Behind the Times

I seem to keep falling behind. And I've got sooo much to update! And lots and lots of new pictures.... but it's not going to all happen tonight as I really should get to bed cuz I've got a busy, busy day tomorrow and it's late, late, late!

But, a few quick updates...

Headaches are getting more managable. I tried going cold turkey but gave up on Thursday as it was Jessi's birthday and I had to be able to function so I could celebrate with her! Will wean myself off with Excedrine.

Jessi turned 11. So hard to believe!!! I took her and two of her friends to see Ratatouille for her b-day and then I took them swimming. She got Heely's from us, Brian got her a scooter, and Heather bought her an entire outfit. She of course also received other gifts from grandparents and her aunt and uncle and some friends so she made out like a bandit! She was thrilled with every gift she got!

I got my camera back on Saturday. YAY! Turns out it was me that broke it after-all. *sigh* I attempted to use a lens that apparently doesn't fit on that camera. All my other lenses work on both cameras so I didn't even consider that it wouldn't go on that camera. BUT, Hahn told me it was all taken care of. PHEW!!!

Did a baby shoot on Saturday too. Will share once I get permission from Mom and Dad. (I keep forgetting to ask!)

Martha stopped in for a visit today. It was a lovely visit. Come again soon Martha!! :) We drank Propel instead of iced tea cuz that's all I had 'cept for plain water or milk. She sipped on one while I guzzled down 2 and I think even started a third.

I've been working on a mini bible study on Proverbs 2:1-5. A couple of interesting tid-bits that I thought I'd share...

From verse 1:

My son, if you receive my words…

I looked up the word receive in the concordance and it can be translated SEIZE. I thought that gave a whold different perspective! Much more forceful than the word receive don't ya think?!

The rest of verse 1:
And treasure my commandments within you

One of the definitions for treasure (found in Webster's 1828 dictionary) is to hoard.

Skipping down to verse 4:
4If you seek her (wisdom) as silver

The word seek in the concordance could also be translated require. I liken silver to a paycheck. Do I require wisdom like I require a paycheck?! YIKES! I thought about the times my husband has been laid off.... He did everything in his power to get a new job. One time he went for retraining. He wrote and sent out resumes to perspective employers, went to temp agencies, he spent a lot of time and energy looking for a new job!! I don't put nearly that kind of effort into obtaining wisdom!! Do you require wisdom?? Sure would love to hear your thoughts on that one. It's got me thinking!!



Took Heather for some more Trash the Dress pix. Still only 'posed' pix rather than her doing fun stuff.... Hopefully we'll get to those soon!! Specially now that I have my camera back! :)





I'll leave with just a few from that shoot. Still muddling my way through them all....

The Ad is Out!

I received my copy of the Pennysaver in the mail today. Our ad is smack dab in the CENTER of the paper. Heather will be so excited!

Ken and Lisa

The slide-show is up and running. Unfortunately you can't hear the music unless you have zune (or something like that!). Gotta fix that! But you can see the pictures anywayz... so for those that are interested click here.

I've been battling headaches and terrible fatigue.... trying once again to kick the caffeine habit. UGH! I've been pretty useless the past couple of days.

God is growing me up. No fun sometimes, but good all the same.....

The Pennysaver

Well, I'm up waaaay late! For some reason I just don't want to go to bed and yet, I am getting a little sleepy... and will probably pay for it tomorrow!

Yesterday Beka and I had decided NOT to put that ad in the Pennysaver... but then we received a check in the mail today that almost covered the cost so we decided to go for it after all! It's a full color ad and will appear in next week's edition. Heather is very excited to see it. I'm excited about getting our name out to a much larger audience then we've reached to date. Hopefully it will drum up lots of senior sessions. And maybe even some TTD sessions. Oh, how fun!!

Here's a couple black and white ads I designed tonight... We'll use them if this other ad goes over well!

We also have plans for a Christmas ad that I'm very excited to do! It will be another color ad. I'll post as soon as I get it done... which won't be until my camera gets back from the shop.... *sigh* But I have the whole picture all planned out in my little head. :)

I got some prints in the mail today. I LOVE getting pictures in the mail! I ordered a few from the wedding. One 12x18 print as our special gift to the B&G (shhhh! It's a surprise!). And a few smaller prints as gifts to a couple other people. We printed them on metallic paper. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE metallic paper! It is soooo totally cool! The color is AMAZING and it has this metallic shine to it... well, if you have never seen metallic paper you are really missing out!

