there's no place like home...

sorry for the delay in posting.....
just catching up with life!


ya know what? i love to travel.
whether it's work related or holiday...i love traveling.
i love planning, packing, great hotel bedding,
hotel note pads, the little shampoos and conditioners,
maid service, finding a great local hang out or a
fabulous restaurant, a nightcap in the hotel bar...all of it!
that said...i also love to come home.
the cat hair that makes me nuts is a welcome site!
the two of them just snuggle up and try to make up for
the lost time (thanks jacquie for watching after them
again for us. it really means the world to us to know
that they are in good hands.).

this trip went so fast and yet 3 days felt like a week~
after the very long graduation day on friday, we spent
saturday just bopping around...just gary and i. nice.
headed for malibu and stopped along the way at the
santa monica pier. a silly little boardwalk/pier with all
kinds of crap like rides and trinkets and snacks.
love the carousel. i took a bunch of shots of that!
right off the pier is this little surfer looking bar with
a small patio in front. it was packed and loud like it was
happy hour or something so we stopped in after the crowd
cleared out. turns out it's the world famous "big dean's".
apparently everyone goes there when they open (10:30)
and everyone downs a beer...it's famous for
"the first beer of the day!" okay...who are we to argue.

the fog lifted and a it was another
stellar day! drove up the pacific coast highway and
drove by suzanne sommer's burned up property. weird.
lunch in malibu at the chart house. got seated right by
the window over looking the ocean, awsome!
then drove through hollywood to get to mulholland drive.
super cool road with some amazing vistas and property
so unbelievable that i can't even describe.

back to town and a few beers outside at a little spot
in the japanese village just steps from our hotel.
met a really great group of gentelmen that live in the area.
all about 80 and big budwieser drinkers. they thought
it was funny that we were drinking kirin! so that started
our new found friendship. really, terrific people!
clarence even told us that he has a shrine all set up
at home for his late mother and made a tofu key lime
pie to celebrate on mother's day with her. sweet, or what?!
he ran home to get us a slice. it was delicious!



well, this big day got even bigger...we met machie, bonnie
and yasuko for dinner at this great japanese restaurant
across the street and then off to the hotel bar for some
more karaoke!

we had to get up and hit the road for an early flight back to
minnesota. but not before we met the gals one last time in
the lobby cafe for a lite bite and good-byes.
planning to go back and visit machie sometime soon!

great trip!
machie called sunday night to thank us for coming out!
she'll do just fine out there! :)

here's some shots from the weekend....

greetings from little tokyo...

well, we have been running since we landed on thursday!
so i'm sorry for not being able to sit down and write until
now. i guess i would have had time thursday night but we decided
to hit the hotel bar for happy hour and never left! sad to say
that i even got into the karaoke and graced them with 3 songs!
amazing what courage you can get from a bottle of cabernet! :)
alright...i'll tell you..."crazy" (my all time best performance),
"blue" by leanne rimes and then a new one..."what hurts the most"
by rascal flats...thought i'd go a little "off the board" and
sing one that i knew but haven't ever sang (in public!) :)

okay, moving on...
hotel miyako is mighty nice!
it's in little tokyo. what we have noticed about LA that is
the same in San Fransisco is that no one eats breakfast!
we have walked tirelessly in both cities on a QUEST to find
breakfast...and all we can every find is Carl's Jr. ~ Jack in the
Box, Starbucks and that's it....sad.
Which is tough when you travel to the west coast and gain 2 hours
and wake up at like 4:30! AM!!!!

Graduation ALL DAY yesterday...up at 5...breakfast...
(jack in the box...yuck!) at 6..get to the campus at 7 and get
great seats in front of one of the many jumbo trons!

machi (mariko) graduated from the school of cinematic arts at USC.
so the general ceremony held at 9 was about an hour long and
then they have satellite ceremonies for all of graduates
majors, minors and so on... so lots of moving around....finding
seats. weather was spectacular! 72..sunny!
last year i guess it was 105! ugh!!

