. since we last met .

. it's been busy and then a little less busy . i've enjoyed the slower time and am using the time to refocus and set some goals for this year . very excited about some new business ideas .

. i've been to vegas, twice .

. chicago, i don't know how many times .

. fell in love with and watched all of downtown abbey, most of the while with a cup of tea .

. attended wppi for the first time ever .

. moved .

. started recycling .

. really enjoying cooking with lots of fresh veggies .

. establishing family night with people in my life that might as well be my family .

. doing my best to be fully submitted to what God has for me .

. drank loads of bubble tea, mostly with my tracy friend .

. met nate and jaclyn kaiser and jasmine star .

. got my hair cut shorter .

. then grew it back out a bit .

. considered growing it back out all the way again, but decided to hold off because jasmine and nate both told me i had cool hair . (this is always subject to change)

. built stronger relationships with some .

. not been what i should to others, will be working on that .

. reconnected with old friends .

. having fun hanging out with these 2 every so often .

. having fun decorating the new pad .

. causing me to think about rebranding my photography, so that's in the works .

. overwhelmed by loved ones, the good kind of overwhelmed .

. enjoying that with every twist and turn in life there's always room for change and better yet, improvements .

. getting dressed up all fancy and stuff .

. for a big party, that was a bit of a let down, mainly because i'm not into the kind of parties where you have to yell in your friends ear just to chat . :) fuddy duddy, i know . getting all dressed up was my favorite part . oh and taking fun snapshots with friends .

. rang in the new year by watching and photographing a beautiful home birth .

. and then had photos from the birth make the front page of the cedar rapids gazette .

. resting outside in february barefoot (not in iowa) .

. braved getting a tattoo . i'm tougher than i thought . it says 'it is well with my soul' . always a good reminder .

. frequenting goodwill, stuff, houseworks, salvation army and all those great places to see what treasures i may find .

. i've gotten involved in a great connection group through my church, the ladies in this bible study are great knitters, i love watching them do their thing as we discuss God's word .

. i'm sure there's more, but i'm going to let that do for catching us up . hopefully more to come soon .

. winter ppi .

. had so. much. fun. at ppi this last weekend . went with my girl, emily and we did all those things you're supposed to do . stay up too late, talk, laugh, get bored in sessions, leave sessions inspired, and laugh some more .

. remember this post ? so guess who won the mat and frame this time ?! me ! so crazy ! since this one says "friends", i'm so putting these photos from ppi in it and displaying it in my office ! tacky, yes . awesome, yes !

. at michael cerizo's workshop .

. i kept this coupon, because well, it said to .

. me and the girls . these gals are awesome . the memories of this session will last me for a lifetime . most memorable session of the whole conference . lots of fbing ! :) please look past the sleepy eyes, this was the last day and i was mostly spent .

. and well, this was an attempt at a competition print...not really, it's taken with my p & s, but after looking at all the competition prints my mind was going crazy with photos and titles .

. title - the last to leave .

. snp . home office .

. it's pretty well done . not completely, but the rest will only be tiny details . if you want to see "before" shots of this room, go here . this is the room that had the red couch and love seat in it with the big N on the wall . so, this room made the most sense for an office, although it really seemed to put a kink in our home layout . mainly because it's always been one way, i liked it that way and didn't want to change it . but, again, this just made the most sense space wise and practicality wise (more space in the future) . so...here you have it, . snp .'s office .

. most of the office necessities such as the desk, chair, bulletin board, floor lamp and desktop computer are all new to this room, the rest of the stuff is pulled from other areas of the house .

. wanting to replace the picture on the wall with a canvas, but prioritizing my needs right now .

:)

. i wanted this room to be a good mix of color and style so that nothing matched or didn't . make sense ? probably not, but that's okay, it does in my head . it looks busier than what i normally like, but i love it .

. i picked up these old tin cups at goodwill a few months ago for $.38 each and kicked myself later because they sat in a closet, not being used and i felt like i wasted the money and was wasting space and now what do i do with them ? well, NOW i'll use them for pen holders, scissor holders, vases...anything . the color and shine look great in here ! they are one of my favorite elements of the room .

. and remember this wall arrangement i came up with months ago...just didn't have a place to put it . apparently this office has been in my subconscious a few months now .

. this cute little thing is something steve (or his brother david) made when they were kids . thought about taking the clips off and painting it, but i like the wood color, it dates it and is less matchy, matchy . remember, nothing matches, nothing doesn't .

. attached to the above clips are notes from clients . a few clients have written me the sweetest things that made me feel amazing, i just love to read them every once in a while . the middle one is from joni, who a lot of you know as a huge fan of mine, she writes out SNP logos for fun and then sends me the pages...i feel so very loved . i'll definitely be using one someday .

. again, my favorite fall throw blanket makes it's appearance . on this awesome chair i found at office max, on clearance and got even cheaper because it was the last one and it was a floor model .

. red lamp . which i'm in love with .

. ever office needs a plant, right ? and a pumpkin . and a candle from the BYCC .

. bulletin board, painted a fun color . need some tacks so i can hang more goodies on here . very excited about this addition !

. the overall view .

. so, that was my break today, showing you the office .

!! now, back to work !!

. ppi .

. so, just a brief overview of my time a ppi . learned lots . helped me to gain more direction with my biz . all good ! hubs went along .

. met molly from studio m . had a great time getting to know her and chat a bit about every little thing .

. there were a few raffle prizes . we were so excited to win, most of the stuff . although when they held up these old style mats what were cut with words we were like 'nah, not so much wanting to win that' . molly's number was 166, they called 163...so close, 163 was not in the room so they drew again, 165...wow, very close . again, not in the room, next # drawn 166!!! we were laughing so hard, how could that happen ? there were a hundred or so tickets in there ! can't wait to see what she does with this !

. can't wait for winter ppi now !

. happy halloween .

. halloween morning sunrise . i'm not big into halloween, as a matter of fact i'm not sure i've ever dressed up for the holiday . i'm going to dress up this year, but not for halloween . anyway, captured this sunrise photo this morning and it just seemed fitting for the day .

. so, i'm getting ready to head out to my first ever PPI (professional photographers of iowa) convention . i couldn't be any more excited !

. no time to chat, gotta finish packing and great ready to head .

. boo .

. change is all around me .

. a few days ago i posted on my facebook status that change is all around me . the house is in constant change lately, which is good . we've lived here 5 years with the inside done and haven't touched the outside . the roof was beyond needing repair and we had bought paint last summer when we could get it on a big sale to paint the house, just never got to it...so, now we're getting to . at the same time, it's planting time ! and did i mention i just rented a studio that needs some work, oh, and on tuesday i'm leaving for a week . so, yes, we have a lot going on . it's all good, but it is a lot .

. my mom and i are taking a trip down to south carolina for my cousins wedding . i think the time away will be relaxing, even though i'll be shooting the wedding, the rest of the trip will be stress free . i have plans to get some work done while i'm away and when i get home i'll be ready to pick up where i left off with the studio and have it done the following week, good plan, right ? we'll see if that happens .

. all that to say posting may be light, or it may be heavy if our trip turns out to be extra relaxing ! :)

. a facebook friend (hi sharon!) pointed out to me that God never changes...i'm so thankful !

. more of the same .

. hello everyone . i've decided to do two separate blogs, one business, one personal . this blog will consist of, well...more of the same of what i've always blogged, minus the business shoots . sorry if this complicates things for you having two to bookmark and two to check . i feel this is a step i needed to make for my business . i know i've switched things up a lot on all you followers, thanks for sticking with me .

. we'll start things off right with a fun photo .