. you would have thought .

. that since we followed the directions to a T, it would have worked out .

. it wasn't because of us that it didn't .

:)

. 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 .

. office space .

. i've been working from my laptop for over a year and a half and love it . but when i need to print out disc labels and invoices and so forth i have to set up "office" in the kitchen and while it works, it's not ideal . i have to pull this from here and that from there and then i get to it . i've been thinking it would be great to have a real office space with everything all in once place . i never thought i'd need a whole space for my work . i'm just not a business person...at all . with that being said i love every step of the photography process . so, i've been wondering how i can change rooms around and make a space for my work . in a big old farm house, with only two people... you'd think this would be an easy task . we've been set up perfectly with the toy room for the occasional days that i babysit and kiddos come over with their mom's and a guest room for family and friends to stay overnight . so, now i'm trying to figure out what would be ideal . there's much to consider in doing this . the strange thing is i'm all about lighting now and the guest room has great light all day long, so i'd love to work in there . i'm not sure if it's a plus or a minus, but it's off the beaten path for sure . i've even rearranged and i think a desk would fit okay in there, although when guest stay my stuff will be a little in the way and if i need to do anything while they're here i'd have to invade and i really don't like the idea of that . and i'm sure my guests don't either .

. see, new space, i was surprised how much i gained by moving the bed .

. the other option, that would seem to make the most sense, is the toy room .

. big drawback is the lighting, not so bright and seems dreary to me, even on bright sunny days . the other is how much this room does get used . i can't imagine what kids would do when they came if that room was my office, and really there's kids here a lot . and a combo of the two doesn't seem like a very good idea...cords and important paperwork and toddlers running around ??

. ooh, another thought i just had is to change the little 'sitting room', where we hang out and watch tv into my office .

. and move the tv out into the big room . hmmmm, i might just like that idea ! i haven't run any of this past the hubby, i'm sure he'll have an opinion...that i will of course take into consideration .

:)

. a lot of you that read this blog have great ideas and have seen my place . and really, if you've read my blog long you've basically seen my place too . :) do you guys have any great ideas ? if so, i'd love to hear them ! leave a comment here or send me a message .

? whooo's 60 ?

. my dad is .

:)

. so we celebrated with a little 'wise old owl' party .

. on each balloon we put all the phrases dad says or has said often throughout his life . he always says his plans and ends it with 'Lord willing' . many more fun ones remembered .

. a very talented friend made these awesome little cookies .

. thanks, amy . they were a hit !

. dad was even very impressed !

. enjoyed dinner around the table together . steve and i attended, just didn't make it in this photo .

. spent some time out by the fire . gave nate a little photography lesson and he snapped this photo .

. i played with longer exposures and shot this one . check out ry and reed jumping on the trampoline .

. birthday boy .

. me and dad .

. again, only whooting this time, because it was an owl party, you know .

. old new hat .

. it got into riverside for a photo shoot a little early a week or so ago and took a few minutes to run down to vintageville . love this store . i met brenda for the first time and enjoyed a little visit and found this awesome hat . it's an old mans hat, but i love it . wish it were a tad bigger, but it works . oh, and go 'like' vintageville on fb ! she has a ton of fabulous stuff in that store !

. today .

. i feel crazy busy and yet peaceful at the same time . i've begun loving my place just a little bit messy . it kind of makes me feel creative and productive . well, because when i'm being productive it's a mess and when i'm being creative, it's a mess .

:)

. so, today i've done very little to keep up house, helped ry and reed lots with school, worked on some photography and went with beth and the boys to sass family farms . we, of course, had a great time and here's a few photos to prove it .

. we have one of him as a little guy just like this...except for the two in his mouth . he had an earful of corn too.

:)

. can you see andrew's face ? he's such a clown .

. he's going to be as tall as me soon . today i had to have a little chat with him about wrestling with aunt sarah . "don't try to put me in a headlock like you do with reed and your dad. i'm a girl and we wrestle different, otherwise you'll hurt me." the truth !

. and now we're back home and ry just finished writing a journal entry in his writing class . he worked on it on the front porch and i loved my view .

. i'm seizing my day today !

? you ?

. all photos taken with p & s .