Dress for Success

I started my day today by attending a Dress for Success breakfast. I was excited to learn more about this organization and all that it entails. I can honestly say that I had a very shallow view of what they provided to women of all ages and backgrounds.

I found out that they pride themselves on providing women with the skills (through a mulitude of classes, seminars and meetings) and self-esteem necessary to enter the workforce and remain in the workforce - stressing job retention. They had a couple of women speak who have used their services and the services provided by the Professional Women's Group (PWG). It brought tears to my eyes hearing all that they had been through and the positive changes that Dress for Succes has made in their lives.

It was a truly amazing morning and I encourage everyone to read more about this organization.

Click here to go to their website and read about the different programs they offer.

Still busy ...

I have no pictures to post today. After a nice 16 hr work day yesterday, I am hoping to only put in 12 today.

Portrait session update

I wanted to post a quick update on my family and child sessions for 2008 because I have had a lot of calls on them. As most of you know, I am only taking a limited number of them this year and I am, as of today, booked through September. If you are interested in a family or child session for this year, I have 2 openings in October and 4 in November. I take everyone on a first come first served basis. So, let me know as soon as you can if you are interested.

I am busy working on wedding pictures today from my weekend wedding. Happy Monday everyone!

Spring flowers

My 'Ode to spring flowers' ...

These photos were taken during a couple of recent engagement shoots so I thought I would share :)

Stacey and Chris' engagement

Stacey and Chris' engagement

I met Stacey through a mutual friend and past client of mine, Nicole. I love it when past clients refer me - I consider it the ultimate compliment. So, I was thrilled when Stacey said she wanted me to photograph their wedding!

We were planning on doing their engagement session at Spring Grove at 6:30, but found out when we got there ... they CLOSE at 6:00. Who knew?? So we (Stacey and I) "sweet talked" our way in for a few photos, then we wandered around Northside.

Here are a few of my favorites from their session ...

the ring shot ...

I love how the tree frames them in this next one ...

I love the spontaneous dance shot ... their expressions are great!

Ok ... sometimes I post a lot of color images from a session and sometimes I love the black and whites. For some reason, I loved their black and white images a lot.

Probably my favorite from the session ...

with this one coming in a close 2nd ...

Stacey and Chris, I am sorry that our engagement session started out with a 'kink', but we definitely turned it around and got some great stuff! You two are so much fun ... and make me love my job just that much more!

Lane and Kara's engagement

Lane and Kara's engagement

I met Lane and Kara by the Serpentine wall on Wednesday night for their engagement shoot. The place was packed for Party in the Park AND the Reds Game! So it was difficult to get shots without a million people in them! Here are a few of my favorites from their session ...

Ahhh .... SWEET love! (sorry, but when I was going through the pictures and saw this one, I HAD to post it).

A shot on the Purple People bridge.

There were beautiful flowering trees all over by the riverwalk.

I love this next shot ...

And, Kara's smile in this one is FABULOUS!

We had some fantastic sunlight on Wednesday evening ...

Lane and Kara go to a lot of Reds games in the summer so we wanted to incorporate the stadium in a few shots.

My shadow even made it in their engagement session ...

And, of course, the ring shot!

Lane and Kara, I had such fun with you two. I hope you enjoyed the game even though we lost!! I'm looking forward to your wedding next month!

Jennifer and Matt engagement

Jennifer and Matt

I met Jennifer at a CincyChic photo shoot awhile ago and was thrilled when she and Matt asked me to photograph their wedding! We headed out to the zoo for the Zoo Blooms last weekend. It was gorgeous. I will have to post some of the flower photos I took while I was there. Matt is a botanist so he was a wealth of knowlege when it comes to flowers. He knew what they all were and even had fun little facts about each one. Unfortunately, I don't think it will help my thumb turn green.

Here are a few shots from their session ...

Jennifer had on the cutest red shoes!

The ring shot ...

Jennifer hates snakes ... so this was as close as we could get to the Reptile House.

I wanted to get on the little train that is running through the background ... but we never found the 'station'.

I loved this tree behind them ...

it was the perfect backdrop ...

Jennifer and Matt, I had so much fun with you two! And I have to tell you that I may at some point, put up your 'funny pictures' along with our 'outtakes' :)

I can't wait for the wedding!

Office Finale

Office Finale

Ok after finally getting everything in my office together, I thought I would post some before/after pictures.

I had a bunch of issues - but here are a few:

1. I had two really big pieces of furniture in the office that weren't functional.

2. I didn't have a smart filing system for everything

3. There was no place to put all of my stuff - most of my stuff never had a real home.

Jen Swendiman from Really Neat Solutions helped me get my butt in gear! She set me up with a filing system that was EASY for me to use. Work smart, not hard. It used to take me 5-8 minutes just to file a client's contract. Now, it takes me seconds. She also made sure that everything I needed to use frequently was within an arms reach and could be accessed without a lot of hassle. I could go on and on, but you'll just have to hire her yourself and find out!

So, if you recall (from a post not too long ago), this is what 'office' looked like. Honestly it was more of an 'afterthought' than anything else. The big desk in the corner wasn't even the one I used - I was working on the folding card table with two paper reams as my monitor stand. UGH!

THIS is what it looks like now! We have given away the sofa and the old desk and moved the filing cabinet to another room. Instead of big heavy desks, we got tables. We got bookshelves - which are FANTASTIC. They hold all of my stuff and the cute baskets hide it all!

This was one of the walls in the OLD office. This is an old radio from my grandparents, which is now in another room as well. While I think it is super cool (it has an 8track player and a turntable), it was not functional and took up a lot of space.

This is the same wall now. Yes, I have pictures of my daughter ALL OVER. I am crazy about her. My 'work space' is so much more inspiring now. Of course, I still need to order MORE pictures, but I will get to that.

A couple more views of this Expedit bookcase from IKEA.

This was my husband's work space BEFORE. Of course, I 'may' have added to the mess of his desk since I really didn't have one of my own :)

And this is his space now. He definitely needs pictures! Funny, he asked me if he could get some of 'our' pictures to put on his shelf. I said 'Ummm. What pictures would those be?' He said 'Don't we have any pictures of US?' ..... Ummm. no. So, WHO wants to take pictures of me and my husband to hang in my house?? :)

Yes, it is safe to say that my mess sprawled out all over the office ...

Now, I am nice and tidy :)

I have to say that I LOVE being my new office. It feels so CHEERY in here!