This year, however, a change was instituted.
The gentleman decided to move the round of
golf to tomorrow morning~that way they could
make a later t-time. In the past, the t-time
needed to be early enough to ensure that they
could get the golf in and still procure a prime
viewing spot for the noon start of the parade!
Boys are silly.

I, on the other hand, have decided to stay back,
lounge around and make my way over to my sister’s
& Pete’s 1st annual 4th of July bash.

They hired the Kurt Jorgensen band to play from
6 to 10. Yes, I made certain that she contacted
the city of Chanhassen to get a permit so we’re
all set to go!

I saw my mom yesterday for a few hours.
The took the catheter out, stopped the dilaudid
and she was up and walking around (with the walker)!
This, my friends, is the best I’ve seen her since
before the surgery! We are looking into a couple
of interim care facilities near by that she can
go to for her rehabilitation. One is right by me
the other is on the St. Francis campus. Both are
wonderful and she could go as early as Monday!!
YAY!!!!

I’m on call for NILMDTS today. I elected to take
the holiday because I thought trying to make
phone calls to 30 people on the 4th of July
would most likely yield no one so I just took
it for myself. I’ll have my phone at my side all day!

Last night, we had an impromptu gathering in front
of our house…the street actually. Many of
our neighbors had fireworks and we started
blowing them off in the middle of the street
(we just had our driveway seal coated!).
I ran to Costco at the last minute last night
and bought one of their giant packs of lovely
“Minnesota Issue” fireworks…that’s sort of
CODE for “nothing goes in the air”. So, mostly
color and noise with no real “wow” factor.
The kids had a blast and the adults, well, we
had a blast too!

Jacquie, thanks for sticking around and talking
with me by the fire after everyone had gone in.
I love you! Our friendship means the world to me!

Have a safe and gratitude filled day!

Today I woke up to the sound of plows.
First from one direction, then the other.
Not my favorite way to wake up, I must say.
However, once I got to the kitchen there were
2 Valentines and a big Ghiradelli Chocolate bar
(72%..my favorite!) on the counter!
It’s not just for breakfast anymore!

Not wanting to brush the cards aside,
I opened them first!

Here’s the one from Gary….

Nice sentiment…NOT our anniversary tho’.
Gary said, “WHAT!?? I even had my glasses on!”
I love you any way honey!

And here’s one from the Cats!

The inside reads “…and we might even come
when you call us next time…love, the cats”

Thanks Hobie & Katie for thinking of me!

So I decided rather last minute to attend
a lecture/seminar by a fella named
Bruce Hudson from C@L (that’s Seattle!).
It was entitled New Directions/Reality Check Tour.
Anyway, it was a packed room and much was covered.
From marketing, finding the right clients and
how to make certain that all the consumers with
the new technology don’t take anything away
from us. The new technology is great, don’t
get me wrong. But what you do with it sets
us apart. It’s about relationships and rapport.
It’s about composition and light. It’s about
understanding the needs of the client and
delivering.

So many new photographers offer CDs to their clients.
Bruce tells us that those are NOT our clients.
These are OUR images and we should protect them.

I tell people that this is my profession, not
my hobby. I want to provide quality, long lasting,
heirloom images that people are proud to display.

I resolve to welcome those looking for family
portraits every 5 years, I want to capture a
precious babies entire 1st year, I want to show
the world how important even Kindergarten
Graduation is and how beautiful our teens are
as they prepare to head off to college.
Weddings, oh my God, Weddings…I hate to even
get started with Wedding Photography.
I think I’ll post an entry another day about that.

These are all perfect times for us to be sure
that our clients recognize that these images
are priceless…even before someone dies.

Bottom line here, folks, is…Do I want people
to seek me out because I’m a good deal? No.
I pray that I can develop relationships with people.
I want to be the person that they think of first
when something special is about to happen.
I’ve been doing it for more that a quarter century
with hair, so I know a little bit about rapport.
(Thanks to all the generous people that have stuck
by me all these years!).

