A few from behind the scenes

Excited to be shooting Andrea's wedding. :)


One of the things I think I'll always remember from Andrea and Larry's wedding is the smell of these lilac trees. I've had blocked sinus passages for YEARS, but it's started to clear up, and now my sharp sense of smell has returned. I love the smell of lilacs, and got a nose-full. :)

It's appropriate to share these photos because I'm working on getting Andrea and Larry's wedding proofs up!

txtng + drvng = trbl

I was catching up on the newspaper this week, and guess what? The state of Kansas has now banned texting while driving.

I'm impressed. I didn't even know it was in the works to become a law.

So .... as if I needed one more push to give it up for good, it's illegal now. Honestly, I've not done much since giving it up for Lent. I just wanted to give a shout out and let everyone know it's going to be a ticketable offense soon.

Here's another interesting tidbit: Texting while driving is already illegal for teens. Who knew?

Happy Sunday.

Crossover — super-hot :)

I had a portrait session this morning, and it was smokin' hot! :)

I feel like this couple could have been models at a workshop, but no, they're a for-real bride and groom.

CLICK HERE to check it out.

Another Esse ploy...

Which one of these things in the following photo doesn't belong?


There are a lot of good choices ....


WAIT A MINUTE!!!! What's the kitty doing there? (pictured is her hateful/spiteful face).

When we won't let Esse out for whatever reason (we're leaving for the day, it's stormy, there is a tornado warning), she gets pouty. One day, she decided to station herself by the door, probably in hopes of slipping out when we left.

She did this just last week, and so Erik defied her and left through the side door. TAKE THAT, KITTY!!!!

They're here! They're here! They're HEEEEEEERE!!!!! #78 baby!

I'm so excited I can hardly stand it! Remember awhile ago when I was whining about how bad I am at getting wedding photos up? Well, the wait is over! The 32x48-inch canvas gallery wraps have arrived!!!!!!!!


Initially, I had a different photo in mind, but when I showed Erik the photos I was considering, he pulled this one immediately. I think it's a great choice!

interestingly, I was editing the photos Heather took of our wedding for her, and skipped over this one. It didn't rise to the top for me. But the lovely and very talented Heather pulled it, and the more I look at it, the more I like it. In fact, I'm really crazy about it! So I'm glad Erik made a strong case for having it on our wall. :)

Now it's soapbox time people .... are you ready? I know there are some photo-lovers out there who read our blog. And let me say a few things. 1) people seem afraid to buy big photos. To that I say: "DO NOT BE AFRAID!!!!" 2) people think they don't have room for big photos. To that I say: "If you have a couch or loveseat, you have room. This is because they're often on a long wall. The photo you see above is FOUR FEET wide. Think of the "big" photos in your house. Probably an 8x10 or maybe an 11x14. Seriously about ONE FOOT wide. And how wide is the average couch? Anyhow, don't be afraid to get big art. This piece is an investment that we intend to keep around for a L-O-N-G time.


Here it is! This is the photo I had envisioned for months and months! I knew I wanted it in our bedroom! Initially, I wanted to get it bigger (40x60, anyone?), but we decided it'd be nice to be able to switch it with the one above the couch if we wanted. So they're both 32x48. Still substantial.

Once again on photo size: This wall is TEN FEET wide .... huge! And our photo is FOUR FEET wide ... so you can see we had plenty of room. There's even some space to the left if we want to make a smaller grouping of photos. I'll have to think on that.

Lastly, what is this #78 business, you ask? Well, as I was searching for info for this blog post, I came across my 101 in 1001 list, turned bucket list. #78 reads: "Get large canvas prints made" ... and now I have! So off the bucket list it goes!

Post-dinner

Remember when Erika and I had out house blessed? Scroll down to the last photo. Yes, that's my dad sleeping at a social event. It's sort of a standard for Mikols men.

Well, when we were at my sister's house for a graduation party last week, my brother didn't disappoint. But since they just moved into their house, Carl had no couch to stretch out on. No bother. A floor will do just fine, thankyouverymuch.

Rain Barrels, 2010 style!

I'm not 100% done. Heck, I'm not even 25% done, but here's where we're going in 2010 with our water harvesting.

This is the back of our house.


We added some railroad ties. And the space in between, I have dirt removed during the patio project last summer. I'll put it in there and then rain barrels will go on top!


Sort of like this.


I have only one done, but all of the rain revealed a flaws in my efforts, so I will have to empty it and then do a bit of tweaking, but this is where we're headed this summer!

I hope to have more time this week to work on it. In between all of the rain we're getting. Seriously! I wish I had this all done so I could just harvest the water! Geek, I know!

Safe strawberries?

Let's recap: Evil birds ate my strawberries last year. This year, I have sworn an oath to protect them, and built protection. All is right in the world.

Until you look a little closer.


A few weeks after building my strawberry cage, I was in the backyard. And I looked. And did a double take. And then had to look a little closer.


Strawberry blossoms were growing UP THROUGH the chicken wire protection.


NO BABIES!!! TURN AROUND, BE SAFE FROM THE BIRDS OF THE AIR!!!!


Alas, I feel like the scientist in Jurassic Park: Nature found a way.

So it looks like I'll have to cover (at least portions) of my strawberry patch/cage with screen. *sigh*

Any other ideas? Maybe I should get more RR ties and stack them 2 high around the patch, that way they can grow as tall as they want, and I would just put the chicken wire barrier on top of the 2nd RR tie?

Saving the strawberries

Two years ago when Erik and I started our gardening venture, we (ahem, I) planted strawberries. I'd read up on them quite a bit, and knew the first year, I had to pinch the flowers and let the roots establish. SO, no harvest during year 1. You can imagine how excited I was last year to have a strawberry harvest.

Things looked so promising HERE. Yet, that strawberry you see is the only one we picked out of the garden. Why? THE BIRDS. :( DARN YOU, BIRDS!!!!!!!!

This year, I am going to fight those pesky buggards.

Which brings me to my strawberry cage.


The garden before anything is added.



The beginning of my plan.


I had to acquire a new tool, staple gun, for the task. I was excited to get a new tool, but not excited to get blisters from using it. Chicken wire is NOT fun to roll out. It's pokey.


TA-DA!!!!!


I decided hinges would be nice so I could more easily access things.


SAFE AT LAST!!!!!!!!!!!!

Or so I thought .... I did this about a month ago, and have been delayed in posting. Stay tuned for what happened next ...

MORE of the world's cutest kitty!

Does anyone remember THIS POST about Esse's new sleeping arrangements?

One morning, I was able to grab this photo, where the blanket had sort of hidden her.

Well, these arrangement worked splendidly until I left for DC about a month ago. What happened?, you ask. Well, I left, and someone said to Esse "Mommy's gone, so you can sleep on the bed while she's gone."

Unfortunately, you give that cat an inch and she takes a mile. She's been unwilling to go BACK to HER sleeping place. Evidently the words "for a few days" are NOT in this kitty's vocabulary. So we're struggling with kitty sleeping on my feet (and on Erik) again.

Sigh.

But she's awfully cute when she sleeps, so here are a few more photos of cat naps. :)


On the back of the couch.


Repeat.


Sprawled out on the floor after a long day of romping outside.


She used to crawl on the chairs all the time, but then stopped. And now she's back at it. Napping on the chair under the table. Whatever, cat.