raceway park/speed channel

well, i ended up passing on driving
to pick up emily. i thought that perhaps
it would be a better "family" moment
than an extended~family one so i stayed home.

the upside of this was that gary and mike
were asked to help sell beer at our friend
john's track down i shakopee (raceway park)
this is a dream job for the two of them
however, the track is a "miller" track
so no budweiser for the boys! but hey,
free beer is free beer, right!?
so i go along for fun and end up schlepping
buckets of beer and running for ice and
more buckets and breaking down cardboard
boxes (that booth would have been a
disaster had i not been there!)
i brought my camera along because last
nights event (not many friday night ones)
was a special, televised event by the speed channel.
this place was PACKED! i mean the races start
at 7:30 but the line to get it backs up at like 6!
last night's event involved:
motorcycles, bomber figure 8s, 2-flagpole heats,
legends, and the infamous school bus figure 8s!
add to this that the speed channel was filming
and you get 5000+ crazy race fans!
here's some highlights....



bachelorette party...



legends (they are so cute!)...



the boys from the speed channel...



school buses line up...



mike, john & gary...



this young man was determined
to get on television!!!!



we didn't get home until 12:30!

okay, more importantly....
i met with jada yesterday at the hilton.
i was mistaken, she is not the "event"
coordinator, she is indeed the "wedding"
planner for the hilton (my bad!)
anyway, we have a nice lunch and she
explains the "preferred vendor progam"
to me. this will be a terrific opportunity
for me to add some weddings to my calendar!

i brought along all of my samples and she
particularly loves the tiny 4x4 replica
albums and is ecstatic to put me on her
list of preferred vendors. jada had been
searching for a photographer to have on
her list and shawn...



whom i've worked with on the minnesota miracle
weekends and is on the board for the miracles
of mitch foundation says.."hey! i know just the
person!" and voila! i will be doing some work for
the hilton in exchange for all of the leads
that come my way. for instance, they are
updating all of the rooms at the airport hilton
and will need photos taken for their web site and
so forth...also, jada has a web site of her own
regarding the wedding planning and i will help her
update that as well. exciting stuff!
more on that as it developes...

today...NO PLANS! yay us!!
enjoy the last day of june 2007!!

concert for diana...

are you aware that this sunday evening
prince william & harry are throwing a
concert in honor of their mother, diana?
should be a great show!

well, today little miss emily comes home
from a 2 week camp stay. i can't wait to
see her and hear all the stories!

i went to jordan yesterday to finish
shooting the golf course. i arrived
towards the end of the men's league
rounds and they all wanted to pose in
the photos and i was like..."um, could
ya just finish putting and get off the
green so i can do my job!?" well, i didn't
really say that of course but that's
what i was thinking! :)

meeting with jada today at 12:30 over at
the airport hilton ("the hotel with a heart"),
to talk about the preferred vendor list
that they are placing me on. exciting!
she is the event planner at the hotel so
i'm going to bring her as many samples
of my work as i can.

anyone pick up an iphone today?
i'd love to hear from you and see what
your impressions are of the new device.
guess i had better call glen (gary's brother),
i'm sure he's in line somewhere right now!
he is always up on all the newest mac stuff!

anne has started with a personal trainer and
is loving it! i'm so excited for her.
she just told me that if she makes it to
her goal weight that pete is going to trade
his porsche in for a corvette for anne!
WOW!! you go girl!!!

firefox is down...

my firefox is not working today so i'm back
to safari for the day. which makes blogging
not as much fun. the safari application does
not have any cool tools and in that i am not
a HTML whiz, i'm not going to mess with
linking today.

moving on...
i have exciting product information for
all of you sweaty people!!! that right!
there IS an anti-perspirant on the market
that actually works!!
now, my sister in law, kindra, turned me on
to this quite some time ago and i just
recently ran across it on the shelf at cub
foods and thought.."alright, i've tried everythin
else!" and ya know what? despite it's quirky
application/dirrections, this sh*t really works!
okay, picture this if you will....
i'm at the gym and after a half hour of cardio
and an hour of lifting, let's face it....i'm pretty
sweaty, right!? um, yea. but when i go to do
my shoulder press i notice that the only
dry spot on my body is...you guessed it...
my underarms! and i was like..."what?!"
how can this be?
well folks...this is the reason.
it's....."CERTAIN DRI" by DSE Healthcare Solutions
out of new jersey.



