To my fellow iPad/iPhone users...

I will change your life today.

Meet Handbrake.

Tim and Charleen showed it to me while I was in Sacramento.

It's an EPIC and FREE program that allows you to rip any DVD into an mp4 format that you can then place in iTunes to sync onto your iPad, iPhone, or appleTV.

It is AWESOME and soooooo easy to use.

Just download it at www.handbrake.fr. Open it up and drop the program in your applications folder. Start the program. Then you have to download the VLC program (it will prompt you after you've installed and opened Handbreak. I downloaded the 64-bit Mac OSX VLC, 3rd one down.)

Then you put in the DVD you want to burn. Click "Source", click on the DVD, select "Open", then choose the format you want to rip for, (I do iPad) and then just click "Start".



For someone who travels a ton and does everything on his iPad and hates the idea of having to pay the iTunes store to watch digital iPad movies I already own on DVD (or could rent on Netflix) this is the awesomest thing ever. I've already started queuing up all my favorite movies ever on Netflix so I can rip em for my iPad. Yayyyyyyy!!!

You're welcome!

Sacramento!

After the wedding brunch on Saturday, I rented a car and drove up to Sacramento to check in on Tim and Charleen and their boys Leo and Oliver, my little cousin-nephews.



It just happened to also be Charleen's 39th birthday, so we bought her some birthday cake-lollipops.




And sang Happy Birthday to Mommy.



Oliver got an ice cream cone cookie.



The boys are really into animals and Planet Earth right now.

Leo: "I like deep sea creatures and saw-toothed eels and isopods and snakes."
Oliver: "I like BUNNIES!"

The boys are also really into coloring right now.

After the printer ran out of paper/ink, I took requests and drew little drawings for them to color in.

Leo, obsessed with snakes, asked for a snake.



Oliver asked for a POOPSNAKE.



(Both are really obsessed with poop right now.)

................................................

On Sunday we went to Taylor's Kitchen for brunch. The boys stayed entertained while waiting for their food by playing on their iPhones. It is crazy that 3-year-olds these days have their own iPhones.




Or maybe these boys are just spoiled.



WE WANT FOOOOOD!



Leo loves bacon.



I love breakfast burritos.



Oliver loves to barely eat.



After breakfast I thought I'd spoil them more and take them toy shopping.

If you ever want little kids to like you and chant "UNCLE DENNIS IS THE BEST" so that the whole restaurant can hear, just tell them you want to take them to Toys R' Us.



Correction: Oliver: "Toys R' POOP R' Us!"



I used to looooove Toys R Us when I was little.



Both boys wanted stuffed animals.

Leo found himself a snake and some hot wheels.



Ollie found himself a bunny and was riding it around the store.



Both were quite happy I think.



Yay spoiled boys.





And then I drove back to San Francisco and flew home to NYC. Which is where I am now.

You can read more about Leo and Oliver on Charleen's blog here.

Woohoo!

I hit Platinum on my flight to Vegas a couple weeks ago.

Today it's official!


-- Post From My iPhone

Doug's little sis gets married!

So I've been in SF for the past several days to photograph Doug's little sister Annie's wedding festivities.

We were staying in the wonderful Hotel Vitale, right in the Embarcadero overlooking the water.

For the girls' (there were about 12 of them) hair and makeup and general getting-ready, they booked the Circular Suite which featured an endless number of windows...



It made taking cool pictures really really easy.











Gary, the groom has three brothers. And they are all adorable.



Not as adorable as Annie's big brother though...too bad every time I pointed a camera at him he'd make some weird face or throw me a shocker...





Doug can be such a cutie when he wants to be...



They got married in a gorgeous Catholic church.




The groom's mom looked proud as ever.



And Doug and Annie's mom look radiant as well.



And all the groomboys and bridesmaids were pretty too.



Yay wedding!







The bride and groom were last to emerge from the church...



And were greeted by all their guests in trolleys.



The parents looked like fancy diplomats.



I love this wedding party shot with the streets of San Francisco rising up behind them.



Cute!



Super cute with the groom and his brothers.




Finally, it was onto the reception at the Ferry Building.



There was the usual dancing and speechgiving and laughing.








And crazyface aunts of course.



And then late night they served mini-burgers made from grass-fed beef from the groom and his brothers' cattle empire. Deeeelicious.



Thanks for hooking me up with the job Dougie!



Congrats Annie and Gary!