So Far, So Fab!

Well not, perhaps, for all the Tampa Bay Ray's
fans but for me? I can't believe my week thus far.
And it's only Thursday!

I've had 2 really extraordinary opportunities
this week. First, finally meeting Jo down in
Albert Lea...Second, on that same day, I got to
reconnect with my cousins, aunt & uncle. Had
so much fun, I stayed over night in Owatonna
and really caught up!

Then, today I met up with Kelly Read.
I met Kelly and her husband (and their daughter
Alliah) last December 8th. I was called to photograph
their daughter, born still, for NILMDTS.



We've talked about getting together and finally
today was the day. I was so excited and nervous.
How would this go? Our only connection is one of
sadness, I thought. But Kelly's face lit up as I
entered the Caribou at 8000 Norman Lake Dr.
Kelly revealed that she feels a positive connection
with me. She also shared with me that, in all reality,
I was about the only other person that actually saw
Alliah. How intimate is that? I felt nervous and
felt myself ramble. I grabbed her arm from across
the table and said..."I'm so sorry, I feel so
nervous!" Kelly put me at ease and shared so much
more with me including her passion to go forward
and try to help other families with losses such as
theirs. She wanted to plant that seed with me and
with whom ever else might want to get behind her
or beside her in her efforts to help others heal
and to continue on her healing journey as well.





Kelly and her husband are, again, pregnant. This
time with a boy, due the middle/end of March.
She says this pregnancy feels so different and
her past has made her proactive for the days, weeks
and months that lie ahead of them.
Pray for this family, that they find strength as
they approach the anniversary of Alliah's passing,
that they draw closer to God, their faith and as
they gather with family and friends on that anniversary.
Pray that they feel peace in knowing that she is
with the Lord and find hope for the future with
their new son.


Well, like I said..it's only Thursday and already
I feel so blessed and grateful this week to be apart
of the lives of these ladies and to know that God
is doing wonderful things with me. I can't wait to
witness what's next!

First hard freeze hits.

Well, it had to happen, right?
I mean, after all, it is the end of October!
Doesn't mean I like it, want it, am
ready for it or in the least, prepared
for it.

I stopped in Owatonna to visit with family
that I don't see often enough...picked up some
wine and laughed the night away!!

Party, Party, Party!

Today is my aunt Cindy's birthday!
Happy Birthday Cindy!!

Tomorrow is my sister Anne's birthday!

Today I'm going along on Anne's youngest's
(Amanda) "kid" party at Skateville!

Later today, my neighbors are having their
annual costume party...right across the street!
I'll post all the fun tomorrow.

I wanted to share a couple shots of Boo.
I don't think that he's figured out that he
was neutered a few months back...




Hey, for those of you who don't visit my facebook
page...here's a look at some shots I grabbed at the
Hotel Sofitel on Thursday....






It was fun to see Giuliani in person.
I like Norm Coleman...I don't particularly
like his new teeth. :\

Best Cat Videos EVER!

Seriously...
You have to check this out...but before you do,
you may want to hit the restroom first!
I warned you!
Click HERE

Then, click HERE

And finally, HERE

Moving on.

I wanted to leave Katie up for awhile as a
sort of memorial so I thank you for all your
concerns and well wishes. Gary and I are just
fine. Didn't realize that by not blogging I
would arouse such concern. Thank you, again.

Losing Katie was such a shock but I know that
she is with Hobie and that they are happy,
healthy and doing all those crazy brother-
sister things that they always did here.

Last night I joined my sister's family in
Eden Prairie to celebrate Amanda's REAL
birthday (10/22)...here are some shots from
that....






Last weekend I got together with a good friend,
whom I hadn't seen in a while, to photograph
her daughter, Kathryn. Here's a slide show...

Gary's off on his first of many pheasant hunting
trips and I'm left to teach Boo that AA batteries
are not toys and foam pumpkins are not treats! ;)

Later today I will venture over to the Sofitel to
meet and listen to Rudy Giuliani and Norm Coleman
speak. I've been gonna hit many other stops of
Norm's but it just hasn't happened. Today's the day.

Have a great day...I'll see you all tomorrow.

Now I Lay My Cat To Sleep.

First, I must share with you something quite personal
and devastating for both Gary and myself.
Katie has been struggling lately and Gary and I have
been desperately trying to get to the bottom of it all
so that we can move forward. However, every test would
come back fine...normal...nothing alarming.

