a chilly saturday...

greetings...we are back from our stay
at the airport hilton in bloomington
(just minutes on a free shuttle to the
mall of america!).

wow! again...gary and i got the royal
treatment and were looked after like
celebrities. my man shawn anderson made
certain that we were transferred to a
penthouse room on the 12th floor where
there is a comped bar, complete with
champagne, a a breakfast filled with
everything you can imagine..so much for
those 6 pounds i just lost! :(

once we checked in we returned to the
lobby and awaited our minnesota miracle
family that was due in at 5. they didn't
get there until 5:30 so eric baker
took the family on the kitchen tour right
away so they could finish that up before
their dinner rush. i decided to go along.



below...becky chepokas, mitch's mom far left.









here's eric explaining the process of collecting
minnesota's famous wild rice...he just went up
north recently on a wild rice excursion...pretty
cool, really.





here's a fun factoid!
below, in eric's left hand is wild rice you
would typically find at a super market and
in his right is some authentic, minnesota
wild rice that he actually harvested.
they ride in canoes and pass through the
rice reeds and knock it into the canoe with
those sticks he's holding...neat huh?



eric ended his magnificent tour by
giving the family one of his wildlife
photos...signed of course. and we let him
get to work.

we parted ways with the family and cranked
up the fun level by heading straight up to
the executive lounge on our floor for some
cocktails and hourdouvers.
here's shawn, me, gary & becky...




the beautiful minneapolis skyline.
my dad is buried in the fort snelling
cemetery pictured here with all the
white markers.




here's gary...sick of my camera...again!


this young man...is a california transplant
wishing to break into the acting biz. hmmm,
perhaps he is hoping to hook up with the
cohen brothers or something???
he already models and he was fabulous at
waiting on us..thanks so much gabriel


quite needless to say, i mean i could go
on and on about this hotel and it's
fabulous staff, we had the greatest time
and we plan to make it back there often.
it's fun to just go stay at a hotel!
the yummy sheets and over the top comfortable
bed~the blue water grill! oh my God i forgot
to mention my most favorite meal in my
lifetime...a farm raised, off the coast of
hawaii, kona fish...here it is...
this was aMAZing fish!!!
eric? kudos my man! thank you so much!



this is gary's walleye with what else???
minnesota wild rice.




thank you again, shawn. you went way out
for us and i sincerely appreciate your
generousity and friendship. i'll see you soon

tanya, tanya-bo-banya.....

hey, here's my friend tanya villano.
i went to meet her at her studio and
we goofed around with my new camera!





she has this really cool space and when
i saw the antique settee, i asked her to
take a few shots of me as well...






today gary and i are going to head over and
stay with our friends at the airport hilton.
i was given a free night there and we thought
since we didn't get a chance to get out of
town for our anniversary this year, we'd hop on
the shuttle to the MOA (mall of america) and
take the light rail downtown and play in our
fair city of minneapolis for the night!
i'm really looking forward to this! a little
break in the action...

mike and kiki find out the sex of their
bambino today (due early february)! yay!
i'm pretty sure they won't share that with us.
she thinks it's another boy...i think it's
a girl! if it's a girl, she had better get
the same eyelashes that owen has dang nabit!
see what i mean????



my sister set up a fun slide show on her
blog...she's getting so techy! :)
she and pete have done quite a bit of
traveling in the past year and so she's
got lots of images from all over the globe!
i wish i could have snuck into the luggage
when they went to fiji!!!
click here or at anytime you can click
on the link on my "check these out" links
at the top right of my blog.


TGIF!

....my friend, gerri, gave me a mug
that reads, "tigf...thank god i'm fabulous!"
indeed!

baby caitlin....

yesterday i made the decision to hand
deliver the image packet that i put
together for the family that lost
their daughter on friday.
i really didn't want them to wait
any longer and i guess, personally,
i felt this tug to head out to delano
(only 40 miles. 80 round trip...
small sacrifice when you consider
their loss) and see them in person.
turns out they are holding her funeral
today.

shanna invited me in and i graciously
accepted. it was really terrific to see
them. we laughed and cried as we
recalled how friday unfolded.

this couple married a year ago, sept. 9
(sunday), they shared their wedding
album with me and we talked a long
while...it was really so nice.

