I'm no good...

...at keeping up with this blog. Sheesh. If I spent half as much time writing as I do reading other people's blogs I'd have one hell of a blog. I just...eh...am lazy? I don't know. :)

Anyways. I'm not lazy, I just have a bad habit of burning the candle at both ends and keeping up with my personal blog is last on my priority list. You know, right down there with sleeping more than 4 hours a night. If I were a dinosaur - I'd be Multitaskasaurus Rex.

**all laptop users please read**all laptop users please read**all laptop users please read**all laptop users please read**all laptop users please read**all laptop users please read**all laptop users please read**
First and foremost, on my travels across the blog-o-sphere tonight I came across something HORRIFYING. Actually - it all started with updating my twitter...and I follow Gary Fong's twitter...which led me to Gary Fongs latest blog post....which led me to Jessica Hughes Blog. Check out her blog. Read what happened to her. Please be advised that it contains graphic images. They're gross and disgusting - but totally making me realize I need to TURN OFF my computer so it does not CATCH ON FIRE. Aaaaand, they're bad but, no eyeballs or guts are hanging out. I'm a weenie - and I handled them without passing out. Some things need to be seen to get the point across. So anyways - go there. NOW. I'll wait....

Ok so - sometimes, during my travels to other people's (read: mainly other photographer's) blogs I feel worse than I did when I began. I feel like an total newbie as far as photography goes. I've never (knock on wood) had a client complain. In fact, every client I've had has been thrilled with the result. But I look at blogs like Bobbi & Mike, Jessica Hughes, David Jay, and yeah - I realize they're all awesome...and that's the problem - I hate being mediocre at ANYTHING. I hate knowing there are things out there I don't know HOW to do. I mean, I guess it's my fault for never following all 8,000 interests of mine in college wholeheartedly - but money ran out - I had to pick SOMETHING! I mean - just look at the variety of jobs I've had...and I loved them all! I love engineering and everything about it (except that I have no window). I love photography. I love reading. So why can't I just pick one damn thing and rock it? I don't know. I want to be good at everything. Especially being a mom. So - that makes me realize I can't do it all. Be it all. But dammit - I'm going to try my hardest so in 5 years, I rock the wedding photography world. We will see I guess. I'm going to take more classes soon and more workshops. Considering I've been to one class in my whole life on photography - everything else is self taught OR a la Monica Z in our impromptu holy-crap-how-do-I-do-this sessions...I think I'm doing alright. But, then, I also want to rock out at my 9-5. Oh - who knows where I'll be in 5 years. Maybe we'll be bums on the beach in the Bahamas. Yes please.

Long story short - I hate that I'm limited by not having a studio. So I'm breaking down and buying some studio equipment. Next up - win the lottery so I can build said studio.

Ok - I'm way behind on editing, because I can't stop reading other people's business...and because I've just turned a quick in-and-out blog post into a long winded ramblingness of nothing. I have to be at work in 7 hours and 45 minutes. So - I better get cracking on that to-do list I wrote at 7 am, huh?

Where's that bag of Oreos?

~*Niki

Oh and p.s. if anyone wants to see my current working conditions...check out this. What's this? Where am I supposed to sleep? Oh yes. That little blue corner on the right side of the bed. Sah-weet. Piper's bed is available. I might check into that.

A few things...

{1} Dancing with the stars is ridiculous. It'd be entertaining to watch if these "Stars" were decent like they were back in the day. I'd just rather watch two nights of professional ballroom dancing a week than two nights of half a couple of professional ballroom dancing. I think that the men professionals are at a severe disadvantage with their partners. The men "stars" don't have to do as many leaps, turns, splits, flying, etc as the women "stars." At least Susan Lucci finally got voted off. Brooke Burke, bless her Hooter-loving heart...she's gorgeous. But. She. Can't. Dance. Hell, I'd like a chance to jitterbug on TV. Maybe in 10 years it will be "Dancing with the Mommies." If Lance Bass doesn't win, I will forever NOT watch it. Not because I'm a Lance Bass fan, but because he's the only one I think is talented. (And he's dancing with my favorite So You Think You Can Dance Alum, Lacey Schwimmer)

{2} I hate to jynx us - but I do believe Piper is 75% potty trained. Twenty minutes ago I would have given it a 50%, but she just went poo on her own in the potty. In her potty. So that means I have to clean it up. Ew. Mommy has a gagging problem.

