J’s new do.

J came by yesterday.
She’s been growing her hair out so as to
so something a little different. We went
darker and shorter…all with the razor.
So lots of texture and irregular lengths.
And yes, she now has a pierced nose. UGH!
We are all trying to talk her out of piercing
her eyebrow…again….UGH!!!!

She is darling tho’, I must say and she loves
to have her photos taken!

Jacquie, I got Nancy’s packet in the mail today.

Make the most of your weekend.
Select your “rainy day” project for tomorrow!

G’s new do.

Here she is…I have to keep reminding her
that you can’t just keep going from blonde
to brunette and back again~over and over.
I think she get’s it now.
This was her Christmas present (color & cut)
that she finally redeemed!
She’s been dark for quite awhile. I think
we will all agree that we like her a little
bit lighter!

Here’s more kitten shots from Easter @ Baker’s.

Shhhhh…Gary agreed to let me take one and I
don’t want him to change his mind! It’s
better if he just doesn’t remember!
They are so darn cute.

Jacquie, don’t let Scott forget that I offered
to let Jet out. He can e-mail me or call.

Christmas Past…

Sorry, you MUST go to this blog!
TACKY CHRISTMAS YARDS!

Sometimes I can’t help but look up some of
the blogs on Blogger’s “blogs of note” list.
This one’s pretty funny!

If you’ve ever wondered why people lay a
string of lights on a hedge or put so much
stuff out you can’t even see the house,
or if you just like to chastise folks for bad
holiday displays…this site is for you!
They give citations for labeled offenses!
Some suffer (incur) many offenses.
Be sure to check it regularly next holiday season!
Heck, I may even place it on my “check these out”
list off to the right of my entries…..

Now onto the event of yesterday, Amanda’s new
do! With Mark’s assistance, together, we
transformed her! Check out the slide show!

Here they are together outside my home.
Off they go on their new life together.
Have a safe trip to Viet Nam & back!
I’ll have some proofs by the.

meet anna…

this is anna. she turns 4 on saturday!
her mom, keri, brought her over yesterday
to cut nearly 4 years of hair and donate
it all to locks of love.
we first separated anna’s hair into
3 ponytails, then we braided each section
and then the cutting began. anna was
pretty excited about the new look.
i hope that her dad, jason, doesn’t hate me!

so adorable.

this morning i’m popping over to finally
see gavin. he’s about 3 weeks old now.
i can’t wait to see him. christine is
going to head back to colorado on saturday
and i did NOT want to miss this opportunity.
ya see most of the babies that i have
photographed over the past few months have
all been for nilmdts (they are working on
launching a new web site soon…did i already
mention that the other day?), and i really
need to photograph a cheery baby…i think
it will do wonders for my soul.
(don’t you agree jacquie!)

couple more hot, humid days then it’s
back to the 70′s! yay! just in time for
a wedding on saturday!!!

comcast down again…

technology is both a blessing and a
curse. we hear that all the time, right?
well, yesterday i actually got to church
a half hour early due to the fact that my
internet was down. got to visit a lot.
the conrads were there so i got to see
christy and find out how her birthday
party went and how she’s doing with her
new do. here’s some shots from friday…

christy’s gone hollywood!!

saturday, at the miraclekids triathlon, things
got pretty wet…well, soaked really…

the day did not start rainy but by the time
the athletes were lined up it began to sprinkle
and it never really stopped.

these kids, ages 7 to 17, managed to
become energized by the rain and push
through to the finish line…all but 2.
not bad considering there were about 800
entrants!

my niece emily was there and finished!
yay emily, i’m so proud of you!!!

this was the 4th annual and i am
beginning to recognize faces of the
kids racing (for kids who can’t).

everyone got a medal…

and i’m certain that there is something
special in the works for jordan dahlke…
he raised over $21,000 for the event!!
nice job jordan!

here’s jordan with lexi (l) and karen (r)

oh and thanks to the sumner family for
hosting the post party at their home.

alright, i’m off to the gym now…
there are 52 monday’s in a year and
i’m going to use this one to get in gear!!

35w bridge collapses over mississippi…

incredible video account of bridge
collapsing..click here

gary called me right after it happened.
i was attending the NACE outing on lake
minnetonka…we were just getting ready
to board the boat for a buz around the
lake when he called.

i grabbed the mic and made an announcement.
it was quite surreal. “what?”, everyone
said…and i repeated the information that
i was given…not many televisions around
so we couldn’t get a glimpse of any of it.
we all decided that we would continue on
with the event.

the good news is that i won all the big
raffle items while out on the boat.
2 separated overnight stays, one at the
bloomington sheraton and the other at
the airport hilton in bloomington.
oh, and a yummy starbuck’s gift card!’
thanks NACE! i guess i’ll see you next month!
here’s some shots from last night…

our lovely entertainment by joy divine

chrissy peterson whipped up some
gorgeous arrangements for the event at bayview

joy with jennifer christenson, catering
sales manager at mystic lake casino.
jennifer is whom i have been in contact
with over joining NACE.

this is the group of folks from
the depot in minneapolis.

some ladies from midway party rental

left is janice from the embassy suites
airport hotel and right is barbara from
the st. paul hotel

and let’s not forget about the food!

thanks to everyone at NACE for
welcoming me into the group. i had
a great time and i will be sure to make
good use of all of my winnings!

