Happy Valentine's Day

I love Valentine's day...it's always been my favorite "holiday" (I of course love Christmas for it's meaning, but not so much anymore for the commercialism it is now surrounded by) I love it because it's almost the end of winter, it's my day of birth, and the colors are such fun. I still remember so well sitting down in my basement "art corner" and cutting out doily hearts and construction paper cards to make "Agape Day" cards for everyone in my 1st grade class. Most kids gave Michael Jordan cards...and 101 dalmations were popular that year as well for the girls. I told my husband about this the other night and he admitted to being one of the Jordan card givers. Of course. He and I are quite opposite in most things - and yet I love him soooooo very much :) He is perfectionist, numbers, sports and rational and I am whatever the opposite of all those things is (except when it comes to photography - I am the definition of perfectionist to the point of annoyance when it comes to that...)
Anyway, these are some pictures miss Lindy Lou took of us last spring. Yeah, spring, remember that? It's not just a coiled piece of metal - it's a season I hear! I love these 3 images - mostly because I greatly dislike "smiling for the camera" It's just not me. Hence I don't make couples do it too often either. I love just interacting and being lovey-dovey and seeing how those images turn out. Yes. Lovey-dovey :)

So Happy Valentine's day to all!

One Cute Cat

This is Fred. My cat since I was 8 or so, maybe younger. This is Fred now and although cats don't age as we do with wrinkles and hairloss and prune eating, this kitty is an old goat. He lives at my parent's house and I have 3 kitties of my own at my house, but Fred will always be my very favorite cat of all. He's a bit of a grump if you are not "his family" (which excludes my husband unfortunately) but his crusty exterior only makes his soft interior all the more special. I feel like I'm writing a eulogy while he's very much still running around but this picture is just so sweet and so Fred (this is what he does when prompted "Show me, Fred!"

Anyway - this is not at all wedding related - but every once in awhile I like to through a small part of my everyday world onto this here blog of mine.

Enjoy the cuteness!

2008 Favorites

I've been meaning to post my favorite of 2008 images - but that is quite some CHALLENGE to come up with a set number of favorites! I finally decided on 5 engagement images and 5 wedding images. And if you could see my folder of saved "favorites" you would understand what a huge problem this is for me to choose!! I had SO many fantastic couples this year. Everyone was truly wonderful - I honestly just had the absolute best brides and grooms I could have asked for this past year, and 2009 is shaping up to be just as great!!!

So this whole picking 5 favorite images....it's kind of like trying to only plant 5 trees in my yard. And if you know anything about me and my trees - well let's just say I live on .000009th of an acre in the city and have 13 trees.

First though, LOST is on right now so this post will be up after I get a good dose of confusion from my favorite ABC show ;)

Christmas and Smoothies

Can it be that Christmas is almost upon us?? Of course this would be the time that my throat decides it would be fabulously funny to steal away my voice with the beginnings of a cold (a cold that I'm not going to let survive!) With Christmas, a wedding Saturday and Wednesday, throwing a shower for the best friend on the 1st, rehearsal on the 2nd and wedding of my 2 favorite folks on the 3rd - it goes without saying that I CANNOT be sick right now. Or ever.

So here's how I combat it. I do this everyday actually, so we'll see how it shortens this illness...
THE INSANELY HEALTHY WOW HOW CAN YOU DRINK THAT SMOOTHIE
3 tbs flaxseed oil without lignans
3 tbs ground flaxseed
1/2 cup of either organic cottage cheese or organic yogurt
1 cup spinach
6-10 baby carrots
1/2 cup no sugar added fruit juice (and none of that splenda/fake sugar stuff either)
1/2 cup soy milk
1 vitamin C capsule
10-12 large strawberries
handful of blueberries, raspberries, or blackberries, depending on what I have
1 small orange
1 banana

All that's pretty approximate. I just throw stuff in, really.

And to be perfectly honest, I can't even taste the spinach or carrots - I could be used to it, but I just taste fruit. I'm not big on sugar, but if you want it a littler sweeter, try adding Agave syrup (natural sweetener that won't spike blood sugar)

So if anyone is brave and wants to give this a whirl - let me know what you think of it!

It's the most wonderful time of the year

Simply a post to let you know that many many more posts are coming!

Sponsor a Child - Compassion

I realize I've been a pretty bad "blogger" here lately but as Christmas speedily creeps up on us here (who else is really extra super excited for Thanksgiving??...I can safely say I am!) I wanted to post about a wonderful organization and opportunity to show love, support and kindness to children who may not experience these things on a daily basis. Perhaps this is a Christmas gift you might consider giving to a child you have never met, but who's needs are beyond what we can understand living in a land of abundance (even in our little economic downfall)

Visit the site here>>Compassion

And because all posts need an image...
Happy Thanksgiving!

Remember to Vote!

This image is from our trip to Savannah earlier this spring, but it seems somewhat "symbolic" of our duty to vote. I believe red is representative of Republicans while blue is of Democrats. Each door leads to a different outcome and while we in Illinois somewhat have our presidential choice already decided, it's still important to vote for your local representatives as those races are often much closer.

The lines may be long - but it's a nice day, so get out there and vote! :)

Cute, Sad, Too Busy.

