And the winner is ....

The number of people asking me about wedding shoes is UNREAL! Frequently, friends e-mail and ask if I've resolved my wedding shoe angst.

While Erik and I were in Kansas City last week to hang with his parents, I took a few hours to go shoe shopping with his mom and my sister. None of us girls are shoppers, so the two hour excursion is a record for us all!

Without further ado, here's the winner:


I can't guarantee I am totally done with shoe shopping, but I have something I can live with for the wedding. IF I happen to find something else I might like more, then I'll be able to choose!

Oh, and on a side note, when I was getting a better photo of THE SHOE, I found another possibility! UGH! Why am I so indecisive????

Reflections on tornadoes

Watching the news coverage, reading the stories, and especially looking at the still photos from the tornadoes over the last few days is more than a little difficult.

I found myself in tears over this morning's paper, barely able to read.

I've never been in a tornado. I've never lost life nor limb to a tornado, but I'm still deeply moved by the people and places who are in the path of these storms ...

About a year ago, I headed to Greensburg with EMS responders from Hays to help in the aftermath (the Greensburg link is photos from the Wichita Eagle; I didn't take those images). Words will never to justice to the experience, nor will the images I captured. To write the story, a few of my coworkers had to get me liquored up. The story won several big awards in my news organization, but truthfully, I wish I never had to write that kind of story.


The most unreal aspect of a tornado's aftermath (at least in my opinion) is the trees. Their bare limbs seem to reach and grasp at the sky, begging for mercy. It totally unnerves me to see them, and in the coverage from this week's storms, they're all over. From Greensburg in 2007:


Lastly, a self-portrait of me and the Big Well. Kristine, Robin, Chris and I stayed in a bed and breakfast right across the street in 2006 when we went to Story Corps (I'll post about that a week from today, so check back!)


It's also crazy to think Erik and I stopped in Manhattan for a few hours on Wednesday ... how crazy life is.

Oh, and if you'd like to offer assistance, here is how you may do so (according to the
Salina Journal):

• Donations may be sent to the North Central Kansas Chapter of the American Red Cross, 145 S. Broadway, P.O. Box 1633, Salina 67401. If you want the donation to be used for local storm victims, write that on the "memo" line of your check. Otherwise, donations will be used nationwide. To donate by credit card, call the local office, (785) 827-3644. Astra Banks in the cities of Chapman, Abilene, Scandia and Belleville also are accepting donations to the American Red Cross Disaster Relief fund.

• To donate to the Salvation Army's emergency disaster efforts, call 1-800-SAL-ARMY (1-800-725-2769), or donate online at www.armykettle.com. Checks may be mailed to The Salvation Army, 3637 Broadway, Kansas City, MO 64111. Donations may be earmarked for a specific use.

• People who are not Red Cross volunteers may offer their assistance by calling The Volunteer Center, (785) 823-3128.

Tornado time...

I've lived in Kansas for decades, and have (thankfully) never seen a tornado in person. We're hangin' here in KC with Erik's parents, waiting for weather to clear up so we can go home to Salina and see our cat!

We're safe and sound in the in-laws' basement.

Wants vs. needs

A big thing for me is differentiating between *wants* and *needs.*

For YEARS I've been lusting over the Canon 5D. It's a full frame digital camera, and once I saw it was about $3,000 less than when it went on the market, it went from the *want* column into the *need* column. ;-)

Sooooooo, I ordered one and it arrived in time for Saturday's wedding.

The box .....


Dad wasn't quite sure what I was ranting about "full frame" but I took this photo of him on the couch.


THEN I put the same lens on the 5D, stood in the same place and got this view.


See the difference?

I'm in love.......

What else is in my *want* column .... a BIG SHINY NEW iMac!!!!!!!

What is in YOUR *want* column??? Leave me a comment!

I heart Pete!

One of the long-standing figures of Hays is Pete Felten. He is well known for his limestone sculpting. If you've been in the Kansas state capitol, you've seen Pete's statues.

He's a kindrid spirit (a Harry Potter fan!). I also think he lives a secret life as the Pied Piper .... he has a herd of cats that follow him around like he is playing a magic flute!

I stopped by to tell him it was my last day .... and got a big hug.

He offered to show me a recently completed bathroom in the Stone Gallery.




Check out the tiling ... isn't it awesome????