see you all very soon.

off to Starkey Labs today.

oh, here’s a shot of “j” and her new do…

(just got an e-mail from all the folks
down in playa del carmen praying that
we are all okay!
thanks brenda and the gang at ajua!)

up and running…

my internet and e-mail have been out for
about 2 days. the 2 power outages didn’t
help either, i imagine.
we have had a couple of “brown outs”
that have occurred at the same time on both
thursday and friday evenings (6:30 pm).
thursday’s lasted a couple of hours and
last night about 20 minutes.

we just decided to go out to dinner on
thursday and last night we grilled
and ate in the silence…it was nice
to not have a television blaring.
things are back to normal now…i hope!

i was out at the arboretum yesterday
shooting a luncheon for “prayer ventures”.
it was a lovely day and i always love to
shoot out there. the ladies were spread
out on both verandas so i wandered around
and captured clusters of women enjoying
their lunches and interacting.

“p.k.” (paulette ketzler) from ktis
was there speaking to the group as well.
it was fun to meet her and put a face
with the voice.

afterwards i stopped at anne’s to cut
emily’s hair. SHORT!! pete came home later
on and said “alright….where is she?!”
I think he wants to kill me. this was
the girls idea and for crying out loud,
hair grows! right?

emily before….

amanda was so jealous…

and after…

she heads to camp next week and it’s going to
be perfect for her. we got rid of a lot of
green hair too from all the chlorine!

well, amanda couldn’t take it anymore and
decided that she should have the same
exact haircut as her big sister!
so here’s amanda before….

and after….

both bobs are right to the hairline
and beveled in to the neck. very sweet!

today the weather was not optimum for me
to head over to the como zoo (rain) so
heather and i rescheduled….i hate doing that!
but it’s tough when everything is all wet.

today is anne’s 3 month anniversary of
not smoking! soooooo proud of her!
congratulations anne!!

gary is golfing in a 2-day tournament
at the northfield country club so i’m on
my own this weekend….golf widow!

i have hobie and katie scheduled for
haircuts next friday at a place in
st. louis park called “clean as a whisker”
they are an organic group and each animal
is assigned a groomer and a coddler!
so cute, someone to talk sweet to them
while they are having their hair cut!
i’ll be bringing along the camera for sure!
jennifer (the groomer) was recommended by
my vet..very anxious to have them looking
all sporty for summer!!

that’s it for now..
make the most of today.
pray for my friend jacquie as she is going
to undergo an emergency root canal today! ugh!!!

OH! and her son, will…it THREE today!
Happy Birthday Willy!!!!

locks of love…

picture this…
here’s diane. i’ve known her for years!
i’m shooting her wedding celebration this
june in parker, south dakota.
we spent years growing her hair out from a
short, short, easy, carefree shape to
all one length and suddenly i didn’t see
her as often. hmmmmmm.
well, she just gave me the honors of cutting
it all off so that she could donate it to
locks of love.
it was so good to see her and catch up!
she and jim were actually married in january
but it’s diane’s wish to have everyone out
to their new property in south dakota for
a big celebration! great idea, i’m really looking
forward to it.

here’s diane before, moments after she arrived
at my home…

then i split her hair into 4 ponytails…

(see the “pureology” in the background? LOVE it!!!
it’s the best shampoo and conditioner on the planet!)

here’s the new diane…i told her that
she looked 20 years younger!!!!!

hey, wanted to share a few things today.
i mentioned last week that i am working with
nash frame and i thought i’d
show you two pieces…

and one last item…i’m clearly STILL not over this
yet but i just wanted to show you the finished product
once it was glazed. (on a recent trip to mexico, i painted
a cute little 2-piece jar thing and the man running the
boutique added HAIR to my sun and i was dumbfounded!)

okay, this it really the last thing…
i heard from brady yesterday. i met brady through steve
chepokas and his son’s foundation. brady is connetected
with the starkey hearing foundation as well
and was looking to see if i would be available for the gala.
i told him that i already had an out of town wedding the
same day as the gala (diane’s above) but i would be willing
to do other things for the foundation in the future!
so, he said that bill austin is having the celebrity party at his
home on the eve of the gala and would i be available for that….
are you KIDDING ME!!????
I answered calmly, “i would love to make myself
available to the foundation for the evening!”
i’m just waiting to talk to patricia and seal the deal!
more on that as it developes!

(dean, thanks for making the effort to come to california!)

jacquie, where are you?????? i have your “rangefinder” mag.

the long and short of it…

picture this…
here’s j before…

and here she is after…

oh, she was sooo ready to cut it off
and get a fun, new change.
i think that she has already become a
new person!!

first we washed it and dried it as per
the requirements for “locks of love”.
then we divided it in 1/2, made 2 pony tails
and proceeded to cut if off one side at a time!

and now her locks are in zip lock (huh, punny!)
bags ready to be sewn into a wig for some young
gal that’s lost her hair to chemotherapy.
pretty cool. nice goin’ j!
oh, the grand total of hair cut off???
FIFTEEN INCHES!!!!!!
(they require that you measure and write
it on the outside of each bag.)

i drove j home and i stopped in for a bit
to see my brother, scott. poor baby…

he’s laying low for awhile (clearly).
and his wife is counting the vicodin !
rest up scotty! we love you! call if you
need anymore movies….or gauze…or concealer!

spring begins in 2 days!~