post by leslie

On Saturday night, when my Kansas Jayhawks were trying to play basketball, I gave up on the game and headed downtown to First Avenue to catch Gang of Youths. I love this song by them, and I figured they would be fun to photograph. And I was right!It was fun to be out at a show again, and those Australian accents were adorable. Below are more photos to enjoy! And go listen to that song. For your internet shares of the day:+ I am dreaming of summer and I love this backyard inspiration. Confession: The third photo down ran in Domino (or was it BluePrint?) magazine at least a dozen years ago and I cut it out and have used it as inspiration ever since. Does my yard look like that? No. But I still wish it did!+ Trading Spaces is coming back! Who was your favorite designer? Mine was Vern. Hilde? Insane. 

post by leslie

This morning I had a meeting at the cemetery to look at plots for burial. For me and Jamie. And wow, that's a way to start the day.But I love this cemetery so dang much, and I know it's where I want to be buried. And frankly, nothing is getting any cheaper, so I'm contemplating just buying it, getting it done and knowing where I'll be planted. So that's what I did after preschool drop off and before my shoot.Otherwise, I've just been prepping for more shoots this week, writing contracts and running errands like mad. How is your week treating you? Is it this snowy where you are? I have to admit, it's still pretty to me, even though it was only 11 degrees when I left the house today.For your internet shares of the day:+ The Shining as a romantic comedy. Ha!+ I would love to own this necklace.+ Amazing photos showing the beauty of winter.

post by leslie

Lately, I've been working on a dog project that I'll release in the month of May (don't worry, you'll hear all about it soon enough!), and I needed to photograph some beautiful accessories by the amazing Lucy & Co -- a local company that makes gorgeous bandanas, collars, leashes, etc for the canine crowd.So I brought Magda to the studio this weekend and we snapped images for about an hour. I had other ideas in mind for the collar and leash combo, but I need to train the girl a bit more before that's going to happen! I'll try to work on it this week. In t he meantime, here are some shots of her in these adorable bandanas! Enjoy! For your internet shares of the day:+ Jamie and I are completely hooked on this netflix show. + No signatures necessary?+ Cats are liquid.

post by leslie

Other than the freezing temperatures and the snow (and the horrendous basketball), we had a pretty solid weekend over here. Jamie and I made it out to see a play at the Guthrie, Ezra got to play with some of his favorite kids, and we had an amazing brunch with friends for Easter. Oh, and we played a ton of hide and seek (Ezra's favorite). I also made it out to a concert -- I'll probably show you those photos tomorrow.These are just a few snaps from around the house. One thing I noticed is that I've cut back on taking photos of the kid now that I stopped the frequent blog updates (I mean, I still take a lot, but not as many "just hanging out around the house" shots). And I missed them. So here you go! For your internet shares of the day:+ This article is both terrifying and gives me more determination to shop at farmer's markets this summer.+ Amazing kitchen / food tips from Bon Appétit (of course).+ One of the many reasons being a mother is exhausting and why I never want to choose a restaurant or a time or make any decision outside of work.

Post by Lucy

As I am sitting here watching snow fall outside my window, I'm reminded that this winter has thwarted three out of four of my vacation plans due to All. The. Snow. Two of those were just weekend trips up to the North Shore, but the most recent happened out of state. My husband, Jay, and I were planning to go to Smoky Mountains National Park, but *of course*, the day we were going to fly into Atlanta and drive the 4+ hours to the park, there was a winter storm dumping 10+ inches of snow on the region. Driving on mountain roads in a blizzard sounded like the absolute last thing I wanted to do, so, we ended up rerouting our trip and driving south instead.We spent about 45 minutes quickly making new plans for our four days away, and I think we threw together a pretty good itinerary! We toured around Savannah, stayed at a beach resort on Hilton Head Island for a couple of nights, headed to Charleston for a day, visited a few nature preserves, and stopped by Congaree National Park to hike around a bit.I am still going through the many, many photos I took, but below are a few of my favorites so far! Although it was vastly different than the Smoky Mountains trip I had hoped for, it was still a wonderful little getaway.  

post by leslie

It's barely hovering at 32 degrees outside as I write this, so I think it's fair to say that in April in Minnesota, we often have to go inside to find a little whiff of spring.This week, I was hired to photograph a huge flower show inside The Galleria (our *fancy* mall), and it was so lovely. Just walking through the doors and smelling all those blooms was glorious. I'm attaching a few of my favorite shots, but feel free to head there on your own -- it's free and a great way to spend a freezing Minnesota afternoon. Especially since it might snow next week. And for your internet shares of the day:+ Look at Utah being all progressive! This pleases me greatly (although I'm sad that legal action needs to be taken for such cases).+ Beautiful, modern Easter eggs.+ Gorgeous animal portraits. Squad goals.

post by  leslie

Besides the fabulous lions, elephants, rhino and giraffes, the gorillas at the zoo in Kansas were also amazing. They had a huge space to roam and cool things to climb on and they loved coming over to the glass and seeing the humans. Here are a few photos from our time with them. Oh the babies! They were so cute and I nearly died when one of the babies kept coming over to watch Ezra.For your internet share of the day, I love the idea of this app!It got me thinking about my favorite apps (besides instagram), so I thought I'd share them with you today.+ Much like the iNaturalist app above, I love this one for identifying birds.+ This game gets me through many stressful situations. And it's pretty!+ This app is used daily to chat with my mom friends who don't know when we'll find time to talk, but we can at least leave each other updates and see each other's faces while doing so.+ My Fitness Pal is great for keeping track of my food and exercise and water intake.+ Sky guide is wonderful for identifying stars and planets and finding the milky way when you're trying to take photos of it in the dark.

post by leslie

While back in Kansas, we spent one morning at the local zoo -- and it was fantastic. I have several photos to share (nothing too amazing as I only had my 50 mm lens on me, and that's not exactly ideal for shooting wild animals). But my favorite moment was when Ezra got to feed the giraffes. I'm showing those photos today, and I might show some other shots later this week. Right now I'm a bit busy trying to get my work from last week caught up.I must say, my friends and clients have been amazingly patient and gracious as I took time off to be with family after my grandmother's death. I appreciate that so, so much.For your internet shares of the day:+ I can't imagine being 11 and standing up for my race and my life like this. What a kid.+ This ad ran in our newspaper yesterday, and it piqued my interest. + What kids should be thinking about, instead of guns, is roller skates. And wow these are pretty.+ Need a pretty and easy dress for summer? I got you.+ And did you hear that Target has paired up with Hunter? This collection looks pretty rad.