Well, I’m back from vacation, and it was FABULOUS! Hopefully it won’t take me another year to get photos up for you guys ;) Since coming home, I’ve been catching up on emails, shooting, and editing a LOT of images! There should be a bunch of new blog posts coming very soon, starting NOW!
Going on Vacation
It’s been a busy week around here! Wedding albums being designed and ordered, I’ve had 3 photo shoots, and most importantly – I’ve been busy preparing for my family vacation in FLORIDA!! :D As of tomorrow morning, I will be on vacation for a whole WEEK! YAY!!
And just because I’m getting pumped up, here are some photos from last year’s Florida Vacation!
My niece Reilly
My sister, Kyla and baby Caeden
Michael & Tristan
One of my favorite photos EVER! Me with my little Reilly. Gotta love that face!!!
We had a family portrait session on the beach one evening. I’m debating whether or not to bring my tripod so we can get one of the whole fam… It’s a whole other bag though and you shouldn’t have to carry a lot of stuff on vacation!
The kids were having a great time, no really
The kids and their Kiki :)
It works a whole lot better with my sister running around and being ridiculous behind me. Way more genuine smiles – especially when she fell down in the sand ;)
My Mom & Dad – the amazing people who make it happen!
And this will be my view for the next few days! Don’t be jealous ;)
I’ll be responding to emails and phone calls when I get back. Have a great week!!! :D
The Rescue
For those of you who have followed my blog for a while (like since the beginning), you know that I’m a HUGE fan of Invisible Children! Invisible Children began as a documentary about children in Northern Uganda who would commute miles each night from the villages to the city to avoid being abducted and forced into the rebel army (the LRA). [If you haven’t seen the film, please buy it and watch it – or ask to borrow it from me!!] And now, Invisible Children has become a movement of young people who want to do something to end the 20+ year war in Uganda.
Peace talks have failed once again, and Invisible Children, along with much of the international community is calling for the arrest of Joseph Kony (the leader of the LRA) and the rescue of the thousands of abducted children who make up his army. On April 25th, 2009, Invisible Children is calling on the youth of the world to abduct themselves to free the abducted by participating in an event called The Rescue. The Rescue is taking place in Boston, and dozens of cities all over the world. Go to the site to find a city near you!
A couple years ago, IC put on a similar event called DisplaceME to raise awareness about the plight of Ugandans being forced to live in IDP Camps because of the ongoing war. A group of my friends from church and I went down to New York to participate and it was a very cool experience – one that I never did share on this blog… No time like the present, huh? :)
This is Bobby Bailey, one of the filmmakers who started Invisible Children.
love this
it was a cold wet night, but people stayed and really slept in card board shelters! (except me, I’m a wimp and I slept in the car ;)
I really love this organization! I wish I could be there to participate on April 25th (though I’m not sad that I’ll be on vacation in FLORIDA). I’m happy that I can support Invisible Children by just passing on the word – and because they’re one of the organizations I support through my wedding photography GIVE program – where 10% of every wedding photography goes to charity. Maybe someday I’ll get to go to Uganda and shoot some photos for them… Hey, I can dream!!
Take a minute and go to www.invisiblechildren.com to learn more. And if you have 30 minutes to watch a powerful video on child soldiers, please click HERE.
SpringFest
One of my 2008 brides, Jessica, emailed me the other day about a charity event she’s planning and asked if I would help spread the word. If you’ve visited this blog before, or visited my website, you know that I’m very much into charity work, and using my photography and my business to support organizations that are really helping people. I checked out the info on Jessica’s event and I think it sounds great!!
SpringFest is a charity fair hosted by Berkland Baptist Church to raise funds and awareness for the China Nest of Hope Orphanage in Beijing, China. The orphanage is part of the China Nest of Hope Foundation, a charitable organization that strives to help orphaned and underprivileged children in Beijing. SpringFest festivities will feature family-friendly activities like games, arts and crafts, demonstrations, music, food and more. There will also be a charity raffle with awesome prizes like airplane tickets & iPods, and winners will be drawn throughout the day.
