RACHAEL EARL » PHOTOGRAPHY: Lifestyle Portraiture and Wedding Photography

People always make fun of how I bowl (and the fact that I still have to get the velcro shoes…don’t knock the size 4.5) Yes, bowling is an art form. No, I have not yet mastered the beauty and grace of that art form, but I did get a STRIKE! Complete with happy dance

Today, my wonderful friend Summer had the grand opening of her yoga studio, Lotus Tree! I took my very first yoga class and realized that I truly am not very flexible (something I’ve been in denial about). However, going to yoga with Summer was not intimidating at all-it was relaxing, and I actually feel really sore! (Plus, it was #32 on my list) I think I have the potential to improve, so I’m going to stick it out. Check out her blog for class information and schedules, and I challenge you to try it if you’re on this side of town!

I also put Abbie in her kids’ class-she had SO much fun and Summer did lots of storytelling and singing while they were stretching, which made it entertaining for the kids.

Yes, I totally love Val Kilmer, and Tombstone is one of my favorite movies of all time, so it’s no wonder that visiting Tombstone was a goal on my list. I finally got that chance on the way home from Bisbee. Very cool to be in such a historical place. Very uncool that you have to pay out the arse to go see anything cool. Oh well, I loved this image once I finished making it look like it was from the Tombstone of old:

I haven’t posted too much off my list lately, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t been doing anything! (I’ve just been a lazy blogger!) I finally learned how to use Dan’s BBQ this summer. It’s not that it’s hard, just intimidating (he says the same thing about my camera…) To each his own, I suppose. Check out the these gorgeous steaks on the grill:

The tools of the trade, including the awesome Reveo Marinator. This thing does 2 days of marinating in 20 minutes!!!

And the finished product-delicious!

I know everyone has been on the edge of their seats, biting their fingernails, anxiously awaiting the arrival of our butterflies. Well, at least that’s the theatrical version I picture in my head, but I’m not sure that’s how it plays out in real life. Four of the five have emerged, sadly the last one might be a casualty due to our cats attacking the butterfly house all last night…

Here are some shots of them before they were released into the wild this morning.

And now for more in the interesting lives of our caterpillars…

Surprisingly, these things are pretty dang fascinating! They also happen to reside right next to my computer, so I see them a lot of the day…

Today, they were transferred from their tiny little caterpillar canister to their butterfly “garden.” What stress for me! I couldn’t imagine how heartbroken Abbie would be if I messed up and we never got any butterflies. Fortunately, the transfer went just fine, and in a few days we should see the result of our 2 weeks of waiting!

Abbie wanted to put them by her picture of a flower…a little motivation, maybe?

This should have more appropriately been titled “Get Abbie her Caterpillars.”  You see, she got a really cool gift for her birthday (LAST September) of a Live Butterfly Garden from Insect Lore.  You basically get to watch caterpillars cocoon and grow into butterflies.  It has actually been very interesting to watch.  They are just starting to cocoon, and in 7-10 days, we should have some butterflies to release into the wild!  Abbie absolutely loves to watch them, so it’s a great gift and learning tool, although at three, she’s not quite patient enough.  Stay tuned for more fascination…  Oh, and of course, Dwight is watching to make sure nothing happens to our little insects.

One of the reasons I created my list was so that I could make sure that I still got to spend time with Abbie, my 3 1/2 year old. Since the baby was born in January, I don’t want her to feel neglected. So…on to #63! We got fun pedicures together today! Abbie loved it!!!!! Until we got home…

I was lucky to grab a couple of shots before she peeled the polish off. She got cute flowers on her toes and fingers (the fingers didn’t last the ride home, unfortunately). I decided to go for something more wild than I did last time, so I got a french pedicure with hot pink and silver glitter. Love it! This is only my 3rd one ever (some people think that’s weird…), but I definitely have to go at least a little more often so they don’t have to spend so much time making my feet look good…although looking at the photo, a tan sure wouldn’t hurt either!

Yes, it has been forever since we measured Abbie, and she grew so much!  We actually thought she grew a TON, but she was standing on her tip toes (something we taught her at Disneyland).  That’s why there are 2 lines on her chart!

Once again, here is proof that I am the worst blogger ever.  My 28th birthday was on Friday, for starters.  Dan and Abbie got me a beautiful cake with PINK frosting (of course), which Abbie tasted first…

Then, Dan arranged a DATE with no kids (that’s right, it’s #13) to see Get Smart on opening night.  Get Smart opening on my birthday?  Fate if you ask me.  Plus, it opened with ABBA’s Take a Chance on Me, which is one of my all-time favorite songs…laugh if you will.  I’m working on #99 on my list already.