Fruit Train

I have not really posted in awhile, I have been insanely busy, so busy that I feel like I'm missing the summer!  It's been amazing though, I've spent time with friends both old and new, traveled, had the opportunity to be a second shooter for the first time, trained for my first Half Marathon which I will complete this Sunday, and topping it all off I'm getting over a summer cold that my body decided was just the thing to slow my over scheduled self down.

So here's a little filler post about what might be one of the greatest stores ever, Daiso in Seattle.  It's basically a Dollar General Japanese style and it is fantastic!  An absolute treasure trove of some of the weirdest "I must own this right now and have it in my life" items ever, including the mat pictured above, a deterrent I assume for cats on the counter.  I am just enamored with the name and that picture of the poor little teary kitten, it's just so straightforward! 

My mom got really annoyed with my husband and I because we could not stop laughing at the notebooks they had for sale with little sayings on the front, something definitely is lost in translation.  If you are ever in Seattle you have to check this place out, you will not be sorry you did, and now I leave with this inspirational poem that graces the cover of my new idea notebook:

Fruit Train

Welcome to the country of the fruit

What do you see in the fruit?

It is a train that carries your dream

I truly hope you all have a train of fruit of your own that carries your dreams! :)

Flutterby

I have never seen a butterfly like this up close before, there were so many of them!  The secret is to plant Zinnias.  Someday I will have a garden of my own, I will plant zinnias, they will not die, and the butterflies will come!

Vive Le France!

I'm back baby!  After rest, lots of icing and some cross training I was able to get back into my training schedule and run the Bastille Day 5K as planned.  They moved the location from Greektown to Lincoln Park and it was a great course along the lakefront with some wonderful cooling rain for good measure. 

I always forget how much I love races until I'm at one, there is just such a feeling of excitement and anticipation, like, "Let's do this bitches, yeah!"  This year I was able to drag a friend along for the ride and induct her into the wonderful world of racing, and she liked it, didn't end up hating me and cursing my name.  Because it really is a great feeling,  running in a group of like minded individuals and really pushing yourself to see what you can do.  And there's bagels at the end.  Nothing tastes better than those bagels at the end of a race, unless it's the beer!  I went out intending to beat my time from last year and I was quite proud of myself -- I ran it in 27:41, knocking a full 1:11 seconds off last years time and I finished 812, which meant I was faster than 1,200 other people, which is pretty fricken cool :)

My half marathon is only 31/2 weeks away, but I'm ready, bring on the bagels!

.... And the Beer!

                                                          

Mr & Mrs Place!

                       

William and Katie met at The Library.  No, not the quiet building filled with books and well behaved people studying and learning, but a bar in downtown Ft Worth where Katie was enjoying a girls night out being generally charming and Will was after a cross country flight being generally drunk and obnoxious.

Boy approaches girl with pilot swagger and the now infamous pick up line, "I'm an apprentice of awesomeness".  Girl encourages boy by taking his number so he'll hang around and thus continue to entertain the girls who I don't think were laughing with him.  Boy insists he'll call the next day, at 5pm.  Girl tells Mom who scoffs that he'll actually call and a bet is made.  Boy does call, Mom loses bet and Girl agrees to coffee.  And the rest is history!

On Sunday June 27th Katie and Will tied the knot in a beautiful ceremony at The White Chapel in Hurst, TX.  It was a beautiful day in a gorgeous location decorated to the nines, but I don't think the bride and groom had eyes for anything but each other. 

It was an amazing wedding filled with cake, champagne, dancing, car decorating and a group of drunk military men reenacting the serenade scene from Top gun.

Congratulations to the happy couple, I am so glad I got to be a part of their special day, thrilled for my baby brother and grateful to have such a wonderful new sister in law who is the perfect match for him!

Sidelined

I recently got back into running after being away from it for almost twelve years, partly because I started to have all sorts of issues with my feet and knees.  When it comes to running, as much as I love it, I'm a mess!  I have plantar fascitis, flat feet, bad knees, but I love running and so I'm sticking with it.  I have been training for the Rock N Roll Half Marathon Aug 1st and am only 4 weeks out now and I'm starting to get worried.  On my 7 mile long run (longest distance ever for me!) 12 days ago I ended feeling amazing, physically and mentally!  After an hour though I couldn't walk and was laid up with immense pain the rest of the weekend.  After a week of rest, icing, and ibuprofen I ran an easy three miler with my brother (Hi Joe!) and ended up with the pain again!

I feel like the goldilocks of running shoes -- I had too little support and then too much.  I'm hoping my new shoes are just enough and will get me through the rest of this training and my goal of completing my first half marathon.  No matter what though, even if I have to walk, I'm going to finish it.  For the puppehs and kittehs!

PAWS Fundraising Page

The Hangover

I had the great opportunity to take a Detachable Flash class with Shane Morgan, a very successful commercial photographer in Chicago and just a great source of knowledge for things photographical and technological. In fact, I have him to blame for my new Mac Book Pro, but what a great decision that was!  I am a PC no more, I had no idea is was possible to feel anything but frustration and anger toward a computer.  I am a total Mac fangirl now, once you go Mac you never go back!  I am so glad I attended this class, despite my Saturday hangover, nothing a Starbucks breakfast sandwich and gallons of water couldn't fix!

The basis of the class was using the flash off camera by setting it up on a stand with an umbrella to bounce the light back evenly onto the subject from the side, rather than harshly straight on.  Brilliant, I am in love with this concept, especially since it involves the use of pocket wizards.  Pocket Wizards are this nifty lil device that you attach to the camera and the light and the "talk" to each other.  You click the shutter with the pocket wizard on your camera and the light goes off at the same time, so so cool.  Me likey, me wanty. 

I really felt like I learned so much in this class, not only about using a flash and all that comes with that, but about the business side as well.  I find it all fascinating and am eating it all up as I slowly ease myself into this and work on getting myself to a real jumping off point.  It felt fantastic to be able to ask questions and get answers, so often it seems that other photographers don't really want to give up their "secrets".  But come on, I am not a threat to this man's livelihood and I'm glad to have gotten a chance to pick the brain of someone with so much experience.

The culmination of the weekend was putting into practice everything that we'd learned.  We each chose a spot in the building and set up our own photo shoot.  There is an incredible rush at coming up with a concept, setting up the lighting and have it all turn out exactly as you'd pictured it in your head, it's an amazing feeling of "I did that!"  My location was the creepy old soda machine on the fourth floor, I used blue gel over the flash to make the light cooler (temperature wise and style wise) and had an amazing model (Thank you Alaina!).  I chose a lower perspective to get the dingy wood floor and the ladders in the background in for some interesting texture.  I was going for a rough night feel, a little edgy, a little gritty and slightly paparazzi-ish.  Lindsay Lohan, you are an inspiration to us all!  And voila, the results!

Untamed Wilderness

It has been forever since I've posted anything and this one won't be too long.  We just got back from an Alaskan Cruise that truly was the trip of a lifetime!  The weather was perfect and we got some far off glimpses of bald eagles and whales and some close up glimpses of Alaskan Huskie pups. 

I have never seen such amazing scenery, it didn't look real, it was truly another world.  I had a great time with my family and have great memories standing on my parents balcony tossing lenses back and forth with my sister taking photo after photo.  I can't wait to go back someday!