i forget how much it costs but it's not much
and be sure to read the directions because you
apply it at bedtime and only need to reapply every
4 to 6 days. that's right. i've been doing every 3.
it's truly amazing and i thought i'd share my new
found wonder product!!!

hey, remember the ridges at sand creek golf course?
i'm finally heading back down there later today
to complete the shooting of the course!

tomorrow, i am having lunch with jada at the
airport hilton. she is the wedding and event
coordinator there and shawn anderson has
requested that we meet so that i can be placed
on their preferred vendor list! more on that over
the weekend.

i'm going to ride along to go pick up emily at camp
on friday evening...she's been in wyoming, mn
for TWO WEEKS!!!! i've send cards and letters nearly
everyday! miss her!

70 today. the air is OFF and the windows are OPEN!
it's been so nice out! i guess the wheels fall off
over the 4th and it'll be back in the 90's.
oh well, that's what we want in january and february,
right?

the new apple iphone comes out tomorrow.
i'm going to wait and see the consumer reviews
before i jump on it. (how about you, dean?)

take every opportunity today to better yourself and
those around you.

jane seymor...

okay, so yesterday i stopped by the griffin gallery
to pick up my handbag. it's even cuter than i
remembered! this is also the bag that jane had with
her at the event. she said it was her "personal
favorite"! nice.



she dedicates her artwork to each person and
signs each piece personally. cool, huh?!
who would have thought that i would have a
shopping opportunity while i was working!





i talked to deb mack a couple of times yesterday
in regards to my working with her and the gallery
for future events and she's really excited to know
that i would make myself available to her and bill in
the future. very cool!
get over to that gallery and have a look around!
it's in the old "camelot" restaurant location.
it's sooooo very great!!!

also i heard from ricardo edlestein with "tropical
plants unlimited", he would like to work with me as
well and refer me to clients of his for photographing
events including perhaps shooting product for
he and his wife, bonnie! i just love connections,
don't you?! these are all terrific people with
tremendous talents and i'm happy to know them and
represent them now and in the future.

diane and jim's images from the weekend are on their
way to being uploaded to Pictage for viewing.
i completed editing them late today and hope to release
them to diane and jim sometime tomorrow! yay!!!!

did you watch "shaq's big challenge" last night?
obese children on the road to recovery...pretty cool.

i would like to point out that july 8th, which
just happens to be my brother tim's 49th birthday,
is also the 1 year anniversary of my blog. my plan
is to provide a special offer to those who refer to
my blog's anniversary when inquiring about the cost
of my photography! i'll keep you all posted on the
particulars...

finally, a cool down is on the way. the heat and
humidity has been just hideous!

enjoy the day!

i'm back...

wow...a very long weekend and i can't
believe that it is not only tuesday,
but that in 5 days it will be JULY already!

i've been pouring over all of the wedding
images from diane & jim's wedding last
saturday in parker, south dakota.
photographing this wedding was a real treat
for me. diane and i did the math and we have
known each other for 20+ years!

after spending the better part of sunday
and most of the morning yesterday editing
down the images...i needed a brain rest
so i grabbed my suit and headed to my
sister's to hang by the pool for the afternoon.
man, that was nice. just sitting at the pool.
kiki, owen and a friend of theirs were still
there when i arrived. owen made me do all sorts
of stuff. he's not so much a fan of being in
the water himself but he sure can bark out the
orders! kindra said "dance! monkey! dance!"
(remember that owen is 2)

got back around 4 and headed back to the
computer for some more editing. i'm nearly
done! seems amazing to me but i did such a
fabulous job of shooting that there has been
very little to tweak! hardest has been selecting
the best of each image in that they are all
great! altho' i must say that this was a very
"chatty" group so getting them all to close
their mouths at the same time was creatively
challenging! :) all in all this was definitely
a top 5 wedding for me!
here are some reasons why...

















diane & jim, thank you so much for such
a unique opportunity! i'll get in touch with
you when your images are ready to view.

and to my dance partners holly, monica and kate...










