I thought it was a bit ironic that the our blog circle word for the month was cozy and today was all about staying cozy in the middle of the big blizzard in Iowa! Thankfully, we have had electricity all day but a lot of people are without power and many are stranded on the roads here. The wind continues to blow the snow around making travel difficult. Since I live in a rural area, we have not seen a snowplow yet so we patiently wait.....kindle in hand, hot cocoa and cookies! That is my definition of cozy. Please visit Kristi at her blog and see her take of the "cozy!"

I have several Christmas photo orders on my desk waiting for better weather so people can pick them up. We had to cancel a session today as no one had any business being on the roads and there was no way to get through the drifts to my house today!

Most all of the area schools have canceled school again for tomorrow (everything was canceled today because of the weather) so kids got an early start on Christmas vacation this year. I'm sure no one really minds, including the teachers!


Stay cozy!

Thanksgiving is approaching so fast! I finally made a trip to town today to get all the groceries necessary to have a great feast day with all the family. It was a painful jolt when I saw the total at the checkout counter but it made me think about how thankful we can be for all that we have. While the groceries were expensive, I could afford to buy them and for that I am thankful. Thankful too that we live in a country where we can go to the store and find most anything we want just waiting for us to purchase. Our country may not be in the best shape but I am thankful we are still relatively safe and able to go about our daily lives without fear. Most of all, I am thankful for family and friends that are such a special part of our lives. As we gather together, I want to just be more aware of how special and important these relationships are and I don't take them for granted.

It was so special to photograph this mother and family as they look forward to their second little bundle of joy. It is even more special to me as I photographed their wedding and first child also. I love it when photography is more than just a session. It is a relationship and a friendship.

On a side note, these photos were taken on Sunday. Monday this little girl made her debut! So happy for this family.

Clean Out, Organize & Add On!

I have been working on cleaning out unnecessary files, duplicates, and getting rid of some extra pictures, just keeping the proofs from files older than 2009. Then I worked on making sure everything was organized by year and backed up on two different external hard drives. I have a total of 5 externals. A lot of time consuming work! Over the last couple years I have gotten a lot more organized with my photo files but some of the older ones were pretty random!

After all of that clean out, I was still short on space! It was clear that I wouldn't be able to make it thru the year with what was available. After a bit of power seaching, I found a great deal on another external WD 2TB drive. This will definitely ease the space issues for the year, making it possible to unplug and store a couple of the older drives with older files.

High megapixel pictures are wonderful but they take a bunch of space!

Inspiration

This time of year in Iowa can be rather uninspiring....especially if you hate the cold as much as I do. I enjoyed reading this blog post and thought I'd pass it along. http://phototips.alexismiller.com/2010/03/finding-inspiration.html

Winter in Iowa

After a lot of beautiful, relatively warm days winter has arrived! Cold, snow and wind....Brrrr! Winter is definitely my least favorite time of year! I love to watch it snow, but I hate the cold.

I am making use of these cold, nasty days to catch up on bookkeeping and work on new programs for 2012. I have some new backgrounds and props already in. I am looking forward to an exciting year!