Free photo session

Thought I'd mention over here that I'm running a contest for a free session on the Soul Reflection Blog for a free session. There was already one step of the contest so head over there and scroll down through a couple of posts to find it!! Good luck.

The Easter Bunny came to town

Happy Easter!
We have had a sugar-filled and laziness-coated day. No bellyaches yet, but I see them in our future.

Our big Easter tradition is to plant jelly beans the night before....and then run outside in the morning to see if they sprouted. Did you know that the night before Easter is the only time of the year when jelly beans grow into lolipops? Pretty magical. They are beans, you know...
The only problem was that the ground was pretty frozen at planting time and very frozen at harvest time.... There were a couple which did not sprout, too.

The Easter Bunny brought lots of candy and a movie for each little lady. Amelia got the Backyardigans and Libby got Enchanted. We watched Enchanted this morning and we all LOVED it. Chris and I want to watch it again later today. I had no idea it was so good! Really, I recommend it to anyone, regardless of age.

OH and I started out the holiday with a Bloody Mary for Chris and I. Now THAT is the way to start a Sunday. Again, I highly recommend it...but not for all ages, I guess.

I built a new blog for my photography business and I'm thrilled with how it looks. Much more 'me' and much nicer having a custom blog on my own server. The new url is www.SoulReflectionPhotography.com/blog
Check it out and let me know what you think!

And now, of course, some photos

Winter in Wisconsin

Yesterday we got a half inch of ice...and then more than 8 inches of snow on top of it... Makes for a big mess but fun photo opportunities :)

Great news!

My new website has launched! I'm super excited about it...it's SO much nicer than my old one in a million ways. Check it out if you're bored!
If the thumbnails in the portfolio section get squished into the jukebox and shopping card buttons, just let the slideshow run instead of clicking on each thumbnail... it only happens if your screen is not wide enough.

www.SoulReflectionPhotography.com

Everything else is great around here.... getting ready for Christmas and Santa's arrival. Everyone is very excited :)

3 Below

Well, it's a balmy 3 degrees below zero today.

I just got an email about a 5k on New Year's day...I am hoping to run it. My plan will be to work on speeding up my pace this month so I can keep up with my running partner and set a new personal best for that distance. I've been running really slowly for months now, because I've lost all ambition to go fast or long.

St Nick came last night for Libby and Amelia...they were pretty excited. Libby is SO excited for Christmas that this was huge for her. She also has an advent calendar that we open each morning. It's from Starbucks (I know, not the most traditional...) and has little drawers for each day. Inside is a piece of chocolate, and after you open each one you turn it around and put it back in. There is a little bit of a picture on each one, so it shows a little more of the whole picture each day.

I swear that Amelia gets more fun and sweet each day lately. I think it's due to her constant growth in vocabulary, so she can express herself with much less frustration. It's so much fun.

I got my new website last night! I am so excited to have a really nice website for the business...it should be up and running (with the same URL... www.SoulReflectionPhotography.com ) within a week or so. Yay!!!!! It will be so much easier for my clients and I because there is a client proofing section as well as a shopping cart, so all of their viewing and ordering can be done right there. The site I've been using has caused nothing but frustration and confusion since I started using it.

I am in Milwaukee today for work and am anxious to get home so I can run and then get started on the site. I am forcing myself to run first, because being very OCD I know that I'd get working on the site and not be able to stop and run. I suppose I'll run on the treadmill, since it's negative three degrees. I love running outdoors in the Winter...it's my favorite time of year to run outdoors. But when it's less than ten I just stay in on the treadmill unless I'm running with Jo.

Things have slowed down now with photography, since the holiday photo season is wrapping up. I'm enjoying the slow time, but am anxious to do a few more sessions with my new camera, which I LOVE. If you want a REALLY good camera get the Canon 40D :)

wow, I've been neglecting the blog!

Our life has been absolutely insane lately...and this blog has been neglected. Between my work and traveling about 3 days a week and my booming photography business I've had no time to give an update. I do update the photography blog at least a couple of times a day, so if you'd like to see what I've been up to check there.

Yesterday my mother got married. The girls got to be flower girls and loved it. It was at their house, so it was nice and quiet. Very nice. I am working on proofing the photos from the wedding, and I'll post some when I'm done today. :)

Halloween is on top of us and we don't even have costumes yet. Life is too busy! I am traveling Monday through Wednesday this week and Chris' parents are staying with the girls and dogs, since Chris is also traveling for work. I'm going to have to con someone into helping me with that. I'm having bad mom guilt about it, too. Thank God I get home in time to take the girls trick-or-treating.

