I know, I know, I disappeared for a while!  I am sorry but I have a really good excuse – I have been working on a secret project with my friend Kasey.  I am thrilled to say it isn’t secret anymore!

Who: Columbus area event professionals and their invited guests (if you are seeing this website, consider yourself cordially invited!)

What: An evening of fun and networking benefiting the Mid Ohio Food Bank and Operation Feed including live and silent cake auctions and raffles – there will be something to satisfy every sweet tooth!

Where: The Mid Ohio Food Bank’s brand new facility, 3960 Brookham Drive, Grove City, Ohio, 43123

When: March 23, 2010 from 6 to 9 pm

Why: Because there are too many hungry people in the Central Ohio area and this is a fun and simple way to help!

Advance ticket purchase: $21 which will provide one person’s meals for 2 weeks.

The price of your admission and any money spent on the auctions or raffles is 100% tax deductible.

Click here to visit our website and learn more about the event
or
click here to buy tickets and join us for an evening of fun, food and something for your sweet tooth!

We would love to have you join us in supporting this great cause!

(Penny and Shannon at their 2004 New Year’s Eve wedding, photo by Steve Mastroianni)

I think it is safe to say that 2009 was a tough year all around – from people we lost too early to the recession, everyone was affected in some way or another.  There were, as always, pockets of light and joy and I think that speaks to the true human spirit and our ability to still find ways to celebrate the things in life that matter including love and commitment.

In 2009, we were lucky enough to work with some amazing couples, families and vendors.  2010 is shaping up to be another great year full of happy couples, gorgeous weddings and lots of love and laughter.  We have so many wonderful things on the horizon and I can’t wait to share them with you throughout the coming year!

To all my clients, past, present and future – thank you for being part of my life and allowing me to be a part of yours as well as continuing to bring me daily doses of friendship, laughter, challenges, fun and joy.

To the other vendors who are lucky enough to call the wedding and event industry home – thank you for being my ‘co-workers’ and making me a better planner.  And thank you for helping me take such great care of our clients.

Happy New Year and may 2010 be the best year ever!

The last time that we had pro pictures done of Miss Ellie was over a year ago at her 1st birthday party.  Since Ellie just turned two in September, we scheduled her two year (and one month) portraits for last weekend with Alison from Grogan Studios.  Beyond working together and sharing studio space, Alison and I have become friends and have lunch with our kids every so often so Ellie is super comfortable with her and actually posed for the camera – my kid is a ham, what can I say?  Anyway, all that posing paid off because Alison captured some amazing photos of Ellie and our family – including the little girl that is due in February – both at our house and as we traipsed around the Columbus Zoo!

There is a great sneak peek on the Grogan Studios Blog so I won’t share them here but as I was looking through the pictures, I realized one looked super familiar – the first picture is from our 9 month portraits and the second is from our 2 year portraits.  Same kisses, same reaction just a few more teeth in Ellie’s smile – I love it!

Thanks Alison – we love the pictures and can’t wait to see the rest!!

Just wanted to wish everyone a very Happy Easter!  I hope you find tons of eggs and the Easter Bunny is good to you!  Personally, I think Easter candy is the best candy all year long – Peeps, Reece’s Peanut Butter Eggs and Cadbury Eggs – yum!

Adorable picture borrowed from Bakerella – so cute!!!

I feel the need to point out that although I live in the land of the Buckeye – I still bleed green and white!

I will be cheering on my alma mater, the Michigan State University Spartans as they take on the Tarheels in the Big Dance this evening!  I wish I could be in Detroit this evening to watch the game in person!

GO GREEN!  GO WHITE!  GO STATE!!!

I recently decided that it was time for new headshots – my old ones were taken way back in 2005 and didn’t really look like me so much anymore.  I was very excited when the lovely and talented Lisa from Red Gallery agreed to do them for me.  Normally, I really don’t like having pictures taken of me (I much prefer to be behind the scenes watching my brides and grooms get their pictures taken) but I knew I would be comfortable with Lisa behind the lens and that she would get some good shots.

