I’m Still Here!
I have been seeing that phrase all over the blogging world. It seems that the holidays sucked us all in. And I think rightfully so. I needed a bit of a vacation! We lucked out at work by getting 2 – 5 day weekends for each holiday. They were nice vacations, but still a little on the short side. I had a great new years in Iowa. Great food, Great wine, Great people, Great pictures and Great football.
While I was in Iowa @ the Perdue’s, I got to spend a lot of time with Baby Barrett. He is 3 months old (this week, I think!) and super adorable. He slept so much, that about 1/2 of what I got was of him sleeping, but in the other 1/2, he was bright eyed and bushy tailed! He even started to get shy when he giggled which was super cute, but made taking those pictures more of a challenge. His parents said I could put pictures of him on here, which is exciting! Here are a few of my favorites of the little peanut…
Now I know why little old ladies pinch babies cheeks – they look so squeezable!
Look at those eyebrows! He just LOVED my lens. I think he was able to see himself in it, because he usually had such an inquisitive look to his face when I got close.
Isn’t he so cute? I hope they let me take some more of this little guy as he gets bigger! If you want to see more of what I’ve been up to, you can find me here:
I know I’ve already posted about that, but I have done just a bit of updating. And maybe there are some newbies that haven’t seen that post. Check it out 🙂
Aside from those pictures, I’ve also decided that this is a great time of year to try to do the 365 days of pictures. I am super pumped, and I just hope my year is exciting, so I have fun things to take pictures of each day. I suspect with my new(ish) photography business, a trip already planned to New Mexico in February (woo hoo!!!) and traveling with work, I will have SOMETHING to take pictures of 🙂
“Traveling with work, you say?” Why yes! This weekend I am going out to Phoenix to work at 2 different shows for work. DWF and Digital Imaging USA. I’m excited because I get to see some photographers I’ve always liked, and I also get to work at a booth, which I have so much fun at! Not to mention, I will be in Phoenix in January – and not in Minnesota. If all goes well, I hope I get to do more.
Anyone have suggestions of awesome things to see in Santa Fe, NM? Maybe things that are off the beaten path? What about Albuqurque, NM? I’ve been looking things up recently, but haven’t settled on what I am really invested in seeing. Georgia O’Keefe museum sounds lovely, as do wineries, but I would love suggestions/opinions if anyone has some!
Oh – and I’m sorry, Connie, I haven’t taken a photo of my new hair yet. I didn’t really have a ton of pictures taken of me over the weekend, I seemed to be the one behind the camera most. But soon, I promise 🙂
Have a lovely Thursday! Tomorrow is Friday which means almost the weekend, sun and a plane ride!
Tis the Season
… for wonderful snow to be gone in an instant.
The plan was for my dad and I to go skiing on Christmas day, but time did not allow. We instead had a wild and crazy time in snow gear hassling our dog in the backyard. We tore up the yard and then cruised out to the pond where there was a lot of fresh, un-trampled snow to stick our faces in (more Roux than us). She loved it! The snow was so fresh and powdery, and the sun was out and so pretty…
… and now, it is a drippy, runny, slushy mess. It warmed up to 40ish degrees so everything has that wet dense snow look. I say, it shouldn’t warm up this much until spring is around the corner, because it is just a tease (she says with a stern look and clenched fist waved towards no one in particular…)
After we all got back inside, the pup pretty much crashed.
Exhibit A: 
I’m pretty sure she is asleep while sitting up in this one.
Later on, we had the rest of the family {that isn’t in Hawaii} come over for snacks and dinner. It was delicious! We were so crazy with prepping everything, I totally forgot to take all the neat pictures I was intending to take. It wasn’t until desert looked so amazing that I grabbed the camera, so I at least have that. This fantastically delicious looking thing is a personal sized Trifle. It is excellent to have a dad who loves making deserts!!
