A Few Brief Notes

Dear Pierce Brosnan,

Because you are still hot, I will forgive you for your horrible singing in Mamma Mia. I mean really, it was so painful I actually hid my face to keep from looking at you. I know they cast you in the film because you're nice to look at, so me hiding my eyes was clearly not the producers intention. When you're considering your next film roll, please take my words to heart. I will gladly watch you be mysterious, or brooding. Heck, I'll even go for some humor. But please, for the love of Raisinettes and movie theatre popcorn, NEVER SING AGAIN.



Dear Hu Hot,

Thank you for existing. Mongolian barbeque just may get me through my chinese food cravings while I'm on a diet. Now, if only you could find a way to make that s'mores dessert diet friendly. I was doing so well until I saw the little flaming plate headed to the booth next to us.


Dear Walker,

I love you. I really do. Right now you are the closest thing I have to a child. But if you don't stop your antics I am going to sell you to the gypsies. Thanks to you, my day began with stepping in something too gross to mention, thereby destroying my favorite summer shoes. Not going to get on my good side that way my friend. And now you're barking slash howling out the window at random passersby. You are the reason our neighbors look at as funny. If you could stop making noises like you're being killed that would be great.

Dear Lee Ann,

You've been to the cheese shop and posed for a picture wearing a cheesehead hat. I think this means you are ready to move to Wisconsin. Thanks for coming to visit. I love you.

My bestest!!

It takes a special kind of friend to be willing to drive 12 hours to come hang out for a few days with no special occasions planned. But that's exactly what my friend Lee Ann is in the process of doing. She left from Knoxville yesterday and stopped overnight in Indianapolis. Now this morning she's making the second half of the trip and I CAN'T WAIT!!!!

The picture above is circa August 2004 on my last night living in Knoxville. It's a good thing I'm squinting because you can't see my bloodshot eyes. There were a lot of tears when I left Knoxville because I really felt like I was leaving my family and Lee Ann is a huge part of that.

Only a bestest friend would get up 2 hours early every morning to go to the gym with me, even in the winter when it was cold and the bed was warm.

Only a bestest friend would know that sometimes a chinese buffet is the only thing that will cure a broken heart.

Only a bestest friend would answer the phone at 1 in the morning and then drive to come get me after I found out my mom had a heart attack and I didn't want to be alone.

Only a bestest friend would then drive me three hours to Nashville the next day so I could fly home cheaper to see my mom.

Only a bestest friend would let me sleep on her couch more times than I can count.

I'm sad that Karl is again in Minneapolis this week, but I'm so glad to have three uninterupted days with my bestest friend!!

Hate Mail: Monday Edition

Dear Mosquitos:

No offense or anything, but what purpose do you serve? Nobody likes you and all you do is cause trouble. I was just trying to do my job at Saturday's outdoor wedding, but you would not leave me alone. I didn't want to resort to DEET, but next time I will be prepared. You will not live to bite again!

Love,
Steph

Dear Mom in the Woodman's parking lot:

Maybe you missed this day in preschool, but it's not a good idea for kids to run unattended in parking lots. If you don't trust your kids to keep an eye out for cars trying to back out of spots, perhaps you should hold their hands. And the appropriate response after your children RUN behind my car is *not* to laugh and wave. In the future, please stop reviewing your receipt long enough to ensure your kids make it safely to your car.

Sincerely,
the driver who now has 10 more grey hairs thanks to you

Dear Woodman's produce bags:

WHY??? Why do you hate me? Why do you make me look like a fool when I'm just trying to put my broccoli in you and move on? Did you see the way that little old lady looked at me while I was vehemently shaking you open? She was judging me. I don't like that. So please, if you don't cooperate a little more I'm going to be forced to stop eating vegetables all together. You don't want that do you?

Thanks for your cooperation,
Inept in Aisle 2

Dear Hormones,

You suck. And that's all I have to say.

Yours truly,
Woman on the verge of a breakdown

Business Trips Stink

He's been gone for just 24 hours and I miss him. I missed him as he was pulling out of the driveway. Business trips are a part of our life, but this one seems longer than it should be. I actually got a little teary saying goodbye yesterday afternoon. Just like I used to when we lived 16 hours away and only saw eachother once a month. Lucky for me, Thursday night is right around the corner.

As silly as it sounds, Walker misses him too. He goes into guard dog mode when Karl is gone. He barks at everything, and sleeps very close to me on the bed. Except when there are thunderstorms (like last night) and then nobody gets any sleep. Barking, pacing, barking some more. And it looks like more storms tonight. Maybe I should just plan to scrap all night and sleep all day?

Thankfully I have friends like her to keep me busy in Karl's absence. We'll be getting our grill on this evening. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little nervous about the two of us tackling the grill. That is totally guys territory and I am much more content making a tasty dessert.

And just for fun, because I'm feeling nostalgic:

Karl and I circa July 4, 2004. Karl came to visit me in Knoxville for some wedding planning stuff. We met up with friends of ours to watch the fireworks on the river. Side note: I really loved that dress. It went to a new home (read: someone who could actually fit into it) at the yard sale last month.

If I didn't have a husband....

Sometimes I like to pretend I live in a Pottery Barn catalog. Love the furniture and this color palette is so me. And the pattern would make an amazing patterned paper, no? Too bad my husband isn't big on florals. Oh, and too bad Pottery Barn is so consistently out of my price range.

