Confession: I Procrastinate.

You may have noticed lately that my blog has been a little.....blank.  Trust me, I'm not a blank slate.  I'm not lacking any inspiration, by any means.  The only thing I am lacking is the inspiration to finish my work!  One example of my terrible procrastination:  I have two really great starts to two different art projects.....in my head.  One of these projects HAS to be finished by the end of the month.  I don't why I procrastinate....  Okay, I do.  Maybe it's because I'm artistic, and that makes me scatterbrained?  Maybe it's because I come from a long line of procrastinators.  Dad, are you reading this? (hopefully not.)  But, I don't think those are the reasons for my failure these days.  I think it all sums up to these three things:  fear, laziness and pregnancy.  Okay, I got it out there.

I know you all thought I was like this golden goddess of perfection, much like my idols Martha Stewart and Doris Day:

Just kidding. They aren't my idols.  I don't like their hair enough.  (PS - Martha's photo came from an article titled, "How To Be An Alpha Female".  Love it.)

No, I relate more to Cathy.




I stubble out of bed in the morning looking like homeless, disgruntled old woman.  The most conversation you will get out of me in the morning is a few grunts (if you're lucky) and a head nod.  And the rest of day is one big train wreck.  Well, at least our apartment has been one big train wreck lately - thanks to my 20 month old and my lack of keeping up with the laundry.

Anyway, I need to get over this hurtle.  You see, I also have great ideas for this blog....but, I'm afraid to change anything because it took a lot of time and work to make my blog look just this nice.  But, truth is, after a lot of brainstorming (and a lot of procrastination) I have decided that I want this blog not only to be about artsy photography stuff, but, I also want it to be more personal as well.

Over the last few months I have made A LOT of progress in improving my overall health.  I used to take several medications for rheumatoid arthritis, all of which I am now off of thanks to a gluten free and overall healthier diet.  At least once a week I am asked how I decided to go G-Free, how my diet has helped, could it work for so-and-so's mom or friend that also has RA or some other autoimmune disease.  I have also had people that have absolutely no health problems mention that they could use help with creating healthier meals for their hubs, kiddos, whoever.  Anyway, I thought it would be great to have a blog that can answer all these kinds of questions.  Kinda like a one-stop shop sort of thing.  At first I thought I would create a totally separate blog just for G-Free/diet/autoimmune stuff, to keep everything more organized.  But, I'm too lazy for that.  Also, I recently came across this blog called The Pioneer Woman, which I was totally inspired by.  If you check out the blog, you will see why.

So, I need some help people.  Like a blog-whisperer or something.  I have some questions, such as:


1.  Can I keep the archives of this blog but change the URL address and title of the blog?  That's my biggest question.

2.  What should I rename the blog?  That's another big one.

3.  How do I set up the home page of my blog to keep people from forgetting that I also run a photography business?  Because I need the business.  Seriously.  We are buying a house soon.

4.  Overall organization?  I want it to be easy for people to navigate their way through the blog.  I hate clutter and hard to understand websites.

Any thoughts are welcome!  Let the brainstorming and WORK begin!

Ahhhh.  I feel much better now that I told ya'll my news.  It gives me more will-power to start working on all the changes I need to make.

This is what 25 years looks like!

Last weekend I was lucky enough to be able to be a part of Todd and Lisa Uhl's 25 year wedding anniversary party (which by the way took place at their beautiful farm).  It really was an incredibly special evening.  It was so great to see a couple  so in love with each other after 25 years of marriage.  And that evening, it was as though they had their wedding all over again, except without all the pre-wedding jitters (I guess 25 years of marriage does that to ya).

I was also really impressed with how involved their two daughters were in all the preparations for the party.  They planted flowers all over their parent's property, baked cakes, created a slide show and who knows what else all in celebration of their parents' marriage.  It was obvious that this is a family that loves each other very much.

Congratulations Todd and Lisa on 25 wonderful years of marriage!  I hope that you have many more years of joy to come!  Thank you for allowing me to capture such a special day!

Hooray!  25 years and still lookin' good!

Todd and Lisa and their beautiful daughters

They used the same colors from their wedding to decorate for the anniversary party

I can't resist cute baby pictures!

There were so many little details that went into this party.  On the left you can see that they used the original wedding programs, napkins and matchbooks for the tables.  Also, check out their daughter, Abbigail, hard at work!  Way to go!

Todd and his best man....that flew in from Canada just for this event.  Are you feeling the love yet?

Cousins!  The girls on the very left and very right also served as flower girls in Todd and Lisa's wedding.

Todd and Lisa had an exact replica made of their wedding cake (minus the circa 1986 wedding cake pillars), and they used the original cake topper as well.

Serving each other cake, just like they did on their wedding day!

The best man and maid of honor also gave speeches to the bride and groom.  How sweet is that?  Again, thank you Todd and Lisa for a great evening!

Top Pic - Ewwwwww!

I just thought I would share this interesting photo with you all....

While Julia and I were at Johnny and Janaye's wedding a couple weeks ago it was pouring rain all day long, which made for some fun bridal party shots, with the help of umbrellas and a beautiful field, before the wedding.  However, after stomping around in the rainy field, we noticed that Julia had a visitor in her shoe.  Somehow this worm managed to crawl almost completely inside her shoe.....This is just the tip of the worm sticking out.  Ewwww.

90th Birthday Party!

Last weekend I had the pleasure of spending time with the Blomquist family.  They are such a fun bunch!  This family went through the effort of traveling from all different places in the US to make time to celebrate sweet Betty's 90th birthday and spend quality family time with each other.  Thank you Blomquist family for letting me be a part of such a fun, relaxed and special day!

Grandma Betty with all her boys.  What grandmother doesn't love hugging on her grandchildren?

They started off their festivities with a game of croquet.  The family dog watched the whole time.

The party took place at the family farm.  It was a really beautiful location.  To the left is the ladder that leads to the clubhouse the grandchildren played in growing up.

While the "kids" played games, some of the older ladies decided to take an afternoon stroll before dinner was served.

Grilled chicken!  Yum!  Also, one of the family members created this lovely fruit bouquet!  I was impressed.

Needless to say, the food was tasty.

Present time!

Everyone had such a great time.

The whole gang!

Johnny and Janaye's Wedding

As promised, here are photos from the absolutely beautiful wedding with the lovely couple I was honored to spend the day with.  So many special little moments!  It was hard to narrow down the photo collection for you guys to view, but, here are a few favs from the day.  Go to www.blacktagdiaries.blogspot.com to view more photos from the wedding day!  Thanks Julia for choosing me as your second shooter for this wedding!  I loved it!

I love this shot of the bride and father-of-the-bride right before the wedding.

I loved the gray suits.  Loved them.

Such a beautiful, happy couple!  Congratulations you two!

These guys knew how to party!