Starkey Gala 2008!

I forgot to fill you all in on my involvement with
the Starkey Hearing Foundation Gala for 2008.
I was involved last year as well but due to a
wedding that I was shooting in South Dakota, I had
to miss the actual Gala but was afforded some pretty
awesome assignments leading up to that so I was
grateful to be included nonetheless.

Well, the lovely Cheryl MacLennan came to town and
we got together to go over the assignments for the
photographers. In that I have covered the Bass
Challenge
for Brady Forseth (of Northwestern Health
Sciences University
) in the passed and know all
those folks, Cheryl plugged me in for this event.
Pray for awesome weather!

This is held on Lake Minnetonka and the Hearing
Foundation thought that this would be a wonderful
addition to the events of the week leading up to
the Gala.

Here’s Brady (r) with Mark Zeigler, President of
Northwestern Health Sciences University.

106 Starkey Gala 2008!

Then, the night of the Gala I will be positioned
on the RED CARPET!! With Bill & Tani Austin.
This is quite an honor for me and I am just so
excited to cover this event.

Originally I thought that Sir Elton John would
be the main performer but this year it is, in fact,
Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood! Tickets are
$1250 (keep in mind this is a fund raiser!)
There will be 1900 people in attendance and the
live auction will be amazingly incredible!
I think I had better pack some Red Bull!

Go HERE to get more information.

Now, I have to share with you some photos from
Boo’s visit to see Dr. Rodney Toogood.

Anticipation…

2798 Starkey Gala 2008!

How much do I weigh with just one leg?….

2800 Starkey Gala 2008!

Heart sounds good!

2827 Starkey Gala 2008!

Lungs sound good!

2825 Starkey Gala 2008!

Teeth are……SHARP!!!

2831 Starkey Gala 2008!

Clean bill of health for Boo!

Hilton later today for 1 family and then off
to Becky Chepokas’ birthday bash!

No movie for old girls…

I’m sorry, but I finally sat down and watched
“No Country For Old Men” last night.
WOW. HUGE waste of time. Such a guy movie.
I may just swear off movies all together.
I love Ethan & Joel Coen…but seriously.
I’m sick of the hype, I’m sick of trailers,
I’m sick of “Oh, wait ’til you see…”,
I’m sick of “And the Oscar for Best Picture
goes to…..” I may just start reading books.

My sister in law shared this with me today.
She only likes to forward either truly funny
things or truly gross things….enjoy THIS.
I’m just happy to see that she can take time
out from being a mom every once in a while and
giggle like a little school girl! tee hee!

I talked with Cheryl MacLennan yesterday for
quite awhile. Cheryl is the liaison for the
photographers for this year’s Starkey Gala
.
I’ll be working the red carpet at the Gala
among other events that week. It’s so fun!
This year the Gala will be on Saturday, June 14th.
I know for sure that there will be 2 parties
at Bill and Tani Austin’s home. One for VIPs
and one for the Celebs that come into town for
the big event. More details to come.

Wolves game tonight with Ron & Cindy, Scott &
Jacquie…dinner at the Palomino first. Yum.
Always a crazy time when we all get together.

Um, and again with the snow today…a few more
inches…it’s salt on last weekend’s margarita!
What the…..!!
Gonna be tough to find all those Easter eggs
tomorrow! icon smile No movie for old girls...

Back to organizing files….

I’m getting PUBLISHED!

I shot a wedding for Bella Pictures last August
and they submitted it for editorial consideration
to The Knot. Now the Knot wants to run it in the
Fall/Winter 2008 The Knot Weddings ~Minnesota
as a Real Wedding Story!

Yes, imagine my shock when I was out to lunch
with my friend talking about getting published
and I got this e-mail on my iPhone right then
& there! WOW! I’ll be posting more on that for
sure as the issue hits the stands!
Here’s a few shots from that day…

2210p Im getting PUBLISHED!

