tulips & basketball...

picture this...
today, gary throws his annual "final 4" party.
no invites, everyone just shows up 'cuz everyone
knows it's taking place. we've even had some
people come from out of state!

my tulips are up about 7-8 inches...very cool.
i noticed them the other night when i was
hauling my luggage to the front door. yay!

cleaning today for the party and heading over
to owen's 2nd birthday party~brunch then back
here for last minute preparation for the bash.
somewhere between 25 & 35 people expected.
the wives taper off every year so i never know
when i might be the last woman standing here.

i'm not really a big fan of college basketball
unless the gopher's are in it (hasn't happened in
about 7 or 8 years!).



moving on.
day 2 (first FULL day) of our vacation was one
of discovery...discovery dive, that is!
all but amanda and olivia tried the pool side
scuba introduction. anne didn't care for it,
but i figured if emily can do it, so can i!
then matt, tony, ben & i signed up to do the discovery
course the next day which involved theory class
at 8 the next morning followed by about a 1/2 hour
instruction in the pool with full gear on.
we practices clearing our masks, taking our regulator
out and putting it back in and sharing air from
our partner (mine was ben!). felt good and we all
did exceptionally well so we thought why wait til
the next morning to dive...why not go at 1 the same
day, so we signed up and suited up at 1.
unfortunately, tony and i could not fully equalize
on the first dive so we had to go back to the boat
and wait for the others to finish...i was really
bummed!


ben, emily & i decided to head out the first morning
and take a look around before anyone else got up.



emily got into the swing of it right away!



a nice couple passed by and we asked if they
could please take a photo of us...



anne & i ran up to visit with our "representative" to
check out all of out options in the area...
pete wants to scuba dive and the kids want to swim
with the dolphins...



back to the pool to meet everyone and get wet with
the girls!!



hotel photographers took a couple around the pool
and got some wedding shots...me too, from my chair!



ben tried the scuba intro...


then emily....



then me & anne...
here we are with rod.



ended the day with more bed jumping!!



more tomorrow...

1st day in review...

picture this...
returned home last night and altho'
i wish the trip could have been longer,
it's like jenny wilson said...
you always want to leave wanting more! :)
ain't that the truth!

well first things first...
"happy birthday, owen!" ~ he turns 2 today!
he's having a birthday lunch with his
grandmother's today.

now, i have over a thousand photos that i
shot on this last trip and it may take
me a bit to get through them all to share
the highlights over the next several days
but rest assured we had a fabulous time
and i think we are all looking to the future
for a return to mexico (just not to the barcelo
and i'll get to that later) for more fun in
the sun and scuba diving.


riding to the airport! (just a little excited!)



bus shuttle from the plane to the terminal...(VERY HOT!)




bus ride to the hotel (made about 3 stops at
other hotels on the way down..typical of
"package" all inclusive trips).
so it took a little longer to get to the
barcelo' than had we just taken a van or taxi.




finally arrive at the hotel...about 4 and checked in.
the wilsons shouldn't be far behind. they flew another airline.


not too late to get to the beach so we hit that first.




amanda was pretty happy to finally see the gulf!




emily checked out the kid's pool area...




the wilsons & the bakers finally hook up at dinner!



we decided to do a "welcome to mexico" shot at
the show that first evening...they were red, white & green!




the shows were pretty darn great and elaborate!



anne taught the kids to jump on hotel beds so i got
to put up with that for 6 nights!!! :)




well, that was our travel day to mexico.
this resort (barcelo' tropical beach) is about
20 minutes south of the town of playa del carmen.
shuttles to 5th avenue are NOT provided by the hotel.

it's raining and in the 50's here at home now and
will be for the next few days..40's next week.
it was 86 here one day while we were gone...WOW!!

tomorrow (saturday) is gary's annual "final 4" party
and i should be helping out so i'm going to go now.

it's always good to get home and crawl into your own bed!

hola!

picture this...
having a terrific time here in mexico!
FINALLY got to the internet cafe...
had i known that it was down from the
braid place, i´d have come down earlier.

no matter, hotel is great. big and fun.
lots to do. like, paint pots and a child
care area, a tequilaria and a club havana
cigar shop.

the tequila they serve here is pretty
cheap, so pete bought a really nice bottle
and is having the bartender keep it for us
in his freezer so that we can all go in
for a night cap each night.

