Thursday, April 24, 2014

Zafiro Jewelry Photo Shoot!

Last week I hopped on a plane up to Columbus, Ohio to stay with my niece Kelli.  She is the BOMB by the way!  Gorgeous, obviously, and smart to boot!  Plus, like her mother, she is quite organized.   Boy does Aunt Cindy need her help.  Ha!  

All through college she dabbled in some modeling and from that she has made some great connections. 

Enter Tom Welsh Photography.

Kelli set up a photo shoot for Zafiro Jewelry and I was floored by the quality of his work.  
Now keep in mind he is not a stylist, nor am I for that matter, but I am quite happy with how we pulled this together.  My goal was to get a few good shots for the home page of my new website. (updates coming soon - I promise!)
Well, Tom sent me over 200 pictures and I am still going through them.  I don't know how I will pick. 


The shoot was a blast.  It was Tom, my sister, Kelli and me.  The 80's music was on Pandora and almost 3 hours flew by!  Whew!  After not much sleep the night before, we were tired at the end.
Tom has a home studio and it is fully equipt with more that I would ever know what to do with, which is why I was happy to have a professional in charge.  Kelli is a natural in front of the camera too, so that helps.




These are my crappy phone pics, but check out what a good camera and lighting can do!
 
Hello?  I know, ridiculous!
By the way ladies and gents, those are sapphires, and they are for sale!! Email me for pricing.

Since this was a "for trade" (model/portfolio) photo session (thanks again Kelli for arranging!) a lot of the photos will need to be cropped to feature "the jewels," but this is so easy when you have huge raw files.  The quality is amazing at any size.  
For example the above photo of Kelli wearing a rough chrysoprase and gold necklace will be cropped down to something more like this (an maybe even more close up!)

Gorg right!? Im totally excited to get this thing going!  Kelli is a huge inspiration too.  Besides being the "Face of Zafiro," she is going to be handling some of the business side.  More deets to come on that!  This weekend is Inman Park Festival, one of my best/busiest shows of the year, so the website will have to wait while I punch out some new pieces this week!  
Come by and take a look.  I will be on Hurt St both Saturday and Sunday!  

Tuesday, April 22, 2014

Happy Easter 2014!

 My brother Tim called just a week before Easter to ask if we wanted visitors.  Um? Yes!! (I always want visitors.  Seriously.)  I was especially happy with theses visitors as they had never been to our house before.
He and my two nephews flew up from Miami for a long weekend.  Michelle, my sis-in-law, was recovering from a stomach virus.  Ugh!  That left me with a lot of testosterone!  Ha!
We had great food and good laughs.  It was tough finding fun indoor activities on a rainy weekend that weren't packed, but finally we ended up here...
 Bowling is always so much fun, Im not sure why we do it so infrequently.  
Mateo had a blast though, and was totally into watching everyone and waiting his turn.  A repeater activity for sure. 
 Easter morning the little Matiti was on the hunt for his basket as soon as he awoke. 
He had been counting down the arrival of "Bubbles" [the Easter bunny] and "egg sprize" for weeks so he was ready!  That Easter bunny left candy and a Play Doh playset (Drill n Fill).  Would you believe that Play Doh trumps candy in our house?  Im sure this was the Easter bunny's plan...and it worked.  
The Little Tykes wagon was a Easter yard sale score ($5 people!!) from mama and papi. Mateo is doing a great job holding on to his little brother. 

The Easter egg hunt took place in the back yard with the cousins.  Tyler and Noah made sure that all the eggs left by the Easter Bunny were within reach and Mateo went to town hunting and gathering. 





 So so exciting!  "Sprize mami" "bubbles egg sprize" "my sprize"

Weird to look back to one year ago.  Mateo didn't even know what candy was. 
We were at my mom's for Easter and my belly was big with a surprise.  Now here we are a family of FOUR! What?! Although it's cray-cray 'round here,  I can't imagine it any other way. 

