Marvelous Monday

Marshmellow Monday

It's the first Monday of the year and I'm sure many of you are returning to work today with a renewed sense of purpose and excitement for the new year.

But... I suspect the vast majority of you, like myself, feel more bloated and jiggly, rather than excited and ready to work. Those holiday cookies and cakes and candies and ham and amazingly good mashed potatoes have left their mark on me. And oh my, the holiday wreaths that Jon's aunt Linda made for me! Their marshmellowy goodness send me into Christmas utopia year after year.


I love those dang wreaths like I love new shoes and after Christmas sales and sipping hot coco by the fire. They make my heart feel warm and loved and almost as elated as I felt the day I discovered true love.

Perhaps I am a being a little dramatic, but you get my drift...

"You can have some if you want," I told Jon as I tightly placed the lid back on the treats and hugged the container close to me. I could tell he wanted to say that he wanted a few, but - very wisely - my wonderful husband pretended like he wasn't hungry and didn't need any of my treasured wreaths. Wise indeed. I probably should have shared, but lets be honest... holiday wreaths only come around once a year and a girl needs to do what a girl needs to do to protect what's important to her. Especially since I was 9 months pregnant.

That's just one vignette of my holiday eating. If I told you what the rest of my holiday season eating looked like, you'd be ashamed of me. Heck, I'm ashamed of me. And having a baby didn't help my cause :).

I am resolving to eat better this year. Because i'm still recovering from a c-section, I can't start my exercising for another few weeks, but the healthy eating starts now. ASAP. Without hesitation. So today, I am asking you, wonderful world of blog readers: What are your plans for healthy living and exercising in 2009? Anyone doing anything that is a surefire way to lose weight? Any exercise videos you'd recommend? Any healthy eating tips?

Feel free to share. I'll be back in a bit to check for your words of dieting wisdom. Right after I eat the last of my holiday wreath treats.

Update on baby Kaden and some new engagement photos

I LOVED hanging out with Ty and Kizo for their engagement session at Lafayette Square earlier this fall! We had rescheduled so many times because of rain, so I was pumped when we finally got a date with no precipitation! Here are a few of my faves:



Aren't they just the cutest?!?!? I think they could both be models :).




Even though it was a bit overcast when we started, then sun came out every once in a while and we took full advantage of it.








Favorite!


Ty and Kizo are both from Brazil and have been studying here in St. Louis for the last several years. In about a year, they'll be returning home for good, and Ty's car - this lovely red mustang - will not be making the voyage home with her. I guess driving all the way to Brazil might be a little bit of a trip :). So we made sure to take a few pics by the 'stang before the shoot was over :).



And since several of you have asked about an update on baby Kaden, so here ya go! :)

I was scheduled for a c-section for this morning at 8 am, so our day started out this morning around 4:30am or so. Jon and I got all ready to go and arrived at the hospital right on time at 6am. We were both so excited we could hardly stand it and I couldn't believe I'd actually be holding my baby in just a few hours!

After check-in, they started my IV and put the monitors on the baby. "Oh yeah, he's definitely breech," the nurse told me as she positioned the baby monitor high on my stomach. "You don't get a heart beat up that high unless the baby is breech." Jon and I chuckled a little to each other. Kaden had been breech pretty much the entire pregnancy, which is the reason we scheduled the c-section in the first place. Silly little guy... he just didn't want to be upside down!

About a half-hour passed and we turned on the TV to distract us. TNT sure does show some great movies in the morning! We watched a little bit of "A Knight's Tale" and I think Kaden really liked the movie... he was moving all over the place while we sat there relaxing. I saw the monitors on my belly bouncing up and down like crazy! Then a resident came in after a bit to do an ultrasound that my dr. requested just before the epidural.

I think I was rude to the resident when she told me the news. "This baby is head down," she said as Jon and I both looked at her in disbelief. I seriously thought she was joking, but alas, it was no joke. In just a few minutes... at the last possible minute... he rotated! The odds of that were slim to none; in fact the nurses told us they had never seen that happen before at this late hour! We talked with our dr. and he said he'd go ahead and do the c-section if we were totally set on it, but we also had the option of waiting for things to progress naturally since he was heads down now. After lots more questions and prayer and talking, Jon and came to the conclusion that it was no coincidence that he moved when he did. Maybe he just needs a little more time to develop... or maybe God was telling us we needed to opt to not have surgery. Whatever the case, we couldn't get past the fact that he turned for a reason, so we decided to cancel the c-section and go home. They wanted to monitor the baby for a while longer just to confirm everything was ok and Kaden was still responsive, so after 5 hours in the hospital, the nurses disconnected the IV and sent me home.