teaching a lot of spanish to my group and
loving it.
$3 for 20 minutes so i´ll move on.

dolpins tomorrow and playa tomorrow afternoon.
and then tulum on wednesday.

oh, before i close...be went scuba diving!
almost an hour! with matt. i couldn´t equalize
and could only get to about 25 feet then i had
to return to the boat..bummer.
i´m going to try again wednesday morning.
pete is going thru the entire certification
down here....it´s really awesome!
im going to go for it when i get home.

sunny, warm, beautiful! amanda´s braids are done
and emily should be soon. gotta go.
we are going to go to the calmer beach down the
way from ours...no rocks.

i´ll try this again if i can...

no photos to post...so sorry because there
are (many)

love & miss you gary!...love to the kittens!

here i go again...

picture this...
i don't know who is more excited
about this trip. me or these kids!
perhaps it's gary!?
he's got the house to himself for
a week...poor cats!

i'm being picked up in about 45 minutes.
the pilot on our flight is jason, keri's
husband (a good friend/client of mine).
my nieces and nephew are going to think i'm
pretty cool knowing the pilot and then
all the folks in playa...
i'm going to get more "aunt of the year"
points here! :)

i keep checking the weather...i don't know
why, they seem to get it wrong down there
as well!

well, like i wrote earlier in the week,
i'm going to try to zip off a few blogs
while i'm there. it will just all depend
on the set up at our hotel.

sorry we kept missing one another jacquie.
i'll try you in a day or two.

trisha it was nice running into you yesterday.

mom, hope you don't get lonely. you could have
scott come over and visit or if you need anything
you can always call gary!
and for God sakes! don't put the cat out,
she's in heat! :)

i figured i wouldn't have time to do this
thursday morning so i actually wrote this
wednesday night (after learning that sanjaya
did NOT get voted off!!!)
i just about lost my pizza!

i hear it's supposed to be in the 60's this weekend!

enjoy it!

spring has sprung!

picture this...
spring began at 7 last night and
i'm heading to mexico tomorrow with
anne, pete & the kids! sweet!


i was just informed that the new
chanhassen high school mascot will
be "storm" and the colors will be
navy and gold! fun! the still have
to bring it to the board i guess,
but the students voted and those
are the results.
for those of you not in "the know",
chanhassen has, up until now, only
had an elementary school.
surrounding area school all merged
the jr. high students and sr. high
students, so this is a really big deal!
the community is growing so fast that
they now are in great need of a high
school in "chan".
storm?? i don't get it either except that
the new(er) national weather service
is located in chanhassen.

owen is going to be 2 on march 30th!
i decided that rather than get him
something he'll out grow or wear out
i would do what i do for my other
nephew and nieces...cut his hair and
have a photo shoot! fun...can't wait.
love that little guy!

another birthday around the corner is
kathryn. kathryn is my friend gerri's
daughter. i have photographed her for
6 years now. she turns 6 on the 14th
of may.
my niece, emily turns 10 on may 20th.
you may remember her....



oh, yea, then there's me, 45! on april 6th!
how did that happen? i mean, that's like
a real grown ups age, right?? :)

lots to do...gotta go!

spring arrives today...

picture this...
spring arrives today, or should i say
tonight...around 7pm!
so tomorrow will be our first FULL day
of spring! been waitin' a long time.
and in that our house faces north, we
still have snow in the front yard.
not much but when i look across the way
and see no snow in kip & susie's yard,
well, you get the picture!
now that's what i call "march madness"


on to more pressing issues.
have you gone to the pet food web site
yet to see if you are feeding your pet(s)
tainted food that can cause kidney failure?
or worse...kill your pet?
if not, drop everything you are doing and
click here to see if the food
that you are feeding your pet is on the list!

yesterday i got a call from my good friend
steve chepokas (champion of the miracles of
mitch foundation....and mitch's dad).
he asked if i would be interested in taking
part in the starkey hearing foundation's gala
this year as a primary photographer.
WHAT!!??? are you kidding??!! YES!!!!!
this would be the most incredible thing i've
ever been asked to do as a photographer.
what an opportunity.

steve got connected to starkey through his
son's foundation and has gotten pretty chummy
with the women behind the hearing foundation.
and they asked "who do you use for your photography?"
and steve said "sue austin"...yay!
well, then i went to the web site and i wanted
to throw up. diane fredeen's wedding is the same
weekend. so i bowed out of the gala and pray
that in the future i can come along side
and assist them in their cause...perhaps a missions
trip to honduras in may or nicaragua in september!

