So Long, Wonder Women

We had quite an interesting mix of costumes at our house this year for Halloween. Holland chose Wonder Woman a few weeks ago, and was incredibly excited about it. When she first got the costume, she didn't want to take it off. She played in it for hours and hours. Every time someone came to our house, she would race into her bedroom to put it on and show it off.

Meanwhile, as her love for Wonder Woman was growing strong so was her love for Star Wars. (We have slowly been making our way through the series). She informed me that next year for Halloween she wanted to be r2 d2 , the year after that she wanted to be Yoda, and the year after that she wanted to be Darth Vader (even though the boys at school told her could ONLY be Princess Leah).

I was out shopping yesterday and I ran across the Padme' Amidala costume (that is the queen - princess leah's mom, for those of you who are not familiar with star wars) for 50% off so I decided to buy it for her so she could have it to play in. There is new neighbor boy named Aiden, who loves star wars,that she would love to impress! I had barely gotten it out of the bag yesterday when she snatched it out of my hands, tore the tags off of it, and begged and pleaded to wear it instead of Wonder Woman. Needless, to say we had a last minute switcharoo.

So long, Wonder Woman, you're lasso has been replaced with a lightsaber. And just like that - Wonder Woman was no more..

As far as other costumes are concerned, there was Jonathan who always pulls out his scary ape mask every year. It makes most kids cry! It is just so ugly, and it kinda freaks me out. I think it is his facial hair that makes it look so freaky, but then again there is also the jumping around ape dance that he does! I'm not sure which one is freakier.

Lastly, there was a cute, little sock monkey who refused to keep her hat on - which was basically the whole costume! I couldn't resist this costume though because it was just so different than anything I had seen before. Dylan made a very cute sock monkey and here is the proof:

Highlight of the Day

Dylan swallowed a penny.

Ten.

1. Italians sure know how to live. They drink lots of wine, walk lots of places, and take lots of siestas. Oh! How we should follow their lead, don't-ya-think?
2. We stayed here one night. Central Tuscany. Amazing.
3. We went to a traditional Catholic Italian wedding and celebration. It was fabulous. After the ceremony, there was a huge celebration (just like our wedding receptions, only bigger and better!) There was a long table with mounds and mounds of meats, cheeses, crackers, breads, and various forms of Italian antipasti. We were totally full before we were forced to partake in a traditional 7 course sit down Italian wedding dinner! That was followed by an evening of lots and lots of dancing and lots and lots of grappa.
4. We learned about an Italian tradition of the friends and family members making "rhymes" for the bride and groom. This was in place of our traditional toasts. Very fun.
5. The music played by the DJ was almost ALL american classics! We heard: "I Will Survive", "Space Cowboy", "Dancing Queen", "Summer Loving" (from Grease), "Surfin' USA", etc. It was a kick, and so many of the Italians who didn't even speak English could sing a long every stinkin' word!
6. One of my favorite part of the trips is that we re-met someone that provided us with a special memory on our wedding day, 10 years ago. I have told the story a million times about a woman who was at our ceremony who had brought a little baggie of rice and threw it at us as we were walking out of the church. This was so refreshing to us because it is such an American tradition, and there we were thousands of miles away without any family, much less American traditions to speak of. Anyway, we were in the middle of telling this story when Jonathan looked at the woman across from us and said, "wait a minute, were you at our wedding?". And sure enough - it was her. Wow! I had always longed to meet her again and tell her just how special her small gesture had meant to us. Needless to say, after all the wine and grappa consumption, I think I probably told her time and time again over the course of the evening!
7. We went to this wonderful, amazing, incredible medieval Italian village nestled deep in the rolling hills of Tuscany. What a treasure it was.
8. We met this photographer in a little shop and bought a couple of photographs. (I didn't have any luck getting into his actual website, I'm not sure what's up with that).
9. We also bought a piece of art from this artist. The piece we bought isn't on this site, but it is a long vertical painting of a Tuscan hillside with a winding path and villa. It is sooooo cool.
10. Lastly, for those of you who know about the Dylan saga - I just want to report that she is all better now. Feisty as ever. She had a rough time while we were away with a terrible stomach virus and a double ear infection. She was inconsolable for hours and hours at a time and would not eat or sleep. I ended up trying to come home a day early, but it took me 40 long, long hours to get home. Quite a journey, I should say. When I got home, I got the cold shoulder for at least an hour! She would not look at me and would avert her gaze and bury her head away from me every time I tried to talk to her. It took me hours and hours to get any sort of smile or giggle. She's a feisty one, that girl! All is well now, though (except that Holland now has the terrible stomach virus).

