miraclekids triathlon...

this'll be short.
i'm heading out at 6:00am today
to lake ann in chanhassen to cover
the miraclekids triathlon.

this is the 3rd year that i will
be involved with this fabulous event!
wait...is it the 4th???
well, i've been there since the
beginning anyway. i lose track.

over 800 kids expected to participate
in this year's event!! soooo cool!
anyway, the forecast is for rain and
i just won't have it!
(altho' i'm packing my golf~rain gear
just in case).

i'll post more tomorrow (sunday).
but here's some shots from last year...







the minnesota miracle families were
awesome and soooo grateful!
kudos to the hilton for another great job!
i actually toured the kitchen this time.
paul the souse chef gave me and julie
(one of the mom's) a grand tour and it
was pretty incredible! (eric is off
visiting his family and was not in for
this weekend's event).

my lens is completely and utterly every-
thing i expected and more!
i'll post images tomorrow so check back.

after the hilton visit i met gary at
ciao bella for dinner...jimbo, as many
of you know is gary's best friend, was
there for a couple of beers and then left
us alone to enjoy our "date night"....

gary and i had another bon fire last night
and just soaked up the silence!
a lovely evening...

LOVE my new lens...
check back sunday for triathlon images and
hilton family shots as well.

i LOVE my job!! :)

hooray for anne!

okay, i am the first person to admit
when you quit smoking, although you
think you are going to get support from
others, you really don't. people don't
remember that you quit until you mention
it and THEN they say "oh, yea that's right,
good for you, how are you doing?"
blah~blah~blah. i quit over 4 years ago
(yay me!). my sister quit 5 months ago.
YESTERDAY!! i totally let this anniversary
slip! bad sister, BAD SISTER!!!
anne, i am so sorry that i didn't call
or anything! i am so proud of you!
i love you.

my lens arrives today...sooooo excited!

a former neighbor of mine is bringing
her daughter over for a birthday haircut.
this will be no ordinary haircut as
christy is donating her hair to locks
of love...the little sweetheart!
i think she's like 13. she's been waiting
a verrry long time for this. i look
forward to seeing them.
i'll see if it's okay that i post some
before and afters for tomorrow.

2 minnesota miracle hilton families today.
and the big, long awaited, much
anticipated MIRACLEKIDS triathlon is
tomorrow in chanhassen at lake ann park.
PLEASE pray that the rain will hold off
for all involved. altho' it's a "rain or
shine" type of event...no one wants
to swim, bike or run in the rain. :(

things have really cooled off around
here too lately. gary and i actually
had a little fire last night out front.
man that was nice. so quiet and peaceful.
i needed that. life has been quick
lately and i needed some slow time.
the high tomorrow will only be like 72.
opened all the windows last night...
it was glORious!

i JUST got my shipment from whitehouse.
i ordered images yesterday at noon.
these are from the demise i photographed
on wednesday evening.
thank you whitehouse custom colour for
getting them to me so quickly!
this family will be forever grateful.

have a wonderful day.

another angel goes home...

kathleen smith is the new NILMDTS coordinator
for fairview riverside (u of m) hospital.
she called yesterday afternoon to see
if i could get there to photograph twin boys
born at 32 weeks (2 weeks ago).
i'll be completely honest, this was a real
tough one for me.
you see, one twin was not strong enough.
they kept him on his ventilator until i
could get there. mom, dad and 2 sisters
ages 7 & nearly 2 were present when i arrived.
i quickly got to work shooting and switching
lenses faster than if i were at a wedding.

this was very different from all the others.

i was present to witness a miracle in reverse.

i swelled with emotion right along with the
family. i stepped out so they could be alone.

i returned to the room only to see that the
color was fading in this little angels face
so quickly so i took a few last images and
quietly exited.

i don't know her name, but one of the head
nurses on this case saw me come out,
turned to me and gave me a big hug...
she could see that i was terribly moved.
thank you for your overwhelming kindness.



pray for this family as they welcome
one twin and grieve the loss of the other.

and as for me? all i ask is that you
understand that the reason i do this is
so that, somehow, my work can aide in the
healing process of these broken families.

thank~you.

fabulous flowers...

here's a slide show of some of the floral
arrangements from my bella wedding on 8/11.
these were all prepared by one of the groom's
sisters (kada goalen)! when she contacts me
i'll pass on her contact information.

backing up a bit to my trouble with
david jay's "showit effects" program that
i mentioned a week ago or so....
FINALLY, forest carlisle and i got together
over some "fog creek copilot" program that
connects our computers (he's in santa barbara!)
so that he can see my screen.
well, mystery solved! yay! i could NOT get
that sucker installed on my CS2 or CS3 to
save my soul and it turns out it wasn't anything
i was doing or NOT doing (made me feel better!)