I have been averaging two sessions a week lately, which I'm loving. I'm doing mini sessions again on Saturday afternoon out on a farm complete with a sleigh, so can get Christmas photos.

That's about it for today. I'll try and be better, I promise.

Zoo Day!!!

We went to the Milwaukee zoo yesterday and had a great day. It was a little too hot at 86 degrees, but the zoo was fairly deserted which made it much nicer. Both Libby and Amelia had a blast and were such great girls. Libby walked the entire time (it's a big zoo) and Amelia never cried (that's a treat). We were all exhausted by the time we got home. I jumped into proofing the photos from Friday's one-year-old session (several are on my Soul Reflection blog...I really like these) and worked on that until I started to fall asleep on the computer. I cruised through the session and finished them up this morning already. I brought some feather boas to the session and loved how they looked in photographs. I'll be using them a lot, I think! I have another session next Saturday and am really psyched for this one. Two beautiful girls of COMPLETELY different skin tones (both are adopted, one very blonde and the other African American). I get to do some at their home and then finish up out at a pumpkin patch. I am hoping that Chris will bring our girls out there, too, so I can catch up with them when I finish the session.
I am on the road three days this week..Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday, but hopefully Thursday's will be on the motorcycle again if the weather is nice. The last two weeks I've visited the same place in Milwaukee and have been able to take Maxie the BMW :) Makes for a good day when you're paid to ride your bike for three hours!!!
I just discovered Amelia in by the dogs while they were eating. She came out with a mouth full of dog food. That's my girl...eating anything in sight.....

To make you chuckle....

Since it's Sunday afternoon and a lot of people are feeling a bit blue about Monday morning hanging overhead like a dark cloud.... AND for those in Wisconsin, since the Packers are losing by three in the third quarter...I thought I'd give you a laugh. This is from a session I did yesterday at a horse farm. (there are a lot of photos from the session on the Soul Reflection blog.)

I'm off to Ohio again tomorrow morning at 6:30am. Cleveland and Akron are becoming quite familiar :)

Happy Labor Day!

I hope everyone is having a fun holiday weekend! We took a trip to the little zoo nearby yesterday and had a lot of fun, except for Libby's first bee sting. Amelia was happy to see the monkeys, since they are, after all, her next of kin. Libby said that her favorite animal at the zoo was 'all of them'. I was personally most impressed by the 1100 pound pig...yes, I said eleven hundred. He is going for the state record, which is only a hundred pounds off. Last time we saw him (last year) we thought he was huge, and he was about half his current size.
I'm still quite sick...bad cough and sinus pressure. I haven't been able to run in a week...and it doesn't look promising for the next few days, either. I have the half marathon at the end of the month, and I'm so undertrained..........

We just dropped Chris off about 45 minutes away. He's kayaking to the van which is parked at his end point, and anticipates that it will take about 6 hours. I get very nervous when he goes by himself, but I'm thrilled that he's finally getting out on the water for a good paddle.

Some photos from the zoo and of playing with bubbles are below, and on the Soul Reflection blog there are lots of fun nature images that I took yesterday when I was scouting the location of the wedding I'm shooting on Friday.

Libby's Tutu Photo Gallery Link

If you would like to see all of the photos from Libby's tutu session (samples in the next post below) just go to the online gallery. Click here

Girl time

Despite being sick with Strep Throat, Libby wanted to be my model today...she knows that it usually earns her a special treat.... I have wanted to get her out on a real shoot (away from our yard) for awhile and wanted to get some photos of her in her tutu and new rainboots. I put a lot of them on the Soul Reflection blog, and am going to post a link to the entire 'session' tomorrow. She had so much fun, even being sick. She can really ham it up for the camera. (is it any surprise, then, that I totally love her? Ha!)
She is feeling better today...the meds are helping. She actually asked for her 'bubble gum medicine' (her antibiotic tastes like bubble gum) earlier this evening, which is a ton nicer than chasing her around and around the dining room table trying to catch her and dose her up. :)

Here are just two of my favorites from tonight.