Arrivederci!

Our Own Private Italy

Jonathan and I had quite an experience with our photographer and our private photo shoot. We had decided to go to the Superga which is where we took all of our wedding photographs without film in the camera, but then we changed our minds and just had some shots taken in a couple of nearby Italian villages. The challenge was that our photographers (a husband/wife team) didn't speak one word of English, and of course, Jonathan and I didn't speak one word of Italian. I threw out a few Spanglish/Italiano phrases and hoped they could decipher the message, but we pretty much were resigned ourselves to using gestures, hand signals, and illustrations! Nonetheless, we had a fun afternoon being in front of the camera which never happens, and we ended up with a few shots that we will always treasure!

At one point during the photo shoot, we were able to decipher that our photographer wanted to take us to one more place. He said some Italian jibberish that ended with emphasis on "castelo". "CASTELO".

OH!, I thought. He wants to take us to one more town. One more village. One more castelo - that must be the name for these little provinces. Castelo, of course!

And then we drove up this long dirt drive way lined in tall cypress trees, an olive orchard, and a private vineyard. And there in the distance was a "CASTLE".

DUH.

Something happens to your brain when your thrown into a situation like this one - you just loose all intelligence and common sense. How could I not have derived the word "castle" from "castelo" ??

Too much wine in the afternoon, perhaps.

La Dolce Vita

Here is the first round of Italy pictures. We had a wonderful trip, and are already looking forward to our return, although it may be a while. I don't have the energy to write in detail about the trip, so for now here are some pictures for your enjoyment!

Ciao!

I am off very soon to catch a flight to meet my husband in Italy for a little week long get away!

Don't expect a post while I'm there......

xoxoxo

Ciao!

Notes for Grandma and Grandpa (i.e: Distractions for Dylan)

As our trip to Italy is fast approaching (in exactly 56 hours from now), I am starting to get more and more worried about being away from the girls for so long. Jonathan and I have only spent two nights together away from Holland (and she's about to turn 5). The two nights away from her was this summer when she went to Fishtrap Lake with Grandma and Grandpa - a whoppin' 25 minutes away! I have spent 4 nights away from her when I have been away at a conference, and I think Jonathan has spent about the same amount away, too, but never both of us away at the same time. I have only spent one night away from Dylan.

So, as you can imagine I am starting to worry. I know everything will be fine, but I want to make sure Grandma and Grandpa are well prepared. Dylan is mainly who I am concerned about. Holland can go into movie marathon mode with some microwave popcorn or papa john breadstix and be just fine. Dylan, on the other hand, may need a few tricks, you know, some song and dance. Some hype. Some hoopla.

So I made a list of sure fire distractions for Dylan in case she is totally upset and inconsolable. These are things that we have discovered will redirect her. They will distract her. Console her. Comfort her. Possibly even trick her into believing she's having a fun time and isn't actually missing her mommy and daddy.

Here goes.....