as i left i made certain that they
knew to call me when they have another
baby and they are sure to do so!
btw, the image that i placed on my blog
of their daughter is their favorite.

i received a blog update from dawn davis
this morning. she writes about how
her husband, bob, flew out the instant
he could to NY after the towers fell.
here's their lastoria blog.
awesome images bob! nice work.

this morning i'm going to head to one of
my PUG friend's studio (tanya villano).
we always talk about getting together
outside of work and today we are.
i'm anxious to see her studio!

i have not had much time at ALL to
play with my new camera...makes me
almost sick! i took a couple of shots
yesterday..here's my neighbor anna!
she loves to draw on the driveway with
chalk!!



here's my boy, hobie...he's always a
loyal subject!



and here's gaby's choice for her
yearbook submission...



okay, back to zach's senior portraits....

make the most of every moment and
dont' be afraid to hug someone! :)

meet mark...

well, i never thought i would see the
day the i could love 2 men at the same time.
here's my new camera! (shot, of course,
with my incredibly reliable 10D that
will NOT be put to pasture just yet).

it nearly killed me to wait the 2 hours to
charge the battery. OMG!!!
i used that time to read my manual
and locate everything. this capture
device is CRAZY cool, unlike anything
i have seen and everything they said
it would be!

upon heading out the door to dinner
with this camera in hand gary says...
"could you just leave it for once!"
and i'm like, "ahh...new camera...
9th anniversary??"
gary won this one.

we went to campiello in eden prairie.
wow! why don't we go there more often?!

this place, albeit in a strip mall,
is so fabulous! seriously!
first, they tried to seat us across
the table from one another and i
insisted, in that it was our anniversary,
that we sit next to each other.
soon everyone knew that it was our
9th anniversary and we were treated
like celebs!
our waitress, nicki, was incredible.
everything she recommended we ordered.
even the desert which to me tasted like
Christmas! sooo delicious.

thanks nicki for all the perfect
suggestions and making our anniversary
dinner a night we won't soon forget!

oh, a shredded green apple/crushed walnut
and fetta salad with a balsamic/dijon dressing,
short ribs...pork tederloin in a fig
reduction, and this scrummy blueberry/almond
cakey~cookie thing with vanilla gelato!
holy hanna!! you gotta go.....NOW!!!

sorry, no photos cuz "herr gary" wouldn't
allow me to bring it along...turd.
no, seriously...love you, mean it!

gotta run....again!

jacquie, call me the instant you are
on the ground tomorrow!!!!!! :)

9 years...

today, gary and i celebrate our 9th
wedding anniversary. here we are
in hawaii for our honeymoon the
following february @ maui westin.

we sat around a little bonfire last
night talking about ourselves and
our growth as people and as a couple.
pretty amazing when you look back
at your relationship how you can see
where things twisted & turned to
take you where you are today.
all worth it, honey! i love you.

love changes over time too.
i'm so grateful for gary and every-
thing he brings to our marriage.
i bring more, of course,
but what woman doesn't, right?! :)
seriously, he is so wonderful~
he is even taking me to meet a new
man today and is allowing him to
live with us. i can't wait to get
my hands on him and press my face
up against his body and push all of
his buttons. all this, with gary
standing right there~a gift to me...
ahh, alas, ours is not an open
marriage...i speak of my new Mark III!!

(yes, dean and lois...it's my new camera!)

did i have you going for a minute?
a second? a split second?

no matter.
beware of all images to come captured
with my fabulous, long awaited, Mark III.

catch up...

okay, this is one of those rainy days
that you look forward to so you can
catch up and get stuff done, right?
well, the list is long so i got up early!

i present you with about 22 images from
my wedding on saturday with my fabulous
new friend and colleague...megan bearder
out of chicago. i don't know about her
but i, for one, had an absolute blast!

