Sizzle

Slammin' busy!

Excited to proof this session this week:


Had a great time proofing this session last week:


Had a great time shooting this session yesterday:

Oh so close!

Three weeks.

THREE WEEKS.

Those of you who know what I'm talking about KNOW WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT.

HARRY POTTER MOVIE 1, PART 1!!!!!!!

I've been eyeballing the trailers on YouTube, but today saw one of TV for the first time and squealed.

One of those ear-splitting squeals. Louder than Jonas Brothers and Justin Bieber fans COMBINED. Ok, let's be honest. If you wanted to throw in New Kids on the Block fans, too, I was probably STILL louder than all three of those fan bases screaming and squealing all at once.

No joke.



I'm not a late night person, but on Nov. 18/19, I'll be making an exception. I'll take an afternoon nap so I can be awake for the midnight showing. :)

I think I'm going to go with a client here in town who's also a BIG fan .... if anyone else wants to join us, hollar, because I'd love to have others geek out with me! :)

But for the time being, I think it's safe to start COUNTING DOWN THE DAYS!!!!

Crossover

Some, but not all, of these are on the Heartland Photography Blog. Those not yet on the blog will make an appearance over the next few weeks. :)


Mr. M was a better camper this year than last during family portraits!


Bre's a smokin' hot senior who rocked out this awesome location I found. :)


Gotta just love Drew + Jillian. Just gotta.

Monogamous relationships

I was getting a cup of tea with a girlfriend this week. And our conversation turned to our stylist. When I moved here, I asked a friend of Erik's where she got her hair cut, because she had a really great cut. Fortunately for me, she shared. And I <3 Nikki, my girl.

Now that I have a downtown meeting space, though, I'm sort of feeling pulled. I'm going to do some photos for the salon upstairs, and sort of feel like I should have a reciprocal relationship with them. But I'm a one-stylist kind of girl (please tell me there are others of you out there that feel this way!).

I'm actually not even joking about having a monogamous relationship with a hairdresser. When I lived in the southeast corner of the state, I'd drive back home to have the same lady cut my hair.

In fact, I can count on ONE HAND the number of people who I have made a conscious choice to let cut my hair (this excludes cuts as a little kiddo). Seriously. I am just not quite brave enough to try a new stylist. I have such fine, thin hair ... well, it ain't easy to get a great cut. I'd prefer to have someone be familiar with my crazy hair and just keep going with them.

Back to my tea talk with my friend. I mentioned this, and she gave this big sigh ... and agreed. We don't really want to "cheat" on our stylist. Or even go elsewhere, then go sheepishly back and deny that anyone else has taken scissors to our hair.

Isn't that silly?

Happy Sunday!

On the road ...

IN FUNK NEBRASKA!!!!!!


When I went to Nebraska for Jillian and Drew's engagement session, I drove through FUUUNK NEBRASKA!!!!! I stopped long enough to take a photo. and that's about it.

As you can see from the population numbers ... there probably wasn't all that much to see. ;) (apologies to any/all Funk residents out there that might be reading this!).

Jumping for joy :)

Woah.

It's 10:25 p.m. on Wednesday as I sit to write this. I'll schedule this to post in the morning, but I want to capture how I am right now.

Speechless.

In Awe.

Shocked.

Jubilant.

All at the same time.

I want to scream from the top of our roof. And I want to haul another bed into our room so I can jump from bed to bed in a victory lap.

But let me back up. Back in July, I signed a lease on a meeting space downtown for Heartland. I felt it was the right move. But it was still scary. I needed a place to meet with people. In addition to meeting with potential wedding clients there, I have also started to proof portrait sessions in this space. It's a work in progress. I am still learning a lot.

Over the years as a photographer, I'd be disappointed when someone would order an 8x10 as their largest photo. I know how amazing large photos are on the walls. They're so rockin' out of this world ... yet so few people get them.

Until now. With proofing in person, I can show people exactly how big (or small) an 8x10 is. And tonight, a portrait client walked away with ordering a 24x36 gallery wrap and two 16x24 gallery wraps. HECKS YEAH!!!!!

And earlier today, my parents came in to select a 36x48 gallery wrap for their house ... it's been a big wrap day around here today!

After I got over my initial shock, then excitement, my next thought was thankfulness. Seriously. It's so easy to ask God for help when things are crummy. And I know I do. But things are so totally amazing right now, and I want to remember to thank him for really rocking it out.

So this is my reminder ..... to myself. BE THANKFUL.

Backfilling

First off, we pushed the rocks back.


Esse, of course, had to investigate.


Our associate pastor, Fr. Peter, was really excited to learn we were doing dirt work. And wanted to help. More power to him! :)


We put down a bit of weed barrier. Then scooted some of the rocks back.

BEFORE:


AFTER:


Of course, we'll want to add some more rocks, but for the time being, it's a big improvement.

I'm actually surprised, but I really notice the visual difference, even just driving up to the house.

Of course, now if I would just never see water again in the basement, I'd be an even happier camper. *sigh*

Uncle Paul

A few weeks ago, everyone was in Wichita for family portraits. Including Paul. Who met his nephew for the first time. :)


Cute, aren't they?

It's in the genes!

Over the summer, we celebrated Grandpa's 90th birthday! Crazy talk!!!!


The whole gang. Gramps, Erik and I, my parents and some close friends of the family. :)


Me and my old man. :)

Strawberry patch

LOOK!!!!! I found this in the garden just last week! I was stunned. Especially since our strawberry patch was mostly flattened this summer.


Shocking.

Now, this could be the last strawberry action in the patch for awhile .... because, well, the utility company had to dig up part of my garden so it could take care of stuff. :( But there are some entertaining photos to come from that.