In the end, my gut feeling is that I'll probably still end up having a c-section... after all, I am only 5 feet tall and this baby is pretty large (if you've seen me this month, you know what I mean :) ). But I still think we made the right decision to wait because, wow, it wasn't just some random movement that occurred today. It was a little disappointing to come home today without a baby in our arms, but I have a feeling we'll be there soon enough :).

So I'm still pregnant. Large and in charge. Double chinned and bigger than ever. It's awesome :). And now we wait...

Marvelous Monday :: guess who's coming to town...

As we have gotten closer to the Christmas season, my anticipation has been growing by the minute. Because, you know, I've been carrying around a baby for about nine months now. Our little guy Kaden was due to be born on Dec 28, but because of his position (he's a double footling breech), my doctor suggested that we schedule a c-section. I was a little (well, A LOT) nervous about scheduling a surgery, but after some thought and a lot of prayer, it was pretty obvious that this was the right choice for us.

SOOOO... I'm having a baby on Saturday!!!

That's in five days. FIVE!!!! Can you believe it??

For all my clients, thanks so much for all your kind emails and card wishing us luck! I really do have the best clients ever :). I will be working most of this week (in between washing baby clothes and such, of course), and maternity leave will begin on December 20 and run through the beginning of March. If you need something, though, please don't hesitate to shoot me an email or give me a call. I may not be able to respond super quickly, but I will do my best to get back to you or have my trusty assistant get back with you in a reasonable amount of time.

And what's a blog entry without some photos!? I took some photos today of Kaden's room that we just finished

As you can see, we have a bit of a dilemma... there is no closet in the room :(. I bought some shelves to try to remedy the problem but we'll see if that actually works :) If anyone has any suggestions about storage in a closet-less room, I'm all ears :).


And check out those letters above the crib!

My friend and 2007 bride Jessica actually MADE them for me! If you look closely, you can see that she painted the letters with the same pattern that's on the bedding.. monkey and all! Jessica rocks :).

Where, oh where have I been...

Soooo... Yeah, I know. I am a bad blogger.

I've been editing and shooting like there's no tomorrow and my poor blog has suffered from bloggity neglect. But no more, my friends, no more. Very soon, I'll be rolling out some sessions with some amazing clients that I'm so excited about posting! In the meantime, though, here are seven things I've been up to (other than editing and shooting, of course):

1. I've spent some time listening to the lyrics of that Jason Mraz song that's on the radio way way way too much (I'm Yours). Have you listened to the lyrics ever? Gosh, that song is a little silly. The last verse says, "I've been spending way to much time looking at my tongue in the mirror/ and bending over backward just to try to see it clearer/ but my breath fogged up the glass/ so I drew a new face and I laughed." Nonsense, I tell you.

2. Eating. And, on a related note, I now have two chins. And my feet have pretty much disappeared too. Awesome.

3. I skipped Black Friday, but indulged in Cyber Monday.

4. Not cleaning.

5. Falling in love with gumdrops, mint m&m's and twizzlers. Those bits of sugary goodness are seriously amazing.... and quite possibly related to my aforementioned afflictions in #2.

6. Getting confused about the position of my baby. I was pretty sure he's been breech this whole time, and my dr. concurred. Then, I visited another dr. and he said he didn't think the baby was breech. So basically, all this time when we've thought we were talking to the baby's head, we've probably been talking to his rump. Poor kid... he probably already things his parents are nuts.

7. Trying to keep Stella trained. That dog trainer we sent her to for a week was un-be-freakin-lievable. I, on the other hand, pretty much suck.

Keep your eyeballs peeled.... photos coming soon!

Fabulous Friday

I'm very well aware that this makes me a total dork, but I just got pretty dang excited watching the trailer for the upcoming season of LOST, and I couldn't keep it to myself. The new season premiers January 21, 2009.