That was until I talked with Dr. Jarvis yesterday morning
(she's awesome by the way!). Dr. Jarvis was involved in
a lot of Hobie's illness too so we have a history with
her and most of the staff at MVRS .
When she arrived yesterday morning she discovered that
Katie was not responding to the IV fluids, not rallying
like we'd all hoped, was having trouble walking, still
was not interested in eating (that made 5 days in a row!)
and to top it off...she'd gone blind and had lost her sense
of smell as well.
All very sudden, all very tragic, everything pointed to
something neurological....perhaps even a stroke of some sort.

So here we are, just 10 weeks out from having lost Hobie
and now we have to say goodbye to his sister, Katie. :\

I called and made arrangements for Gary and I to come up
for her euthanizing. Dr. Jarvis would not be available
but the young man in her place was wonderful.
We spent some time alone with her first and invited the
Dr. to come in. He was calm and explained it all as if it
were the first time. He was empathetic and had a great
"paw side" manner about him.

Katie was in my lap where I wanted her to stay for the
procedure so the Dr. moved the chairs so that Gary and I
could sit and face one another.
The Dr. first tested the line with saline and then we
gave him the okay to begin the "anaesthesia overdose".
Swiftly, and painlessly (for Katie that is) she fell asleep...
in my lap. She is now with Hobie who she has been mourning
for the past 10 weeks. That makes me so happy. That's my
silver lining in all of this.
Well, that and the fact that we have Boo. He's a bit
baffled by it all too. I let him smell Katie on my hands
and arms when we returned home. He is so sweet. You know
what? I was sitting on the sofa on the porch and he came
out and sat on the ottoman like he always does. He looked
back at me and I said "Boo, come and sit with me, I'm sad
and I need you." and he got up and came right over and
crawled into my lap and laid down. I looked over at Gary
and we were like...he NEVER does that! WOW! I understand
that animals have a sense about these things but that was
pretty cool.
The other day a client asked me, as she picked Boo up and
snuggled him to her face, "where did you GET him?"
I smiled and said..."my sister made him for me." :)

We will miss Katie and Hobie. They are together now and
that gives me some peace.

Second, I registered my blog on the "Blog Action Day" site
as a participator like I did last year. This year's topic is
"Poverty". Today, more than a million blogs, world wide,
will blog on the subject of Poverty...pretty powerful really.
However, in that the timing here is lousy..... I only have
this to say...That sucks too!

No Cancer for Katie!

Relieved? Oh yea!
Do we have answers as to what's going on? No.
This is pretty frustrating, for everyone.
Not knowing the cause of Katie's weight loss
is making us crazy. Gary and I elected to have
MVRS keep Katie in their ICU for a couple of
days and get her on some IV fluids & nutrition.
If she rallies, then we can move on to see if
this is neurological. Best guess is that this
is a form of pancreatitis. I'll know more later
this morning, I'll give them a call and see how
she did last night and then (and I remember it
all too well) visiting hours are from noon to 4
and again from 6 to 8. I remember visiting Hobie
on Christmas Eve, twice.

Boo, on the other hand, is doing great so we
got to rule out bad cat food, which was nice!

Tonight I'm going to visit all my PUG friends
at our local PUG meeting..I haven't been in ages.
Looking forward to that. For those of you new
readers, PUG stands for "Pictage Users Group"
and they meet once a month all over the nation.
Pictage is an online partner for viewing,
buying and selling images. The photographer
uploads all of the images, clients and their
families get to view and purchase directly from
the site and Pictage does the rest. Nice.

Blog Action Day is Wednesday, October 15th.
This year's topic is "Poverty". I'm sure that
when they selected the topic, way back when,
they had no idea how much more poverty would
exist...here in America. Click on the Blog
Action icon to the right and get more information.

Thursday I get to meet Sylvia Weinstock. I'm so
excited. I love cake, I love to photograph
wedding cake...what could be better? I get to
meet her personally, do the photo op thing
and have a little private time too. I'll be
sure to share images from that as well.

Oh, I also have a secret that I cannot reveal
until Wednesday. But I'm just BURSTING!
Oh, and mom? NOT pregnant! tee hee.

One last thing...I believe that today will be
the day that my new site will go live.
It's not all FLASHY or anything..just fresh and new.
Tons of new photos. I hope you like it.

This day is going to be good.

More about Katie.

I have felt so distracted lately.
I took Katie up to see Dr. Zeiman.
X-rays and another look.
At 3:30 I will take her to MVRS for
an ultrasound. Dr. Zeiman thinks she
see's evidence of cancer but the ultrasound
will be more definitive.

