{What Kind of Over-Confident Nemesis Are You?}

So glad this is back.

{The Great Escape Artist}

Oliver must be entering his terrible twos. He has found a way out of the yard. We have since fortified the fence line with rocks and rope, but imagine our surprise when we drove up the street and saw sneaky Oliver running down the road--wind in his hair, doggy smile plastered to his face.He was super excited to show us his new trick. I think he was trying to say,

"Hi Guys! Hi! Guess what, guess what? It's so easy, I don't know why I didn't do this before! See, I slip right here and then look! I'm in another yard. It is so cool. I just run and run and run! And now I can go find you. Isn't the the best? Okay, I'm bored now."

{Another Super Random Commercial}

{You are the Best}

I can't believe this weekend has come and gone! It was definitely crazy and I definitely couldn't have done it without a lot of help.

I just wanted to say Thank You to all of my lovely friends and family who helped me out super last minute.

So, a big THANK YOU to,
Katie, Caitlin and Whitney for helping man the booth on Saturday when I couldn't be there.
I appreciate your willingness to come and spend part of your Saturday talking to brides and passing out brochures.

Marianne and Brian for graciously letting me cancel our dinner plans on Friday, even though we had planned this forever ago and salmon and sugar cookies were on the menu.

Dad for helping me set up Friday morning and driving the Uhaul. I couldn't have set it up without you and your muscles. Thanks also for putting together my crazy Ikea light. Those instructions were cryptic!

Mom for finding my easels for me when I just didn't have any more time. Also, thanks for finding me some green apple candy. A bonus to the branding strategy.

Replicolor for printing all of my last minute rush orders.

Kara and Nancy for graciously allowing me to use your expo booth. I was in a complete panic on Wednesday wondering what I was going to do.

and, last but not least, the biggest thanks of all goes to my wonderful hubby, who worked both Friday and all day Saturday at the expo. I'm pretty sure this wasn't Scott's comfort zone. Not only did he work my booth for me, but he did a fabulous job talking to all of the brides and making sure they had all of the information that they needed. And then, after a long day (with a bruised tailbone from falling down the stairs) Scott took down the booth (with Whitney's help), unloaded the truck and returned the frame to Nancy's house (all before I got home from my photo shoot).

I love all of you so much.

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!

{Who Knew}

That this,
+ this,

= Oliver eating.
I should probably google if Sprite is bad for dogs.

{Finally}

Canon 5d Mark II

I have been waiting for this camera to come out for a good 6 months. Yay! It was finally announced. I'm on the waiting list to get one as soon as it hits Pictureline. Thanks Pictureline for taking care of me.
It looks like this camera was worth the wait.

{FREAKING OUT!!!}

*Update, Staffing has been solved! Thanks so much Caitlin and Whitney. I owe you big time!!!*
I'm in full blown panic mode. I got a call mid afternoon saying I have a spot in the Thanksgiving Point Expo if I want. Which, of course, yes I do. The only problem is it's Wednesday and the Expo starts on Friday. I've got nothing and so I have to pull this together in a day and a half, that means albums, coupons, brochures, pictures, the works. On top of that I have sittings that I need to do.
AHHHH!!!
I'm working right now on retouching pictures to go in some sample albums. Obviously, there wasn't time to get the really nice albums, but I have to have something. I also need a sign of some sort so people know who I am.
Anyway, the reason I'm posting at all in this crazy mess is I was wondering if any of you would be the tiniest bit interested in helping Scott cover on Saturday. I have a photo shoot in Helper that I'm committed to (we have had this scheduled forever!) and so Scott is all alone. If anyone is interested in even helping for a couple of hours that would be great. I would be willing to do some trade and give you a free sitting and a disc of the negatives. If you aren't in need of a sitting you could totally give it to a friend or family member as well.
Anyway, please let me know if there are any takers. THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!

