Friday, June 29, 2007

Unemployed

Well, as of today at 4:30 today I am unemployed.
For a week.
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

It should be a nice relaxing week for me. Chris and I are both off all week, and the girls are staying home Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. I'm planning a zoo date with Ethan (Libby's fiancee) and Dani for one of those days, and I have a photo shoot on Monday afternoon. That's about it!

Monday, June 25, 2007

Lolipops

It's very late...I've been proofing the Saving Paws shoot and one tonight I did with my girls. I posted a bunch of both shoots on the Soul Reflection Blog, but here are a couple in case you don't want to visit the other blog :)



Saving Paws session

I posted some of my favorite photos from my session yesterday at the animal rescue, Saving Paws, on my Soul Reflection blog.... check them out!

Sunday, June 24, 2007

Home Again... and a new camera!

I'm back home from my trip to Orlando and both happy to be home and happy to have gone. It was a very good experience for me and it was rewarding and exciting to have attended my first function as Premier staff. I am thrilled to move on in my career and jump into this new position.
My new camera arrived on Friday! I played with it a lot this weekend so that I would be ready to use it for my shoot today. I'm doing a pro-bono shoot for a local animal shelter this afternoon. Libby and Jo's children are coming along to be in some of the photographs...it should be fun.
I am including some photos from the weekend......










Wednesday, June 20, 2007

Mickey Says Hi

I'm in Orlando at the Premier Breakthroughs Conference...the big annual conference for my new employer. We are right on the Disney grounds, and the hotel is beautiful. It's great to see everyone again and meet more new people. I feel much more comfortable at these meetings now that I'm truly a Premier employee. I'm hoping to meet some of my accounts while I'm here, too.
Tomorrow morning I'm starting the day with a run outside on the grounds, and Friday morning (AT 5:30 am!!) I am running the 5K that is included in the conference. Im a little worried because of my cough, so I'll take it slowly tomorrow. Hopefully I'll be good for the 5K!

Sunday, June 17, 2007

New Camera!!!!!!

I'm so freaking excited!!! I just ordered a new camera body! I'm an Olympus girl, which is not so common for professional photographers. Most are Nikon or Cannon people. My dad always loved Olympus and I love to use a camera that my dad would have loved. I've had my current camera, an Olympus E-300, for three years and it's served me very well. I am upgrading now to the newest model of the Olympus Evolt, the E-510. While my old one was 8 megapixels, this one is 10. The new one has advanced camera stabilization which will help me a ton...because I tend to have a bit of a tremor (thanks to my dad's genes). It also has three focus points, making it much easier to get a crisp image. It works with all of my current lenses, so nothing has to change there. I was going to have to rent another camera for each of my three weddings coming up, so that I had a back up in case of camera malfunction. That would have been very costly. Now I will have a back up for all of my shoots, which will make me feel much better...just in case.

Speaking of my dad...I miss him something fierce. He's been gone nearly three years now and I really can't believe that. It sometimes feels like yesterday that I last saw his smart-assed grin and heard his laugh. Other times it feels like forever ago. He was one heck of a guy...WWII veteran, funny as one could be, a smart ass, intelligent, and incredible with woodwork and photography. I'm so sad sometimes that he's not here to hug my girls and to make them laugh. Libby had a very special connection with him when she was little. Happy Father's Day, Dad.

Thursday, June 14, 2007

Summer Cold

When it all started we thought it was just bad allergies. Now it's clear that it's both allergies and a cold. All four of us are feeling it. Chris, Libby, and I are all coughing and Amelia has a runny nose. Chris and I have sore throats. My eyes and nose itch like mad.
There is a small cluster of five or six HUGE trees in our yard. We thought that they were super cool...until everything started getting coated in white fuzz. They are enormous Cottonwood trees. This has to be the reason that our allergies have been out of control this year (even before the added cold).
We also think that our neighbors hate us because of those trees.