Marvelous Monday #23 :: First Day of School

Look who had her first day of school today


She looks all cute and cuddly here, but beneath those puppy dog eyes lies the energy of an ADD three-year-old who's overdosed on pixie sticks and candy corn. If you've been to our apartment, you know what I mean. She loves people and she shows her affection by repeatedly jumping on our guests, licking any visible skin, and -her new favorite- biting pony tails. Yeah, that's not so much gonna fly when our little baby arrives :).

So today Jon dropped her off at dog training school and she's been there all day long (and I've been strangely productive... weird how that worked out). I'm so glad she's going to be a little more obedient, but I've spent a good part of the day worrying that the other dogs won't be nice to her. Sounds like those motherly instincts might be kicking in.

marvelous Monday #24 :: Photo Booth Fun at the Perk

This past weekend, Jon and I spent our Friday (and a good part of Saturday morning) at the Perk - a student event at MBU that we planned from start to finish. We, along with an awesome crew, turned the gymnasium into a coffee house in a day's time and filled with student performers who sang, danced, and acted the night away. the event was quite a departure from our usual weekend activity of shooting weddings :). It was a great time - terribly tiring - but great :). Since I'm just a little prego, I wasn't able to help with all the heavy lifting and loading that I usually help with (for those of you who didn't know, I'm totally hoss when not with child), so I decided to focus some of my energy on setting up a photobooth for the students to use during the event. After some research and some testing, I got it all figured out and the students had great time using the photo booth. It was totally unsupervised and I laughed pretty hard when I saw the final outcome :). These are just a few of the hundred or so photos taken that night:















marvelous.

Marvelous Monday #23 ::

I'm sick today.  

Watering eyes.  

Burning throat.  

General feeling of exaggerated ickiness.  

Can't really take any medicines because I'm prego. 

Nothing marvelous about that.

marvelous Monday #22 :: Look what I found

I was in KC last week for an early morning shoot and after we were finished, Jon and I decided we wanted to get some breakfast. IHOP or the Waffle House weren't going to cut it that day. We were hungry. and I mean HUN-GRAY. So we went to the Big Biscuit. As we pulled in, I felt compelled to take a pic of the sign. Jon looked at me like I was weird, but I thought for some reason that this breakfast was going to be something special and I wanted to commemorate it with a pic of the sign.


So we ate our breakfast, and I'm gonna be honest, I think those blueberry pancakes were the most delightful thing to hit my taste buds in a long time. And through the generous sampling of Jon's breakfast that I stole while he wasn't looking, I got pretty full. So full, in fact, that I almost missed the best part of the trip. As we were leaving, look who we ran into.


I know. I am one lucky chica.

Marvelous Monday #21 :: a sweet ending

Boy am I tired! I have full week of shoots this week, a wedding in Chicago (which I am PUMPED about!) and it doesn't seem to be letting up anytime soon, which is AWESOME, but wow, I need to find some time to get a little sleep :). Although I'm barely still awake at the keyboard, I had a lovely surprise at both of my weddings last weekend:



Ted Drewes is the perfect way to cap off a wonderful day. My wonderful husband grabbed this shot of Sarah and Adam on Saturday... while I was chowing down on an concrete with extra cookie dough. Did you know that on your wedding day, Ted Drewes gives you and your entire wedding party free concretes???

marvelous.

Marvelous Monday #20 :: I love my job

If you know me or have followed my blog for a while, you know I live in a boys dorm with my husband, dog, and 100 college boys (if that's a total shock to you, I promise, it's not nearly as bad as it sounds... read here for more :) ) .

One of the cool things we get to do as part of a college campus is chaperone student events, and this week, we got to go Chicago with a group of students, and did we ever have a blast! It was a great trip... except for that one restaurant that we stumbled upon that housed their kitchen in a trailer, had port-a-potties hidden behind lattice for restrooms, and a huge rat that bid us farewell...

I do a little freelance work for the university and while we were there, I took some pics of a few of the students at Millennium Park. I have the best job ever :).

As Is

I love me some prego pants. Expandable waste-bands are just a little piece of heaven that no one should have to miss. They are quite expensive, though, so I find a sale, I'm all over it.

Like white on rice.

At a recent sale, I noticed a nice pair of maternity pants that I couldn't wait to wear at a wedding. There was a tag noting that they were "as is," but there didn't appear to be any problem with them, so I added them to my stash.

Then, when I wore them for the first time to a wedding, I found out why they were marked "as is"


One leg was petite, the other... not so much.

awesome.