Clint Eastwood was given an honorary degree so we got to see him
at the general in the morning and the production ceremony in
the afternoon at galen auditorium where he actually spoke..
pretty cool.





gary and i are going to head to malibu (it's about 10am saturday)
so i'll write more later!

hope the cats are behaving!!

off to la

this carry~on luggage thing? crazy!
we did it tho'...zip lock bags and all!
makes me wonder why i pack all the crap
that i do when i travel!
i will undoubtedly miss my very own pillow!
i'm really takin' one for the team here!
for me, when i fly, it's all about choices.
i like to have choices when i get where i'm
going...shoes, tops, ya know...that sort of
thing. not, these 3 shirts go with this skirt!
good God!!

well, the next blog will be from USC!
machie is really excited! i talked to her for
a little bit yesterday.
she's found a little korean bbq place that
she is dying to take us all to so i guess
that's where we will go for dinner tonight!

american idol...lakisha....had to happen, right?!

america's next top model...soooo funn!

gotta go....i'll write from la.

oh, congrats to "j"...she got her driver's
permit the other day! she' so happy!
BE CAREFUL!!!!!!!

get packing...

i have not even begun to think about what
to pack for this trip. we leave in the morning.
gary still thinks that we can get by with a
carry on. i hope so!

i just realized yesterday that i will not
be here for mother's day. i'm not sure why
it took me so long to discover that but
i'm pretty bummed. i guess i'm glad that
i was able to spend time with my mom all
last week when i was with the girls.
perhaps that's better than any old brunch!
i'll give her a call on sunday.

i'm crammed today with wrapping jobs up and
work in the salon as well. not to mention
packing for LA. i'm looking forward to seeing
machie and the USC campus! we got a convertible
so it'll be fun to tool around town.

gary and i were talking about what to do on
saturday....we have the day all to ourselves.
maybe malibu??? sposed to be in the mid 80's
so i best pack some sunscreen..in a quart size
zip lock with all my other liquids!! ugh!!

who's going home tonight on american idol??
i'm going out on a limb...lakisha.
it's tough, because i've thought all along
that jordan would win so it doesn't matter
who goes home tonight..or next week or the
week after. there is no 2nd place!
don't get me wrong these people are very talented,
i'm just feeling it for jordan. she has
more mass appeal. gary likes melinda but when
i asked him if he would go out and buy her
cd...he said "no."...so there!

80 today, i'm turning on the air!

jacquie, do you have a key?

images from the passed week...

here are some last shots from my stay
with the girls (i miss them already!).







they spent saturday night with their girl cousins
and when i dropped by to pick them up after the
twins game we decided to have a little jumping fun!!





there j, are ya happy!? i finally put those up! :)

here are some highlights from the twins game on sunday.
well, i mean we lost and all but there were plenty
of highlights to share regarding the event!












jacquie, i got your note. thanks for caring for our cats!
will i ever see you again??!! kickbox friday the 18th?

USC graduation ceremonies...

thursday, gary and i will hook up with his
mom, brother and sister-in law out in california
for machie's graduation from film school at USC!
pretty exciting. we are all so proud of her!

i haven't been to LA in awhile so i guess secretly
i'm excited that she chose USC in the first place! :)

yesterday, i spent the better part day with
5 cancer kids at the twins/red socks game (we lost!)
but i feel like i won. i love covering this event!
the weather was terrible but miraculously the tent
near the area that we always use was unoccupied so
the twins people set us up in there! we are most
grateful for that for sure!!! so windy that trees
were snapping all over town! it would have been a
disastrous picnic!
$750 was the high bid to throw out the first pitch!
so down on the field i went with the family!

i was able to rig a slide show of the images i shot
at last year's event so that folks could see what
they would be experiencing...it was cool!
then i sat up in the sky box with the cancer kids..
jesse, david, haley, andrew and erin. i'll post those
images tomorrow. it fills me with joy to see these
kids and their families enjoying a day out totally
covered by the foundation and my friend jim werdin's
insurance agency nicely done jim!


