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 Morehappy kitty :: minneapolis pet photographer
…very focused on the shrimp toy
There is no way I can compete with that
penny :: minneapolis pet photographer
I know it’s not going to shock anyone when I say that I love cats. No one fell over? K good. But what if I was to say that I met a cat that if my girls knew how smitten I was for her I might be locked out of the house? … That may have gotten some people!
Meet pretty, pretty Penny!
Absolutely BEAUTIFUL, right?? She is a pretty fantastic cat who has some pretty fantastic owners!! Michelle and Enrique own Woody’s Pet Food Deli, the amazing place I go to get the girls their meat muffins. Penny’s story with the family begins in their St. Paul store where she was a foster kitty. It wasn’t too long before Michelle and Enrique decided that her home was with them in their home. I was thrilled to meet up with them and take photos of this pretty, pretty kitty! And wow, the girls would be crazy jealous with her set up … she has a kitty condo that has feathers, carpet and tunnels that go from the floor to almost the ceiling, a bottomless box of treats and a leash attached to the patio door so Penny can just wander around the yard.
She has rather stunning eyes, wouldn’t you say?? Thanks again Michelle and Enrique!! You have all been fantastic to work with
To see an ENORMOUS version of Penny (and to get some fantastic food for your 4 legged family member), swing into the Woody’s Pet Food Deli in South Minneapolis on 50th and Xerxes. When you walk in the door look to your right … photos of that to follow!
Happy Monday!
Road Trip!
What a week!! I just spent the last 6 days driving across the country with my dad and his dog, visiting some great friends whose backyard is Yellowstone River and front yard is Yellowstone park and taking quite a few photos of the amazingness around me.
It was great. I’m exhausted.
I am really looking forward to Sunday when I have nothing going on and I can decompress in my apartment with my cats and computer. Funny how vacations often don’t really relax you and instead you need a vacation from your vacation in the end.
Oh well, I’m home. And I’m so excited to go and pick these little ones up from the cat sitter (my awesome aunt!) … I suspect they are going to be extra cuddly today when they get home. Well, once they get over how pissed they are for me shoving them into a cat carrier and putting them in the car for 45 minutes. Then they will be cuddly for sure
Sit tight, many more photos on the horizon!
Read MoreDigi + Tarrazu’s Cat Tales… vol3
Since Mom is being la-zy this morning and not getting up to feed us, let us out on the square and further, locked us out of her room(!!), we are looking for help. We will outline what it is we do to try to get her up (and at the same time give you proof as to how totally LA-ZY she can be!) and then if you have suggestions for the future please leave comments! Please take note that clearly what we do is essential for our livelihood so if she complains about it ever again, you now know the truth. Tarra is really the mastermind behind our morning routine so will explain most of it. I am a little more quiet and we found out early on that does nothing for her in the morn!
Since she can’t be trusted to wake up and feed us on her own schedule (today is proof of that!) I feel I’m the only one to help. Digi helps sometimes, but mostly it’s me. Here is our routine – let me know if you have any suggestions because clearly something backfired this morning!!
4:30am – we start introducing her to the idea that we are hungry and it’s close to the time she should get up. If I did a lot of sleeping the day before then I’m usually extra focused at this time. For example, last night I did my excited growl to communicate with her “My tummy is starting to rumble!” That and there was a june bug trying to break into her window. I was just protecting her.
Digi likes to get involved at this time by playing with mom’s toes through the blankets. Clearly they are sticking up for a reason (for us to play with!) so she just takes her up on that.
6:30am – since she hasn’t showed signs of getting up yet we get a little more serious here. I (tarra) will lightly sharpen my claws on the side of this big brown box that has smaller boxes of clothes in it. She seems concerned about that so this is a guaranteed way to get some attention. Sometimes she has a bottle sitting right next to her bed that shoots water, so on those mornings when she shoots at me I switch my tactic… I then know her eyes have at least opened so I’ll climb up on the bed and walk up to her face and talk to her politely. I say “Hey mom, our tummies are still rumbling. Can you please get up and give us our breakfast?” … She doesn’t always respond to that. Or sometimes she responds with a “oh good morning” and then pets me. She’s so off base! I mean, I love pets and belly scratches as much as the next amazing kitty, but that’s not really what I’m looking for right now. I need meat muffins stat.
7:30am – now things are getting serious if she hasn’t woken up yet. And since things have gotten serious, I get serious. The gloves come off. The fists are flying. It’s go time.
I (again, Tarra) sit next to her bed and ask again for our breakfast. At this point, I am not concerned about the volume of my voice. Nope. She has had many opportunities to get up and has ignored it, so I need to be more forceful, clearly. She will usually stir and roll over so then I jump up and do the same in her face. Digi has started to do this because I’ve been able to get it into her head that if there are 2 of us pleading for food it is just mean to not get up.
Sometimes the talking STILL doesn’t work, so at this point I start doing more things to get her attention. My favorite one lately is to push everything off of her night stand really slowly. That way it makes noise as I push the pin thingys she puts in her hair and the dangly things she wears around her neck across the top. So far I haven’t resorted to pushing the glass of water off, but that might be the next thing I try. Digi will do the same thing on top of that wood box of boxes I mentioned earlier.
If that doesn’t work I’ll go and grab some toys and bring them to her to play with. My favorite one lately is the one that chirps. She seems to react to that one almost instantly! And usually if I can get her to see how skinny I am while playing then she feels bad and gets up. It doesn’t always work but if I drop them by her face or play with them by her toes, I have a pretty good shot.
Sometimes I’m impatient, so on those days I decide I’m going to get some exercise while I wake mom up! I’ve often got energy to burn so it’s a win-win move. So for this I will hop up in the window by her bed, tap on it, growl, check to see if she’s looking, run over to her, meow in her face, jump off the bed, run under the bed, jump back up into the window and repeat. This one usually only takes about 3 or 4 laps before she throws the covers off and gets up. Smart mom!
Occasionally she’ll get up, feed us and go back to bed. This is the best of both worlds! We get fed and then we can all cuddle in bed since we always crash soon after breakfast from a food coma. I don’t know why she doesn’t do this EVERY morning!!
Now I’m not sure what happened THIS morning. I was only at the 4:30am drill and she apparently decided that we were not allowed to stay in her room so she shooed us out and closed the door. This has happened before but usually if I just run my paws up and down the door enough she will open it back up and let us in. Not the case today!! She is still in bed and we are STARVING! So if anyone has any suggestions of more things we can try, please let us know!!! And if you can come over and give us our meat muffins since our mom is being cruel, we would also appreciate that. Our notebox is DigiTarra@chocolatemooseimages.com.
We’ll just wait here. Withering away.
Read Morethree dog bakery, omaha
While I was in Iowa last week I spent time helping the fam find their new pup, Memphis. Before we knew about Memphis we started our search for the perfect dog in Omaha at their humane society. Before getting there we made a quick detour to Three Dog Bakery because I figured if we were already having a dog themed day, why not check out this bakery?? And I wanted to get some yummy treats for my upcoming shoots.
The bakery was pretty amazing with countless delicious looking things for your pups. The fancy glass cases made everything so enticing I picked up some bagels, a piece of carrot cake and a s’more. Because of the weather over the weekend my planned photo shoots were rescheduled so actually, Roux was the lucky receiver of the bulk of these treats. She didn’t mind!
Pretty delicious looking, right?! So the point of my post is that if you are ever in Omaha and need some excellent dog treats you should definitely stop by the Three Dog Bakery and pick some up.
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