Why am I showing you a shadow of a glass of water on a day when we have a foot of fresh snow outside? Well.This is the flip side of winter. The day the plow comes by and buries your freshly shoveled driveway in the salty ice compound that might as well be known as concrete.While I am *dying* to go outside and spend an hour of my workday shooting fresh images, in all honesty I need to shovel the plow mess instead. And that's not very pretty. So instead, I give you this great shadow I caught last week while I was at a corporate client's location working on portraits.I promise to put a little more effort in tomorrow. In the meantime? Wish me luck.And for your internet shares of the day!+ I had never heard of this movie, but it looks delightful!+ These life hacks hit home for me. Plus it's written by one of my favorites around town.+ Norway wants Americans who are fed up with Trump to move there. Tempting...Also, just a suggestion: I'm watching Godless on Netflix right now and WOW. Have you seen it? I never thought I'd be this mesmerized by a western.
After 11 inches of snow yesterday, I tried to get the kid interested in winter.I was mildly successful.We woke up to a snow day (no school for anyone in the Twin Cities), and Jamie and I decided to work from home. This meant after breakfast, Jamie would entertain the child for two hours while I worked, then we would switch until nap time.Did the kid want to build a snow man? No. Snow angels? Nope. Sled? No. Shovel? No. He wanted to play tractors in the basement.So we did that for a while, and then thank goodness a friend called and said they were heading to the sledding hill if we wanted to join them. Suddenly, Ezra wanted to sled! Yay! We got all bundled up, downed a snack, drove through feet of snow, got to the hill and unloaded the sled.But we couldn't find the friends anywhere.Did Ezra want to try sledding anyway? No. Did he want to build a snow man? No. I showed him how to make a snow angel. Did he want to try? No.For me, a total lover of snow, this was mildly frustrating to say the least. But finally, we headed back home and I walked him down to the small sledding hill near our house and offered to push him down. He agreed.Did you get that? HE AGREED! So we did that and he loved it and I was thrilled. And after the fourth trip down he said he had enough and wanted to go home.Sometimes I wonder if this is my child. But I digress.We got home and shoveled a bit before having lunch and laying down for nap. Maybe at 3 he just doesn't realize how wonderful and rare a snow day with a foot of fresh powder is. But man, I am trying my best to teach him.
Not a lot of internet shares today. But when my child is old enough not to drop my plates, 
This weekend, Jamie and I took Ezra to Lawrence.This is a big deal for us, because Lawrence will always be wedged deep into my heart. Not only did I go to college there, where I learned a ton about western civ, journalism, history (particularly surrounding the holocaust), women's studies and Spanish, but I grew up there.No, I wasn't raised in Lawrence, but that's the town where I feel like I came into my own. I started thinking about values and morality and social issues based on my own thoughts and readings. I started cooking and feeding myself, starting the journey of my love of food and recipes (and pancakes... oh, pancakes...). I found Jamie and fell in love. Hard. I made friendships like none other that I've had in this lifetime. And it was here that my love of live music seeped in -- seeing a few shows a month and developing my best friendships through these experiences.And the love I had deep in my heart for basketball? It grew into my bones, my bloodstream and my soul. I had always adored the sport as I watched my high school teams or the Chicago Bulls on TV as a kid. But Allen Field House? That, my friends, is a whole new experience. And we got to live it again on Saturday night.We met up with two of our college friends (who now live in Michigan) on Saturday afternoon, and we all walked down to the Field House for the game. Just like the old days, we waited outside for an hour or so to be let in an hour and a half before game time. We brought newspapers to turn into confetti for the starting lineup announcements, we sang the alma mater (followed by the rock chalk chant) and we stood nearly the entire game and screamed like we were 21 again. We had so much fun. Also, did I mention it was 55 degrees in Kansas? I could have lived outside all weekend long after this harsh Minnesota winter we've been having.Inside the Field House, so much is new and shiny. It's easy to fall into nostalgia and wish it was the same as when we were in school, but not so in this case. Everything is SO MUCH BETTER. And the team gave us a real show. A game that was decided in the final two seconds. The volume in that place was insane, as was the adrenaline rush that came with it.It is here that I will tell you we left Ezra back home for the game. Jamie's mother graciously agreed to come into town for the afternoon and babysit so we could head to the Field House. This was great because I don't know what Ezra would have thought about the noise. We'll indoctrinate him in a year or two. But for now, he just watched it at home on TV and tried to find us in the crowd.All in all, it was a wonderful weekend away. We saw some family, we showed Ezra where mom and dad met, we introduced him to our wonderful college friends, we ate delicious meals, we caught up with an old professor that we both adore, and we got to see the Jayhawks win at home. It doesn't get much better than that, and we can't wait to do it again next year.
For your internet shares of the day:+ 
Hooo boy, is it fun to have puppies on the studio! I could photograph puppies every day! Please bring me all your puppies!This is Angus, and a friend of mine from the newspaper just adopted this sweet boy. He is such a love and so mellow (for a puppy). Those speckled paws! Oh man. Be still, my heart.
I don't have that many internet shares for today, just 
Before heading out in the woods on Sunday, I decided to test out my lenses on the bird feeder. You know, before I fell and crashed them into the ground (oy, still mad about that!).I love it that we still get Goldfinches in the winter -- even if their colors are muted. Such cute little guys.
And speaking of nature, I just have one internet share today, and it's important.The wonderful Lucy has launched a big project called Out In the Wild. It's a place where a collective of photographers who love nature have come together to sell our prints. Fifty percent of the profits are donated to environmental groups (mine go to the Sierra Club). It's not much, but it's our way of doing something for this amazing planet of ours.
Yesterday it was 12 degrees, and the snow was falling like a snow globe so of course I messaged a friend about taking a walk in the woods. I just can't help myself.The good news was that it was quiet and peaceful and beautiful. The bad news is that I slipped and fell (I'm ok) and my lens caught the brunt of it. I shot these after the fall, so I think all is ok with the gear, but it does have a ding to show for it. And it's a brand new lens. Sigh.
For your internet shares of the day:+ 
Look at me just squeezing under the midnight deadline for posting each weekday this week.Today I had a puppy shoot (!!!) but in an unusual twist, it was at a family's home instead of my studio. It was an 8-week-old Golden Retriever, and man was she adorable. Right?Here are my internet shares of the day:+ The shithole of a president we are currently dealing with is not worth the gum that was spit out and stepped on by 
I'm just going to post a few more shots from my walk the other day because yesterday was insane and the only photos I took were of the commercial sort (lovely images, but not exactly blog fodder).Wednesdays are now pretty nutso around these parts as I just started piano lessons (!!) and Ezra has swim lessons right after. So fitting in a commercial shoot before all of that was complicated, to say the least. But it all worked out! And maybe someday, you can hear me play the piano. Maybe.
And for your internet shares of the day:+