The most recent addition to my camera bag is the Canon 16 – 35 2.8.  I had been needing a wide lens for sometime and once I rented this one I knew I had to have it.  Canon also makes the 17 – 40 lens, but it can only stop down to a 4.0.  It’s about half the price, but I opted for the 16 – 35 2.8 so I could use it in lower light situations if need be.  I love this lens and really don’t know how I lived without it.  Especially with HUGE bridal parties like I had at my wedding last weekend:

This lens is so wide that there can be some distortion on the edges.  If that look bothers you then you need to be catious about that when shooting with it at 16mm.

I use this lens for detail and dress shots:

And also on engagement shoots:

Family shoots:

And everyday with Brayden:

I use this lens for just about everything.  I don’t really know how I lived without it before!

We got some sad news that Chuck’s Uncle was diagnosed with Leukemia.  One day he was healthy and the next day he had cancer.  It’s amazing how fast life can change.  Last week we found out that he is going to need a bone marrow transplant.  Luckily he has several siblings and we’re hoping that one of them will be a match.  He just finished his first round of chemo and when he’s healthy enough he’ll have the transplant.  I know Don is going to be okay.  He’s a fighter.  I just wish he didn’t have to go through this.  I wish no one had to go through this.

A couple of months ago I registered to be a bone marrow donor through Be The Match.  I read a story in the newspaper about a local girl who needed a bone marrow transplant and none of her family members were a match.  I thought how if I were her Mom I would hope that everyone would get tested to save my child’s life.  I thought how if Brayden, Chuck, my Mom or my Dad got sick they have a slimmer chance of having a match within our family because they are only children.  I thought how incredible it would be to help a total stranger have a second chance at life.

It’s something so simple that we can all do and it can change someone’s life.  It’s something so simple we can do to SAVE someone’s life.  It takes 5 minutes to fill out all the information online and then another 5 minutes once you receive the package to swab your checks, seal the package up, and put it in the mail.  In a total of 10 minutes you could be on the road to SAVING someone’s life.  Isn’t that incredible?  Do you have 10 minutes to spare to change the life of someone and those that love them?

I am here…

(insert picture of beautiful Hawaiian sunset)

Sorry.  No pictures because in my rush to pack I didn’t realize that my card reader doesn’t work with my my brand new laptop!  I guess that makes it easier to not do any work on vacation!  Don’t be too jealous though.  We’re not having too much fun.  Just swimming, playing on the beach, taking leisurely strolls along the water, reading, eating too much ice cream, and watching beautiful sunsets.  It’s a tough life I tell you.  But, just because I am on vacation doesn’t mean that Mom*tog is.  This week there will be 4 guest bloggers taking my place.  Be sure to check back tomorrow for that!

I hope everyone had a great 4th of July!  We did!

Aloha!

Judy asked yesterday how I liked the Fuji Instax Mini camera I got for Christmas and that reminded me that I hadn’t blogged about it yet.

I have a love hate relationship with this camera.  I love it because of the instant gratification and how fun and cute the credit card sized photos are.  I hate it because, well, the quality is what you would expect from a instant camera.  I’ve tried messing around with the settings and getting it to work for me, but it’s always a surprise how it will come out.  Maybe that’s part of the fun of it?

If the film were a bit cheaper and easier to find, I would probably play around with this camera more.  The Instax Mini 7S (the version I have) has come down in price and is now just over $60.  There is a newer version, the Instax Mini 25, which looks like it may have some improvements to it.  It is $95.  I would love to try that one out!  Film can be found for as low as $14 for 20 exposures.  That’s $.69 per image.

Would I recommend this camera?  If you have the extra money laying around, why not?  It is fun!  But, I would save up for a DSLR any day over this camera.

I can’t help but be really sad about the passing of John Wooden.  Although he was 99 years old, it seems that he was taken from us too young.  You don’t have to be a UCLA fan to appreciate him and the legacy he left behind.  His influence reached far beyond Westwood.  He was an incredible coach.  But, even more than that, he was an incredible human being.  His words were so simple, yet so true.  And they are as true on the court as they are in everyday life.

Brayden got to be in his presence twice.  Once in utero at a basketball tournament and again when he was 10 months old at the same tournament.  He has a basketball signed by Coach in his room .  John Wooden’s characteristics embody everything that I hope and wish Brayden can grow up to be.  Selfless.  Humble.  Honest.  Competitive and driven, yet gracious.  A man who puts family first and isn’t afraid to love.  A man who lived life to the fullest until his very last day and never lost the sparkle in his eyes.

