Oh, you guys. You guys! Today was so hard and busy and exhausting and hot and sweaty and FUN and rewarding.Today I shot a big dog project for Zeus Jones called Pets of Lyndale. Lyndale Ave is a main street here in Minneapolis that they close down for a festival once a year called "Open Streets." Zeus Jones wanted me to set up a photo studio in their parking lot and do free pet portraits for the people at the festival that the agency would then post online the following day.?Is this assignment right up my alley or what?So today I photographed 99 dogs and one cat in 5.5 hours. If my math is correct, that's about 3.5 minutes between subjects. You guys, I was HUSTLING. But I am so, so happy with the results. You can see the final images here.The photo above was total chaos as the lovely and wonderful Meredith assisted me today and tried to help wrangle these westies into submission. We kinda lost that battle, but the photos were still fun. Poor Mere. She's such a dang good sport.Now I'm going to crawl off to bed. I think I'll work a half day tomorrow since I put in 15.5 hours today. See? I can make those decisions now that I'm my own boss. Hallelujah.

So in case you thought I was kidding when I told you last night's storm was out of control, these were the trees along Lake Calhoun this morning. Some blown straight over and some just tilted. We had some errands to run and trees all over the city looked like this. I also heard anywhere from 270,000 to 480,000 people were without power today.And yeah, we're feeling amazingly lucky that our trees were all OK and we didn't have any power disruptions.Also! If you are looking for something to do today (Sunday), I'll be taking FREE pet portraits over at Lyndale Open Streets. Cats! Dogs! Birds! Lizards! Mice! Whatever you've got, bring 'em along. I would love to give you a picture! You can see more information here.

Man, what a night! Today Ben and Andrea, two dear friends of mine, got married in the park. After the festivities, they had seven pedi-cabbers show up to bike a bunch of us over to the reception site, which was less than 2 miles away. It started to sprinkle, but nothing too major. Yet.On our way over, the rain became more steady (as you can see in this shot here), and when we had about six blocks to go, all hell broke loose. Umbrellas were blowing the wrong way, no one could see, the wind was OUT OF CONTROL. The bikers smartly pulled us into an overhang in front of the Radisson hotel, where the staff was kind enough to supply us with towels, a large table and a round of drinks while we waited for it to let up. Man, it was like that hipster armeggedon of Soundset 2012 all over again!But not to fear! We all made it safely to the reception, and a wonderful time was had by all. And now these two lovebirds have a fantastic story for the grandkids!

So today was my birthday! It was great. I had a very mellow day that allowed me to clean the house. I know that doesn't sound like fun, but having a clean house calms my mind immensely. I got flowers from both Jamie and Margaret (plus I have those peonies from yesterday!) and all kinds of wonderful gifts from friends and family -- most of which were bathroom related, which was super fun.After Jamie got home from work, we went to dinner with Chris and Alby at one of my favorite spots in town, Ngon Vietnamese Bistro. Oh man, was it delicious. And then we topped it off with dessert from Izzy's ice cream -- a truly lovely evening in St. Paul.I was also talking with my good friend Julie today, and we were discussing how time is so valuable in life -- much more so than money. I thought about that a lot today as?I talked to my friend Chizzy who was recently declared cancer-free after a year of fighting breast cancer (yay!) and?again tonight at dinner as Alby is bravely taking on some health issues of his own.While these talks are emotionally tough, they also reinforce my decision to try to make Shuttersmack work as a full-time business. Sure, I know it's risky. But if you're not taking chances in life, then you're really not living, now are you? Adventure and exploration have always been important to me, but this might be the largest risk I've ever taken. And you know what? This week has only confirmed that you gotta grab life by the horns and wrestle it to the ground.

Oh man, what a day! I finished up all my work... and I mean ALL of it. I set up the permanent "out of office," settled up my remaining vacation and tied up loose ends. I also was given some amazing gifts such as these beautiful flowers, or a hand-made pillow out of an old vita.mn cover that we KNIT, several bottles of wine, four pounds of homemade brisket and a plethora of nice cards and words and hugs and even a few tears.My favorite part might have been when I was walking out of the newsroom for the last time and people stood and did a slow clap as I left. That was really sweet. Not to mention the kind words people had for me. I'm going to miss these people so dang much. But that new computer system? Yeah, I'm giving that the bird all the way out.

Tonight was Magda's first day at obedience school. She was the one that wouldn't shut up during class. Then when the instructor used her as a model, she totally showed off and aced all the commands. Um... I wonder where she gets all this behavior from...

Anyway, other than the incessant barking, she was pretty good in class, and I commemorated the moment with this photo afterward. She's sitting behind the training hoop for the agility classes. After I snapped the photo I called her to see what she would do. And she hopped through perfectly to greet me with a kiss! Good girl!

Also, for those of you keeping score, tomorrow is my very last day at the Star Tribune. I'm hoping to do some freelance for vita.mn and the paper, so hopefully it's not my last time in the building or anything drastic like that, but it's still a big deal to me. I'm so sad to be leaving my wonderful colleagues behind, but I'm also super excited for all the adventures around the corner.

The good news is that this is the first time I've ever left a newsroom job and not moved across the country, having to say permanent goodbyes to my friends -- this time, I can set up lunches and happy hours and see them whenever I want. Bonus!

I know, I know. It's only two weeks in and I'm breaking the rules! But Magda was a PILL today, and I ran her photo yesterday, and Merlin here was so sweet and loving that I thought I'd give him a chance at "stardom" on this Monday.

First off, let's discuss the Viszla. Before leaving for work today she had been for a walk, dragged rugs throughout the house (to rooms they didn't belong in), terrorized poor Merlin, eaten giant holes in large rubber balls (solid rubber) and broken an antique mirror. Kinda unfortunate that now she'll have bad luck for at least half of her life, eh?

Then I got home from work when she tried to eat my lunch, pulled dirty dishes off of the counter, ate part of a table cloth, knocked over a bunch of books from a shelf to the floor, knocked over a plant getting dirt everywhere and disembowled several stuffed animals throughout the house. Seriously. I am so tired, I do not know how parents of small boys do this. At least I can lock her up in her crate and leave for a bit.

I know it's just puppyhood, but man, those obedience classes that start tomorrow? They cannot come fast enough. And I should also say that she has been VERY good all week long and that I realize these bad days are to be expected.

Now, Merlin here? He's been a star today. We had a nice, long walk this morning where he was off-leash the whole time. Every time I've entered the room today he has stood wagging his tail (all flirty like) and he's been leaning into me for affection all day. At least it's a nice balance to his sister. Also? When I took this photo? A poodle walked right in front of the house, and while he did bark, he didn't move because I had told him to stay. This is why he gets on the blog today. Superstar.

I snapped this photo today just before I was heading out for a family session. First, let me explain that today was full of sunshine. It was gorgeous out.

Until right before I was about to have my shoot down at the lake! All TEN family members had gathered, we had laid out a picnic blanket... and then the dark clouds rolled in, the wind kicked up and huge raindrops began to fall. So... the shoot was cancelled. Good thing I took this one though, eh? Miss Magda makes a pretty good backup.