After food, presents, talking and more food, the rest of the family went along their merry ways, and left us to watch movies and get some clean up done. Once the dishwasher was loaded, I noticed the pup quietly snoozing on her bed in the kitchen. Photo op! And it was at this time, that i decided to re-attack her with the Santa hat. She put up such a good fight earlier in the day, that I felt I had to try again to get something a little more presentable.
She was definitely the kind of tired where she was picking her battles. The Santa hat wasn’t worth it this time.
And this one I just thought was nice because it is of dog and dad, 2 great companions. To be honest, I’m really the guest in the house. Roux has taken over my place 🙂
With that, I am going to make a coffee with our new coffee maker. By the way, it is pretty much one of the most awesomest Christmas gifts of all times. It is one of the ‘pod’ coffee makers that does 1 cup at a time. Find it here if you are interested. We are having so much fun with it, because it is so easy to try all kinds of different coffee. Hence the reason I have been on a caffeine high for 3 days now. And now I would like 1 more cup….
Until next time, enjoy the day!
I Have A Website!! and a Merry Christmas too!
Hello all holiday go-ers. I hope that your Christmas eve day is going as splendid as mine.
I woke up to a dusting of snow which was just enough to be pretty and fluffy, and not ruin any driving. I went to a long over due hair appointment and told Trish to “do something different.” I think even with my vague request, I got what I was looking for. You are now looking at a girl with side swooping bangs. It’s growing on me, and I think I really like it. Way to go, Trish! Next, Pa and I set out to finish up our grocery shopping for the next 2 days with pounds upon pounds of food. We will be eating good for a while, let me tell you.
I am real excited about the holidays this year in part because we are back on track with our traditional Christmas Eve fiesta over at the Barcelow residence. Last year was great because Dad, Roux and I celebrated Christmas down in Iowa at my apartment, but it is nice to visit once again with that group of people. The food is always fab as are the guests. Then, tomorrow morning we are doing the typical Christmas morning thing… Coffee, presents, food, food and food. For the first year in a loooong time, we are actually celebrating our family Christmas on Christmas. We are hosting, and it should be great! Welcome Nelson/Hern/Pruchnofski clan!
Also – I am announcing the long awaited, greatly anticipated release of my… WEBSITE.
I know, I make it sound like hundreds of people have been waiting all night, in line and in the cold to see my website, which I will admit, is not totally true. But I’m sure some of you will get a kick out of it. Feel free to send me some feedback either from here or my contacts page on my website. I am still getting used to the term, my website. It’s not really a big deal, anyone can have a website, but I am just so excited that I have a website, and it even has my domain name, and everything!
Anyways, have a happy and save holiday! Stay tuned for further updates, and check out the site… I think it is lovely 🙂
It is Done! … Almost
I finally did it! I purchased web space. I haven’t officially launched yet, so it isn’t totally ready for viewing pleasure, however it exists. I have gallery space, client viewing space and informational pages. I’ve edited a few screen shots to give you a taste… 🙂
So far, with the people I’ve shown it to, I have had positive feed back. I hope everyone else will like it, too! I’ll keep you posted on the official launch. I feel so creative… I am officially launching something. It’s so Elsie.
As it turns out, web building and designing is a time consuming process! I have been doing almost nothing but work and web scoping and work and sleep and web hunting the last week 1/2. In the mean time, I did do a bit of Roux picture taking. I am still on the hunt for that perfect sleeping photo. I haven’t scored it yet, but I did get some good ones of her on my bed. Looking at all of them of her cuddled up in blankets makes me sleepy and long for my bed.
I think I will make some more tea, and head that direction. The location of her jingling collar signals to me that there will be a battle for bed space. The joys of having a spoiled animal.
I am back to normal hours tomorrow, which is delightful! I know, 2 weeks of overtime is nothing in comparison to some people’s jobs, but I am not used to it. An 8 hour work day gives me more time to do other things like finish decorating the Christmas tree, clean up the house a bit for family, finish wrapping presents, do more reading and take more pictures.
*Yawn* have a swell night and day tomorrow! Drive safe, wherever you are. It’s nasty out!