywhere in SLC right now. LOVE THEM.

This was the view on our walk. I'd say it's pretty gorgeous. Happy Happy Summer. xo *c

Soul*Full eCourse Giveaway Winner!

2011-08-18T23:29:00.000-07:00

Thank you so much to everyone that entered the Soul*Full Giveaway. I was moved by all of your comments and all that you so openly shared. And thank you for the feedback on my life. It means a lot to me to have all of your love and support.

The lucky winner is Heidi!!!

"I am so grateful to be inspired by you Catherine! By your creativity, your journey, your parenting, your positivity, your consistent effort to be a better you. I am immensely grateful you reached out to me on my blog a while back and that you have become a friend and real source of support for me. I constantly struggle with my demons of 'not being good enough' and I am thankful to have been given the gift of you to show me that self belief, creativity and the willingness to try can heal the soul and allow you to thrive! I am deeply thankful that you so honestly and beautifully share of yourself! With much love and appreciation, heidi"

Yes - YOU and a friend of yours will be joining us on the Soul*Full eCourse!

For those of you who didn't win - don't fret! There's still room for you to sign up.
Here is the link.

http://www.soulfullphoto.com

I wish for you all a rich, joyful, creative, loving and soul*full life!
xo
*c

Gratitude and a GIVEAWAY!!!!

2011-08-17T23:22:00.000-07:00

24 years ago today - I checked into a treatment center for my drug and alcohol problem. I feel a bit in awe that now I look back and have somehow made it this far without ever having to take a drink or drug again. I didn't do this alone - that's for sure. Life happens and it can get hard.

The universe always provided me with tools, support and the knowing in my being that I was here for a higher purpose then to drown myself in that mess of drugs, alcohol and self hatred.

Today I'm in a completely different place in my life and in my being. One of unlimited potential, of freedom from the active addiction, one of regular sleep, healthy nutrition, loving family, great friends, creativity oozing out of my pores, and a drive to keep searching, seeking, growing, learning, settling in to my own being and helping others. A life that lacks chaos, and has a lot less drama. Is it lacking in fun? um.. no. I actually learned how to laugh, how to trust, how to be a friend, how to play, how to cook, how to lighten up, how to be goofy, and how to love. Of course that starts with me. Loving myself. The biggest art project of all. It's a daily process. Progress rather than perfection.

Now - moving forward - I'd love to share with you all a little gift of gratitude. Gratitude for being there for me, of your support and kindness, of your love and acceptance, of your examples of what it means to live a full and rich life.

It's a GIVEAWAY !!

I'm giving away one spot in my Soul*full eCourse and the winner gets to bring a friend of hers for free as well.

HOW??

Just comment on today's post - share with me what it is you are grateful for today.

This giveaway ends at midnight August 18th Mountain Time.

The lucky winner will be announced August 19th.

Good luck everyone!

xoxoxooxox

Beth Nicholls* Do What You Love For Life!

2011-08-15T07:05:00.000-07:00

Oregon Coast - photo created with a 4x5 pinhole camera - hand held - with Polaroid film.

Today I'm so excited to share that my story is featured on Beth Nicholls blog today. I LOVE what Beth does - her Do What You Love eCourse is so wonderful - I just finished it up a few weeks ago and it was life changing. Go check it out. You will not be disappointed. And while you are at it - read that post about me and let me know what you think! xo *c

Soul*Full eCourse is LAUNCHED!

2011-08-12T09:33:00.000-07:00

Yes! I'm so excited to share with you that the Soul*Full eCourse is now up and launched! Go check it out!

Soul*Full

It's a 6 week online course designed to help you deepen your connection with your body*mind*spirit.

How?

Each day we focus on an area in our lives that can lift us to a new level of awareness, growth and joy!

This course is for women only - sorry guys! - I've created a safe private online class for us to explore, share and grow in a supportive community of like minded women.

Topics:

Spirituality

Photography

Writing

Physical Well Being

Who else is involved?

Every Wednesday I will post a video interview with amazing leaders in each of the topics we are covering.

*don Miguel Ruiz - Toltec Teacher and Author of the Four Agreements and so many other transformational books.

*Doug Beasley - photographer and facilitator of Vision Quest Photography Workshops

*Beth Nicholls - Do what you Love eCourse and Retreat

*Sheri Rosenthal - Spiritual Teacher and Owner of Journeys of the Spirit

*Aline Smithson - Photographer, educator, community builder, and on and on!

*Andrea Scher - Superhero Journal, Superhero Photo, Mondo Beyondo, Expressive Photography

*Mee Tracy - Princess know it all, Noble Food Makeover

and MORE!!!!

The course starts October 10th and space is limited.
Click on the Soul*Full eCourse link right HERE to learn more and to sign up!

See you there! Hooray!!!!

** p.s. you don't have to be a pro photographer to join us. All you need is a camera you are comfortable using and a computer to upload your images.

Lucky Me!!

2011-08-09T14:42:00.000-07:00

August 3rd nap, 5:26pm

August 4th, 12:58pm

August 5th, 1:40pm

August 8th, 12:37pm

August 9th 1:57pm

Yep - still happily taking these iphone photos of our nap time together. Someone asked me if I was mounting a camera above us to take these - and the answer is no - not that complicated. I have my iphone shoved under my leg until Max falls asleep. When he is snoozing - I pull the phone out - and hold the camera up above us and close my eyes and take the photo. that's it. Then I go to my handy dandy instragram app. and turn them into old fashion looking photos and sometimes do a little tilt shift action on them.

In other news - we went to Lagoon this weekend for the first time. It's an amusement park. And you know how much I ~~Love~~ those! It was for Jerry's work so I left my " I don't wanna go " face in the car and decided that I'd make the best of it. The best part for me was taking Max on his first Merry-Go-Round ride. And on a train ride...( here we are on the train )

where we saw sleeping tigers, jaguars, and other sleeping caged animals. The cages just made me sad actually. And Max didn't see the animals. He doesn't see them unless they are moving...so - zonked out tigers just look like part of the landscape to him.

here's the one photo I took from the train.

It's a keeper. I'm going to post it over at the Superhero Photo eCourse right now. Did I tell you I'm taking that class right now? Andrea Scher is leading the eCourse and since I ADORE her I just HAD to sign up.

wanna see Max enjoying a little time in his swing?

And one more thing.....My Soul*Full eCourse is just about ready to LAUNCH! The website is almost finished and I am SO EXCITED to share it with all of you! If you'd like to get the details you can sign up for my newsletter which is coming out on Thursday.
Click HERE to sign up.

xo
*c

2011-08-03T12:34:00.000-07:00

Nap August 2nd 11:59

yes he is literally pushing his foot into my face. Actually he was doing this over and over again. After I took this photo I moved him, I'm not that into torture. But you will see over the span of the nap photos that this happens to be one of his favorite positions,,,,foot on my face.

Yesterday was a rough one. He wasn't feeling well. I'd go into it but you might be sorry I explained in detail. So we will just leave it at that.

He is feeling much better today but still not eating much if anything at all. We have him on a diet of Pedialite and anything else he will eat.

No fever so we are just letting this thing / bug work itself out. Poor fella.

Nap August 1st 4:16pm

My parents came to visit us over the weekend. We did so much in 3 days it made all of our heads spin.
I think I might need a mini vacation in our hammock to just chill for a bit and get refreshed! I hope they come back soon! I'll post photos in the next day or two.

Right now I'm thinking about my upcoming 43rd birthday. After reading Andrea Scher's post yesterday ( her August 1st post ) I started to think about how I would want to celebrate that day and to really consider who I really am instead of doing what I think I should be doing.

I know I'm not as into having big parties as I wish I was. I much prefer taking mini travel dates - even if it's just to a part of town I've never been to, a picnic, finding a photobooth for the three of us to cram into, taking a new self portrait, going to a restaurant I've wanted to try out, or do some favorite things that remind me of my favorite people - like sip a decaf soy latte ( Amy ), Visit Manzanita, Oregon ( Amanda, Lori, Dara, and the other friends I made on my photo retreat ) or travel to Paris, France ( although I am in LOVE with the idea of actually living there for a year with my family like this girl is doing now ), a trip to Napili Bay, Maui, Hawaii to swim with the turtles, or just hang out in the backyard with my son and husband and sip lemonade and swing in the swingset with my son.......or go visit Minneapolis so I can play with my friend Amy, sip decaf latte's with her, watch sex in the city DVD's, power lounge and find a vegan cupcake and stick a candle in it.

I also like the idea of rituals, Like going to have a reading done with a psychic, or creating a wish jar and putting all of my wishes for my 43rd year on strips of decerative paper and putting them in the jar and seeing what the universe brings, or get a tattoo ( I've wanted a particular design on my arm for the past 15 years )

Do you have favorite ways you like to celebrate your birthday?