A few more kitty photos

Our cat has a knack for losing her collar. Granted, it's a "break away" collar. And it means she didn't get strangled when she got caught up, but a few times every year, we have to get her a new one.


Erik came with me to the pet store to get the tag ... and decided she needed a little Powercat love to go with her purple collar (which I get at Dillon's, because they seem to be cheapest there).

Just no one tell her it's in the shape of a bone, ok?


Kitty likes our new bedside tables. She fits under the one on Erik's side of the bed. She seems to like to hide out. Like we can't see her if she's under there. Sheesh.


Last one is a nice, graphical photo of a cat nap in the afternoon sun

A little kitchen decor

More than a week ago, I was in Hobby Lobby and decided I was going to add some photos to the kitchen.


TA-DA!!!! :)

It was such a narrow little strip of wall, and I figured a vertical arrangement would be good.

Just some 4x6 photos that have been hanging out on our fridge for years. Maybe things will stop falling off the fridge now! The photos aren't art, but they're us. Our families. Our life. So why not display it?


An artistic addition isn't really "new" to the kitchen. A few years ago, I found this print in an art show. We purchased it, and for a lack of anywhere else to put it, I hung it in the kitchen. Because I like it. And I like being in the kitchen. Does a girl need a better reason?

9 months ... you are what you eat

Nine months ago yesterday, I embarked on this crazy journey. One that involved no yeast, sugar, honey, artificial sweetener, mushrooms, and a host of other things. Some of the most bizarre include raspberry, basil, pomegranates and pumpkin.

Yes, I said pumpkin. With Halloween bearing down upon us and Thanksgiving right around the corner, no pumpkin. This includes pumpkin pie blizzards (well, there IS sugar in that anyway, so even sans pumpkin, I should stay away), no pumpkin spiced latte-ish drinks (but again with the sugar), and most assuredly NO PUMPKIN PIE.

I'll admit. I'm a bit of a cheater. In all of the 9 months, I've probably spent about 1 month being a cheater, eating things I shouldn't, going on binges. Because my taste buds needed a little somethin' somethin ... ya know?

Raspberry, basil, pomegranates and pumpkin are all things my body really freaks out over, so in the interest of a pleasant holiday season, I'll really have to stand strong.

On the flip side of all of this, there are certainly some positive sides to these last 9 months. I've learned how to make homemade yogurt, been introduced to couscous, began cooking with more beans, actually made a recipe involving lentils and fallen in love with quinoa.

But NINE MONTHS????!?!?!?! Has it really been that long? It seems as if I've been doing this nutty food thing forever and at the same time that I just started.

The bottom line is that when I avoid things my body doesn't process well, I FEEL AMAZING!!!! So yeah, some days it really stinks-o-rama. My taste buds get bored sometimes, but on most of days ... it's pretty darn good.

Upcoming ...

Photos to be posted on the Heartland blog later this week and next week.

I have a new previewing/proofing system for portraits here in Salina, and don't post previews on the Heartland Blog until we've proofed them. But I am just loving these photos! :)

Do you see what I see?

Do you see it?


See it now?

The neighborhood rabbits have taken a liking to our patio. I don't blame them, but they are audacious little boogers.

Erik even directly hit one with a seed pod the other day, and it just sat there. They basically don't have much fear of us. Little vixens boogers.

Random summer kitty

I'm not sure why our cat likes to sleep with her face on the window opener. It doesn't look particularly comfortable.


A few days it was nice enough to eat outside this summer, though. :) Usually we have the table cover on. And usually Esse isn't on dining tables. But it's outside and there was no food yet, so we were a bit lax.

hot, hot, hot

Check out how warm it read on our thermometer this summer!!!! Erik thinks it wasn't exactly accurate, but regardless, I don't like seeing those numbers.

College buddies :)

(me, Jeanel, Nicole)

My friend and college roommate, Jeanel, lives in Uganda, but returns to the U.S. about once a year. She works for Mango Tree, a NGO in Uganda. I miss her like crazy, so when she's in the area, I make time to catch up. We met up at Nicole's place for a fun afternoon.

Garden, 2010

Ok, so here's some photos from MUCH earlier this summer. Before we didn't get any rain.


Overall.


Closeup of a pepper (question to you photo people .... what setting did I use for this? I've given it as a tip before!).


The tomatoes look pretty good. I had some heirloom plants, and they're really tasty. I got a 'mixed' seed packet, and there were no wild-colored tomatoes. Oh well, maybe next year!




Erik's proud of his mater crop this year.


This was our "cucumber" plant that turned out to be a melon plant. Oops. Happy accident, but I think I'll give this another go next year.

Portraits galore! :)

It's fall and I'm incredibly blessed to have a pretty full next month. It's family portrait time! :)


This is from a recent engagement session. Wedding will be in the central part of the state, but I was really glad the couple wanted to come to Salina for engagement portraits. Leaves a bit more time in my schedule when I don't have to travel to take the portraits (which I LOVE doing, by the way).

I'm uber excited that my partner in crime, Mike, will be taking portraits of my extended family tomorrow. This will include everyone from Baby Theo to Grandpa Benny. Honestly, I've had a few extended families this year and wasn't really sure of the allure, but we're all at new stages of life ... we have our own families and it'd be nice to have a beautiful portrait of everyone. The last time we had family pix was at our wedding. The time before was my sister's wedding. This time we'll all be in more 'civillian' clothing, so it'll probably have a bit longer of a shelf life. Well, nephew Theo will give it away because he'll continue to grow, but since he's so cute, we'll forgive him. ;)