More Snow...

This is getting a little tough to take.
March 31st, the snow was nearly gone yesterday
and it was sunny and 52. It's just not fair.
We Minnesotans put up with an awful lot
(do I even have to mention Jesse Ventura?)
Yep, another 4-7 inches of the stuff is on
it's way as I type. It's just not good.

Find a happy place.....

Hey, I'm attending a seminar on Work Flow
today lead by the wonderful Mr. Dave Johnson
(of National Camera fame).
I'm horrible at managing my time so this is
just what I needed.
The fees collected for today's classes,
put on by my TCPPA, are going to our charity
partner "Operation Smile". The call this
"Super Monday" and there are many classes
being held throughout the Twin Cities ranging
from starting a blog to finding the high end
brides and increasing sales...I just thought
that my "time management" selection might,
in the long run, assist me in all the other
areas! Looking forward to it.

Well, it's official...Owen is 3. We had a big
celebration at Mike & Kindra's yesterday.
A hugely scrummy brunch and cupcakes! Perfect.

I gave Owen our old 2.1 megapixel Olympus.
He LOVES to take photos, push the buttons and
he'll have a ton of fun with it (by the way,
it was actually a request from Kindra!) :)









Topped off with a photo of all the cousins.







Hard to believe this was taken yesterday.
This day will be a total 180! Photos to
follow tomorrow!

Happy Birthday Owen!

Owen turns 3 today!
I can't wait to go over for the
birthday brunch and hear him tell
more stories!










Going to relax today.
Tomorrow I'll be attending another lecture/class.
This time it's on work flow & time saving tips.
I so need that!

RNC!

Kim Martin made a follow up call yesterday
while I was out. CRAP! Her message was that
she had some more questions for me regarding
the Republican National Convention taking
place here in St. Paul this summer.
They WANT ME!!!!! This will have to go on my
"top 5 list" of things I've done. I'm so excited!
Thanks to Heather at Starkey for recommending me.

Huge success with Cory yesterday regarding
my web site. I'm jazzed about the changes
and I know you will like them too.
Just have to hammer out some text swapping
and add some more images.

Oh, and as for this blog...I just got an
itch to change it too.

Here's Cory's babies...

Gerty...



And here's Alice...





I just love them so much!

In closing...I stole this from Gary Fong today.
I absolutely LOVE this...


Life is pretty simple when you think about it.

Observations:
The two most vibrant factors in your
day-to-day existence would be~
a) your finances and b) your weight.
It may sound shallow but when you think
about it, when you can't pay your bills,
or you can't fit in your jeans...
doesn't it wreck your day?
So here's simple advice:
1) always eat healthy and
2) spend less than you earn.

Thanks Gary, I'll just add that I'm going
to get off my ass and go for a walk!

Thursdays with Owen

Apparently, Owen decided that he needed to come
and see me for a haircut yesterday so I squeezed
him in! He is becoming quite the talker...I mean
this guy can talk you into a coma and it's like
being in a trance. You just listen so carefully
and next thing you know...he's told you all about
something that either he has already done or is
going to do. Sometimes he tells you stuff that
he did a month ago. It's really pretty funny.

Anyway, here's Owen 3 days before he turns 3!







The hat is from his dad (my brother, Mike).
He went to UMD and his broomball team is also
the Bulldogs!

Today's Minnesota Miracle at the Hilton is going
to be an early one. The family is taking the bus
down due to the fact that their car is apparently
not reliable enough to make the trip so Bob
is going to pick them up at the bus station and
then Cheryl, Mike LeSage & I will greet them back
at the Hilton around 11:30 for a Noon check in.
Shawn Anderson (resident miracle worker and sales
manager at the Airport MOA Hilton) is making
certain that they are able to check in early!
Today's guest is a 4 year old boy...I don't know
what type of cancer he has but I can't help but
transfer that to like my nephew, Owen or my
friend's son, Will. How sad for a 4 year old
to be going through all this.
It's why the MOMF started the Minnesota Miracle
weekends with the Hilton. I'm so proud to be a
part of it. I count my blessings everyday!

If you are unfamiliar with what the MOMF or MM
does, please go to their link under "check these out".

Meeting with Cory later today regarding my web site.
Which also means I get to see
Gerty



& Alice!



Maybe even Bob!



TGIF!

Final 4

No, not basketball silly, days left in March!
Gary, for the past, oh, 20 some years has
always held a "Final Four" party at our home.
Tons of awesome food, cocktails, people...
some even here to watch the games! ;)

The girls started attending when I came into
the picture about 13 years ago but now,
we're over it. We'd like to plan our own thing
that day.

This year, however, will be different.
We have given that day to my brother Tim and
his wife, Laurie. They celebrate their 25th
wedding anniversary on April 1st and are having
a huge party out at Dahlgreen on the Saturday
of the "final 4" (April 5th).
I guess we'll have to put a note on the door,
because people come from all over to Gary's
soiree...we don't send invites...people just
show up. It's really fun, actually.

