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Saturday, December 30, 2006

More Weddings!

I've been feeling a bit better. I was able to get out of bed and walk around okay on Thursday night so I ended up overdoing it. I found myself trying to do things and ended up completely wiped. Andy's best friend Ben has been in town from Texas after his dad had a heart attack the day I had surgery. In fact, we think he was just arriving at Fairview Southdale as I was leaving. He's doing okay now, thankfully, and it's been nice visiting with Ben.

Yesterday, I had a bride who was only in town for the week and she really wanted to meet with me regarding her September 1st wedding. The best part of this deal was- her wedding reception is in New Prague! Yes, she found me on the internet but is from the general area. I met up with her at the Fishtale Grill which is a 2 minute drive from my house. She brought along her mother and mother-in-law and I think we all hit it off pretty well. She loved my work and decided to book me so I have my first official local wedding and I'm psyched! I can't even imagine shooting a wedding and having a 2 minute drive home!

Tis' that time of year- I'm getting a lot of wedding inquiries which is awesome as I don't aggressively advertise weddings. I plan on meeting with a few brides over the next couple of weeks so hopefully there will be more good news and dates to add to my calendar.

Another exciting thing, my best friend Jenni is coming into town in just a few weeks. Her parents surprised her with a plane ticket for Christmas. I am throwing a baby shower for my sister on the 14th of January and she'll actually be in town and wants to attend.

I've been enjoying my time off and catching up on a lot of movies! So far I've watched, A Lot Like Love, 13 Going on 30, Scary Movie, Invincible, Stuck on You, When Harry Met Sally, and The Family Stone. Of course I've caught bits and pieces of movies on TV and HBO.

I think I will be ordering my new camera soon so I'm looking forward to that and a new year of shooting!

Thursday, December 28, 2006

Celebrating Christmas

I am officially Christmased out! I think I celebrated 4 times this year! Just wanted to post a few pictures. Andy got me an iPod nano for Christmas. I must be one of the last people on Earth to get one! I was pretty excited though and it was completely unexpected because he's NOT a techhie (sp?) kind of guy. What's funny is, his boss ended up giving him a Circuit City gift card for Christmas so he picked up an iPod for himself as well. Of course Owen wants to play with it all the time! Just to show how impatient we are- Andy and I opened our gifts to each other on December 23rd!




























We celebrate every Christmas Eve with my extended family. It's always a lot of fun and a lot of little kids! My cousins and I had a big baby boom so pretty much everyone has two kids around the ages of my boys. My aunt and uncle always go all out and plan a game to give away money to us "older kids." This year it was Deal or No Deal. Andy and I won a whopping $2.00 after taking a 50/50 shot at winning the top prize of $70. A few years ago we played Wheel of Fortune and my uncle even built a life sized wheel and everything!










































My entire extended family!


















Christmas night- a conked out Owen at G-G's front door:

More Christmas...

Aidan plays with the manger in front of G-G's fireplace:



















G-G and the boys. Aidan wasn't in the mood for pictures!























Owen took this picture of me and G-G:


















The boys' gingerbread house that they decorated over at G-G's:

Recovery

I'm back! Well, temporarily anyway...

The surgery went well. I was slightly freaking out about 10 minutes before the surgery. Then the nurse came in to "take me away" and I actually had to walk myself into the OR. That's right, no wheelchair or rolling bed, I walked in there and climbed up onto the operating table. Okay, THAT was a little weird. I also had about 3 different people ask me to tell them what surgery I was having and they double checked my arm band for my name and birthdate. I climbed up on the table and the room was freezing! I was literally shaking because I was so cold. They put warming blankets on me and got my IV hooked up. I looked around and it was just like an OR on TV. There were nurses scrambling around getting surgical tools ready and a general hustle and bustle. I was really nervous at this point, but I had a really sweet nurse reassure me that she has been there and knows how I'm feeling. I couldn't resist and I had to ask the nurses if they watched Grey's Anatomy. They told me that they honestly never have which was kind of a shock to me. I guess they have better, more important things to do with their lives! lol I asked the nurses if I would come to in the operating room and they said that I probably would, but would have no memory of it. Then the anesthesiologist came in and told me that he was going to give me something to calm me down. I asked him if it was time for me to go to sleep and he said "pretty soon..." That was the last memory I had.

When I came to, I was in the recovery room. A nurse came to check on me and when I asked what time it was she said 10:30. My surgery was at 7:30 am and I was supposed to be out of recovery after an hour and a half, but they said I was so sleepy so they just let me sleep. Once I was up though, it was pretty much, get dressed and leave! They gave me Vicodin, got me dressed and wheeled me into a small room where my husband was able to see me finally. A discharge nurse went over some instructions and had Andy pull the car around. They don't waste any time! The rode home was horrible as I was nauseous and it was a bumpy 40 minute drive. Andy had to help me with everything, getting up, rolling onto my side, etc. It's amazing how much you use your abdominal muscles for everything and how helpless you are when you can't! I slept most of the day and when I was awake, I was horribly nauseous. I kept thinking, if I throw up, my stitches will probably split open! Horrible thought, I know... I finally realized the Vicodin was making me sick so I switched over to Ibuprofin and have been fine since. Each day is a bit better than before. I was able to get out of bed on my own as of last night so that's good. It is great being waited on hand and foot, but the control freak side of me wants to just get up and do everything myself! My most bothersome thing right now is my aching back from laying down so much.

