Winter Thaw
“This winter was a hard winter.”
I think any Minnesotan would agree with me on that statement. Not only has it been the usual cold, depressing and annoyingly dark, but it’s been long. Very long.
But seasons move forward and today has been amazing. The day is still young (and I have plenty of eating still to do!) but it’s been glorious!! My reason for bringing up the weather (yet again) is because I’ve learned that this year, it really has been playing with my mood and creativity. Today I used my camera for the first time in a while and it was fantastic! Yes, I’ve been doing copious amounts of quilting and other sewing projects, but my photography has really taken a back seat this winter. I think I definitely needed it and today I feel refreshed!!
My girls hung out on the square for a big chunk of the early morning and again this afternoon. [if you are new, see this post for definitions of ‘the girls’ and ‘the square’]. They weren’t quite as gracious about mom taking photos as I recall, but I’m sure they just want some uninterrupted square time before switching to model mode.
Ok enough of sitting on my computer – I’m heading outside! 
onward!
I’ve seen many blog posts that start with “oh boy, has it been that long?” or “wow, time flies!” Heck, I’m guilty of both of those!! I really do love writing and am starting to hope more and more that maybe one day I can do something with all of this. But I’m learning that hours 10 and 11 in front of a computer are less desirable than they seem like they will be when I’m at the beginning of hour 1. When I get home at the end of my day all I want to do is play with the girls, relax with a glass of wine, pump up some tunes and wander somewhat aimlessly from room to room ‘organizing’ which Murray called ‘getting things really, really lost.’
I certainly have been staying busy the last few months, which is amazing!
+ I’ve played with a handful of pups and kitties, each one totally fantastic in their own way.
+ I’m working obsessively to finish my first quilt! It’s comin. And to give you an idea how much time I’ve spent on it, I have now listened to 5 books, countless episodes of This American Life, watched almost all of House of Cards and plan to probably start in on a bit of a Harry Potter marathon. For the record, serious quilters are amazing. This is an INCREDIBLE amount of work!
+ And because I caught the quilting bug, I have also started on #2 and #3. I can’t wait to see those really take shape!!
+ I turned 27.
+ I used my brand new Le Creuset pot for an amazing meal I want to make once again … Thank you Barefoot Contessa. You’ve done it once again.
+ I got through another wave of birthdays and holidays I didn’t really want to face. And while I ‘faced’ them in the respect that I woke up each morning and went to bed each night, I didn’t really do traditional holiday things. And I’m ok with that. One day that will all work out again.
And now? Well, I have so many things up my sleeve for 2013 that I am almost busting at the seams. One thing that is really important to me again this year is to keeping writing all this stuff down. I am hoping to post more and more but if my girls demand some attention, I think they are going to win. I want to live in the ‘now’ and embrace and love everything around me.
If you aren’t already a fan of my facebook page I would really recommend it! I post a lot more on there than here these days so you’re guaranteed to get peeks at the latest, greatest 4 legged kiddo before they grace these pages. Seriously – go like it now!
But to catch you up, here are some of my favorite images from the last several months
phew! well maybe ill find that getting the first post in a long time completed is the hardest step?
2013 :: minneapolis pet photographer
… I started writing a post that had the tone of ‘let’s reflect on the last 12 months’ and I scratched it. Then I started writing a post that bridged the emotional turmoil of 2012 to a breath of hope for 2013 and I scratched that too. Too dramatic.
Who would have thought it would be so hard to come up with a good “welcome to 2013” post?!
In the end what I’ve decided to say is short and (I hope!) sweet …
Life is tough. Life knocks you down. Life gives you a hand to get back up and start anew. And then life offers you a glass of wine. For me, in late 2011 it knocked me down. In 2012 it offered me a hand to get back up and start anew. And that leads to 2013. I feel this will be the year when life says, “here, you deserve a glass of wine.”
