Fast as lightning...

I'm only giving myself a half-hour for this, so we're rolling lightning style. My August and upcoming, combined in some kind of order...

Sometime around the end of July, I finally finished Harry Potter #4. Instead of starting #5, I changed it up and started reading Eat, Pray, Love from my bookshelf. Very good so far.

On August 3rd, after our shoot with Lisa + Justin and visiting Dan's family, Dan and I were rear-ended. He was driving his car, we were stopped at the end of a highway exit ramp, and the woman must have thought we were going to go because BOOM! My glasses and a sandal went flying. We were/are okay except for some aches and trouble sleeping the first week or so. The car is fine - slight dent that you can only see at certain angles. Dan's STILL dealing with her insurance company. Jiminy crickets, they need to do their jobs already.

Adam and Sheri came to visit the 16th-17th. We had a good time, played some Apples to Apples, pigged out, played with the kitties, and made sure to indulge in a high-calorie dessert. Sheri brought kitty treats so she made instant friends. Well, as much "instant" as you can get with our cats and their skittish attitudes around other people. We also decided to explore a trail here in the neighborhood, which was a great decision. Lots of photo opps for the girls while the guys had other ideas of fun... like going for a swim in the muddy water. I don't have any photos on my laptop, so you can check out Sheri's blog for a little nature collage.

Last weekend we had Lisa + Justin over to see their photos and chat about the wedding. I hope they enjoy the photos of their cute selves! The next day, one of my cousins had a graduation (Master's!) and housewarming party. They bought their house about a year ago and finally had a chance to celebrate. On Sunday, Dan and my dad gave my car a nice little tune-up, made my AC work, put on new front brakes, and made my car feel young again. Yippee! You don't know how great air conditioning is in the summer until YOU DON'T HAVE IT! And I haven't had it for about a month. Man it's been hot.

• The other day I started Twitter - follow me and see what I'm up to in the sidebar.
  
• I have been BEYOND busy and stressed at work. Our show is coming up sooner than I know. I LEAVE NEXT FRIDAY. Yikes, I need to pack. I've had plenty of overtime lately, working until six or seven every weeknight, and picking up Saturdays when I can.
  
• Speaking of Saturdays, what are those?
  
• My battery is getting low, the stress-relief oil in my diffuser has all been enjoyed, and my half-hour is gone, so it's time to sleep. I need to take time for me at night, no matter how stressed I am at work. I don't need to be overstressed and sick while traveling and working.
  
• I shall return in one form or another - blogging bits or Twitter.
  

Happy hump day... let's get some sleep.

Lisa + Justin: Engagement

On the Rye farm, there sits a quaint little cabin in the woods. It's a little piece of history dating back several generations with trinkets and antiques, handmade quilts and details of the lives lived there.

When Dan's cousin, Lisa, and her fiance asked us to do their wedding, my mind immediately reeled the scenes of an engagement shoot at the cabin. Oh, how cool it would be. Much to my surprise, Lisa was right on board with my thoughts of frolicking in the woods and showing Justin the cabin. And yes, it was very cool.

These two are naturals. We had them tromping through tall grasses - probably some poison ivy, getting chummy with spiders, and even sitting under snakeskins. After Lisa cringed, she whiped the grass, cobwebs and dust off her WHITE DRESS with a smile. Troopers, I tell you. It was really hard to narrow down a handful of photos for posting, but these definitely rank high on the favorites list.

A piece of Lisa and Justin's story...

I get goosebumps looking at this one...


I love all the bits and details in this shot...


Ah, young love...


We decided to have a sword fight...




After this shot, things got a little naughty...

The benefit of having two cameras: this is one angle...


This is the alternate angle, and I love both...


We had beautiful weather that day...

I love me some lower-half shots...


Lisa and Justin - we had quite an adventure and hope you did too. The cabin was the perfect spot. We're so stoked to show you the rest of the photos!

The whirlwind that was July...

Whew. I can't begin to explain the running around that lead up to our home celebration and made up the month of July. Errands, IKEA trips, moving stuff, cleaning stuff, decorating, and you name it, we tried to squeeze it in our days. Let's get to some photos.


