Leo is a happy, happy boy. And who wouldn't be on such a lovely day as today? Man, it was just perfect out. I even took a short break from work to walk the dogs this afternoon.The best part about this shoot was that I hadn't seen Leo in about a year, and it was so fun to see him talking and to see just how much he had grown up. Also? Getting paid to work outside? Not a bad perk either.

So several years ago we had this tradition at the newspaper. Every Wednesday night was "Salad Night" and a group of the copy editors (plus me) would bring one or two salad ingredients to work. We would then create a giant salad bar with whatever we had scrounged together, and we would all sit down and have a healthy dinner while catching up before deadline. It was always a really good time, and it got me to try a load of new vegetables that I would never have bought or prepared otherwise (like beets, for example).But then, as the newspaper business went down the shitter (sorry Dad -- that's the best way to describe it), management decided to eliminate most of the copy desk, and with only a few of us remaining there was a) not enough people left to make salad night work and b) not enough time to actually sit down and have dinner anyway. And this lovely tradition disappeared.Until tonight.A small group of us decided to reunite and catch up and have another go at it this evening, and man, was it good to see everyone together again. Just to give you an idea, here's what we had on hand: lettuce, tomatoes, avocado, tuna, salmon, cabbage coleslaw, chicken laab (thai spiced/marinated ground chicken -- sooooo good), chickpeas, almonds, olives, radishes, hummus, a loaf of fresh bread (and butter), cucumbers, smoked turkey and chips and salsa. Not a bad spread at all. Now, if we can only figure out how to keep this thing going...

I woke up around 7 this morning to start working on all these wedding photos, and I wrapped up the first group around 7:30 pm. Do I know how to party or what? Yeah. So then I figured I should go for a bike ride a) because I needed to stretch my legs and get some exercise and b) I needed a photo for today, and I thought I could shoot something down at the lakes.So I loaded up my camera and hopped on my bike. I got to the lake, found a bunch of lovely sailboats, took out my camera and .... realized I left my memory card at home. D'oh! So I did what any self-respecting independent woman would do, and I called my man. Luckily, he was home and drove a memory card to me so I could get some shots in. And don't worry, I biked back home. I wasn't going to be *that* lazy and hitch a ride. This time.

This is one of my favorite ways to start the day -- with eggs, tomato and avocado. Miss Margaret came by this morning for breakfast before we spent some quality time talking color and photo treatments for our wedding pictures from the weekend.Knowing how much work I have ahead of me, I decided to take the rest of the day off of work. I went to a movie (The Help -- which was fantastic), and then Jamie and I made a big dinner and invited Mere over to help us eat all the delicious flank steak we had prepared. So Memphis and Merlin got to greet (ie lick to death) TWO of my girlfriends today. See? Everyone in the family was happy.

Hoorah! I made it through four weddings in eight days! Tonight's ceremony was over at the Semple Mansion, which I had not shot in before -- and man, was that lovely. This is a more unconventional shot from the day, but I loved the moment and the light, so there you go. Plus, you've seen a lot of brides & grooms lately, so I thought something more artsy would be all right.And for my next magic trick, I will collapse into bed and try to get that damn Black Eyed Peas song out of my head. And I will try not to think about how I missed P.O.S. play for free tonight.

Y'all know I've been busy with a bunch of weddings, but tonight two of my good friends tied the knot. In other words, you had the photographer trying to shoot images while wiping tears away and all sorts of professionalism like that. Also? Can you tell these are my buddies? Photos at First Ave? OKAY!I am so happy for this couple. They are just so good with each other, and it was so fun to meet their families and share this wonderful day with them. Congrats, you two!P.S. The lovely Margaret shot this wedding with me, and you can see one of her great shots over here. Just in case you can't get enough of these cuties.

So this photo isn't really technically very good or interesting or well composed, but I thought you guys might like to see where all the, um, "magic" happens. As you can see, the Apple store got the best of me, but I at least showed some restraint and decided to get the more modest 21.5" monitor instead of the 27". See? Right there? A very small amount of self control. (Which obviously I do not have when it comes to screen prints, as you can tell from this one small corner of the room.)Anyway, I brought this puppy home around 7 tonight and spent the evening getting my desk all set up. And as much as I am loving this new machine, you know what I'm liking even more? These *amazing* Bose desk speakers that my man picked up for me today at Best Buy. The sound is absolutely incredible, and will inspire me through tons of work, I can tell already.Wedding season? Come and get me. I am now ready. *cracks knuckles*