There is a ghetto, yes there is a ghetto in my back yard. It’s  the Cat Ghetto, or “Cat-toe”.  No one is quite sure when this happened, it just did. First, it was a cute little kitten that would come around every now and then, which was fine. It was very cute. Then there was two, and that was fine as well. But as the summer wore off, and it began to grow cooler out side, my grandmother’s maternal instincts began to grow as well.  Soon after the formation of the “Cat Ghetto” began.  It started out as just a little towel on the ground, then a small cardboard box. It now encompasses the patio. Using the table as its main structure it flows down into a tumble of blankets, boxes, towels and food dishes–not to mention the entire underside of the pool deck. It has now become a daily routine to feed them and watch them play. Here are a couple photos I snapped in the hood yesterday.

It has been awhile since Perri and I took some photos together, so yesterday we did. It was funny, I was asking her what location we should use, and we both had the same place in mind. This abandon house caught my eye when I first moved here and I have been wanting to shoot it ever since. We we’re running late and ended up just catching the last ten minutes of light so we weren’t able to spend much time, But we plan on returning.

As you know Perri and I are in the middle of planning our August wedding. Because we are hosting the wedding at my grandparents house here in Vancouver, one of the things on our check list was chair and table rentals. After searching far and wide we finally found our match, but not without a lot of work. While wedding planning takes up a lot of my time these days, I do it with a smile. Being in the industry myself, every contact I research and inquire I make for my own wedding, works double as research for my own business.  This in turn helps me build my web, or network of contacts. Like a little spider racing back and forth laying down his sticky silk in hopes of catching his prey. I to am traveling back and forth–racing across the greater Portland area, zig-zagging like a one winged mosquito. Hopefully, leaving an eye-catching trail of double sided business cards and great first impressions as I go to catch the attention of potential clients. I recently had a great opportunity to do so as a guest at a Wedding Network USA meeting.  A national network for all types of wedding vendors across the country. With local meetings every month, it’s a variable stock pile of vendors sharing there leads and knowledge. Of course I dumped a large amount of business cards there as well along with meeting as many vendors as I could. While nothing has come up from this last meeting yet, networking is undoubtedly one of the greatest tools we small business owners have. And I plan on using it more in the future.

Lately I have been giving my business a lot of thought and one of the things I have been thinking about is how I can improve my product. I like to offer my clients the option of having a disc of their HI rez images for back up, printing and personal use, whatever it may be. Up until now I have been using blank discs and hand writing the labels on them. Of course as an artist I have always felt this left room for improvement, not to mention the dog-ish shame you experience when handing out such a disc along side your beautiful prints. And I have been seeking a new way of labeling my CD’s for a more professional package. I’m now proud to offer my disc’s with printed labels, personalized with my clients photos. I am really happy with the way these look and can now hold my head up high as I hand out my spiffy new discs.

Over the last couple of years I have been extremely blessed with opportunities to travel. It has been one of my life long dreams as long as I can remember. The thought of exploring somewhere I’ve never been has always excited me. My first real bite from the travel bug began with a trip to Italy for five weeks back in 2006. It was as unexpected as it was exciting. My grandparents had been planning a trip that included my Uncle and my parents. But when something came up and my uncle was unable to make it, they offered his ticket to me. I could not have been more surprised or excited. From September to the beginning of October we spent our time traveling Italy and staying in villas along the way. The first three weeks we spent just outside of Florence, about 20 min. away in a quite 500 year old house on a vineyard. It was the perfect place to both experience the country and the amazing city and surroundings of Florance. Next we we’re off for a two week stay on the Amalfi coast. This charming city built on the cliffs was packed full of character and characters. During are stay we visited the island of Capri and the amazing temples of Paestum. But the best part of this stay was the friends we made there. The old lady who owned the store just above our house was a favorite as were the owners of the cute garden cafe just down the hill. Both of these people became our little “Italian friends” and were just so sweet.  Next we were off to Rome. After a six hour drive we arrived to find the apartment we had planned to stay in was not going to work out. We ended up staying in a hotel just a block down from the Quirinal Palace ”the White House of Italy”. There is never a dull moment in Rome. Something I will remember for the rest of my life is turning a corner and bam! There was the Colosseum. It was so shocking! You see these places on TV growing up and read about them in books. But nothing can prepare you for seeing them in person. It was simply amazing. The list of sites we visited here is too long to put in words. Over the five days we stayed, there was barley a resting moment. I don’t think it was until I was on the plane back that I realized that my life would never be the same. There would be no more of this “staying home”.  I needed to travel, and soon!  Perhaps that explains why I went a little travel crazy in 2008. But that’s for another blog post. Until then, I hope you enjoy these photos from Italy.

Early Last month I had the pleasure of taking Jon and Ashely’s engagement photos.  Ashley has been one of my fiancé’s best friends for years, so it was neat to be asked to be apart of their engagement. Jon and Ashley have been dating since they met early in high school and have never looked back since. For this shoot Jon had a place in mind in Camas. It was a bit of a walk and along the way it started snowing! It was the only day of snow this entire winter and the conditions could not have been better for an engagement shoot. Here are a couple of my favorites.