Tag Archives: sushi

Hello, strangers.

Hello, strangers!
I apologize for temporarily being MIA. Here in central Wisconsin, the fall colors have been at their peak, which means I am in the busiest photo season of the year!
Since I left you last time, Brian and I enjoyed a sushi date night.

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We ate octopus for the first time! It was very chewy. All that rice was like carb-loading for Ashlee and Nick’s Plover wedding.

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Their ceremony was held at the beautiful St. Bron’s in Plover and the fun reception was at the Elizabeth Inn. Congratulations, Ashlee and Nick!
Brian snapped this one of me… This is what a photog looks like at the end of a long day πŸ™‚

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Sunday was a wonderful day to meet our new neighbor.

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Beautiful coloring, but I won’t be inviting her to a block party anytime soon.
Monday morning brought a pumpkin/kale smoothie and some fun photos of my friend, Randy. He owns Radio Kaos… You know I’m a fan.

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The fall colors are beautiful for more than just photos… They make my runs even more enjoyable. Here’s my neighborhood!

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After that beautiful run, Brian and I headed up to Rib Mountain to shoot the engagement portraits of Kim and Brad. It was a perfect day and we had a lot of fun!

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I was a full-on giggle machine during this photo shoot. Thanks for laughing with me, Kim and Brad! πŸ™‚

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Tuesday was full of photo editing and the engagement portraits of Erika and Chad. Their wedding will be in Milwaukee, and they live in Appleton, but they took the day off to come visit us here in Stevens Point. We took them to Schmeekle Reserve, played around on campus, walked downtown, then finished up at O’so Brewing Company.

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How cute are those?! Frankly, I love any photo shoot that ends with my Nikon in one hand and a Night Train in the other.

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On Wednesday, I had a really fun shoot at a spa event over at Adventure 212. I haven’t edited those photos yet- but here’s an iPhone photo of the double use of some of our lighting.

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On Thursday, I worked in our second bedroom and took several big storage containers to our storage unit. That is time-consuming work! I also went to my monthly TU board meeting and made mental notes for winter fishing projects. I’m going to do some revamping of our chapter website and tie more flies of my own. πŸ™‚
Friday was a long run day. It was a very windy day, and it was a tough 20 mile run.
I encountered fresh tar…

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…beautiful leaves…

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…wind-blown hair…

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…a banana peel…

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…a beautiful bridge (recognize this from Ashlee and Nick’s wedding? I found this spot while running)…

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…a tiny leaf stuck in my sock…

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…a giant leaf stuck to my face…

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…and part of the Green Circle.

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The wind made this run a big challenge, and I was so happy to be home to take a warm shower before heading out to Waupaca to take photos of the adorable Bellile family.

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Thanks for braving the cold for me, Belliles! You are adorable.
Brian and I warmed up with a fish fry at Point After, followed by homemade pumpkin shakes.

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We hit the hay early so we’d be rested for meeting Karen and her girls at A Touch of Class salon at 7 am up in Wausau. Karen and Eric had a hilarious wedding party and we had a lot of fun working with them! Check out their day…

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That’s the same handkerchief that Karen’s mom used on her wedding day!

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Their ceremony was at St. Anne’s in Wausau, with photos at Leigh Yawkey and the 400 block. Their gorgeous reception was at Jefferson Street Inn, with some of the most beautiful floral work I’ve ever seen from Randy at Evolutions in Design. Simply incredible. I volunteered with Karen at Girl Scout camp, so I’ve known this beautiful bride for 15 years! Congratulations, Mr. and Mrs. Hansen!
We left their reception and headed straight to the end of the reception of our friends, Mary and Joe. Remember these guys? I did their engagement portraits earlier this year…

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We made it just in time to hug all of our friends and take our token Delta Omicron wedding photo…

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What a good looking group. Congratulations, Mr. and Mrs. Nowinski!
We got home around 1:30 and peeled ourselves out of bed Sunday morning to shoot morning light engagement photos of Jen and Josh up in Wausau. They are a gorgeous couple and we’re looking forward to their beautiful wedding at the Milwaukee Art Museum.