.........happy trails.........

william f. austin center...

last night's event was held at the new
william f. austin center in eden prairie
off 62 and shady oak road...(flying cloud dr.).
i buzzed by there on my way home from
having the cats haircut so i would know
just where it was located.
napped for a bit in preparation for another
crazy, fun evening and got over there around
6:20. now that i know so many folks with
starkey i felt a little like family this
time. even the guests were excited to see
me again...that was cool!
tonight i took the opportunity to hand

off my camera to others to photograph me
with some of the more prominent guests.
(shameless, i know, but it'll be awhile
before i sit and eat cake with c. everett koop
again and hover in the auction area with
bill austin and stand on stage with the dave
mason band...pretty cool).

this facility is huge and gorgeous!
i tried on a 69 THOUSAND dollar bracelet
that had 19 and a 1/2 carats worth of
diamonds! it went for 28K! i should
have bid on that! it was stunning! :)
i got a shot of it, i'll post it when
i get my images from cheryl.

andy rooney was in attendance again as was
peter marshall (they both sang!)
i can't wait to get the cd's of the images
that i shot these past 2 nights!
buss aldrin with his lovely wife.
matt blair & his wife.
about 750 total not including staff!
fabulous food, great music, delicious
desserts! another incredible evening.
i'm off to bed..it's 12:45 am and i have
to hit the hay because we are rising early
to head out to south dakota to shoot a wedding.
i'll be sure to make the gala next year!



oh, and the cats?? they look fabulous!
more on that later...but here's a couple of
shots of them with jennifer, the owner of
"clean as a whisker".








wish i could share more but i gotta get to bed!
i'll write again on sunday.

i plan to work with starkey again in the very
near future....they loved me! :)
well, of course they did, why wouldn't they. right!?

peace.

starkey gala vip party...

wow.
what a night.
i am exhausted.
this was the most incredible gathering
i have ever experienced!
people kept coming up and saying ~
"this is your job?" and i got to say
"yep! sucks to be me!"

now, i was required to turn in my cards
so i currently have no images to share but
the day started at 4:30. i met cheryl
at the "griffin gallery" in bloomington.
if they had just told me that it's in the
old "camelot" building that would have
been good. :) go see it! seriously!

so we get there 30 minutes early to get
the lay of the land and meet the folks
that own the gallery (bill & deborah mack),
this was a showing of jane seymore's artwork
(bill mack's work is on the other side of the
gallery and i encourage everyone to go
and see his work. it's just awesome!)
including handbags and silk scarves as well
as acrylics, oils pastels and watercolors...
she's really an amazing artist...who knew!?
her husband, james keech was there as well.
this was an event set up for the opening of
the gallery and something for the starkey guests
to attend. all of jane's artwork was for sale.
art started at $795..too rich for my blood but
i did manage to get a hand bag with one of
her paintings on it. it's lovely and i'll
pick it up today (why would i bring money, right?)
she signed it for me and i had my photo taken
with her at the gallery holding my bag. fun!

moving on....
the austin home on bryant lake. wow!
no expense spared for this little shin~dig.
i'm just guessing, but it had to be hovering
around the million mark. incredible! at least
15 foot tall topiary giraffe, 9 foot elephant
topiary (created by ricardo edelstein), tiki torch lined drive and african
drums and dancers beckoned the guests as the
limos dropped them off. offerings of
sparkling water, champagne & wasabe shots (yum,
i had one!) and bloody mary's were made available
by like 12 servers. (i could go on and on about
the greeting of guests!)
i stood near the elephants and offered photos
of each of the guests with the topiaries and
handed them cards that were printed with info
on how to view the images later for purchase.
yes, i did feel a little like a cruise ship
photographer for a bit, but everyone LOVED it!!
EVERYONE wanted a photo! great fun!

inside, a Picasso museum, a plethora of artifacts
from around the world, signed one of a kind pieces
and even sir elton john's red baby grand piano!
i can't even...um...hardly remember all of the
incredible details and signed sports memorabilia
contained in this gorgeous home.

i met norm crosby (also loves m&m's!)
leslie nielsen (had my photo taken with him.
mikey rooney (sweet!), c.everett koop (wonderful!)
lou ferrigno (i think he still works out!)