I'm supposed to go to a TCPPA function
at 5...we'll see.
I'm on the ballot for board member.
Think I'll make a lawn sign.

randomness is the best I can do today.

rain is finally letting up.

Katie.

Katie has been losing weight recently.
2 pounds to be exact. We took her to our
vet on Thursday and again on Friday for more
subQ fluids and a change of food.
She didn't eat at all on Saturday so I brought
her up to the Emergency Vet here in Eden Prairie
this morning.

Dr. Erica Moore couldn't definitively come to
any conclusion except that she may need an
ultrasound (I know those run around 400 bucks
at MVRS) and x-rays to determine what is causing
the weight loss due to her "anorexia"...poor baby.

The "C" word did come up but I won't let that
land on me just yet.

I'll take her back to see Dr. Zeiman tomorrow
and go from there. She's resting now.

The Austin house had just been inundated with
the sickies this past week (is that right, mom?)

Having this past week off was not supposed to
be meant for care giving and resting but I guess
after a really busy summer season, it's what I
needed...it's like the body knows or something.

My energy is back and I'm ready to jump back in!

Not 100%

I'm getting there..more rest needed.
And it's a good thing, cuz I'm really
good at resting!
Did I mention that Gary thinks that I was
a cat in a previous life? ;)

Still sick, still tired.

Whatever this is that we have, it stinks.
Gary finally slept in the other room last night.
The alternating coughing keeps us up.
I think I slept well, it's just weird when
1/2 of a giant king sized bed is gone.
Then again.....kinda nice. :\

I managed to make it to St. Paul yesterday
to photograph a family of 12. Four are
their own and then they adopted 6 others.
2 of the adopted boys suffer some of the effects
of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome and that's why I made
the treck to their home. They will be in the
pages of the annual report for MOFAS.
Gorgeous boys with beautiful smiles.
Thanks for welcoming me into your home!

Today I am on call for NILMDTS.
I can only pray that it goes as well as Sunday
when there were no calls in the west!
NEXT Thursday I have a NACE event that is at
the new Westin Hotel in Edina near the Galaria.
I get to meet Sylvia Weinstock! I'm pretty excited about that.
I LOVE cake! I hope she brings samples! :)

Well, I'm going to try to make something of
this day and I trust you will too.

70 and sunny? I'll take it!

Sick & Tired.

Well, yes...I am tired of all the attack ads.
No, starting yesterday, I got saddled with
"the crud". Not sure where it came from and I
refuse to start a blame game but all signs
point to a man whose name I won't divulge but his
initials are Gary Austin. Thanks hun.
Or was it the initials Benji Sletten! Mr. "covering
your mouth is for sissies!"

Then, in the midst of all of my Nyquil symptoms,
I awake to find that the ceiling has caved in
on top of all of my camera equipment in the
basement....the faucet Gary installed had a small
leak and the ceiling tile said "that's it!"
I didn't even get out of bed until noon so imagine
my horror when I came down to the computer to
get some work done and find THAT mess!
All is well. Doesn't everyone own a wet/dry/shop vac?

Later today I will drug up with some daytime
tylenol and head to St. Paul to do another shoot
for MOFAS. This shoot is of a mother and her 12
adopted children. (I hope they have a shop vac!)

Here is an image of one of my subjects...I just
adore her! I met with the whole family last week.



Thursday is fast approaching.
It's my sister in law's birthday and the big
dinner/gala for Urban Ventures that I worked
all summer on. I'm anxious to see how my images
are being put to use!

Have a great Tuesday. Another big Presidential
Debate tonight. Have you printed out your rules
at Debate Drink?

Happy Birthday Mom!

Today is my mom's birthday!
We all gathered yesterday at my sister's
for a delicious time. Anne's FABulously
famous lasagna and a plethora of desserts!

The kids always help with the candles!





Thanks, again, Anne and Pete for hosting!
Everyone enjoys themselves at your home so much!

(Notable....I was on call in the west for NILMDTS
yesterday and I never received a call. That's
great news!!)

Stormy Start.

Gary was up and gone pretty early...
He has a golf outing/tourney/member-guest
thing this morning at 9 down in Northfield.
YUCK. Now it's pouring and thunder is
shaking the house. I suppose they won't play.
Good thing too, Gary's getting sick.
Maybe it will clear???

Later today my entire family and some of
our friends will gather at my sister's
to celebrate my mom's 70th birthday (which is
actually tomorrow). My sister makes a totally
KILLER lasagna and I can't wait to get over
there! We were assigned cake & wine. HA! shocker!

