Michelle Bellofatto Photography

It's been quiet around here...

It's been quiet around here.  Lot's of things happening in my life, too many to mention.  This is why I have taken a bit of time off. 

Just now getting back into the swing of things.  And it feels good.

Admittedly, I went from the mom who documented EVERYTHING to the one who's been letting those special moments pass her by.  Life.  What can I say.  Sometimes I'm living my days just trying to keep my head above water. 

Having said that, I made it a point to take some pix of Mason at the tender age of 7 (ahem... and a half).  Meant to capture these last June but I was running six months behind. 

My strategy to get Mason to actually agree to take these pictures was to invite his very best buddy along.  Overall, it turned out fairly well.  Only, his buddy was way more into getting his picture taken.  LOL. 

Love these boys!!  I have a feeling they will remain friends for a lifetime.

 

Happy 4th!

Happy 4th!  I took this image with my iPhone during a recent visit to New York City. 

Admittedly, I've become a bit obsessed with my new phone and all it's capabilities.

It was my 4th (no pun intended) year in a row photographing families on the east coast.  I've grown a bit attached to the little ones and their parents and really look forward to seeing them each time I visit.  There are plenty of pix to share.  Guess I had better get to work!

Have a safe and fun 4th of July!

 

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all the tremendous mother's in the world. 

Being a mother is the hardest job I've ever had.  And of course, the most rewarding.  I keep telling Mason, "I'm going to miss you when you grow up."  And I truly will.  I'll miss his sweet voice, his innocence, his incredibly tender heart, his little boy body that I can still fit in my lap and all the snuggle time. 

For now I'll cherish the days, hours and minutes with my little man. 

Learning to become an underachiever :)

Tonight I'm sitting at my desk responding to emails and writing a list of To-Do's.  In a way, it's kind of funny that I'm making a list, but not actually accomplishing anything on the list. 

I used to be a bit of an overachiever.  A perfectionist to the core.  Now in my 40's, the bigger picture of life has become clearer.  I find it much easier to overlook the laundry that needs to be put away, or the floors that need to be swept or the dishes piling up in the sink.  Deep down it still bothers me that I can't do everything perfectly all of the time, but the difference is that it doesn't bother me enough to actually do something about it.

Well, I just felt the need to check in with the ole blog tonight.  I'll leave you with a few pool pix from our Arizona adventure.

 

Thanks Mindy & Scott for havng us!  We loved seeing all of you.  xo

Week four of "procrastinating less" in 2011

I've been procrastinating on writing this post so it is a bit later than planned.  Ironic, but true.  Even thought about waiting to post tomorrow, but then technically it would have been week five instead of four and that would have been really unacceptable. 

There is a sense of sarcasm in my writing.  Humor and sarcasm are what get me through life, especially when I fall short of my personal goals. 

Ok so last weekend we took a little road trip to Arizona to visit our friends.  We had a fantastic time and experienced all sorts of weather.  Sun, clouds, rain, cold and even a little snow. 

I'll leave you with a few snaps of my boy Mason playing in the snow.  We just had to stop and play on our way home.  Snow is so unbelievably rare in these parts of California.  We played until our fingers and toes were numb and then marveled at the cup of snow Mason took home as a souvenir.

Note to self- get to work on that website and stop procrastinating!!!

Week three of "procrastinating less" in 2011

I'm going to be honest and say I have fallen behind on my website work and have BIG plans to get back on track next week.  It's a bit disappointing, but once again life has gotten in the way.  I'm not going to beat myself up this time.  Instead, I'll re-focus and get back to work once we return from our mini vacay to the cactus filled state of Arizona.  Ya!

Sometimes life's responsibilities can get in the way of our fun.  I've noticed I'm most happy with I'm doing creative work.  I'm throwing out a little challenge to you.  Take a moment and think about what kinds of things make you happy or add a little fun to your life.  Do it.  It'll be good for you.  :-)

Yesterday I took Mason and our neighbor buddy to the New Children's Museum in downtown San Diego.  The boys had a fabulous time.  Brought my camera along and captured these images.

Gotta love the fake smile and annoyed looks on their faces.

 

Week two of "procrastinating less" in 2011

Ok so for the most part I'm keeping up with my end of the bargain.  Blogging for the second week in a row, keeping myself accountable to meeting my website launch date.  I really hate failure.  As I type this I keep wanting to post the prospective launch date for my new website, but then what if I don't make it and several more months passes by and I have that heavy burden hanging over my head of why didn't I put the time into doing something so important for my business.  (please excuse the very long, run-on sentence)

I feel a bit like I'm having this conversation with myself, but it's kind of fun and almost like I'm playing a game.

Anyhoo, I really must go now.  I have a website to work on.  Tee hee.  I crack myself up.

Leaving you with a few images from our summer trip to New York in 2010.

Be back next week!  xo

Procrastinating Less in 2011

Hello?  Anyone? 

So today begins the first day of work on my new website.  As stated in my previous post, I have set a goal to "procrastinate less" in 2011.  I felt I needed to make that goal more specific so I'm taking on the daunting, yet very exciting project of working on my long awaited website.  I can't even begin to tell you how "long awaited" it really is, but what really matters is that I AM going to check it off my to-do list very, very soon.  Yay me!

Ever notice how putting something in writing makes it more official?  That is the plan here. 

In fact, I'm going to check in with my sadly neglected blog on a weekly basis and post updates on my website progress.  How's that for committed?!  I'm not even sure anyone ever really visits my blog, but just incase there are one, possibly two peeps who are reading this, just know you can support me in this "procrastinate less" process by leaving me a blog comment with words of encouragement.  Something along the lines of, "go Michelle,"  "you can do it," "i'm your one and only fan!"

Enough said, I'm going to leave you (my one fan) with a pic or two of Mason taken a few days ago.  A friend of mine made a good point after seeing a few of these "bath" pix.  She said something like, take as many as you can now because he probably won't let you anywhere near the bath a year or so from now.  So true and so sad. 

A rat named Mason

For the past few years Mason has decided a homemade costume would be much more exciting than a store bought one. 

So this is what he/we came up with for this year.  I keep waiting for him to want to be something scary or truly fierce, like Batman or the Hulk, but deep down I'm elated that he's still (for now) choosing something sweet and innocent. 

Our rat turned out a bit more like Mickey Mouse, but of course I would never have told Mason because he loved it and that's all that matters.

Merry Christmas!

Hello blog readers.  I hope you're enjoying this glorious day.  I'm proud to say, this is my 100th post!  How appropriate for it to happen on Christmas Day. 

Thank you to all of you that made my year brighter, more fulfilled, and more blessed.  I owe the growth of my business to you.

I'll leave you with this collage of images of my sweet boy Mason.

Looking forward to seeing your smiling faces in 2010.  God bless you.  xo