The 'over' post

Ok, so I got tagged to do an 'over' post.

What is an 'over' post, you ask? Well, it is a post that says a little bit about you in a unique way.

So, here goes:

cowboy hats OVER baseball hats

short fingernails OVER long

vintage OVER brand spankin' new

heart OVER head

organization OVER chaos

shoes OVER purses

typing OVER writing

water OVER soda (and, yes, I say 'soda')

shopping at a store OVER shopping online

turkey OVER ham

live theater OVER movie theater

real moments OVER staged

dramatic shots OVER safe shots

autumn OVER spring

breakfast OVER dinner

sudoku OVER crosswords

DVR OVER VHS

skirts OVER pants

jeans OVER skirts

Super8film OVER HD

black mascara OVER brown

spontaneous OVER planned

driving OVER flying

glasses OVER contacts

pencils OVER pens

a little behind ...

So, I know I have been a little behind on my blog posting, but October has been a whirlwind. I have 20 photoshoots and 5 weddings this month - not to mention every other night is taken with meetings and bookings for next year. Posting to the blog takes a lot more time than people think, so just bear with me a bit longer. My goal is to be caught up by the second week in November. In the meantime, I'll post as often as I can to keep everyone up to date!

Order update

Just a quick note to say that if you are looking to have your prints, albums and or holiday orders in by December 25, you'll need to have everything to me by October 15th.

on a personal note:

It would be really nice if time would stand still for about 2 weeks while I was able to keep working! I feel like I am shooting so much faster than I can edit right now. I'm sure I"m not the only one who feels this way.

Hope everyone is having a wondful fall weekend!

Turbo Jam

I asked my daughter to make sure I got onto a workout regiment this summer. Mostly because I am tired of being a blob. Apparently she took the challenge VERY seriously. I have been 'forced' to do workout videos DAILY. Oh yeah, I said it, D-A-I-L-Y and the video of choice (hers) is Turbo Jam. Now if you are an infomercial junkie like I am .. you have seen the amazing results you get from this workout - ha! We'll see. Anyway, the only time of day I have to 'work out' is at the CRACK of DAWN .... which means that

THIS

photo from www.beachbody.com

is what I am faced with every morning.

Scary isn't it?

Is it 'right' for someone to be so over-the-top cheery at such an hour?

no, I don't think so either. Wish me luck.

Weekend Wedding(s)

This weekend I have two weddings - one today and one tomorrow. If you are trying to reach me, please don't think I'm ignoring you. I'll return emails and phone calls as soon as I can. Sorry for the short post, but I have to be up in Dayton at 7:30 am for my first wedding!

Happy Birthday to ME!!!

Today is my birthday and I am celebrating by spending the day relaxing! In the words of a card I got from Karen this morning,

Happy All About ME Day!

Here are some interesting facts about Geminis that Jen Swendiman (also a Gemini) sent me the other day:

GEMINI

I got to go to the Zoo yesterday and spend the day with a former bride who I have become friends with. She works there and I got the FULL guided tour. I loved it. I haven't even downloaded the pictures from my camera yet (I know, I am terrible). But as soon as I do, I'll post some!

Hope everyone enjoys their day today. I am off for some R&R!!

And the winner is: David ....

Congratulations to David Cook, winner of American Idol!

This was one year where, in my opinion, both finalists deserved to win. What I loved the most about David Cook was: the guy is so 'darned' unique and he really stays true to himself. I truly enjoyed watching his performances this season.

photo borrowed from www.msn.com

Mind Dump

Mind Dump

I woke up on this fabulous sunny Wednesday morning to a phone call from my bank letting me know about fraudulent charges that were being made on my account. Not EXACTLY the way you want to start your day, but at least they caught it within a day. We found out what online companies the 'offender' used to make their purchases and we decided to do our own 'sleuthing'. We called the first company (who will go unnamed) and I was SHOCKED that they gave my husband (very willingly) the name and address that the orders were shipped to. But WAIT, there's more ...

My husband did an online search for these people and not only did he find them, but he found pictures and virtual tours of the their street! We could see their house, yard, cars, etc ... Good thing they didn't live around here, or he would have called one of his many police officer friends and had them on this person's doorstep at the crack of dawn. Now THAT's an even worse way to start your Wednesday morning.

So, my question is ... WHY would you ship something that you bought illegally to your home???

Ummm. HELLOOOOO?

The good news is ... everything is fine now. The companies stopped the shipments before they went out so, unfortunately for these people, they won't be receiving any of their purchases. Things are back to normal here on the ranch (or as normal as we get) and the police are handling everything from here.

NEXT ...

I decided to share one of my favorite recipes for Curried Chicken Salad with all of you fine folks. I don't believe that cooking is an 'exact' science, although now that I've said that, I'm sue I'll get more than one email from a culinary student who 'strenuously objects'.

Curried Chicken Salad

1 rotisserie chicken (chicken removed and cut into cubes)

2 tbs curry

1 cup mayonaise (maybe a little less depending on what you like)

1.5 cups chopped celery

2 cups grapes cut in half

pecans

salt and fresh ground pepper to taste

Mix all ingredients and enjoy :)

This was what I made today for lunch. I eat it in a bowl on top of a nice lettuce leaf for presentation purposes and my husband eats his on bread. I'll leave this one up to you.