let me back up for a moment...
pete and anne got home at 3 am!!!!! yes...3 am!
the violent storms in the miami area made it
so that their flight was late taking off by 3 hours!
the girls really thought that they could stay up
and wait like when they got home from australia
last summer! a......no.
so i'm home now and it's pretty quiet here.
it's nice, but i miss the girls already!


i received an e-mail from a bride looking to plan
a destination wedding near playa del carmen, mexico.
she had been to my site and loved my photography.
she was looking for more information from me regarding
travel. this will be my first, real "web site" driven
wedding inquiry. all others have been referrals (which i think
is actually pretty cool!) she liked holly & john's
church location in porto aventuras.
here's holly & john from houston...





moving on...i got my assignments for the
starkey hearing foundation gala for 2007.
jay leno is back for the 2nd year to mcee.
some other names you'll recognize are...
kenny loggins, goldie hawn, leslie nielson,
tommy lasorda, kevin sorbo, jane seymour,
marion ross, lou ferrigno, richard petty and
golf legend, arnold palmer! and they tell us
that there will be many more suprizes!
this will be such a wonderful experience for
me! i'm really excited to be selected to
photograph this event!

i've got lots to do today so i'll post photos
from my stay with the girls tomorrow.
some really fun ones.

another soggy day here in minnesota!

minnesota twins...

today i head down to the humphrey dome
for a pre-game picnic, silent auction and
live auction (for throwing out the first pitch).
all arranged by a good friend of mine to raise
money for the miracles of mitch foundation.
if you can't get there today, plan on coming
down next year!
jim arranges for "tc", the mascot, to be there
at the picnic as well as many players.
the players come by to meet and greet and
sign autographs!
a sky box is provided for cancer families
and everyone always has the best time!

please take a moment today and pray that the rain
holds off for the picnic. this year the function
was scheduled a little earlier than usual and so
the risk of cooler weather was a factor but no one
likes a picnic in the rain! the area is covered,
which is nice, but...well, it's just a bummer when
the weather doesn't cooperate!

the minnesota twins beat the red socks last night
2-1 and it would be great to see them win today as well.

if i'm going to get that slide show completed for jim
i'd better get a move on!

i stayed at anne & pete's last night with my mom.
it was just nice to sit in the quiet once scott and "j"
came and picked up the girls for their sleep over.
we watched "the guardian" and chatted, it was nice.
then i slept in emily's bed and shut the door and locked
the cats out. i actually got a decent night's sleep!
i'm telling you, these cats are possessed and
with spice in heat...it's just...well...let's just
say that i wish i had shut the door every night!

it's been pretty windy...so windy, in fact, that all of
the chairs (including the loungers) blew over and one
of the loungers was actually on top of the pool cover!
everything is fine now.
last night i had to grab a flashlight and go outside
to see what the banging was all about. it was
kind of creepy actually. but you have to know that earlier
in the evening a police car tooled through the cul de sac
with his search light on, so when the banging started
you can imaging that we were just a little freaked out
by it! mom was probably glad that i was here...and so was i.

anne & pete get home late tonight so i'll stay one more night.
the girls are really excited for them to come home!

going to miss church today. i really hate to miss joel speak.

praise Him today as you go through your day!

gotta go...

cinco de mayo...

hola!
buenas dias! como estas?
estoy, mui fantastico! porque?
porque, hoy es mi aniversario cuarto de no fumar!
felicitades a mi!
hoy estamos teniendo una fiesta para cinco de mayo...
pienso.

okay, that's enough...i know i butcher the language
sometimes but i think i did okay.
any questions??? corrections?

i received an e-mail from cheryl at the
starkey hearing foundation. she will be in touch
next week with her travel plans to minnesota to get
everyone together and talk about the gala.