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We had a lot of fun with these guys, and made it home just in time to catch the Packer game. I slept soundly through halftime and crawled off the couch to teach dance on Sunday evening.

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I tried to catch up on photo work and housework yesterday before heading out with my friend and fellow TU board member, Matt. He took me out to all the work sites of our chapter’s stream restoration projects. I am planning on doing some work with our projects, showing before-during-after shots as the projects move along, and I wanted to get some photos before winter sets in. Here’s a few of my favorites.

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Our stream projects are taking wide, shallow, warm sections of the stream that have been washed out by erosion and other causes and narrowing them. Trout cannot live or breed in warm water, so they need narrow, cold water with places to hide. We don’t create habitat where it doesn’t belong, but we try to repair and restore the areas that have been damaged.
I’m off to finish the wedding of Rachel and Alex and dig into my gaggle of engagement images. I can’t wait for Brian to come home so we can go for a rainy day run followed by a warm bowl of homemade chili. πŸ™‚

Miles this year: 550.85

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Strawberries, weddings, and bugs.

Hi, friends. πŸ™‚
Taper week is once again upon us.
This weekend was a busy one! On Friday, I met with a new client to discuss details about a photo gig. I’ll post more once I have everything set in stone- but here’s a preview of my new subjects…

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Brian and I wanted to celebrate my newest gig opportunity, so we went to Matsu Ya. I love sushi!

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We headed out to New London Friday night. Since our Saturday wedding was in the Fox Cities, we took the pups to my mother-in-law’s to run to their heart’s content! Abbie has recently taken up sleeping on our shoes. Brian’s nasty work boots and my well-worn Chacos?

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Brian woke up early with me and we went for a little run on Saturday morning. My hamstrings have been incredibly painfully tight for the last few days. I was hoping a short run and good stretch would help.

(For the record, it only helped a little bit. I’m currently trying not to panic.)

On the way to the salon, my car rolled across the big 140,000.

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I made my last car payment this month, too… So that probably means my car is going to start falling apart. :-/
We had a wonderfully warm and sunny day for Katie and Ryan’s wedding. πŸ™‚ Here’s a quick recap of the day through our lenses…

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Congratulations, Katie and Ryan! We had so much fun with you!
Sunday brought an amazing day. We went to Appleton to go to church at Appleton Alliance with Jean, then we ran some errands. I got some pink and lime green maribou! I’ve got some flies that are just waiting to be tied with that pretty stuff. I also picked up a book for small group- Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis. After errands, we went strawberry picking! I haven’t been berry picking in 10 years or so. The last time I went, my mom and I made a storyboard from berry picking through cleaning and making strawberry jam. I kept thinking about how fun it was! We went to a place near Appleton that Brian’s family has been going for years- and I found Todd!

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I didn’t know he worked there. What an awesome surprise! His fiancΓ©e, Hannah, works there, too. πŸ™‚ Here is our berry picking extravaganza…

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“Strawberry fields forever…”

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Thanks, Cuff Farms… We were the last people out picking for the afternoon. πŸ™‚
Packing up the car was quite an extravaganza- with all of our photo gear, overnight bags, and the dogs… Our trunk was packed to the gills!

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We also discovered that we must have been driving through some pretty buggy areas- my rack is covered!!

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Monday brought unpacking, photo editing (SO MANY PHOTOS!), and processing some of those berries. I made my first ever batch of strawberry jam by myself!

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I wasn’t sure if it would turn out because I didn’t use as much sugar as the recipe calls for- but it’s perfect. Seriously delicious! πŸ™‚ I’m so proud. I didn’t know that when you can anything, the jars make little popping sounds when they seal! How cute. πŸ™‚
I’m off to finish some photos before Brian comes home. I’m planning on logging a few miles tonight in the cooler weather. πŸ™‚

Miles this year: 333.5

P.S. Here’s something to think about.

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St. Patrick’s Day in Chicago and my last day in the world of coffee

Brian and I had an awesome weekend together πŸ™‚
We headed down to Chicago on Friday afternoon. Two weekends in a row with a long drive…

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We made a quick pit stop in Johnson Creek at the Coach store to get a fix for my broken zipper pull on my fave handbag. Once we finally made it to Chicago (after crazy traffic in both in Milwaukee and coming into IL), we dropped off our luggage at my aunt Maureen’s house and headed over to Tank. Sushi= one more reason to love Fridays in Lent!