NEXT ...

I picked up a Real Simple magazine at the grocery store the other day and got a chance to sit down and read some of it last night. I don't know WHY I haven't bought a subscription yet. It is ridiculous. It is by far one of my favorite magazines. Anyway, they have a great article with organizing tips in it. 99 to be exact. Some of the tips I wouldn't do and some I loved. For example: using a wooden ladder as a magazine rack. Or using colorful ribbons from gifts to tie together sheet sets in your closet so you don't lose any of those pesky pillow cases to the 'closet monster'. Plus they look so stinkin' cute.

NEXT ...

I read something the other day about our area (the tri-state) and how we are 'oversaturated' with 'photographers'. Apparently per capita, we rival So Cal! Which I can't believe! There are more people taking up photography as a profession here than in So Cal? That's insane! Anyway, I found the article interesting. It talked a lot about how differentiating yourself is more important than ever. I really need to remember WHERE I read that and post it. I'll put it on my list of things to do.

NEXT ...

I am getting ready to create a 'partnership' with a couple of artists here in Cincinnati that I am SO incredibly excited about. I'll have a full post about this VERY soon along with some of their work, their website, and what we will be offering.

NEXT ...

We got our carpets cleaned yesterday. Whoa did they need it (my opinion). The guy who came over to clean them said that this might have been the 'easiest' job he's ever done - apparently we are neat freaks. Who knew? Still, I definitely noticed a difference. I was also fascinated with watching him. He said he has never had anyone so interested in watching him clean carpets before. I followed him around most of the morning. I love the smell of the carpet cleaning solution that he used. I felt like I was on one of those Febreeze commercials.

RWE

Quote of the day:

Words of wisdom ...

"Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us, or we find it not." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

This is something that I believe with all of my heart.

If you find beauty within yourself, beauty follows you everywhere you go.

For Heather

For Heather:

Heather asked to see my new shoes! So, here they are (gently used now after one day of wear) :)

Love love love them!

Happy Flying Pig Marathon!!

I just want to wish everyone who is running in the Flying Pig Marathon today GOOD LUCK. I hope you all have a fun run!! I'll be out there driving our relay team around to each point and cheering everyone on!!!

Another Portrait update

Since my last post about portrait sessions for families and children, I have booked more dates. I now have 3 sessions open in November and that's it for this year. Please let me know as soon as possible if anyone is interested in these last three spots.

I have had a busy week and haven't had much time to get any pictures posted. I apologize for the 'slow' week here on the blog.

I headed out shopping with one of my girlfriends yesterday and spent the afternoon and evening in Dayton today.

I can't believe it is May already. It feels like this year has flown by. I used to think my parents were crazy when they said that, but now that I am older, I find it to be quite true. Does that mean I'm getting old? And does time keep speeding up like this the older we get?? I mean will I go to bed one Feb evening and wake up in August? Yikes! Scary stuff.

Wire Art

Wire Art

If you get a moment today, definitely check out this artist who was featured on Etsy Weddings this week. Click here for her blog. She does some amazing wire art. My favorite are the dresses! Here's my fav:

photo: from Kristine Mays blog

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.

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 :)

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!

I almost forgot

I almost forgot to post today...

So, in light of everyone thinking that I just sit around all day just waiting on the phone to ring. Here is what I did today starting at 7:30 am:

1. Put together boxes for the new bookcases

2. Burned 5 DVDs from my last wedding to give to the couple

3. Burned and mailed an engagement CD

4. Proofed and edited my last family session

5. Made cute little labels/tags for the boxes I put together earlier in the day

6. Did 4 loads of laundry

7. Made dinner

8. Answered all email that required responses (12 total)

9. Set up 2 meetings to meet with clients for next year's weddings

10. Put together a 20x30 collage and 2-10x20 collages for a past wedding client

11. Uploaded images to my online ordering site from an engagement session

12. Ordered engagement photos for upcoming weddings to display

13. Put together CD/DVD wallets that came in today

14. Did backups from recent sessions

Tonight I have a meeting and then I'm going to start proofing/editing another engagement session from the weekend.

Hopefully I'll have some pictures to post for you guys tomorrow.

Street pigeon

Street pigeon ...

taken during an engagement session a couple of days ago.

Update

So, today I was rudely awakened by someone shaking my bed at 5:28 a.m. Oh yeah. That was Mother Nature. I had to wake up enough to reassure myself that I was, in fact, still in Ohio and hadn't been transported overnight to California. Shook our house enough for some things to fall over on our bookshelves. But, I am one of those people who, once I'm up ... I'm up - 5:30 or not.

I had Jen from Really Neat Solutions over again today for our final session. I still have a 'little' homework to do before I post any pictures of the new space - which I LOVE!

And for everyone who is waiting on pictures from me ... won't you feel better knowing that your photos were done in a nice clean and pretty place even though you had to wait a couple of extra days? I would be ;)

I will be working on photos and getting back to my regular routine here VERY shortly. I'll also have more photos to post from recent sessions.

I hope everyone is going to head out and enjoy the weather this evening!