i'm working on a slide show for the twins game
tomorrow. jim werdin wants to show folks exactly what
they are bidding on for the live auction to throw
out the first pitch....


emily had her very first babysitting job last night
from 6 to 9pm...she made $7! pretty cool.
nicole was having people over and she wanted someone
to look after her 3 children while they entertained
their guests upstairs. i think this was a nice, first
babysitting experience for emily... she'll be in high
demand this summer!
she loved it! i walked over to get her at 9 and she
was having so much fun. she brought along some fun
things to share with the kids...so cute! good job em!

well, the weather stinks today. they say that it will
be dry but it's cloudy and i'm not certain that it will
hit 70. not a great pool day. we'll have to go to
plan B i guess. don't know what that is yet but we'll
figure something out!

anne & pete get home late tomorrow night.
the girls are going to scott & nicki's tonight for a
sleepover! i'll get to go home for a night.

oh, and in case you aren't good with spanish...
at the beginning of this blog i mentioned that today
i am celebrating my 4th year of not smoking!
quitnet always sends an e-mail stating "whose better
than you today?!" on my anniversaries...nice!
4 years...wow! who would have thought!
hold on a second while i pat myself on the back!

gotta run....being aunt of the year duties do not
include sitting here at this computer!
besides, i owe emily a trip to target!

tgif...

a friend of mine, gerri, gave me a coffee mug
for my birthday that reads "thank God i'm fabulous!"
nice, right?

so, anne & pete...are you enjoying your interruption
free nights!? these darn cats of yours are like
little amandas & emilys! (throw in the fact that
spice is in heat for like the 10th time!).
they start up around 5 and don't stop until you get
up! spice just howls all day. at first i thought it was cute.
sometimes it's like she's talking...it's weird.
now? it's just...well, not so cute.
i do love them so!

so, yesterday...i arranged for amanda to go right to
nicole's after lunch so i could head home to work.
she didn't want to come along this time...shocker!
then at 1:30 the neighborhood had a play~date (right
next door) so she went over there. i got back around 4.
emily went directly to a girls scout function after
school...a trip to the bakken museum in minneapolis. she got a little freaked out by the
frankenstein exibit (which later led to me sleeping
with her in her bed).

amanda had a "welcome first graders" thing at her
new school and so we got her all dressed up!
(anne wrote in her notes to me to be sure she was
"looking cute!" so i made certain).
i taught amanda an important girl lesson yesterday...
"someimes, you have to start with the shoes and build
the outfit from there!" she liked that idea so we started
with her cute cowboy boots!
we had a little photo shoot before we left the
house and that was fun! my little fashionista! :)



um, this was her idea with the tree!









no plans today~~no gymnastics. no girlscouts. no piano.
just school and whatever we want to do!
sounds like an expensive day to me!
haven't really had one pool day, it's been too cool.
and now, today, it's cloudy. they are calling for
rain tomorrow and maybe sunday...bummer!
i was planning a cinco de mayo pool party for tomorrow!
scott, nicki & the girls...mike, kindra & owen....
well, we'll see i guess.
nine is off today too so maybe we'll go do something
when the girls are at school today. (nine is my mom)

tonight we were going to try a bon fire and smores if
it's not too windy or raining!

pete, sorry for calling so late last night...
we sorted everything out. everyone is happy!

happy friday everyone!

american idol votes off 2...

wow! i called it! a client of mine has a pool
at her work where they had until 2 o'clock
yesterday to pick the 2 that they think will be
voted off (they do this every week).
she was in yesterday and asked who i thought it
would be...i told her to pick "phil" and "chris".
it was a nail biter though, that's for sure.
american idol sure can stretch out
a program can't they!?
my mom and i sat up and zipped through the tivo'd
results show in that we opted to watch "night at
the museum" with the girls when we got back from
piano lessons. cute movie, worth renting if you
haven't seen it.