Marvelous Monday #19 :: Go get yourself the best americano EVER...

I am not going to be shy about this... Megan is the best barista ever. No, I mean it . I have never NEVER had an Americano like she makes it. When I still had my day job, I would visit Megan every morning at 9am when she opened the doors to the coffee house and I'd indulge in something delightfully caffeinated until my heart was content. Ok, maybe I usually showed up at 8:55 and banged annoyingly on the door till she opened it because I just couldn't wait till 9...

But in any case, if your Monday is off to a slow start and you work at MBU (or anywhere near it), you should swing by thePerk and have Megan make you an Americano. It will for sure make your Monday marvelous.

Oh, and did I mention that in addition to being world's greatest barista, Megan's also quite photogenic? Check out these shots I snagged of her and her fiance Stephen in Lafayette Square







loving the light that day






how fitting that we should stop at a coffee shop during our shoot


and of course we had to stop by my favorite alley


Ok, and one more little tidbit about Megan... she has an awesome voice. Like.... disarmingly awesome. If you've heard her sing, you know what I mean.

Marvelous Monday #18 :: 31 days and counting

One month and my Thursdays will again have meaning.








September 25. Get excited.

Marvelous Monday #18 : Let the shopping begin!

World, prepare to be rocked. We're having boy

Marvelous Monday #17 :: Elusive Cinnamon Bears

What is the deal with grocery stores and gas stations these days. I mean, I've been searching since well before Christmas and everywhere I look, there's a gaping hole in what should be the most magical section of the store. Yes, my childhood infatuation with candy has led me on a quest to find the most cherished of all candies: the cinnamon bear. If a store is lucky enough to carry this once very common variety of sugary delight, they are always out of stock. And I mean always. Gas stations, once the mecca for said cinnamon bears, have ceased to even carry the tasty treat. Now, junk like Hannah Montana light up ring pops or high school musical signing lollipops fill the once sacred spot on the shelf that used to belong to the cinnamon bear. It's the same everywhere I look in this city. No cinnamon bears to be found. Try it. You will soon understand my plight. It's a travesty that not only has made me a little crazy in St. Louis, but my brother is experiencing the same bear-draught in Kansas City. He's even documented it on his cell phone. It's a crying shame, I tell you.

When I was in DeSoto to photograph Jim and Christy's wedding (which I will be blogging very soon), we experienced one of the hottest days we've ever had the pleasure of shooting in. On our way to the reception, we stopped off at a Casey's gas station to buy some much need water and refreshments, and, as is typical of me, my parade through the gas station began in the candy aisle. Even though I was parched beyond belief and well on the verge of dehydration, what I saw before my eyes gleaming in the flickering halogen lights of the convenience store made my thirst dissipate as if by magic. Right in between the orange slices and the peppermints was the object my heart had lusted after for far too many days. I stared that row of cinnamon bears in the eyes and yelped. Yeah, Jon and everyone else in the store heard me. I'm not sure what was more attention drawing... the fact that a sweaty pregnant photographer was squealing in endless delight in the candy aisle or my attempt to carry every single bag of cinnamon bears to the cash register.

Yeah, I bought them all.

I don't know about you, but a mountain full of cinnamon bears is just what I needed to make this Monday just a bit more marvelous :)

Marvelous Monday #16 : Already thinking about dinner tomorrow

As most of you know, one of my very favorite things to do is eat. It just doesn't get much better than consuming a well-prepared meal full of tastiness. If you're already feeling down this Monday, I suggest you start planning your dinner for tomorrow night and that may lift your spirits.
Speaking of dinner on Tuesday nights, have you heard about Bar Louie? They have two locations (one in downtown Kirkwood and the other in the Central West End), and on Tuesday nights, they offer $1 hamburgers, you pay like 25 or 50 cents for anything you want to add (like cheese, bacon, mushrooms, etc), so you end up getting a burger for pretty cheap. Seriously, you can get something awesome for 2 bucks! And they don't skimp on these babies either..... they're huge! AND they have buy one get one free appetizers until 7pm. So, if you're looking for a fun night out full of inexpensive but delightful food, check out Bar Louie tomorrow night. It'll be marvelous :).

Marvelous Monday #15: This might just be the most marvelous-est ever

I would be lying if I told you I wasn't tired.

