Committed to Excellence

Not really.

I just get a kick out of companies that use that as their catchphrase. Really? Shouldn't everyone be committed to excellence, or is it just that we are so used to poor service and poor quality that we need to be reminded that they really do have our best interests at heart?

Anyway.

I am hereby committing myself to blog once a day, this is approximately a 10,000% percent increase, so don't expect excellence, I'm warning you.

A photographer friend (online friend I suppose, I've never actually met him!) and his family just started a really cool project that I hope all (unknown number, but more likely 0) of you should check out!

thehappyfamilymovement.com

Keep it simple.

Lazy Sunday

I've had this terrible obsession that has grown stronger over the past year or so. I'm telling you this because I need help. I'm addicted to DIY sites. Okay, so maybe I don't REALLY need your help. But it got your attention, right?

I spend far too much time looking at projects and plans that I will most likely never come close to attempting, but I enjoy learning the 'how' involved...and someday I'm sure I'll come up with plenty of good 'why's' for these things. My favorite site by far is Instructables. They have plans for just about everything under the sun. Check them out if you have some time to kill.

My latest fixation though is Adirondack chairs...you know the ones. The ones you want around YOUR backyard fire-pit, and on your wrap-around porch because they look so freaking comfortable. Anyway, I've found a number of sets of plans for these things, the best by far being here. It's just another thing I'd like to get done this summer.

what i have in my mind

what they'll end up like if Megan gets into it

Quote of the Day

One of my favorites.  From the movie "Dance With Me."

"We need a witness to our lives. There's a billion people on the planet... I mean, what does any one life really mean? But in a marriage, you're promising to care about everything. The good things, the bad things, the terrible things, the mundane things... all of it, all of the time, every day. You're saying 'Your life will not go unnoticed because I will notice it. Your life will not go un-witnessed because I will be your witness'." 

--Susan Sarandon as Beverly Clark

Also, just posted a little something on the photo bloggity about a friend of mine who's going on a very rad trip around the country.  Check out the details here!

Happy Thursday!

4 years; 5 pictures

On the phone.  That's where my roommates could find me the Spring of junior year in college.  I was either in class, at a meeting or home and on the phone, with you.  They'd walk in, and I'd be curled up in that same chair (next to the outlet so I could stay plugged in) talking and laughing and positively beaming.  They'd mouth, "Gabe?"  I'd smile and nod and then they'd walk back to their rooms laughing to themselves as our conversation carried on for another hour.  They weren't planned, these lengthy conversations, they just kind of happened, which is the most beautiful part about it.  They happened because of our intense, mutual fascination with each other.  With every word that came out of the other's mouth.  I hung on to every single one of yours with so much hope.  I said things like "we should do that sometime!" so nervously...I knew what it meant to me to say that, but I wasn't sure what it meant to you.  But by the time we made it to this day, 4 years ago, I knew it was coming.  When you finally said, "I think we should date," I just smiled, wondering why we hadn't come to that conclusion earlier.  Because, well, come on.  It was obvious, wasn't it?  I guess this day isn't really supposed to matter anymore, now that we're married.  Because now we have a real anniversary, not just a date-aversary.  But you know what, today will always matter to me because how could I have said the big "YES" without saying that other "yes" first?  

I love you for so many reasons.  I love you because of this weekend, when we had all these wonderful things planned to celebrate being together and then everything went completely haywire, you knew it would put me in a funk.  And you fought to put me right again so we could salvage what was left of the day.  I love you for that.  I also love you for jumping in with me and being my second shooter, without even thinking twice about it.  For telling me that I have it in me to shoot The First Wedding this Saturday - for telling me I'm going to be amazing, for knowing how I let my mind spin out of control and get the best of me when I worry and for telling me to be calm and trust my abilities.  I love you for that, too.  I love that you let me put you in front of my camera so I could show you how much my camera loves you, too.  And I love that you've never once in the past 4 years given me any reason to doubt you or your feelings for me, especially on those days where we don't particularly like each other, you always let me know I'm loved.  By you.  

Happy 4 years together today to you, the man I love.  I echo your sentiment from this morning - even though you were half-asleep, it made perfect sense - here's to 40 more.  And 40 more after that.

me

a doctor's note.

Ok, so it's kind of been a while since I've blogged on here, I almost need a doctor's note to confirm that my absence was for a good reason. Heck, Gabe's number of blog entries is almost equal with mine now (and we all know how often HE blogs...). KIDDING! Relax. Anyway, I figure it's due time to update you on some of the stuff that's been going on lately, but unfortunately I don't have time for my usual ENORMOUS PARAGRAPH O' PROSE update style, so you're going to get it in list form. Don't worry, it still has bullet points, so it's quasi-legit.