(oh, and for the record...it's not going to
rain today as reported...it's going to be sunny
and 70...hmm...how does that work??)

here's the biggest news ever!!
no, i'm not pregnant...altho' that
would indeed be big news!!
however, on to the next biggest news...
so, i go up to brooklyn center and
meet up with kathleen smith to "man"
the nilmdts booth at the mppa conference.
whose booth is right next to ours????
"national camera"! dave johnson is running
it. and i said "i'm #2 on the list for the
mark III!!! i'm so excited!"
and dave goes..."well, i can get you one
right now!" and i go..."what?"
seems dave has a mark III set aside for
a guy who is waiting on an insurance check
and he is going to let me take that one
and put the other guy in my place @ #2!
i KNOW!! i TOLD you it was the biggest news!
i'm going to go up and pick it up tomorrow
as dave is still at the show through today.

tonight is going to be like Christmas Eve
when I was 8 and couldn't wait to get
my barbie camper!! :)

well i'm going to cut this one short so
that i can complete an album and finish
up some senior portraits so that when
i pick up my camera tomorrow i can play
a little!!

dean and lois....did you make it back to
arizona yet???

thanks for the loan on the cabernet last
night jacquie. i'll have a return ready
when yo get home...it was really delicious!

gary and i are celebrating out 9th
wedding anniversary tomorrow! we're going
to celebrate next weekend.
we have ordinarily gone out to northern
california for our anniversary but i scheduled
a bella wedding this past saturday so we are
going all out NEXT weekend instead!

don't let anyone work harder that you today!

bella pictures...

"goin' to the golf course and we're
gonna get ma-a-arried....."

WOW! what a spectacular wedding this was!
all the stars aligned for this one folks!
cool temps, lightly overcast skies, a
gorgeous venue (minnikahda), a
breathtakingly beautiful bride, her
very handsome groom, a made of honor that's
been with her every step of their lives
and a best man with a tiny button on his
lapel just above his flower that simply
read....."bm". i just had to ask if he
had some form of incontinence... :)
that made for some fun shots!
oh, the flowers?? CRAZY-beautiful!
no..really...the name of the business
is "pazzobello"...SUPER talented!
but they really were gorgeous! truth
be told, their web site does not do them
the justice that they deserve. trust me!!

i shot 7~512 cards (bella currently
provides 10 per shooter) but will be
doing away with that soon as we move
into wolverines that store everything.
that's going to big a big load off!

i'll have to post on this tomorrow as
i am heading to brooklyn center to
cover a booth for NILMDTS today from 1-4.

have a blessed day!~

hither & yon...

yesterday seemed much a blur to me.
first i met up with nicki and my sister,
anne for coffee in excelsior @ the dunn
brother's by the lake. perfect day to
sit outside on the patio and throw back
a nice dark roast! this was anne's first
time coming along as all of her children
are now in school all day (ahhh, me time!).





once we were finished with our coffees
and solving the worlds problems, we set
out for a little "walk about" on the streets
of excelsior looking for something to strike
our fancy...and boy did it!~this town can
kick you if you aren't careful!$$$$

first we hit "capers" and saw our good, long
time family friend donna and a client of mine,
fran and we chatted it up for awhile.
this store is full and i mean FULL of fun,
girly, gifty, warm fuzzy kind of stuff.
it's right on water street, the main drag in
excelsior across from jake o'conner's (which
i'll get to in a minute).
i picked up something for anne and handed it
to her right there in the store. a candle.



cute, right?!

then we moved on to "cheri's"~a consignment
shop~ where i found a michael kohrs yummy
army green with chocolate brown leather trim
winter jacket...bought it! i needed another
jacket...i don't have a green one. :)

then we also hit "gatherings of excelsior"~
this is one of the great florists in town.
i watched as anne approached the counter cuz
i knew that she didn't know that they had
a cat in the store and she came face to face
with it and jumped! pretty funny really.
here's "timber"...



he just sits there an lets you love on him.



i've seen more an more of these fairy gardens
around, have you ...they truly are the sweetest
things. i've GOT to get one.



i almost just bought one of these fairies
to stick in one of my plants..too cute.



well then i had to go meet cory so anne
and nicki decided to go to jake o'connor's
for some lunch on the sidewalk. crap.
i called cory and rescheduled...not me at ALL!
we were just having the best time and i wanted
more sister time. lunch. awesome. as usual there!

one last stop..."meridian ltd." owned by
christine a. kuhns. a really terrific
woman's clothing store. this is where all
the cool stuff is...joe's jeans, 7's, l.a.m.b.
(gwen staphanie's line), there's more, i just
can't think of it all..oh, twill twentytwo.
great jewelry and belts and bags...a REAL
girl store. and it's laid out just like
the shops in melrose or beverly hills. truly great.









