Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all of you wonderful mothers out there! Here is a personal photo gallery of my Mother's Day. We celebrated by stopping by all of the important mothers in our lives. We ended up at my mom's house. The boys did a little "fishing" and I did a photo shoot for my sister.

On Saturday I shot Chris and Monie's wedding so stayed tuned for pictures! It's killing me not to post some right away, but I literally have hundreds and hundreds of images to go through so it may take awhile.

My mom teaches Owen how to play mancala:
















Sophia was full of smiles!

















This is how I feel right about now:























Aidan LOVED to fish and became freakishly obsessive about it:























My brother-in-law caught a little bass:

One of the rare family pictures I ever manage to get!








































Love this gallery of the new mom:









A proud new dad:

Someplace I would LOVE to be...

With everything being so hectic lately, I am reminded of one of the most peaceful moments I have ever had. Horseback riding on the beach! Oh how I would love to be doing that right about now. ;)

A few more random pics...

A few more random pics I found while formatting my memory cards... Aidan had a sock on his hand- these were taken April 20th.

The Works

I just came across these images and forgot to post them. Owen's preschool had a field trip to The Works museum in Edina on April 25th. Not much of a museum, but the kids had fun. I just thought these mirror pics were too funny not to share!

OMG!!!!

So, I'm taking my midnight shower... and look who decided to join me...

I was rinsing out my shampoo and I happened to look over on the wall and saw a big black blob (I didn't have my contacts in and I'm totally blind). Thank goodness for poor eyesight because if I would have seen that thing crisp and detailed I would have shattered glass with my scream! It was like 2 inches long!

Spring Photo Shoot Event is booked!

There is still an opportunity to be on the waiting list in the event someone should cancel.

Thanks!

Studio Purchase

Look what I bought for the studio! Yes, a sundress and a big floppy sun hat! I plan on having cute clothes and fun hats/accessories on hand for my sessions. The hat looks rather odd hanging on the peg hook. When it's actually on, the rim is floppy like a big J.Lo hat.

One more slot left!

I've got one more slot left for the Spring Photo Shoot at Lake Harriet on May 19th. The 11:45 spot is still open. Contact me if you'd like to book.

I sometimes wonder if life could be any busier for me right now! I had photos this weekend, my office job Monday and Tuesday, preschool/parenting class Monday night, meeting with a bride tonight, meeting with another bride tomorrow night, work Thursday, and sadly, I will be attending a wake on Friday night. Saturday is a wedding and Sunday is Mother's Day. After getting home at 8:45 pm tonight and snuggling with my kids, my husband and I found ourselves eating our Subway dinner at 9:30 pm standing at the center island! That is just wrong on so many levels!

I apologize if I am a little slower than usual returning emails. Somehow I need to find time to eat, shower, and sleep! At this point, I would love to have a live-in maid who cooks! Wouldn't that be the life? ;)

Sean Miller

We fought the strong winds and I shot Sean's senior pictures today at Hidden Falls Regional Park. Sean is Jenny's younger brother, who's wedding I'm shooting in October. Jenny and Jeff's engagement photos are on my new website- she is the one with the red sweater. Sean is a senior at Coon Rapids High School and graduates later this month. He is quite the athlete (golf, hockey, and soccer), and was voted class clown. He did great and by the end of the session mastered that smoldering look. Good to see you again Deb!

Brynn and Jamie

I shot Brynn and Jamie's engagement pics on Saturday in Henderson, MN. Their wedding is this September in LeSeur/New Prague. Henderson is a cute little town just west of New Prague. It was so nice to be so close to home! We ended up at a State Park on a little hike into the woods down by Rush River. Jamie confirmed it was wood tick season and I found one on me when I got home- yucky!

More progress...

I was able to use the rainy afternoon today to take down the ugly border at the studio. It was perfect because I didn't feel guilty for not having the boys outside. Andy is going to patch the walls and try to get the floors put in tomorrow! Now it comes down to me actually having to decide what colors to paint. It's funny, I had it all in my head of how I wanted it to be when I first saw the space, but now that it's a blank canvas, my creativity is also drawing a blank. I am hoping to make a trip to IKEA soon and look online to get some inspiration. Time is also pressing because I want to get in there ASAP and start practicing. Meanwhile, I've got two busy client weekends coming up so it's really hard to find the time. I know it sounds like I'm complaining, but I'm really not! It's still all very exciting!