But not as out of my price range as Restoration Hardware. We won't even talk about that....

Five on Friday: Ingredients for a great 3 day weekend

First, Happy Independence Day!!! And a special thank you to all the special people and their families who have made sacrifices in the name of our freedom. We have so many things for which to be thankful!

I am SO happy to have a three day weekend with limited plans. I think it's exactly what my body, mind, and spirit needs. So without further ado, the five ingredients making up my great three day weekend:

• Drugs. Poor Walker has a horrible fear of those loud booms that come from the sky. Thunderstorms equal bad times in the Homburg Household. Fireworks are even worse. Last night we didn't drug him in time and we spent most of the evening trying reassure the panicked pup that his world would not end. Hopefully tonight will go better.
• Grilling. My husband rocks the charcoal. I love everything about grilling out. The smell, the taste, the side dishes. Oh, and bonus points for not heating up the stove to cook dinner!
• Babs, Brad, Baseball, and Booms. How's that for illiteration? Our only real *plans* of the weekend involve a Timberattlers game tomorrow night with Barb and Brad. The game will be followed by a fireworks display, which will satisfy my need to see fireworks without crowds of people or a crying dog.
• Home Improvement. Karl and I will be taking a trip to Home Depot at some point this weekend to take advantage of 12 months no interest/no payment. We're in the market for flooring! Which I am happy to report means we are closer to having the downstairs look more like living space and less like construction disaster!
• Creative Time. With Karl heading to MSP Sunday afternoon, I'm planning some quality time with my scrap goodies. And maybe some girl time with Barb if she's up for it. I'm going to miss that husband of mine, but I am looking forward to getting the creative juices flowing.

I love that three day weekends allow for so much fun, while still having time to get the "need to do" things done. After all, it's not even noon yet and I've finished proofing a wedding, downloaded some new slideshow music, started laundry, and began the great bedroom cleanup of 08.

Here's to a happy and safe weekend for all!

Fun Summer Wednesday: ANTBM Edition

ANTBM= America's Next Top Baby Model...and my new friend Luke is ready to take the title! Barb and I spent this Fun Summer Wednesday in Green Bay for a new baby photo shoot and a fun visit with the new parents Mike and Angie.

I have a *ton* of editing to do before I should even look at the photos I took today, but I can't help it. I had to pick just a handful to play with and share.

So I present Baby Luke's modeling debut:

Sharing a quiet moment with his dad. They're conspiring to take over the world I think.

Good thing he's got a great mom to keep him in line!

Look how comfy he is in Mom's arms!

It's clear Luke has a growing fan club, with his parents as charter members.

And just to prove I do have some cool color images...


Luke shows off his *fierce* face. He totally listened to Tyra in utero.

While Barb and I have some great adventures planned for the summer, I'm not sure any of them will quite live up to our day playing paparazzi with Luke!

My Middle Name is *not* Grace

So I had an interesting wedding weekend. Really though, all wedding weekends are interesting. But most weddings don't involve injury.

Now, I am not graceful. I am an admitted clutz. I trip over my own two feet at least once a day. And when I'm lugging camera gear, and wearing the shoes I shoot in, that incident rate rises dramatically. But most of the time I just laugh it off as the bride and groom watch in horror as I almost drop a few thousand dollars in camera gear into a creek.

This weekend was different in two ways. First, my moment of clutziness happened during the ceremony. Second, I really hurt myself.

Here's how it all went down:

For most weddings, I spend the ceremony shooting from the choir loft. I get to pull out my super stealth and crazy heavy zoom lens. I love the cool perspective I get from back there and Karl is always sitting up front, so I know he has those shots covered.

For this particular wedding, the stairs to get up to the choir loft were inside the actual sanctuary. So I stayed back with the wedding party, taking shots until everyone had made their way down the aisle, and then I snuck in to go up the stairs. This loft was set up a little different than I am used to. It had stadium seating so to speak, with each row of chairs elevated higher than the other. So I had to be careful to climb down the big steps to get to the ledge where I could prop my camera and get to shooting.

I got several good shots of the hand off, and the opening prayer before deciding to switch positions to get a better shot of the lecturn for the first reading. And at the moment I went to move, I forgot that I was standing on a good sized ledge. Are you seeing where this is going? In the middle of the quiet church, as the reader begins his, "A reading from First Corinthians..." comes a huge crash! I fell backwards, caught my shoe on a step, and rammed my left shoulder, hip and wrist into a nearby wall.

I can't tell you if anyone turned around to look, as I layed there on the ground for a few seconds before catching my breath and getting up. I do know that Karl heard the commotion and wondered if it was me. Happily, my camera gear and bag were on my right side, so none of that got damaged. And after moving my hand around a bit, I concluded nothing was broken. I resumed my post in time to catch the soloist for the responsorial psalm.

Remember that super stealthy zoom lens I was talking about? Bad news. It's also wicked heavy. My wrist was screaming at me by the end of the ceremony! Thankfully, my husband is a rockstar and ran out to the car to grab an icepack out of our cooler. I was able to direct the formal shots with my wrist on ice and maybe scored some sympathy points in the form of cooperative family members.

So yeah, my middle name is definitely not Grace. But nothing is broken, and my bruises are easily covered by sleeves and pants. And best of all, there's no wedding to shoot this weekend so I get some time away from my stealthy zoom.

By July 12th I'll be as good as new and ready for my next self induced injury!