Did you guys have a great Easter?  Easter egg hunt?  Family? 
 I hope all of the above! 

ps. Thank you Target for putting your awesome Easter decor on clearance to quickly.  I was able to snatch up this egg wreath at half price. 
Pss.  My brother made this unbelievable ceviche and Im going to share the recipe!  To. Die. For!
Be on the look out!

Friday, April 18, 2014

NYC & DC Trip Details! [Part II]

New York City was Part I of our Spring trip and you can read about it here.  We continued the fun in DC for a few days.  What a beautiful, clean city!  We were just in time for all of the cherry trees to bloom.  In fact, last week started the annual Cherry Blossom Festival which draws a lot of visitors to an already tourist rich city.
When I asked my brother, Brrrian (who has worked in DC as a tour guide) what we should do if we only have a few days he said "Go to the National Mall."  Now I have been in DC a couple of times and they were both just day trips and you need time in this city!  Sooooooo much to see and do.  The National Mall alone would take a week to get through.  Here is a little map.  I thought it would be helpful for those of you whom have not been to DC.  I know when Brrrian said National Mall, this is not what I was thinking. 
There is something for everyone in this huge park flanked by free museums and monuments.

We walked along the long stretch that connects the Capital Building with the Washington Monument.  We have all seen this strip of land in the movies.  The obelisk and long reflection pool in front?
Remember in Forrest Gump? And then Jenny runs out in the water?  Mateo wanted to give that a try.
We stayed in the Capital Skyline hotel.  As you would imagine, we could see the Capitals skyline from our room. 

 It was not much coming from the Westin in NYC, but it was a convenient location for the money.  $109/night was much less expensive than any hotel near the mall.  The walk was short, plus there was a subway close by.

One morning we headed out for coffee at the nearest Bucky-bucks ended up in the most gorgeous garden. It was called Bartholdi Park and it was right outside the Botanical Garden, a beautiful glass building.
There are many gorgeous old buildings in DC;  it was a treat to walk around.  Stone buildings like this always remind me of Paris.


The city is so easy to get around too.  The subway reaches anywhere you want to go, but if we would be sans kids, I would hop on one of the many bikes parked around the city. $10 for 24 hours? Yes!
In the middle [park area] of the National Mall there are several food stands and one carousel, which Mateo had to ride a couple times. 
Between the Washington Monument and Lincoln Monument is the World War II Veterans Cross Memorial. There is a huge round fountain and each state has a wreath.  Represent!
Keep down the tree lined street and you will reach Lincoln Monument. 


Impressive to say the least! It had me at white marble!  You can get an idea of the size of the declaration wall where my son looks like an ant.

No trip to DC is complete without a picture in front of the White House right?

 Si mis hijos, you were here.  I know you won't remember this trip, but look here you are in front of the White House!

I think I would hate hundreds of people hanging out in front of my house taking pictures all day.  THANK GOD Im not famous! ha I guess I never made it there on my other trips because I was surprised to see how small the front yard is.  Maybe its the backyard that I always see on the news?


































Overall my little Mexi-cans have proven they can hang pretty well on a fly by the seat of your pants trip in the big city.  Mateo started saying "my home" on day 3, but didn't dwell on it. He thrives on new adventures like his mama!  Although routine is key in everyday life, (yes! we have a routine! maybe not exactly by the clock, but...) It's amazing how flexible little ones are.  As a matter of fact, I can't think of any bad moments now...this is why waiting a few weeks to recap a trip is the best way to go.  Ha!  Ok, wait.  Yes, there were some late nights and early mornings where my patience was tested, but this faded quickly and we are just left with memories of a lifetime.  Viva Travel!
Ps.  I would be remiss if I didn't share my favorite place we ate in DC.  
It is a Mexican restaurant (shocker!) called Oyamel.  Oh.  My.  God.  
[via Oyamel]
Go. Eat the guacamole that is prepared table side.  Try the menudo y ceviche! mmmmmm
Besides the delicious authentic food, the decor was straight out of...well, Mexico.  But modern too?!
Yes that is a ceiling of flowers.  The textiles were colorful and the wallpaper of different sized black writing was clean graphic backdrop.  It got my wheels turning.  I may try a DIY in the boys bathroom.  Yeah, add that project to my list. 

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