**A List Returns**

After a long "overdue" sabatical of sorts we have returned...and not too late for the long awaited marriage of Michael and Elizabeth! A sneak peeeeeek of the wedding is below  in a fun little slideshow. I hope you enjoy!!

Gratz to you both!!! 

llo

A LIST Info

Here is a great video on some very cool lighting! I use the Califorina Sunbounce Sun-swatter.. You can view very talented photographers using different systems here.

A-LIST New Location

I am very excited about some good news! We went to view the site of our new building. It is VERY old like 125 years old. But it is so totally fabulous. Its about 10 thousand square feet and in need of major work which will hopefully be completed in about 6 to 8 months. The front of the inside will be a gallery and coffee shop/wifi hang out, very artsy! The back will be closed off and made into 2 offices that I will rent out. There is a cool space upstairs that looks down into the whole front that will be my office/studio. Here are a few pictures.

I am adding 2 pics that I received today! These are of the building in its original state. How Cool!

This is the upstairs and where my office would be if you look you can see what use to be windows, we would put them back in so there would be a cool view to the downstairs.

More of the upstairs

A LIST Software Test

Well I really wanted to test this software and push it to see what it could really do. So as to not offend my clients, friends or family I decided to be the test subject! Well for sure all the pride is out the door. To accomplish this, I had my sweet son photograph me in front of a white door with flash bounced off the ceiling (YUCK) thats like the worst light on the planet, i also put on too much makeup to accentuate the very SMALL wrinkles lmao on my face! Then I tried to smile with like an extreme look! Basically I tried to make myself look as bad as possible!

There are several presets in the software which I did a few, the one I like best was just me adjusting the sliders and then taking it into photoshop and making it look like a real portrait with studio directional lights! So what do you think?

here is the original unedited full shot

Here is a comp card after I cropped them!

So it seems only the YOUNG photographers have a problem with correcting aging and or blemishes. Personally it took like 10 years off my face. Ordinarily i dont look quite that bad but hey time has a way of trucking across the face especially in Michigan with the harsh climate here! VANITY...yup!

A LIST~I'm Impressed

Well Take a look at these pictures. Unbelievable! I could spend up to an hour in Photoshop CS3 trying to fix this acne and I'm sure after awhile I would get it, but the skin would no longer look like skin, more like a painting and it wouldnt go with the rest of the picture. A friend turned me on to this software Portrait Professional and I am So excited! not only will this save me time, but it keeps the picture looking awesome! I'ts on sale for 1/2 off for like $60 and it is the best $60 I have spent in a long time! You can download a trial to try it out here. I hope you enjoy if you get it and please say that Sandy Anton referred you! Thank you!

A-LIST Sunrise

Guess where I was at 7:30 this morning! I cant even believe it. I was on Lake Michigan with a beautiul young lady catching the soft sweet light of sunrise. I havent done this before with a person, I do so many sunsets and as sweet as they are, there is just something so soft about the sunrise. I had a lot of fun and she froze to death..lol here is a sneak peak.

A LIST Nonsense

Well it has been almost a year since EVERYTHING changed in my life. Let me explain, this time last year...

1. I was in the middle of a divorce after 18 years of marriage

2. My precious dog Dukie was killed

3. My very best friend in the WHOLE world moved away

4. Both of my sons were attacked (personal)

5. I found a ton of grey hair in my head!!!

Well God is good all the time and my marriage has been healed, whew! my dog is still gone, but I still love him. My best friend, Deanna is gone, but we talk everyday thank you Verizon. My sons are doing great, Jesus not only saves, but He heals. I found Henna for my hair! This is much better than hair color and it covers great!

I am going to be 38 this year (Nov 4), geesh! My kids are 17-13-10- and 5 yearsold! Jim and I celebrated 19 years of marriage, yep its hard. This is why I took the year off. I had a lot of real work to do. When you get to the bottom, seriously it sucks. When the pain is so beyond unbearable, it sucks. When you feel all alone and everything that can go wrong is going wrong, it sucks. When you just no longer want to live, it sucks. When shopping doesnt help, it sucks. When you realize Oprah really knows nothing, it sucks, When you realize abortion really is murder, it sucks (really bad). When you realize it really is your fault, it sucks.

When you get there, and unfortunatly if you havent been, you will its just a matter of time, we all go. But when you get there if you can just somehow look deep inside, forget all the crap you have read, or heard, just look deep inside you will find something so precious, so rare, so impossible, so illogical.

You will find the only one who can help!

Jesus Chirst

EDIT: i wanted to add this one thing. there is a very special person here on Xanga, most of you know him  Randy  from Borelfoto. In the midst of all of this, somehow he knew something was wrong and called me all the way from Calfornia. That is super awesome, we have never met in person, but someday we will and i cant wait. He really encouraged me and truely it helped. So Randy, THANK YOU!

We miss you Dukie

(he is the black one)

A LIST Back To School

Well it only took me like 4 weeks to look at these pictures. It was really hard for me as my baby started and after 17 years of having a child home with me I have been abandoned! It was really bizzare, I was really doing fine until she started crying, I lost it and tears wouldnt stop coming down my face. After 3 kids starting school and none of them crying for my last one to start I actually didnt know what to do! The teacher looked at me like I was insane and as if this was my only child! Oh well, I'm a mom and I cry when they cry, it hurts my heart. here are a few pics...enjoy

Here she is getting ready

Here is her principal. We love her!