I'd love to hear your rituals - celebrations - favorite birthday memories - or what you'd like to do for your next birthday.

Sunday afternoon

2011-08-01T08:00:00.000-07:00

nap 1:15pm
just finished up a big brunch with Grandma and Grandpa and a lot of swinging time out on the backyard swing set. Lots of laughing out loud. And passed out in 20 minutes when we went up for nap time. He always has a way of sucking me into taking a nap myself! This one lasted about 30 minutes for me - but 3 hours for him. Lucky fella!

see what I mean?

2011-07-30T16:09:00.000-07:00

Nap, July 30th 2:35pm

Today we started with Speech therapy at our house from 9-10am
then first day of summer swimming lessons from 10:20-11:00
Then he PASSSSSSED OUT. For 3 hours.
SO dang cute.
Now he is up and gearing up for a BBQ we are having tonight
and more cuddles with his Grandparents that are visiting from San Diego this weekend.
It's a great summer day.

I hope you all are enjoying your day today as well.

xo
*c

I cannot be stopped!

2011-07-28T22:43:00.000-07:00

My newest series is beginning to take shape. a few posts ago I shared a few nap photos I took with my iPhone and I just loved capturing that time with Max so much that I decided to make it into a series. So whenever I take him to bed for his nap I wait until he is asleep and then try to get a photo of the two of us. So they are self portraits - and documentation of our naps together. I think this series is important because at some point nap time will end. I want to print these out and make them into a book for my son. And for ME to remember the tenderness, the snuggling, the sweetness of this time with Max. I'd also LOVE to print this and have a show in a gallery. Still considering which gallery might be best for this type of thing....any ideas?? It can be here in Salt Lake City or anywhere in the world. I'm open!

Magic hour

2011-07-15T20:45:00.000-07:00

I'm taking on online eCourse called Superhero Photo. Andrea Scher who is leading the course is one of my all time favorite people I've never met. I've taken her Mondo Beyondo eCourse and when I found out about this one I signed up without blinking an eye. I love her blog, I love her authenticity, I love her caring, thoughtful and playful personality. She is a wise soul. If you get a chance to take an eCourse from her you will not regret it. The assignment here is to take photos during magic hour which is right before sunset. Today I took Max out in our backyard and took these photos. Had to blur his privates as I don't think he would appreciate being exposed like that without his permission.
I'm thinking his JOY is what's Magic here!

who can resist taking this photo! So adorable.

Cat Nap

2011-07-14T07:09:00.000-07:00

Hi favorite kitty cat.

Summer Lovin

2011-07-11T05:33:00.000-07:00

I'm LOVING a few iPhone apps these days:

First off - I love the ease of the iPhone 4
Then I love taking photos with the Hipstamatic App. I use the grainy black and white film option.
Then I use the Tilt Shift App to blurr some of the image
and then the Instaprint App to add this old fashion photo edge and the sepia tone

mmmmmmmmm. So yummy.
oh and this nap time with Max was pretty yummy as well!

Max Loves Pink Martini

2011-07-07T06:56:00.000-07:00

Max loves Pink Martini! This was the first "real" concert we've taken him to. It was last night at Red Butte Gardens. So beautiful! I've been a fan on Pink Martini since my days living in Portland Oregon about 13 years or so ago. I named this blog Hang on little tomato after a song of theirs. I'm glad Max is a fan. This video proves it!

It's a Mondo Beyondo dream come true. Up on Stage with Pink Martini. Standing by the long haired trumpet player. He is SO very talented. Not my best video work.....but
at the end of this the drummer comes up and talks with Max!

yep - I'm a total geek! Dancing next to some of my favorite musicians of all time and all I can think to do is act goofy? Yep that's me.

Just a little cuteness for you

2011-06-28T11:42:00.001-07:00

p.s. I just posted a few of my handmade goods for sale on my Etsy shop yesterday if you want to take a peek.

here is the link

http://www.etsy.com/shop/catherinejust?ref=ss_profile

I'll be posting more artwork and journals soon!

Aren't you Curious?*

2011-06-23T21:41:00.000-07:00

Don't you want to see the photos Max took the other day????

If you missed the blog post - the re-cap is that Max watched me taking self portraits and jumped on his chance to be a little self portrait photographer himself.

Here is the video again if you haven't seen it...or if you just can't help but take a peek at it again. It's so cute and amazing - don't you wanna see it again?
ok I'll stop gushing here is the link

http://hang-on-little-tomato.blogspot.com/2011/06/max-learns-how-to-take-self-portrait.html

The photos below are all the ones that he took from that day. The video didn't show how long he went taking photos......

Well there you go! I'm so impressed! I cannot wait to do this again with him.
His two photographer parents are so proud!

So much more to share but you will have to just come back again and see what Max has been up to......more video!....... Yep. see ya'll soon!

Do What You Love Ecourse

2011-06-20T16:11:00.000-07:00

photo taken during an assignment from "do what you love" e-course. This fence is on the street I live on but I didn't know it was there until I went on this walk. Lovely isn't it.

I've been taking an eCourse called "Do what you Love"
here is the link
http://dowhatyouloveforlife.com/e-course/

It's one of the best eCourses I've taken.

I just completed one of the assignments which was to write out our Real Wild Bio. Not our Resume of where we've worked but what things we've done in our lifetime from 0-now that mean the most to us. The milestones - the pillars - the wild journeys and amazing accomplishments. After you write all that out - pick the top 5 and that is your REAL WILD BIO.

ok so I couldn't pick just 5. And luckily I wasn't the only one in class who had such luck!

Here is my list for everyone to see - including me. I do think that there are more substantial emotional events that I could have written as well - but this is a great start to see where I've been and the decisions I've made that made the biggest impact on me in my life:

1. Taking an art class in my freshman year in high school – and after my art teacher told me I had talent – taking that same art class ( it was the only one at our small school ) every year until I graduated. Little did I know that it would be life changing.

2. Checking myself in to drug and alcohol treatment when I was 18 years old. Right after I graduated High school. And staying sober for the rest of my Real Wild Bio so far. 23 years sober so far. ( quitting smoking needs to be on this list too - so I'm sneaking it in here )

3. Moving to Minneapolis right after treatment for extended treatment and then going to a 4 year art school MCAD and studying photography, film and video. All because of the seed that was planted by my high school art teacher that I had talent and needed to go for it.

4. Moving to San Diego to study with Miguel Ruiz and working with him and for him. Practicing the Toltec work with his spiritual community for 5 years, and helping Miguel run his Power Journeys. Doing the advanced Dreaming work with him.

5. Starting my own Photography Business

6. When I was diagnosed with Lupus in 2003 I signed immediately up for team in training and trained for and completed a triathlon. ( I changed my diet and no longer have symptoms of Lupus and it no longer comes up in blood tests! Hooray! )

7. Marrying Jerry and giving birth our son Max ( they should both get their own live but for this purpose I am putting them together. ) And staying home the first three years to be with Max and not putting him into daycare. ( and starting this blog for him. )

8. All of my moves and all of my travel:
Moves: Los Angeles, San Diego, Minneapolis, Ashland and Portland Oregon, back to San Diego, Back to Los Angeles, Salt Lake City.
travels: Hawaii many many times, Maui on our honeymoon, Spain, England twice, France, Germany, Italy twice, Chicago, Seattle, Arizona, Teotihuacan,Mexico 3 times, Coba, Tulum, Chichen Itza, New Mexico, Toronto Canada.

9. Creating retreats for women and doing my first one in Manzanita Oregon last year. I learned a lot about myself and others and was a magical adventure!

10. Developing my e-course called Soul*Full right now.
( with the help and inspiration from the Spark Kit, This e-course, Kelly Rae Roberts, Andrea Scher, Dyana Valentine, Amy Meszaros, My dear husband Jerry, the Darling Tree, Susannah Conway, The Aquarian Twins, Maria Forleo, Kris Carr, Miguel Ruiz, My High school Art teacher, Mondo Beyondo, Deb, Valerie Landsburg, The gals from the morning call, The Tuesday night Meeting.

I could make a real wild Bio - just about my adventures raising Max! I think I'll try that one out later - for now I must get going and get to the next assignment. I LOVE taking online classes that inspire me! And this one certainly does.

Max learns how to take a self portrait!

2011-06-17T19:41:00.000-07:00

Max was watching me take self portraits in the backyard with my camera set on self timer. I'm actually taking a class online that is all about self portraits. You can find out more about it here if you like. After a few of these he wanted in on the action so he started to push the button and run over to me and look at the camera. SO CUTE. He must have run back and forth about 10 times or more!

More news from Cottonwood Heights

2011-06-12T20:33:00.000-07:00

Untitled from Catherine Just on Vimeo.

Here is another Physical Therapy session with Michael Workman
This time we met at Canyon Rim Park. I love that he introduces us to a new area of town and a new park every time we meet. He rearranged his schedule so that Jerry could join us. I cannot say enough good things about this guy! He is funny on top of it so I am laughing almost the entire session.