everything went smooth yesterday until it came
to bedtime. it ran a little late and amanda's
"8:30" ran closer to 9:30 so she was tired and started
the whole crying thing like she did last summer
when i stayed here for 11 days with them.
"i miss my mommy!" and the flood gates opened up!
she wanted to come and sleep with me and i shut her
down...(hu? hu?...whadda ya think of that kindra!?)
i told her if all went well and she went to bed at
her regular time, that tonight i'd let her sleep with me.

these two are button pushers and their aunt is no
stranger to button pushing. so it's fun to watch
them scheme. :)

another gorgeous day!
amanda gets to go to see her new school, that she
will be attending next year, tonight. she is
soooooooo excited! she wants to take a bath, do
her nails and redo her braids for tonight!
how cute is that! she's such a girl!

talked to gary last night. miss him!
i'll post photos once i get to my house today.

called pete in st. lucia this morning because
em was giving me the "i don't feel good" pitch.
anne, i tried calling you but your phone isn't on.
em is fine, i worked it out of her and made her
lunch. she said that her mom always leaves notes
with her lunch and i told her that she did and that
seemed to do the trick....she feels better now.
she's going to save reading the note for lunch.

sorry to bother you on the golf course pete!
all is wel!!!

day one in the books...

hi, greetings from wallyworld!
well, first day under my belt and all is well.
i went to get amanda off the bus at 11 yesterday
had a bite to eat for lunch, discussed our options
for the afternoon and promptly hopped in the
porsche and headed off to my house to meet with
a couple of clients. thanks for leaving the keys, pete!
gary just rolled his eyes as if to say...."tough job
babysitting!" :)

funny thing, if you remember from yesterday's blog,
mary jane DID remember may day's back in deephaven!
she brought me some "may day" chocolates! yum!

talked to ben yesterday, he needs a haircut.
we agreed on monday...i hope i remember!

next we made arrangements with "nana", pete's mom,
to pick her up and take her to dinner.
they always do "tuesdays with nana" so i thought,
why break the tradition, right?! got a couple of
nice photos with nana at her house.


em...



amanda...she had me braid her hair like the
girl in the book!



nana & the girls...



then, because emily spotted the target gift cards
when she got home from school, we stopped at the
target on 101 & 7 and put a big dent in both cards!

talked to anne last night for a minute, they were
in south beach. (having airport trouble with your
wireless network...not sure why??? so no photos
as i am working off of your computer)
here's the full moon from last night...



mom and i sat up and watched the tivo'd
american idol..poor jordan. she was awful!
hope she had a ton of votes from last week
to carry her through!
amanda went right to bed and emily farted around
until almost 11! bad aunt, BAD AUNT!!!!

these cat's of theirs are insane! they both came
in to wake me up today and spice is in my lap!
she is so adorable! AND a shedder!

amanda is up and excited to go to the arboretum
with her class. i wish i could go along but
i have a client meeting me at the house this morning
at 9:30 so we'll just go another day!

today there are also piano lessons so we'll head
over there later today.

it's beautiful and sunny outside this morning
another great day on tap.

i'm going to go in and jump on emily.
hope she finally got to sleep last night or it's
going to be a long day for her!!

off to st. lucia...

anne and pete left for st. lucia this
morning and i'll be heading over to their
home soon.
last minute cat stuff here at our house and
last minute directions for gary!
i'll be popping in from time to time, i'm
actually working some this week as well
so it won't be like last summer when i was
over there for 11 days straight and the kids
are in school too.

hey! happy may day everyone!
i remember as a kid making cheesy baskets
out of contact paper and putting stuff in
it like candy and dandy lions or pansies
and hanging them from neighbor's doors and
ringing the door bell and then running!
then that person had to run and catch you
and give you a kiss! i have a client coming
today who was my best friend's mom growing up
and they lived next door...she chased me down
one may day and i'll never forget it!
i wonder if she'll remember? :) so fun!