1. Running water - turn it on and let her splash and splash and splash!
2. Anything with a lid - she will repeatedly take it off and put back on again, and she is so proud of herself for this one.
3. Bodie.
4. Microwave popcorn.
5. Holland's jewelry box.
6. Pushing buttons on the dashboard in the front seat of the car.
7. Basket of diapers - she will take them out and chuck them one by one across the room.
8. Baby Annabelle.
9. Sing Old MacDonald.
10. Let her open up the drawer of bath tub toys.
11. A "Dream ride" in the car.
12. Holland's burps.
13. Read her a book or two. Or three.
14. Kitchen drawers.
15. Grandpa's wallet.
16. Cell phones.
17. Go for a walk outside.
18. Purple puppy.
19. Playing piano.
20. Coins and Holland's bank.

These things pretty much should do the trick. Either by themselves or in conjunction with others. If those things don't work then you may just be in trouble. You may need to call her mommy and daddy in Italy and have them board the next plane! Hopefully, it won't come to that!

Good Luck, you guys. (I really do think she's gonna be fine!)

Dieci. (Ten.)

1. I am leaving for Italy on a long flight all by myself in less than 10 days. and I am in shock! Jonathan and I are traveling separate because he was giving frequent flyer miles to use, and he also needs to be there for "best man duties". We also thought it would be best for me to be gone a few days less because of the girls-left-at-home factor, and lastly, it's really not a bad idea for parents to fly separately when going away without kids. That's not something I really like to think about, but God forbid if something were to happen - I would hate for my girls to be without both of us. Not a happy thought, I know, but it is something I have occasionally (and quickly) pondered.

2. Still on the Italy subject - I have tons of stuff to do before the trip. I need to load up my video Ipod with some tv shows and movies, buy a charger that will work on the airplane, buy some jewelry for my "little black dress" for the wedding, buy a wedding present, wash and pack my cutest, hippest clothes, make notes for grandma and grandpa, edit some photo shoots, shoot a couple more photo shoots, go to costco for some groceries, thoroughly clean our house, write a couple of reports for work, and that's just my list for today!

3. Since Italy is fresh on my mind, I might make this a whole post about Italy. We'll see how far I get!

4. I can't remember if I mentioned in an earlier post or not that Jonathan and I have lined up a photo shoot for ourselves in Italy! How wonderfully cool and amazing is that? When we were married there ten years ago, we were in Italy without a photographer and without family members. His friend, Ron, who arranged our wedding and who is now getting married himself, took us up to this gorgeous, old stone basilica and took some b&w (film) photos of us in our wedding attire on our wedding day. Jonathan was swirling and twirling me around, picking me up, and whispering sweet nothings into my ear all while being captured on what I thought was film in our camera. Yep, that's right - what I thought was film! Two days later, I discovered the camera was empty. No film. No negatives. No images. Nada. Needless to say, I was LIVID. And, I haven't ever gotten over it. So I have insisted on 10th anniversary pictures in the same old, stone basilica sans wedding attire, but hopefully the same swirling and twirling! A few sweet nothings wouldn't be too bad either!

5. The first few days of our trip will be in northern Italy, near Taurino or Turin. This is close to where we were married. Then the rest of our trip will be in Florence and Tuscany. We absolutely adored Florence when we were there before so we decided to go back. We are renting a car this time so we can go rolling through the hills of Tuscany. Windows down. Hair blowing. Breathing in the fresh air. Taking in all the sights and sounds.

6. Since Jonathan's parents are staying at our house for a week, it has pushed us to do some long, long overdue projects. Our bedroom has been in terrible need of de-cluttering and re-organizing so we have been chipping away at that. We have also needed a new toilet in our upstairs bathroom which is in our bedroom, and Jonathan replaced it this last weekend. The pantry has been reorganized and the refrigerator cleaned out. We have even been working in the basement to get our play area back together as well as getting the rest of the basement in order. We had some seepage problems earlier this year and we haven't ever fully recovered from that chaos. And before that there was already chaos and before that chaos there was even more chaos, so you can imagine the state of our basement! Anyway, the point of all that is I think we should have his parents stay here more often!

7. We got out our Italian language book "Italian in 10 minutes a day" and have been thumbing through it. I think all I really need to know is: vino rossa, proscuitto i melone, grazie, and ciao!