"showit effects" is a program of actions that
will allow me to (on the fly) take images and
quickly edit them for viewing at a reception.
i'm so anxious to do a slide show at a wedding
reception so that guests can view my work
right away! i'm sooo happy to have that working!
thanks forest! you're the best in the business!

i'm sorry, i totally forgot to mention that
my PUG (pictage users group) was having a family
picnic meeting last night in a nearby park.
what fun! we should do that all summer!
bbq, games, kids, cameras...super casual and fun!
we all got to see jason's legs! (i may never
recover from that!)
thanks jason for being the grill master all night!
here's nora...erin's daughter.





just got word last night that gary's
dad & lois are planning a trip up here!
they thought that they were done making
the long drives up here but it sounds like
they're gonna take a run at it again!
i can't wait to see them! we were down there
(arizona) last january so it's been awhile.
keep us in the loop, you two so we know the
date that you will be arriving.
safe travels!

my new lens will be here friday!!!!

weather or not...

um, yea...that would be weather.
we got hit, yet again, with another
doozy of a storm. that makes for
3 in 3 days! we didn't lose power or
anything like that (many more folks
did, however) and this time it came
through at a "reasonable" hour!
we turned all the lights off and
lit candles in the living room and
sat on the sofa and watched it come in.
(a bottle of cabernet would have been nice!)
SO electric! the sky was lit like
daylight through most of the storm.
all is well. however, gary was shouting
"c'mon storm, daddy needs new siding!"

jessica strickland. what can i say?
wow! she said that she doesn't like it
when people say that she talks a lot.
so let me just say that jessica had
a lot of information to share. and respectfully
i must add that the room was hot (the air
was out in that end of the building) and
what she had prepared to share...seriously,
i wanted to hear....so i was thankful that
she was there to speak, had much to share and
in a warm room where it would have been
too easy to doze off in the back row,
i sat front and center and she held my
attention the entire day/evening!
thanks again jessica for taking the time
to come and speak to our group.
this was her very first speaking engagement~
you'd have never known had she not
divulged that information!

she spoke about a gadget that she uses
to tote around her lenses (designed by
jessica claire) called the shootsac.
something that i decided i needed to have.
i'm sick and tired of trying to locate a
safe place to lay my big bag with my lenses
in it. i'll tell you more about it when
it arrives...i also purchased a new lens.
so i'm excited for fedex to get here this week!!
i feel a little like a junkie at my computer.

hilton families on friday and the big
miraclekids triathlon in chanhassen is saturday!

gotta run....

kathryn...

(sorry i missed yesterday. i just
could NOT get to it!)

first things first...
this is kathryn from sunday morning.

she calls me "aunt sue"...i love that.
like i mentioned earlier, i've been photographing
kathryn since she was 5 months old!
she's gotten quite used to me which makes
our outings even more fun.

sunday morning her mom called and left
me a message that kathryn was sick and
that she needed to reschedule but
kathryn was set on having her photos taken~
so like a real model, she decided to
buck up and get to the shoot! i'm so glad!
she's heading off to first grade this fall.
she's really growing up fast!!
oh, and that's my reflector that she's holding
in one of the shots...she wanted to help! :)
thanks gerri & kathryn for a lovely day and
a delicious lunch!

okay, i was in desperate need of a day off
so i didn't really want to sit down to my
computer sunday. i only did so that i could
burn the Bella cds and get the cards in the
mail and back to Bella first thing today.

i really enjoyed meeting and working with
hung vu...or "vu" as he calls himself.
the 2 of us sweat off about 10 pounds on saturday!
it was a hot one! ceremony was outside on
a hill on the farm property and the reception
took place right there as well in the barn.
make no mistake, this was not your ordinary
wedding...they really pulled out all the stops
and one of the groom's sister is such a talent
with the flowers..holy cow! i gave her my card
so that she could contact me with her information.
i know people that need to know about her
talent with flowers!! inCREDible! when i get
a chance, i'm going to post a slide show
and list her contact information, she is
truly amazing! okay, i'll stop now....
okay, here's one image, i love how she took
all the gold petals out of a sunflower to
keep the green & brown theme! i know, it's
probably been done, but i just thought with
all the other flowers in the arrangement
that it all just looked stunning together!
what do YOU think?



more on the wedding when i have a bit
more time to spare...

i'm off to see jessica strickland today
for my tcppa meeting. i'm REALLY excited
to finally meet her!

gary's getting to play at hazeltine national
today (home to the PGA in 2009).
HE'S really pumped about that!!

gotta run. have a great week!

got power?