tonight there will be nearly triple the number of
guests. many who were at last night's affair.
this morning there is a golf outing up at rush creek
and a sporting clay as well. i'd have loved
to hit either of those..especially the sporting
clay! but today i relax, recharge (literally)
and wait for the big party tonight at the new
starkey training facility off crosstown.
3 bands...it's gonna be huge!

i'm going to go put my feet up now!

side note....today, hobie and katie get their
summer cuts! i'll post images tomorrow.
this is a new spot.."clean as a whisker"
in st. louis park recommended by my vet!

tomorrow i photograph a good friend's wedding
in parker, south dakota. i'll hit the road
early with gary (my handsome assistant!)

p.s. got my chocolate brown sample album
like a week early from pictage! WOW!!!

first day of summer!

today marks the first day of the summer solstice.
altho' it's felt like summer for some time i'll
acknowledge it anyway!

had a great time over in como park yesterday.
met up with heather, her 2 daughters ryan & skyler
and their dog "moxie".





they moved here from kansas about 3 years ago
and they are moving out to utah in about week.
her husband is taking a transfer...so off they go.

they bid on my package for a portrait session
back on new years eve at the hilton and finally
connected...just in time!









due to their crazy schedule...i'm posting all
the images on pictage for them to view along
with family members who are all over the place!
that's when online viewing really is great!
good luck with the move and i'll talk to you soon!

huge storms blew through last night about the
time we were all supposed to go to dinner.
hail, strong winds rain...i called anne and told
her to inform scott that he may want to seek
shelter for his brand new lamborghini! Y*I*K*E*S!!
it all worked out...no hail (in chanhassen) but
MAN! what a light show last night. it was like
vegas in the clouds!! beautiful!
well, scott k. turned 38 yesterday and we all
met up at axel's in chan. he saved all of his
carbs for the evening..good thing too, check out
the dessert he chose!!





by the time we left it was pretty dark
and i thought i'd get a shot of scott's car
anyway. it doesn't really give this $150K
machine (gallardo) much justice but it's
pretty amazing...trust me!




later today i meet up with cheryl maclennan
at the griffin gallery in edina to meet tani &
jane seymore, then we are off to the austin's
home on bryant lake for the vip welcome party
for the kick off to the starkey hearing foundation
gala. i have no idea who will be there tonight.
heads of state, actors & actresses, sports figures,
musicians, fortune 500 company leaders....all of them.
this is a mighty big event and i am honored to
have been selected to be a photographer to cover
it this year. i'm not certain what the availability
will be for me to post some of these images
right away but i know that they are being
given to me as well.

that's it. enjoy your first day of summer!

como zoo...

finally, the perfect day to head to como zoo
to photograph jason and heather's daughers!
i'll be meeting them there at 11:30.

i have not been to the como zoo in literally
decades! i think i was 12. wow! yep, 6th
grade. i remember vividly riding the bus
from chanhassen elementary school...we had
just moved from excelsior so i was new to the
school and a boy by the name of grant pearson
gave me a ring and asked me if i'd "go with" him.
and i said "where" and all the students laughed
cuz that apparently meant "going steady" or
"seeing" someone... I WAS TWELVE! what did i know!?
i haven't seen grant in years, he hasn't been
to the last few reunions....hmmmm...wonder
where he is?

i'll have a little time when we are finished
so i may poke around a little before heading back.

i've sent emily 3 letters already...she's at camp
for 2 weeks and i'm going to go along on the
day that anne & pete pick her up.

today is scott kempfert's 38th birthday.
his mom, alene, is taking us all out to dinner
at axel's tonight. i'll bring the camera and
get some shots of everyone.
i'd like to get some individuals of scott, his
tatoos and his lamborghini!
perhaps if i pass on the wine with dinner scott
will let me take it for a spin!

another great summer day on tap today!
get out and enjoy it if you can! :)

the cool off...

i'm certain we will be the envy
of the nation today. 75, sunny and
low humidity. nice.
i'm guessing that it won't last long
but i'll take it for today.