8. When we were there on our honeymoon, we averaged two bottles of wine a day! Every time we had lunch, we had a bottle or a carafe of white wine and then when we had dinner we had a bottle or carafe of red wine. This is what all the locals were doing. When in Rome....... right?

9. I hope we don't spend as much money on our phone calls home as we would have spent on airline tickets for the girls!!

10. *sigh* La Dolce Vita

Ciao!

A Birthday Message from Holland

Holland and I went to one of her girlfriend's birthday parties today. As we were wrapping her present and signing her card, I asked Holland what she wanted her message to say.

She responded with this:

Dear Sophie,

Have a polka-dotted birthday, and slide down a twisty slide if you ever feel unhappy.

I *heart* you,

Holland

Wow! What a fun message! I want a polka-dotted birthday when my birthday rolls around, and I seriously hope to remember to slide down a twisty slide the next time I am feeling unhappy! I have no idea where she came up with this, but I'm so glad she did!

Evolution of a Photo Shoot

Here, Mommy! Take a picture of me backwards!



Okay, I'll turn around, but I'm NOT going to look at you! Hmmpff!



Oh! Alright! How about some silly faces!



Here's a quick, 1/2 of a smile - you better hurry!




Wow! This *is* fun, mommy!

Guess Who's Trying on Princess Shoes.....

Urban Family

So I drug my family downtown to a fun, urban, future photo shoot spot yesterday to see how pictures would turn out. We were only there for about 20 minutes, but it was fun to play around. I am very excited about doing some client photo shoots in this area. I only used two spots and there are about 7-8 spots at this same area that would be GREAT for photos. So what do you think? Do we pass the urban family test?

Boden - 4 Months

37 pounds, and all caught up on his shots
he goes NUTS with plastic water bottles or two liter bottles
loves to steal something to chew on, and then run from us
sleeps inside every night
is outgrowing his night time crate
adores holland and dylan; he loves to chase and lick them
has learned to "sit" and "shake" on command
buried his new kong and we still haven't found it
he cleans the kitchen floor from all of dylan's drips and drops
takes daily walks with jonathan
has started to eat kleenex

(thanks to dylan feeding him one through the crate)

goes nuts when we drive up in the driveway

has broken our lock on the fence from jumping so hard into it

loves to dig and dig and dig

chases squirrels

loves to have his tummy rubbed/scratched

likes to ride in the car

loves to play tug of war

likes to fetch (but only a couple of fetches)

He's a pretty good dog, that Boden!

Super Soccer Kicker

I don't know who has been more excited about Holland playing soccer. Her? or Me? I played soccer in high school, college, and I've also played on a couple of adult leagues. I seriously wish that I had started at a younger age because I really love playing. It's such a great game. We have both been counting down the days and today was the first game day! Holland came walking up the stairs this morning at 6:45 with her soccer ball in her hands. "I'm ready to play soccer now", she exclaimed!

Okay - she wins. She may have been a tad bit more excited because I just wanted a couple more hours of sleep at 6:45! Soccer game or not.

She told me yesterday, "I am excited about a million, Mommy".

Yeah, that's probably more excited than I am!

Anyway, we were having a discussion at breakfast this morning and I was attempting to teach her about sportsmanship. You know - telling her the whole spiel about it's not about winning or losing, it's just about having fun. (as you can imagine, I was fumbling to get those words out because most of you know - I personally believe in my heart that it is ALL about winning!). She ever so nonchalantly said, "I know Mommy. I want the other team to win anyway."

"You do??" I said (trying not to sound accusingly)

"Yeah".

"Why do you want the other team to win?" ("I gotta hear this", I thought!)

"Well, I want them to have fun."

"Oh! that's so nice of you, Holland", I said (however, not really believing what I was hearing!) I actually turned to Jonathan and said, "Is she my daughter?!"

A few seconds passed and then she came up with this....

"But, Mommy, I have the super soccer kick so I'm probably gonna win anyway!"

Whew! That's more like it!