56,000 homes in the west metro are out
of power from last nights storm.
much needed rain came by way of high
winds, hail,lightening and crashing thunder.
unfortunately, all at about 3:30am.

i can't sleep when storms come in the
middle of the night. once it wakes me,
i turn on the television and then i pace.
we had up to 70 mile an hour winds here in
eden prairie and i was worried about trees,
windows...i'm a woman and gary was up north
so when you pile on the fact that i was
alone...well, you get the picture.

we have skylights in both bathrooms
upstairs and i had to "go" but all i
could think of was "what if i get struck
by lightening while i'm on the toilet~
i have a big wedding today!"
well, the good Lord spared me once again!
i survived the night..or should i say
the "wee" hours! (i know, that was bad!)

so, today is my big Bella Pictures debut.
i'm very excited! it's been a long time
since i have been a 2nd shooter and i plan
to have a really terrific time with that!
(i hope the bride was able to sleep last night
the storm was even worse heading towards
ramsey county! i pray that everything is
alright and that she is not in a panic.)

hey, huge news...
i received an e-mail yesterday from areina seay
with the starkey foundation. she sent me a
list of about 9 weeks of missions trips through
the end of this year that they have planned
and she is looking for my availability.
i, of course, wrote back immediately with
nearly all of them checked with my approval.
i know that i will need to do some juggling to
make some of them happen but i am thrilled
to be apart of the team and pray that this is
what i am supposed to be doing and God wants
me there to tell the story of folks getting
the gift of hearing.

still waiting for my sister to call about "spice".
she's due to have kittens any day now and
in preparation, i went toyou tube and
searched for "kitten births" and found myself
watching for about 20 minutes!!! crazy!

make the most of your saturday!

my own makeover...

i'm going to deephaven to see my friend
dee @ metropolis spa & salon at noon today.
i've had it with my non~committal medium
length hair. within an inch or 2 it's been
the same for quite some time and honestly,
i'm bored with it! so, off it goes!
i'll be sure to post a new photo!

my lab pack arrived yesterday from Bella.
Wow! this is some serious stuff.
10 cf cards...10 cds and a sheet for
all the information contained on each card
and a pack to send it all back in.
the wedding is up in north oaks and we
will begin shooting at the home and move
a couple of miles for the ceremony and
reception at the family farm...sounds
warm & wonderful doesn't it? not to mention
that it's supposed to be in the 90s again!
i'm pretty jazzed about this first Bella Pictures
wedding. hung (my lead) is going to meet
me at the home and we'll go from there.
dawn davis is looking forward to seeing
some of my images from the day so i'll be
sure to post some at some point on sunday.

still working on lauren's senior portraits.
i just love them and i'm having so much fun!
very little to do in that she is so beautiful
and mac did such a lovely job with her makeup!
it was as if i did a shoot for a major
magazine layout or something!! :)

no minnesota miracle family today...
bella wedding tomorrow, and oh, i'm
photographing kathryn tomorrow out at the
arboretum in chanhassen. this will be for
her 6th birthday. i've been photographing her
every year since she was 5 months old!
here she is at age 3...



here she is at age 4...



lastly today, i forgot to mention that
june (nicki's mum) and garrick are finally
here from the uk! can't wait to see them!
they are all heading up to lutsen for a week
then back here so gary and i can take garrick
to the air show here in eden prairie.
they were here last back in november for
thanksgiving...it's always nice to have them here!





cheers!

shuttle endeavor takes off...

gary called me on to the porch yesterday
to watch the shuttle endeavor blast off.
15,000 miles per hour? are you kidding me!?
wow! it's been a long time since i've
been able to catch a lift off on t.v.
the lingo is...dare i say, hot!
gary and i were looking at each other like,
"what?" kinda like on "so you think you
can dance" when they are describing dance
moves...totally lost, no idea what they
are talking about! but...equally entertaining!
i digress, sorry!