This session he introduced Max to a wagon. I have always been afraid to put him in a wagon - I just imagined him not being into it and jumping out. But - the opposite is true. He smiles the entire time or is so entranced with the car toy he is playing with he doesn't notice that he is working his abs to stay sitting up straight in the wagon. That Michael is sneaky how he gets Max to exercise without him knowing it.

All of us were impressed with Max's interest in climbing up a very steep hill - here he is in action:

Untitled from Catherine Just on Vimeo.

And he kept on going. I'd say this was the best Max has done in a session - as far as really being motivated to keep on going - and being focused on the task presented to him. GO MAX!

In other news - it's Summer break for the kids that live on the block. 2 doors down is a 12 year old named Brooke and she brought her 3 friends over 3 times in one day to see if Max was up from his nap. Luckily for Max he woke up in time to hang out with the ladies. They LOVE him and he isn't too bummed having all of this attention I must say!

here they all are in our kitchen hovering over Max while he tries to explain his lunch menu to them

Max appears to hate the attention! HA!

This is the grandson of Carol and Richard who live next door. He is the oldest of three kids that get dropped off to play with their grandparents during Summer break.

Here's Max snoozing in the back seat as I drove him back to the house after a morning of fun at Liberty Park.

We went out to an Art Fair on Saturday to visit our friend Deb who was selling her beautiful photography out there. We purchased one of her pieces for our new home and Max got to play with Deb for a while. They just LOVE spending time together - and it's a good thing since she is one of my favorite people in Salt Lake City! I'm now calling her Auntie Deb because she feels like family and she is so interested in knowing Max and meeting him where he is at - meaning - she learned the signs that he uses so that they can communicate. How cool is that? She plays ball with him and we went to her office one day and Max played with her cats and ran around the entire place for about an hour. I think we may be seeing those kitties as often as possible - but I think that's more for ME than for Max. I'm still missing my sweet "Pretty Girl".

This one I took a while back as I looked out the bedroom window one day You get an idea of how large that mountain is when you see the tiny houses at the bottom of it. However - those houses are actually BIG houses - so that mountain is GIGANTIC people. I mean enormous. I can't believe that is our view!

I took a walk down our street yesterday with my camera and took photos of things that made me happy. Here are just a few: - Above is the next door neighbors front yard. Zen. Love it.

This is a TREE! it smells incredible. (If Brandon is reading this - do you know what this tree is?)

There are quail all over. I love watching them walk around. This one was in the driveway one morning.

pinecone.

cute flower

I like these shapes

the fence at the end of our block. I live on a pretty street - this morning I woke up and listened to a dove cooing or purring or whatever it is they do. It was wonderful. We live in the country - but we are 1/2 a mile from super target and whole foods! It's amazing.

We've been writing down all the sign language that Max knows these days. Right now we are up to a count of 76 signs! Incredible.

We want to video tape him signing all of these but of course - he isn't a trained dog so it hasn't been working along our time frame! We'll keep trying to get all of this on video or on several shorter videos and post that shortly.

We are slowly but surely getting unpacked and settled in - this weekend we tackled our office and next weekend we will head into the garage and the giant pile of boxes in there. Feels great to get things organized - it's feeling more like OUR house and we look forward to having friends and family over regularly.

ok - off to bed!
xoxoxoxoxoxox
*c

Yep! We are in our new house and LOVE IT!

2011-06-07T12:53:00.000-07:00

Untitled from Catherine Just on Vimeo.
So here is the next appointment we had with Max's Physical Therapist. This time we all met at Liberty Park and Michael taught us how to have fun with Max while giving him a killer Ab workout. Here are some video clips.

Untitled from Catherine Just on Vimeo.

ok - this color on the wall just isn't working. It's much more greenish blue than the photo shows. SO I have blue paint chips taped all over the wall to see what might work better. So far we are considering something called " Slightly Sapphire" which is super rich and vibrant. We might be having a painting party soon. Wanna join us?

I love taking these nap photos. And I love napping with Max! Some of the best moments of my LIFE!

I found that cute sitting bench at a consignment store and fell in love. The seat opens and we put our mail in there so it doesn't clutter our counters in the kitchen. I cannot believe how perfectly it fits right there.

I noticed on Wednesday that Max's tongue was covered in what looked like crumbs from a cracker. But it didn't come off. So I took him to the Dr. and he told me it's Thrush. Thrush is a yeast infection on your tongue and intestines. Um...GROSSSSSS. he said there is really no way to know where he got this from or why. We started him on the medication he gave us and Max has a HORRIBLE time with it. He felt WORSE on the medication than with a yeast filled tongue. He was up all night throwing up everywhere and the works...I'll just leave it at that. Luckily it was only the first night. The Thrush is clearing up and he is eating more and more ( he wouldn't drink or eat much because it hurt ) Here is the morning after the bad night.

We saw this rainbow and it looked like it was right at our house - so we hopped in the car from the Home Depot about 1/2 mile from home and drove toward the rainbow. This is one of the photos I took about a mile or two away from our house. I've never been so close to one before. It was stunning!

Yep - Max got a TERRIBLE hair cut. aka. BUZZ CUT. note to self...don't do that again. We like the "little boy" hair cut much better.

We are still in AWE that we live here. Jerry and I still think we are in a vacation home - it's so pretty - so comfortable - and such a big difference from the house in LA. We do love that LA house too - but the room here - the quiet - etc...The light that comes in the windows is unlike anywhere I've ever lived before. Still unpacking - and luckily Grandma Marty comes over to play with Max on weekends so that Jerry and I can focus on unpacking. Weekdays we don't really unpack. Too much to do with Max. I love seeing quail in my yard, and there is a cat that looks JUST LIKE my Pretty girl that loves me and lives somewhere on the street. I needed to have a cool cat on the block! ok - off to help Max take his nap and maybe take one myself!

a blast from Max's past. Not sure how old he is here. I remember when he started to laugh like this and how we were so thrilled to get it on video!

Untitled from Catherine Just on Vimeo.

two more days until we move in!

2011-05-17T11:53:00.000-07:00

Max started Physical Therapy about 2 weeks ago with Michael Workman. We meet at different parks that have terrain that suits PT. basically PT without Max knowing it which is GREAT! We REALLY like Michael a LOT and he was so great with Max. He loved playing soccer with Michael and walking up and down the hills at the park, going up and down the slide, up and down little steps. You name it - it was covered - and if Max showed any sign of being over it Michael would just move on to another type of play so that Max never got bored. I'm SO glad we found him. Here is his website:
http://www.professionaltherapies.com/

On Mother's Day we went to the Grand America Hotel for the most extravegant buffet I have ever seen! I took photos but I have so many photos to share I'll just list what I remember:
Crab legs, shrimp, oysters, crepes, omelets, waffles, bananas foster made to order, chocolate fountain with marshmallows and fruit, carving stations of turkey, steak and salmon, asian dishes, sushi, bacon, sausage, cesar salad bar, lox, 15 different cakes, an entire wall dedicated to a candy bar, blintzes, fruit parfait in martini glasses, Mud pie, eggs benedict, and on and on. Since I've been playing the Game On Diet for the past 2 weeks I had very little of this - but must say I felt GREAT saying NO to all that sugar and fat and animal product. I've had my share of it since moving to Utah and my body felt worn down. But this place was incredible!!!! The hotel looks like it's from Europe. Gorgeous. Here is my Mother in law, My sister-in-law Sandy and her husband Chris and their three kids Stephen, Tim and Sean and of course the three of us just outside in the courtyard.

Wow - the sun came out! It's a festivus miracle! We ran over to Red Butte Gardens and played with Max and his soccer ball out on a flat area of grass. It was fun until he fell on the cement and scraped his nose - hard to see it here but clearly he recovered! ( we got tickets to see Pink Martini at their outdoor stage in July! Cannot wait to see them live again! )

jerry boght me these gorgeous Tulips for Mother's Day. LOVE them! He also bought me a necklace that hasn't arrived yet - I cannot WAIT to get it and wear it! Here is a sneak peek. Love Tiny Devotions

ok folks the moment we had been waiting for! We got to sign the Escrow papers and PICK UP THE KEYS TO OUR NEW HOUSE! Here is the past owner Tracy - handing me the KEY!

I bought this Jade plant for Jerry as a house warming gift. It is the first thing I put in the new house when I picked up the keys. Its in the kitchen at the window you can see it when you come in the front door. I wanted to buy him one of these because he had one in Los Angeles that he basically brought back from close to death and it grew to be a gorgeous plant. He really liked it so much. We gave it to one of his friends before we moved since we flew to Utah and put everything in storage - plants weren't an option. So here is a new start with a new plant.