And so she did - or so their whole team did, I should say. They won: double digits to zero! And one of those double digits was scored by Miss super soccer kicker, herself! Go Holland, Go!

"Mommy, I Made You a Love Letter"

translation: dear mommy, i love you in my heart. holland

September 16, 1998

10 years ago today, Jonathan asked me to marry him.

And, what I am about to share with you is shocking!

Mr. Romantic, Mr. Writer/Poet/Painter, Mr. Renaissance man proposed to me in a very unique way!

No, it was not with a sky writer while strolling on the beach hand in hand at sunset.

Nope, not over the scoreboard at a Mariners baseball game.

Not a hot air balloon while sipping wine and savoring the view of the gorgeous country side.

No. No. No. He didn't write me a lovely poem or paint me a gorgeous piece of art.

On top of the Eiffel tower? Not even close. The Space Needle? Not there either.

It was pretty plain and simple.

No fire. No wine. No candles. No cuddles.

No profession of his endearing love for me.

It was .......... over the phone.

Yep. that's what I said - the phone.

And, furthermore, he first proposed "hypothetically".

Can you believe it?

Shocking, I know.

Absolutely, incredibly SHOCKING.

And you know what the best part of it was? I didn't think a thing about all of those crazy fairytale ideas that I had fantasized about for so long.

All I could think about was Yes! Yes! Yes! Absolutely without a doubt, Yes!

Happy Proposal Day, Babe! Thanks for asking!

I love you!

Check it out, y'all! (click)

Another Car Conversation

Yesterday, Holland and I were driving down the road, headed to one of her classmate's birthday parties, and out of the blue, she asked,

"Mommy, where did Daddy find you before he married you?"

So we carried on a lengthy conversation about mine and Jonathan's dating days. She kept suspensefully asking, "And what happened next, Mommy?" "What happened next???"

And so the story was told......

A Surprise Email

I just received a super surprise email from Tracey Clark, who is the founder of Shutter Sisters. I have been visiting Shutter Sisters blog off and on for about 6 months now, and I absolutely LOVE it. It is a group of women photographers/writers who rotate days of the week to post inspiring photographs, and written related pieces.

A few months ago, there was an announcement that they were going to put together a photography book entitled, "Daily Click" to showcase a variety of their blog reader's daily clicks. They have a flickr group that you can upload your shots to, and they will periodically post pictures from this photo stream on their blog. Anyway, I knew they were putting together a book, but I forgot all about it until I stumbled upon a blog post that was making a last call for votes on pictures to be published in this book. As I scrolled through the pictures that were selected for possible publication, I found one of my very own pictures that someone had nominated. WOW! I was incredibly surprised and honored to be among such other amazing photographic works.

I quickly pressed the back button numerous times to get back to the post about the contest and it's details. Shucks! I had missed the deadline for voting. BUMMER! I would have had all my family and friends vote for my picture! I then proceeded back to all of the entries and started looking at each picture and how many votes they had. Mine was ranking right up there with those with the most votes! Unbelievable!

That was months ago.

So today, I checked my email and there sat an invitation for me to submit my picture for publication. It had been chosen! How cool is that? It 's super cool because it was all done without me trying to manipulate my vote count with the votes of family and friends! Other photographers and a whole host of "wannabes" chose it. Very, very cool!

I will keep everyone posted as to when the book is available for purchase. If you are interested in photography at all, I think it will be quite a selection of inspirational shots!

You may recognize the shot as I have posted it here before, but here it is again:

Ten - A Day Late

1. Oops! Yesterday got away from me and I forgot to post. Actually, it looks like all of last week got away from me, and I forgot to post. Sorry about that. I have some good excuses, I think!