i've had the pressure of wrapping
up some of my photography work the
past couple of weeks in preparation
for the starkey gala this weekend
and diane & jim's wedding in south dakota.
it's nice to have a clean desktop!
that, like the weather today, won't
last long. :)

i received my replica albums yesterday
from pictage. they are 4x4 exact
replicas and they are aDORable! the
actual album is set to arrive the first
week in july. this is a holly & john album
(one of my playa del carmen weddings).
anxious to see the album. i selected a
yummy dark chocolate leather cover.
it's going to be gorgeous!

last week i received all of my niece's
images from whcc. they are stunning.
i love wall portrait sizes. everyone should
have them. i used to think that an 11x14
was nice..now i prefer 16x20 and up!
20x30 and 30x40 are really the size if
you want to show off and create a presence
when you walk into a room!

now, if you are shooting yourself and plan
to do an enlargement of that scale, be
certain that you are shooting at the highest
quality or you won't get an acceptable
enlargement past a 5x7 or 8x10. THAT'S
what the mega pixels are good for! enlargements!
go into your settings and be sure that you
are always shooting on high. sure you may
get fewer images on a card but you'll be
much happier with the results of ANY image
that you end up printing. my advice to
everyone?? GO BUY A 1 or 2 GIG CARD!! you
can get like almost 800 images in high
resolution on a 2 GIG card! but be sure that
you dump them onto your computer and back
them up on to archival discs regularly an
reformat your card.

nothing drives me more crazy than someone
that can share both their last years halloween
costume and their last winter's cruise from
their camera. what happens if you lose your
camera or it's stolen or crushed or worse,
falls in the lake??? GONE! that's what!
your images are all GONE!

take a rainy day and get these images onto
cd's...start a brag book of your favorites
to carry around instead!

happy archiving!

rainy monday?

they are predicting rain today.
not sure it will reach us here,
it always seems to slide off or dry up
by the time it gets close.
i hope it doesn't come to como zoo,
i'm heading there in a bit to meet
a family for portraits. we needed to
reschedule from saturday cuz it was
too wet that morning. cloud cover is
always nice but rain...not so much.

hit my sister's pool yesterday while
she, pete and amanda took emily to camp.

(um...just got a call from heather,
the mom of the family whose photos i'm
taking today...she wants to reschedule.
rain is quite likely and i understand
trying to get a family together, cleaned
up and in the car with the dog only to
arrive and then it rains...oh well.
wednesday is looking good.)

so, back to the pool...
um, laurie (my sister-in-law) and jaqci
(different jaqci) came by, scott, nicki
and the girls were there, scott and alene
kempfert are in town from durango, colorado
and spent the day with us as well (my mom,
of course, was there too). it was a great
crowd, a great afternoon...we had a big
lunch and forgot about the heat for the day.
anne, pete and amanda got back around 5:30
and started grilling.
i'll back up a bit.
alene and her son scott used to live on the
same cul de sac as us years ago.
anne and scott are the same age and have
been friends forever as well as his sister
amy and older bother todd.
so we've been friends a long time but
everyone has moved about the country and it's
rare when they are here. it was really great
to see them and visit and reminisce all day.
alene flew in and scott drove into town
in his brand new lamborghini (las vegas edition)!
what an incredible machine. NO, i didn't bring
my camera..i thought it was going to be me
mom and laurie. bad photographer, BAD photographer!
i'll get a shot another day, he's in town
for a little while.

big week....starkey hearing foundation gala
events get underway on thursday and i head
to south dakota on saturday for diane & jim's
wedding. a truly western affair. i have been
encouraged to wear jeans to shoot the wedding!
hm......i just might!


no photos today....
jacquie, i hope your tooth is better!

happy father's day...

hey, today is father's day...
my dad has been gone for nearly
24 years. i was 21 when he died.
it just doesn't seem possible that
i have lived more of my life without
him. it certainly doesn't mean
that i don't celebrate him! he's
with me everyday...in the things
i do and say let alone all the
"Pat-isms" in the family! I will
miss him forever!

gary's dad is in arizona. we talk
pretty regularly and get down there
to visit when we can. and they (he & lois)
even come up here on occasion when the
heat gets to be too much down there.
happy father's day dean!