I am exhilarated and very nervous for everything the next year will bring. I have a feeling it’s going to be as amazing as it possibly can be and I will end it with a triumphant fist pump to the sky and a ‘you betcha!’ But I guess that last part remains to be seen…
Before I officially say sayonara to 2012 I do want to say an enormous THANK YOU! to my absolutely ah-MAZING clients from the last year!! You and your animals made this year what it was and I am so thrilled to have met you all!
Oh boy, I’m excited. And now, who is in need of one of the cutest kitties on the planet in the most amazing cat hat ever??
Ok … so I feel like the ones above paint a photo of a rather stylish and happy kitty who is just hanging out and ready to hit the slopes as soon as this lady with the camera will let her, but the one below??
Ha! This might be how she really feels about the stupid hat with ear flaps and pompoms.
Priceless.
Happy 2013, everyone. Stick around, it should be pretty exciting!!
Read Morebrooklyn :: minneapolis pet photographer
one thing I’m really not shy about on here it going on and on about how much I love rescues and rescue animals and the people who rescue animals and so on and so forth. that’s why when this pretty girl’s dad contacted me for photos I was over the moon to do them! not only had I wanted to photograph Brooklyn when she was in the rescue, but I love success stories
Brooklyn is a gorgeous pittie who was found by St Paul Animal Control and taken in by the MN Pit Bull Rescue. And once she got to her foster home she never left I remember seeing her on the roster of available animals and was excited to get a photo session lined up! She was so pretty and looked to have such a lovely soul, I just couldn’t resist. However she was scooped up too quickly for me to do that, which of course is more important While it’s incredibly rewarding to work with the available rescue animals it’s amazing to get to see the relationship with a parent and their animal kiddo.
Isn’t she such a beauty!?! Another success story in the books
the cutest corgi around :: minneapolis pet photographer
Every time I see Wylie I can’t help but giggle at the proportion of his body. Those tiny legs and that long body … so stinkin cute!!!
You may remember him from his photos last summer? On top of his awesome proportions, he makes some pretty great pup faces virtually on demand!!
… I definitely have some new favorite Wylie photos out of this batch! Happy Saturday!!
I am off to photograph a gaggle of pups at The Great Minnesota Pet Together who are currently up for adoption with the Minnesota Pit Bull Rescue. I am so excited to see the turn out, meet these amazing animals and hopefully help them find their forever home!! If you are looking for your next perfect pup or kitty, maybe today is your day!! Come on down!!
mountain pups :: minneapolis pet photographer
… these guys are my favorite Montana dogs
just seeing these photos makes me miss them, their parents and the mountains!!
Read MoreMurtemberfest
noun (mur-tem-ber-fest)
A festival thrown in honor of a great dude named Murray, celebrated not in his chosen month of October (which would have been called Murtoberfest) but in September, the month (and day) on which he was to be married.
cue Edward Sharpe’s song ‘Home’ …
if you actually have that on whatever device you are reading this from, you should probably hit play now.
… it went off without a hitch. Really, it was an incredible event that I am so incredibly proud to slap my name all over. I worked hard for this. Really hard. I have been crafting up ideas for the last year and 1/2 to make this wedding/celebration exactly as I had always dreamed it could be.
Dad and I arrived in Iowa on Wednesday evening to open arms and a delicious dinner. On Thursday we figured out where this party was going to happen and what needed to be cleaned, swept and power washed. We accomplished that and rounded out the night with some of my lingering crafty projects. On Friday I went to Omaha to get a great friend from the airport, had lunch with family, bought some last minute goodies and headed back to keep on working. There was much to be done but more specifically, I needed to keep my mind from wandering to what I ‘should’ be doing at that very moment. From what the rehearsal would have looked like. From what last minute projects I would have felt were necessary that Murray would have deemed LONG ago to be over the top and unnecessary. Perhaps those handmade napkins??
Then it was Saturday.
Shortly after getting up and downing a trusty cup-o-joe, I headed out to the site of the festivities to get crackin. The tables were going to arrive before too long and once those got there I could plow ahead to make this an unforgettable party… And drag along anyone who was willing to help, which to my delight was EVERYONE!
