Blessed Craig's List

Yes, I am among the living. This week has just been crazy and this weekend will be crazier. I have been sick, but starting to feel better. I have also been busy booking some new sessions. That I am really excited about that to say the least. This Saturday I will be going out of town to shoot a wedding with my friend. I am SO excited about that!

David and I have also FINALLY found a new blog/website that we like and I can start working on. I think that we have decided to to a blog/website in one. I am not sure that both separately is needed. I have been working on my new site and it is looking great, but now I think that we are going to go in another direction! Ho-hum. I am hoping to get it all finished by New Years. That is a lofty expectation, but I think I can do it. I will be converting this blog to the new one, but I will let you all know the new address when it is up and ready for viewing. Wish me luck!

I had a few emails about my camera situation. I was unable to book anything for this last week because of it, but it has all be sorted out. I had an interview last week, more on that later, and with their help I decided not to go with the 50d. However, I was going to stay with Canon (of course) and upgrade to the full frame 5d instead. Now, I have my new 5d and I am loving it. Not to mention I found it in perfect condition off Craig's List from a writer who works for the Kansas City Star! I was SO lucky. It is in perfect condition, gently used and literally half the price of a new one for the same EXACT thing! Plus, he threw in some goodies he had bought for it for free! Did I said that I was SO lucky to have found this? It is not what I wanted, but maybe in a year or two. Bless you Craig's List.

I will not be posting tomorrow, Friday. Mom and I are hoping for good weather because we are planning to take Mr. B to the pumpkin patch. I guess I better find out where a pumpkin patch is...

Sorry no picture or digi layout today. I am not on my own computer. I should probably get back to work. Shhhh, don't tell my Boss, I mean my Mom, no Boss.

P.S. I have had some complaints about my new font. Some people were not feeling it. I found out through some research that you most likely do not have the font that I am using installed on your computer. Therefore, you cannot see it and you computer is suplimenting it for something else. So... ELIAS... this is NOT my fault! hehehe I wil change it though to help out you suckers. Give me until Monday to remember what HTML code to change!

Tag You're It!

I was tagged by Stacy last week. So here it goes...

What I was doing 10 years ago:
1. I would have been 16 years old. I was attending Blue Valley High School in Stilwell, Kansas.
2. I was wondering if these boobs just showed up over night. I swear they were not here the day before I turned 16.
3. I had a cool new car from my parents.
4. I was busy singing in vocal compititions and hanging out with my friends.
5. This was the point in my life where I realized that High School was JUST High School... not the rest of my life!

5 Things on My To Do List today:
1. Work
2. Clean the kitchen.
3. Edit some photos.
4. Write some thank you cards.
5. Meet someone (with David) off Craig's List who wants to buy my Canon battery grip.

5 Favorite Snacks:
Um... right... have you looked at me lately? Like I can choose between the many yummies out there in Snack Land. I figure if Nordstrom has by size I am in business.

5 Jobs I Have Had:
1. Teacher
2. Practice Manager
3. Nanny
4. Full-time Student and World Traveler (hey, that was my job... in college).
5. Alpha Chi Omega Social Chair (That was a tough one let me tell you!)

What I would do with a million dollars:
1. Give my 10% to the Church.
2. I would buy land in Southern Kansas for Mom & Dad, Kyle & Mr. B, Sean and David & I.
3. Set up a "College Fund" for Mr. B.
4. Help My Nenee with whatever she needed at the time.
5. INVEST THE REST and Keep my J-O-B. Oh, yeah... I would by this puppy, Canon 1Ds Mark III.
6. Take David traveling. The only place he has been out of the country is Mexio and Japan.
Then, buy him the XBox 360 he has so patiently been waiting for.

5 Things that made me laugh this week:
1. David gave me my Anniversery present early because I was asking tooooo many questions.
2. I thought about the fact that it was the middle of October already.
3. Thinking of taking Mr. B to the pumpkin patch with my Mom this Friday. He will be the cutest in his Halloween outfit David and I bought him in Arizona.
4. Knowing that if I did have a million dollars I would my pinky to my lip and say, "One Million Dollars" just like Dr. Evil from Austin Powers.
5. Remembering that E2 (E Squared) has been in affect almost 10 years. That is a decade people! WOW!

Now I have to ask people to share more about themselves. Um... I pick... Anna (of course), Olivia and Elias (He doesn't blog. Elias, you email it to me!)

... and counting...

Dear David,

People have asked me if I know how much you love me.  I would like to say, "yes", but the truth is can you really know what someone else is thinking, feeling?  Let alone the intensity.  I cannot truthfully tell anyone how much you love me, but I know how much I love you.