Well... enough ramblings. I had better get to bed before the birds start chirping! G'night!

It is FINISHED and other odds and ends...

I finished up the last of the wedding pictures today! I should have the slide show up soon. It was a bit more complicated than I had hoped so J (Beka's hubby) will be doing it when he gets a spare moment.

I haven't frequented BetterPhoto.com that much these days (other than for submitting a few photos here and there into their contest). Well, I got an email from someone today who had visited my gallery - a very nice email I might add - and so I ended up at my gallery and found quite a surprise. TONS of my photos were selected as the "Editors Pick". Not quite sure what that means but it sounds good anyway!!! You can check out my gallery here.

Still waiting for my camera.... *sigh*

Yesterday I went shopping for a lavendar dress for an upcoming wedding that I will be photographing.... Well, as I was shopping and getting mighty discouraged with the whole ordeal, Heather and I found a rack of prom dresses on discount - Marked down from $200 - $300 down to $20!!!!! Heather found a red and white polka dot dress for another Trash the Dress session! She bought black all-star sneakers to go with it. I'm VERY EXCITED! We also found an aqua dress that was Beka's size that she absolutley LOVES and she too is excited about participating in a TTD session. Her sister - well, when she saw and heard what we were doing - she said she wanted in on the action too. So.... We are making plans. We've got lots and lots of ideas but would love some more!!! So, if you've got any ideas of things to be doing or places to go for a TTD session - please let me know! Here's a few ideas that we've come up with so far to get you started:

Beka LOVES guns so I'd really like to get her with a gun! I'm hoping for a handgun or something like that but we may have to settle for a rifle.

Playing football.

At an amusement park riding rides (indcluding the water rides!) and playing games etc...

Mowing the lawn.

Riding a horse.

Milking a cow. (Thanks Martha!!)

Fishing in a rickety old row boat (gonna borrow my dads!).

Boxing.

Using power tools like a chain saw or something like that.

Washing a car (but I need to find a cool car!!).

Riding a dirt bike.

And the list goes on. Please, let me know if you have any more ideas! The idea isn't really to Trash the Dress (though it is a possibility) but instead finding locations and/or activities where you would least expect to find someone dressed up in a prom dress or a wedding dress. Something FUN and DIFFERENT.

Well, I s'pose that's enough rambling for one night. Or should I say early morning. YIKES! It is waaay past my bedtime.....

Advertisement

I designed this advertisement yesterday between editing wedding pictures. Hopefully we can get it in the paper! I haven't checked out prices yet though....

Finishing Touches

I really haven't disappeared. Just finishing up the last of the wedding pictures before the honeymooners get back! Should be done in the next day or two. I've got about 40 left and then I just need to put together the slideshow. YIPEE!!

By the way, that second picture was taken by my partner - Beka. Didn't she do a great job?!! She was very excited that she got to take a picture! I was busy driving and it's really not such a good idea to drive and snap pictures at the same time. Anywayz, I'm hoping to train her to be my second photographer. I think she's coming around to the idea....

Addendum to My Last Post

I'm editing this post cuz I think I said what I meant to say sooo much better on my other blog. Straight from my other blog (some of it is a repeat from my last entry - sorry for the redundancy I just didn't want to take the time to edit!!)....

Just before the cake cutting ceremony my new camera broke. The focusing screen just fell out when I took the lens off. Of course at the time I didn't know that's what it was called! LOL. I just knew that something fell out and my camera would not focus! I was TERRIBLY upset! Even angry at God. After-all I was trusting that God had called me to this and that He would go with me and see me to the end. And I felt like He had abandoned me and left me to fail miserably at this wedding. My 'focus screen' was totally out of whack!!! I was focusing on what went WRONG instead of what was going right....

My prayer before shooting this wedding was that God would be glorified and that Ken and Lisa would be blessed. I told God if those two things happened then I would consider it a successful day!!

Well, let me take a moment to give God glory....