{A Perfect Saturday}

Saturday's original plan was to paint the front door and woodwork. This is a project that has consistently been put off. Painting was the original plan, but I came up with an even better one.
I told Scott I was taking him on a date, old school style.
Ta Da! The date was the Spiral Jetty. Cool, huh? Ok, maybe half of you don't know what I'm talking about. That is why I conveniently included a link to Wikipedia.
Anyway, it was about a 2 hour drive way, way, way up North (I saw the Thiokal sign dad) and West. If you are ever in the neighborhood of the Golden Spike National Monument, it is just a hop, skip and a 15 mile jump away. Oh, but bring some sort of high clearance vehicle. I about cried everytime my car banged over a rock. The last mile was particularly intense. Jeeps sailed past us laughing at our meagre attempts to avoid hitting the huge boulders jutted in the road. I pretty much thought we were going to get stranded, without cell phone service and die. We hadn't told anyone we were going and I kept thinking nobody is going to think to come look for us at the Spiral Jetty!
Anyway, besides large rocks the only other downside was my desparate need for a bathroom. Another word to the wise, don't drink a lot on the drive up--there aren't any bathrooms nearby.
Obviously we survived.
I loved how random the place was. I had recently been to the Salt Flats but this was even better. Salt plus the GSL. It was totally surreal. It was funny eating our picnic out in the middle of the Jetty. What's so cool is that that Jetty was underwater for 30 years after it was built. It is only in drought years that you get to see it. Here is a look of what it looked like when it was first built.
On the way home we stopped at this Mexican restaurant in Ogden that I have been wanting to try out. So, so good. The pineapple limeade was pure heaven. The grilled corn-on-the-cob wasn't bad either.
The best part of the whole date is that Scott and I had time to talk, away from house and job worries and stresses. Here's looking forward to our next date!





Scott is practicing his preacher skills.






Sunset on the drive home.






We should have read this,

As you continue southwest beyond the site of the oil jetty, turn from the southwest to the west (right) onto a two-track trail that contours above the oil-drilling debris below. Only high clearance vehicles should advance beyond this turn. Travel slowly--the road is narrow, brush might scratch your vehicle, and the rocks, if not properly negotiated, could high center your vehicle. Don't hesitate to park and walk. The Jetty is just around the corner.

{I Heart Polaroid}

Remember when Scott gave me a polaroid for my birthday and I was so super excited (but not surprised since I bought it on ebay). Anyway, I have been LOVING it. The polaroid is my new favorite camera. It has replaced the holga. So sad (I promise I'll come back to you H.).
I'm trying to get my mileage out of it before they stop making the film. Anyway, I have now accumulated quite a collection of pola's and in honor of my new favorite I'm instituting a pola a day over here. I can't guarantee I'll do it every day, and maybe I'll take weekends off, but still exciting nevertheless. At least I'm excited.
Here is a sneak peak of two of my favorites from my trip to Lake Tahoe.

{Awesome}

I think have a new favorite show. Why is is the I always like the ones with a little bit of the supernatural?

Heroes, Lost, Mork and Mindy, Alf...the list just goes on and on.

{The Lost Summer}

This summer has been a strange one. Mentally I have been stuck in June for the last 2 months. I could say I don't know where time went, but I'm pretty sure that has to do with me being hunched over a computer for the last 3 months. The yard work was abandoned this summer (oh the projects I had planned), food was pretty much abandoned (Reece's Pieces cereal anyone?) and sometimes Scott and Oliver were neglected too.
I was feeling pretty bad until I started tallying up some of the awesome things Scott and I still managed to do. So, in honor of me feeling better about my MIA summer, here is a tally of some of this summer's highlights,
1-Tin Foil Dinners with Dan, Tara, Fetus (AKA Spencer) and new blogging buddy Robin
2-A sweet 30th B-Day, complete with pampering for a day courtesy of Super Scott
3-The Drive-Inn to watch Kung Fu Panda (I really, really love the drive-inn)
4-Our first massive party ever--30 guests seemed massive to us. Happy 4th of July everyone!
5-Living Traditions Festival (with Marianne and Bryan)
6-Jazz Festival (with Whit)
7-Farmer's Market (thrice--yes that's right. I said thrice. I'm quoting Scott who in all seriousness said this in the car the other day. What ho!)
8-Deer Valley Concert (I made it once, Scott made it...thrice)
9-Jackson Hole (ahh, heaven)
10-Lake Tahoe (a little work, a lot of fun)
11-Monet to Picasso exhibit
12-Katie's Trash the Dress (my favorite shoot of the summer)
13-Bar-b-ques and picnics with friends (thanks for putting up with us and our crazy schedules)
14-State Fair (going three times this year)
15-and last, but not least, The Greek Festival.