um, national night out 2007 is in the books!
perfect night...warm, clear, dry.
so dry, in fact, that the fire engines were not
allowed to hook up to the hydrants and blast
their hoses this year (a crowd favorite!).
so gary and i did the next best thing and
turned our hose on and let the kis douse them-
selves! that way our lawn got an extra
watering that day! :)

oh, i'll mention that our fine mayor, Phil Young,
was along on the fire truck and he remembered
me...i asked him at the beginning of his
campaign if he would like me to follow him
and document is run and photograph his family
(all gratis by the way) and he just blew me
off! well, he's in office so we figure he did
okay without me. i just wanted to do it, that's
all. men. his loss.

here's some shots from tuesday night's event...







one last photo...
this is "hobie", he's 11. i think he used to
be a chiropractor in his first life...

lauren...

arrived at lauren's home in cottagewood
around 3 and discovered that they had a
spectacular backdrop for portraits right
under my nose so we set up camp there for
about an hour. during which i was introduced
to one of her brothers, a sister and two most
marvelous dogs~a shih tzu named "toby"...



and perhaps the largest dog i've ever had
the pleasure of coming in contact with
named "nemo". nemo is a bouvier (pronounced
boo-vee-ay')and they had both just been to
the groomer that morning so i wasted no time
getting a couple of shots off of the dogs!



nemo likes to watch television...specifically
"animal planet"! he just sat there and watched
the bobcat on the screen and was quite content.



after we exhausted two really great
locations at lauren's home we hopped in
my car and headed for the spot she was
most excited about...the bridge with all
the graffiti! i explain to people that this
spot can change from one minute to the next.
the art changes with the moods of the vandals
(i like to refer to them as artists, really).
i'd actually like to run across them and pay
them to paint for me!

lauren had changed and touched up make up
before we left her house so when we arrived
at the bridge we were ready to go!

new art, more colors, great light...perfect!







i don't usually do this but i let lauren
run through the images on my camera as
we drove back to deephaven. we had a great time!
thanks lauren!

national night out!

tonight marks the 24th year for this event!
i think i have been participating for at
least half of them. click here for more
information on what you can do and see
what others are doing to commemorate.

the pezcon is in town!!
i think i may try to hit that one so that
i can say that i went! i forget how much i
used to love PEZ! i'll bring along my camera~
don't you worry!

alright, i know you are all dying to hear
about my belt buckle extravaganza last night!
okay, maybe not ALL of you but some of you
didn't show UP, so i'll share some images with
you anyway so that in order for you to feel
horrible about not getting any!!! :)

stephanie (left) and lisa arrived early to set up
all the delicious buckles...







now, if you see any that interest you, call me
and i'll make arrangements for you to get in
touch with either lisa or stephanie.
some of them are now in the hands of the gals
that burst through my door at 6:15 last night! :)
we even arranged for some "remote" sales!
sally, who has just had knee surgery, couldn't
make it so i photographed them and she selected
from the e-mail that i sent to her...kinda cool!
hope you love it! i love mine!!

i met with lauren yesterday (a friend of g's)...
we've been planning her sr. portraits for awhile
and today is the day. i'm going to meet her
at her home in cottagewood and go from there.
such a cute girl~i'm really looking forward
to photographing her and having some fun!!
i'll be posting those tomorrow!

today i will post some images of j that i shot
last week...they're kind of fun too.







keep hugging!!!

hugging...

i did a little research and discovered
that january 21st is national hugging day!


due to the fact that i was asked to go
to an earlier service yesterday (picked
my mom up on the way), my mom and i got
the opportunity to visit with some very
good old friends of ours, the Butter's.
Ann, Charles and one of their sons, Dan.
They always go to the 8:30 service and my
entire family usually attends the 11:05
so our paths don't cross very often.

well, to the title of my blog~"hugging"...
my family is made up of 50% huggers (mom, anne
scott & i) and the other 50% is mostly the
combo of the 'ol hand-shake/back tappers and
arm touchers. the Butter family is ALL HUG!
and i mean like bear hugs! so when we meet
it's a contest to see who lets go first! :)
meet the Butter's...



yes, Charles does look like santa claus
and as a matter of fact he goes out east
every holiday season and plays santa for about
5-6 weeks. when he and Ann are together they
dress as mr. & mrs. claus...it's great!
and it was superb to see them! Ann LOVES the
lord and she beams 24/7!! i love them!

are you a hugger? maybe you should start.
you never know when a bridge might collapse.


