Not long ago we met up with the beautiful Lemond family for some family photo fun at Bethany Lakes Park in Allen. I was a little leery before the session because it was windy (notice the italics demonstrating how windy it was) and cold, and I almost called Angela to reschedule, but I'm glad we toughed it out 'cause I think their images turned out awe. some. And when I say cold, it musta been upper 40's/low 50's; I don't wanna hear any flack from you northerners who are thinkin' right now, 'Cold? Pffft...he doesn't know what could is! All I can say is pipe down. It was in the mid-70's the week before, so it's all relative. It's kinda like when it's in the 20's and 30's for a couple months and then you get a 55 degree day and everyone's wearin' shorts and t-shirts outside... only the opposite. Anywho... I met Angela several months ago when I went to her for a couple consultations about my [unhealthy] eating habits. She's a dietitian and nutrition therapist, and she's fantastic at what she does... she was super nice and supportive in helping to find ways to 'encourage' me to make a few changes in my eating/exercise habits. In fact, she basically did everything she could to get me to make a few more healthy habits/choices short of actually eating and exercising for me. That's plan B. The great thing about Angela is that she felt like I friend from the moment I walked in, and we laughed and joked all the way through my appointments... some of that laughing may have been a result of me contemplating the idea of going to bed before 1am every night and getting 7 hours sleep. Not sure. Anyway, her family is, of course, a picture of health. And fun. And love. Here are some of my favorites from the session.

Evan was pretty good at avoiding the camera, but I caught him here.

Isn't Hannah beautiful? I asked her to tell me a story and this is what I got... priceless.

This image was a minor miracle. Kids + pets + cold + wind usually equals disaster, but serendipity found us for a split second. From left to right: Ali (the Yorkie), Hannah, Angela, little Evan, Jeff and Tucker.

Love this image. Looks like they should be in a GAP ad.

My favorite kind of light combined with a special moment between mom & daughter.

Not sure what she was saying here, but my money's on "Afflaaaaaac!"

Thanks again, Angela & Jeff... we had a ton o' fun with you guys, and I'm excited for you to see all your images.

I've never met Phillip Toledano, but he's an obviously-gifted photographer who's told a beautiful/heartbreaking/heroic/brilliant/sad/funny story of his father that's worth checking out. You can see it at www.dayswithmyfather.com. It's a simple, powerful reminder to enjoy the time we have with the ones we love.

Since Kristen Kalp first came up with the idea that she was going to give back this holiday season through her photography, I'm so excited to see her generosity has turned into a grass-roots effort among the photography community with a goal to give-away $1million in custom photography gifts to deserving individuals/families who have encountered unfortunate - and in many cases tragic - circumstances. I'm also thrilled to announce there is now a website for the cause where you can see daily updates to the number of photographers who have made a decision to give back this Christmas season. Visit www.givingisawesome.com to learn more and to find a photographer in your area to send your nomination to. It's awesome to see that in less than a week nearly a hundred photographers have agreed to join in, with more signing on each day. And if you're a photographer that wants to sign up for this, you can also do that on the website. Here's a cool map I picked off the website with the latest status.

I've received several amazing heartfelt stories and making a singular decision is going to be incredibly difficult. Please keep sending in your nominations. If this is the first time you're reading this, you can find the details of what I'm donating and how to submit a nomination here. Thanks so much for your help!

I don't know how I can call myself a legit member of the Apple cult when I've had my iPhone for almost a year and just today figured out how to use the free Remote app. I'm certain this is old news to many of you who own this little polished box of dreams, but just in case... with this app you can control all your media on your Apple computer from anywhere in the house/office when you're connected to your wireless network. Who knew?? You did... of course. So there I was grilling some chicken on an ordinary Tuesday night, waiting on my iPhone timer to go off to tell me it was time to turn the the bird breasts (iPhone spectabulous use # 39), and blip... the lightbulb in a thought cloud appeared above my head. I've had this stupid Remote app for almost 5 months now. Hmmm... maybe it actually remotely controls something. Sure enough, in typical Apple easy-peezy fashion, all I had to do was put my iPhone in the cradle, open iTunes, and enter the 4 digit code on my phone (from the Remote app) into iTunes, and voila! I'm maestro'ing my music from the grill outside. Magic. Somebody at Apple should get paid for that. So now I just walk around the house changing songs and turning the volume up and down, well, because I can. I could also control TV shows on my Mac from across the room... if I was that cool to have TV shows on my Mac. Baby steps, grasshopper. Anyway, if you already knew this, 1) good for you and 2) why didn't you tell me? If you didn't, shame on you. And you call yourself an Apple afficionado? Pffft. BTW, 10 months later and I'm still in awe of my Nikon D3 camera, too. The image above was taken at ISO 5000 handheld at 1/20th of a second. Almost no perceptible noise. Ridiculous, isn't it?

Just down the street from the house is the Heritage Farmstead Museum, and I've driven by it countless times since I moved in back in September, always thinking to myself, 'Hey, Chachi, when are you gonna check that place out?" Well, my mom's in town this weekend from California, so after a little furniture shopping this afternoon, we decided to take advantage of the ridiculously awesome fall weather we're having and stop in and put on our tourist faces and get cultured. Umm... wow. Very cool stuff, and if you should check it out if you're ever in the neighborhood. Call me first, though, and I'll come join you. Here's a few images from our visit.

We were in luck... vintage Santa was there for the day, too.