You often times know me better than I know myself.  You know when it is time for me to shut up, but you wait for me to figure it out for myself.  You carry my bags when we travel.  You open my door to the car... every time we go somewhere.  Every.  Time.  David you put up with my yappy dog, when I talk to you when you are "almost asleep" and the lack of home cooking you receive being married to me.  That is love.

Two years ago today, I knelt at the alter in front of you and swore to love and honor you for eternity. On that day, I foolishly assumed that I couldn't have possible loved you more than I did on our wedding day.  I thought that my heart was so full of adoration and peace nothing more could be accommodated.  I was wrong.  When I look back on our wedding day, I can honestly say that in the past two years that was the day that I loved you the least.  

David thank you for helping me to become the best version of myself I can possibly be.  Thanks for being with me in spite of me.  Thank you for the best two years of my life.  Here is to our first two years...

I love you.  Happy Anniversary.

Erin

Kaitlin : Senior Shoot

Hi Kaitlin!  Hope that you like your shots!  Email or call me with any questions or requests.  Any of the picture can be changed from black and while/sepia/textured to color or vice versa!  Enjoy!!!

Everyone else I hope you enjoy Kaitlin's preview as well.  I am sick today!  Yuck!  I would SO much rather go to work that be home sick... with crazy puppies!

It's Crazy Late!

Nothing to exciting to report really.  I can say that I am exausted.  Could that be because it is now 12:28 a.m.?  Yes, most likely it is because it is 12:28 a.m.  I think that I am just trying to delay the inevitable... morning.

Photography Updates:

My test prints came back last week.  I placed the order late Wednesday night and they were on my doorstep by Friday afternoon.  This place wastes no time.  The prints are beautiful.  I am not sure if it was my photos or their printing quality, but WOW I am just going to go with it.

I ordered a print as a standout to see how I would like it.  Here is good example of how the photo will be mounted.  I also ordered some new business cards.  We shall see what they look like.  I am excited to see them.  I printed the cards on pearl paper.  It was highly recommended by just about everyone I know that uses this printer.

Tonight I upholstered my two office chairs. 

 (Please forgive the crappy photo.) The seats are polka dots (my favorite).  One seat is white with black dots over a black and white flowered pattern.  I know you can't see the floral in the picture.  It is the same floral that is on one set of the drapes.  The other is black with pink dots.  Just lovely if I do say to myself.  

Mi Madre stopped by to see the office in person.  She asked if she could move it.  I think that means she likes it.  David and I were tooooo lazy to even pull out our pasta salad dinner from the fridge tonight.  When my Mom told us that Culver's had $1.00 burger for customer appreciation we were off.  

Lets see what else... I cut my hair, edited some pictures, went to Hobby Lobby (I know this is your new favorite store Anthony) and obsessed over the order I made for some more prints...  I learned that Ikea doesn't ship "textiles", i.e. rugs.  Robyn (David's sister in Arizona) said that she would get me the two more I need and ship them.  What a gem!

Okay, it is now 12:39 a.m.  I better go to bed.  I think that I am getting sick.  I am feeling a bit under the weather.  My troat hurts and is really itchy, my nose is stuffy and I have been sneezing.  I never sneeze.  I hope I am not getting sick.  I am the worst sick person ever!

I am really going to regret this tomorrow... well more like later this morning.

And the Winner is...

ME of course!  Who did you think I was going to say?  The Chiefs?  Good joke.

No, really.  If you remember way back (about 7 months ago) when I started this whole blogging thing my friend Fresno Anna and I made it a challenge (This is a nice word for bet.  You know us Mormons aren't supposed to "bet".  If we did "bet" I would have been the most recent winner of that $200 million Powerball.).  For those of you who have not been with me that long you can get caught up here.  Anyway, the challenge... I WON!  I managed to blog at least once a week for the past seven months!  Rock on!  As my reward I will receive a $10 gift certificate to a digital scrapbooking store.  I feel sad for Anna that she lost, but I can't wait to scrap with my new goodies!  Better luck next time!

In honor of my dear friend here is a page I made from my last trip to Fresno.  Anna and I have so much fun together.  We are so different and I think that it what makes it fun.  

David is also forever indebted to Anna.  She is the one who enlightened me to the world of digital scrapbooking and has blessed David with the ability to watch college football on Saturdays without a peep from me.  Bless her.

Do I camp? What do you think?

