For those of you who are visiting this blog, “Humpdates” are my weekly Wednesday posts about what is going on in my personal life.  If you want to skip this and get on to the photos, simply scroll down, or use the Category links to the right.

Sadly I don’t have nearly as much fun stuff to share with you all today. This past week has been all about relaxing and enjoying my week off before things start to get insane again.

Whenever I get free time, typically that translates into me spending lots of money. I guess after I have been working so hard to earn money, the best reward is to go out and splurge! This weekend Jason and I continued with our master bedroom remodel. We purchased a few pieces of furniture (thank you, Ikea), sold a few pieces of furniture (thank you, Craigslist), and I personally added a ton of items to my “Home Decor Wishlist” (thank you, Hobby Lobby). When we moved in here, everyone warned me that I would be in home decorating purgatory for the rest of my life.. Man, were they right! I feel like I will be decorating and redecorating for the rest of my life!

I also made a very exciting purchase yesterday….

Finally!! I have been whining about wanting a Blackberry for ages, but yesterday AT&T had a $99 PDA sale and I snatched it up while I had the chance. So far, I love it And it’s even Aggie maroon!! (Okay technically it’s “red” but I say it’s maroon!)

This weekend Jason’s parents are coming into town, which I am excited about. I love his family! I am also finally shooting a wedding again (it’s been 7 weeks, isn’t that crazy?), which marks the start of 5 wedding-filled weekends in a row. I told myself I would never do more than three in a row after last year’s run of seven weddings straight, but thankfully the second and fourth weeks are destination trips that will be more like vacations than work.

Speaking of which, a week from tomorrow I will be in NYC for the first time in my life! I am so excited to be going, especially with Jason, and especially with Carrie & Preston, a super-fun Aggie couple whose engagement session I will be shooting there. They have the funniest “how we met” story that I can’t wait to share with you all soon!

How about American Idol? I’ve been too bitter to talk about it lately because I was devastated that my friend and fellow Ag Jason Castro got the boot, and I also loved Syesha so I was even sadder when she was knocked out. I have been saying since week one that no one stood a chance against David Archuleta, and I think last night proved that. I think David Cook will be better off on his own anyway.. the AI honchos always turn their winners into a typical formulaic teen pop star, and while David Archuleta can totally take that and run with it, I think it would make a rocker like David Cook miserable. What do you guys think?

Alright that’s it for today… If you’ve been to New York, please leave me a comment and tell me what I should do/see/eat while I’m there. I am totally open to suggestions!

I started this morning off with 152 new (I use that term loosely, since they go back sporadically for months) e-mails and over 2,000 spam messages, and I am officially CLEANED OUT! Woohoo!!!  Now I just have this to deal with:

Yikes!  This makes me look a lot popular than I really am, I swear.

With that said… I do get an absurd amount of e-mail, so all too often little things fall between the cracks. If you are a client (or potential client) and you have contacted me in the past month or so and haven’t received a response, please e-mail me again and let me know and I promise that answering you will be my highest priority.

Now off to answer the four e-mails I got in the course of writing this post!

Little did you all know that not only am I a wedding photographer, but I am also a matchmaker, as well! I totally claim credit for facilitating Britt & Corey’s marriage, and now I can add Alli and Matt’s marriage to my repertoire. Story time!

I am a bit of a goody two shoes, and for the most part, I try to follow the letter of the law, so I never had so much as a sip of alcohol until my 21st birthday. My roommates at the time, Brittani and Allison, decided to celebrate the momentous occasion with a big birthday party (another first for me.. My Christmas Eve birthday never lent itself well to parties as a child ). Well, as I’m sure you can imagine, I had a pretty looooooow tolerance, and after about one cup of trashcan punch, I was completely useless. Luckily when I have too much to drink I tend to get really friendly, so I allegedly (I have no knowledge of anything after the first drink) wandered around the street, inviting random strangers to my birthday party. One of those strangers was Matt. He and his buddies came over, he met my lovely roommate Allison, and the rest is history.
Naturally, when they got engaged, there was no way I was going to let anyone else photograph their wedding but me! I know people say not to work with your friends, but I do it all the time, and it has always been a wonderful experience for me.

Alli and Matt originally wanted to shoot near a park of some sort, but while I was driving into the Woodlands I noticed a carnival on the ride of the road, and KNEW we had to shoot there. However, I wanted to get them the nature-y shots they wanted, so we found a small clearing with a lot of pretty trees and great light near the carnival to shoot at first.

They also brought along some letters so we could have a little fun making them a Save The Date card!