We unpacked candles, paper lanterns and bamboo forks. We discussed the placement of the never-ending supply of Christmas lights. We hemmed and hawed over the weight of string and if the string in hand would be heavy enough to hold all those lanterns we had just unpacked. We got the mason jars with their ‘necklaces’ in position and labeled all of the home brewed beer.
At about 3:30 I finally felt like I could breathe … just about everything was in place. The space was absolutely stunning. And the remainder of my best friends in the whole wide world were starting to trickle in. That was my cue to wash the several days of moving, sweeping, packing, unpacking, crafting, thinking and crying off of me.
The rest is a bit of a happy/sad blur … There was an amazing crowd, great music, a beautiful sunset and most importantly, lots of hugs, smiles, laughter and memories. In light of everything over the past year, I really honestly couldn’t have asked for a better day. And that’s part of what made everything so hard, I think. I knew going into this, one year ago, that Murray would never let this day be anything but flawless. I knew he would give us the most amazing weather he could. He would get as many people there as he could. He would get everything to come together with as little frustration or tears as possible. And he sure did! At some point during the evening I stopped in my tracks and gazed up at the beautiful moonless sky and my friend beside me said ‘this is just perfect’ and I wholeheartedly agreed. It was.
I’m so proud. Not only of the beauty but for how all of us embraced everything and plowed forward. We took the lemons of a day that was supposed to be amazing for so many other reasons and made lemonade.
Besides talking about the festivities and sharing some photos, I also wanted to extend a HUGE thank you to everyone that helped make this happen!!! If you were there and helped serve pies, hang lanterns and lights, make signs, drink beer, eat that pie or hug us, THANK YOU! If you could not make it but sent thoughts and messages either through text, email, facebook or writing in the clouds, THANK YOU! And while I’ve gotten pretty good at taking self portraits (if I do say so myself), I certainly can not claim the ones above as mine. A big chunk of these lovely photos are credited to my amazing friend, Emily, who is 1/2 of why this date was picked in the first place. I made a point to leave my camera in the house during the party because Mur had joked (at least I think it was a joke?) that he would hide my camera on the morning of the wedding. So that’s what I did – I hid it.
While I hate to stop writing here since it makes the reality that all the hoopla is over that much more real, I believe the photos and words paint an amazing picture of not only the celebration, but of how truly loved and missed Mur is. And that is my goal.
I’ll conclude with a BIG thank you to my amazing clients who have had incredible patience for the last month (well, year). It has helped more than you may realize! And now, I’m on my way to a shoot a lovely pittie who, rumor has it, loves people AND treats – my kind of gal.
Read MoreSandy! :: minneapolis pet photographer
Guess who was crowned THIS month’s dog of the month at the Minnesota Pit Bull Rescue???
… this girl. Miss Sandy!
And when asked to describe herself she replied with:
Hi! My name is Sandy which pretty much describes my coloring. My foster family keep telling me I’m beautiful but I’m trying not to let that go to my head. They say I have some pretty wonderful wrinkles on my head but since I can’t see them, I’ll let you judge for yourself. I’m about 2 years old and a bundle of love! I have the wiggles so sometimes I have a hard time sitting still but it’s only because I love you THIS much! I love, love, love people and am a good cuddler who also really loves treats and snacks.
She is such a sweetie!!! You may have seen a few of her photos on Chocolate Moose’s facebook page or possibly the Pit Rescue’s facebook page … but even if that’s the case, I bet you’d like to see more
Seriously … look at those eyes! And that cute forehead!!! She is a doll and a champ for enduring the heat and bugs for these photos Her foster mama gets that award too!!
As I always do, I encourage everyone thinking of getting a dog to adopt and not seek out a breeder. There are so many amazing dogs out there in need of homes and I have my fingers crossed that YOU might be Sandy’s amazing new family If she strikes a chord, please contact the wonderful people at the MN Pit Rescue via email … adopt@mnpitbull.com.