i'm going to the twins game this sunday to
cover my friend jim werdin's "family and friends
day". it's so much fun! picnic, auction...
then i get to head down to the field and
photograph the winner of the live auction to
throw out the first pitch. all to raise money
for the miracle of mitch foundation.
the weather is supposed to be perfect!
pray that doesn't change!

i just got off the phone with my sister.
they are driving to the airport.
pete left me the keys to the porsche! yikes!
and i'm in the will..he's leaving everything
to me! :) whatever....
i told them not to worry about a thing!

here's a few family shots that i took of anne's
family on our trip to mexico in march....







well, the next blog will be from chan.

pool, prayers & homecomings...

well a pool day it wasn't but it did get
to 85 here in minneapolis!
i came prepared to get in the pool, it
just kept looking like rain so it took the
need away.

anne & i sat and watched amanda instead.






amanda waited patiently for her friend, maija, to
come over after lunch to get in with her...



we needed to be back at church by 2 for ben's
ceremony so we packed it in around 1:30 and headed
to westwood.

there, we were met by ben's dad, greg...his wife stacey
and their two children andrew and abbey along with a
couple of cousins.
it was really cool to see so many 9th graders involved
in nearly a 1 year program on sunday nights to learn
more about God, Jesus, the Trinity...all of it!
the room was packed. they all received a new tniv
bible to commemorate the completion.

abbey just loves her big brother ben!



we all placed hands on our 9th graders while brian
seuter (pastor of student ministries) lead us in prayer



here's brian!



ben's brother, andrew and his dad goofing around!



did i mention that abbey really loves her brother! :)




gary pulled in the driveway around 6:30 last night.
pooped...lots of laundry and glad to be home.
his trip was really terrific, they had a great time!
his shoulder held up through all 4 rounds of golf
and he played really well.

i head to anne & pete's tomorrow for the rest of the week.
i'll blog from there....

(marissa's senior portrait order comes in today
as does more wallets for megan bailey)

get wet!

well after a lovely afternoon with my brother,
tim and his wife, laurie golfing, i opted
to head to my sister's where it was just
she, her two daughters, my other sister in law
nicki and j....scott ran over (9 miles!!).
but the only one in the pool was amanda.
and of course, as 6 year olds do, she was pouting.
i went over and asked her "what's the matter amanda?"
"no one will come in the pool with me!" she said.
and i said, "no one?" and right then and there
i jumped in the pool! no suit, just what i had
on golfing. that got her smiling! the pool was perfect!
i swam around in my clothes with her for about 45 min.
then anne procured me some dry clothes!

my other niece, g, came over with her friend molly
and we all got in. then the older girls left and the
adults had an impromptu bbq and a couple of beers
and sat around the table solving all the worlds
problems. it was a bit like out of the show
"brothers and sisters"...fun.

ben is being "confirmed" (sort of) this afternoon.
he partook in a program at westwood called "the upper
room" and i'm proud of him, i'm looking forward to it.

going to pick up anne and amanda for church.
just the 3 of us today~ emily is doing a 4 mile walk
this morning for the march of dimes....
(she called it "marching for dimes"..cute!)

another pool day.
gary returns this evening.
i begin to prepare to stay at anne & pete's (tuesday)
for the week with the girls...can't wait!
turning the air on today....85+. nice!

give thanks & praise Him today!

another minnesota miracle family

yesterday i had the privilege to once again
meet a family dealing with childhood cancer.

becky and i left plenty early due to the fact
that friday afternoon traffic heading in that direction
is particularly nasty!

this family was just full of life!
i dont' have permission yet to post their names
but i can share the images...

here's becky with "N"...


here's the whole family....



here's the family with becky, ron & karen...



all the siblings were anxious to get to the pool!



the airport hilton in bloomington is just simply the best in
the business! they cater to every need of the family.
everything is comped including tickets to underwaterworld
and gifts in the room and all the orange balloons!

shawn anderson is the "go to" guy and makes certain that
everyone and everything is ready for the families arrival!

