baby ian...

(the music was intended to just go along with
j's slide show...)

stacey decided to come to the PUG meeting
last night sort of last minute (to bring the
crackers that jason left at home!).
that meant that we all got to meet ian who
is just a couple of weeks old!





he is just perfect! his skin, eyes...everything.
ian is just adorable. thank you for coming out
last night and bringing ian & lauren along.
tell lauren that "the white lady" will see her
after school today! :) ya see, i had on a white
blouse last night and she couldn't remember my name.
i'm finally going to head over to stacey & jason's
house today.

yesterday, as i mentioned, i met up with jane
at her "house of fun & fur" to make her greeting
card selections...here are a few...

here's ringo..



here's jane & daisy


and my fave...betty. she was crabby yesterday.



i snapped a few more while i was there cuz these
animals are so darn funny and photogenic!



daisy & ringo play constantly. i love how
ringo is covering daisy's eyes here..

fun with youtube...

two cat's talking....
another cat talking
and another and yet another


thanks for all the wonderful responses to my
recent photo shoot with my niece (see "j's big shoot").
we really had a great day together, first coloring
hair and then heading to the big city for a fun
'america's next top model' sort of shoot!
she adores fashion, being in front of the camera
and this will be her focus in life. not her life
just her focus!



oh, and next time....we will take her cell phone
out of her front right pocket. it's new, therefore
it's on her constantly! ;)

this morning i have the distinct pleasure to return
to the house of fun & fur!



yes, jane and i are going
to pour over her proofs and select some greeting card
images. i know that i have my favorites! but this is
her project, she would just like my input.
i'm going to bring my camera along in hopes of getting
a couple shots of betty...sweet thing.



so for now, i will sign off.

another beauty today, 64 and sunny! keep 'em comin'!

i must remember my PUG meeting tonight~
we are going to discuss blogs! wow!
quit talking, start blogging!
and that goes for you anne, gerrick & jen! :)

j's big shoot...

okay, can i just say that "g.g." from the glam guide
stopped by my blog yesterday and left a comment.
please check out the comment AND her blog.
i've made it simple for you to check it everyday~
it's on my list of links "check these out"...
"GET GLAMOROUS"..it's truly a great fashion
editorial and fashion locator...love it!
thanks for the note g.g!

j and i headed for uptown first and hit the
area of hennepin & lake~a very popular area
and in that it was about 65 it was pretty
crowded as well, but we didn't mind one bit!

then we hopped back in the car and took hennepin
into downtown minneapolis. just as we were about
to cross the hennepin ave. bridge my peripheral
vision to my left caught some color...it was this
magnificent painted brick building so we crossed
over 3 lanes of traffic and whipped a "U-y" at the
light and drove back there. what a great find!
3 separate backdrops for us to play with coupled
with some mid afternoon hazy sun..it was magical.
needless to say, j was in her element and we
had ourselves a ball!

back to her house for dinner and a slide show
straight off the camera on to their television.
j had already had herself a sneak peak on the
drive home and she just said "these are totally
going on my face book!" yikes!! :)

thanks j for a great time! hope you love your hair
and your pix...happy birthday darlin'!!

(gary comes home today and i'm going to try to head
over to see baby ian and stacey)

cats & sundays

i live my week for this.
i'm home all toasty with a big fat
cat with big fat white paws purring
away on my lap. the computer is his
"safe house", i never try to trick
him into taking his medicine here so
he likes to get on the desk and crawl
down over the keyboard and onto my lap.
it's hard to get work done when a cat
is expressing his love to you so loudly!
so i do what i can one handed. not easy.
oh, and i stop a lot to snuggle.
he's my baby, can you tell?





ya see the thing about cats is that most
won't come when you call (hobie will)
but they will come to you when they want
to which i believe makes them all the more
special. they seek you out. sadly, when
they are done...that's it. they hop down
and go find a sunny spot.

today, gary may or may not head back home
from south dakota (he's pheasant hunting).
they didn't have much luck on friday and if
that were the case for yesterday then the
plan was to come home. if the action picked
up some yesterday then they would stay and
return tomorrow. my guess is, in that i haven't
heard from him yet, that 2 scenarios could
be taking place.

1). they knew they would come home so they
headed out early and gary's sprint phone
won't work and he didn't want to call too
early from the hotel....(he has been calling
at 8am every day).

2). they "over served" themselves and are
sleeping in.

my money is on the first one.

later today i'm bringing j back here to change
her hair color and head out on the town for
a photo shoot..hopefully she's up to head
into minneapolis!

okay, now for some fun news.
after dinner with jane and christopher last night
i called my mom, picked her up and took her to
the casino (mystic lake in shakopee).
my mom is always lucky. she furnished her
entire upstairs once on some winnings!!
but this was to be my night! now i'm not
talking car or thousands or anything but
on a $20 investment in my initial machine
my winnings grew to over $350. i cashed out
and played a little more and for another
$40, i got back $100. not bad. like i said,
i'm not quitting my day job but i hardly
ever go and i never come out ahead so that
was fun.