The floor is made from stone-like potholders. Clever! :-)


And last, here's the toilet lid. I'm not sure where the heck you'd get one of these, but think it *might* be a candidate for our master bath makeover. ;-)

Last day at HDN

The last day at the office, the girls took me out to lunch at China Garden. Yummie! (Front: Juno, me, Kaley, Middle: Diane, Kim Back: Gayle)

Afterwards, Kaley took some photos of me and Bob .... lemme tell you about Bob.

Bob is the mascot of the Hays Daily News. He came to the HDN about 2 years ago. I pestered the publisher until I got the job of being Bob. It was nice to have kids go crazy-wild over you. Besides, now I know what it'd be like to work in Disney!

Here's me with the Bob head on (the tats are JUST a shirt!)


Then me in my Bob getup.




And Bob's booty. Plenty of kids have pulled that tail.


And my goodbye to Bob ....

In the Sal-Jo

SO, my first full day as a Salina resident was busy. Erik introduced me to the local
YMCA, where I'll start training TODAY for the swimming portion of a triathlon (I'm gonna swim, my buddy Kristine will run and Mr. Heath will bike).

I also stuck my nose into the city commission meeting. What can I say? After more than three years of covering Hays City Commission meetings, I missed them. Ok, not really, but the Salina commission was talking about water rates. I couldn't resist.

Some here in Salina are whiners about paying "conservation rates" if they use 120% more water during the summer than winter. Whatever. We survived just fine in Hays.

Commissioners seemed reluctant to offer incentives, but I wanted to encourage them to do so (they are UBER popular in Hays).

The Salina Journal reporter DID use my name, but I wasn't quoted. One quick note, I am using Erik's address as my permanent residence, BUT living with an awesome family just outside of town .... I mention this because they put addresses in the paper. On another quick note, most papers don't use family members of a staffer as a source ... I'm not sure if the reporter didn't know I'm engaged to Erik or if the info was that pertinent (I prefer to think the latter!). I am guessing he did ask E, though, because my name was spelled correctly in print (I was guessing it would be butchered!).

Ok, so here's the teaser to the story HERE. I'm not sure where the rest of it is. It isn't up, and it's Tuesday, so I'm not sure why....

#2 — Quit my full-time news job (Karen's last night in toooooown!)

.... CHECK!

June 4 was my last day at the Hays Daily News.

But the night before, we went out for margaritas!!!!


There was a diverse group of friends, co-workers and professional colleagues. I had a blast!


AND I'm celebrating by checking yet another item off of my 101 in 1001 list. I'm getting ready to check another item off that list ... but won't share until later this summer!

My buddy, Fred , took the photos of us that evening. Thanks, Fred! (Fred was also the person who told the Independence, Kan., paper to hire me, so it was serendipitious that he was helping me celebrate the last day in the news business, since he helped me to get in the door in the first place!)


I have some more Hays photos to share in the future, but I've got to get some editing done on our AWESOME 06/07/08 wedding (more to come on that, including the story of how I was showered with beer while photographing a keg stand).

Gosh, I have stories to share about the move from Hays to Salina, too, so stay tuned!

Oh, and in other Salina news, there is now Internet at Erik's house (YIPPIEEEEEEE!). Esse also went outside for the first time in Salina today. Ok, so my brother-in-law accidentally let her out once before, but this was her first sanctioned trip out of Erik's house. :-)

Updating — please be patient!

We are in the process of giving a much-needed overhaul to the Heartland Photography Web site.

During the process, we are switching servers/hosting, so the site will be down for a little while. It also means we have limited e-mail access and that our lovely, large blog photos are MIA until the new site is up.

Thank you for your patience!

Yet ANOTHER busy week ahead!

Ok, 2.5 days left for me at the Hays Daily!

Erik is helping me move Thursday, then Heartland has a wedding Saturday (in Newton). THEN I'll go back to Salina Sunday and on MONDAY we'll get internet at the house!

All of that excitement, PLUS our new Heartland Site will (hopefully) go live SOON!!!!! I'm beside myself with excitement.

Oh, and I just bought a new digital camera body (I said it was a big week, didn't I?)

AND in the midst of all of this, since we're switching the Heartland site, we have to switch hosting. My college buddy, Clif, has been taking care of it for a few years, but we've just outgrown him. He's a great sport, but likened it to a breakup:

"I feel like this is some weird, digital equivalent to breaking up and moving out. At some point I'd expect some pained discussion about getting my favorite jersey back or something like that. :)"

It just gave me a giggle.

Have a delightful week! And feel free to e-mail, but know a response could be delayed due to travel/ lack of internet for a few days!