the reason this is possible is largely due to the new years
eve event held here at the hilton. it's an amazing party
where nothing is left out! it caters to families with
children so there is a ton for the kids to do too.
raffles, silent auctions, dinner, dance, games, movies
you name it, it's here. if you need more information
and or would like to donate auction items or volunteer
click here and check it all out!


well, i'm off to golf with tim & laurie...wish me luck!

cheryl haggard...

last night i went down to abbott northwestern
hospital in minneapolis to attend a training
session by the nursing staff there and meet
cheryl haggard of "now i lay me down to sleep".
the need for this organization was created out of
necessity as cheryl's son, maddox, died in 2005.
this is remembrance photography and the organization
has soared to over 1000 photographers world wide
(mostly the u.s.).

first the nurses addressed the group with helpful
advise and then answered questions from the group.
making certain that we understood what an
important role we play in the healing process of
these grieving families. (this is raquel)



then cheryl got up to speak. she was overwhelmed
by the size of the group representing minnesota
and began to cry. it's only been a couple of years
since maddox died and already this organization,
as i stated before, has grown to over 1000 volunteer
photographers world wide and is growing!



here's cheryl. i got a chance to give her a
big hug after the presentation.



this is a young organization and has already
captured interest locally. so much so that as
the founders see the need for growth such as
a director (a paid position), whcc (white house
custom colour) has agreed to pay the salary for
that position when it is filled! amazing!
i am so proud to be associated with whcc!
they are growing and doing great things!
please visit now i lay me down to sleep
and see all the magnificent things that they
are accomplishing!

i saw several of my PUG people there last night
as well as some TCPPA people. a great cause
to get behind. the nurses at abbott are amazing!

today, i will meet becky chepokas again as
we head to the hilton for another minnesota miracle
cancer family weekend. nathan walz is his name.
he's 17. his check in is a little later today due
to some procedures that he needs to have done.
i'll pass on any information
that i can regarding his condition tomorrow along
with a few photos.

gary called last night. they are having a terrific
time and the golf ain't bad either! :)

i'm hoping to connect with my brother and laurie
again this weekend to do a little golfing myself.


if you know of anyone that could use the services
of now i lay me down to sleep...please make mention
of this magnificent organization.
they won't regret it!

now i lay me down to sleep...

today, or rather tonight, i will have the
privilege of meeting cheryl haggard, co-founder
of "now i lay me down to sleep".
i'm attending a training session at abbott in
minneapolis this evening and cheryl will be there.
she lost her son maddux shortly after he was born
and called upon a photographer to come and take
some photos of him and a foundation was born.
i'll be bringing my camera.
so that means that i need to get my lens back from
kindra today.

i'm currently working on my sister's vacation album.
i'm organizing images and transferring them from my
lap top to my G5 desktop. fun stuff!
it makes me feel happy and good to look at all these
great times we had while in mexico.
far cry from how i will feel tonight.

i have several involvements with my photography
outside of weddings and portraiture. i give much
of my time and talents to organizations and foundations
that i hold near and dear and after watching
"idol gives back" i may have more.
i want to go to africa and bring back a 1/2 a dozen
kids...don't you? wasn't it moving?!
some people feel that american idol is just trying to
pat themselves on the back...i think that they have
realized what an impact they have on society and why
not use that to better the world. i, for "one", think it's awesome.

i do what i can on a local level, but this gives me
the opportunity to do something on a global level.
sometimes it's just easier to give money than it is to give time.
i'm sure that dean and lois are down in arizona thinking..
"what? you're going to africa?!"
no....not yet anyway. i'll wait for gary to get back.
someone has to watch the cats, right?! :)

gary called this morning. all is well and of course,
it's gorgeous there. they have a 9~something t-time
and then they plan to hit the pool. his shoulder feels
good, it's his back that is bothering him now.
must be from carrying all the guilt! :)

golf widow...