no JUNK, no CLUTTER. thanks chistine, we'll
be back soon. thursday nights is ladies night
in excelsior and they offer anywhere from
10 to 20% off! so go for it girls!!!!

had to run home and get ready to go meet some
bella photographers up in maple grove.
just a casual gathering to meet and greet
and talk bella and talk photography.
it was great. a lot of no~shows but we
managed to make great use of the time.
thanks ben for graciously offering to foot
the bill for dinner and i learned so much.
thanks for sharing all of your insites
and personal stories. hopefully next time
we can get it together earlier and get a
better turn out. perhaps we should start a
bella blog like a pro forum for works and
ideas...what do you say!?


got home at about 8:30 and got a call from
heather from nilmdts before i even shut the
door..they were desparate. no one else was
available to take this session. so i grabbed
my gear and headed for children's in minneapolis.

this little darling was just born via c-section.
she was perfect, perfect on the outside only.
she was born with severe internal trauma
unknown to all involved. little miss kaitlyn
was due to be delivered yesterday but to
her family, not God. everyone was gathered.
so much love in that room. this time there
was a chaplain present (my first experience
with that) we all prayed while she was alive
and then everyone kissed her goodbye and we
waited. and waited, and waited....she passed
around 11:00. just devastating.



don't let me doubt in darkness what You have
shown me in the light......



got home around midnight, gary was fast asleep.

please take a moment and pray for this family.

i have big bella wedding today at minnikahda.

35W bridge aftermath...

a good friend of mine (and photographer),
jason stenvold, recently took up the
offer when they opened up an adjacent
bridge to head down and see first hand
what has become of the 35W bridge since
it's collapse nearly a month ago.
to view some really outstanding images
click here. so much has been done yet there
is so much left to do. it's nothing like
the towers of new york, but this is
"our" ground zero.
nice job jason, thanks for the pix!

met zach at the wayzata country club
yesterday afternoon to shoot his senior
portraits. it was hot and windy
(not a good day to photograph a girl as
the hair would have been OUT OF CONTROL!)





so handsome, wouldn't you agree? :)

off to meet nicki and anne in excelsior
then on to meet up with cory barton
to go over the cool changes i want to
make to my web site! yay!

gotta run!!

baby gavin...

just 3 and a 1/2 weeks old and
having his first photo shoot!
he, mommy & daddy are heading back
to colorado this saturday...
his grandma and aunts will miss
him dearly! we'll see him at
Christmas and it will be wonderful
to see the changes. until then,
we can all go back and check out
his first ever slide show!
have a safe trip back you three!

BIG NEWS!! i'm #2 on the list to get my
mark III so i should have it any day.
i have never been so excited to get anything
in my life...well, maybe the "sasha" doll
when i was 8...or my driver's license when
i was 16...or my period when i was 30!!!
so, i've been blessed in my life, i'll admit.

nace meeting last night went well.
we met at embassy suites in bloomington.
janice, our fabulous hostess was all
gussied up in her cowboy hat! ya see
this meeting was to serve as a recap
of their national conference that took
place recently in houston texas.
so it was all about country...really fun!
i'll be posting photos tomorrow.

i'm meeting zach this afternoon for
a photo shoot for his senior pix.
he attends wayzata (pronounced wyzetta)
high school and is a baseball FANATIC!!
and this young man is also dating my
niece, g. those images i will post
tomorrow as well.

one more hot sticky day and then
we are in for a cool down!!

meet anna...

this is anna. she turns 4 on saturday!
her mom, keri, brought her over yesterday
to cut nearly 4 years of hair and donate
it all to locks of love.
we first separated anna's hair into
3 ponytails, then we braided each section
and then the cutting began. anna was
pretty excited about the new look.
i hope that her dad, jason, doesn't hate me!

so adorable.

this morning i'm popping over to finally
see gavin. he's about 3 weeks old now.
i can't wait to see him. christine is
going to head back to colorado on saturday
and i did NOT want to miss this opportunity.
ya see most of the babies that i have
photographed over the past few months have
all been for nilmdts (they are working on
launching a new web site soon...did i already
mention that the other day?), and i really
need to photograph a cheery baby...i think
it will do wonders for my soul.
(don't you agree jacquie!)

