Grandpa Santa!

Every once in a while your father in law makes you proud.  This is one of those times, so I'm reposting some pictures he took!

This guy has got it figured out too.  Not only has he been doing Santa for years, it's been a way for him and his family to not use credit cards at all for Christmas!  The money he makes goes directly to presents.  (And now I'm a benefactor of that too!) ;)

Great photos too, from Selah Studios too!  (I can say that, because she's in Texas and not California!) :)

Proud of ya Grandpa G!  Love you too, man.

Peace,

-marc

Baby Blackwell #2!

If any of you are friends with Stacey on Facebook, you already know.  Or, if any of you are friends with us in real life, you already know...

Stacey and I are expecting Baby Blackwell #2!!

Yup!  We are building the Empire, ladies and gentlemen!  Only 7 more to go!  Just kidding ... who knows how many.  But here - I'll answer some of the questions you may have...

Didn't you just have one? (aka, was this planned?)  Yes, yes we did!  Thanks for the reminder.  The babes will be 21 months apart.  We want to have our children close together for a number of reasons, so this works out perfectly!

Do you know if it's a boy or girl yet?  Nope!  Stacey will be 13 weeks along and you don't find out the gender until 18 weeks!  I'm crossing my fingers for a boy. ;)

What are you going to name him?  Him you say?  Well, we have a few names picked out, but we'll keep that under wraps until he/she arrives.

How the heck are you gonna handle 2? Good question!  But I've learned after handling one, if I can do that, then I can do anything!  I'm Super Dad and Stacey, Super Mom.  We aren't worried any more than we should be and are excitedly planning the future of our growing family!

We are going to the Doc later today for an extensive ultra sound and checkup, but everything so far has been great!  The babe has a steady heartbeat, and he/she is making Stacey hungry, nauseous and tired, which is a good sign!

I just wanted to share!  I've been meaning to for a while, but we just figured the online world would figure out in due time.  This is the time!  :)

Cheers!
-marc

Zoe Marcia on Saturday

If you're one of the 69 people who have watched this video, you're lucky! I posted this on November 14th to Youtube.

Life has been crazy, as always. Like my mother used to say "If it's not one thing, it's another." I didn't really know what that meant until being married and havin' a baby! But Zoe and I are doing well, staying at home and takin' care of the fort. I'm really settling into the whole stay at home dad thing. Dishes? No problem. Cook dinner? No worries! Do the laundry (ugh) but ok! :)

Peace,

-marc

Quarter Life Crisis

Doesn't every 26 y/o who has a blog at some point create new post with the title "Quarter Life Crisis"?  While I can't afford to go out and buy a new ferrari (cuz we had to purchase a new fridge ... that took all my car money away!) I can tell the world what the hell is going on inside my crazy brain.

I want it all.  I want to do it all, rather.  And I want it all too.  I want to shoot music videos.  I want to create an album ... yeah, like a music album!  I want to be a professional painter.  I want to move to Australia.  I want to own the Canon 5D Mark II with dozens of lenses of my choice (that will happen one day soon).  I want an iMac, a new external and internal hard-drive.  How can a person focus?  How can an ARTIST focus?

I've heard "pick one!", but why?  Why do I have to be just a headshot photographer?  How boring is that?  I wanna shoot weddings, and newborns, and sexy models too!  I want to paint - and I want to show those paintings to the world!  One day I dream of my artwork being showcased in the Getty Museum just down the road...that's not bad, right?  Or is it bad for business?  Am I confusing my market?  Who IS my market?

I mean, we're good.  Zoe's full, and content, with a crib she's happily sleeping in under a roof.  We have a fridge with food in it, and I'm typing on a pretty sick computer.  We've got a nice car that gets us to Target where we can always buy more toilet paper ... so why do I worry?  Honestly, my wife brings in most of the money for the time being, but honestly, I bring in a significant amount too.  So ... so what?

Ha... I don't even know what I'm getting at.  I just finished a book about Zen and just being.  And I am ... just being.  I do what I want, when I want.  I even live streamed a painting the other day.  Does that mean that I'm going to put down my camera and only paint for financial gain?  No.  Even though I've thought about it.

I've cut out several vices in my life that have plagued my creativity and productivity and I think that's where all this extra energy and ideas are coming from.

I don't care if I tweet too much, or if I Facebook too much.  Even though, sometimes I wonder if I do.  But I can't worry about if I'm doing something wrong all the time - that's a waste of time!  I opened up a tumblr account the other day.  Why?  I dunno - I wanted a place to post my iPhone pics ... even though I'm a part of The Best Camera project and Twitpic.  I'm not even confused! ... I'm just presented with so many awesome options that I want them all!

And like I said, I'm only 26.  Thankfully.  I've got A LOT to do and hopefully (knock on wood) I've got a lot of time to do it.

I'm going to start calling myself a visual artist.  I photograph.  I paint.  I draw.  I make websites and flash designs.

What now?

Peace,
-marc

Zoe Turns 1, Dad Turns Old!

I know, I know.  I've been leaving you hanging.  Every single day you've been getting online to see something, a picture, a video, a simple sentence about Zoe's birthday - and I've been leaving you hanging.  I know, I feel the pressure.  So let me make it up to you by posting a cute video of us on the carousel.

Let me explain that Stacey did not hold back for this party.  It was Zoe's FIRST birthday party ever!  We had every excuse to make it as fun and elaborate as we wanted.  It was like our wedding all over again.  Weekends were filled with shopping ... which we won't get into - but I'll just say that it turned out BEAUTIFUL and everyone had a great time.  We had our awesome photographer, Emily Photo, photograph the day so I won't even bother you with the very few iPhone pics I took.  I will share the link as soon as we get it.  DON'T WORRY, OK!  I WILL SHARE THE PICS!  ;)

Um ... what else is new ... Zoe had her first year check up today, and all is well.  She's advanced, thanks to me.  ;)  JK LOL.  ;) 

Also, big congrats to the Winn family for their successful entrance to the cutest little boy I've seen since Jaxon, Elijah Michael Winn!  He's sooooooo cute.  Can't wait to meetchya little guy!

Alright - the laundry is folded, I gotta go pick Stacey up from work.  Anyone wanna donate a car?

Much love!

-marc

Zoe in the bookstore

Do You Rememba, Life in Septemba!

Recently I purchased a remote controlled helicopter. I believe my inner child is now complete. I haven't had this much fun since my brother got me a water powered car when we were little.


Stacey likes to shop, and I need to find a way to entertain myself. Here's one time we didn't get kicked out. ;)

Shout out to Sister Suz! Much love to you and Eli!

Peace,
-marc