Moms Birthday

Yesterday, February 23rd was my moms official birthday. On account of money and my dad being sick with the flu we didn't have anything planned. We all just went about our regular schedules. I did get my mom a gift though so I gave it to her while she was home on her lunch break. Since I had work later that night it was the only time I was able to see her yesterday.
My thinking was that since she likes to go running now she could use a music player. She usually goes running by herself and the weathers getting nicer again so she'll be able to get back outside and run. So I got her a 2GB ipod shuffle so she can listen to music while she's running outside or even inside on the treadmill. Its a perfect gift for her and I think she really liked it. She'll enjoy it even more once she knows how to use it. I'll have to show her how to get music on it and how it works sometime this weekend.

Happy Birthday Mom!

Happy Valentines Day

Valentines day isn't a huge holiday for John and I. We wanted to do something though so we celebrated on Monday by going out to eat at a hot dog place and hanging out. Since we both had work on Valentines Day we just exchanged gifts on Monday when we hung out. Everyone knows I'm a baker so John got me a cupcake maker for Valentines Day. As soon as I opened it I was so excited to use it. After John and I went to dinner we went to Jewel and he bought me the ingredients I needed to make cupcakes. The machine is really easy to use. You plug it in and the orange button will tell you its warming up. Once the orange light turns to green you know its up to temperature. You put your liners into the holes, poor some batter in, close the top and cook for ten minutes. Its so easy to use, I'm in love with it! I'm going to start making cupcakes daily. I want to try making some fancy cupcakes with my moms cake decorating bags. Now not many people know what John is really into besides cars and motorcycles but he really likes the three stooges. So I came upon the three stooges complete collection while I was at Target and I decided to get him that. He loved it very much and we'll probably watch some of it tonight.

Yesterday was also my parents official wedding anniversary so I just want to say Happy Anniversary to them. 25 years!

Anniversary Dinner

On Saturday the whole family got together at Spavones restaurant in Bloomingdale for dinner to celebrate my parents 25th wedding anniversary. My parents official wedding anniversary isn't until Valentines day though. Since its a special anniversary they are going to take a big all inclusive trip in November. They wanted to do something special now to celebrate though so they decided to treat the family to a nice evening at Spavones.


The whole gang!














Mom and Dad














Sisters














Rae and Ron














Jessica and Carl














Owen and Donna














Laurel and Larry














Joe and Gary














Gary, Debbie and Jenna














Kristi, Jenna and I














Kyle and my Dad














Tony Spavone sings almost every night at his restaurant if people request it. But on Saturdays he says its a party and he always sings. He sings a bunch of Italian songs usually so we expected that. We didn't expect however for there to be a D.J and the Drifters there. Since it was so close to Valentines Day though Tony was throwing a huge party that night. We picked a good night to go!

Tony Spavone














We all did a bunch of dancing to the D.J. He played alot of slow songs for the couples and Valentines day but he also had us out there grooving. He played quite a few good fast songs and some line dance songs like the electric slide, the cha cha slide and the cupid shuffle. My mom, Donna and I were out there quite a bit.




















After dinner we were joined by some of my mom and dads old friends. Ed and Joann Tobolik came by and also Mike and Lisa Chester. We talked with them for a while and did some more dancing. It was good to see them all.

Photoshoot at my Internship

Since I'm on a blog posting frenzy I thought I would put up an update about my internship as well. Everyone seems to be so curious about what I've been doing so this post is going to be about the most recent thing we've done. About one or two Thursdays ago we did a photo shoot at Hanks studio. Hank really liked the images I've shot of Chandra that I have in my portfolio. He mentioned wanting to set up a photo shoot with Chandra. Chandra loves modeling for me and modeling in general so I knew she'd agree to this no problem. So this past Thursday we set up a shoot and I brought Chandra to Hanks studio and we all took pictures of her. Hank took pictures on his camera's, I took pictures and his other helper Kathy took pictures. It was a good time for Kathy and I because we're both in school for photography so it was a great learning experience. We were all there taking pictures and learning together under no pressure. Chandra didn't have to be nervous and we didn't have to be nervous either, it was perfect! Kathy, Chandra and I are all the same age so it worked out very well and we all got along great.
Before we went to Hanks studio I met Chandra at her house and we picked out a bunch of dresses, heals, props and make-up to bring with. At Hanks we took pictures of Chandra in a few different dresses, different backgrounds and we also used some props.


Hank Steerman, Just Picture This...!
We were testing the lighting the day before the shoot so I took some test shots of Hank with the lights we set up.














Behind the scenes in the dressing room. Chandra getting ready for the photo shoot.




















Putting her make up on.














