Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm back at Tilia. Slowly making my way down the menu and shooting every item, it seems like. This is the shrimp dish, and it's what I had for dinner tonight. It was marvelous.We met up with Chris and Alby again tonight, and again my face hurt from laughing. Not only are they witty and wonderfully funny just in conversation, but they have this arsenal of jokes that they bring out at the end of mealtime as well.The four of us ordered and shared a ton of food (pasta! burgers! tortas! fries! shrimp! soup! bacon sandwiches! dessert!), which made me glad that Jamie and I at least biked over to the restaurant. I know it's less than a mile away, but at least I burned off... maybe a bite or two of my dinner. And yes, I'm now the foursquare mayor. Let's see how long I can hang onto that title...

It has been raining a ton around here, and man do I love the summer thunderstorms. Sleeping with the windows open at night listening to the thunder in the distance? And the rain on the roof? That's some good stuff. The only downside is that I'm not getting to bike as much as I wanted ... but I have the rest of the summer for that. So for now, I'll take the rain.

Tonight was Books and Bars -- the monthly "book club" that I've been attending. Er, that I attended for the second time tonight.So here's the deal, I love to read. I mean, seriously love to read. I've been this way since I was a kid. I start a book and it kind of takes over and wow, do I love escaping into other people's lives and worlds etc. (Which also might explain my adoration for good television.)But book clubs are generally not for me. And tonight kind of affirmed that. The thing is, I adore the host of Books and Bars. Great dialogue, great questions, always good humor. The location? One of my favorites. Delicious food, cozy atmosphere and awesome drink specials. The reading list? So far it has been superb.I just... I don't seem to like the people that like to go to book clubs. Wow. Bring on the hate mail, eh? But seriously, there are always pockets of folks in the room that just pile on the negativity ("this was the worst written book ever. Sure the story was good, but that sentence construction!" or whatever the critique is). Now, don't get me wrong, when a book is bad, that's worth discussing. But it *seems* that these pockets of people are critical of EVERYTHING. My God, if you hated the book that much DON'T FINISH IT. SKIP BOOK CLUB. Save us all. Please. Ok, rant over.Well wait, not quite. There was this other part of book club that bothered me tonight. So this month's selection was "The Help," which delves into the Civil Rights movement in the sixties and the relationship between white women and their hired maids in Alabama during this time.Several people at book club had either lived in the South or had grown up with black "maids in uniform" who babysat and cleaned the house, so many others in the room were interested to hear what those with that perspective thought of the story. This one person admitted, to the room full of 60-70 people, that they were raised by a black maid in uniform until they were 18 and they lived in Alabama and we all just didn't understand the culture down there because to this day said person* could not remember the maid's name. You know, the maid that worked for the family for 18 years.Now, I'm not really good with names. But I still remember my babysitters' names from childhood and the name of the handyman my parents hired, and the name of the woman that watched me at her house while my parents were at work etc. etc. I'm not sure if that example shared in book club was "societal influence" or "racism" or just an instance of the most self-centered behavior I have witnessed to date. My God, did that make an impression.*Also, the said southerner looked to be in their late-20s, so this was not a case of "old-age" or whatever.

Today was full of work. Photo editing and planning and meeting and invoicing and paperwork. And then I took a break and kidnapped Meredith and we went to a happy hour over at the Red Stag where I got to meet the lovely Sara and Eliesa in real life (I have known them on the internets for awhile now). That proved to be a much-needed reprieve from the computer, and wow does that place have yummy fries.When I dropped Mere back home, I ran inside and snapped a few shots of her decor. It's very bohemian in her place and very homey and chill. I like it. Nice and relaxing.Then I came home and got back to work. I gotta say, I have an insanely busy week ahead of me. But that's ok, because then I get to escape to the beach for a few days, and that should be totally worth it!

What an awesome day. It started with brunch at Tilia and then shopping with Mom (and finding new summer dresses) and then an early Ben Nichols show at The Entry (see above) and then finished with Titus Andronicus at First Avenue. So yeah -- an outstanding day all around.The photo is (obviously) from the Ben Nichols show. It's been a long time since I've seen him play in a venue that small, and it was fantastic. There were shots of whiskey, very old songs played, very new songs played, sing-alongs with the crowd, forgotten lyrics and the adamant hatred of You Tube. Just a great show.Next, I mosied next door to First Avenue to catch Titus Andronicus open for Okkervil River. Titus was just ... stunning? face melting? mind blowing? Yes to all of that. I was not able to get a photo pass to the mainroom tonight, so I sent my camera home with The Man (not the government, but rather my husband) and attended this show with Meredith. And since I wasn't shooting, I thought it would be a great opportunity to see them play from the mosh pit. And you know what? I was totally right.This was my favorite show of theirs (well... ok, maybe a tie for the one with Free Energy) and it was so great not to worry about getting the right shot, but instead to just hear the music and fight the mosh pit. I just smiled and smiled and smiled. But I suspect I might be a tad sore tomorrow...If you want to see the rest of the Ben Nichols shots, they are over here. Man, I hope he comes back and does this again. Oh, and yes let's hope he continues the trend of shirts with color as opposed to his standard uniform of the white v-neck t-shirt. (What? Yeah, I've seen him a lot. Yeah, I'm tired of shooting that plain white t-shirt. No, I'm not a creepy stalker.)

I got up bright and early again this morning for another engagement shoot down at the lakes. It was really stunning out there. As much as I detest setting the alarm clock on my weekend, the still water and cool air always make a fantastic start to the day. And this couple was a ton of fun to shoot as well -- lots of laughing and practical jokes.After the shoot, I took Mom to the farmer's market and then we did a little shopping over at TJ Maxx. Ben Nichols was in town doing a benefit show today, but I opted to spend the afternoon with Mom instead. I'm gonna catch him over at The Entry tomorrow night anyway, along with Titus Andronicus at First Avenue. I know, right? I love it when all my favorite bands are under one roof! So (hopefully) you'll get photos of that tomorrow.

Mmmm... today was dark and rainy and cool and delicious. I got so much work done it was almost criminal. And then Mom arrived! She loves lobster, and I knew that the Smack Shack was serving at night over at the 1029 bar in Northeast. And yeah, that was a big hit with Mom.We came back home, ate our *enormous* lobster rolls and sat on the front porch watching and listening to the spring rain. Pretty nice day, eh?

Look at those lashes! Eero here is almost four weeks old (and yes, time flies) and his parents stopped by today for a quick visit. This little guy slept the entire time... again. Someday maybe I'll get to see what color his eyes are! But until then I'll just be happy that he's so content and sleeping so well.But this fun surprise visit wasn't the only good part of my day. I've got some irons in the fire for projects at work that are going really well and I'm really excited about and I'm not allowed to talk about. So... how about I share what I *can* talk about?! Today our swimsuit issue came out! Remember when I shot this? Well here are the results from that day! I suggest the video for the best look at what these shoots are like. I'm not *in* the video (someone here hates being on camera) but I assemble the team for this kind of job and oversee the look of it all. And I get paid! To do what I love! Yes, life is good.