happier news...i got one of those "out of area"
calls yesterday. it was indiana! nedi's daughter,
from playa! what a surprise! she talked so fast
that i couldn't understand her. at least when
i'm there i can watch her talk and catch every
other word or so...not this time!
indiana speaks no english..only spanish.
i've taught her "i love you" and a few other
things and i've brought children's books in
english and spanish...they learn a little bit
each year.
i'm going to send a message to the mimi today
for nedi! so funny!

the magic number today is 2!
2 days until mexico.
(a client of mine sent this to me. it's the
beach in front of the hotel we are staying at.



did i mention that i contacted the hotel
and they have no wifi. i can connect from the
office at a rate of $8 per 30 minutes...i'm going
to try my darndest to blog from there but i
guess i cannot promise anything.
mexico, while still a 3rd world country,
and in some instances quite electronically
saavy, continually struggles with the right
hand not knowing what the left hand can do...
ya know? i'll know more when i get there.

have a great day!

the long and short of it...

picture this...
here's j before...



and here she is after...








oh, she was sooo ready to cut it off
and get a fun, new change.
i think that she has already become a
new person!!


first we washed it and dried it as per
the requirements for "locks of love".
then we divided it in 1/2, made 2 pony tails
and proceeded to cut if off one side at a time!





and now her locks are in zip lock (huh, punny!)
bags ready to be sewn into a wig for some young
gal that's lost her hair to chemotherapy.
pretty cool. nice goin' j!
oh, the grand total of hair cut off???
FIFTEEN INCHES!!!!!!
(they require that you measure and write
it on the outside of each bag.)


i drove j home and i stopped in for a bit
to see my brother, scott. poor baby...



he's laying low for awhile (clearly).
and his wife is counting the vicodin !
rest up scotty! we love you! call if you
need anymore movies....or gauze...or concealer!


spring begins in 2 days!~

gophers going all the way...

picture this...
minnesota gophers men's hockey team
defeated the university of north dakota
in overtime last night at the excel energy
center 3-2 to win the wcha championship trophy.
now it's on to the "frozen 4".
go gophers!

hit the car show yesterday with gary.
same 'ol~same 'ol. flashy, overloaded vehicles
with kids bouncing around in the driver's
seats so that prospective buyers can't
get a taste! it reminds me of the state
fair a little with the folks in line to get beer,
the smell of shriveling, hardening hot dogs
in the air, endlessly rotating on the cylindrical
cooker, strollers, people resting on the tailgates
of every truck and van, and folks walking around
with kia, saturn and ford bags stuffed with
brochures...but where are those dandy yard sticks!!!
girls all dressed in black reciting memorized
dialog about all the show stopping features of
the latest model...hmmm, did i leave anything out???
well, at least they weren't serving GREEN BEER!!!!

out to biaggi's with scott, jacquie, abbey, will,
and ron & cindy! fun times...then back to
ron & cindy's for a little chocolate cake and the
rest of the gopher hockey game.
then will tripped, hit my knee and then the floor~
started bleeding profusely and kept saying that
i hit him with my knee! I DID NOT!!! :)
that pretty much broke up the party~there was blood
everywhere...yet another crime scene!
i've had enough blood for one weekend!

j is coming over today after church and i'm cutting
all of her hair off! she's going to donate it to
locks of love.
she's pretty excited! i'll photograph it for sure
and post before and afters tomorrow.

here's a couple of before shots for you....







enjoy your sunday.

erin go brawl....

picture this...
my sister needed a distraction from
her battle with not smoking so i
popped over there last night and
we discovered that tony bonsante was
fighting at madison square garden so
we did the 'ol pay per view and
hunkered down at her house.



unfortunately, due to an early round
head butting (accidental), tony
sustained a rather large gash in
his forehead which bled profusely
throughout the fight causing the
referee to call the fight in the 9th
because he just simply couldn't see
anymore...that's the rules i guess.
he could have taken him to!
tony looked strong and fearless.
it was fun to watch him fight again!
i told you....my new guilty pleasure.
what a moment for him...to fight there.
way to go tony!!!!!