couple more hot, humid days then it's
back to the 70's! yay! just in time for
a wedding on saturday!!!

back to work?

when was i aWAY from work?
who stops working anyway, really?
the fact of the matter is~i LOVE what i do!
so i don't mind sneaking in a little work
even a holiday weekend! :)
oh, sure...i was shucking corn and cutting
up fruit, switching loads and emptying the
dishwasher right along with the rest of you.
but i get this anxious feeling if i don't
sit down to my G5 and at LEAST zip off a
blog or read other photographer's blogs
or friends blogs....it's contagious!
(stacy from staja studios was editing
all weekend...we exchanged a couple of
e-mails...gotta get lavalu!!)


did everyone have a fun, safe holiday?
we did. didn't really do much. had plans
to...just kind of hunkered down as if a
blizzard had dumped a couple of feet of
snow. i'm afraid that due to the coming
heat that we will wish it had! :)
didn't get out of the house...come to think
of it i never got out of my jammies either!
felt goo. i did work a little cuz i'm a
"get it done" kinda gal!

wow! could summer have gone any faster?
it's so fun to see all the kids at
the bus stop in all their new clothes
and big 'ol back packs.

i remember insisting on wearing some
new school clothes (i.e. sweater/wool skirt)
the first day and then just wanting to
DIE by the time i got home cuz it was
so hot out (yes, i used to own a skirt!).

i pray everyone got to classes on time,
found their lockers and got the combination
right the FIRST time! ;)

let's see....it's TUESDAY, not monday and
the trash is out (a day late due to the
holiday). i just know i'm going to think
it's monday all day. monday holidays
always mess me up a little!

~NACE meeting tomorrow night
~zach's senior portraits thursday
~meeitng with cory barton about my site
on thursday or friday.
~bella wedding saturday.
(gonna miss apple day in excelsior!)

meet gaby...

she's been waiting awhile to see some
of these. i'll be ordering her proof
book tomorrow. should be here mid-week.
good job gaby! this was such a blast!

dean and lois head out today. they are
driving down to northfield to see some
of their old teacher friends and then the
long journey back to arizona.
it'll be quite around here with them
gone and i'll miss my talks with lois.
i set her hair again for her yesterday
so that she could be looking smashing
when she see's all of her friends later
today and tomorrow.
last night we hit redstone in eden prairie
and we all had the ribs. they are so
awesome there! the just fall off the bone!
and dean finally got a manhattan JUST the
way he likes it! thanks redstone!
(i brought my new 1.4 along~gotta love
razor thin depth of field!)







we were invited to pop by anne & pete's
today to hang at the pool...sounds like
a plan to me! (sorry we didn't make it
over there yesterday)

i should be receiving my pack from bella
in a day or so for the wedding this
saturday. i would like to correct a
statement i made a few days ago about
this wedding...i had the wrong bride's
name. susan veltum and glenn hall are
getting married on the 22nd of september.
this saturday is eleanor kelley and corey orehek.
the will be married at minikahda and have
the reception there as well.
megan bearder of bella is flying in to
shoot this with me. i've talked to her
on the phone a few times and i think
that we will be fast friends!

my sister started her own blog a couple
of days ago so that she and jenny (in holland)
can communicate in a fun new way over the
next 2 years while they are away.
so i have added a link to that as well under
"check these out"...which is where i found
out that my brother mike and his wife kindra
are having another baby!!!! in february!!!!
wow!!! this is big news...wonderful news!
CONGRATULATIONS you guys!!! i love you!


have a terrific labor day!

gary & melissa's wedding...

i got some cool videos and images to share
with you from gary fong's weddingthanks to bob & dawn davis.

gary, dean and i hit "jake's" last night
for some fabulous pizza on the patio.
a quiet night really. and then came home
to catch the end of the twins game.
scott baker nearly pitched a perfect game.
but instead ended up with a 1 hit shutout
and the win...good job!!

going back to the fair today...didn't
get enough on sunday apparently so
i'm going to sign off and let you get
to your day!

bye.