gary just called, they are going to stay another
day. no birds, it's too nice, he said.
no wind, too warm...just too nice. bummer.
so one more dinner alone i guess.
i think i'll take j home later and hang
out there tonight!
the following are some shots of j with
her many different looks to go with her
many different moods! :)
we'll be adding to them later today and
i'll be posting tomorrow the "after" shots.













anyone wanting to donate to her NYU college fund
can contact me! ;)

have a great day!
praise Him!

burgers with owen!

after i finished up at the airport hilton yesterday,
i elected to go with mike, kindra and owen for a
burger at our famous burger joint know as lion's tap,
here in eden prairie.



owen got situated right away with his stuff.



it's always packed. there's almost always a wait.
there's never room for dessert! :) and this is why...



but once you sit down and order, it doesn't
take long for it to get to your table. a plus
when you are dining with a 2 & 1/2 year old!



soon it was time for hats & mittens and we
went our separate ways. thanks guys!!

my next mission was to meet up with ron & cindy
at biaggi's, also in eden prairie, for a couple
of drinks.



um...don't ask.



steve working hard



home to relax and head to bed.

today i met with lauren's mom (remember lauren?)



to discus her order options.
i'm heading back there soon to photograph
their two dogs~ nemo & tobie and then next
year i will be working on lauren's younger,
triplet sibling's senior portraits!
yes, that's right lauren has a set of triplets
as brothers and sisters..cool! THAT'S gonna be fun!

i stopped at nicki's to check on her puffy foot
but i did not have my camera so no photos.
it's getting pretty ugly now. before it was
just swollen, now it's getting all black and
blue looking like she was run over or something.
she can't walk on it or put any pressure on it
but she is getting the slightest bit of movement
in her ankle...so that's good.

dinner to night with jane and christopher.
jane's husband it with mine out in south dakota
and we decided we should try to get together
while they were gone so she and her son and i
are going out when they get done seeing bee-movie.

so that's all i got for today.
j's photos tomorrow and a visit with new baby
ian and his mom, stacey, on monday!!

weekend update..

had dinner with the baker's last night.
anne said, "hey, gary's gone...why don't
you come over for a scrummy dinner?"
i said..."what scrummy did you make?"
she said..."ribs in the crock~pot, squash
& veggies."...hey, ya don't have to ask me twice!!
it was indeed "scrummy", my plate was empty!!

i also took ben for an hour & a half driving
lesson while the girls were at gymnastics.
he just got his permit card in the mail and
so we jumped in my car and drove around.
i had him get gas and then we hit a warehouse
area and whipped some shitties...just kidding, anne!
seriously, ben did a nice job of driving and
in the dark pretty much for the first time.

today i am meeting with karen fernow (executive
director for the miracles of mitch foundation)
and the new grant coordinator/program manager,
bob belbeck...also a photographer i'm told.
we are meeting at the hilton for a late lunch
to go over introductions and vision then welcoming
2 cancer families around 4pm.

prepping for j's hair/photo shoot on sunday.
looks like it'll be a perfect day!!
i think i'll take her downtown or something
totally different! canNOT wait.
say, that reminds me, i've added another blog
to my "check these out" list. it's called
"GET GLAMOROUS...this one will keep you busy
for months! seriously!

happy friday everyone!
i'll leave you with some random images...

st. paul hotel...

are you ready for this?
get some coffee and prepare yourself for
a night with NACE at the st. paul hotel.



first off, this was a fund raiser for Open Arms of minnesota.

great chefs from all over the metro and their
sous chefs came together for this much needed
foundation...here are some of the scrummy, CRAZY
great temptations...









ready for some dessert??...me too!









teeth hurt yet? i'm not done...here's more








gotta give props to john markovich.
he donated his time and product for this event so
that all the guests could have a really creative
image of themselves! this was one busy guy! here's mine



here is a group of fellas from midwest sound & light shows.
thanks for hamming it up for me guys!



julie & karl from joseph catering were on hand
with some lovely scallops (pictured above)



the evening ended with last call for the silent
auction and then i headed out. what fun. a really
great group of people.
thanks to the st. paul hotel for hosting this event!

NACE event tonight...

wow, this is terrible.
it's almost 11 and i haven't blogged!
shame on me.

i had a grand time at the st. paul hotel tonight
and i plan on entering some images on thursday.

crazy, busy day.

so much to share, so little time (tonight),
my plan is to catch you all up tomorrow.

if you are in holland reading this (jen)
and it's early a.m. there....gooten tag.
hey, wait...that's german, right? :)
good morning anyway. i'll be posting later
on in "my" morning..2pm your time.

hi jacquie...miss you :)

another call..

i got a call from HCMC last night as we were
finishing dinner. i grabbed a pen & a post-it
and gary knew immediately what was up.
i raced down to meet the family and photograph
their boy born at just 32 weeks.



soon after family began to arrive, i slipped out
and headed back home.

i had forgotten to plug the meter, I think
God takes pretty good care of me...no ticket.

i poured a glass of wine & went out to the porch~
gary asked "how'd it go?" and i said "good."
we then proceeded to watch the remainder of
dancing with the stars.
weird how life keeps going when other's stops.

prayers for this family are needed and if you can
just take a moment right now as you finish reading
this post, i'd be forever grateful.

thanks & God bless.