Some of my favorite quotes from John Wooden:

“Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are.”

“You can’t live a perfect day without doing something for someone who will never be able to repay you.”

“Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.”

“Talent is God given. Be humble. Fame is man-given. Be grateful. Conceit is self-given. Be careful.”

I ran my second 5K on Saturday.  I had Chuck write this reminder on my hands:

(Really bad iphone pic)  ”Be quick but don’t hurry.”

Thank you, Coach.  Thank you for sharing your wisdom with us.  Thank you for being a role model.  Thank you for inspiring us.  Our world is a better place because of you.

Question over on Formspring:

Hi Drew. Where do you do most of your shopping for Brayden’s clothes? I have a 10 month old little boy and I’m always looking for great places to find clothes. And B always looks super cute in your photos.

Thanks!  Boys clothes are so hard to find, aren’t they?  And then you buy them a cute outfit and they go and spill all over it or play in the dirt!  Boys!

Brayden pretty much wears two brands – Paul Frank and Quiksilver.  Most of his Paul Frank shirts and sweatshirts are from Target.  I love that they started carrying Paul Frank.  I’m not too impressed by the quality of the expensive Paul Frank clothes.  It seems like they are always getting holes.  So, I’m very happy to pay $6.99 for a t-shirt that he’ll wear for a couple of months.  Yeah, they fade pretty bad over time.  But, the boy grows like a weed so by the time they are unwearable he’s grown out of them anyway!

Most of B’s pants and shorts are from Quiksilver.  If you’re lucky you can sometimes score Quiksilver from Nordstrom Rack.  We have a Quiksilver store in Downtown Disney and if you’re an annual pass holder they sometimes have special sales of 10 or 20 percent off!  I love the quality of Quiksilver.  It holds up really well.  And I’m a huge dork, but I like to buy Brayden and Chuck matching clothes.  I know.  Dorky.  But, Quiksilver is the only brand I’ve found that has a few items in men’s sizes and infant / toddler sizes.  The look so cute all matchy, matchy!

Lately I’ve also been loving Penguin.  I’ve always liked Penguin for Chuck, but they recently started carrying baby and kids clothes (or maybe I just realized that they did!).  They only have a few stores nation wide (one at Fashion Island if you’re local), and they usually have great sales in store.  They have a website, but it doesn’t look like they carry their kids clothes online.  Boo!

If I find cute clothes on sale I buy it even if it’s too big.  I’m always buying Paul Frank shirts from Target because they get picked over so fast.  If I’m there and they have a new style I grab it!  Who am I kidding?  I’m at Target like 3 times a week so I always get the new styles

Not my fav pic ever, but my boys sporting their Penguin polos on Mother’s Day!

Before I announce today’s giveaway (which is a good one!), I wanted to personally thank the 8 Mom*togs who donated to the Revlon Run / Walk For Women 5K that I’m participating in tomorrow:

Janelle Evans

Tiffani Wagner

Courtney Nichols

Kimber Avinger

Kelly Lautenslager

Christine Battad

Meghan Flen

Dorothy Polka

From the bottom of my heart, thank you!  All donations are greatly appreciated!  Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!  There’s still time to donate and help me reach my goal!  If everyone who reads this site donates just $1 I will exceed my $1000 goal!  Donate here!

Now, onto today’s giveaway!

The ladies over at Bloom Workshop have very graciously offered a spot in one of their upcoming workshops as a Silent Member!

From their website:

Basically what it is is you would be able to access everything on the board, and that includes our guest speaker thread. That means actions, new material, videos, screenshots, regular assignments, bonus assignments (which are usually new to each workshop) etc, it’s all fair game but you would not be an “active” participant on the board. That means, no posting, leaving comments, asking questions, correspondence with Kristy and Brenda with any questions you might have, etc. Basically you would be a lurker!

This is huge, Mom*togs!  Huge!  There is so much to learn during these workshops!  I’m so excited to be able to give away this prize!

Here’s how to enter:

1)  You need to be a mom!  These giveaways are in honor of Mother’s Day so please only enter if you are a mom.  I’m not going to ask for proof.  I’m just going to trust that you are being honest 

2)  Leave a comment saying what you love most about being a Mom.