The first week with the house keys we hired painters to paint the upstairs bedrooms. This one will be Max's room. It used to be the color that you see in the closet. Now it's a soft green color - we are keeping the closet blue - we took off the doors to the closet ( they were broken ) and replacing them with some fabric instead that hangs from a poll inside the closet. Haven't found the fabric or drapes yet....

This is the Master bedroom. yep - One wall is BLUE! It's called Venezuelan Sea. I LOVE that color. Especially up against our bedding which is rust and off white. Something about reds and blues together make me so happy - I wanted the entire room that color - but Jerry was afraid he would feel suffocated by blue! So we compromised.

Ok this is the office and you cannot tell what color it is from this photo. The paint color is London Fog. It's a very pale grey. And it's the most soothing room upstairs. I might sleep in there! Jerry picked the color and I'm so glad he did! I would have painted it all DARK BLUE!

The room where we will watch tv has a very odd shape to fit a sofa in. What I mean is - we don't want any furniture in the middle of the room right now while Max is still needing room to play so we want our sofa to be up against a wall. The one the last owners had in the room was bigger than the wall length so it stuck out right in front of about 3 inches of the backdoor - so you had to sort of move your hand around the back side of the couch to get to the door handle. We looked HIGH AND LOW for a couch that wouldn't do that. Guess what? Unless we custom make it - they all are that length. Boo. So we opted for smaller furniture for now. a love seat and chair. The Soho Collection from Gallerie Z is just what we were looking for. We picked this in a dark gray color. It will arrive in 6-8 weeks. The photo above is the sofa and chair I found and fell in love with. When he gets older we will consider putting a larger sofa in the middle of the room - but for now? We will snuggle on the love seat!

One of the amazing events for me with this new house is going to Anthropologie to pick out light switch face plates and little door knobs for the closets. Yes - amazing. I LOVE anthropologie. Clothing and home furnishing. This was my first experience looking through their amazing collection of doorknobs and it was divine! Above are my choices for the Master bedroom.

Same design but different hue for the Office

One choice for the hallway closet

Another choice for the hallway - I'm going to try both ans see which looks better. And below is the light switch face plate for Max's room. He doesn't have closet doors - But when I was at anthropologie I was dreaming of having 16 different closet doors and all the door knobs we could have through out the house. Yep. Obsessing!

So the rooms are painted - the carpets were all professionally cleaned yesterday - the professional cleaners come to clean the entire house and then....we move in! We are still scheduling the movers because the weather is TERRIBLE this week and we are waiting to find a window of sunshine or at least a window when it's not raining so that when we ( the movers I mean ) take everything we own out of storage and load it into the moving truck they aren't drenched - our things aren't drenched and it's a better situation all around. My parents fly in this Friday to help with Max and to help unpack and figure out where everything goes. YAY FOR PARENTS! Can't wait to see them.

We are SO SO SO Excited to move. The other day I went over to the new house and put Max in the stroller and walked from the house up to the post office, then over to the library and then to whole foods and home. It was a 4 mile walk and was SO PRETTY! I rarely walked around our neighborhood in LA. It was safe - but just not pretty, trash, dog poop, lots of traffic, yuck. I didn't see ONE piece of trash, Not one pile of dog poop, not even in the grass along the pretty sidewalk! The view of the mountains was incredible! YAY for pretty neighborhoods that I feel inspired to walk in with my son! Plus Whole foods is only half a mile from home. So is Super Target, World Market, Home Depot and other places that I can get to easily. And from our street you would think we live in the country. No signs of these businesses. It's quiet and peaceful. I'm pinching myself.

And Just one more thing about Max - we started him in Speech therapy and I might have mentioned it before but didn't have a link about the therapist. Here it is. Her name is Monica Ferguson. Marty my mother-in-law found her for us. Max loves her and yes - I already talked about it so I will check in as we have more sessions with her and let you know how things go.

And if you want to hear some amazing news - a family we met here is adopting a child in Europe right now who has Down syndrome. A lot of families are doing this - it tugs at my heart. If you want to read about it she is posting about her journey at this website. Kareen's Journey Home.

Nap Tiiiiiiiiiiiime

2011-05-04T10:30:00.000-07:00

Max has been transitioning from 2 naps a day to one nap a day - this has been going on for about a year. Everyone told us that as soon as they start to walk they tend to give up one nap. Well? Max started walking around 12 months old.....now Max is 2 and seems pretty tired around 10:30 and then again around 2pm. But lately - we've seen consistency in Max just taking one nap from about 11am until about 1 or 1:30 - sometimes until 2pm. Everyone told me to nap when he naps. I rarely do because it's my chance to eat, catch up on e-mails, veg out, watch tv, talk on the phone with friends, read ( read facebook that is ! ), and pretend to clean ( haha! ). But - since Max sleeps in our bed I lay with him and read him a book and then we snuggle as he falls to sleep. I've decided this past week to stay and nap with him and ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh the joys of NAPPING! I've been taking photos just as he falls asleep. Here is one of the two of us from yesterday. Oh the snuggling! So precious. He loves to put his hand on my face or tug on my ear when he is falling asleep. I love how affectionate he is. I don't want nap time to ever end! But I hear at some point these moments will all just be memories and my little guy will be a big guy and demand more play time and not nap again! Until then - I think I'm going to nap with him more, take more photos of the two of us snuggling and try to stay in the moment and not worry so much about checking my e-mails or chatting with my friends on facebook...I cannot believe that he is TWO and I hear that our babies just grow up so fast you barely have time to notice and then it's over and they are asking for the car keys. oh god!
On that note -
it's nap tiiiiiiiiiiiiime!

Happy Spring, Easter and Passover!

2011-04-24T19:38:00.000-07:00

Images of Spring I took a few days ago. ( 50mm lens open to f/1.8 with a 4x close up filter on. )

Mama and Max napping ( I took this with my iphone just before Max woke up )

Max fell deeply in love with matzah on Passover this year. Look at him. He looks like he is yelling out for more. or saying " Don't you dare take away my matzah ! "

Spent Passover at David and Ann Asner's house. David taught Jerry how to play drums in High School! Ann and I met a few years ago on one of my visits to Salt Lake City and that is their son Aaron. It was fun to visit with them and celebrate Passover. The food was incredible but the entertainment of that family just being themselves - was what made it so much fun for all of us. They are warm, easy going, full of fun stories from their past and so loving.

I'm checking out books on decorating ideas for the new house ( Escrow closes May 11th - crossing fingers ) Max clearly has some ideas he wants to research for his bedroom.

Max visited the Pediatrician here. He is 25 pounds but we couldn't get his height - too wiggly. Blood test for thyroid function came back Normal. Dr. suggested we switch to Skim milk because Kids with Ds can tend to get overweight easily. Haven't made the switch yet. He is still on formula because we've had a hard time introducing him to lots of nutritious food. Now he is eating hotdogs, string cheese, graham crackers, teething crackers, wheat free cereal, yo baby yogurt, danables yogurt with a straw, cottage cheese, french fries, sweet potato fries, chips ( when we go to Mexican food ), Mexican rice ( when at restaurant ), All melons, bananas sometimes, grapes, apples, pears....I think that's it. He still has pureed baby food and that is where we are getting him to eat veggies hidden in fruits. he doesn't like bread, or melted cheese, or pasta, or any of the other foods you think toddlers may want....yet.

He has more sign language today than he did last week. he signs "baby" now which we saw him do very clearly for the first time today. He also signs house, flower, home, tree, stop. I'm sure there are more. I've written out the list of words a few weeks ago - I think he is up to about 40 signs now.

We hired a Physical Therapist named Michael Workman this past week. We will schedule him to start in a week or so. He is really amazing and we are really looking forward to getting started with him.

Marty ( Max's Grandma ) found one of the top Speech Therapists in the state of Utah and we are starting with her TOMORROW! Hooray!! Her name is Monica Ferguson. Tomorrow is a phone consultation and then we start one on one next week.

She has a recommendation for an Occupational Therapist as well so it looks like Max is hooked up!
He hasn't had any therapy since about January so it will be GREAT to get him back into the swing.
These are all therapists that we will pay for out of pocket as they are not offered through the state. We will also be seeing someone 3 times per month from DDI Vantage ( which is like the Regional Center in Los Angeles only you do have to pay a small fee for this which is strange ) who is called a " Child Development Specialist". Don't get me started on that one. Basically they give you the least expensive ( ie: least trained ) therapist first.

anyhow - we will keep the DDI Vantage therapist because I do like her and Max seemed comfortable with her and I am sure she has strengths that can benefit Max in some way. I'm just THRILLED that Max will have actual PT, OT and Speech from qualified and highly regarded therapists now. Sigh of relief for me. And thank you to all of you out there who gave us tips on where to find therapy! It has been a bit daunting for me to figure this part of Max's life out here in SLC.