And here is her teacher

and back home safe and sound with her big sisiter!

Mattel Apologizes to China Over Recalls

Mattel Inc. tried to save face Friday with Chinese officials, taking the blame for the recent recalls of millions of Chinese-made toys as it strives to mend a strained relationship with the nation that makes most of its toys and fattens its profit.

The world's largest toy maker sent a top executive to personally apologize to China's product safety chief, Li Changjang, as reporters and company lawyers looked on.

"Mattel takes full responsibility for these recalls and apologizes personally to you, the Chinese people, and all of our customers who received the toys," Thomas A. Debrowski, Mattel's executive vice president for worldwide operations, told Li.

The unusual move reflects how invested El Segundo-based Mattel has become in China.

"Mattel certainly must have been facing some pressure to do that, because you can't imagine why they would be trying to push this story along any further," said Eric Johnson, a professor of operations management at Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College.

"Mattel is worried that the Chinese government is going to make it difficult for them to produce, put their costs up and hurt their stock price," Navarro said.

(I totally believe, me SANDY ANTON this was all on purpose to hurt our children!!! look at the rise of ADD/ADHD in past 20 years!!! the company Matel and others could care less about us..its all about their greedy selves and profit. I for one will buy NOTHING from china any more. America needs to wake up!)

Company stock has fallen from the mid-$23 level following the first recall in early August to a low of $20.97 on Sept. 10. Shares have since rebounded, increasing 38 cents, or 1.6 percent, to $23.94 on Friday.

Manufacturing toys in China has helped Mattel and other U.S. companies lower manufacturing and labor costs, helping boost profits.

"It's unfortunate China got the bad rap, but I also think China needs to pay attention a little more carefully to their standards so they comply with American standards," McRoberts said.

More than 500,000 Toys Recalled for High Lead Levels

Among the recalled toys, all made in China, were key chains with words like "truth" or "believe" engraved on them that have "high levels" of lead, the commission said in a statement.

Dollar General Merchandising Inc (DG) sold 192,000 of the key chains for $1, the CPSC said.

Lead is toxic in large amounts. A 4-year-old Minneapolis boy died of lead poisoning in 2006 when he swallowed a small charm. In smaller amounts, lead can cause developmental delays and behavioral problems.

This latest round of recalls follows a summer in which millions of toys from Mattel Inc (MAT), RC2 Corp (RCRC) and others were pulled from shelves worldwide due to lead paint.

The latest recalls were announced as the acting head of the CPSC, Nancy Nord, was to testify at a Senate subcommittee hearing on a bill to reform the agency and require it to take tougher measures to protect children.

Also recalled were about 150,000 journals, bookmarks and bracelets made by Antioch Publishing. The bracelets contain high levels of lead, while the paint used on the journal bindings and bookmark clips has excessive lead.

There was also lead in the paint on portions of 79,000 Pirates of the Caribbean Medallion Squeeze Lights imported by Energizer Holdings' Eveready Battery Co. and 63,000 plastic Frankenstein tumblers sold by Dollar General.

Paint on mirrors in about 15,000 children's room decorating sets made by CKI Toys had excessive levels of lead, as did wooden alphabet and math block wagons sold by KB Toys Inc, the safety commission said.

Boy Scout Badges Pulled Over Lead Paint Concerns

DALLAS —  The Boy Scouts of America said Thursday that a painted, plastic badge commonly worn by some of its youngest scouts is being voluntary recalled after a test revealed high levels of lead in the paint.

As many as 1.6 million of the badges, which are made in China, may be affected by the recall.

"We're doing everything we can," Boy Scouts spokesman Gregg Shields said.

The plastic totem badge is given to Cub Scouts, who are usually between the ages of 7 and 8. The badge has a yellow and blue border, includes a picture of a bear and wolf and reads "Progress Toward Ranks."

No illnesses have been reported, Shields said.

The unacceptable amounts of lead were discovered during a testing of Boy Scouts products, Shields said. He did not know the level of lead the test revealed.

The recall came the same day that the Consumer Product Safety Commission announced recalls of more than a half-million other Chinese-made products because they contain dangerous levels of lead.

The badges are supplied by Kahoot Products Inc., based in Roswell, Ga. The company is calling for a voluntary recall of the badge and asking parents to take them away from their children.

Kahoot has supplied the badge to the Boy Scouts, based in Irving, Texas, for about eight years, Shields said. About 20,000 kits containing the badges have been sold each year since, he said.

The Boys Scouts are continuing to use Kahoot, which supplies 39 products to the organization. Shields said Kahoot has "acted responsibly in initiating this voluntary recall."

Shields said the badge was the first of 94 Boy Scouts products tested to come back positive for lead. More products are being tested, he said.

A LIST KIDS

Just a quickie postie.. ah my cute girls went with me the other day to shoot cali's senior pics. they love to ride horses especially my oldest! so i had to show them off!!!