You have to have a very strange kind of tolerance for chihuahuas.  They are needy, yappy, pesky little dogs.  They do not go sit in the corner quietly.

Meet Annarainne

She is 6 pounds of dog that believes with all her heart she is a great dane.  She barks furiously at every sound or person.  If a person cannot be intimidated and they pick her up, she pees on them.  Anna believes she is the boss of the whole world.  If she is on the deck she can see for a good half mile, and it is all her territory.  You must not walk in her territory.  Loud barking warns you of your violation.  She hates snow and ice. Associates car rides with the vet.  The vet hurt her as a 6 week old. She has never forgotten. It’s the only person she has ever actually tried to bite.  She burrows under the covers and wedges herself under your side so you cannot move. She growls if you disturb her.  She hates early mornings, and will not get up before the sun is above the horizon.  Hates rubber bands. Loves anything mom eats.

Meet Coco - the younger “sister”

She is long haired and 12 pounds.  She is submissive to Anna most of the time.   She can’t stand for Anna to be out of her sight. Coco has no idea that she too is not petite like her sister.  She bites body parts hacking Anna off to no end.  She doesn’t nibble. She bites hard.  She refuses to go fetch or chase any toy; however, she delights in throwing her body on top of Anna’s favorite toy so it is not visible to the throwing machine called Donna.  This causes Anna to whine loudly until I figure it out.

Why do I mention the chihuahuas?  They are bugging me this afternoon.  Finally I aimed the camera at them.  All is well. They got attention, and now are sleeping … totally satisfied they are MY masters.

You have “gone the extra mile”
Donna — I will cherish the DVD!
(I hope you like wine?!)

Yes, I do like wine, and I love Shriaz.  It’s yummy!  Can’t wait to sample this one!

(pictured left to right… Pat(mom), Emily(sister and maid of honor), and the Andrea(Sleeping Beauty herself)

The rest of the story.  Pat has seen the sneak peek below, and the proof site is up which she has gone through as well.  The bride and groom are big on computers and anything Internet, but because they were headed to a beautiful island to enjoy their honeymoon…..NO computers!  Pat is ready to start printing without them!

The rest rest of the story is Emily came and picked up the DVD for Mom and delivered wine with a thank you note!   We had a great time with Emily at the wedding.  She kept us laughing with her delightful sense of humor!  It was good to see her today even if only for a second or two.

The rest rest rest of the story.  Everyone is thinking the bride and groom will have seen the pic’s before they get back on Friday! We are all thinking they will sneak on the Internet from the hotel.  Be interesting to hear if they did or not!

Pat & Emily………. thank you!   Can’t wait to hear from the newlyweds!  Little do they know, I’ve sent the last one in their sneak peek for a gallery wrap to hang in the Studio!  Give them my love…sure you will hear from them before I do!

“Donna   Thank you very much for the photos.  They’ve made us (Melissa) extremely happy.
Her face was glowing last night.

You’ve truly made her month (at least!!)”

Aw, man!  Both the gift and the note touched my heart.  Granite City has incredible cinnamon rolls which I drool  at the very thought of them.  Sunday brunch and cinnamon rolls!  I recommended Granite City to them and giving them my personal “YuMmY endorsement” as a place to go on Sunday morning.  Never once gave it another thought until I opened this tonight.

Thank you for the gift and sharing you liked the images  I posted on the blog.  You get to see the rest of them tonight!  Since Studio D tries hard to not post without an image……..

I did daughter Jonell’s wedding about 1.6 years ago…. 2nd from right.  So! I got a call did I want to photograph her parents’ 25th anniversary surprise party.  Well, Sandy promptly tuned her radar in on an innocent comment by someone about an invitation and the surprise was no more.   All the daughters arranged the day.  It was family and friends to the max!

Proof Viewing Here arniesandy    no pass

Saying goodbye to her grandmother.   It was her only time to smile all day.  Love on a child’s face is so easy to spot.

Daddy said say cheese. She did just that showing me her mouth full of cheese.

He was completely hidden under the hood. I whistled to get him to turn a bit so I could see his face.  He had been illusive for some time.  What must he be thinking behind that expression?

His dad lifted him up, and then began the father son one on one game of “how long can you hang”. Dad began to count with the surprise and amazement building in his voice as he counted.   He just beamed at his dad.  Memories are made of such small moments of intimacy.

Safe in Mom’s arms.

Today her baby is becoming a wife….. a wife with a mother that will always love her.  Joy and tears all rolled into one moment of realization that life is about to change.

Look into his eyes. What do you see? Jordan is willing to engage by looking calmly and quietly into another person’s eyes.

My May 24th wedding.  They are on my desktop, and not in color. I often put up faces of couples I am about to work with.   Faces.  Quiet looks.   What draws me to one image over another?   What is it I am seeing? What do I remember from my time with them?   Faces become triggers for remembering.

Nikki and Will are our May 23rd wedding.  Again…. I have them on my desktop.  This image because of Will’s expression.  His arms wrapped around Nikki … the smile speaks volumes.   4pm wedding in the sun at the Vander Veer fountain.

Laughter is what I remember from our May 30th couple.  Joking, kidding, laughing, having fun…… until he swept her into his arms.  Suddenly you could feel the chemistry change to one of romance, intimacy, and love.

This past few days I’ve thought about faces a lot.  What are they saying to me?   What is in their eyes? Faces are attached to a huge percentage of all our memories.  Roadmaps into our internal recorded history.  If there are no photographs then the memories die when we do.

Faces don’t have to be beautiful.  They simply need to be captured for those that love them.

It is always “all in the eyes”.  No matter how big the smile, if the eyes are unhappy the portrait will be off.  You won’t hate it, but you are apt not to really like it either.   Sometimes when the camera is between you and the photographer it is harder to engage.  A person right behind the photographer works.  Visualization works as well.  Think of a place, a person, an event that makes you happy. Then raise your eyes to the camera.  I also like to tell people its ok not to smile.  We don’t go around smiling 24/7 365.  Some people grin.  Some flash beautiful teeth.  Some just give one of those no smile looks.   Be yourself.

Spring Rain!  There’s nothing like it.    I like it because it is liquid snow.  I often wonder how I ever made a decision to move from Hawaii to Iowa.  The Winter’s are horrid.   Any day I can short sleeves and sandals it can rain all it wants to.

After leaving the Golden Leaf I popped over to Skellington Manor.   I’ve been in and out over the last couple of weeks.  Everyone was full out tonight working hard to have it all spiffy and ready for tomorrow.

More of Clazzy Designs florals.  Refreshments will be by Bridges. Rock Island Chamber of Commerce will be there for a ribbon cutting at 1pm. Heller Cakes will bring her delicious, super moist, WOW flavored cakes.   Don’t be shy… stop by and see them.  It’s the old Masonic Lodge building.  Not hard to find at all.

Golden Leaf is having an event tomorrow Saturday, May 2nd, from 10am until 2pm.   After I got Studio D ready for the show I grabbed my camera and had some fun.  I’ve known Lynn for some time now, and I love watching the new things she comes up with.   Here’s a little sneak preview of tomorrow.

I love her florals, her linens, and I am blessed with a wonderful friend!