2. One of my good excuses is that I went to Seattle for a "girlfriend getaway" with my friend, Mary. I must say, there is nothing quite as refreshing as a quick, little kid less trip with a girlfriend! We had a wonderful time. We shopped, and shopped, and shopped. We even managed to shop for ourselves (which both of us have a hard time doing). We stopped midway through the day for an afternoon Asian pear mojito to rejuvenate ourselves, and then continued on our shopping way. We had dinner at a wonderful, Spanish tapas restaurant in the university district, stayed up late talking and looking at photography stuff, and finished the getaway with a quick irongirl 5k/10k run around greenlake. We have committed to having these getaways at least quarterly! We may have to decrease (or even eliminate) the shopping part of it if we want to convince our husbands to let us do it again though!

3. I have a ticket to Italy, and the trip is just about 5 weeks away. I am so excited! I am a little nervous about the girls being away from us for that long, but I am seriously hoping they will rise to the occasion. I mean, who wouldn't want to spend a week with Grandma and Grandpa?! I figure Holland will totally be fine, and if Dylan has a traumatic experience, she's too young to remember it. Right?!

4. I have finally picked my photography logo, and now all I need to do is have some marketing materials printed up! I am super excited and very nervous! I have two clients scheduled, and at least 7-8 more that need to be scheduled. That's not too bad of a start!

5. So I have jumped on the facebook bandwagon, and it is pretty addicting (as is everything else online). I seriously didn't need another computer time waister. It is such a fun way to re-connect though. I have reconnected with long, long ago friends, ex-boyfriends, co-workers, friends of friends, etc. The only weird thing is that I have been having facebook dreams! I am dreaming about different circles of people from many, many phases of my life ago, and it's kinda weirding me out.

6. Dylan has adjusted quite well to being in the toddler room at Holland's school. She was so cute on Monday when I dropped her off. She climbed up the stairs, sat next to a cute, little guy named Jeremiah, and leaned into his cheek for him to give her a kiss. She did this over and over again! I haven't ever seen her initiate too many kisses, especially to non family members so I wonder just what is going through her sweet, little instigator mind!

7. Holland is starting soccer in a week 1/2, and I can't even wait. I brought home her socks, shin guards, cleats, and a new ball the other day, and she just went nuts! She was running and sprinting and dashing around showing off all of her "super soccer kicks" which actually look more like cheerleading herkie kicks! (click here if you don't know what a herkie kick is!). I had no idea she would be so excited about playing, but she has asked my just about every day how many days are left until she gets to play "for real". I think it might just be time to dust off the 'ole video camera OR upgrade to a new one! (just kidding, babe!)

8. Boden is getting so, so big. He has been coming into our house at various parts of the day for short periods of time. We are trying to get him use to being in the house since winter is just around the corner. I think it is going to be a harder transition for me to get use to him being there than anyone else. Any suggestions as to how I will cope?!

9. We are having a really great week as far as weather is concerned. I hope, I hope, I hope it sticks around for a few more weeks. I absolutely adore fall, but I'm just not even close to being ready for what comes after fall. I don't even want to say the word! I actually cringed when I wrote it a minute ago in the blurb about Boden!

10. I just tried to go back and post the herkie video, but I was having trouble. So, who did I call? My very own-personal-tech junkie-resource librarian-hubby. He certainly comes in handy! Thanks, babe!

Happy Wednesday, everyone!

Speaking of Ten.

1. It seems like it has been a few weeks since I have posted a "ten" post. Actually, I am surprised that I have even posted anything at all in the last few weeks. We have been crazy busy with the end of the summer wind down. Now today, as Jonathan went back to work, I am suddenly feeling depressed that our summer is officially over. We had such a long, long winter that in my own, little, fairytale world I totally expected a super long summer to compensate for the dreary, drawn out winter we had to endure. Fall is definitely in the air - maybe, just maybe it will linger on.

2. Speaking of lingering on, my heel pain is not going anywhere. I went to a doctor and also a Physical Therapist, and I got an official diagnosis of plantar fascitis. This is when the fascia in your heal becomes very tender and you actually have little tears in the tissue. It is very sore to touch, and it is hard to bear weight on it. I have been resting it for two weeks, but I attempted to go to running practice last night. I can hardly walk this morning. Not good. I talked with my coach and she said it can be 6-8 weeks (at least) for soft tissue injuries to heal. She suggested to just take a break, and was really against me training for the 1/2 marathon. I am very upset about this, and I'm now quite sure how I am going to handle it. I am definitely going to need a new outlet.