So this year, no Final Four party at our house.
It was always a great way to get after the
spring cleaning...I'll miss that! HA! ;)

Tim sheepishly asked me last weekend if I would
consider taking pictures at their party...
he was so cute. "Of course!" I said. "You know
I would have brought my camera along!"

Perhaps I'll put a little slideshow for them too.

I love you both. Congratulations on 25 years!

G's new do.

Here she is...I have to keep reminding her
that you can't just keep going from blonde
to brunette and back again~over and over.
I think she get's it now.
This was her Christmas present (color & cut)
that she finally redeemed!
She's been dark for quite awhile. I think
we will all agree that we like her a little
bit lighter! :)





Here's more kitten shots from Easter @ Baker's.











Shhhhh...Gary agreed to let me take one and I
don't want him to change his mind! ;) It's
better if he just doesn't remember!
They are so darn cute.

Jacquie, don't let Scott forget that I offered
to let Jet out. He can e-mail me or call.

Run Fatboy, Run.

This looks hilarious! Run Fatboy Run.
I can't wait to see it!

Oh, also...another photographer,[b]ecker
(or just simply "[b]" to most) has posted this
quite silly political view by "the onion".
I think no matter which side you are on,
you will find it to be quite truthful as well.
click HERE

Today G is coming over for a bit of a makeover.
She's elected to color her hair a couple of
times in recent months and has gone back to her
reddish~brown hair color. Blonde has been a
real eye~opener for her. Altho' we all like it,
it's pretty tough and expensive to keep up.
Today we will weigh all the facts and consider
also that she has chosen to attend the
University of Missouri so we will need to select
a color that is a little less "maintenance" filled.
I'll post photos tomorrow.

Owen turns 3 on Sunday. He is so funny.
He knows the order of everyone's birthdays...
I asked him on Sunday, "who's birthday is after
your birthday?" and he goes "Sue-Sue!" so cute.
Love him.









Bye.

Happy belated Easter...

I had a post all ready to put up and then I had
to head out yesterday to get my Mom. Sorry.
Happy Easter everyone!

Saturday night Gary and I went out with our good
friends & neighbors Jacquie & Scott and Ron & Cindy.
We went downtown to dinner and then to the Wolves/
NY Nicks game at the Target Center. Oh what fun
we had!

First the Palomino for an early dinner, then the
game, then for a bump at Bellanotte after the game.

Here's some of the fun...











Wolves won.











(All shot with my 10D and my 50mm 1.4~
You see, they won't let you in with a big 'ol
camera and lens. The lens can be no longer
than a drivers license or credit card so I
usually don't even bother. But I'm glad
I hauled it with this time!)

I'm so grateful for our friends and lucky to
live so close. Thank you Ron & Cindy for the
great times and Thanks Scott & Jacquie for taking
time away from the needy, new puppy, Jet.
Wouldn't have been the same without everyone there!

13 days 'til my birthday!!!! :)

No movie for old girls...

I'm sorry, but I finally sat down and watched
"No Country For Old Men" last night.
WOW. HUGE waste of time. Such a guy movie.
I may just swear off movies all together.
I love Ethan & Joel Coen...but seriously.
I'm sick of the hype, I'm sick of trailers,
I'm sick of "Oh, wait 'til you see...",
I'm sick of "And the Oscar for Best Picture
goes to....." I may just start reading books.

My sister in law shared this with me today.
She only likes to forward either truly funny
things or truly gross things....enjoy THIS.
I'm just happy to see that she can take time
out from being a mom every once in a while and
giggle like a little school girl! tee hee!

I talked with Cheryl MacLennan yesterday for
quite awhile. Cheryl is the liaison for the
photographers for this year's Starkey Gala
.
I'll be working the red carpet at the Gala
among other events that week. It's so fun!
This year the Gala will be on Saturday, June 14th.
I know for sure that there will be 2 parties
at Bill and Tani Austin's home. One for VIPs
and one for the Celebs that come into town for
the big event. More details to come.


Wolves game tonight with Ron & Cindy, Scott &
Jacquie...dinner at the Palomino first. Yum.
Always a crazy time when we all get together.

Um, and again with the snow today...a few more
inches...it's salt on last weekend's margarita!
What the.....!!
Gonna be tough to find all those Easter eggs
tomorrow! :)

Back to organizing files....

Good Friday? hmmmmm.....

Yea well, the jury is still out on that one.

As I see it, after being rousted out of bed
by the sounds of snow plows and snow blowers
this morning, it's like pouring salt on the
proverbial open wound. I truly feel that
"March Madness" has little to do with basketball
and more to do with people going postal
here in in the state of Minnesota in March!
Am I right? I mean, I'm not sayin',I'm just sayin'.





I'll be hooking up with Becky (Mitch's mom) later
today at the Hilton. I believe 2 cancer families
are checking in today for a Minnesota Miracle weekend.



Find a happy place today!