And across the street from the clearing was this lovely factory thing.. Not the most romantic background but the light was killer!

Next it was off to the CARNIVAL!

Matt checking out Alli’s nice big rock.. He did a great job picking it out!

I love bright, colorful murals!

I had this brilliant Idea to take photos of them on a rollercoaster.  Not my brightest moment - the photos are super fun, but after about five seconds of staring through that viewfinder, my stomach was not in a good place

As the sun set, the lights of the carnival came on, kids started arriving in droves, and the whole place got chaotic.  I love how this photo sort of symbolizes that, the whole world is spinning around like crazy but these two are focused on each other

I can’t wait to return to the beautiful Woodlands in September for their wedding!

Late for Humpdates AGAIN! I know, I am so bad.. I am either a reeeeally bad blogger, or my life is just so incredibly exciting that I am too overwhelmed to blog! I prefer to think it’s the latter
Luckily, I have quite a bit to talk about this week! This past weekend was one of my first weekends in town, at home, with virtually nothing to do, in well over a month. I have been running around like crazy lately, and starting in June & July things will get even crazier, so I am enjoying this time off while I have it.

Friday, Jason and I went to Taste of Addison to see Gavin DeGraw in concert.  Huge clouds of cigarette smoke (and other kinds of smoke…) and hoardes of high schoolers kept us from seeing a lot of the concert, but we did manage to meet up with some friends and relax a little bit.

On Saturday Jason and I headed to a party with some of his work friends. It was a crawfish boil, and I know that as a Texan (living in such close proximity to Louisiana and having so many Louisianian friends) I am supposed to love crawfish, but I don’t. I hate it!! I hate the idea of boiling something alive, even a tiny little crawfish. I can’t bear the thought of murdering a poor innocent creature just so I can eat it. I know what you’re thinking.. No, I am not a vegetarian, but seeing them boil those crawfish sure made me consider it
I also shot Rebecca’s bridal session on Saturday. I am really excited about Rebecca’s wedding because it is going to be so unique and personal.. The reception is going to be held at her parents’ house in McKinney, which is actually a state landmark (with a plaque and everything). I think I might even get to cross one thing off my wishlist - but we’ll have to wait and see!

Sunday, of course, was Mother’s Day, and since I have the coolest, awesomest, best mom in the world, I was super excited to spend the day with her. She came over early Sunday morning, and despite it being HER day, she brought ME a gift….

Mmmmm, cupcakes.. Red velvet cupcakes! YUMMMMM! While Jason was making his infamous spaghetti (best. spaghetti. EVER. If you don’t believe me, you’re welcome to come over ANYTIME so we can prove it to you!), Mom and I decorated the cupcakes with coconut, pecans, and chocolate shavings. Of course we had to keep taste testing them, just to make sure they were up to par After the delicious lunch we went to see Horton Hears a Who, which is a GREAT movie for anyone of any age. I highly recommend it!

Monday was FUN DAY! My dear friend Jessica Paup is graduating from SMU’s MBA program next weekend, so to celebrate her amazing achievement, we decided to take a day off and head to Turner Falls, OK for a day of hiking, swimming, and relaxing. J Paup and I rarely get to spend time together, so I took along my trusty G9 to document this momentous occasion.

Once we arrived at the park, we headed straight for the waterfall, but on the way we saw this amazing caste built into the side of the hill.  Apparently some doctor decided to build himself a castle way back in the 30’s, and just lived out here in the middle of nowhere in his castle overlooking the waterfall.  How awesome is that!??  The castle is very cool, but also extremely creepy, but I think it would be a really neat location for a wedding.. Any brides out there up for the task??

Shortly after that we arrived at the heart of the park, Turner Falls, a 77 foot natural waterfall.

If you look to the right of the falls, you will see a small hole carved in the side of the cliffs.  That’s Wagon Wheel Cave.  Paup and I decided that it might be fun to do a little rock climbing a check the cave out.  Little did we know we would risk our LIVES in the process.. Yikes!!  Here’s a closer view, plus our view from the top looking down onto the water.

Me, halfway up the cliff, hanging on for dear life, watching my short life flash before my eyes.

And finally at the top, Paup and I are showing off our rock-climbing prowess

A little self-portrait to commemorate the occasion.. I think I might have hit the zoom button.. Whoops!!

Jess, showing off her sexy side.  Will someone PUH-LEEZE marry this woman so I can take some photos of her in a wedding gown?  She is a total catch, sexy and fun and way smart to boot!