my niece is heading to camp today
for 2 whole weeks. that's going to
be a long time for everyone i think!
i just talked to her and she said that
she would send me a letter from camp
cuz she's got some stamps and they
give the campers time to write letters.
how cute. i'm going to send her some
letters and send stuff too!
i'll miss her. she's going with her
best friend, elissa. they will have
a blast and what memories this will
bring! :)

went to jake o'connor's last night
with ron & cindy.


yum! i had the
beef and murphy's stout pie...i've
ordered that 3 or 4 times now. it's
soooo good! cindy ordered the chicken
and the boys had the fish & chips.

after which we sat on ron & cindy's
deck under the netting and had a couple
of glasses of wine. a fine saturday evening.





this is their boy, reggie...



gary and jason, his partner in the golf
tournament are one off the lead. gary
said he is playing really well.
so i am once again a golf widow and
planning a trip over to my sister's
to hang at their pool cuz they will all
be gone taking emily to camp today.
it's going to be in the middle 90's and
i will be in the middle of the pool! :)

happy father's day.

up and running...

my internet and e-mail have been out for
about 2 days. the 2 power outages didn't
help either, i imagine.
we have had a couple of "brown outs"
that have occurred at the same time on both
thursday and friday evenings (6:30 pm).
thursday's lasted a couple of hours and
last night about 20 minutes.

we just decided to go out to dinner on
thursday and last night we grilled
and ate in the silence...it was nice
to not have a television blaring.
things are back to normal now...i hope!

i was out at the arboretum yesterday
shooting a luncheon for "prayer ventures".
it was a lovely day and i always love to
shoot out there. the ladies were spread
out on both verandas so i wandered around
and captured clusters of women enjoying
their lunches and interacting.



"p.k." (paulette ketzler) from ktis
was there speaking to the group as well.
it was fun to meet her and put a face
with the voice.

afterwards i stopped at anne's to cut
emily's hair. SHORT!! pete came home later
on and said "alright....where is she?!"
I think he wants to kill me. this was
the girls idea and for crying out loud,
hair grows! right?

emily before....



amanda was so jealous...



and after...





she heads to camp next week and it's going to
be perfect for her. we got rid of a lot of
green hair too from all the chlorine!

well, amanda couldn't take it anymore and
decided that she should have the same
exact haircut as her big sister!
so here's amanda before....





and after....





both bobs are right to the hairline
and beveled in to the neck. very sweet!

today the weather was not optimum for me
to head over to the como zoo (rain) so
heather and i rescheduled....i hate doing that!
but it's tough when everything is all wet.

today is anne's 3 month anniversary of
not smoking! soooooo proud of her!
congratulations anne!!

gary is golfing in a 2-day tournament
at the northfield country club so i'm on
my own this weekend....golf widow!

i have hobie and katie scheduled for
haircuts next friday at a place in
st. louis park called "clean as a whisker"
they are an organic group and each animal
is assigned a groomer and a coddler!
so cute, someone to talk sweet to them
while they are having their hair cut!
i'll be bringing along the camera for sure!
jennifer (the groomer) was recommended by
my vet..very anxious to have them looking
all sporty for summer!!

that's it for now..
make the most of today.
pray for my friend jacquie as she is going
to undergo an emergency root canal today! ugh!!!

OH! and her son, will...it THREE today!
Happy Birthday Willy!!!!

happy flag day!

today in america it is "flag day".
not to be confused with our independence
day of july 4th.
on june 14, americans celebrate the adoption
of the first national flag. it was approved
by the continental congress on june 14, 1777.

my cousin kelly's daughter natalie's
birthday is today...i think she's 4.
i wanted her to name her "betsy"!

another hot one today. 90.
you must understand that 90 in june
or july is normally accompanied by
humidity as well making things rather
juicy around here.
it's nice having a pool in the family!
this was nearly a year ago...







I finally connected with a couple
that purchased a package for a grand
raffle on new years eve at the minnesota
miracle event at the hilton.
we are going to meet at the como zoo
in st paul on saturday to do some fun
daughter shots. that'll be fun.
the girls are 6 & 7.

good talking to you dean and lois,
i hope we get to connect with you lois
when you are in town next month.
and get that man of yours to come along!

have a great thursday.