At my last shoot at the Oakland Animal Services Pierre was one of the darling critters that I photographed. It is always special to hear from the owners of the pups that I try so hard to help find homes for. This is Pierre, and he has now found his forever home. His new mom Sara (not me, he found another Sara) emailed me to to thank me for helping her to find him:

I am a stylist and art director which , I think, is one of the reasons I responded so strongly to your photos. you really made him shine. I live in Marin with my husband who is a writer and has longed for a little dog for years and finally we started looking and fell upon Pierre's photos I think he stole our hearts just from the photos and when we met him he lived up to  all we had hoped for and more. I think so much of our interest was because you had taken 3 adorable photos of him that were posted on the website. The shots just made him irresistible and in fact he was and is. Thanks for allowing his inner and outer beauty to show! He came home with us on Monday afternoon and was immediately a part of the family. We couldn't have found a more perfect little guy for us. He is spunky and affectionate and smart and totally cute and we even love his little French name! Sara, thank you for capturing so well Pierre,  so he could capture our hearts.

Pierre and family: I am so happy that you have found one another. Your story warms my heart.

Several weeks ago I had the opportunity to work with Alexis on a project of his at King's Boxing Gym in Oakland. Alexis is super fun to work with, one of the things that I love about working with him is that we are so very different. I see the world in a very different way to the way he views it, so when we work together it is fun to see how he approaches a situation. I also love that he puts his talents towards charity. While I volunteer with Obugs and the Oakland Animal Shelter, Alexis is using his talents to help the people you see in these images. Many of the kids that come to this gym have little funding but very big dreams. Their ultimate goal is the Olympics and Alexis is doing what he can to help them.

Alexis, thanks for letting me tag along! It was a pleasure to see you in action. Your passion for the art is inspiring!

I took this image six years ago. I was working in a lab at UC Davis and my fella was here for a few precious months working in Tahoe and exploring California with me. Every Weekend I would drive up to Tahoe and pick him up and we would find an adventure together.  This particular weekend we went to Stanford. We rode bikes around the campus, looking at the tennis courts, the beautiful old buildings and enjoying a picnic in the grass.

Fast forward 6 years and here we are, back at Stanford. This time we are married, there is no looming threat of departure. This time we are looking at buildings, but it is not in interest of their history or architecture, it is to see if we would be happy living in them. Again we were eating, but this time it was not just the two of us. This time we sat in rooms filled with other excited new admits, discussing possibilities and exploring potentials.

This is a go-to dinner in our home. When we are in a hurry and we have no plan for dinner, we almost always have the ingredients for Bobotie available. Bobotie is a South African dish, part of the Cape Malay cuisine that I fell in love while in South Africa.

A little aside for my Dad, the golfer: Bobotie was selected by 2008 Masters golf champion and South African native Trevor Immelman as the featured menu item for Augusta National's annual "Champions Dinner" in April 2009.

Ingredients:
Coconut oil (any kind of fat will work)
1 onion thinly sliced
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp crushed garlic (I add a little more)
1 tsp salt
2 tsp curry powder
1 tsp turmeric
1 lb ground beef (or lamb)
3 eggs (pastured please)
Juice of one lemon
1 TB apricot jam
A handful of raisins
4 bay leaves
3/4 cup milk (pastured please!)
Chutney

Preparation:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Heat oil in a ovenproof skillet and fry the onion until soft and golden. Add cloves, garlic, salt, curry and turmeric and simmer for 5 minutes. Add ground meat 2 eggs, lemon juice, jam and raisins mix to combine. Put skillet into the oven and cook for about 40 minutes or until  it is golden brown. Remove from oven. Sprinkle a few more raisins on top. Beat the remaining 1 egg with the milk and pour on top of the Bobotie. Add bay leaves and bake for another 5-10 minutes.

Serve with Chutney and enjoy!

I met Mica several years back. She is a member of the Rho Delta Omega chapter of the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority of which I have been volunteering my services for their yearly Wine and Croquet event. Last year she won the portrait session that I donated, using it to document her Halloween party. Our most recent portrait session was a business head-shot session. Mica recently got a new job, she wanted a professional head-shot, something that would bring out her personality, not be too stuffy and yet still be professional. I think that we succeeded on all accounts.