Today I spent some time sorting through personal photos of taken of 2008. Of course none of them are printed yet. Perhaps a New Year’s resolution? I wanted to share a few from the holiday festivities I’ve been enjoying. This is the first year that Tim and I have been married and I have not been shooting a wedding on New Year’s Eve. Have a wonderful and safe evening everyone!

Or jingle ball for my cat Nacho. Due to her curiously with paper and boxes I held off wrapping until yesterday evening. I had nice piles laid out to wrap but kept Nacho’s two little toys in the plastic bag so she wouldn’t find them. A few presents later, I find Nacho in the plastic bag behind me playing with her new jingle ball even though it is still attached to the packaging! It seems as though she couldn’t wait until Christmas. I, however, am a stickler for opening presents on Christmas day, no giving in early. She played non-stop with it for at least an hour before wearing herself out. I hope the rest of my gifts go over that well!

Other than sharing that random story, I wanted to also let you …

I was helping my friend Natalie photograph some of her ceramic test pieces from Herron Art School last weekend. Turns out those pieces can take up quite a bit of space, especially when you are making room for a new baby. Well, sweet Ava was over at Grandma and Grandpa’s while we tackled this project. However, since my lights were up anyway, I felt compelled to take a few quick shots of little Ava. She is growing into quite the toddler. Just a matter of weeks now until she becomes a big sister!

It is good to say that I’m all caught up with editing, all of my clients have their proofs in hand and only two couples are waiting for their albums to be shipped out. For the previous two years I have done 3 weddings in December. While holiday weddings have a certain magic about them I am really excited to have the opportunity to soak in Christmas this year. Many ask what do I do in the “off season”. There’s glamorous ideas of sipping hot cocoa, eating chocolates and watching chick flicks all day. However, this time is when all of the to-do items that weren’t urgent earlier get done, such as giving the website some love and refreshing, tying up loose ends with accounting, evaluating next year’s business plan, soaking up new knowledge, playing …

After celebrating “Thanksmas” with the King family near South Bend, Tim and I headed up to Ann Arbor to attend (as a guest) a wedding of Tim’s friend Tim. The Tim’s spend time together during a summer in Egypt living in a garbage village, Mokattam. This was a time that taught them to see social justice through different eyes, themselves and God. When Tim was in Egypt, we had just recently gotten engaged and after the trip is when the other Tim began really pursuing a relationship with Kat. The ceremony was very sweet with the most genuine, loving and thoughtful vows I’ve heard. Here’s a quote from their program:

“What greater thing is there for two human souls than to feel that they are joined together to strengthen each other in all labor, to minister to each other in all …