3. Speaking of outlet, we went to the premium outlets in Marysville last week. I did some serious power shopping in just about two hours! Holland was my main focus as she was in need for some fall clothes. I found quite a few deals, and now she is set for school to start.

4. Speaking of school starting, Dylan is going to start "school" tomorrow in the toddler room at Holland's school. We absolutely adore her school, and we are very eager for Dylan to follow in Holland's footsteps. However, I am a little worried about Dylan starting so young. Holland had a whole other year at home before she started. I am sure she will be fine, I think it is mostly mommy guilt that I am feeling. (You know, the whole second child gets the short end of the stick theory). Holland is going to be very close by and she will be able to go in and help out with Dylan if she is upset. She has been waiting and waiting for her to come to school so she can show off her big sister skills! Jonathan also works close by so he can go in and check in her from time to time. Since she is going to be there on MWF, this means that I will currently have Fridays to myself.

5. Speaking of having Fridays to myself, I am going to try and book some fall photo shoots on those days. I am hoping to shoot some fun family shots for fall and also even start taking some Christmas card shoots. If you live in the area and are interested in having me do a photo shoot then let me know! I have recently found an online photo lab that so many professional photographers use (thanks to my already-well-established-photographer friend, Mary). They do an amazing job so this means that I will be able to offer seriously professional work!

6. Speaking of offering seriously professional work, I hired a graphic designer online to make a logo for "ashley potter photography". She sent me the mockups in an email, and I am very excited about them. I might have her make business cards and some other marketing items also, but I haven't decided about that, yet.

7. Speaking of marketing items, I have completed all of my photo shoots for the Isaac Foundation autism fundraiser calendar. I had my brother-n-law, who is a photographer, help me narrow down my first set of "contenders". He was full of praises and had some very encouraging words for me. I was starting to freak out that I didn't have calendar worthy photographs, but he was begging to differ. I think when I really look at individual photos and not look at the whole photo shoot then I discover some real gems. I am going to have (my previously mentioned) well- established-photographer friend, Mary, help me look at the photos also. We are hoping to get the calendar put together in the next month so we can get it printed and start marketing it for 2009. I also want to put a collection of the photographs on exhibit somewhere in April for autism awareness month.

8. Speaking of the month of April, Jonathan and I will be celebrating our 10th anniversary that month. We were suppose to take a trip to Italy to revisit the church we were married in and celebrate these amazing ten years. However, we are feeling like it just isn't feasible to get a family of four over there with the current state of the economy and also the current state of our finances. It looks like we are going to get to go in October though because one of Jonathan's college buddies (the one who arranged our wedding in Italy) is finally getting married himself. Jonathan is going to be the best man. Another one of their college buddies gave Jonathan his frequent flyer miles to get to Italy as a wedding gift to the college buddy that is getting married! Jonathan was going to just go by himself, but his parents graciously offered to buy me a ticket AND keep our girls for a week! I was initially very wishy washy about it, and I'm not sure what that was about. A week in Italy without children - can there be anything more appealing?

9. Speaking of without children, my sister and her husband are officially "empty nesters". They just dropped off my niece at college this last weekend. She is going to attend Jonathan's old Alma Mata, Whitman College. Today is her first day of classes so I want to wish her well..... Good Luck, Gabrielle! You are going to love it!

10. Speaking of loving it, we went to a Lucinda Williams concert this weekend in Riverfront park, and we absolutely loved it! She was great. I hadn't heard much of her before the other night, but had gotten rave reviews from my sister and my cousin! They both came over from Seattle with their husbands in tow and we had a wonderful weekend! We are looking forward to more weekends together!

Happy Tuesday!