Grey's Anatomy

I was really excited when I heard it was a special 2 hour Grey's but SO disappointed when I realized it was a plug for Addison's new spinoff show! I'm sorry, I watched, but I could not get into those new characters or the setting or ANYTHING about it. I found myself checking email, etc. which is bad because usually I'm glued to the TV when Grey's is on. I just kept wanting to see more of Grey's and they would only show 2 or 3 minutes at a time! Oh well, at least the last two episodes seem to be back on track. I can't believe there's only 2 left. I found myself wondering what exactly happened this season as it has not been the most exciting of the seasons. I wonder what kinds of cruel things they'll do for the cliffhanger!

Now you have my in-depth thoughts of a TV show. Sorry non-Grey's fans!

Eden's First Communion

My cousin's sister-in-law Amy hired me to shoot some special pictures of her daughter in her First Communion dress. Eden is 7 and will celebrate her First Communion on Mother's Day. The shoot took place at St. Ambrose in Woodbury. The worship area itself is surrounded by nothing but blue stained glass windows, it was very dramatic. Eden's dress was purchased in Italy last year and her veil was made from Amy's mother's wedding veil combined with bows from her mother-in-law's wedding veil. She had a very special outfit on and she looked beautiful!

I love these two shots!

Eden's little sister Marin:

I also love this shot:

I'M LIVE!

Check out my new site!

Click here. For future reference- my site URL is the same- oliviawagnerphoto.com

Take a look around- I would also love to hear feedback on navigation, information, etc.

Thanks!

p.s. I seem to be having trouble with my email and I'm still trying to figure out how to set it up correctly. If you fill out the contact form, I will receive that email, but if you send directly to olivia@oliviawagnerphoto.com it will get bounced back.

If in doubt, you can shoot me an email at oliviascreations@hotmail.com for now until I can get this all figured out!

JCPenney Sale

I'm not a huge JCPenney shopper, but I took Jean there today to get a new purse. They have this HUGE sale going on in every department and it's "Buy One, Get One for 88 cents!" She bought a new purse and I was able to pick out a $45 purse and get it for 88 cents! That's crazy! I wanted to look in other departments for deals but we didn't have much time. Just thought I'd let you all know so that you could check it out. I love a good sale!

Tonight we went over to our friends Randy and Kim's house. Kim showed me some pictures she just got done of her baby at Target's photo studio. She was not at all pleased with them and she spent $113 on them! It was great to hear her experience and how they do things. They apparently had printed out a bunch of 8x10's and tried to sell them to her for $16 each. She didn't want them but they were already printed out. She asked what they were going to do with them since she didn't buy them and they told her that they would just shred them. What a waste! She said at least the "photographer" took a bunch of pictures and she showed me the proof sheet. There was only about 30 pictures or so, so I wasn't impressed, but she said she has gone other places and they would only take 3 or 4 poses. I just cannot believe that portrait studio world. I promise you I will not be like that!

btw- I got word yesterday that sometime on Monday my site will be live!

Spring Photo Shoot Event

I am pretty confident that we won't be facing any more 30 degree days so I'd like to announce the new Spring Photo Shoot Event! The event will take place on Saturday, May 19th all day. The location of the event will take place at Lake Harriet near the Bandshell. Cost of the session is $100 which includes a 1/2 hour time slot and a disc of images.

Time slots available are:

9:30 am- booked
10:15 am- booked
11:00 am- booked
11:45 am- booked
12:30 pm- booked
1:15 pm- booked
2:00 pm- booked
2:45 pm- booked
3:30 pm- booked
4:15 pm- booked
5:00 pm- booked

and if needed 5:45 pm-

Slots have been known to fill up quickly so I'd suggest booking early to reserve the most convenient time. Also, please forward this on to anyone who might be interested!

Stay tuned for the launch of my new website! I'm just about finished and was told that it should take 1-2 days to go live. However, I'm not sure if the weekend will count. :(

Exciting Stuff!

So, I took the rest of the week off from work in the hopes that I could get some work done with my business. I worked for hours on my new website today and I CANNOT wait for it to launch! I'm driving myself crazy because I'm such a perfectionist, but I know it will be well worth it when it's done.

My husband got home from work early and we went down to the studio and he got some work done. Everything is off the walls (except for ugly border) and the baseboard and cabinets are removed! I spoke with my landlord today and he said the former tenant will come and pick up the cabinets tomorrow so I'll soon have a clean slate to work with!

It's all so exciting and very mentally exhausting. I can't shake the feeling that I've got a ZILLION things to do. But for now, I must go to bed.