Anyone who knows me at all knows that I don’t wear makeup.  The daily extent of my makeup routine consists of Burt’s Bees lip balm and maybe a touch of mascara when I am feeling really sassy.  Because of this simple fact, I knew I needed help with my makeup for the photo shot.

That is where the lovely and talented makeup artist MelissaRoshan comes in – I told her that the last time I had my makeup done by someone else I wound up looking like a cross between a clown (way too much blush) and *ahem* a lady of the night (way too much eyeliner).  She swore she is the queen of natural looking makeup and to trust her – I am certainly glad that I did!  She did an amazing job and for me to say that is a big deal – I never think makeup looks good on me but she even did some fun false lashes and still managed to make me look like myself.  Exactly what I was hoping for!

So, what do you think?  All my gushing aside, I love how my pictures turned out – they are very me which is kind of the whole point!  I absolutely recommend both Red Gallery and MelissaRoshan. Thanks again ladies, I love how they turned out!

As a side note, these pictures might be a shock to some people as until a few hours before this photo shoot my hair was extremely long – almost to my waist!  I was finally tired of wrangling all that hair every day and chopped it all off.  I am pleased to say that the ponytail that my stylist cut off was long enough (over 11″) to send to Locks of Love – love being able to contribute to a good cause and I love having shorter hair again!

Wishing you a very Happy Valentine’s Day!
I hope you are spending today with someone or the someones you love!

Wow, am I the only one who is a touch shocked to see that 2008 is just about over?

A few things for the end of the year:

*I am going shopping next week for the Mid Ohio Food Bank and thanks to everyone who commented, I am donating $225 worth of food to them. I will be sure to take pictures and share. Thanks to everyone who commented!

*Almost time to update your bookmarks! We are working on a new blog which means a new address – once it is up and running, I will update with that info.

*We are starting some really cool blog series including:
-Friday Flowers – a weekly look at different flowers to consider when designing your wedding including common and uncommon blooms. We are going to cover roses, of course, but watch for protea too.
-Vendor Conversations – we are finally continuing what we started way back in early 2008. Conversations with some of our favorite (and we think some of the best) vendors in Columbus. We are naming names and talking everything you need to know about photographers, videographers, florists, entertainment, makeup artists and more!
-101 Things. I am down to under 700 days on my 2nd round of 101 Things and need to get moving! So, watch for updates every other week of progress – even if that progress is nonexistent!

2009 has been a fantastic year! We were a part of some great weddings, got to work with some really incredible vendors, moved into our new studio (!) and really reconfirmed that this is exactly where we are supposed to be. Thanks to everyone we met and worked with along the way – can’t wait for 2009!

On this Christmas Eve, I wanted to take a moment to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Happy New Year, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanzaa, Boxing Day, Winter Solstice, Festivus or what ever name you give your celebration.

I hope that 2009 brings us all more joy, more peace, more health and more love than any previous year.

We are taking a few days off – see you in 2009.

Randy and I were sitting down to make our Holiday card list this weekend and realized that with the length of our list and the cards that I wanted (you all know that I am a bit of a paper fiend and had picked a rather pricey one) and the price of postage, we were going to spend nearly $200! We got to talking and the thought of spending that much money on something that will probably be tossed out when there are children who won’t have much to eat simply broke my heart.

So, in lieu of cards this year, we are going to take that money and buy food for the Mid-Ohio Food Bank and donate it in honor of our friends and family. We’ll still send out a card but it will be via email instead – that’s better for the environment anyway.

When I first heard about Cans for Comments (on Anne Ruthmann’s Blog and from Liene over at Blue Orchid Blog) I thought it was kind of a natural partner to our Holiday card donation as well so here’s the deal:

For every comment left on this blog through December 25, I will add another $1 to our donation to the Mid Ohio Food Bank. I will be making the donation after the holidays because all too often the donations drop off drastically after the holidays even though the need is still there!

Feel free to spread the word – the more comments the better, obviously! Be sure to visit other bloggers who are donating Cans for Comments.

Happy Holidays – oh, and if you want our email card, please be sure to include your email in your comment.