And when I say I do not love them – it means that I love that I don’t love them. And do them anyway. Because I love my husband.

Numero Uno: There’s a lot more task lists. Seems as though once we got married the task lists doubled as well. Like some weird rule of science. I could live without that.

Number Two: “Healthy food” is not currently the majority owner of our cabinets. See said exhibit.

Number Three: I bought this loveseat when I first graduated from college and moved into my own apartment. It’s the most comfortable thing ever and I used to spend hours (literally) just laying there watching reruns of America’s Next Top Model. This seat now currently is claimed by Brad, who sits in it for hours and watches hunting shows. I would like my comfy chair back, please.

So all in all, I guess those things aren’t so bad. There’s a lot more that I truly, absolutely, undeniably love about being married, and I’ll explain more later.

PS – wedding pictures to come this week! I promise!

As I was watering our garden, she got into the hose and decided that she loved it. Amazing that even though by the end of the time she was pants-less and shivering, she still didn’t want to stop playing with the hose. It seriously was the cutest thing ever, and it’s times like that where I’m so glad I have my camera around to document all the 1 1/2 year old fun.

Sometimes she un-knowingly aimed for Aunt Lee and I had to run away!

Anytime we turned the hose off, this is what happened.

Brad putting his niece to “good use”.

Watering our garden.

She LOVED it!

Oop. Pants were gone by this point. Hello, Lydia!

One of my absolute favorites. Isn’t she darling?

My mom! Kisses from Grandma after it was time to go inside.

Oh ya, I didn’t tell y’all that she’s my new second shooter? That’s what we pay big bucks for! Kidding!

]]> http://www.leeannmariephotography.com/archives/4294/feed 2 http://www.leeannmariephotography.com/archives/4287 http://www.leeannmariephotography.com/archives/4287#comments Wed, 14 Jul 2010 10:42:45 +0000 Leeann http://www.leeannmariephotography.com/?p=4287 Anita and Chris are married – as of two weeks ago!! Yay!! However, I haven’t yet blogged their engagement session since I’ve been shooting weddings like it’s my job.

Chris contacted me back in June because he and Anita were looking for an engagement session and a guestbook to use at their wedding. We knew it was short notice, but we got it done! They were married in July at the Omni William Penn, and I hope that this session and their book made a great addition to their wedding! They now have a wonderful keepsake of their friends, family, wedding, and love. Congratulations to you both!

Here are some of my favorites from their engagement session at Settlers Cabin in Robinson. Simple yet lovely.

A sweet kiss.

Gosh, it’s so easy to love the fields at this time of year.

This one is my favorite! The greens. The light. The expression. Favorite.

The new Mr. & Mrs.

]]> http://www.leeannmariephotography.com/archives/4287/feed 0 http://www.leeannmariephotography.com/archives/4309 http://www.leeannmariephotography.com/archives/4309#comments Tue, 13 Jul 2010 11:47:13 +0000 Leeann http://www.leeannmariephotography.com/?p=4309 Today is the Bui Brother’s Lighting and Workflow workshop here in Pittsburgh. Ya, that one. I’ll be attending to learn, help, connect, and have fun with 18 or so other Pittsburgh area photographers. It will be fun. It will be educational. Hopefully it doesn’t rain on us. Pittsburgh – so unpredictable. I’m really looking forward to being with everyone. Learning and getting better at my photography is always important, and I get really excited to “talk shop”.

Yesterday, though well that was a class in-and-of itself. You see, I spent the day taking Lan and Vu (collectively, the Bui Brothers) around Pittsburgh. They’re both from LA and have never been here before. I took them through the South Side, to the top of the Cathedral of Learning (where this weirdness was taken..), to Primanti’s for lunch, and then eventually we randomly decided to go grab a night pass at Kennywood and enjoy some rollercoasters. It was a day that started out with a “Oh crap, these guys are from LA, how could Pittsburgh possibly be interesting?” to a realization that different is interesting. I get the feeling that they loved my little tour – explaining the Urban Room at the top of the Omni and how the Roberto Clemente is one of the “Three Sisters” bridges. They were pretty intrigued and I actually found it fascinating that they liked it as much as they did.

On our way to Kennywood, we were talking about photography and business, and I found myself suddenly a little frightened. Frightened of the future. Frightened of what I will and will not be capable of doing. Frightened that I’ll fail. I know that I tend to blog a lot about all of the fun sessions that I shoot and cool places that I go, but I’m also working for myself, and that can be a super-scary thing. I know that I really want to get even better and do bigger things than I already am doing, and it’s when you come in contact with people who have built themselves to a place you aspire that a teensy bit of fear creeps in. Don’t get me wrong – Lan and Vu are absolutely nothing but supportive to me and really do give the best advice, but they know so many people and so many different things that I my mind starts to sound like a MTV promo “You think you know, but you have no idea”. True Life.

