Lisa Roah Photography » Personal

Book {for my Dad}

Lisa Roah — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 05:08:45 +0000

I made my Dad the best present for Father’s Day this year. I finally got around to make a great book of our trip to the Dominican Republic last year. It was 60 pages full of fun snapshots and memories. He absolutely loved it, and said it was the best gift we had ever given him. Photo books make a terrific gift and preserve your memories forever – plus, you don’t have to figure out where to put them on your walls!

The first day of summer!

Lisa Roah — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 20:04:21 +0000

Here’s to the first day of summer! What are you doing this summer? Each June my kids write a list of their summer desires, and then we get some days scheduled to make sure we actually manage to cross some things off the list. Some are really easy, some require a little bit of planning on my part. This is part of the wish list so far…

Disneyland
Bonfire/smores night at the beach
SeaWorld
Slip and slide in the backyard
Legoland waterpark
Backyard movie night
Backyard cousin campout
Dance party night
Wii day
Family summer olympics
Family baseball game night
Make a lemonade/cookie stand

Two favorite images of the kids from past summers…

Happy Mother’s Day

Lisa Roah — Sun, 09 May 2010 16:58:35 +0000

Happy Mother’s Day! Jason handed me this last week out of the blue. Yes, he scribbled it in a few minutes, and it isn’t his best artwork, but it is the little things that make being a Mom so special, isn’t it? I will keep this forever. It makes me smile.

I love being a mother. I am blessed to have the best mom in the world. Today is a good day…off to go hang out with my mom.

“It’s not what we have in our life, but who we have in our life that counts.” – J.M. Laurence

Sayulita, Mexico | 2010

Lisa Roah — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 05:37:48 +0000

Sayulita?

Earlier in the year when Mark suggested we go to Sayulita for spring break with the kids and my sister’s family, I had no idea where Sayulita was. We had talked about going to Mexico, flying less than a few hours… somewhere the guys could surf every day, somewhere casual, cheap and safe, and somewhere that was still the real Mexico. A lot of Mexico right now is either dangerous or too touristy for us. I wanted to be able to speak Spanish and not have someone reply in English. Turns out Sayulita fit the bill perfectly – it is just 45 minutes north of Puerto Vallarta, and 20 minutes from Punta Mita.

After a search for a house near the beach, we found a great place with a pool a block from the beach – turns out the owner of the house (Barry Golson) wrote a book, Gringos in Paradise all about retiring/building the home. It was fabulous to read the book, and look around the house knowing how the furniture was made, where the art was purchased, and where to go eat in town. I have never eaten quite so much on vacation – we tried as many places in town as we could, not to mention muffins from the muffin lady who came to the house every morning, the tamale lady who stopped by also, the postre (dessert) lady on the street, taco carts, the empanada lady, the homemade ice cream guys on the street… thankfully my stomach handled it all nicely. (My sister’s stomach… not so much!)

Sayulita was charming in every way, and we had a fantastic trip. If you want to go somewhere close, cheap, and where you go everywhere in flip flops, shorts, or a sundress, check it out sometime. Here are some fun shots of our time there this week.

One of our favorite restaurants a block from our rental house…

Dessert from the “postre” lady…

Baseball season | Palos Verdes Little League

Lisa Roah — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 15:05:59 +0000

Oh how my boys love baseball! We have been in full swing (no pun intended ) baseball mode over here, with Jason in T-ball and Derek playing minors this year. Between both boys, we have 4 games and 2 practices this week. They are just delighted. Me not so much. Actually, to be honest, I LOVE watching the boys play and learn sports, but between practices, games, laundry and homework… well, working into the wee hours more than usual. Here are some of Derek and Jason playing, along with some of Derek’s teammates.

Walk for Water

Lisa Roah — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 05:58:28 +0000

Unfortunately, I am out of town and will miss this event, but I wanted to make sure all of you knew about it. Please go and support it if you can. Here is the link to sign up. http://www.thesamburuproject.org/donations/walk4water-march-21-2010-2/

New Year’s Resolutions

Lisa Roah — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 19:43:56 +0000

We thoroughly enjoyed our winter break! I scheduled absolutely nothing. WOW. That is a first…. we slept late on a regular basis, went to the Getty Villa, National History Museum, CA Science Center, Malibu Pier, saw tons of movies, went for bike rides, read a ton of books… so nice! Not to mention that I cleaned out all our closets, took bags of stuff to Goodwill, scheduled dentist and doctor appointments for the new year, booked a family spring break vacation to Mexico and finished my personal photo books. I am now ready to dive into 2010!

I am putting my New Year’s Goals here so that I will be accountable for actually doing them. Last year I had way too many resolutions, and didn’t prioritize the important ones enough. This year, I am just making 2-3, and keeping it simple.

Personal –

1. Run 3 miles 3x a week. (With the goal of doing the Nike Half-Marathon in October.)

2. Spend more quality time with my husband.

3. Do our personal family photo books for 2009. (Yay! I just finished 2008!)

Business –

1. Finish my website and marketing materials.

2. Outsource/Hire someone to do my accounting and help with album design.

3. Finalize my client site for online proofing and payments.

Enjoy the week!

Lisa Roah — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 06:56:34 +0000

Hope you are all enjoying sleeping a little later, eating a little more, and loving on the kids before they go back to school! Mark and I took a spontaneous road trip to Malibu yesterday… J. Paul Getty Villa and Malibu Pier with the kids. Back to reality on Monday.

Happy Birthday to my husband.

Looking like Christmas…

Lisa Roah — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 07:58:08 +0000

The kids picked out a really tall thick tree this year – Derek loved it because the top was perfect for the star, but when we got it home, it wouldn’t even fit! We made it work – same with the fact that I apparently forgot that 2 light strands stopped working last year, and I didn’t replace them. By the time we were organized, we decided to just use with the remaining working light strand. OK, but not quite what I had in mind. This year, the tree was subtle and demure… wait until next year!

A few of our favorite ornaments… each year, I buy ornaments that have meaning for that year. This year, the year he discovered surfing, Mark got a surfboard ornament. Derek got a starfish, and Jason got a golf cart to remind us of our Dominican Republic trip.

Merry Christmas!

Lisa Roah — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 07:00:07 +0000

This is the photo from our Christmas card this year – I had high hopes for an actual photo session with my boys while we were in the Dominican Republic, but they wanted absolutely no part of that. Luckily, while we were on vacation this summer on the Oregon coast, I saw this “Christmas wall” where the kids were very excited to take a photo. Always good to have back up plans.

Have a wonderful holiday! We have Christmas Eve at the in-laws, Christmas morning back at our house, and Christmas Day night at my parents. Lots of food to be consumed and presents to unwrap!