I had a good experience for what it was. My surgery took place at Fairview Southdale and my surgeon was Dr. Luis Laguna. He was great and when I asked my regular doctor about him, he said that he would let Dr. Laguna operate on him, which he can only say for a few people so that made me feel better.

Anyway, I'm sure that is much more than anyone wanted to hear, but I wanted to document everything for myself as well. Thank you for all of your well wishes and hopefully I will be feeling more up to myself soon! My surgeon said the hardest part of my recovery is that I can't lift my kids for 4-6 weeks.

Saturday, December 23, 2006

Reactrix

December 8th, 2006

These photos are from the day I ended up in the ER and I just never had a chance to post them. I was at Southdale with my boys after taking them to get their haircuts with my hairstylist Emily at Salon 71. They love that Reactrix thing in the malls! In case you don't know what I'm talking about, there's a special built in screen in the floor of the mall and an overhead projector flashes various scenes onto the screen. You can step on the different objects on the screen and they actually react to your movements.






Thursday, December 21, 2006

Christmas Cards

Thanks to everyone that has sent me a Christmas card! It is great seeing my photos and the different ways you chose to present them. They all turned out great! My husband walks by them all the time and keeps seeing new, unfamiliar faces and asks, "Who are those people?" lol

Thanks again and Merry Christmas!

2007 Wedding Dates and Other Events

Here are the booked wedding dates for 2007:

January 13th
March 24th
June 9th
August 4th
October 20th

I have interested parties for September 1st, September 8th, and September 22nd.

Other upcoming events/ideas:

It would be awesome to book some Valentine's Day Shoots. Either cutesy mother and child(ren) photos as gifts for Daddy, or maybe even some racy private photos for the man in your life? We know he doesn't care about flowers or chocolates like we do. ;) We're not talking nudity here, just some tasteful, glamourous photos presented in a fabulous photo book. I promise those would not be posted on my blog! OR... a couples shoot! Give each other the gift of art with some updated photos of yourselves as a couple.

Easter is on April 8th next year. Last year I did a couple of bunny shoots with my boys and my friend's son. I would like to offer those again this year, as I have a "bunny connection" with real, live, floppy-eared tame bunnies. The photos were PRECIOUS and the kids had a blast.

I know this is thinking a little far out, but just some things to keep in mind!

Sunday, December 17, 2006

Jenny and Jeff

Sunday, December 17th

I shot Jenny and Jeff's engagement pictures today at Minnehaha Falls. They're getting married on October 20, 2007. Jenny was with her mom when she booked me so it was my first time meeting Jeff. Jenny proceeded to tell me that Jeff was really shy and hated having his picture taken, but as you can see he did great! I love, love, loved how their pictures turned out. Jenny was hoping for snow, but I'm kind of thinking we were better off without it. I'm excited to shoot their wedding. Jenny is a hairstylist so she promises everyone will have fabulous hair!
































































































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Saturday, December 16, 2006

The Peterson Family

Sunday, December 10th

Scott, Sonja, Melanie, 4, and Isabelle, 5 months. I shot the Peterson family at their home in Richfield. I had such a great time at their house. It was very laid back and the girls did great. Scott and Sonja did a lot of interacting with the girls which I love. I was able to capture a lot of wonderful little moments for them.

The Petersons wrapped up my 2006 family sessions. I had a fantastic year and my family clientele continues to grow which is outstanding! Although I will be taking on a few more weddings next year, my heart is with my families. Children are the most beautiful, innocent creatures and to see the love between parent and child... there is nothing greater. Or maybe that's me just being a sappy mom. ;)

Thank you for all of your wonderful referrals, without them I wouldn't be where I am today. I love my job!

Tomorrow I am doing engagements which will wrap up my shooting for 2006. Thanks everyone for a great year!

































































































































The Lorentz Family

Sunday, December 10th

Aaron, Bridget, and Piper, 7 months. I shot the Lorentz Family at their home in Minnetonka. This was definitely my most relaxing shoot of the day. Piper is just the sweetest, happiest thing and she hammed it up for the camera. She has the chubbiest cheeks that you just want to squeeze!









































The Greenberg Family

Sunday, December 10th

Jeff, Lori, Ivy, 4, and Lexi, 2. Could these girls be any cuter?! I have never seen hair like that on a little girl, yet alone sisters! Shooting this late in the season, we could have never expected such mild weather. Hope you enjoyed your trip to Disney World!