Andrew and Audrey

On Saturday afternoon, I took a drive out to a friend's house to take some snaps of her children. Lisa, a friend of my friend, came into town and wanted her kids photos taken as well. How could I resist? These kids are knockouts! We played and worked for a couple of hours.

My friend, Nadine, has three children under 3 and her friend,


Lisa, has two. So, with four mobile children (Ben was sound asleep in his baby chair) it was interesting to see how little they cared about me, my camera, and the fact that their mothers wanted great shots of them. They instead, as most children would, preferred to play!

All of the children were darling and absolutely photogenic!

I've only just finished with Andrew and Audrey photos.

A New Addition

Well, it should be said at the start that my mother is a bad influence. When I play hookie and we go out, I usually come home with a new camera, car, or animal. On our way to thrifting, we stopped at a pet store and made a bee line to the puppies. Immediately we saw, shuffling around in the top crate, a pug puppie. Oh! We gasped and clasped our hands! "Can we see him?" we asked the employee. This little pug came out to us and took right to sneezing and wheezing and loving on us. I knew right then that I was in trouble. He was a love. Weighing in at 4.9 pounds of playful this 8 week old pug had stolen my heart.

My mother and I walked out of the store with this boy in our arms and in our hearts!

When I got home, I was a bit worried that it would take Mark some time to warm up to him (Mark wanted an English bull dog). But, I was wrong! You could see right away that this little darling swept Mark away as well!

Now came the incredible challenge of naming him. We searched online for names and tried on the ones we liked. Mark and I were calling out names to see what he would respond to. This list included.... Murphy, Butch, Jack, Tater, Ike, and the list went on.... and then it came to us... OTIS!!!

So, our darling little tyke is named Otis and he fills up this house with a spunky kind of energy that Rascal and Henry (our cats) couldn't create. He has me up 4-5 times a night with his crying and begging to be freed from his crate- which I refuse to do. Otis loves to bite our toes, shoe laces, and nip at the cats but he is incredible and has the desire to do nothing but love and amuse us.

Though I believe my mother is a bad influence (we've already had a laugh about this) I thank her for opening our world up to this little guy!

Nan

Yesterday, April 20th, was my Nanna's 78th birthday! My family took her out for dinner and all of us (my mom, dad, fiance, and sister) all had a great time! Nan looks fabulous! She's down 10 pounds and was able to wear a pretty dress that she'd had to put away for a few years. Proudly, she strutted in announcing her size (which I won't dare reveal- I shouldn't have even announced her age) and grinning like a cheshire cat! After a great dinner we got our waitress and a few other good sports in the restaurant to sing the Happy Birthday song. She pretended to be embarrassed but she loved it!! Nan passed around her slice of cake and we all had a forkful. What a wonderful way to spend a Sunday night!!

Happy Birthday Nan!!

My Dearest Friend, Marcy

Let me tell you a little something about my friend Marcy- without her, I'd be lost! She is the brainchild behind my logo and now my wedding save the dates, invitations, and response cards!! She and I have been friends for 15 years. It's pretty incredible saying that out loud. But, she's the cat's pajamas if ever there were such a thing!



Mark and I have been going back and forth with regards to the wedding invitations. Our largest concern is that, after all, they are only pieces of paper that will be discarded. So, the thought of putting all of this money into the invites is heartbreaking. Another close friend, Michael, told me about these fantastic invites that his friend had for her wedding. He raved about these things! Told me they came in hard cases and were just gorgeous.... and also that they cost 5 dollars an invite. I asked him to show me these tremendous things.... and guess what... he threw it away. Thus, I began my search for classy yet cost effective paper. And though this may surprise some of you, I found it! At Target!!



The paper feels high quality- it's textured and that gives the illusion of it being pricey. My mother always told me that I had champagne taste on a beer budget. I didn't believe her until I had to start paying a mortgage. (I get it now).



Anyhow, she turned over yet another Saturday for me to create these things. And, like usual, she did with an undying amount of graciousness and humor! They are beautiful and she has my continual thanks.



Thanks, Marcy! You are the BEST!!!

Comiskey Park (I will never refer to it as "The Cell")

On Tuesday 3.19 a couple of my friends and I were invited to an event by a parent of one of my students. She, Donna Binbek, is the publisher and editor of Pour Magazine (http://www.pourmagazinechicago.com/- for those of you that love wine and great food). The event was held at the Stadium Club in Comiskey Park. For as many times as I've been to Sox Park, I'd never ventured into the Stadium Club. It's for the elite Sox

fans ( I guess). Well, needless to say, I've been ruined! The seats in the Upper Deck next to God will no longer be good enough. Oh, the shame of being spoiled!!

The three of us were totally stricken when we approached the doors. I thought for sure we'd be turned away- they would have been able to sense we didn't make six figures (well, maybe we did combined). But! They let us in- how silly of them!!

There were food stations with delicious food and an entire dessert bar upstairs! This gig cost us nothing! Free food, free drinks, free music?! We felt like wedding crashers!!

A big THANKS to Donna for getting us in!! We've been invited to the Civic Opera House on April 22nd. I'll let you know how that one goes as well.

Lily

Hi there everyone!

Well, let me tell you, yesterday I went to my friend Sara's house to take photos of her darling daughter, Lily. This kid is beautiful!! She comes from good, Irish stock and it shows.

She's got a little bit of hair which will be beautiful and red! Her eyes are a crisp blue and her skin is alabaster. She gets that from Sara. Everything else is Aaron. Sara jokes that when Lily is up on Aaron's shoulder it looks like he has two heads. Lily is off the charts tall- her dad is well over six feet and Sara eeks past five feet. Trying to take a picture of them together is always quite a challange- his head is usually chopped off or she's missing part of her chin.

Anyhow, I've included a picture of this little lass! Isn't she beautiful?

Craigslist

I put my first ad up on Craigslist.com. There is an enormous amount of people on that site looking for things. How are you supposed to make sure that they stop and check you out?
I know that I hate reading a lot in what are supposed to be short descriptions. I move past those. I visit the ones that have links to pages or photos up. I skip those with poor grammar or spelling- If they cannot spell it, I do not trust them enough to be in charge of it.
What are your thoughts on how to make someone want to visit your ad? Do any of you use Craigslist? What is it you look for?