After going for a quick dip in the ffffrrrreeeeeeeeeezzziiinnnggg cold water and laying out in the sun, we decided to hike a little further into the woods.  We came upon this path, that made me think of the Robert Frost poem…

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence
Two roads divulged in a yellow wood
And I, I took the one less traveled by
And that has made all the difference.

(at least I hope that’s how it goes, I wrote it from memory!)

It really made me stop and thinking about how that poem describes my life.  When I graduated college, I had two choices.  Find a nice, stable, everyday job that would give me a safe, regular income, or take a huge risk and start my own business doing something I loved.  Although it terrified me, I took the plunge and took the road less traveled, and it has changed my life in countless, wonderful ways.  I hope that all of you have a chance in your life to take the road less traveled, and I hope that it turns out as a blessing to you as it has been for me!

Anyway, Paup and I came across this small hidden area with a real babbling brook, so we decided to sit and relax and read for a bit.

As I listened to the sounds of the stream, I started on a book that I should have read by now, but haven’t ever quite finished, Catcher in the Rye.  I read Perks of Being a Wallflower last week and loved it - hopefully Holden is as interesting as Charlie was!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjG9aiaqZ44]

Finally our time at Turner Falls was over, so we headed back to civilization.  But before we returned to the Lone Star State, we had to fulfill a promise to Jessica’s dad and stop at a Chocktaw casino on our way back!  Look how excited we are to be in a casino for the very first time!

Sadly, it wasn’t quite as fun as we expected.  Lots of cigarette smoke (indoors - who does that??), lots of old people, and LOTS LOTS LOTS of slot machines.  We decided to try some slot machines, just to see what all the fuss was about.  Jess couldn’t wait to collect her winnings, while I was a little worried about developing a gambling problem…

I didn’t do too badly though.. I managed to hit a jackpot!  Check out my winnings!!  WOOHOO!!

With heavy hearts, we headed back home.. Although I missed the Welcome to Oklahoma sign, luckily my catlike reflexes were able to snap a photo of the Welcome to Texas sign.  This is why they pay me the big bucks, folks….

It was such a great day, not only to see some places and experience some things I have never done before, but also to spend quality time with one of my favorite people in the world.  Paup, let’s not wait another six months to hang out, okay??

Something else cool that happened this weekend - I finally saw the Lord of the Rings trilogy!!  I was always a fantasy geek growing up (I worked in a comic book store for years as a teenager), but for some reason I never actually read LOTR, and I was anxious to see why everyone freaked out over it so much.  Now I understand - WOW - what a great story!!  The movie was epic, and there was so much detail and subtext in everything.  It definitely makes me anxious to read the books now!

Okay, that’s it for this week.. WHEW - for an off week, I sure was busy!!  Luckily this week truly is an off week, I have nothing planned other than a couple of portrait sessions.

Leave me a message and give me a suggestion for something fun to do this weekend!

In the interest of full disclosure, I am going to tell you all that my dear friend Juls is, in fact, NOT getting married. When I found out I would be visiting Vail, I searched high and low for a real bride to pose for me in the snowy mountain weather, but alas, there was no one to be found. I can’t imagine why someone wouldn’t want to put on a skimpy dress they spent several thousand dollars on and go traipsing through the muddy snow in sub-freezing temperatures.. go figure! Luckily I have the best friends ever, and Juls agreed to pose as a bride so I could add some mountain-esque shots to my portfolio.

I have one more secret to tell you about this shoot, but before I drop that bomb, I want to show off the photos!

After awhile the snow began to get to us so we headed inside the lodge for some steaming hot photos!

And a few more before we ran home to bundle up by the fire..

So about that other secret? Well, once I had found my “bride,” there was just the problem of finding the dress… After hours and hours of searching through Vail’s pretty sad supply of clothing stores and racking our brains trying to figure out how to turn clearance-sale floral patterned sundresses into bridal gowns, we finally decided to just take a risk and MAKE our own wedding dress. With some fabric, a needle, and lots of white thread, we managed to throw together Juls’ very sexy, very svelte little white dress. Granted, it’s no Vera Wang, but we both think it served its purpose well! Leave a comment and let me know what you think!

Hopefully I didn’t curse Juls into not getting married ever.. If you think this is the hottest, sexiest woman you have ever met, and you live in or around the Vail, Colorado area, and you are a hot sexy young man yourself.. Let me know, I will totally play matchmaker

Today I am off to the spectacular Turner Falls in Oklahoma for some much needed R&R with one of my bestest friends in the world, J Paup.  I will be back in the office tomorrow morning!

Here is a photo from one of my portrait shoots in Vail just to whet your appetite a bit….

See you tomorrow!