In other news - the house we are buying is still moving forward! We had the inspection - and now we have to wait until May 11th - which is the Escrow Closing Date! ( knock on wood )

Jerry and I are looking at paint colors, and thinking about the things we want to do before we move in - like buy baby gates for the stairs! etc...

We are COUNTING THE DAYS!

We hope you had a lovely Passover or Easter or Both! This year we celebrated Easter with Grandma Marty, Aunty Sandy, Uncle Chris and 2 of their 3 kids, Sean and Tim. LOTS of yummy food! Tim made Crepes! Grandma Made "brunch" which is a baked dish with white bread, eggs, butter, cheese and bacon, fruit salad, bacon, Sausage...did I miss anything?

Max missed out on TWO Easter Egg Hunts because he was NAPPING through both of them this week so he still hasn't experienced that yet - but I'm sure there will be plenty of them in the years to come.

Much love,
*c

I love you through and through

2011-04-15T08:35:00.000-07:00

Aunt Cathy and Uncle Ralph bought Max the book " I love you through and through" a long time ago and now Max is doing sign language with the book. It's so super cute that we videotaped it twice. One with papa reading it and one with mama reading it. He signs different things in each one so it felt important to show both... Plus viewing more cuteness is never a bad thing!
here you go!

Untitled from Catherine Just on Vimeo.

Untitled from Catherine Just on Vimeo.

Have a great weekend everyone!
We are so thrilled that the weather is climbing up to 60 degrees today.
We can't wait to get outside!!!!!!
xoxoxo

WOW! thank you Kristin!

2011-04-10T08:34:00.000-07:00

wow! It's working! I'm learning from my friend Kristin how to make my images larger on my blog...
how about some more.....( and that's my papa from his recent trip to visit us last weekend - handsome yes?! )

bathtiiiiiiiime

my parents from last weekend. We had a lot of fun. We visiting the house we are buying and my mom measured the entire house and is making us some architectural plans so we have an idea of where to put things and how large or small things need to be - THANK YOU MAMA!

While my mom was doing all the measuring, Max and my papa watching Signing Time together.

One of Max's favorite toys. Oh I so love my 50 lens at 1.8. Yep photo geek.

We wait too long in between haircuts and now you know why. He is completely traumatized. Screams the entire time and we have to hold him steady because he is strong and wants to pull himself away. Grandma Marty was there and she was in complete shock because she's never heard Max cry! She thought Max was just always happy. Well - no and here is the proof. Not happy. at. all. I HATE watching him scream and cry like this. It rips my heart out. I get pissy, controlling ( ok MORE controlling ) and my heart races. This was the BEST haircut he's had ever. Thank goodness for a patient gal who knows how to keep on cutting and get it RIGHT. He usually ends up with a crooked haircut from all the squirming and screaming.

Phew - back to our happy little fella with less hair in the eyes.

Playing with his camera toy while his cousin Stephen and his Grandpa hang out with him at the new house.

Yep - me and my mama. I think this was taken at Oasis Cafe which is one of my favorite places to go in Salt Lake City. My mom and I sort of went CRAZY and ate everything in sight all weekend. One thing I highly recommend while eating all the bad foods on the menu....try this "pancake". You won't be dissappointed but you won't be able to put on your skinny jeans the next day. swe all shared it and still felt like we gained a thousand pounds. We also went to Eggs in the City which we all REALLY liked a lot, Z Tejas BEST guacamole I've had in Salt Lake City. The one where they make it at the table for you. Ohhhh yes. Rumbi Grill had great fish tacos, and Finns ohhh the omelet with baby shrimp, capers and havarti cheese.... We met with Jerry's family at Tres Hombres, my parents really liked the shrimp fajitas. And we also went to one of my regular places ( I go here once a week! ) Vertical Diner. Thank God for their Taco Salad!....SO much food. They came to visit Max and instead got a tour of all of our favorite restaurants. Well Max was with us. We just haven't really been into using the kitchen much at the condo we are subletting. It's small, we don't have our kitchen supplies here and well....Max is still at an age where we can take him with us without it causing a loud, screaming, running around the place scene.

Kristin's son Max turned TWO last week and we went along with them to celebrate at Wheeler Farm. Here are a few photos. That's her daughter Piper with the fellas. She is GREAT! She loves my Max. And I love HER!

Piper and Max - looks like they are screaming at each other.

Everyone is feeding the ducks, and Max is looking at the other geese and ducks walking past them

And of course - some total Cuteness. He loves to watch his shadow and he looks down a lot while he is walking. He he still holds his hands up like that to help him with his balance. He is wearing that Superman shirt he wore on the day of his eye surgery. That feels so long ago. I love this scenery in Salt Lake City. I am LOVING the friends I am meeting here, the AA meetings are GREAT here, The Down syndrome community is so warm and inviting, the city is easy to navigate and and well you can see these mountains as they surround the city. It's incredible. I haven't even started to dive into the photo community or art scene here yet. I'm too busy figuring out these other interests right now and finding Max's therapists and well, buying a HOUSE! that's still moving forward and we are so excited.

Y.E.S!!!!!!!!!!!

2011-03-31T07:24:00.001-07:00

The paperwork is all signed and in and the house is now looking like it's OURS!
Of course we still have an inspection to do - and all that other stuff that goes with buying a house. You know - like testing for lead paint and radon gas - and um......looking for cute bird feeders for the backyard ( hee heee heee )
ok - I can't really do that until May 11th. That's the closing date. That's when we will REALLY know that the house is REALLY ours. They will give us the KEYS!!!

But this first stage was really nerve wracking - just finding out if WE were the ones or if someone else would get an offer in before us - or if we could get all of our "ducks" in a row for the sellers in time to meet their deadlines. Phew.

This weekend my parents are coming for their first visit to Salt Lake City! I'm SO excited to see them again and I know they are thrilled to get an opportunity to see Max again. Maybe my dad and Max will go on a walk together while they are here - like they did when dad was recovering from his heart surgery. I'm excited to show them around - take them to our favorite restaurants and we scheduled another walk through of the house while they are here so they can get a look at it as well. We are bringing our tape measure to make sure any furniture we find will FIT and it comes in handy that my mom was an award winning interior designer ( before hanging up her wallpaper samples to become a marriage and family counselor ). I just LOVE that way the current owners have it decorated and I love their furniture choices - so I am going to take TONS of photos so we can look for similar things.

Thank you to everyone for crossing your fingers and toes for so long! I know how difficult it was to get things done when your feet and hands are all twisted up like that. You can release them now! IT WORKED!!!!

In other news - Max started his Music Together class yesterday. It's the 4th time we've taken it - but first time in Salt Lake City - and Grandma Marty came along with us. It took Max a little while to get used to the new crowd but by the end he was doing his usual walking around the circle and finding the mirror so he could entertain himself in it. Marty took some video that I will try to post here.....it's after music class and Max sat down with the other kids to try to play the instrument. He's the one facing away from us with the brown pants and white socks on. Next time I'll bring my video camera too so we can do double duty!

watching the music teacher play her instrument - what is that thing called?

not wanting to leave class

yep....a delay

2011-03-29T10:48:00.000-07:00

Book time with papa - just before bed time
evidence of Spring.

Ok - So everyone has been crossing their fingers and toes and Monday was suppose to be the day we got the final Acceptance letter from the sellers. Everything is in place. They had already accepted our counter offer and everyone had the paperwork that they needed to move forward....

But Monday came - and we didn't hear a peep. Until 5pm when we found out that someone on the financial end of it never returned a phone call to the sellers so they couldn't do anything until that happened.

augh...............

So this morning we are getting that phone call to happen, making sure our ducks are all in a row before the end of the day today so that the Sellers have nothing else to do but to SIGN and Send it back to us.

I've never purchased a house before - and this is not that unusual from what I've been hearing from those out there who are more seasoned at this than I am. But it doesn't make the process any easier for me.

So.................I'm still crossing my fingers and toes and will keep you all posted!

Buying a house is like a roller coaster ride. And I HATE roller coasters!

The suspense is killing me people! So what's a girl to do who is feeling powerlessness?

I breathe - write to you all out there - feed my son lunch - read a book - get out in the sunshine - drink water - hug and Kiss Max - watch Sesame Street with him - Take a few photos - remember to stay in the moment - make a few phone calls - buy myself a new beautiful green purse! - remember that I am not in charge - take a nice bubble bath - and Let it all go...

ok and then I take it all back and stress out - until I remember again to let it go!

As my cousin Sloan said at her wedding

" Tick Tock People! "

That's my new saying these days with this process!

xoxoxooxox
*c

House in Cottonwood Heights...an update (!!!!)

2011-03-22T14:46:00.000-07:00

I couldn't resist posting this photo that Jerry took of us last night before sleepy time. This is what it always looks like when it's time to go to bed. Lots of snuggling and sweetness. oh he is delicious!!