I guess that’s it. It’s true life. I’m living my dream, but it’s not easy. It’s really hard work, and I guess it’s all about baby steps. Little clicks of the rollercoaster chain that eventually bring me up to the top of the hill where the crazy fun all begins. The anticipation kills me, but I’m excited to see what happens next, and totally scared out of my pants as well. I’ll be taking one click of the chain today with the workshop and learning just a little bit more, but I really hope in the long run that my lap bar works and keeps me in. I want to go along for the ride.

I’ve been trying to get better, and Brad and I planted a garden this year to have some fresh vegetables and herbs. Our veggies are still growing, but the herbs are there for the taking, so I looked up a good recipe using a lot of yummy basil. This one turned out really well, and I’d recommend it if you’re looking for something super easy over the holiday weekend!

Ingredients:
- 3-4 boneless chicken breasts
- 3 cloves finely chopped fresh garlic
- 1 teaspoon salt (although, really, I’d recommend using a lot less..)
- 1/2 cup chopped fresh basil
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- olive oil to taste + additional for the grill
- few drop of lemon juice

First, we picked the fresh basil from our garden. My hands still smell amazing from it. I love basil! Chop it up really fine.

Next, put all of the rub ingredients in a bowl. You don’t need anything huge here.

This is where Brad comes into play. He skins and bones the chicken breasts, which we’ve started buying this way. It’s a whole lot cheaper than buying the boneless-skinless at the store. Think half the price!

Mix it all up real good!

Rub onto the chicken and then put those suckers on the grill!

Always recommend some steamed veggies on the side. We have a farmer’s market right down the street from our house that I really love to visit.

Cook the chicken on the grill until it’s done all the way through. You can flip it and put any extra rub on the other side. We served ours with some brown rice too. Yummy!

What do you think? Should I post more recipes as I try them?

Now, picture this:
Grand-daughter: “Grandma Lee! Where are your wedding pictures? I want to see when you and Grandpa Brad actually weren’t so wrinkly!”

Me: “Here’s this DVD.”

Grand-daughter: “Grandma, you do realize that these DVDs are sooooo out-dated. My computer doesn’t even have a slot for it. Don’t you have, like, an album or something?”

Me: “You can look at my Facebook album!”

Grand-daughter: “Grandma, Facebook is lame. It used to be cool, but now it’s just advertisements and creepy dudes. Don’t you have, like, an album or something?”

Me: “No, but let me tell you about these things called iPods!”

And that, my friends, is why wedding albums are important! Think back to the 80′s. Back then computers were evolving and we had these awesome super-bendy floppy disks. They were so cool and cutting edge! Then we moved up to the world of smaller “floppy” disks that were actually hard plastic. Then we moved on to DVDs. And that’s where we are at currently. However, that was only 20 years, and in that 20 years, things changed at least 2 times! Imagine what the world will be like 20 more years from now, when your daughter is a teenager wanting to reminice on the back porch with you about how you and daddy got married on that wonderful day.

I still need to make a wedding album. It’s on my To-Do list, but I always put myself last in the pecking order. But I still can’t get it out of my mind. Being a photographer, I’m now well aware that my decision to have just a DVD of images produced from my wedding isn’t all that I want to remember our wedding day. I want something physical. Photographic prints have been around for years and years and years. They are a constant format. I want something that will remain.

Ok, I get it. There are also other companies like Shutterfly, My Publisher, etc out there to make albums. Mmmm yes, but they’re not always the best quality. Remember those awesome Wal-mart prints you got in high school of you and your best friends? Then you cut them into weird shapes and glued them all over your bedroom walls? Fun at the time, yes, but how do they compare to the senior pictures you had printed from the local studio? I would guess that the senior pictures are probably in a little better condition (cutting and cropping aside). So of course you can take your DVD and make your own album, but let’s think about the long haul. Think about what you want to present to your children or grandchildren years from now. Do you want to present to them an album that’s so yellowed that it looks like the dog got to it a couple of times? Or do you want to be able to hand them a tangible, beautiful leather album, and watch as they flip the pages with big smiles on their faces thinking about the day Grandma and Grandpa sealed their love, began their lives, and led to the current moment with your family?

The choice is yours. I do offer High-resolution DVDs of images with my packages. You have them for your archive, but please, if technology does change, please change your wedding pictures along with it. That is your responsibility. And if an album isn’t in your currently wedding budget – think about doing one for your first wedding anniversary, because, well, that anniversary’s signature? Paper.