Kittens

Popped over to Anne's to see Spice's kittens.
OMG! I don't quite know what to make of them
yet. They are still sort of in that "rat" looking
phase. But the personalities are coming through
already. June (Nicki's mum), you would just love'em!

One is pure white and the other will be a richer
taupe color. The teeny tiny "meow" that comes
from these two is just nearly edible. That's
right, I said edible!

Here's the proud mama...




here's the all white one...



I think the smaller darker one looks like Yoda!



Mama feeding the babies and resting.

SQUARESPACE

My Pro Blog is up @ SQUARESPACE.

Ready, set, more!
More images, more ideas, more blogging, more me!
I'm really excited about this cool new tool.
I know that it will be another thing to do
but I love the idea of sharing information that
relates to what I do.

People ask all the time....
"what kind of camera should I get?"
"where do you buy your stuff?"
"why are my images fuzzy?"
"how do I get the background to blur?"
"I set it on auto focus, why is it not in focus?"
"who do you use for your developing?"
"what's a good all purpose lens?"

I get jazzed and all fired up when I get to talk
shop with clients, neighbors and friends..
even family. I love all of it!
This will be a place for me to share all that.

If you ever feel that you want to ask, you can
always go there and ask.

Hey, I'm going to run out real quick and see
my sister's kittens!

Have a great day.

Peace.

Gross.

I probably have no right to complain yet I can hear
you all going..."poor baby, 2 weeks in Mexico and
you come back to 2 inches of snow in March...poor baby!"
Yea, yea, but seriously...gross. I mean sure, it's
pretty and all but it still just means that it's cold
enough to snow, that's all.

Hey all you video freaks out there...
do you know about VIMEO? It's like SLIDE!

Also, I'm working on a Pro site for Austin Images Photography.
It'll be different from this blog and different from my website.
I'm trying a 14 day trial with SQUARESPACE. This will be
another outlet for me...a pro site (or as Gary would call it,
"another time~waster"). Men can be such turds sometimes!

I'm going to mostly post images and information about
those images and keep the personal stuff on this site.
I'm still in the architectural phase but I should
have it up soon. I'll create a link to it when it's up.

Over time..who knows, it may replace my website???
I'm meeting with CORY tomorrow to discuss and make
changes to that site (finally).

Well, back to work.

Welcome Jet.

Jet (Jet-son..or son of Jet) arrived on a flight
from Portland on Thursday.



Grieving the loss of a four legged friend is just
too tough. When Scott & Jacquie made the decision
to put Lucius down in December the devastation
just continued day after day after day.
I knew that they were in contact with Lucius'
breeder but to my surprise when Gary picked us
all up at the airport Thursday evening he said,
"Scott & Jacquie got a puppy!" I was sooo
excited for them! Scott has just been miserable.
This is just what they needed. I stopped over
yesterday to meet the gorgeous little guy.
His name is Jet.





My mom pointed out to me yesterday that I never
gave the reason for perhaps not returning to Cabo.
Sorry...I meant to. Well, there's really no big
answer, it's just that most of the time Gary and
I like to stay at little placed right on the beach.
I get so sick and tired of people waking up at
5am just to lay 15 towels out on all the best
chairs at the pool. I go to Mexico to sit my *ss
in the sand! The water was colder, the sand was
hot, a bucket of beer on the beach at the Mimi is
10 bucks...here, 25. I don't know, It's not that
I hated being there or anything like that it's just
different. I must say that the photography opportunities
here were amazing...even National Geographic was
there shooting...



There was a steady flow of peddlers on the beach
each and everyday...that gets annoying.
I mean, sure, I bought some stuff from them but
every day they come right up to you and stand
there in hopes that you'll cave in and decide
that you actually NEED a turtle whistle necklace!
I taught Ben the Spanish phrase for "go away!"
I've never had to actually use it before, but I
used it 2 or 3 times on this trip. Ben thought
it was hilarius!

So to sum up, It was beautiful there, pure blue
sky everyday, tons to do day and night, great
food, God knows I love the language, days got
to be about 80 degrees, nights about 60,
diving was awesome, fishing was incredible,
the villa was impeccable...the perfect trip
for families. Gary and I will do that sort of
thing once in a while, but we prefer to go and
do nothing and hang in the local haunts.
Who knows, maybe he and I will go to Cabo to
together sometime soon.

Make no mistake, I would not trade this tip
for anything. I had a FABulous time!
Thank you Anne and Pete for considering me
to come along. It really was a memory maker!

Check this out...REDRUM. This is the deep sea
fishing outfit that we used in Cabo.
It's also the exact yacht we were on.



The diving group that Pete, Ben and I used
was Underwater Diversions.
Lars was our Dive Master and just the 4 of us
went out. We first went to Pelican Rock and
then to Neptune's Finger.
Pete has all of those photos on his camera.
I'll put those up when I get them from Pete.

I have a huge couple of weeks in front of me so
I must make an attempt to get back into my
reality zone.

I'm missing WPPI due to these
vacations but next year I WILL be attending!

Enjoy today!