I love that I get to work with great brides like Jessica, who do cool stuff like this! Visit www.SpringFestBoston.com for more information about SpringFest and about the China Nest of Hope Orphanage, and hopefully I’ll see you there! :)
Ozzy the cat
About 7 1/2 years ago, I was living in Chicago and working in a photo studio as an assistant – just beginning my career as a photographer. One day, we got a call from a client asking if any of us wanted to adopt a cat. I’d been thinking about it and told her I might be interested. She asked, “well, what about 2 cats?!” I didn’t really want to become a cat-lady ;), but she told me about what beautiful pure-bred bengals they were, told me how her Mom was sick and couldn’t care for them anymore, and she convinced me that I would love them :) Ozzy & Harriett have been my roommates, best buddies, and a big part of my life ever since.
Late last year, Ozzy got sick. He got down to 5.5 lbs, started losing his vision, and just didn’t seem right. Over the last few months, the vet has run all sorts of tests, and finally diagnosed him with FIP in January. FIP is a viral infection he’s probably had since birth, but only now has come out. It’s terminal and there’s really nothing that can be done except keep the cat as comfortable as possible. It’s been rather horrible watching him get sicker and sicker, and always wondering what would happen next and when he might die. And trying to feed him has been incredibly stressful because he neurologically just couldn’t seem to make his mouth work right half the time. It’s really been a difficult time for both of us.
So, after a few months of fighting it off, the disease seemed to catch up with him this week. His eye sight got significantly worse, his legs didn’t seem to be working right, and he just seemed sad. Every once in a while, he’d just look up at me and cry :( I was praying and praying that God would just take him and that I wouldn’t have to put him to sleep – but in the end, Ozzy needed me to do what was best for him. So, yesterday I took him to the vet, and we put him down :'( It was incredibly sad, but also a bit of a relief. I’m glad he’s not suffering anymore, and I’m glad I got to say goodbye and spend some time with him before he died, I’m glad he knew he was loved. But, I am really going to miss having him around. Ever since I started working from home full-time, Ozzy has been by my side every moment I’ve been home – which is a lot. I realized today that I’ve spent more time with him over the last few years than any other person. And now, he’s just not over on the other side of the room sleeping while I work. He’s gone. And for such a little guy, he’s left quite a vacuum…
previous 2 photos were taken by my friend Cynthia a couple weeks ago
I’m not the only one who’s going to miss Ozzy. Poor little Harriett has spent her whole life with him. She’s become more detached in the last few months as he got sick and a little grumpy, but they were still close. I tried to get her to say goodbye, but she didn’t really get what was going on. She seems to know something is wrong, but I don’t know if she realizes Ozzy is gone.
These were taken yesterday before our appointment.
and this is the last photo I’ll ever take of Ozzy. He slept under that blanket all day, and I just laid there and petted him. Poor little guy…
Ozzy, I love you buddy! I’ll miss you so so much! xoxo
Revive, Brandon Heath & Third Day Concert
Over the weekend I went with some friends to see the Third Day Revelation Tour in Worcester. The Australian band Revive opened, followed by Brandon Heath (who sings Give Me Your Eyes – which is AWESOME!), and the headliner was Third Day, who I have loved since even before I became a Christian. Third Day is one of the best-selling Christian Rock bands of all time – and they are fabulous! It was such an awesome night of worship, I just loved it!
I didn’t really get any photos of Revive b/c I was helping a sick friend – but I could hear them and they were phenomenal! You should buy their cd :]
I did get to see Brandon Heath though, and he was awesome! I only knew his first hit, and was very impressed by how great the rest of his songs were. I must buy more!
The crowd loved him too
Third Day was AMAZING! My friend and I snuck up to the balcony to get a different view…
Oh, it was just so good!!!! I can’t tell you what it did for my heart to be surrounded by so many people worshiping God together!
At the end, Dave from Revive, and Brandon Heath came out and joined Third Day to sing God of Wonders.
here’s a video of the song I found on youtube…
After the show, Revive and Brandon Heath came out to meet fans. My friend Suze was not leaving without meeting both, so I waited with her and took some photos. Here’s Suze & Shea with the boys from Revive…
When it was my turn, Rich (Revive’s bass player) decided that he wanted to play with my sweet camera. This is my ha-ha-please-don’t-break-my-camera-face
Then the guys started growling at the camera…
And Rich got a little carried away…
Or maybe a lot carried away
So, my camera was returned unharmed, and I was glad. And then when we went over to meet Brandon Heath, Rich came back to take a few more photos for me… This is me with Brandon Heath :) He’s giving his best Blue Steel here.