once again i find myself coming in 2nd to golf.
not that i mind really, i mean i certainly have
my hobbies and freedom to pursue them as well which
for that i am very grateful.
gary is going to the inn at eagle mountain
in scottsdale. it's a golf resort near fountain hills.
pretty nice, huh! this is the same group of guys he
went to bandon dunes with last spring in portland, oregon.

we broke the tradition of pizza the night before travel
and headed on down to "el loro", our little mexico away
from mexico. such authentic mexican that even the hispanic
folks eat there! they have mariachi's every sunday night!
but for you gringos...they've just added budweiser!

loaned a couple of my 2.8 lenses to kindra so that she
could see the difference in how they capture more light
than the ones that she has. she was photographing a
friend's baby boy yesterday and is getting more and more
handy with the camera...sorry mike...looks like i may
have created a monster! this will put all the stamping
and scrap~booking on the back burner and propel you into
the poor house...it can get pretty expensive! :)
i'm hoping that she will shoot me a photo soon so i can
see how she did yesterday and i'll pass it on to you.

spring has really sprung around here. gary mowed the lawn
yesterday (that's twice this season for anyone counting!)
it smelled so awesome...the fresh cut grass! that's right
up there with the new car smell for me...oh, and fresh
chocolate chip cookies! :)
everything is greening up and looking fabulous.
we certainly wait a long time for this every year...
and oddly, we stay here..hmmmmm.

well, enjoy your day and don't forget that may basket day
is just around the corner!

ron's 50th

yesterday was ron's 50th birthday.
which is funny because he doesn't act a day over 24!



i popped out and got some black balloons and an
"over the hill" balloon and made a sign that read
"ron grass is 50!" and stuck it in their yard.
he and cindy were in vegas this weekend and came back
yesterday afternoon. the mailman saw my sign and
wrote him a birthday note and a bunch of us went
over last night for cake.
jacquie and scott decorated the inside of the house
with streamers and stuff. good humor!

lots going on this week.
"now i lay me down to sleep" is holding a training session
at abbott on thursday with cheryl haggard, founder of "nilmdts".

another cancer family this friday at the hilton.

beginning to meet with senior students regarding portraits.

still watching for the mark III to come out (may)!!
it was in may's "popular photography" magazine.
everyone is anxious to get their hands on it.

next week i will spend quite a bit of time at my sister's
house as she and pete along with his company (rti) are taking
about 60 people to st. lucia for a week.
i've agreed to stay with the kids while they are gone.
i'll have opportunities to work too but i'll be staying
over night there with the kids. looking forward to it.
i did this back in august when they went to austrailia
for 11 days...fun.
this will be a little different in that they will have
school this go around.
i'll be blogging from chanhassen through the 6th.
then on the 6th i'll be at the twins/red socks game
for the miracles of mitch foundation. LOVE covering that
event with my pal jim werdin of access insurance.
they throw a big picnic and silent auction and then
do a live auction to throw out the first pitch!
it's a bunch of fun! contact the MOMF site or contact
me anytime about tickets.
more on that as it draws near.


makae it a great day!

music to my ears...

yesterday, after church, i was invited to take
in a music recital where all 3 of anne's kids
were participating.
emily and amanda played piano pieces and ben'
played his acoustic guitar and sang "elanor rigby"
complete with a subtle accent! it was really great!
ben's dad, greg, is quite an accomplished musician
so it only seems right that ben would have some
of that talent himself (his mom thinks she sounds
like celine dion...but she really doesn't. :)
sorry, anne, but you don't).
anyway, moving on it was really fun to hear all
that they had learned over the past year.


here's amanda...



and emily...



and ben...





afterwards i snuck a couple of shots at the piano...






and one with their piano teacher...



then over to the baker's for lunch and "planet earth"
on the discovery channel (soooo good)...nothing better to
do on a rainy day.
then i popped home and hung out with gary and the cats!

happy monday everyone!