AND ....OK! Here are the photos of the house! And the reason I am sharing all of them with you is because the sellers came back with a counter offer today! So - we are MOVING FORWARD!
ohhhhhhh how we love this house! They didn't even take photos of the 3 other bedrooms. This house is really amazing. I think I'm dreaming. Of course we are at the very beginning of this process so anything can happen between here and the closing dates and I will keep you all posted as we go along. But right now we were thrilled to know that no one else got a bid in before us and that the counter offer is workable.

and tonight is DATE night ! It's a great day in Salt Lake City !

World Down Syndrome Day!

2011-03-21T15:02:00.001-07:00

Why is TODAY World Down syndrome day?
on 3/21 ?

Well..I'll tell you

because Down syndrome occurs when there are 3 copies of the 21st chromosome

Down syndrome is also called Trisomy 21.

Happy Day! It's World Down syndrome Day. I'm celebrating Max in every way. But wait - I ALREADY do! He is so Fabulous isn't he? Well - I know you already know that!
Some sweetness shared between Papa and Max...Or...Max is trying to escape...you decide.

Max hanging out at Vertical Diner with us. A new favorite place for me to eat healthy and get out of the condo with Max. On this occasion - we met up with my friend Nicole and her son Tyler. Max was enthralled with Tyler. Couldn't get enough of him. So fun to watch him study older boys and their ways of play.

Tyler brought along a few favorite Lego toys. Of course they had their own trophy's he could attached to the wings of the plane or the back of the speed boat. I think all of the mama's out there need some trophy's like this to attach to the wings of their superhero mama cape!
Nicole and Tyler sharing a moment

Caught them in the act of power lounging again!
Jerry and I took Max to Eggs in the City on Sunday. We usually do something called " Seiner Sunday" which is just a day of adventure. So our adventure consisted of trying out a new restaurant. I know - that doesn't seem thrilling but to us - it really is! We LOVED it there and even though the wait was over 25 minutes - we didn't mind. The people watching was great too! Max was studying the menu and it looks like he has his decision made - I'm guessing french toast. ( Side note - He's still not eating much food. But working on it! I WISH he would eat french toast - or ANYTHING ELSE on that menu! )

Max just LOVES to drink out of the grown-up cups - even when they are larger than his entire body. His sweatshirt became completely drenched in water - but he didn't care. He kept signing " Water- Water - Water" and wanted to try again and again. p.s. his sign for "water" looks like a gang sign. I'll have to get that on video for you.
here he is post water exploration - playing with my iphone. We were told by a friend about a cool app that has a cat that "talks". if you rub the cat it purrs. So here is Max rubbing the cat belly! SO cute to watch him learn how to interact with it. It's great for his fine motor skills, and communication and action / reaction learning. Plus it keeps him entertained while we wait for the check and he is starting to melt.

I started to hunt for Pods in SLC. Here was the first Pod I found while driving around Cottonwood Heights. Most of you know how I've been a bit in LOVE with pods for years now. If you don't know that about me - I think I have a portfolio of pods on my website at catherinejust.com
I'm also starting to look for signs of spring. It's amazing to watch things start to transform here.
Tiny bright green buds on trees, Daffodils, crocus, and still learning what Spring means here.

The other news is.......We put in an offer on a HOUSE today. Oh yes we did!
I'd tell you all about it - but I'm going to wait to tell you until TOMORROW. We hear back from them by 2pm tomorrow..........Please cross your fingers on this one! We LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE IT. Not only is it 2700 square feet, 4 bedroom, 3.5 baths, large backyard, great kitchen, open floorplan, attached garage, quiet cul-de-sac, and totally finished basement which will be a GREAT playroom for Max and his buddy's on cold days...but it's in what we have heard is a very good school district for kids with Special needs. It's about a mile away from another friend who has a child with Ds, and we just found out there's another little boy with Ds who lives in the area as well. It's right by the mountains and I could walk to Whole Foods. It's also about 3 miles from that Farm I posted about a few days ago. um........Are you crossing your fingers yet????

Here is a sneak peek inside.

I'll share more photos......TOMORROW! Are you crossing your fingers?? If you're not into that - how about lighting a candle - sending up a prayer - sending good vibes - putting a wish under your pillow - or dancing around the house tossing star glitter in the air while laughing hysterically and listening to music that makes you feel pumped! ( like Kanye West, Eminem, Guns and Roses and mmmmmmmm how about a little Soul Coughing, Tenacious D, and of course NO Doubt mixed in. This selection cracks me up already!! )

You can bet I will be doing ALL of these options within the next 10 hours or so!

Our first few weeks in SLC

2011-03-13T07:25:00.000-07:00

ok....Trying to catch up! Here we go! The photo above is of my friend Nicole and her beautiful family. From Left to Right: Aaron, London, Tyler and Nicole. Nicole and I went to High school together and haven't seen each other in about 24 years or so. We re-connected on Facebook just one week before Salt Lake City was even on our minds. And guess where she lives! So back in November when we took a road trip to SLC to figure things out we met up with Nicole and her family. I tried my best to snap a family portrait - but guess what. The only person in focus is Tyler and his soccer ball. hmmmm. I am out of practice!
Tyler and Max playing together back in November.
Once we made the move to SLC I re-connected with some mom's who have kids with Ds. I was invited to join a playgroup the first week in town. Here are all the kids. Max is in the front crying. He actually made it through 2 hours of playgroup without having a hard time with all the noise. That's a first I think. But at the very end when we tried to take this photo.....melting. I just loved meeting everyone in this playgroup and all of their kids. I joined their yahoo group and it's such a supportive, friendly fabulous group! I feel so relieved to find them and to introduce Max to a bunch of new friends right off the bat.
Here is an iphone photo of Max with his friend Max! yep and they are the same age. I think they are going to spend a lot of time together. Max's mom Kristin is the one who introduced me to the group and I am so grateful to her!
I think I mentioned in the last post that we are subletting a condo in the Lower Avenues. When you walk out of our place and you look to the right you see the Mormon temple. It's been snowing and then melting and bright and sunny and then snowing again. So I ran out at 6am to take photos after an all night snowfall.
When you look to the left you see the Catholic Church.
Across the street are these beautiful trees.

Yes - this is REALLY what it looks like the day AFTER it snows and everything melts. Gorgeous. This was the view while driving around looking at houses for sale.
yes I was driving on the freeway and blown away by the mountains. I tried to take a shot as I drove. Don't worry mom, I wasn't looking through the viewfinder - I had my eyes on the road!
yes another photo while driving. this time with my iphone. Heading to Cottonwood Heights to drive by a bunch of houses that are for sale. I REALLY love the view of the mountains from this part of town. I don't think I'd mind if my backyard faced this view! They are so close to the mountains it just feels amazing.
Another snow day looking across the street from our condo. I LOVE that tree.

At Cafe Shambala which we seem to frequent these days since it's very close to the condo and tasty!
We got a membership from family members to a place called the Discovery Center. I think I've taken Max there 5 times already! It's a great place for him to play and walk walk walk walk which makes him squeal with delight. He loves to play with all the colorful toys, get pushed around in the cars, play music and walk up to the parents and wave at them. He seems more interested in the adults than in the kids his age.
playing music with papa
his favorite thing these days.....cars. cars. cars. It must be in the bloodstream or something because we don't really have many car toys at home and don't focus on them when we play. He sees them driving down the street and gets so excited. Anything with wheels. Even other strollers. He wants to follow them down the sidewalk. He loves to touch the wheels and tires. Even at a farm we went to he was more interested in the tractors than the cute bunnies or the sheep.
learning the art of power lounging from papa He just started to be able to get himself up onto the couch by himself.
His new friend Victoria. She is the daughter of Jerry's Sister's friend Peggy. Peggy just happens to also be our Real Estate agent. yes it is a soft focus photo because someone licked the iphone. I wonder who? Max went right over to her and held up his arms so that she could pick him up. He loves her.
And here is Max's first girlfriend in Salt lake City. London. They met back in November and it's been true love ever since. He loves to touch her face and smile at her.
Max and Papa on a tractor at Wheeler Farm
Max meeting a sweet horse
There's Nicole and London looking gorgeous at the farm.
Pretty X 2
Tyler with his Star Wars t-shirt on. Guess what his favorite movie is?
All of us at Wheeler Farm. Nicole, Aaron, London and Tyler took us there. It was great to visit all the animals and guess what, this place is close and FREE. I think Max and I will be spending a lot of time here - especially when it warms up.
One of the many perks of living here is that Max and I have been able to visit Jerry during his lunch break at work and run off to a restaurant for lunch together. This would NEVER happen in Los Angeles. Just getting to Jerry's work in LA took FOREVER. We love seeing him in the middle of the day and how easy it is to get over there.

All of us are really enjoying it here. Yes, you heard right. We like it here! I feel right at home here. I have no idea why that is. But it's been smooth and easy to meet new people, figure out the city and finding my daily comforts - like where to eat - buy groceries - get my hair done - go to 12 step meetings etc.

