It's time to CELEBRATE!!!!!

I looooove the above photo. Sort of dark, moody and almost abstract, isn't it?

Anyhow, it was time to break out the champagne this week! Heartland Photography is really starting to roll. We're booking up nicely for this summer, and this week, we sold our BIGGEST wedding package to date! Certainly worth celebrating. So, I broke out the bubbly!


Poor Mike thought something was wrong when I called him in tears this morning. I was so excited that all I could do was cry. :-) But in a good way.

Do you ever have one of those days when it seems as if EVERYTHING goes right? I mean EVERYTHING???? After our big booking, it turns out my car repair today was FREE because it was under warranty. THEN my champagne was 10% off because it was a Tuesday special (note to self: drink more wine/champagne on Tuesdays, or at least purchase it on Tuesdays!)

Leave a comment and tell me about YOUR best day EVER!

Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep (NILMDTS)

Now I lay me down to sleep
I pray the Lord my soul to keep
if I die before I wake
I pray the Lord my soul to take

Many of us are familiair with the child's rhyme, but probably few are familiar with the orginization by the name Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep. The group's Web site explains how the orginization began:

Maddux Achilles Haggard was born on Feb. 4, 2005, with a condition called myotubular myopathy that prevented him from breathing, swallowing or moving on his own. On the sixth day of his young life, his parents had to make the excruciating decision to take him off life support. But before they did, they called Littleton, Colorado photographer Sandy Puc' to take black and white portraits of them cradling their son. Puc' photographed the couple with Maddux at the hospital before he was removed from life support and after — when he was free from the tubes and the wires that had sustained him.


“That night was the worst night of my life. But when I look at the images, that’s not what I’m reminded of. I’m reminded of the beauty and blessings he brought,” Cheryl Haggard (Maddux's mom) said.


Those tender photographs documenting Maddux’s eternal connection with his parents inspired Cheryl Haggard and Sandy Puc' to found a nonprofit organization that has provided thousands of families of babies who are stillborn or are at risk of dying as newborns with free professional portraits with their baby.

Sandy and Cheryl founded the organization in April 2005 and called it Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep after the children’s bedtime prayer. To date, The Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep Foundation has nearly 3,200 affiliated photographers in 12 countries worldwide.



I signed up a few years ago, but have not been requested to do a session (then my friend, Nicole, let me know I should probably go to the hospital and introduce myself and give them some literature about it .... and I intend to hit the hospitals once I move over to Salina).

As I grow older, I have friends who have gone through the pain and loss of miscarriage. None have carried to term, but I cannot imagine the heartbreak of carrying a baby, feeling it moving and kicking inside you, then birthing it ... and immediately saying goodbye.

It's been getting quite a bit of press lately, especially after an appearance on the Today Show. (WARNING: This is a tear-jerker; it also might be difficult to view in Safari, so if you have difficulty, try Firefox).

It's also been making its way around photographer blogs around the state and country as well ... including Mike Colon, Jennifer Cook, and the Blink Blog.

Bad llama....

So I say the phrase "bad llama" ALL THE TIME. Some people wonder where it's from ... well it's from the movie "The Emperor's New Groove." (I LOVE this movie; Erik got it for me for Christmas!) It probably sounds strange for a grown woman to say "bad llama" frequently, but I figure it's better than letting lose and swearing like a sailor! ;-)


This is the first time I'm trying to embed a movie, so we'll see if it works!

Blog header — Christopher Robin

Sooooooo, I've been meaning to do this for awhile.

Tonight, I created a custom blog header for Robin and Chris' blog. They didn't really ask for my help, I just did it and then sent it to them. I hope they like one of these, because I do!!!!




For those of you who don't know what a blog header is, it's the photo or words at the TOP of a blog. See the photo strip of Erik and I? I put it together, but it was a quick/temporary blog header.

Isn't it nice how Chris is actually on the left side and Robin is on the right, so "Christopher Robin" makes sense with people's placement in the photo? (YES, I am a TOTAL nerd!)

I TOTALLY can't wait until Mike takes my engagement photos with Erik, because I TOTALLY want to make one of these for US!

Soooo...which one is YOUR favorite? Leave a comment!

RIP, Fred

Sad news today.

Erik's dog, Fred, was put down. He had a kidney tumor, and any treatment would just delay the inevitable. :-( We're all so sad about the situation, because Fred was SUCH a friendly fellow. He didn't know a stranger, except for Erilk's brother, Bryan. For whatever reason, no matter what Bryan did, Fred would have none of his good will.

Fred and Erik met when Erik lived in Missouri. A co-worker of Erik's brought Fred over after the pup was heisted from a puppy mill. They were buddies ever since.


When Erik moved to Salina, Erik had to move in with "grandma and grandpa" because Erik's apartment didn't allow dogs. :-(

Please CLICK HERE to view the slideshow I made the first time I met Fred.

5 words...

Your assignment, should you choose to accept it, is to give me 5 words that you think describe me.

GO!

;-)

Ok, Mike and I are in the process of doing some brainstorming about Heartland Photography, and part of what we need to do is define WHO we are, and then who Heartland is.

SO....what are words you think of when you hear "Karen Mikols"? And also, what words would you use to describe my photography?

Thanks for leaving a comment to help us out!

ps-there will be some EXCELLENT, picture-filled posts coming about my cat (since I realize some of you haven't seen much of Esse), and some wild self-portraits I gathered for a friend, and thought I'd share. So, stay tuned late next week for those!

