New Design

Wow! I missed all of January?!? How did that happen?

Well, despite the fact that I haven't posted here since mid-December, I will be (trying to) get back in the habit. I have a lot of photos to get up on here - from Christmas, Monster Jam, babysitting, the Hot Air Affair... and possibly some other things as well! I guess I have an excuse - I've been busy. I really didn't think I had been, until I looked at that list.

Well, the real purpose of this post - I redesigned my website. It isn't completely different, but I've added some things and I'll be continuing to add more. The navigation bar has moved - it's at the bottom on the homepage & top right on the rest of the pages. There are two areas with galleries; one has only weddings & portraits and the other has all of my other pictures. Also, there is a link on the homepage to receive updates by email. If you subscribe, you will receive one email with all of my photos, but after that you will only get emails if I upload new pictures. What a great way to keep up with the pictures I have online! :c)

I will soon be adding a couple pages with pricing and services. I haven't had a chance to create those yet, so keep your eyes open! Smugmug has partnered with a new professional lab, Bay Photo. The prints are slightly more expensive, but they are better quality & are color corrected by hand at the lab. All of my galleries are now set to provide these professional prints. If you are really not interested in the extra quality, let me know - I can always switch it back.

Well, I think those are all the major updates. I promise to post again soon, and include pictures!

The Bigma and the Packer game

So, Paul "accidentally" bought tickets to the Green Bay Packer game against the Carolina Panthers. I couldn't really blame him, because he got them for face value. The game was at Lambeau on November 30, so it was a little cold, and the Panthers won, but it was still a lot of fun! I rented the "Bigma" (Sigma 50-500) to use and brought a monopod. They let me in to the stadium, but we had some security guys keeping a close eye on us during warm ups! Anyway, here are some of the photos I ended up with.



Rodgers, getting ready to run a play



Jennings' touchdown at the other end of the field



Not the best picture, but a great catch!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

That's really all I had to say.

Halloween "babysitting"

Why hello again! I'm surprised that I'm already posting again - it hasn't even been a whole month this time!

Everything is so busy but also so not busy at the same time. I feel like I'm going crazy with work & meetings & of course football on the weekends, but I still have some time just to be at home, relaxing or editing photos or reading... Fortunately, I've had some photos to edit & I have some fun and exciting shoots coming up. Unfortunately, the Packers are having a very intense (and typically not good) season. I hated seeing them lose to the Vikings today!

On Halloween, Paul & I babysat one of our nephews, Kalyn. He's seven months old & crawling all over the place! He also pulls himself up on furniture. Trudy (Kalyn's mom) & I kind of turned this babysitting weekend into a photo shoot. She sent a few outfits & I just left my light set up in our computer room. It was pretty fun for me, but I don't think Kalyn felt the same way!








Hopefully someday soon I'll be able to get some photos of our other nephews! I've also been waiting for Paul to consent to me taking a Christmas picture for us to send out... On that note, I now have greeting cards available on my site!

Fall weekends

Last week, I had a four-day weekend. It was great! I went to Glen Park in River Falls, WI and took engagement pictures for our friends, Jon & Kelley. It was a perfect day and we were at the park at the perfect time. They were even willing to get in the water (even though I got wetter than they did!).






We also spent some time on the St. Croix River. There was a professional walleye fishing tournament going on, so Paul and his dad had to go out and see the pros. :c) We also attended the final weigh-in to see who won.




With the holidays coming up, I'm working on making cards more easily available on my site. Right now, you can order cards, but that isn't very obvious. In the future, you will still need to order cards through me rather than my site, but I will have a gallery that will make it easier for you and for me.

Oh! One more piece of fun news! Go to Yahoo and search for "engagement photos hudson wi"... look at the results... Guess who is number 3??!! Me! I was really excited, and a little confused, when I saw that. Unfortunately, I don't come up if you do the same search on Google.

Well, have a great week!

Swing among the stars

I'm back in the swing of things! School has started back up and I'm almost used to the early hours again. I'm spending my evenings doing as little as possible and my Sundays watching football. I'm ready for summer to be back. :c)

In more photography-related news, my husband and I made a trip down to Cambridge, WI to take some engagement pictures for a friend. (Congrats Jenna and Pete!) It was a lot of work, but a lot of fun. I'm pretty happy with how they turned out.




I also went to Menomonie to take see my brother-in-law and his wife and kids. I spent a little time watching their 4-year old play soccer and spent a lot of time playing with their 7-month old. I love babies! He really loved the camera!






Well that's all for now. Hopefully it will be less than a month before I post again!

I know summer is over when...

...I've barely talked to anyone that doesn't work for St. Paul Public Schools since August. (sorry friends!)

...I fall asleep between 8:00 and 10:00 every night.

...I wear a jacket to work 4 out of 5 days in a week.

...The only thing I seem to have to talk about is work.

...The air is cool and crisp and the leaves start to change colors.

...Sundays are reserved for football. And Monday nights. And sometimes Saturday. Oh, and sometimes Thursday.

...My camera starts to spend more time in the bag.




Yes, I think summer has officially ended for me! Fortunately, going back to work hasn't been too bad. I spent a lot of time getting stuff ready for my room & I've finally started seeing students. I'm excited to take some engagement portraits for a friend as well as for my brother!! Things are good, and I absolutely LOVE fall. I just wish fall didn't mean I have to work all the time! :c)