And - drum roll please - we actually went out on a DATE without Max. Yes. we. Did! Grandma Marty came over and watched Max while we went up the street to Cafe Shambala and had dinner. It felt strange to not have him with us since we don't go anywhere without him. But it was also NICE. Every Tuesday night is DATE NIGHT ! Woo hoooooo! Thank you so much *m.

Much more to say and share but we are off to one of our favorite places to eat, The Oasis Cafe for breakfast. Hope you all have a wonderful Sunday!

well hello from Salt Lake City!

2011-02-25T20:25:00.000-08:00

I was looking through my photos to send a post about our move to Salt Lake City. I found so many images that tugged at my heart. So many memories in our home in Los Angeles. It's the first house Jerry and I lived in together, the house I went through my pregnancy, had the baby shower in, the house I brought our son Max home to, The last house my 17 year old cat would share with me, The house that Max learned to sit up, crawl, walk, learn sign language - his first 35 signs, smile for the first time, laugh for the first time, learn to hold his bottle on his own, feed himself finger foods, swing on the blue children's swing we bought for his 1st birthday and put up on the tree out front, ( that tree that I took the year long photo series of ) and met his first therapists: Joe his PT who knew him the longest, Cindi his OT, and Amy his speech therapist. The house I took baths with Max when he was a tiny baby, The house we first started the "family bed", The house I turned 40 in (!), The house Jerry turned 40 in (!), The house with the nice, quiet, respectful neighbors, The house with the pomegranate tree out back. The house I decided to stop photographing weddings and focus on being more authentic with what I wanted to do. The house where Jerry and I celebrated our first and second wedding anniversaries, sang happy birthday to Max for his 1st and 2nd birthday's, The house where I sat in the dining room and started this blog! So many warm and fond memories I could list here. AND so many friends that came through and warmed up our home!

helping Max learn to get past his aversion to the feel of grass - at Huntington Gardens.
Pretty Girl always sat right next to my head purring while Max slept on me in those first few months of Max's life. I told Pretty Girl when I was pregnant that she will always be my first. So this photo is with both of my children.
The view from my car window when I parked in the driveway.
Our last portrait together at the house before we drove off.

Giving that tree out front a hug before we left. I actually got a little choked up thinking about the photo series I did with that tree over a year in my life, and how it held onto Max and his swing - bringing Max so much joy!
The moving Van is bigger than our house!
our cars have shipped, our things are on the moving van and on their way to Salt Lake City, we rented a car and headed to a hotel for 2 nights before we headed to the airport. here I am jumping for joy. Basically my way of saying thank you to that house and moving on to the new adventure.
Max on the plane before we take off for Salt Lake City.
Max and mama on plane.
Our first family portrait in Salt Lake City - at Baggage Claim. Photo taken by a nice local gal.
Looks like Max has his legs in the air like he just don't care!

We are subletting a condo in the "lower Avenues".
Here is a video of the place

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ge39SOazqnc

We love it. We will be here for 3 - 4 months while we look for our new house.
It's been snowing overnight here and is very pretty! If I walked outside into the street and looked down the street to the right I would be staring at the Mormon temple. If I looked to the left I would be looking at the Catholic Church. Both are very pretty and majestic with all the snow. I'll take some photos today or sometime this weekend to share with you.

Yesterday Max's Grandma Marty came over with a huge pot of homemade soup, and played with max for a few hours. He was so happy to see her! We've never lived this close to family before. I think Max will get a kick out of it! And my parents plan to visit often so it feels like our family life just expanded by 200%.

I've signed up with a yahoo group that's for parents with children who have Ds in Salt Lake City and they have playgroups every other week. I'm planning on going to one on Tuesday. I already met a few of the mom's and their kids and look forward to reconnecting with them and getting Max out there with other kids his age.

Still trying to figure out how to get him his services ( therapies ) and what part of town has the best school system for Max - and believes in Inclusion, and has a good outlook and philosophy about people who have disabilities or challenges or learn differently. This part is difficult for me. Los Angeles was very easy - they ( the regional center )actually came to us and told us they were there to help Max and give him services. That isn't going to happen here. Mainly because Max wasn't born here so there isn't a record of Max and his diagnosis going to the places that might be of service to him.

On another note........Before we moved we had a birthday party for Max. our friend Kerry took a lot of great photos of the party so I'm sharing the link to his photo album here. Take a peek! And YES Jerry dressed up as DJ Lance Rock from the only Tv show that Max watches called Yo Gabba Gabba. Ok he watches other shows on tv, but he doesn't love them compared to this one. He's a little obsessed!

http://gallery.me.com/kerrynorman2#100062

Max LOVES cars. LOVES them. Here he is with Papa at the birthday party being pushed around in one of the many cars he tried out.

Here is the birthday cake in the shape of Brobee which is another character on Yo Gabba Gabba. And that's Niko looking lovingly at the cake.
A little snuggle in between riding cars, sliding down the slide, running around the playground and seeing his friends.

Here he is a few weeks before the move at his best friend Brady's 2nd birthday party. There they are together. Juli and I met at Club 21 when our babies were so small and young. They are 3 weeks apart and so we decided they were best friends.
I will miss seeing them so much. And so many other friends out in LA. I hope to keep in touch with all of them and watch their kids grow up! Hopefully we will visit and attend the annual conference at Club 21 and gather up some friends.

I'm lucky to already have friends here in Salt Lake. Some new and some I've known for over 25 years! Hope this transition keeps on going as smoothly as it already has so far.....quick knock on wood everyone!

xoxoxoxo
*c

p.s. here is a photo I took this morning from the dining room window.
I'll take more of the views here and post soon!

I'm looking forward to a new list of memories that we start in this new city! The first one will be Max's introduction to ....SNOW!!!

Max you are TWO!!!!!!!

2011-02-13T08:15:00.000-08:00

Yep, there you are on your 2nd birthday. Looking gloriously happy and filled with joy from every pore. Yes it's true you turned two on February 4th and here it is Feb 13th. So sorry this is late.

This is what I want to say to you.

Thank you.

You brighten my life every single day.
You are amazing, breathtakingly joyful, talented, strong, funny, fun, kind, sweet, adorable, dear, darling, cute, I could go on and on!

The best part of my day is when we wake up and you are snuggling with me, and when we go to sleep and you are snuggling with me. Basically you are so into wrapping yourself around us. I love that. I know this might end as you get older so every time you do it I try my best to be very present for it.

ok - stats:

Sign language - these are all the words I can think of that you sign:

1.more
2.all done
3.milk
4.cracker
5.cereal
6.water
7.ball
8.train
9.rain
10.wind
11.tree
12.friend
13.day
14.night
15.thank you
16.please
17.apple
18.phone
19.diaper
20.signing time
21.play
22.plane
23.stop
24.car
25.mama
26.papa
27.grandpa
28.grandma
29.dog
30.yo gabba gabba ( he made up his own sign for this )
31.sleep
32.bath
33.book
34.shoes
35.bubbles

Not sure if I missed any here. I'll add them if I think or see more of them...
You're starting to use two signs together like
more bubbles
more ball
etc.

Now if I ask you where your nose is you will point to it.
You do this with your belly button, ear, foot, hand and teeth.
You'll also point to them even if I don't ask you to. You are really interested in showing me your nose and bellybutton. over and over. And then you clap and smile really big because you are so proud you know where those body parts are what they are called.

This blog post has taken me 2 days to write - in between all the packing for our big move I will write a little as I pass by the computer....It's much more difficult to write when so much is going on - and it's all for YOU! This big move will give you a gerat life ( not that you don't already have one! ) but papa's work situation will be much more balanced. He will be home at a decent hour at night so you will see more of him which will make mama even more happy as well.
He can't wait to teach you how to ski and I can't wait to stay in and watch it snow while sipping hot chocolate! ok - I'll go inner tubing with you and I'll show you how to make an angel in the snow with your body and how to make snowballs to throw at papa. You'll also get to see your cousins regularly and your grandma, grandpa and aunt and uncle! Grandma DeeDee and Grandpa Rich will fly out to visit you regularly as well! Loads of family close by will be so much fun.

I hope to show you Los Angeles again - actually every year there is a Down syndrome conference in Pasadena that Jerry and I want to take you to so you can see all of your old friends and we can pass by the house you first lived in, take you back to the hospital you were born in and bring you to Huntington Gardens where we spent so much time these first two years of your life.

Today was your last Physical Therapy Session with Joe and it was so sad for me to sit and watch and know you wouldn't be with him anymore. He was so so so good at helping you become stronger, more balanced, gain ab strength and all around support you and love you for who you are. We will miss Joe so much! I'll post photos soon.

ok
your favorite foods right now:
Formula ( News flash - you can hold your own bottle from beginning to end!!!!!! This is HUGE! )
Cereal ( wheat free cherrios type of cereal. )
Barley teething biscuits
fruit ( cantalope, watermelon, banana, apple )
french fries
sweet potato fries
and um...that's it.
Yep - you are very very picky and not interested.