2169p Im getting PUBLISHED!

2499p Im getting PUBLISHED!

At that same lunch, my friend Jacquie informed
me that one of my images that I shot at an
Urban Ventures event (Colin Powell Center Grand
Opening) last summer will be published in their
annual report (Jacquie is a board member for them).
I’m getting a byline! Super cool!

6849p Im getting PUBLISHED!

I actually think it might even be this one…

6951p Im getting PUBLISHED!

Lastly, I got the call from Cheryl McClennan.
She was the coordinator for all the photographers
at last year’s Starkey Gala. This year I’ll be
available for the Gala itself and that’s gonna
be VERY cool! Sir Elton John will be performing!
If any of my photographer friends are interested
please send me an e-mail as you never know how
many they are looking for. They have so many
events leading up to the Gala. This year it’s the
week of June 9th with the Gala on Saturday the 14th.

2755 Im getting PUBLISHED!

6023 Im getting PUBLISHED!

6393 Im getting PUBLISHED!

6530 Im getting PUBLISHED!

I forgot to post this image from the other night.

7807 Im getting PUBLISHED!

Enjoy your Sunday!

got power?

56,000 homes in the west metro are out
of power from last nights storm.
much needed rain came by way of high
winds, hail,lightening and crashing thunder.
unfortunately, all at about 3:30am.

i can’t sleep when storms come in the
middle of the night. once it wakes me,
i turn on the television and then i pace.
we had up to 70 mile an hour winds here in
eden prairie and i was worried about trees,
windows…i’m a woman and gary was up north
so when you pile on the fact that i was
alone…well, you get the picture.

we have skylights in both bathrooms
upstairs and i had to “go” but all i
could think of was “what if i get struck
by lightening while i’m on the toilet~
i have a big wedding today!”
well, the good Lord spared me once again!
i survived the night..or should i say
the “wee” hours! (i know, that was bad!)

so, today is my big Bella Pictures debut.
i’m very excited! it’s been a long time
since i have been a 2nd shooter and i plan
to have a really terrific time with that!
(i hope the bride was able to sleep last night
the storm was even worse heading towards
ramsey county! i pray that everything is
alright and that she is not in a panic.)

hey, huge news…
i received an e-mail yesterday from areina seay
with the starkey foundation. she sent me a
list of about 9 weeks of missions trips through
the end of this year that they have planned
and she is looking for my availability.
i, of course, wrote back immediately with
nearly all of them checked with my approval.
i know that i will need to do some juggling to
make some of them happen but i am thrilled
to be apart of the team and pray that this is
what i am supposed to be doing and God wants
me there to tell the story of folks getting
the gift of hearing.

still waiting for my sister to call about “spice”.
she’s due to have kittens any day now and
in preparation, i went toyou tube and
searched for “kitten births” and found myself
watching for about 20 minutes!!! crazy!

make the most of your saturday!

more bridge collapse images…

and no, i did not shoot these but
they are amazing images and worth sharing.

to date i do not know of anyone,
personally, that was involved in
the bridge collapse…and for that
i thank God!

well, on to the starkey event…
i picked up where raphael left off
(after the lunch break) and photographed
the first hour of dr. charles berlin’s
lecture on diagnosing the need for
cochlear implants…(umm, yea…WAY over
my head! pretty interesting tho’, i found
myself listening and trying to make sense
of some of the information!)

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the student then broke off into other class
rooms and got into specific areas of interest.

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then they all resumed in the large
auditorium for the closing and scholarship
awards. mr. bill austin arrive to hand those
awards out to some very deserving students!

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everyone then had the opportunity to
change into jeans and head over to the
bowling alley for food, cocktails and
of course…bowling!!

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this was a VERY energetic group!
i had a blast and so did they.
rapheal called and said they were running
the bowling photos during the breaks
today and that they were a big hit!

thanks raphael for calling on me to
help you out yesterday!