{3} I hate snow. I hate ice. I hate driving in snow. I hate idiots who can't drive in snow, but drive in it anyways. I hate when cities don't budget for enough salt so they don't salt the roads ahead of time until the snow is 2" thick and I slide through the intersection and then say a prayer thanking GOD there wasn't anyone else coming. At. every. intersection.

{4} I went shopping Friday. I bought this dress. I look pretty hot in it. If I had a tan. And wasn't as fat. But still. It's pretty badass. I don't have anywhere to wear it, however.

{5} I am not, repeat, NOT staying up for 30 hours straight Thanksgiving evening->Black Friday again. I think that after Thanksgiving, I'm going to go to bed. My Christmas shopping will all be done online. No sale is worth waiting in line for 1 hour, while wearing pajamas, at 2a.m.

That is all.

I.Cant.Breathe.

This lady just kicked my ass.


Cathe Friedrich



I just discovered this channel we've had for years. FitTV. It's free. And I can go in my barn and workout. I just did Cardio Blast, which was an hour of HELL. It was 8 cycles of 1 minute intervals of EXTREMELY HARD Cardio, Legs, Abs, and Arms. Lunges, pilates, gaaaaahhhhhhhhh.

But it felt great!

I've Become THAT Mother

I read this last night. I related. And realized. Piper is doomed. I'm totally wayyyy too overprotective. Perhaps my anxiety issues come into play. Maybe it's because I'm so in love with my little girl, and I know how crazy I was as a child. And I know how bad broken bones hurt...I don't know. But this makes.complete.sense.

Pardon the potty language.

The Negative Effects of Child Fear Mongering

And the 2023 IHSAA State Breastroke Champion is...

Piper Frank!

Piper swam for the first time (ok, so it was an un-official swim) this weekend. Yes, she had a pool noodle. But she didn't have any other flotation device. She also did not have mommy or daddy holding on. In fact, I hear she yelled at her daddy for trying to help.

When Piper wants to do something herself (which is everything) - she yells SELF! SELF! SELF!

Unfortunately, I wasn't there to witness this event. I had a wedding to shoot.

Sometimes I get all freaked out - that Piper will remember I work a lot. That one day, she'll come to me and say "Mommy, why do you work so much?" With Harry Chapin's "Cats in the Cradle" playing softly in the background. But, I realize she's not the only child with two working parents. And I realize that no matter what I do, what style of parenting I apply, or how often I am around - that she will be screwed up in one way or the other. All kids are. All adults are. Show me one person who doesn't have issues. There you go. I rest my case.

I'm there every evening to tuck her in, or at least give her a good nights kiss. Brian and I make sure that we all sit down to dinner together every night. Well, at least he and I sit down to dinner. Piper has her own ideas most nights. I'm not going to sit on her to make her eat, I'm not going to beat her. I can yell at her and give her time outs but if she doesn't want to eat, she doesn't want to eat. I'm not going to make her life miserable about it. Someday, she will discover how to relax and sit still. Unfortunately, I'm not a very good role model in that department. Some parents say "I don't know where she gets it. I don't know who's kid she is." I think there's no question in this case. :)

Word of the Day...

trepidation [trep-i-dey-shuhn]

–noun 1. tremulous fear, alarm, or agitation; perturbation.
2. trembling or quivering movement; tremor.

Yes, I am afraid. You can call me one of those crazy people who are afraid of change. That I'm close-minded. That's fine. I call it OCD. I like everything where it is, as it has been, and forever unchanging. I do not like things to be shaken up.

BUT - with that said.

There's nothing we can do about it now. So, we can suck it up. Hope for the best. Put all of our negative thoughts and TREPIDATION into positive energy. Who knows? Maybe this guy knows what he's doing. We will never know until we give him a chance. So here you go Obama, here is your chance.