{Before I get to my original post let me just say... I am SO stoked that Kansas City if finally going to get a temple!  It was announced today during General Conference.  I cannot wait to see where it will be placed.  I have not placed a temple photograph in my home yet because I knew this was going to come soon.  Now I will be able to hang a photograph of "our" temple in "our" home.}

Weekend Check List:

Baby-sit Mr. B

Drive to Ikea in Chicago for some serious shopping

Set up my NEW OFFICE

Yes, that was our weekend.  David and and I watched Mr. B on Friday evening.  Kyle had to work a little later than she had planned so she called me to see if we could get Mr. B and keep him for awhile.  Of course I said, "Um... yeah".  I just can't pass up spending time with that chub.

Friday night we put up the awesome new chair rail in what would be my newly decorated office and got a few hours sleep.

Saturday day morning came faster than I could have imagined.  Sure our alarms may have started going off at 5 a.m. for our road trip, shopping extravaganza, but does that mean we got up?  Ummm... NO. Our 6 a.m. departure time quickly turned into 8 a.m.  Oh, well.  What can you do?  Like I said last week David and I decided to drive to Ikea (not my idea).  The closest Ikea is in Canton, Minnesota, but a few of the key items that we need to pick up were out of stock.  David had the brilliant idea to drive to Chicago.  I thought that he was crazy.  I was thinking that perhaps he was dropped on his head as a baby and the effects were just beginning to take hold.  Drive to Chicago?  Hum... okay.  What else did we have to do?  I could so some serious damage at Ikea.  So, off we went.  Out of Kansas, through Missouri, bopped through Iowa and finally (8 hours later)  Chicago was on the horizon.

I have to tell you that I was totally skeptical about this whole "road trip" thing.  In case you could not figure it out I do not camp, I lounge on tropical beaches.  I do not venture out of the Greater Kansas City Area without the aid of, at the least, Southwest Airlines.  I thought that it was torture to drive to K-State from home in college.  Torture.  However, I was pleasantly surprised.  David and I had a blast!  I mean how could I not?  I was able to practice my Super Sleeping Skills, eat and sing at the top of my lungs.  (No, I did not drive at all.  David loves to drive.  I was totally off the hook due to the fact that I am married to Speed Racer.)  I was also in charge of watching the GPS and giving updates on our ETA when I felt it necessary.  I was the resident DJ for the trip.  Most importantly, I was in charge of dipping David's pretzels in this yummy chocolate sauce (What?  You gotta keep the Driver happy).

When we arrived to Ikea, my new Mecca, the game was on.  David and I were off like wet shirts.  First we bought my new desks since I knew they were running low on the supply since I called Friday to make sure they had any.  With that we checked out with the glass desktops (with flowers... oh my) and the supports.  David loaded them in the car then parked again.  Now, let the games begin.  We were armed with a list... a list that kept growing.  By the time we were done there was no longer light outside, dinner time had long surpassed and the car was pack neatly with my "vision".

David, our goodies and I departed Chicago at 8 p.m.  You can do the math.  We arrived in our driveway at 3:30 a.m.  I was tired, but David was pooped.  Once in the house we were greeted by the sweetest faces.  Our furry friends (that my Mom had been watching while we were away).  We let the pups out, played, fed the dog army in hopes that they would sleep like the babes they are and then turned in.  The minute our heads hit the pillows it was over.  Sleep took over.  A deep sleep.  So deep I don't even remember falling asleep.  I just remember waking up in a bright room and wondering if we really just drive to Chicago and back in less than 24 hours time.  My stiff tired body gave me the answer... YES you idiot.

Today was set up day.  We unloaded the car and began the transformation.  My office was originally in the back bedroom, but because of the set up that I wanted it was easier to move to the other room.  While David installed the new chandelier I assembled the three bases for the tabletops.  David changed out the light switch while I ironed the curtains.  Then, after we made sure the floor was really clean we set up the desk bases and brought in the glass tops.  We were so pumped.  Our measurements were right on.  The two desks side to side took up the whole wall just like I had  envisioned.  After that we took a brief intermission for lunch.  After lunch we hung the new curtains (that I am IN LOVE WITH), hung my magnetic wall boards and some really cool rails that we added clips to so I would have extra space to display photos.  David set up our wireless network while I hung the mirrors in the window seat, set out the pillows, upholstered my chair's seat as well as our antique ottoman, and laid our fun new carpet circles.  The closet in this room was previously organized with all of my paper scrapping, art supplies, camera gear and photographs from high school and college.