well, if that weren't exciting enough...
i move on to our late night entertainment.
anne turned off the tv and came upstairs
with her right hand all wrapped up in t.p.
and said, "i need you to take me to the
hospital." and i'm like, "yea, right!"
she wasn't kidding! she showed me the gash
on her right index finger and i almost lost
it. she slid her hand along a tension curtain
rod downstairs that they have hanging to
cover all the toys under the stairs and
WHAM! she said she just knew...she didn't
even want to look.
so my mom stayed with the sleep over party
and off to waconia we went.
shift change at 11 so we had a little waiting
to do but they took us right back and got
anne admitted...




we sat for awhile and they kept putting
on wrist bands like she was on spring
break in cancun!! :)




the nurse brought the "gash cart" in...




then dr. mc dreamy wooshed open the curtain
to anne's cube and i think i can speak for anne
in that we were grateful for the shift change!!


here's anne's wound being cleaned by dr. mc dreamy..



anne's cut required 6-disolving stitches...





then the slick gauze thingy & a splint
and we were on our way.




i'm sure you are all wondering why i had my
camera along, right!? well,
i wanted to take pictures of amanda's lost tooth
and emily's haircut...that's why.





and i had it all packed up after the fight~
so i thought it would be cool to photograph
the procedure. as it turns out, dr. mc dreamy
would like copies!

scott's surgery went well also.
they sent me a pix of scott's face
as we were heading out the door for the
hospital so i took a picture with my phone
of anne's finger and sent it back!
hope you are both feeling better this morning!

happy st. patrick's day!

proofs are in...

picture this...
marissa's proofs will be here today.
remember marissa?



and mandi & mark's proofs will arrive
today as well...



i posted their proofs online at Pictage,
but it seems that people still want to hold
proofs in their hands or lay them out on
a table. i don't quite get it.
i think that i will start charging for hard
proofs in the future. it simply takes additional
time and costs more money.

anne is doing better. i talked to her twice
yesterday, (my sister that just quit smoking).
keep it up anne! you know you can do this!

met with a good new friend from my networking
group last night for some wine and an app.
at biaggi's. turns out we know a couple of
people in common. i'm going to track down one
for her. an old colleague of mine from a salon
i used to work at a long time ago.
we talked shop and relationships for about
3 hours. it was really nice. thanks pam!

my brother, scott, "mr. craig", 1st degree
black belt brother, is having his nose fixed
again today. pretty radical this time i think.
he had it worked on a couple of years ago
but the problem still exists in that it was
done poorly the first time so he is having
a new surgeon fix the problem...it's complicated
and i don't even know all the details except
that he goes in at 12:30 today and i want
everyone reading this to say a prayer for
him, his surgeon and his family. it's a
nasty recooping thing... :)
(((((((((((((scott)))))))))))))))

much colder today. yuck.
but we leave in 6 days so i can handle it!

st. patrick's day tomorrow...
doing anything fun?

bye

countdown continues...

picture this...
starting another pile!
you know, the pile of things that
you think you want to bring along
on a vacation. it's a preliminary
pile, really. some things don't
actually make the cut.

hey, some sad news to report. i didn't even
go up to maple grove last night, kelly and
jeff decide to go with a less expensive
photographer. when she wrote to me to
see what i could do for them, i checked
with the other photographer's web site
and told her that i believed that they
could flatter her budget better that i.
and i wished them well.

as a professional, i will not compromise
my talents by offering anyone substandard
performance or product. i stand by pricing.
someone once told me, (thank you julianne!),
"do you want people to come to you because you
are a good deal?"
well, of course not! a pair of shoes? sure...
airfare? why not...oil change? maybe...manicure?
umm, not sure. but wedding photography? no.
you can't re-shoot a wedding. you can't take
it back. in the middle of the day, you can't
just get another photographer to step in.

all i am saying is do all of the
research and ask all of the questions
and make a truly informed decision.
this one simply came down to money and i really
pray that she is thrilled with the outcome.
and who knows, it's still 6 months out.

more sad news...i just saw a text that my
sister sent to me last night around dinner
time....she had a cigarette. she felt better
physically, but mentally she felt like a loser.
but i talked to her last night around 9 and
she didn't say anything...hmmmmm...sneaky
little sh*t! GO GET THE PATCH!!!
you can do this, anne!!!! c'mon, buck up!!
be strong, don't let the nicotine win!!!

