they are one of life's little treats. a sort of savory, guilty pleasure that only comes around once a year, tempting you to take advantage while you have the opportunity. "having enough" is an unattainable mirage that only the weak chase after...

...oh, girl scout cookies, why do you make me chase that mirage...?

last weekend i got my delivery of 10 boxes of girl scout cookies.... yes, 10. that's "enough". i'm now down to the last 2 boxes after 7 days. SEVEN DAYS -> 8 BOXES OF COOKIES! ugh. i swear the tagalongs have some sort of addicting additive. i mean, really, i refuse to accept that i am actually this weak. *obviously* it is something with the cookies.

which brings me to...

bliss:

• girl scout cookies.... oh yumm....
• bella - her birthday was this week and she turned 5. for her birthday we went to the doggie park - where she was promptly removed due to... umm... inappropriate behavior on behalf of the boy doggies.
• a sunny, 70 degree weekend
• this weekend's upcoming wedding photography in Utah!!

bs:

• boy doggies - duh!
• the girl scout cookie mirage... stupid cookies with their stupid delicious calories... >:[

austin - liberal, artsy coffee shops, nostalgic graffiti, photography, vegetarian friendly, UT longhorns - all words that come to mind when i think of austin, tx. and for the first time since i moved to texas last summer, i got to visit the fabulous city of austin. and i had a blast!!! i was in dallas last week for some training classes, and decided to meet up with a group of friends from Hitachi that were taking a weekend trip to austin. kevin even met us all there later to join the fun.

we went out friday night to trudy's, where they serve the most amazing mexican martinis and tex mex ever. there is a limit of 2 per person on the mexi martinis, which just convinvced me that i had to make sure i got my limit - i mean, i can't just have one if there is a 2 martini limit - there are parched partrons all over who have already reached their limit and would thoroughly enjoy that mexi martini. afterwards i went back to the hotel, partially tipsy, and crashed after a tiring week in dallas so that i would be fully revitalized for a night on the town saturday, where were sure to visit Peche for some absinthe and french 75's. yum!

we spent an afternoon walking around the UT campus, and oh yes, i HAD to buy a longhorns t-shirt. no worries aggie fans. i am a kent state girl and have no bias, i will buy one of yours too... in fact, feel free to just send me one. :) here are a few pics of their gorgeous campus.





angie liked kevin's hard hat.... :)




johnny showed us his madjumping skillz...




juan, one of our friends on the trip, has a restaurant on airport blvd by the mall that is owned and operated by his parents. so before heading out on sunday afternoon, we were sure to stop by China Palace for some lunch. it just might have beent he most amazing chinese food i have ever tasted. maybe it was just that i was with people who were familiar with the recipes, but i seriously gorged myself to the point of no return. sooooo delish!!! excuse the poor quality of these pics - the lights were dimmed in the restaurant and i don't carry my flash on vacation, nor do i bring my nice camera.

juan waiting on us hand and foot... i just had to. ;)



everyone... except me... :(



mmmm.... yummy!! the food was seriously to die for.



the city of austin just made me want to photograph a wedding there. austin wedding photography would be sooooo much fun against all of their funky buildings and graffiti. loved it there.

keep austin weird!

a couple asked me recently about whether i recommend a local or desintation wedding. i had think for a moment, and realized that my preference about weddings is not centered around the city. rather, it is centered around the size.

i have had both a large and a small destination wedding - yes, i've been married twice - and yes, there are pleanty of jokes to be had around that. since i have never been a bridesmaid, the most common joke from my mom is "always the bride, never the brides maid". i suppose i can't argue. but, if you think about your wedding day, you want to be able to celebrate with your closest friends and family. you want to talk to them, dance together, and share a few toasts. most receptions are about 4 hours long, and after the first dance, the garter toss, the cake cutting, etc, you are down to about 3 hours max for socializing. if you have 300 guests at your wedding and talk to each for 5 minutes, that's 25 HOURS!! you're wedding is not that long!!!

when kevin and i planned our small hilton head destination wedding, we made it a hard rule that we would not invite anyone that we didn't talk to at least once a week. it helped keep the guest list to a manageable size and allowed us to spend a lot of time with all of our guests. AND we didn't have to talk to a bunch of people we hardly even knew! as the bride, i prefer a small wedding, but the big weddings definitely make for a wild party! :)

mmm... the food... the classic cocktails... the music... the PHOTOGRAPHY! ::swoon::

new orleans... next to walt disney world, it might be one of the happiest places on earth. and i am excited to say that i managed to make my conservative husband fall in love with it this past weekend. granted, i took him to the places that i already knew he would like, but that's not cheating, right???

we bought hats...



we chased after the trolleys for photos...



we listened to music... lots, and lots of music...



i made kevin pose... :D



we ate beignets... and took some home...



i'm happy to say that he wants to go back, and we're already planning the next trip! can't wait!

i have been working on some promotional materials for boudoir, baby, and wedding photography and finally finished the boudoir portion of it a couple nights ago. these got sent out to print last week and i can't wait to get them back! please leave me a comment and let me know what you think - you're my target client, after all! :)

boudoir photo #1



boudoir photo #2



boudoir photo #3