Paint splatter heels. Chandra bought these on clearance for $10 at a Halloween Store after Halloween. I'm in love with them!














The first set of photo's we took we had Chandra in her little black dress and paint splatter heels. We used a white back drop and took some images of her standing up but mainly images of her sitting. We used a little black stool and we also took some images of her on the white chair. Those are my favorite images of the night, they look absolutely stunning!
























The next backdrop we used was a darker brown background. It had a mixture of darker brown colors swirled into it. It was perfect for a more casual type of photo. We changed Chandra into one of her more casual summer dresses and took some images of her with the cowboy hat we brought along. I enjoyed shooting on the white backdrop alot more then this brown one. The images I took on this backdrop turned out ok but I wasn't completely satisfied with any of them.














Next we changed Chandra into a flashy red dress with black heels and moved back to the white backdrop. This dress worked great for some high fashion images. We used a little leather couch Hank had as a prop. We took a few images of Chandra laying down on the couch with some pillows. We also took some images of Chandra wearing my zebra converse on a stool. We found an amazing image of a girl on a stool in a dress wearing black converse in a magazine so we wanted to copy this style. I just so happened to be wearing my zebra converse that day so it worked out perfectly. Chandra put them on and we took some photo's to be like the girl in the magazine.
























Lastly we brought in a small backdrop and hung it over the white backdrop. You cant take full body images with this background but I got some good close up head shots. I also took a few of Chandra standing up on this background but I had to crop the head a little bit. I'm not sure what I think about it honestly.














We took some close up head shots with colored pillows and I took a few with the gray pillow also. I wanted a variety so I could pick and choose what I liked in the end.

Vandalized!

Hello everyone! I thought my blog was due for an update so what better time to update it then after my car has been vandalized.
This all happened last night while I was at work. I started work at 4:30 pm and I parked in the same area of the parking garage I always park in. I've been parking in the same parking garage in the same area for over three years now. I didn't think anything of where I parked yesterday.
So apparently the security that run the streets of woodfield area had come in to the theater to see if they knew anyone who owned a red Saturn. The managers said they didn't know but they'd ask around. Word got around and they asked me if I had a red Saturn and I was like oh no thinking maybe I left my lights on or something. I was afraid my car might be dead and I wouldn't be able to get home. In the end my car had been vandalized. The right rear tail light had been smashed in then duck tapped over that. They wrote weird notes in the dirt on my back windshield. They stuck a banana peel in between the rear windshield wiper and the car. They bent my windshield wipers to no end and they also completely bent my antenna. They also wrote a weird creepy sexual note on a piece of paper and taped it to my car window. All in all the damage wasn't completely bad, it was only on the outside. At least they didn't break into my car. The cops were there and everything though and it turned out to be this huge ordeal. I was out there for about an hour while they investigated, took pictures, took evidence and got all my information and statement. The cops kept questioning me about possibly knowing somebody who might want to do this to me. Asking me if I was on bad terms with anyone, had a fight with anyone. I'm a happy friendly person and I'm never on bad terms with anyone. I had no idea who this person could be. I had never heard of the guy's name who they said owned the car or the guys name that was signed on the creepy note that got taped to my car. They cops were scaring me though because they made it seem like somebody could be out to get me. After they didn't need me anymore I went back inside and kept working but I was so upset I couldn't even work. About an hour later they call me back outside again and they had caught the vandalizer! They caught him across the street inside somebody elses car and they took him into custody on the spot.
The vandalizers car had been the car parked right next to mine in the parking garage. He had a bunch of garbage on his dashboard inside the car and the cops could clearly see his name on some of the garbage and mail. My front license plate was also ripped off and they found it in his car along with the duck tape. This was all clearly visible to the cops. The only problem was they didn't know where the guy was at if this was his car. So they ran the license plate and found out where his family lived and contacted them and they came down to the parking garage. The father was there and he is a Schiller park police officer and he was very upset. He said he had no idea why his son would do this and that he was so very sorry. He said his sons in medical school and he got a wonderful grade on his medical exam. The father is paying for any repairs needed on my car though and the cops talked to my dad about everything so I think everything will be ok in the end. The cop said the kid had no idea what he was doing and had some mental issues that needed to be taken care of right away. They said he needed to be admitted to a hospital as soon as possible. My car was just a random car there that he decided to vandalize at that time. The guy doesn't know me and I don't know the guy. We have no relation what so ever to each other so that made me very relieved.


My front liscense plate which was found in his car along with a peice of my back tail light.















Bent antenna and windsheild wippers.


























Smashed tail light that was duck taped.















He wrote in the dirt on my car and put a bananna peel there also.