I’m not sure what we’re doing here…
It was such an awesome night! Photos with handsome musicians were just the icing on top of the cake ;) Thanks Rich, for the fabulous photos – I’ll cherish them always!!
Article on OneWed’s Savvy Scoop Blog!
A while back, I was contacted by OneWed.com to write an article for their new Savvy Scoop Blog. I had lots of ideas for an article, but one in particular kept coming to mind. So many brides out there are looking for photographers and have no idea why we’re all priced so differently, so I figured I’d tackle that first. Check out the article and let me know what you think!!!
And if you’re one of my brides and can take a minute to leave a review for me on my OneWed listing, that’d be super awesome! But, only if you have something nice to share ;) Haha, only kidding!!
AreWeMarriedYet?
oooooh! I just checked in on one of my new favorite photoblogs, and look what I found….
YAY! SO exciting!! :D
Where have I been?!
Hello darling clients, family, friends and blog-readers! Have you missed me? I feel like I’ve been gone forever! I thought I’d drop you a line and explain what’s been going on… I know some of you have been worried ;)
The truth is, it’s been a rough month! I mentioned in an earlier post that I’d been sick. First I had a sinus infection, and then just when I thought that was over, I came down with vertigo. The doctor thought the vertigo was caused by the sinus infection and gave me some antibiotics. After a few days, I was feeling pretty much better, but still just a little bit off. Then I flew home to Indianapolis for Thanksgiving. I wasn’t feeling too great the day I left and spent my whole first day home asleep in bed. But after some rest, I felt better and got to spend a couple days hanging out with my family and even catching up with an old friend. And then my antibiotics ran out. And suddenly, I was feeling majorly dizzy again. So dizzy I couldn’t even drive up to Chicago to visit one of my best friends! So, back to the doctor I went! This doctor agreed that it was probably the sinus infection, and gave me another antibiotic, as well as a nasal spray. Plus, my Mom found a seasickness patch in the medicine cabinet, and gave me a couple of those for good measure. So, I spent Thanksgiving totally light-headed and antisocial, but started feeling a bit better before coming back to Boston last week.
When I got back to Boston, though, I noticed that my vision was really wacked out. I start out a little far-sighted, but now I seemed to be REALLY far sighted. It was freaky! So, back to the doctor I went… She figured out that the patch was dilating my eyes, which explained the vision problems. But, she was a bit concerned that I was still a feeling light-headed. So, she encouraged me to stay on the antibiotics, but also ordered a CAT scan and an appointment with the opthomologist. She told me that she really doesn’t think I have a brain tumor or anything, but decided we should check, just in case! That made me feel all better ;-)
Today I’m feeling a lot better – only light-headed if I bend down, so I’m thinking it probably has all just been a really nasty sinus infection. I just got back from my CAT scan, and my optho appointment is tomorrow afternoon. Hopefully by the end of the week we’ll have a much better idea of what’s been going on in my head!
All that to say, I haven’t been able to work quite as much as usual – especially with the whole not being able to see thing. Of course, that’s been stressing me out because I want to get everything up online for my wonderful clients and make everyone happy with photos in time for Christmas! So, please know that I’m doing my best to catch up – I’m even hiring some help to come in this week and get things moving! So, keep your eyes peeled for lots of photos over the coming days – and if you think of it, pray that we’d figure all this out and that I’d be super healthy for the rest of the winter (or at least the rest of this year)!!
Thanks for being awesome!
kg
Out of The Office
Just so you know, I’ll be out of the office from now until December 2nd. I’m heading home to Indianapolis for a nice long break for Thanksgiving! I’ll even be hitting up Chicago for a day while I’m there :) I’ll have some access to email and voice mail, but if you don’t hear from me for a couple days, it’s because I’m spending time with my friends and family. and sleeping. a lot. If you’re a friend of mine and want to hang out while I’m in town, leave a comment or shoot me an email!
And because posts without pictures or something are dull. I present to you the best song about Indianapolis, ever ….
bye bye :)