Happy Birthday, Dad!!! Planning for his surprise 60th birthday party started about ten years ago. Nicki and I were both in college and in no way able to plan a surprise 50th birthday for our dad, Rich Dembski. Last year, we set a date for dad’s 60th birthday party and held off all other commitments for the weekend of August 24th. During the last year, we planned and listened. We planned a lot of fun surprises and special moments, especially some that echoed the celebrations from his last big birthday party at age 30. We listened each time dad told a story about someone from his past. When we heard…

Last weekend I went to my third Spring Carnival as a Carnegie Mellon University Alumnae. Just like last year, Friday was sunny and clear while Saturday was cold and rainy. I spent Friday morning at the Buggy race where I shot a short film for Syncopated Pictures. Since I took so many photos of Sweepstakes last year, I thought I’d mix it up with a video. Go on over and watch it. So this year I wanted to focus on the Mobot Race. Unfortunately I didn’t get there early enough to get a good spot since the Buggy races were delayed due to injuries (yikes!). When I did make my…

A whole decade (over 1/3 of my life) with one lucky guy. That’s right. 10 years ago today, I started dating Ryan. It started with a few casual after-class dates–the kind that aren’t really dates–when you are hungry after class and have to eat somewhere that accepts your campus meal plan. After shopping with my roommate, I returned to my dorm room to a rose and a thoughtfully written card. Then, I was unable to find Ryan for 7 hours!!!! Later, I learned that he was hiding (perhaps from fear of rejection?), but I found him and never let go. I’m so happy to be married to my best friend…

Are you tired of clear, crisp, sharp, high resolution images?  Well, neither am I! But I have been dying to take some of those wonderful plastic, blurry, soft focus photos from a camera like Diana.  A Diana camera is a film camera that wikipedia can define in fewer words than I can.  Most of the time, I’m trying to avoid blurry, soft focus, distorted photos, but with photos from a Diana camera, the imperfections becomes part of the appeal of the image.  Luckily, Photojojo! has started selling this retro Diana lens made for DSLR camera bodies.  So I bought one and I’m planning some art projects for my slower season…