Cute = this picture of my baby Charly when he was a brand new member of the Carlson clan.
Sad = he had his toes and other items out today. I know that's a horrible way to say it but ouccccchh, poor baby Charly.
Too busy = just life right now. I have 3000 sessions that I want to be editing but I do things like I eat dinner, one food group at a time.

Image Color

Just as a side note - if you're viewing this page in either Internet Explorer or Firefox - you're missing out! The colors will likely look desaturated and muted. Give Safari a try. I find it's just an all around better web broswer as it's the only one that can read all color profiles correctly.

Just my .02 for the day!

Betsy - Part II

See? Best for last :)Betsy just returned from what sounded like an AMAZING 2 month trip to Europe. I'm so glad she had this opportunity to travel and she's a braver woman than me doing it by herself. (I would need constant hand holding to get me from one place to another...) We met up at our regular watering hole - One World - for smoothies and coffee and hummus and good conversation as always. Somehow we got talking about fashion/pictures and being the impulsive two that we are, decided a shoot the next day would be just about the most fun thing in the world. So we "coutureified" Betsy (as if she needs it, gorgeous that she is no matter what...) and headed out for some fun on the streets of Peoria. I must say I'm quite proud of her modeling skills (pretty much no input from me!) and if anyone from America's Next Top Model is reading this...here's your next winner ;)

Love you Bets!!!

Betsy Part I

More to post tomorrow - and I saved the best for last. But I do have to say, do I not have the most beautiful friend in the entire universe?!?

So Here's The Deal...

To all of my recent couples, future couples, and anyone who has any interest at all in what's going on right now..

My current computing machine is at the end of it's days (yes, at the ripe old age of ONE) and all of my programs/files are being tranfered to a new, beautiful, insanely fast version.

What this means is that while I'm still working on all of your beautiful images, machine number one is not happy with me for ditching it and is putting up quite a fuss and digging in it's heals at all the wrong times. So for those waiting for your images to be put online - they will be shortly.

Also - some happier news that isn't causing me huge amounts of undue stress...the new website is live!! http://www.deidrelynnphotography.com There are still some obvious kinks and changes that will be happening, but it's done and it's up and I'm happy with that for right now.

So thank you to all of you for your patience and support during this technologically trying time of my life! ;)

Coming soon to a screen near you

Labor of love...loss of hair...same difference? I've been working on a brand spanking new website for about 5 weeks and besides being a little to close to losing my mind that I would like to be, I'm oh so very excited about it finally being ready! I've had the same website company since day one, and while it's been fantastic, I'd wanted to step outside the box a bit and try my hand at web design. While not "fun" per say (okay, not fun at all really) I'm loving the results! I believe it's very important to have a web "personality" that reflects the owner. So hopefully mine reflects fun, classic vintage (not 70's vintage...I'm talking 17-1800's here) artistic in the sense of how a well-crafted painting makes you feel... and of course easy to navigate.

Wow - maybe I should write all of my posts at 12am since I'm sure all enjoy my long-windedness :)

Anyway, all that to say...new website. soon. look out.

Really I'm probably the only one that's excited about this.

Facebook

Okay so we all (or almost all) know that Facebook has become somewhat popular in the last few years. I know that I really enjoy using it to keep up with pretty much every person I've ever known. If you have it as well, feel free to add me (Deidre Carlson) or become a fan of Deidre Lynn Photography http://www.facebook.com/pages/Peoria-IL/Deidre-Lynn-Photography/10568738012
If we're "friends" on facebook, I'll have a favorites gallery of your engagement/wedding/senior pictures on there and "tag" you in those images. Trust me...it's fun :)

Moving

We will be moving this weekend and likely won't have any internet access until Monday the 28th. Thank you for your patience as my mind is 1,000,000 places....paint chips, trees, dining room chairs, more paint chips (I think I have around 150) more trees (starting a collection.......) and so on.

More Vacation

Tybee Island birdums and Christy and I in Chattanooooooooga

Where They Actually Have Flowers...

Who else is beginning to truly believe with all their hearts that spring will never show it's pretty face in Illinois again? These lovelies were all in either Chattanooga or Savannah - where they have been graced with warmth and sunshine.

In other news - if I don't answer my phone right away for the next few weeks, it's likely because I'm covered in either dust, dirt or paint as we're working on our new house. Homeowner Gripe #1 - who knew there could be SO MANY shades of off white?!

Me and Hubs

On the other side of the camera! Christy (who masterfully captured these images...) kept telling us how awkward/uncomfortable we looked. Um...because we were! I don't know what it is with pictures with my HUSBAND but I always feel like I have too many arms or something. I have literally over 10,000 picutres of me as a kid (thanks photographer mama) so it's not like I'm not used to it. This experience just makes me want to make everyone in front of MY camera that much more comfortable and relaxed. We have fun!

Vacation!

Hubby and I will be in Georgia for the next week without much email access, but if you need to get ahold of me, feel free to give me a call!

Final and Favorite

Enough said.

So thus ends my pictoral tour through Banff. If you're getting married this year and you haven't had your engagement session yet - let's set it up because I'm itching to get outside and have some fun!