My website

I did a lot of updating on my website...new photos added, old removed, did some more editing to existing ones. I think it looks much better. I'd love for you to take a look and let me know what you think. My friend and photographer extraordinaire (yeah, I know I spelled that wrong, but the spellcheck wouldn't help me out) Amy (there is a link to her site in my sidebar) helped me pick which photos to add. Please always feel free to leave comments here....I never get them and they make my day when I do ;)

And today it's (mostly) about Bug.

My Monkey

I was playing with an old lens tonight in the dark drizzly weather. My Monkey is getting so big!!
(there are more from tonight on the Soul Reflection blog)

Three States, Three Days, Five Flights

I'm writing from the airport in Cleveland...first stop on my whirlwind tour of the Midwest. I'm meeting my boss-man in baggage claim, as he's joining me on these first three visits to my accounts. Tomorrow I'll fly to Minneapolis and then on to Chicago after that. I'm excited to be getting into the meat of the new job!
I shot a wedding on Saturday and am very happy with the results. I put 12 of my favorites so far up on the Soul Reflection blog if you'd like to see.
Ran eight miles yesterday with Jo (on her birthday...she's now as old as me) and it was HARD for me. Seriously, I'm really struggling on runs lately. We made the big decision to take next year off of marathons. After three marathons, I need a break to get inspired once again. Instead of training for the super long race, we're going to focus on mid-distance events like 15Ks. I'll still do the half-marathon next month but after that it will be a change of pace (literally) as we go for a little more speed and shorter distances. Maybe that will get me excited about running again...

Monkey's big day

Amelia turns two next month....I can't believe it! It's too early to send out, but I made invitations :) What do you think?

Weddings, Weddings, Weddings....

I am very busy with photography right now, which is wonderful...but makes for long days, since I'm also working my new job which is starting to really pick up. For the last two weeks I've been staying up very late every night proofing wedding photos from two weekends ago. Something like 450 photos :) I am very happy with how they turned out, and I put some samples up on my Soul Reflection Blog...check 'em out :)
I have another wedding in two weeks, and yet another three weeks after that. I also have an appointment tonight and a newborn session on Saturday!!! I'm amazed at how my photo business has taken off in the last six months. I have had some wonderful clients who have really spread the word for me.
Between a great new career and my photography, I'm very blessed professionally.
And I'm obviously blessed a thousand times over with my amazing family. Amelia is saying more and more words every single day and just blows me away. I cannot believe that she's only two months away from her 2nd birthday. And Libby is getting TALL. It seems as though she's grown two inches overnight. She's got her streak of funky color back in her hair (after much begging) and this time it is bright purple :) She's such a freespirit and I love it. She's definitely my girl in that way....good thing, too, or nobody would believe she's mine since she looks so much like Chris. Amelia looks nearly exactly like I did at her age, with the exception of her eyes which are ALL Daddy.

Speaking of dads, mine would have been 85 on his birthday a week ago. My God I miss him. It's been nearly three years. I just got a land line for the office and the last four digits of the number they assigned me are the date he died...weird, huh?

MIA

I haven't posted to my blog in ages! I think it's been over a week....unprecedented! I was on the road for business all of last week, and I shot a wedding last weekend. So once I was done with work each day I'd move on to the grandiose project of proofing all of the wedding photos. I'm nearly done...I think I only have the ceremony left to do. I'm shooting another wedding in a couple of weeks, so I need to get this done and move on to the next one! THEN I have another wedding about three weeks after that one. I think that's it then.

I totally wimped out on my long run this weekend. I was planning on running 10 miles on Sunday, but was so tired and feeling wiped out that I skipped it all together. I'm not proud of that. Today I'll try and run 6 or 7 to make up for it a bit, then I'm on to three weekday runs and one long run on the weekend. Today marks day one of Project Tenspot. This is a high importance project I'm working on....to lose ten pounds. I'd like to pull it off within two months. I think I've managed to gain a few, so want to lose those and a handful more. So far, so good today...but I need to learn to embrace the growling stomach feeling again!!!

I'm going to post a few of the wedding photos on the Soul Reflection Blog sometime today...so if you're interested in seeing, pop on over there.

Bigger

I thought I'd show a couple of the photos on the storyboard from the last post a little bigger. (these are also on the Soul Reflection blog, but I wanted to show them off here, too..
It only took the promise of ice cream to get some smiles. :)

Libby the goofball

I took a bunch of really fun photos of Libby yesterday so I made a storyboard of them. If you want to see it larger you just click on it :)