How cute is this kid!? So many parents hire me to photograph their newborns, but what I really love are the kids that are between five and eight months old -- they have so much more personality! I mean, look at that face!This kiddo was my late-afternoon shoot today, which I was a touch late to because of Magda's trip to the emergency vet. You will get to hear all about it in tomorrow's "Monday With Magda" post, but for now just know that I am beat and today's easy kid with the big expressions was just what I needed.For today's internet share, how about the fact that you can ride Pete Campbell's bed all the way to the ceiling. You know you want to click on that.

Today was all about rest and recovery. Even for Magda up there, who downed a block of boursin cheese off the dining room table last night and spent the day moping around, avoiding her food and barfing. The cheese was consumed before her making out with my buddy Ben up there.  Besides the excitement of the sick pup today, there was some napping, some cleaning and the watching of some Homeland. Pretty solid Saturday.For your internet share of the day, I'm sending you to bees that can smell cancer. FASCINATING.

Sometimes you have a few friends over, and you take them down to your photo studio and everyone chooses their own terrifying mustache and/or holiday prop and we take photos laughing until the pregnant lady's hormones take over and we've gone from total laughter to total tears, which just makes us all laugh even harder.I have good friends. Man, tonight was fun.

How cool are these swords? You see them in movies all the time, but these are in a display at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, and the detailing on the handles is pretty rad.I was over at the museum tonight because they have this event called Third Thursdays where they open the museum up at night, they have a bar and a dj (or sometimes live music), and it's a pretty fun way to explore the art. And let me say it's about seven thousand times better than on a Saturday in the winter when every family and toddler in the universe appears to be there. Don't get me wrong, I do love kids. But shrieking sometimes takes away from my experience.Tonight's event was a touch different in that they showcased a new Northern Grade shop that they've opened in the museum (which features amazing clothes, leather works and Fairbault blankets, for example) as well as a new restaurant. Best yet? They served free wine and coffee. Speaking my language!For your internet share of the day, I'm gonna show you some amazing portraits made out of NAILS. Stunning.

Hooo boy, did this girl demand some attention today. There was the destruction of toilet paper, the diving off of chairs to grab items from the fireplace mantel, the pulling of a very large rug from the floor up onto the couch and then eating a hole in the middle of it... I mean, she was BUSY.We also had acupuncture with the collie today, which again was fantastic. Because that boy? He is a star. A star who does not eat the toilet paper.For your internet share of the day, how 'bout some extremely close-up photos of snowflakes!? Rad.

So let's talk about Martha Stewart, eh? I'm sure by now many of you have read about her twitter feed and how horrible her food photos are (shocking!). If you haven't, click on that link over there (we'll consider it the Internet Share of the Day) and then get back to me...Are we all caught up now? OK. Here we go.So I, too, am kind of amazed at how bad her food photos are. I mean, I don't expect everyone to be able to take great pictures of their meals with their cell phones. But I *do* expect her to know the difference between good photos and total crap. That's part of her brand, you know? And frankly, I'm surprised she hasn't hired some professional to do her social media photos for her. In fact, now that I think about it, I kind of adore the fact that she hasn't. It means she is, in fact, human, like the rest of us...Anyway! Reading about this gave me an idea. How about I give some tips on instagramming your food with your cell phone and how to make it look better than Martha? I mean, this is our ONE CHANCE to one up this woman, amIright? And before I begin, I want to admit that I am not the best food photographer -- I reference two of my favorites at the bottom of the post -- but these are some tips that I thought I would share to help everyone improve. I just want to clarify that I am not a master of this (just yet).So here are some tips on taking better food photos with your phone:1. Do NOT, I repeat, do NOT use the flash on your phone, under any circumstances, to photograph food. It reflects badly and makes horrible shadows and will change the color of the food. Trust me, if you have to use your flash, it's best left off of social media.2. This means that the best food images are shot in natural light. Which means if you love taking images of your food, you should ask for tables near windows. I do it all the time -- it's not as weird as you think.3. This also means that in Minnesota between October and May you will only be photographing breakfast and lunch. I know you eat amazing dinners. Really, I do. But unless you have amazing light in the restaurant you are dining in, the photos will be awful -- trust me. Better yet, trust Martha.4. Try different angles! Shoot straight down! Shoot close up! Shoot from the side!5. Try styling your images by laying a fork across the plate. Maybe use the napkin in a classy fashion or a vase from the table.6. Pay attention to what's going on in the background! Is your date in a horrible Zubas-style sweatshirt? Then don't have them in the background!7. Take 4-5 images in the "camera" setting of your phone, then choose the best one for instagram. Don't just shoot one using the app and call it good.8. For God's sake, wipe off the lens of your camera phone. All that oil and grease from your fingers is making the photos have this weird out-of-focus "glowing" effect and your followers are making fun of you behind your back. Ok, maybe it's just me doing that.9. Choose a warmer filter. You know what? Brannan is my favorite filter of all time. But you know what else? It makes all food look like crap. Personally, I like Valencia and Mayfair.10. See that little drop of water icon in instagram? That's the tilt-shift effect. Play with that. Make your food in focus and the background blurry. It will help draw attention to the best part of the photo.Do you have other tips? Leave them in the comments! Need some inspiration? Here are two of my favorite food photographers. Look at what they are doing, and try to match it.* The photo above is of the pot roast at the Modern Cafe -- one of my favorite dishes in town. I also instagrammed it.

And if you missed the final shots, here are some of my favorites over here.

Because where else would you nap except on top of all the clean laundry? Ahem. I guess this is a reminder to fold and put away the laundry pronto, eh? This little girl is so smart and mischievous when she doesn't get her walks -- it amazes me. Today I was slammed (and not in a happy or fun way) and I didn't have time to get walk her. Man, did I pay for that. She kept trotting into my office with wadded up tissues and Q-tips in her mouth this afternoon. I kept taking them away and throwing them in the trash, and she kept bringing them back to me. Finally, I followed her to see where all this trash was coming from.Our bathroom has one of those trash cans with a foot pedal that you use to open it. You know, to keep the dogs out. (!)I watched her put her paw on the pedal, lean forward, and examine which piece of trash to pull out next.Ladies and gentlemen? We are in so much trouble.For your internet share of the day, I'm sending you to this hilarious voicemail that was left in Texas. This made me laugh so hard today, and man did I need it.Oh! And before I forget! I wrapped up the dog photos from the big holiday shoot last week. I posted a few of my favorites over here -- enjoy!