I cannot not say enough how much I love this new creative space.  It is exactly what I had envisioned in my head.  The colors are my favorites and the layout is not just your run of the mill office.  I am most pumped about finally having the perfect place to hang my autographed (by the original Broadway cast) RENT POSTER!  (RENT is my favorite musical ever!!! If you can't relate to this... I feel for you!  At this time I would like to send a shout out to all my RENTERS out there, specifically Elias and Liz.) 

I feel so blessed that I have a husband who supports me and my ideas.  I know that when I started explaining my "vision" for this room he thought I was nuts.  He knew that I needed a space of my own to create whatever I felt like... so he went with it.  He found out where we could get the stuff and he planned how to take me there.  David made sure that this room was for me and that it was just what I wanted (as long as I relinquished TV control for the rest of eternity).  What more can I ask for?  A kick a$$ office and a husband that is not only handsome (that's a bonus), but a sweetie!

Here are some pictures of the new space.  I was toooo lazy to photograph everything in the room so I just did my favorite spots.  We are going to order some more carpet circles for the floor, magnentic strips to go under the magnetic boards David installed by my computer, and cool boxes for storage that will go in the legs of the desk.  I am also going to get some of these and these magnets for my boards. The open space on the wall above the desks will be for my work.  I have decided to begin printing my favorite shots as standouts and hang them there.  There is enough space for a ton of them.  As I do more shoots I will have more favorites to fill the wall.

I am still in shock that it is Sunday night already.  Another busy week is looming.  David and I vowed to stay home more evenings with the dogs this week.  Friday we have our season tickets to Broadway Across America.  This performance is The Lion King.  We are really looking forward to that.

Workshop Day

I am finally getting around to posting some of my favorites from my Workshop.  This is the whole reason that we took ourselves to Arizona in the first place.  My Workshop was awesome!  Most of the Photoshop part I already knew, but I did learn some new things, too.  I had the best time shooting though.  Our models were SO adorable.  There were some adult models there as well (David and I were the "couple" for the shoots).  I chose to focus on the kids.  

Before this I would say that kids were my biggest challenge.  I think that a lot of photographers would say kids were their biggest challenge, but I think that I have got it! 

Three In a Row

I am much to tired for a "real" post tonight.  I know that I still need to cover my Arizona Workshop Day, but not tonight.  

Work is crazy.  This is a good thing though.  My house is crazy.  This is not a good thing.  We are dog sitting My Nenee's pup again so our house has 4 dogs until next Tuesday.  Two are completely crazy and two just look at David and I and ask, "Why" do the other two even exist.  I kinda feel bad for the little dogs.  They are SO mello and the puppies seem to be on speed or something.  

Mom and Mr. B came over for dinner.  I made spaghetti and meat sauce.  It was so so.  We also had some cookies and jello salad I made yesterday for those who wanted it.  Mr. B was in a great mood and cuter than ever!  Who would expect anything less?

The past couple of weeks David and I have been thinking about what we want to do for the decor in my office.  Really it is poor, poor David listening to me think out loud.  We were having a dilemma about what room to put it in.  After much debate we have decided, the plan is in place and the layout has been set.  Now, we just need to go buy it all.  Joy.  This week I bought the pillows for the window seat (50% off), chose and bought my paint for the walls and found the furniture I want.  Since I don't like the desks we previously bought they are going on Craig's List and I am getting the new ones I like WAY better.  I could not find anything that I liked here so we are going to Ikea this weekend.  It was David's idea just to take a day trip up there and pick up everything I want.  I think now he is regretting that decision though.  The list keeps getting bigger and bigger.  Before we leave on Saturday I have to paint the room.  I primed it this evening, will paint the walls tomorrow and the trim on Friday.  Then, we will be all set!

Since I have been a bad blogger tonight here is one of the pictures that I took at my photography workshop in Arizona.  I really like this photo.  I used Totally Rad Actions and I am digging the purchase.  There was definitely no buyer's remorse with these actions!  This is one of the photos that I sent to my new printing company for test prints.  I hope all my screen's calibration is all good and I don't have to send another set.  I have heard from a few friends that it took them a few times.  We shall see.

I am going to go and make David, Mom and my lunches for tomorrow.  I am such a good daughter and wife. I have made three meals in a row.  Lunch today for everyone, dinner tonight and lunch tomorrow.  I am even amazing myself.  Tonight I am really striving to get to sleep before midnight.  Even if it does mean falling asleep on the couch while David watches baseball.  I have to go.  My boyfriend David Ortiz, who plays for the Boston Red Sox is at bat.  Mmmmm.  It is okay.  My David knows.  No need to call and inform him.