I listened to his acceptance speech this morning. I had a tear in my eye. Not a tear of fear. A tear of hope. I looked in my rearview mirror and realized...this isn't about me. This is about her. This is about her reading in her history books that in 2008 the first African American president was elected to office. And when she comes home I'll say "Yes dear, that was the night you fell asleep on my lap watching the election results in your purple Monkey nightgown with your pink John Deere blanket." This isn't about mommy's fear of change. This is about - maybe this nation was in the crapper and it needs a change. Needs shaken up a bit. This isn't about mommy & daddy being conservatives. This is about a lesson learned that sometimes, we don't always get what we want, and we have to put trust in other people to make the right decision for us.

So - my NEW word of the day is:
anticipation [an-tis-uh-pey-shuhn]

–noun 1. the act of anticipating or the state of being anticipated.
2. realization in advance; foretaste.
3. expectation or hope.
4. previous notion; slight previous impression.
5. intuition, foreknowledge, or prescience.
6. Law. a premature withdrawal or assignment of money from a trust estate.
7. Music. a tone introduced in advance of its harmony so that it sounds against the preceding chord.

For Sale

2007 Honda 450 R
Electric Start
Red Frame - Black Plastics w/ Red Flames
Less than 20 hours
Blingstar Nerf Bars
Comes w/ a set of rear paddles
Asking $5,000


I don't ride it that much - when we go to Silver Lake one of us has to stay back at the truck w/ Piper so we only take Brian's up there. I'd like a Jeep sometime after we buy a house - so that way Piper can enjoy the dunes as much as I do! :)

Wonderful News!!

Brian was giving Maya a bath. Piper was helping. So it got messy. There was water on the floor everywhere. Brian was mopping up the floor with towels and felt something on his hand. It was my diamond!!! It's been in our bathroom this whole time! Needless to say - we are NOT taking it to Helzburg to have it remounted. They probably have mine and my mother in law's faces up on the office wall to immediately call security if we ever show their faces again anyways. Good - they should be scared. I will make sure to recommend to my brides to NEVER buy anything from Helzburg and Rita will make sure to tell her clients the same.

This weekend was rather uneventful. REALLY uneventful. Friday was fun. Jessie, Jack, Mike, Anita, Ty, Madyson, Evie, Jeanne, Jack, Lydia, Madison, Mason, Aiden, Piper, Brian and I went to my mom's house for trick-or-treat. My dad built us a nice bonfire and we made pudgie pies, buscuits on a stick, and hot dogs. My mom made a crock pot full of chili. We couldn't have asked for a more beautiful evening. It was definitely a wonderful way to kick off the winter season.

Saturday was nice and peaceful, I took engagement photos of a girl I used to work with at Hooters. She's one of them that I miss very much, so it was good to see her! I had a lot of laughs. Then Brian and I watched 3 movies in a row. Wow! Are we old or what? We're taking full advantage of our Netflix membership. We're already through 6 movies in one month - that's a lot for us!!! We watched Spinal Tap (it was horrible, stupid, and I couldn't wait for it to be over), Dan In Real Life (I cried at the end. No, I sobbed. Sobbed my little heart out. But it was a good cry and I needed it), and Blades of Glory (typical Will Ferrell, so of course...we loved it!!!). Next up: The Big Lebowski, Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, and Get Smart. If you have any suggestions please comment! We basically can only agree on stupid comidies and I sneak in a chick flick every now and then. Ever since I watched House of 1,000 Corpses I forbid anything scary (It was a great movie, just gave me nightmares and stroked my paranoid tendencies more than normal!) and I chose Sideways (I loved it - Brian gave me the evil eye the whole time...he's a simple man I guess) we decided only comedies and historical-type dramas (National Treasure-ish) and mob movies. Oh and anything Quentin Tarantino. That reminds me, we haven't seen Kill Bill yet (yeah, we're losers)...I better go add that to my queue.

Oh - and we did nothing today. I took some family photos and Brian washed his dad's Corvette. Other than that - nothing. :)

Peace! :)