Love-hate relationship

This should probably more accurately be called hate-love relationship .... no, not with my cat ... with the pile of tax forms/papers she's sleeping in!


I've simly GOT to get more organized. Basically, my current method is to throw everything in a folder and not think about it until mid-January. I usually get uber stressed out and massively cranky, which no one appreciates.

Currently, I'm LUSTING after the Quick Books Pro program. I'm told it will simplify my life, but I simply have not had the TIME to order it/install it/learn it. UGH!

I can't wait until Heartland grows enough and I can just OUTSOURCE this!!!!!!

Bone Marrow donation

I've been wanting to write about my bone marrow donation for a long time, but haven't had any reason to get my rear end into gear. Until this week. My co-worker, Kaley, was writing about an upcoming marrow donor drive. So ... I slowly shifted into gear and put my thoughts together for the Hays Daily News.

The column can be viewed online here.

More information regarding bone marrow donation on the National Marrow Donor Program Web site.

# 60 — Paint a room in my house (Bye, Bye Beige!!!!!)

.... CHECK!

... well, this isn't *technically* my house, but in September, it will be OUR house, so I'm checking this off of my 101 in 1001 list.

I know some of you have been anxioux to see this .... so settle in because this will be a LONG post (think: play by play).

Wow, I'm not even sure where to begin. I should first confess that I came up with "the black book" for Erik's house. Yup, projects I'd like to see done ... in an orderly, organized, fashion (I DID leave room for Erik to add projects, so don't go feeling sorry for him quite yet!).

This was a room I've been thinking about for a long time. I think the first time I mentioned it, I suggested painting only the top, but it evolved to painting the wainscotting white as well (who wants to look at only 1/2 of a newly painted room?).

Oh, and the chocolate brown color .... where the heck did I come up with it? Well, my college roomie, Jeanel, painted a bathroom brown once and I LOVED it! When I was thinking about this space, that color came to mind and I knew it'd be perfect! Bold, but not overbearing.

Here's the before photos:






When we took the mirror off the wall, we discovered that there was a medicine cabinet in the wall. Erik didn't even know it was there!


Some hardware was rolling around loose in the wall...


There was a hole in the wall that I patched before painting (did I mention I've never patched wall holes before???)


Before I embarked on this adventure, I did plenty of reading up. In my reading, I was told to wash the walls before painting them. Um, the only problem was that I balanced the bucket of water atop the toilet .... and the following flood resulted :-(


This is me thinking my painting adventure is over before it even begins.


And THIS is where the water from the bathroom ended up. EEK!!!! I REALLY thought my painting career was over at that point!


Before I began painting, I took stock and figured out what I DIDN'T want to do. The previous painter was SLOPPY and I wanted to avoid the following:


Then, I taped up the place ... I liiiiiike blue tape!



THEN it was time to make a final decision from all the paint chips! Yikes! Did you know there were SO MANY shades of brown?


Robin suggested we take off the tank only of the toilet ... which Erik helped us with. Thanks, sweetie!


We then got to work priming the top half of the walls. Since we were painting the walls a dark color, the paint store tinted the primer for us!


Robin LOVED the foam rollers. The reading I did suggested the foam over the other common rollers because it wouldn't leave lint on the walls. Heck, I'm convinced now to use foam for the regular painting, too! No bristles in the paint!



This is the first area I painted .... looked a little dark, but it dried beautifully!



Robin pondering my handiwork. (I think she was skeptical of the color at first, but it grew on her!)


In all my excitement, I was too hasty to put blue tape up, so I had to go back and retouch a bunch ... lesson learned for next time!


And Boulevard Wheat, my official sponsor of painting! ;-)


BE PATIENT!!!!!! We're in the homestretch now. I promise!

After the painting, it was time to put back the light fixture ... only I couldn't bear to put the gold fixture in the beautiful, brown bathroom. So Erik selected a new one that looks MUCH better!


We even hooked it up with energy efficient bulbs! Go us!


(Did I mention this was my first electrical project EVER????)

While I was putting in the new fixture, I decided to put in new outlets. Why not? Right? ;-) I took them out carefully (BTW, we killed the power for this ENTIRE project, to be SAFE!), then looked and unscrewed only one part and put it on the new one. I did it this way so I wouldn't confuse or cross any wires.


I have to admit I was REALLY nervous about everything working. I was SOOOOO nervous when I flipped the breaker, but amazingly IT ALL WORKED!!!!!!!!!!!!!


The mirror is even up! The only piece left is the vent (I still need to paint it) and the closet door (need to paint that, too!). Other than that, the bathroom just needs a new shower curtain and rug! Then we're good to go!


The last piece was a new shower toy .... but I haven't been able to test out the new awesome stream of water because there is no hot water in the front shower :-(.



Thanks for reading all the way down!!!!!!!!

Be sure to leave a comment if you made it down this far, especially about the brown color! :-)

On Anne Ruthmann's blog!

YESSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I made it on to Anne Ruthmann's blog. I'm a winner! ;-) (Hi, Anne! Because I know our cyber ninjas have told you I linked to you on my blog!)

And check out how awesome my Shoot Sac looks!!!! My sister, Robin, and brother, Paul, got me the awesome Baroque cover for Christmas and I LOVE it!!!! (Hint: if you're looking for a good gift for me, slide over to the Shoot Sac Web site ... almost any cover will do! They also have gift certificates!)

Now that I've made an appearance on Anne's blog, I believe my life is quite complete. Shucks, I should have had that as a goal for 101 in 1001. Hmm.....