louise on the left (coast)

The year, 1998.    My daughter is one year's old.    I'm a first time mom of 37 with a bad case of laryngitis on the day of this segment. I was still reeling from having nearly lost my child to a danger I never realized existed until my child walked into the kitchen, pointed to her mouth, her eyes rolled back in her head, she fell to the floor and stopped breathing. This video is about the day (one of them) everything changed.

Okay, didn't write this myself, however a subject near and dear to my heart.   New state law will require schools to stock EpiPens for students with allergies Orange County schools are gearing up to supply the  epinephrine  auto-injectors used to treat anaphylaxis . BY DEEPA BHARATH  / STAFF WRITER  Published: Dec. 16, 2014 Updated: 7:47 p.m. Juliet Larsen was only 15 months old when she took one bite of peanut butter. In less than two minutes, her heart stopped beating. “We took her to the hospital,” Louise Larsen, her mother, said about that day in 1997. “We almost lost our daughter.” Louise Larsen has been one of the most vocal advocates on social media and through her blog,  parentsofkidswithaseverepeanutallergy.blogspot.com , to make EpiPens mandatory in public schools. The devices are essentially auto-injectors that use epinephrine to quickly treat anaphylaxis, a severe, whole-body allergic reaction to allergens such as food, drugs or insect bite

Thank you Asami Photography for shooting me for Zooey Magazine . I am beyond excited to have my story featured in the next edition of Zooey about having a child with a life-threatening allergy to peanuts . Juliet and I had an amazing shoot today at our very humble abode from under, as you can see here, very blue skies.

I tried to capture, in images alone, the dizzying, whirlwind sights, sounds, smells and tastes of last summer's visit to the Orange County Fair , July 13, 2013. I took it all down a few months ago, but by popular demand (by a few strangers who said they wanted to view it, again) I am reposting this blog post in it's entirety.   Today (a year ago to the very week) I am reposting along with ALL the photos I took a year ago in this post! There are many, many below.   Happy viewing! Here's your serving of carnival signage, a vast array of fried and grilled fare, the creative fair-fashionistas, skin-ink to explosions,  neon accessories, noise, movement, smoke, ringing, buzzing, swirling fair in motion. Endless happy faces.  Most of them were there with family members, some on the arm of a love (or two).  And everyone was truly  engaged in experiencing the fair -- their own way.  photobomb