okay, enough....
here's some cool stuff..
this is derek (l) & kevin (r) at the airport
hilton in bloomington from last friday.
both hodgkin's patients that came to have
a weekend away from all their troubles
compliments of "the minnesota miracle" put
on by "the miracles of mitch foundation".
and the beauty in the middle is mitch's mom,
becky chepokas, author of "goodbye mitch".
(i take care of nearly all of their photography
needs. please visit both sites listed in my
links section above for more information.)



these are past images that i've taken in playa
that are just simply colorful and joyful so
i thought i'd share them because i think that
we could all use a little color right about now!!







i'm meeting nancy (another photographer friend)
for lunch today to catch up and talk shop!

mas luego (more later)

record temps!

picture this...
we get to boast another record
warm temp for yesterday...67!
felt sooooo good!

hey have you all tried the bosu during
a work out? OMG! amazing!
my neighbor, jacquie, got one recently
and she shared with me some great exercises
to do with it. holy cow my quads and butt
are soooo sore today. hurts so good!

my sweet queen sister (our pet name for
one another) declared yesterday that she
is done smoking!! i am so excited and proud!
as many of you know, she and i quit on the
same day almost 4 years ago (5/5~yay me!)
for me it stuck, for anne.....not so much.
i say keep quitting 'til it sticks!! :)
way to go anne. sometime the decision to quit
is more difficult than the quitting...make sense?
so, i ask that everyone that reads this says
a little prayer for my sister and her new life
as a non smoker. i will pray for her everyday.
her husband quit on the 1st and is into week 2!
nice job you two!
i told anne yesterday, "you know, you've never
been to mexico, so you've never smoked in mexico!"
i hope that makes it a little easier!

hey, 8 days until my 1st "focus on the holiday" gig!
i'm traveling to mexico to photograph my sister's
family's vacation! i hope to do more in the future.
when all is said and done and i have the album
completed, i'll post a link so that you can all
view the preview!

i just bought a pound of el salvador fair trade
beans at dunn brother's and did a press today.
it is soooo delicious! i'm one of those coffee
drinkers that likes to purchase her beans the day
they were roasted.....yum!!! :P


off to my networking meeting...
just heard from kelly. i may not be running up
to maple grove this evening.
may just sit and watch friday night lights!
then again, i think i want to tune into
american idol and watch sanjaya get voted off!!

nos vemos! (we'll see ya!)

snow, snow, go away...

picture this...
all that snow we got while we were in
mexico is nearly gone! yay us!

well, i'm going to select one of mandi
& mark's engagement photos to put on my
"even cards". they are a business size
card with an image on the front directing
the guests of the wedding to the online
viewing page where they can view photos
from the wedding. pretty cool.
it's a tough choice tho', there are so
many great ones.





had lunch with anne & pete yesterday @ redstone.
thanks pete! i never meant to have you buy!
that chicken flat bread pizza is soooo good!
congrats on the no smoking, pete! great job!
never look back! enjoy the crew products.
hey, when do you open the pool?
that'll be something for anne to look forward
to towards the end of the mexico trip!
thank GOD!! it'll make leaving mexico a little
easier.

can't believe it was nearly 60 yesterday!
i actually went to the mailbox in just a
sleeveless shirt(well, and slacks too!),
point being that it's getting warmer around
here and it's nice to smell the thaw in the air!

garrick, glad the golf is going well.
gary has begun to swing clubs in the living room.
he has an arizona trip planned for the end of the
april..fountain hills. same guys he hit
bandon dunes with last april. he's excited
but nervous because he's not too certain he'll
be able to play 4 rounds in 4 days....duh!
it's been 3 & 1/2 months since his rotator
surgery. his PT is going really great.
he got yelled at yesterday however, for using
weights. he thought it was okay but the guy got
really upset with gary so now he's going too back
of just a bit. you know, always trying to push it!

few days of hair ahead of me and a tcppa class
on monday. another all day one.

oh, and i'm meeting with kelly & jeff tomorrow
evening about their october 5th wedding.

in closing today, my uncle don changes the
signature in his e-mail from time to time and
now it reads.....

"I must study politics and war that my sons
may have liberty to study mathematics and
philosophy. My sons ought to study navigation,
commerce and agriculture, in order to give
their sons a right to study painting, poetry,
music (and) architecture...."

John Adams


we're in for 1 more 50+ day today.
enjoy it.