Wow! Sorry for the rambling soap box….that was
not my intension. But, now you know how I really feel!

Here’s Bruce (left) and his son, NOT drawing my name!

Dave Johnson of National Camera…Hi Dave!
Thanks for all the great deals!!

Here’s Chad, the bartender at the new Hilton
in Bloomington off France & 494.
Bruce came in the bar, I was there really early
(traffic did NOT suck for once) and he insisted
on picking up the tab for my Cabernet! Thanks Bruce,
GREAT show! A fabulous way to spend5 hours!!
And congrats on the new house, enjoy your week off!

Happy Valentine’s Day everyone!
Eat just a tiny bit of chocolate today.

Or go HERE for some fun!

My Stats:
Your Quit Date is: 5/5/2003 12:00:00 PM
Time Smoke-Free: 1705 days, 22 hours, 28 minutes and 39 seconds
Cigarettes NOT smoked: 34119
Lifetime Saved: 8 months, 20 days, 15 hours
Money Saved: $6,824.00

I quit smoking nearly 5 years ago!
Pretty amazing…Yay me!
On the anniversary day each month QuitNet
sends out a notice of accomplishment that
starts out…”Whose better than YOU today?!”
I like that….I like it ahlat (dumb & dumber)

Well, if you didn’t notice, I posted a blog
late last night so check the one that’s
just below when your done reading this one.

Today, I get to relax.
Gary and I have no plans. Feels so good.
Except that I almost feel like i must
be forgetting something….I MUST have to
be somewhere, right?
Nope, I triple checked. wheeeew!

I may dive into a new book that I got as
a gift from my friend Jacquie (notice that I
am beginning to capitalize for 2008!)
Anyway, it’s called Chazown (pronounced
khaw-ZONE), from the Hebrew, meaning a dream,
revelation or vision…I’m intrigued!

Heck, I may save it for the plane…

My amaryllis bulb that I received from
Gary’s mom on Thanksgiving had opened~
I think about a bloom a day this past week.
I missed the opening of each of them but
now it sure looks lovely… Thanks Bonnie!
I hate it when I’m too busy to even SEE
the flowers, let alone smell them!

Here’s some fun from New Year’s Eve at the
Airport Hilton in Bloomington, MN….

Check out the gorgeous ballroom at the Hilton!

Don Shelby was our Emcee for the night.

This is Kyle…he joined us this year.

Here’s Kyle a couple years back at one of
the MiracleKids Triathlon in Chanhassen.
He was going through treatment at the time
and was attending the event as a VIP!!
I’m so glad you were there on New Year’s Eve!

This is the gal that won the “birthday raffle” bike!

And the balloon drop at midnight!!

hi indiana, jose maria & talisman!!

today we will meet up with a bunch of friends
at axel’s in chanhassen. each Christmas eve day
they open the bar and take donations and donate
all tips to a local children’s charity.
axel’s has been purchased by another group and
will most likely not be able to do this in the
years to come…kind of a bummer! end of an era!

in any case, we love going there on Christmas eve
before heading off to all of our families homes.
it’s become a chanhassen tradition. this year
we will pick up my mom and bring her along.
anne & pete don’t live far from there so will
haul all the goodies with us in our sleigh and
have a Christmas “bump” on the way.

we got more snow yesterday and it blew around like
crazy and drifted quite a bit. definitely a
white Christmas this year!!!

here’s pete on his birthday playing guitar zero…
seriously…love you man!

thanks jacquie for braving the crowds and shopping
with me yesterday, that was fun!

if i don’t get the opportunity tomorrow…
MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL OF YOU!!

i started at my new workout facility
yesterday, it’s awesome! fitness 19.
LOVE it! 12 bucks a month…nice!
I could literally walk there or bike
it’s that close!

delivered the greeting cards to jane
@ house of fun & fur earlier today.
we are hooking up in january to do some
valentine shots for cards!
i just love going over there and visiting.
the animals are just so darling.
and jane is great too!