A couple photos from tonight:




Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Getting Back on Track

Last week was my first week back running since the marathon. I took two weeks off to recover. I only did two short runs last week, however...easing back in and testing out the legs. This week I'm trying to ease back towards my normal training routine. I'm doing the Half Marathon again in September, so need to keep motivated. Tonight was four miles. I'll be shooting for three weekday runs of 4-6 miles and a weekend long run with Jo. This week is 10 miles, and we'll usually be somewhere from 9-13 miles for a while. It feels good to get back into it. I always start feeling a little lost and unfocused without running. Makes me wonder what I did before I started three years ago!!!

I mailed in my signed offer letter today, so it's all official! I start my new job on July 9, after taking a week off in between jobs. I'm at the annual conference next week, though, so I'll get a little taste of it then. I'll be meeting many of my future accounts while I'm there.

Chris is sick and stayed home today...sore throat, groggy, headache.... Libby has been coughing... and now my throat hurts and am coughing. That's just great, huh? I need to start taking a daily multi-vitamin and Airbornes!!

Monday, June 11, 2007

I got it!!!!

Today I got the call I've been hoping for since February. I was offered the job! I'm thrilled and excited. It's an amazing job and I'll be working with/for great people. This is a VERY good thing for our family. :) wahooooooooooooooo
I am a Premier Continuum of Care Region Director (that's a mouthful, ay?)

Sunday, June 10, 2007

Sunday Night

Sunday nights are sort of depressing, aren't they? I was off on Friday afternoon (because I went in for an extra hour Monday through Thursday)so I even had a few extra hours this weekend. It should be a very good week, which does help soothe the Sunday evening anguish to some degree.... Still, it's Sunday night, you know?

Anyway, thought I'd post a couple of photos from the weekend.





Saturday, June 09, 2007

No, you are not seeing things.....

....that really is me beating a Kenyan to win the marathon. Jo is back there a ways, but she just couldn't catch us Top Dogs.

Offer

It looks as though I'm going to be getting an offer for the job I've been interviewing for! I was told by the the person who will be my boss that it should come this next week...and that I should register for their annual conference as a staff member. I'm extremely excited about the opportunity. It's been a long process. I first discussed it with my future boss back in February, and since then have interviewed via phone many times and in person in North Carolina and Chicago. This position is definitely worth the wait. Looks like I'll be starting in the beginning of July!

The girls are doing well. Libby spent the afternoon with LuLu (that's what the girls call my mother) a couple of days ago and had a blast. She hasn't had much one-on-one time with her in a while and loved every minute of it.

Amelia is saying several new words every few days now. Her vocabulary is growing by leaps and bounds. It's so nice that she can communicate her needs...although she still likes to communicate those needs by throwing tantrums and screaming as loud as she can :) My Monkey throws a very impressive tantrum. Libby never really threw any when she was little and I was so thankful for that. We've been making up for that with Monkey!

Things are going well with my Photography. I'm preparing to shoot three weddings this Summer, have a newborn session scheduled as well as a session at a horse farm. FUN!
Speaking of photographing at farms....I went out to Jo's farm yesterday to do another series of 'life on the farm' photos. It was one of my best shoots so far, I think. I put a few of them on the Soul Reflection blog...check them out!!

Monday, June 04, 2007

Four Eyes

Amelia has the terrible affliction called "Four Eye Debilitation". My poor Monkey.
She is cutting all four eye teeth at one time. Two of them have broken the surface and the other two are pushing out on her gums. She's been in misery...grabbing her mouth with both hands and screaming. Plus, she always gets diarreah and horrible diaper rash when she's cutting teeth...so her mouth is terribly painful and she has diarreah burning her bloody diaper rash. I feel so bad for her. She's still the most fun little girl, even when she's hurting....take a look at these from yesterday. (Her first pigtails)
After having to get Maternity Testing done to see if Libby really is my child (she is Chris' clone) it's fun to have Monkey who looks so much like me when I was her age. In these photos she looks exactly like photos I've seen of myself...and every day I look at her and see my father.


Saturday, June 02, 2007

Happy June!

It's June!! So how about some new photos of Libby and Amelia? (any excuse to photograph my girls, I know...)