Oh, say, speaking of food, I want to give a
glowing review of "Cosi". It's fast food, in
a cosi atmosphere. Here in Eden Prairie next
to Pei Wei is this really great sandwich place.
Like Pei Wei, you step up to the counter and
order, they give you a # to place on your table
and they bring it over to you. So basically it's
fast food with tipping, really. But my mom and I
stopped in there yesterday for a late lunch
and I had the Sesame Ginger Chicken and my mom
had the Pulled Pork. Both really good. I had
driven by a hundred times and always wondered
about it and now I know. A little spendy but worth it.




Okay..on to the homecoming dance.
J picked out a FABulous cocktail dress.
Albeit a short one, the color looked so good on her!
All the girls looked great! When exactly did
homecoming get to be as big a deal as prom anyway?
I remember going to the football game and then
Hadder's band, "Purple Haze", played (loudly) in the
high school gym and everyone just kinda stood around.
NO dresses, no suits, no boutonnieres, NO corsages,
no paparazzi line of of parents trying to capture
the innocence on ANY kind of camera. Well, I was
glad to be there to get in on the action and get
some fun shots of J & her date, Scott.

Sunny Saturday!

Wow! It's a completely, gorgeous, brag about it,
wonderful fall day. I'm going to pick up my mom,
bring her back to my place, do her hair, take her
to lunch and hit one of her favorite stores for
a little shopping.
Then I'm going to be heading to my niece's to
photograph her and her friend as they "get ready"
for their big homecoming dance. How fun!
So, although I wrote "Susan is off today." on my
facebook status...well, you know how that goes...
I just didn't have a wedding to shoot this weekend.

Tomorrow the weather is not expected to be very
good so I'll save the laundry until then. It's
just way too nice out.

Gary's got a golf tourney tomorrow in Northfield
and he's not feeling that hot today...his body
seems to always shut down this time of year and
he's gets some sort of nasty cold thing...yuck!
Think I may sleep in the other room tonight.

Get out and enjoy this day!

Getting my lens back today.

I got home from my wedding on Saturday
without my 70-200L lens. A &17 HUNDRED dollar
lens. Sure, I felt stupid. I knew right where
I left it but it was gone. But as God would have
it, no sooner did I call Jim Werdin,
I got the call that the bride's mother had
discovered it and hung onto it. I canceled the
claim and made arrangements to go and pick it up.
Today is that day. YAY!

I have a lot to catch up on but as I go through
my day today I will do so knowing that Sarah Palin
did a FABulous job last night in her first ever
VP debate! (btw, did you all go to DEBATE DRINK
and print out the rules for last night's debate?)
I had about 20 people playing along with Gary and I!
OMG it made listening to the debate all the more
enriching! Gary thought he would add a rule and that
was "when Biden get's weepy or cries...chug a quart!"
Needless to say...we ran out of wine.
good times.

Hmmmmmm...

Thanks for sending this Steve!
I think I'll share it here rather than
send it out in an e-mail.

1. There are at least two people in this world
that you would die for.

2. At least 15 people in this world
love you in some way.

3. The only reason anyone would ever hate you
is because they want to be just like you.

4. A smile from you can bring happiness to anyone,
even if they don't like you.

5. Every night, SOMEONE thinks about you
before they go to sleep.

6. You mean the world to someone.

7. You are special and unique.

8. Someone that you don't even know exists loves you.

9. When you make the biggest mistake ever,
something good comes from it.

10. When you think the world has turned its back on you
take another look.


Happiness keeps You Sweet,
Trials keep You Strong,
Sorrows keep You Human,
Life keeps You Humble,
Success keeps You Glowing,
But Only God keeps You Going

I have a loss to cover this afternoon out in Waconia.
Pray for the young couple that is losing their first
child at 20 weeks gestation.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GARY!!

Today is my husband's birthday!
This day starts the very long string
of October birthdays in my circle of
friends and family....Gary's niece, Mariko
is next on Saturday the 4th!
Then my mom's is the 6th and so on....

This is also a good day to get out all
of your Halloween decorations! :)

Next~
I wanted to share this with you.
This closing prayer was in the order of
service for Kip's mom's funeral last night.
Words to live by, really.

"Do all the good you can,
by all the means you can,
in all the ways you can,
in all the places you can,
at all the times you can,
to all the people you can,
as long as you ever can."

~John Wesley

God bless you and your day.