• I got my wisdom teeth out last Thursday and since then have realized a few things:

1. I actually like oatmeal.

2. I am hungry....a lot.

3. I eat way too fast when my mouth is in normal working order.

4. Ice cream never gets old, even when you eat it every day.

5. Vicodin is God's gift to painkillers. It. rocks. period.

• Since last Thursday I've managed to develop the beginnings of a dry socket in one spot, so now I have this clove-flavored anesthesia stuffed down in there (sorry to be graphic) that is making my whole mouth taste like I just had Christmas ham. But it's working, and that's all that really matters because dry socket is an SOB.
• I've been dreaming up some ideas for a new type of shoot on my photogblog, so go check it out! Basically I just want to hang out with everyone and take their picture. So let me...I'll buy you coffee :)
• The boudoir shoot with my homeskillet KP is coming up in a couple of weeks and we are jumping out of our respective pants with excitement! PLUS we got such good response for the first one that there's going to be a second one in June! If this strikes your fancy, go here to see some more details.
• This whole past week was a little out of the ordinary in that it dumped heaping helpings of life lessons on my plate over and over as I learned and lived some of these in action, so I just felt like sharing some. Sorry if it gets a little preachy, but I'm feeling really passionate about these and it's just some food for thought that's good to chew on once in a while: Relationships are hard, and when they are at their worst, the best thing you can do for the person you love is to be honest with them. Come clean with your hang-ups and move on | Take the time to try to see your significant other with fresh eyes, don't pass up any opportunities to let that person become new to you | Don't say things just because you think other people want to hear them: say what you mean. Along those lines, don't just say things, DO them | BE present with your loved ones when you spend time with them | BE a good friend, don't just say you are - when life becomes inconvenient, do the inconvenient thing. Being a friend requires more than just listening to each other | Every time you tell someone that you love them, regardless of who it is, you are making that person a promise, follow through on it | Don't just say you love someone...SHOW them | Don't let yourself become all talk and no action because sooner or later the people in your life will catch onto that and won't want to deal with your bullshit anymore.
• Gabe and I will have been together for 4 years on Monday. This makes me really excited, so stay tuned for an incredibly gushy post about it and some pictures from some of the adventures we're going on this weekend.

Have a FANTASTIC weekend yourself! I hope you get the chance to do something you love while surrounded by the people who make you happiest in the world. I saw the quote below today and it totally punched me in the face, in a good way. Au revoir!

"We cross our bridges when we come to them and burn them behind us, with nothing to show for our progress except a memory of the smell of smoke, and a presumption that once our eyes watered."

-- Tom Stoppard

Binge/Purge...but mostly Purge.

Megan and I just finished cleaning out our room. For those who don't know us very well, we are currently living with Megan's parents in good old Owatonna while we save money for our move. It's not the perfect arrangement, but it is a big blessing for us and her parents are incredibly kind to let us in. Anyway, we've got this one room with a bunch of our stuff crammed in it. Over the course of winter we have been progressively acquiring more stuff.

And then acquiring just a little more stuff on top of that.

After 6 long, cold months we decided to organize, donate a bunch of clothes and move as much of this stuff into storage as possible. I think if every one could see where their purchases would be sitting, and how much dust would be on them in 6 months we would all have a little less stuff.

That's my thought for today.

Currently Listening to: Pencil Full of Lead - Paolo Nutini

you go to my head.

On the way to work this morning, I heard a little Billie Holiday coming out of my iPod (via my radio, no I was not driving with headphones on...) and I started to daydream.  And it made me think of this:

One of the memories that stands out the most to me about my wedding day, almost two years ago, is the last dance. I ran up to the DJ's table where our friend, Steve, was spinning some tracks (and by "spinning," I mean working the iTunes) and asked if he could play Billie Holiday's "I'll Be Seeing You." I felt a little uncertain about whether or not I had added it to our playlist, but I knew I couldn't leave the reception without dancing to that song. I breathed a sigh of relief as her soft, velvety voice came gently out of those speakers. Things started to move in slow motion and I remember Gabe taking my hand and pulling me to him. Then everything else just went a little blurry. I don't remember who else danced next to us on the small dance floor, I can only remember the two of us at the end of one of the longest and most emotional days of my life. I closed my eyes as we held each other and thoughts of how stressed I'd been just 24 hours earlier started to fade. I stopped thinking about how little I'd eaten over the past few days, working myself (and unfortunately my stomach) into a frenzy. I didn't need to worry about those last few seats that had to be added at the last minute because I had forgotten to update the reception hall one. last. time. My cold feet felt ages away from that moment, and I heard that tiny voice again, that same voice that spoke up while I sipped a chocolate malt across from him on our second date just a couple of years earlier. And all it said was, "yes, that's him." And this is all thanks to Billie Holiday and her dulcet tones that, no matter where I hear them, bring me back to that moment when I held my new husband's hand as we danced and knew that voice was right.

Gabe, as a husband (and just a person in general), you rock. 

Meg

P.S. Head on over to my photoblog for some information about a couple of boudoir sessions my awesome friend Kris and I are putting together.  Ladies, great gift idea for your significant other or yourself :)