smiling stranger.

A stranger smiled at me today & it warmed my heart. Smile at a stranger tomorrow....they might need it.

content.

Lazy saturday night=awesome. I'm sitting here editing and listening to good music & enjoying the peace and quiet. I love when I have a great session & then have the time to come home and edit a few sneak peeks. Today was a big day for me, I completed my first newborn session. It went really well! Thankfully Whitney was able to come along and help and that made it so much better. I found out that I LOVE newborn sessions. I am looking forward to a few sessions tomorrow, the Vikings game & more relaxing. I also get to pick up my husband from the airport!!!!!!!!!! can't wait to see him. He checks my photography blog all the time and I came home tonight to the sweetest message from him. he had checked it from his phone in florida because he knew I had a session this morning & he knows I'm quick to put up sneak peeks. He's so thoughtful & my biggest supporter! all it said was "you are amazing" but those three words gave me butterflies & a huge grin. I have a surprise in the works for him tomorrow morning...and I'm excited to see how it comes together. You'll find out what it is later =) I'm off to climb in bed and hopefully finish my book.

*I'm looking for a bride/wife who is interested in a boudoir session for a steal of a deal! If you know of someone who might be interested please send them my way for details. I'll probably post something on my photog blog but I thought I would start here for now =)

Random Fact Friday

Random fact friday is going to be random post friday because I have a lot of random things to share about what we've been up to lately.

What we've been enjoying: quiet nights at home. sweating through jillian michael's "the shred" every night after work & running to al's soccer games. The tops three random artists on our ipod playlist: O.A.R, ingrid michaelson & the frey. What we are excited about: just found out Aly's team is rated number 1 in the nation! 1st year ever. that's awesome. What we are looking forward to: vikings games, our fall photo shoot, fall & winter roadtrips, the holidays! Our accomplishments: jay's the head of the athletic department at his school. he writes the curriculum & basically runs everything...i'm so proud of him! I think I shared this before but I wanted to share again.

Places to share: Cravings wine bar. if you are ever around the woodbury area you should check it out. great for a special occasion or date night. they have unique & fresh entrees and everything including the desserts is homemade. get the chocolate turtle cake! they also have free wine tastings on thursday evenings. the owner is a friend of my dad's and really nice. Redwing, MN. being newlyweds & having a small budget has forced us to look other places for vacations, roadtrips & day trips. we have discovered some of the most amazing spots close to home. redwing is a small town in the mississippi river valley. it's romantic, it's historic it's cute & it's only an hour away from the cities. they have vineyards, a theatre, beautiful scenary & cute shops. they have an annual holiday stroll that includes horse drawn rides, carolers, a live nativity, live reindeer, chili, parade, etc. Pratt-Taber Inn. this is an adorable bed & breakfast in redwing. it's got reasonable prices and the inn keeper is great. they have a small theatre in redwing that has great plays for a reasonable price (jay's taking me to the nutcracker!!) and the inn offers discount tickets as well as discounts to local eateries. Vino in the Valley offers wine tastings & horse drawn sleigh rides. you can cut your Christmas tree down or sip hot cocoa (or wine!) & enjoy their famous brick oven pizza. Afton apple orchard is in hastings & has a yearly apple festival. this year it's october 10th & 11th. they have hayrides, cider demonstrations, a petting farm, face painting, etc. perfect for kids & adults. they also have a super fun corn maze that opens this saturday. it's over 5 miles. i believe last year we had the cheat to get out! it's hard =)

just a few ideas that are close to home & affordable that i thought some of you may enjoy this fall & winter! we've been trying to do small weekends like this often to get to know minnesota & wisconsin. if you have any places to suggest please share. have a great weekend everyone, thank you for being a part of our life!

just a dream.

I'm so ready for crisp nights & sweater season. I'm so ready for vacation. I'm so over working every day all day. I'm SO ready for the holidays. (yes, I'm one of those who starts listening to Christmas music months before Christmas!). I love making new family traditions with my husband. I just love all the family time.

::sighs and snaps back to reality::

I wish it was late October. One more hectic month & a half to get through & things will settle down (a little). I'm promising myself I'm not booking over 2 sessions in December. There. Now hold me to it everyone!!!! Ok sorry about the rant! I think I'm good now. I'm so excited for Jay because this weekend he flys to Gainesville with Max to go to the Swamp & watch the Gators vs. Tennesee football game! I'm so jealous!! He gets about a week and a half off for Ramadan at his school so he's got a bunch of free days off in a row (now do you understand the necessity of the vent??!). This means I have the weekend to myself. I'm heading to mama's for the weekend. Bunny & Papa are coming up to watch al's game on Saturday and then we have lots of fun planned. I am really looking forward to it. Now if I can just get through this darn week. Tonight we are headed to the Twins game with Jay's brother & girlfriend so that will help...now back to my dream like state of mind =)

Are you ready for some football?

I spent most of the weekend in bed with a fever. It sounds horrible but I'm actually glad that it made me settle for a few days & relax. I got over 12 hours of sleep every night...it was awesome! I got a lot of reading done & it was so nice to mellow out. By the time Sunday rolled around I was almost back to normal (with the help of meds!!) either that or I was just too excited for the vikings football kick-off game =) either way I was in great spirits. Jay was such a saint. He cleaned the entire house on Friday & Saturday. He took all the furniture off the carpets, vaccuumed & used my mom's deep cleaning shampoo carpet cleaner to shampoo all the carpet in the house (!!) It looks like brand new carpet-so awesome and it smells so fresh and clean. I love it. He also went shopping for some items for our bar-b-que on Sunday with my in-laws. I really didn't feel like going to the grocery store, especially because I was sick. Saturday I stopped by my friend Krystal's baby shower but didn't stay long because I was drained & I didn't want to get anyone sick. It was nice to see all my old work friends briefly & a nice break !!
Sunday we had delicious cheeseburgers and brats on the grill & the Feldkamp favorite....german potato salad. If you have never had any you are missing out!! We had fun with his dad, step mom & step brother. We watched the Vikes & played a game of mexican train (dominoes) It's always so fun to be with family! We were already talking about our Thanksgiving plans and we can't wait to spend that special time with them.

good food. good game. great company.

I looooove football season!!

Summer memories

highlights. summer 2009

OAR concert at the MN state fair. tried the turket leg this year, it was delicious.

our 1st vikings game as a married couple! brett farve's debut as our QB in the dome.

dinner dates on the water in stillwater, prescott & hudson.

twins games. went to the 1st last home opener at the dome & are going to the last on oct. 4

al's soccer games. she was voted captain by her teammates this year =)

roadtrips to bunny & papa's. the road is never long there.

many travels & roadtrips including portland, duluth, & las vegas.

time spent with family. lots of it.

lots of photography for abbey. looking forward to fall!

baseball coaching, training & camps for jay & can't forget working at the fair!

time spent catching up with good friends.

another summer of great memories ♥

Random Fact Friday

Good: I acquired a horrible computer virus at work & got to leave at 10 am.
Bad: I'm sick. I sit here sweating in the 60 degree air conditioned room. yuck.