Sometimes you'll eat scrambled eggs.

What else???

Well you are very vocal and starting to really give me your opinions about everything. You get pretty upset if you can't do something. You HATE being in your room with the gate shut.
You LOVE being in the bathtub as long as we DON'T wash your hair.
You love going to the park but HATE being in the car seat all day ( I would too )
You LOVE opening and closing cabinets, drawers, doors.
And you love walking around the house
you can just go go go go go go go go go
you love to investigate your toys. You pull things around, flip them upside down, turn them inside out and are so curious about it all.
You love to have books read to you.
Your favorites are " Peek a Who"
and " Whose in the Garden "
You love music and rock out to all types. You love to bang on the drum, play keyboards and dance.

Did I mention that your favorite TV show is Yo Gabba Gabba
and you watch that and your Signing Time DVD's while sitting in your travel high chair or right up at the tv so you can push the buttons "on" and "off" over and over and over and over again.

You have Speech therapy, Occupational Therapy and Physical Therapy once a week each and when you are up we go to the park to see your mom's club friends or on Friday's we go to Club 21 for your playgroup there. But you miss those a lot because of naps.

Mama stays home full time to be with you and make sure you get to therapy during the week and get out to see different sights, meet people and play and learn. Mama LOVES being home with you and feels SO SO SO LUCKY to have this time with you.

Well, this was a long post but I wanted to share where you are at right now so when you are older you can read about yourself and learn what you were like when you were TWO!

Your mama and papa love you so much it actually makes our hearts BURST with joy just thinking about you. Seeing you, watching you grow, learning all about you as you express yourself and expand your understanding of the world is THRILLING!

And that smile.....
leaves me speechless.
It's contagious
and you are such a gift.

Thank you Max for another amazing year being here with us.
I am looking forward to each new day with you.

Love
Mama

another update about my papa

2011-01-30T17:41:00.001-08:00

So I've been staying in San Diego at my parents house for about 3 weeks. We've gotten into a bit of a routine. In the mornings I love to make my father his breakfast. Eggs with anything delicious and healthy scrambled with them. His favorite additions are artichokes, green onion, avocado, black olives, broccoli, asparagus, mushrooms...any or all of these with sliced tomatoes on the side. In the afternoons we go out for a walk up the street. It's a pretty good walk - I mean it's uphill the entire way. It's no joke. My dad is getting so fast that I am usually breaking a sweat to keep up while pushing Max in the stroller. I would consider letting Max walk with us - but that would mean taking an extra hour to watch him follow his own shadow, usually in the opposite direction of the walk we are wanting to go on, and waiting while he bends down to feel every pebble, leaf and piece of bark along his journey. It would be great fun but we have goals to get my dad healing his body up so off Max goes in that stroller as we huff and puff up the block.
Here is the first time we made it to the top of the "summit"! I was so impressed with my dad. He was only going on 7 minute walks in the beginning and now is passing the 30 minute mark and continues to go further on his walks every day.
This photo was taken at the bottom of the street when we completed the walk.
One day we went to Kit Carson park... Max loved holding my keys and walking along with papa
( who am I kidding - the little guy is not interested in walking WITH anyone really - he just happens to be near grandpa at this moment! )
Here they are again at Kit Carson Park - just before we headed home.
During this walk my dad decided to see if he could not only make it to the top of the "summit" but go even further and walk to the next street. And here is the evidence that he made it. With Max by his side.

And this is what Max looks like after a big day in San Diego
Me and my dad at the park
Max reading up on something pretty interesting it seems.

So the update is that my dad is doing really great. He's still sleeping in the recliner because it hurts to lay down flat in the bed but he doesn't seem to mind. He's been reading in the backyard soaking up the sun, having fun with Max, watching Law and Order ( his favorite show ), and at night we rent movies or I make him watch the reunion show of the Housewives of Beverly Hills! ( I'm obsessed! )

On Friday Jerry flew back into town from Salt Lake City and we drove up to Los Angeles for the weekend. I SO love it when Jerry is in town. It's VERY challenging for me to take care of Max day and night and never get a break. Night time is really difficult because Max doesn't sleep through the night and he cries and cries and needs a lot of soothing. It keeps my dad up which isn't helping his recovery. We head back down next week and at the end of the week we will celebrate Max turning TWO and the next day my dad has his birthday! ( should I tell you how old he is? I guess that's not for me to say now is it? )

I had plans to make a slideshow like I did last year of Max's year in review. I have no clue how on earth I would ever get something like that done without Jerry being home to watch him. So....we shall see if I can pull that off. Max is LOVING spending time with his Grandparents and I'm so glad we have been able to stay there and help out right before we move to Salt Lake City. I think I mentioned that in my last post but it's going to be hard to live so far away from them. Makes me sad thinking about it. I bet most of you who've known me for years and years are stunned to read that right? But hey - people change! Last time I moved away I was 18 and going to Minneapolis and couldn't wait to be as far away as possible. I also smoked 2 packs of cigarettes a day and was trying to kick a bad drug habit.....Times have changed that's for sure. Most people that know me now couldn't imagine me doing either of those things...Now my favorite moments are making eggs for my dad and taking walks with him up the street with my amazing son Max and waiting for my husband to visit us on the weekends. oh and of course watching the housewives of Beverly Hills with my mom! I'm looking forward to writing the blog about Max on his birthday and how much he has grown just in the past few months. He is so incredible. I am in AWE of him.

I cannot believe we are moving to Salt Lake City at the end of February - but more recently I've been feeling VERY ready to see my husband every day and night and stop this crazy schedule of only seeing him on weekends. OVER IT.

Max in San Diego

2011-01-16T18:52:00.000-08:00

Max's favorite thing every morning is to walk from our room over to visit Grandpa and say hello. Here they are again hanging out in the back yard together.
Grandma and Max hugging in the front yard.
Max runs to Grandma when she got home from an errand.
Me and Max

Max investigating a pinecone
Max and Papa
Sunshine
He is having a great time here at Grandma and Grandpas house. Hope to take more photos. We are all a bit sad that We will be moving far away from them soon. Soaking up the sun, and loving the Grandparents.

Grandpa's surgery and Max naps and naps and naps

2011-01-11T19:06:00.001-08:00

I took this photo of Max napping a few weeks ago when he was recovering from an ear infection, eye infection, rash and a cold. He's all better now but the cuteness never ends!

On Friday Jan 7th my father went in for double bypass surgery and a valve replacement. Jerry, Max and I went down to San Diego and stayed at my parents house so we could help out. Here is a photo of my dad just before going in to surgery with my brother Jeremy ( who I haven't seen in over 3 years ) my mom and myself. My uncle Bix and Aunt Christine joined us about 5 minutes after this photo was taken and spent the weekend at the hospital with us. Thank goodness they were there! We so enjoy them and their company was refreshing. This surgery was surreal. My father has NEVER had surgery for anything in his life. Plus this type of surgery could possibly be life threatening - more so than other surgery....although we all know that any surgery could potentially be life threatening. So in the back of my mind I knew this and it wasn't really registering until my father wrote me a letter before the surgery. You know - the kind you write in case you don't make it. I've been carrying that letter with me everywhere I go. I wrote him one back. Not that he could take it with him if he didn't make it - but it was for me a way to share with him how I felt and know that I had said everything I hadn't already said to him in person. Such a crazy experience to go through with my dad....who I love calling "papa". Luckily the letters will just be momentos of a time we went through because here he is............
What seemed like a thousand hours later my dad comes out of surgery. Of course he didn't look like this right away - he was drugged up for many hours and didn't open his eyes for a long time. But when he did he was happy to have it be over...although the pain was clearly intense...and look at all of those tubes he is hooked up to.

This is what Max looked like during my father's surgery......

A day or two later - My father is walking around the hospital floor. Smiling to be up and about. The doctors are so impressed with how quickly he is healing and want to send him home early!

And yes here is yet another napping photo! Papa and Max both sleeping with their mouths open and snoring. Lovely. But so cute of course.
Here's my amazing father - looking handsome as ever - getting ready to leave the hospital.

Now he is home - doing great. I'm staying with them to help my mom out. Max is here for the healing effects of his smile, and Jerry visits on weekends.

Every day my father gets stronger and looks better and feels better. I'm so glad we were able to come down and help him out. It's nice to spend time with him and help out. Max LOVES his Grandma and Grandpa and it's fun to watch him grin from ear to ear when he sees them.

Now that our house is in Escrow (!) our days are numbered here in Southern California. So this extended time with my parents is really nice for us even though it was brought on by this intense surgery.

ok...must go check on my father and see if he needs anything.....
xo
*c

Happy Holidays!

2010-12-25T13:59:00.000-08:00