Happy birthday to Soren!

When I was sixteen, the only thing I wanted in the entire world was freedom - freedom to go where I wanted, when I wanted.  Freedom to get out, freedom to come back.  My extremely generous Uncle Lou and my mother and stepfather orchestrated the purchase of a car for me.  A brilliant car.  A car named Soren.  I am now 26 and he and I are headed into our eleventh year together. My car is worth almost nothing today were I to try and sell him.  I believe his Bluebook value is just a hair over $3k - if he's immaculate, and Soren is lots of things but immaculate is not one of them.  Worthless on the market or not, Soren is the very essence of car-ness to me.  I feel uncomfortable driving anything else.  I drive my car like an extension of my body and I always like to believe I know all his little sounds. Soren recently had some major (or so I thought) engine/transmission issues.  He wouldn't go above 45 without making a horrible stuttering noise and motion.  Needless to say, I flipped out.  But when I took it to the mechanic, I needed just $250 worth of troubleshooting to find the right spark plugs and wires and things to replace.  A tune up!  On a ten year old car!  The mechanic said Soren is still in really good shape and I should expect to be able to drive him for many years to come.  Oh, how I love my car. This love note has a point!  I wouldn't ordinarily spend an entire blog post talking about my car, but he had a rather significant birthday recently, and I thought I'd share.  I missed 150,000 miles by 10, but I stopped to take a picture anyway.  Better late than never.  So happy birthday to my good friend, the old man Soren.  May he and I drive many more miles together!

Ending 2010

For the past two years, I've closed out the year with a self-portrait and a few minutes of reflection on how my year has gone.  As far as I can tell, it all just keeps getting better. First off, I want to say thank you to all my amazing clients, and my friends, family and supporters who have been behind me 100% in my business and personal growth as a photographer.  You guys rock and I couldn't do any of this without the support from all my peeps, you know who you are! This was another big year for travel, though toned down a bit from 2009 (I barely made Silver preferred!).  In 2010, I visited Tampa, Orlando, Hampton and Norfolk, VA, Portland, ME, Houston, Chicago, New Orleans, Ocean City, Duluth and Superior, WI (those two links are some of my favorite images from the year), Dania Beach, FL, Winchester, VA, Galveston, New York, Orlando, and San Diego. On the agenda for 2011 are Naples and Ft. Myers, FL, possibly Colorado Springs, possibly Chicago again, Orlando again, Seattle, Las Vegas, and maybe, just maybe Hawaii.  Oh, and all the destination weddings you can book me for! George has a lot to do with 2010 being such an awesome year.  It was our first being married and - despite many naysayers - as far as I can tell, being married is totally awesome. He and I ate at lots and lots of amazing restaurants in 2010.  I'm blessed to be financially secure enough to go have a pricey dinner (or lunch - we ate at Brasserie Beck today) just about whenever I want.  Most would probably say we're throwing away our money, but food is something I value the heck out of.  It's good to eat. George started grad school.  We have yet to hear if he's got in to his school(s) of choice.  Which he does get into will have a major effect on the rest of our lives, and certainly the next five years. Also in 2010, we took up gardening and mostly failed, had a ridiculous two-week-long food and tourism extravaganza in Chicago, and solidified more than ever our mutual values.  It feels so good to want the same things. To everyone, everywhere: may you have a joyous, prosperous, healthy 2011.  It's about time to put on a cute dress and go hit the party.  So cheers and I'll see you guys in 2011!

Holiday break puppy

It's going to be a slow week here on the blog - no weddings or engagements or portraits.  But there's always time for puppies.  Taken on a much warmer day!