Whew! Maybe I wasn't quite the hermit I felt like this year. I finally think I'm coming back to civilization. It's about time. I have been known this summer to tell Scott I'm too busy for talking right now, can we talk in an hour? I have been a little of a hot mess. Thanks one and all for putting up with my summer craziness.

{And the Winner is}

Katie!!!!! Yay, so exciting. So, it has been a little while since I posted that I was even doing this contest and I thought I better act on it soon. I don't want to lose credibility and become a contest fraud. If anyone needs reminding, this is the contest to help choose the music for my site. Since I still can't decide on the music I want I just used the random # picker to find my winner. You all had a 1/10 chance. Is that right? I need to re-watch 21 and pick up some mad statistical skills. Anyway, I checked into how much it costs to put music on your site and it is pretty dumb. It doesn't matter when you pay for it, you still have to renew in January. Um, yeah. I think I will wait. Why pay for a whole year now, when I will only have it for 4 months. So silly.
Anyway, good job Katie. Your prize is an 8X8 holga print of the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Are you so excited? I sure hope so. Since we are totally blogging buddies I know how to get a hold of you, so we will be in contact (I'll have my people contact your people).

{Is It Weird...}

That I have already started thinking about my Halloween costume? You maybe didn't know this but I LOVE Halloween. Seriously, I Heart Halloween. I think last year I posted an ode to Halloween, a tribute if you will. This year I'm thinking Haiku.
I haven't come up with any great costume ideas yet. Two of my favorites over the years have been Velma (Scooby, Scooby Doo!) and Miss Piggy. I begged Scott to be Kermit the MP year, but he refused. He likes to be scary.
Anyway, here are some of the Halloween decorations I'm currently coveting. Restoration Hardware used to have the best ones. It was a sad day when they discontinued their Halloween line.

decorations: pottery barn

{Annoying the One You Love}

Scott and I each have our share of annoying habits. These 2 are recently making us laugh/roll our eyes.

Scott's Current #1 Annoying Habit
Scott is lately snoring a lot at night. I'm not a nice wife because I have to semi-wake him up to get him to stop. I do this without remorse. I shake him and shake him and say "Scott, stop snoring! I can't sleep." To which he replies, "What is your problem, I'm not even asleep yet."
I then try to convince that he really was just sleeping and snoring. I'm all like, "you won't even remember this conversation in the morning. You are snoring. Please roll over or something." This happens multiple times in an evening. Scott never remembers me waking him up or our snoring conversations. In the middle of the night though, he is dead set on believing he was just thinking, not sleeping.

Lindsey's Current #1 Annoying Habit
Every morning when I shower I use 2 towels. I wear the towels downstairs and change in our bedroom. The towels then usually end up in the dirty clothes basket, since the laundry room is right next to our bedroom. The next morning when I go to shower, I forget to take up my towels or get new ones. I then resort to Scott's towel, which follows the same pattern of going downstairs and into the dirty clothes basket.
The next morning, Surprise! Scott doesn't have a towel. This is a 3 day cycle and has been happening for about 4 months. Scott takes a shower before me, so then I usually just end up using his towel again. Sometimes I remember to bring my towel back up, but most of the time I don't. Apparently this is bothersome. Did I mention we don't have any window coverings and the shower is upstairs and the bedroom down?

I guess it is a good thing we love each other.

{The Fair}

Every year I get sooooo excited for the State Fair.
I love it.
It's a little random, but that is what makes it so great. I like the real cows, the butter cow, eating nasty food and people watching. It is an eclectic group at the fair.
This year Scott and I met up with my sibs (half of who have never been) and ate loads of bad food together. Scott had a meatball sandwhich (of course, ew) and I had smoked corn-on-the-cob (yummy with lemon pepper butter) and a funnel cake (gross). I haven't had a funnel cake since high school and I have been craving one for awhile now. The one last night was pure grease. I think I will be good for another 12 years.
Oh, and there are tigers this year at the fair. Weird. I felt bad for them because their cages are super small. I just finished reading "Water for Elephants" and I kept thinking those tigers are going to get out and eat me--see previous Jackson Hole post for Lindsey's greatest fear.
Tomorrow we are heading to the Greek Festival. Scott and I are living it up this week.

{Made Me Laugh Out Loud}