I had a backup photographer on hand who had the Digital Rebel XT - a camera that I was very comfortable using and she quickly handed it over to me without a thought so I could finish up the cake cutting ceremony and the few formals that we had left to do. God saw me through to the end!

I met lots of great people at this wedding! Including Ken and Lisa who were such a pleasure to work with and went along with my crazy ideas for photos so willingly. And I think they had fun too.

Several people asked me for business cards! One even offered to take a bunch to an art show that she was going to and said she would be glad to include them with each order she received. WOW!

One person, whom I've never met before outside of cyber-space, told me she was praying that things would go well. That was such an encouragement to me that God would place this wedding (as well as me as a nervous newbie wedding photographer) on her heart and that she was obedient. DOUBLE WOW!!

God was faithful to the end! My 'focus screen' was just out of whack and I didn't see it. So to God be the glory! And I pray that Lisa and Ken would be radically blessed!!!! In their marriage, in their home... That He would radically bless them physically, financially, emotionally and above all spiritually.

Oh, one other thing - my camera is still under warranty and will be repaired at no charge. In the meantime - I've still got my rebel (for those moments when I need a photo fix or if I have a shoot!) and lots and lots of photos to edit to keep me busy. YAY GOD!

Ken and Lisa

What a lovely couple Ken and Lisa are!! I thoroughly enjoyed photographing their special day. Everyone was friendly and fun and cooperated with my silly ideas for pictures.

Of course I took oodles and oodles of pictures. I haven't had a chance to muddle through all of them yet though. I'll let you know when the slide show is up (gotta have it done in 2 weeks!)

Can any event go without a glitch??? Well, for me this one didn't! Just before the cake cutting ceremony my brand new camera refused to focus. I was checking it out, trying to figure out how to get it to start working again... After a bit I must have thought that maybe the lens was the culprit so I decided to swap lenses.... When I took my lens off a piece of my camera fell to the FLOOR!!! YIKES! Pretty scary to say the least. I ended up shooting the wedding with my 2nd photographers camera. It's true - ALWAYS have a back-up!!!!

I've already contacted the camera shop - they have promised to take care of me. Gotta take my camera back today.

Now Ken and Lisa are off to their honeymoon.... but it looks like they got an early start!!

Wedding

Some pictures from my new camera.

Tomorrow is the rehearsal.

Saturday is the wedding.

Nervous and excited!

Believing that God is in this and will bless this couple through us.

Change is in the Air

Romeo is changing fast! Not only is he growing but his fur is getting lighter. He's still adorable though and we all love him!! He's gotten easier too as he is outgrowing his biting stage. YAY! He could bit HARD!! And he sleeps through the night and he's better about going in his crate. Still working on the house training thing though....

On the Run

After being crate bound for such a loooong time, Teena is enjoying being a puppy again!! She turned 1 year today!! Happy Birthday to Teena!!!!

The Good, the Bad, and the ADORABLE

My family came home early. Got home on Friday. Brett and Heather are severely sunburned. They are in a lot of pain and having a tough go of it. Brett is hardly able to walk as it is somehow affecting his muscles in his legs. And Heather is covered in blisters, her nose and lips are swollen, and she can't lift her arms very high at all. I guess the day that they got soooo sunburned it was DARK outside from stormy weather and they just didn't think about sunblock! The tent was also leaking pretty badly and they were experiencing pretty nasty weather there. Heather even saw a funnel cloud! Anywayz... They said that they did enjoy a few of the shows they were able to go to.... But all in all it wasn't a good time. :( Except for Brian... he was pretty bummed that they had to come home early. He missed seeing his favorite band.

I picked up my new camera on Friday. YAY!!!! Unfortunately, I really haven't had much time to play with it. Too busy finishing up senior pictures - finished yesterday morning! And clearing up hard drive space so I will have room to store wedding pictures. That is a s-l-o-w process.

This week's plans are to get those engagement pix done, clear up more space on the computer, and LEARN MY CAMERA! And of course, pray, pray, pray that I do a good job for this lovely couple. I always pray that I will BLESS the people I'm photographing with their pictures.

I'll leave with a little collage I made for my business parter of her ADORABLE little Bear....