3)  Want extra chances to win?  Here’s how:

*  Follow @drew_b on Twitter and tweet: “Win a silent member spot in the Bloom Workshop http://bloomworkshops.com  from @drew_b!  Enter at http://momtog.com”

*  Blog about the giveaway (with a link back to Mom*tog) and leave a separate comment here with your blog address.

*  ”Like” Mom*tog on Facebook and leave a comment here saying that you’ve done so.

Contest ends on Mother’s Day at 9PM PST!  All comments after 9PM will not be counted.

Two posts on Wednesday!  How lucky are all of you?

I wish there was a way I could block readers and only let NICE people read my blog.  Unfortunately there isn’t.  And when I get awesome comments like this from Susan it makes me want to quit.  Take down my blog and everything that I’ve shared and just quit.

Submitted on 2010/03/31 at 2:55pm

The lack of postings does suck. I tend to stop visiting blogs that don’t update often in favor of others that are more consistant and put together.

Good luck with your projects.

Dear Susan,

I am so sorry that I have let you down.  I’ll try to do better in the future to be more consistent.  In between running a full time business, being a full time mom, doing mountains of  laundry, hosting play dates, and being a wife I will make sure to post each and every day just for YOU!  I would just hate for you to stop reading my blog…

Love,

Drew

I know I should have a thicker skin, but I can’t help it.  My name is Drew and I’m sensitive and whenever I get a comment like this it stings.  If you want to get a blogger to blog less, leave more comments like this.  It’s not very motivating to know that there are people like this out there reading my blog.

ETA – Thank you for all of your comments and support!  Seriously, you guys amaze me!  I think with over 90 comments the point has been made so I am closing comments for this entry.

That is the number of hours that we spent at Disney World.  We weren’t there for very long, but we fit a lot in!  I have been to Disney World twice.  Once in fourth grade and once for cheerleading nationals in 1998 (go PACE All-Stars!).  But, this was Chuck’s first trip (first trip to Florida even!) and obviously Brayden’s first trip.  We’ll be making a big Disney World trip for Brayden’s 5th birthday so we kept this one short just because a 2 year old can only handle so much excitement.  Here are a few of my observations about Disney World:

*** Pics in this post are taken with Canon 5D and the 24 – 70 2.8 and my Canon G10 point and shoot.

-  While the Magic Kingdom has a better castle, Disneyland is a much better park.  Everything seems more updated there.  I’m probably totally bias.

-  Disney World resort is a much nicer resort than Anaheim.  Much prettier and spread out (which is kind of a good thing and a bad thing).

-  The Tea Cups are much better at Disneyland, but to a 2 year old a pink tea cup is a pink tea cup!

-  People are much friendlier at Disney World.  I think it’s the Southern hospitality.  And I love hearing all the Southern accents!

-  Animal Kingdom is awesome.  Brayden loved the jeep safari and Dino Land.  I won a teddy bear and a lizard for him there.  That’s how we roll in this family.  Mom has to win the prizes.

-  Animal Kingdom resort is a nice hotel.  It was Disney without being too busy.  The savanna view rooms are kind of a rip off.  We saw an ostrich, two giraffes, and some other animal that I don’t know the name of .  Maybe we would have seen more if we would have stayed longer.  B was pretty darn impressed by those giraffes.

-  Florida ducks are not nice.  If your kids are eating popcorn beware.  They will get bit.  Poor Brayden is scared for life!  But, like any good parents would do, we tortured him and made him take a picture with Donald Duck later in the day.

-  For a two year old the bus ride to the parks may  just be the best ride in the park!

And we had a great time in the JAX.  Brayden and I visited St. Augustine while Chuck was at his conference.  We rode the train around town for an hour (it was freezing!).  B loved the train and I loved learning about the history of the city.  Total win-win!  We then visited an Alligator farm.  It was a bit smelly, but B enjoyed it very much.  He especially loved feeding the gators.  We also visited St. Johns Town Center (twice) and I got a new pair of jeans and a sweatshirt from GAP (if you follow me on twitter you know why!) and a super cute shirt and purse from Anthro.  I also got to visit Ballard Designs.  I get the catalog and was SO, SO, SO excited to see everything in person.  Love that place!  Thanks for all of the suggestions, friends!