This past year I have been so blessed to work with so many wonderful clients and their families. I've worked every weekend since April (minus one), and most weeknights, I've been meeting with clients, shooting sessions, or editing the night away. It's been such a blast, BUT because I've been working a full-time job as photographer/graphic designer at the University, I've been pretty much worn out for about a year. Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't have traded the experience for anything, but wow, I need a vacation!

Earlier this year, I turned in my resignation at the University so I could pursue photography full-time (and have a chance to get my life back again!), and I thought the day would never come, but last Thursday, I packed up my dark office with no windows, bid my co-workers farewell, and officially became self-employed. My heart was beating a little fast as I made the trek from my third floor office to the parking lot for the last time, and I felt a little nervous. After all, I was giving up a great job with amazing co-workers and unbelievable health benefits. After all, my husband is in grad school. After all, we're about to have a baby. Why wouldn't I feel a little nervous.

But now, as I sit here in front of my computer in my home office, sorting through photos, looking out my 4 huge windows and listening to my dog snore, I couldn't be more content.

All my energy is now totally focused on photography, which means all those ideas I've had buzzing around my head for the last few months will finally come to fruition. And, boy oh boy, do I have a lot of blogging to catch up on! Be watching for Audrey and Josh's wedding in the next few days!

I know I've said it before, but thank you, thank you, thank you to all my clients who have allowed me to capture your memories with my camera. I've been so blessed to work with you, and you've truly enriched my life. Without you, my dreams couldn't have come true.

So from now on, my Mondays are going to be a little different :). And I think that's pretty marvelous.

Marvelous Monday #14 :: I've got some 'splaining to do

Thank you all so much for the kind comments and emails regarding our big news! I've been a little swamped lately with wrapping up my job at the University and being in the middle of the busiest wedding season ever, and I apologize for not responding to you all sooner. Here are finally some more details :).

Two days after I turned in my resignation at the University, I decided I should maybe - just maybe - take a pregnancy test, especially considering I was about to start insurance shopping. Even though I felt like I was wasting money by wasting a test (those things must be made of gold!), I took a test anyway. When I saw the plus sign, I was truly shocked. Truly. So, after a frantic morning of calling my doctor, sending very vague text messages to my boss about why I couldn't come in to work, and taking three more tests (all of which sported a nice blue plus sign), it all started to set in. There was officially a bun in the oven.

And we couldn't be happier!

Although Jon and I hadn't planned on starting a family for at least a year or so, the timing really has worked out perfectly. I couldn't have planned it better myself :). The baby is scheduled to arrive December 28, a month after the last wedding I have the calendar and about 2.5 months before the next wedding we have on the books. In addition, Jon will finish up his master's degree at Covenant two weeks before my due date.

Everything has been wonderful thus far... no morning sickness or evening sickness or anything. Well.... there was one time when I accidentally used Jon's toothbrush and it grossed me out so much that I puked... but I hardly think I can blame that on the baby :). I was terribly exhausted through the first trimester, but that's probably also to blame on my insane work load. But now that I'm into the second trimester and the end of my university job is in sight, I have TONS of energy! Oh, and I am looking a little chunky these days, but again, not the baby's fault. I blame it on those dang blueberry eggo waffles. If they weren't so darn tasty, I wouldn't eat six a day!

And yes, we are definitely finding out the sex of the baby. We don't have any names picked out yet, but I'm pretty partial to Hannah Montana or Jack Bauer. I'm just sayin....

We're hoping Stella is going to like the new little guy or gal. Speaking of Stella... she was having some ear problems, so the vet had to tape her ears. I think she looks a little like a martian...




And now some details for my clients... just in case you were wondering :).
Because of the awesome timing of the pregnancy, I'm still completely able to fulfill all the wedding contracts I have (minus one December wedding, but we've already talked :( ). Weddings taking place during the month of November, even though I still will most likely feel pretty good, will come with an extra shooter at no charge. So yeah, that means if you have a November wedding, you'll get three photographers for the price of two :). From the other photographers I've talked to, I should have no problem shooting well into November, but because I know my brides value peace of mind, I'll have that third photographer there just in case there should be any kind of need.

I will be on maternity leave (wow, it still feels crazy to say that!) from Dec 1 until March 10. So, if you're wanting to do an album design and would like to have your design completed before I take my leave, please be sure to begin your order by October 30 so we'll have ample time to complete your book.

So yeah, is that marvelous or what.