(p.s. thanks for lunch yesterday, mom!)

westwood community church...

this morning i'm heading out to church
early to photograph some families that are
dedicating their babies at two of the four
services at westwood.
now we do hold baptisms as well but in
the case of infants, a "dedication" is made
in front of the church as the families
vow to raise the child and educate them
about Christ. these little darlings are all
dressed up and just coo and smile up there
as everyone prays to support the dedication.
westwood does this on the first sunday of
each month.

yesterday i went to a good friend's daughter's
baby shower. she's having a boy and is due
on the 12th, but will be induced on the 13th
if need be. his name will be gavin. and
christine looks so adorable pregnant. she's
one of those lucky ones that has a little
ball out front....damn her! ;)
she'll stay here with gavin for about a month
and then head back to montanta.
i told her sisters that there is nothing like
being an aunt!!
i will be one of the first to get "the call"
cuz i'm going to run out to the hospital and
take newborn photos of gavin! i can't wait.

jessica strickland is in town for a lecture
on the 13th so i'm a little nervous! i don't
want to miss a moment of her speaking!
but i'll get to the hospital right away!!!

had a nice visit with my friend jacquie last
night. we sat and drank wine and talked about
photography and life and how they intertwine.
thanks jacquie for the nummy vodka penne! MAN
that was good!!

big belt buckle party tomorrow!
i've invited about a dozen gals over to buy
my clients belt buckles that she makes.
they are soooo cool.

have a great sunday!

president & laura bush visit minnesota...

well, aren't we special!
laura arrived to look at our
collapsed bridge and george dubya
is flying around in a helicopter
as i type to see first hand the
devastation of the wreckage.
i still can't get over it. it's so
weird. i keep watching the video
of the collapse and it's just
so, i don't know....deliberate
looking, yet there are cars on
the bridge and my God, the bus
full of children...how does something
like this actually happen?
so much more to come on that
subject...it's been reported that
it could take as much as a year
to come to some sort of conclusion
as to what actually happened.

another airport hilton visit yesterday
for a minnesota miracle. i met little
miss madelyn, age 4 (left). she brought
along her very, very best friend for
the weekend. they were so funny! and silly!




they were very excited to go swimming~!

grandma and dad and the two girls will spend
the weekend and enjoy lots of fun compliments
of the "minnesota miracle"...a division
of the "miracles of mitch" and partnered
by the airport hilton..."the hotel with a heart"!



picked up some cabernet on the way home and
sat out front with gary by the fire pit (no fire)
and slowly we started a gathering at our home.
first we were joined by all the neighbors dogs...







then some neighbors...trisha, then
ron & cindy. it was a perfect night to
sit outside! due to all the dry weather
there is a shortage of bugs!! (one nice thing
about no rain!).

FINALLY some relief in the way of rain.
woke up this morning to the sound of rain
hitting the bedroom window! hooray!
gary brought the cats into me on the bed
and headed off to paynesville to play golf
with his buddies. this is an annual event
at the koronis golf club there and they all
stay at tom & mary hendrickson's lake home
(you really can't call this place a cabin!).

got a late start today but it was nice to
lay in bed and listen to both the rain and
the cats purring next to me! :)

more bridge collapse images...

and no, i did not shoot these but
they are amazing images and worth sharing.

to date i do not know of anyone,
personally, that was involved in
the bridge collapse...and for that
i thank God!

well, on to the starkey event...
i picked up where raphael left off
(after the lunch break) and photographed
the first hour of dr. charles berlin's
lecture on diagnosing the need for
cochlear implants...(umm, yea...WAY over
my head! pretty interesting tho', i found
myself listening and trying to make sense
of some of the information!)










the student then broke off into other class
rooms and got into specific areas of interest.









then they all resumed in the large
auditorium for the closing and scholarship
awards. mr. bill austin arrive to hand those
awards out to some very deserving students!




everyone then had the opportunity to
change into jeans and head over to the
bowling alley for food, cocktails and
of course...bowling!!













this was a VERY energetic group!
i had a blast and so did they.
rapheal called and said they were running
the bowling photos during the breaks
today and that they were a big hit!

thanks raphael for calling on me to
help you out yesterday!