why is it that when we get snowy weather
or freezing temps all my friends in warm
places have to write and say “hey, cold
enough for ya?” (aGAIN with the weather!)

this will be a great week. for those of you
keeping track, I have my NACE Christmas function
on Thursday evening….then friday evening i
have the MEI Holidazzle parade party near the
Young Quinlin skyway with santa. i’ll be
photographing the party and the kids with santa.
then my sister and i will be getting together
here at my house for a few days to bake cookies!
a long time tradition that we just can’t give up.

this photo arrived yesterday.
i ordered a 20×30 on metalic paper and it
is really cool!

enjoy the snow, drive safe and for God sakes
turn your headlights on!!

i have to say that i catch myself often making
the correction to “happy holidays” and i have to
say that i hate that!

recently, with a friend i went on a little rant
about what’s going on with this country and so
i think i’ll share it.

first, i am a loving, giving, God fearing, tolerant
person…that said, i don’t let most things get to me.
however, i related this country to marriage recently
and it goes a little something like this…
when did things go south?
when did americans become the 2nd class citizens
in their own country?
when did persons get to request their nation’s
food items be added to an american thankgiving
meal at a homeless shelter?
i could go on…
well, what concerns me is that those that have
“dreamed” of coming to america to live the “dream”
are now creating a nightmare.
here’s what i see happening;
you want to come here because it beats the heck
out of what you had where you came from…that’s fine.
but now you want things to change to suit your needs.
(this is what i see as a conflict)
soon we will be the nation that no one wants due
to the fact that so many changes have been
implemented that we don’t even recognize ourselves
as the “free” nation that we once were!

like the marriage where the woman spends years
making all the needed changes to her husband only
to realize one day, that he is not the man she
married….hmmmm. are ya with me??
wheeeeew. see what i mean?

i’m sorry if i’ve offended anyone, it’s just that
i love my country. i loved it more the way it
was. if you celebrate Hanuka, i’ll wish you a
happy Hanuka…I have a calendar. if you celebrate
Kwanza (which by the way does not show up in spell
check), i’ll wish you a happy Kwanza.
But please let me have my Christmas back!

After all, it’s Jesus Christ’s birthday.

well, we started at gary’s mom’s in northfield.
yum! it was just the 5 of us as machie is still
in southern cal and headed to gary’s dad’s in
arizona to be with them on thanksgiving.
she hopped in a convertible and drove 7 hours
to do so….wow! that was awesome machie!
bonnie set a place at the table for her….

once thing wound down at bonnie’s we packed up
some containers of left overs (she always makes
enough for an army!) and made the trek back to
eden prairie where i proceeded to take and hour
long nap! ahhhh…needed that. then grabbed
more wine and drove to my sister’s in chan.
25 people including phil, who is a neighbor of
my brother’s and then my nieces had their boyfriends
come along too. it was a mad house! and i wouldn’t
change a thing! i love the chaos and the energy.

after dinner we recited the “pumpkin pie” poem
made famous by my brother scott….illustrated
by my aunt (mom’s sister cindy).

here’s ben with the assist….

i don’t remember when we started reciting this
poem, but it will long be remembered as a tradition
in this family as much as the pie itself.

gary and i are heading to maple grove to stay at the
hilton up there tonight. just for fun.
we won it last year at the minnesota miracle new years
eve event at the airport hilton and we are running out
of days to use it so…why not.
not sure what we will do up there but we always seem
to get the job done wherever we go.
i’ll report tomorrow.

enjoy your day off today!

missy, i LOVE my hair!!!! and it was
fantastic to see you and spend some one
on one time…

jacquie, i love YOUR hair and i had so
much fun last night tearing around the
mall, the grocery store (self check outs
are the BOMB!!) and snacks at the green mill.
wow! thanks.

Love to all, Happy Thanksgiving.
Give God the thanks and the glory.

Dean & Lois, enjoy your visit with Machie!
I think we will give a call a little later.