Oh, new iPhone. How I love thee, especially with MobileMe syncing. We took a half day off work and spent three hours in line. The time passed pretty quickly because I took along Harry Potter, and the waiting paid off because we were just about the last people to get phones. If it weren't for a delivery of 10 more phones during our wait, we wouldn't have gotten phones at all. Then, of course, we had to go through the issue where everyone and their family was trying to activate their phones on iTunes, but that's a whole other story. I got a white one and Dan got a black one.


There's a new addition to the family - a little sister, if you will. We scored a great deal on a Canon XSi (450D) for a second shooter and backup. The 40D is perfect for Dan's hands, and this smaller one is great for me. Surprisingly, it has more megapixels, too. We took it for a test drive during last Sunday's engagement shoot and it stood up to the monster pretty well.


This was the ONLY picture I took of our party. I actually took about three pictures total, but they all looked like this one. This was after all of our family had left, after Dan persuaded everyone to play beer darts in the backyard, and then twisted their arms to play beer pong, causing our kitchen table to relocate to the patio and get beer all over it. Needless to say, and gladly, I had to round up all of our extra pillows and blankets since we had a lot of friends spend the night.

If you know me at all, I'm sure you're picturing me relaxing inside, drinking my iced tea, taking this picture out my back door. And for the record, no kitchen tables were harmed for the duration of the party.

Other than that, I'm glad more of our families were able to see the house. I wish we could have spent more time with them instead of giving an upteenth tour, but we'll just have to remember that for our next party.

(Click to enlarge)
Man, I'm so thrilled with these details. I took some shots around the house to show a few of my favorite things, and the little bits encompass our style perfectly.

1. Living room wall - above couch: I couldn't have picked better pictures for this arrangement and the glimpse into our lives. Funny story - when we got these prints we opened them right away and Urple walked up to check out the package. We got to Merry's big-headed print and held it up to show Urple. Not two seconds later her eyes nearly popped out of her head and she couldn't get away fast enough! When we got to Urple's picture we held it up to show Merry, and she did the SAME THING. We hung all the frames that night and the girls wouldn't step foot in the living room for about a week. Seriously, cats.
2. Living room wall - above television
   
3. Master bath - above jacuzzi
   
4. Guest bedroom: I've always wanted to put a bed on a diagonal, and the guest room was prime opportunity since the door to the room is also on a diagonal. Big Ben is on the night stand, and the art from Dan's London and Paris trips will coordinate on the walls.
   
5. This will be 5-8 actually: we turned our dining room into a spectacular Rye Designs showroom. Thoughts and words cannot express how much I love this room. It is so inspiring JUST TO SIT IN THE ROOM. We bought a little couch, a little chair, mixed in some of our favorite client shots with studio lighting, and hung a wire-full of stationery samples. Not sure why the last photo turned out with a green wall, but oh well.
   
   The mac has a home here so we can show off slideshows to clients, and I find myself working in this room more than our office upstairs. I have plans for the office...mainly to put business documents and packaging, marketing, and yada-yada materials up there (along with the baskets of craft supplies). That way we'll keep the business end away from clients and just keep them involved in the inspiring and fun showroom stuff.
   

The evening after our party I was minding my own business editing pictures and having a lazy day, when I look out the back door to see very dark clouds, rain, and high winds. Within minutes, sirens were blaring and I was wondering if I should go to the basement. Dan was on his way home maneuvering around branches and trees in the road. As soon as he arrived, we hid in the furnace closet with spinach dip, mini bread squares, and our iphones - you know, the essentials. After the warnings and skies cleared, we came out of hiding to find this:


Good thing our party wasn't that evening.

Now we're pretty much up to date, and if you're still reading then I'm impressed.

After the party, the craziness around the house seemed to shift into my work life. With our show coming up in September we are chickens-with-our-heads-cut-off insane. I worked last Saturday and will go in again tomorrow. Bring on the overtime. My house is showing it, though, especially in the kitchen and laundry room. Dan has been a big help in both areas, but it still seems to be piling up to my eyeballs. My boss has been great, approving anything that will save me time (like outsourcing projects), so I can breathe small sighs of relief in that arena.

In other arenas, I'm editing our recent engagement shoot and the photos are looking fabulous. I will have some to post this weekend. It's part of my tweaked workflow to have favorites blogged within a week. For now, it's time to fold some laundry, edit some more photos, and resist stuffing my face with chocolate.

Maybe two out of three is good enough.
Happy eight-eight-oh-eight, yo.