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Once we were nice and full, we walked over to the closest L stop. We went on a little excursion downtown. I love taking the train- the more I take it, the better I get at navigating the city. We stopped at Ghirardelli and picked up enough chocolate to last us a year. On the way back to the L, I saw a frozen yogurt shop. You know the kind- the flavors are in soft serve machines and come with tons of toppings πŸ™‚ I picked plain and berry yogurt with lots of fruit on top!

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When we got back to Maureen’s house, we got to catch up with the whole family. πŸ™‚ Late to bed, early to rise? I got up extra early on Saturday to go for a quick run. I love running in Chicago. πŸ™‚
After a quick shower and getting dressed, I headed to Maureen’s salon to watch her get her hair done. Her stylist, Erik, at Salon Buzz is such a riot. A very funny guy and incredibly nice. I sipped on some of their cucumber lime water while waiting, and enjoyed people watching! πŸ˜€
Next stop? Picking up the rest of the family and heading over to the Hibernian float in the St. Patrick’s day parade. We had a great time…

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Look at our view from the parade route! How cool. It was SO unusually hot out there- the daffodils were all blooming, and it was a beach party on the lake… complete with bikinis and beach volleyball. How bizarre! (thank you, OMC.)
After the parade, we walked back to the car and headed over to the Hibernian party. It was nice to see my family, including my dad, Tom, Tommy, Mickey, Eileen, Killeen, Steph, and of course, my uncles and cousin who “star” in the McGowans.

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They were so great! The played a bunch of traditional Irish tunes, some great danceable classics, and even a cover of Mumford and Sons’ “Little Lion Man.” Love it!

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Isn’t my cousin Tommy adorable? We made a date to go to Six Flags this summer.
We left the Hibernian party and hopped on a trolley with our family and friends.

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Ashley, Max, Brian, Rex and I all squeezed in the back row of the trolley. πŸ™‚ We went to a bunch of places, including Burke’s, an awesome bar owned by my cousins Brendan and Kevin. If you are over in Edgewater, check them out! Of course, we enjoyed a few Irish car bombs…

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After our trolley ride was over, the 20-somethings headed over to Wrigleyville. It was like one giant street party- the roads were closed and people were everywhere! It was over an hour wait to get into any place, so my cousins took me to get my favorite Chicago food…

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A Chicago dog has never tasted so good. I finished it just in time to watch the guy at the table next to us blow chunks all over. Awesome. :-/ I got to hail a cab, which was quite exciting. All that practicing in Central Wisconsin paid off, haha. Brian helped me out with his ridiculously loud whistle. That whistle is handy if I ever get lost in a crowd, that’s for sure. πŸ™‚
We slept nice and late on Sunday, but were on the road at 11. After a quick stop at Whole Foods (oh my gosh, I forgot my bag. Get a manager!), we were on the road. The traffic was fine until we got to Milwaukee. There were two crazy accidents… One was an 8 car pileup with a semi, and the second one involved a driver getting shot while driving and crashing on the highway. All three lanes were closed. We were stuck there for a while while ten emergency vehicles flew past me on the shoulder. Eventually, the police ended up having us all back up and turn around. Have you ever driven the wrong way on the highway? We have!

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I made it home just in time to rush to teach dance lessons. I love the huge group we have for West Coast swing. Our beginner foxtrot students are doing well, too!
This morning was my last shift at Starbucks. So many of my regulars were there to say goodbye. Ken, a dog-loving West-coast regular gave me a sweet card! I didn’t even cry when I left. So proud of myself! Of course, I headed right to the nail salon after my shift to have my nails done. I missed that- when working at Starbucks, the employees aren’t allowed to have their nails painted. Then again, we also aren’t allowed to have artificial hair colors or visible tattoos. Bring on the hot pink streaks and arm sleeves! I’m thinking tribal, haha.
I came home, worked on my updated business plan for a while, and took a glorious nap. Brian woke me up with a kiss, a bouquet of flowers, and a delicious, healthy dinner. He’s so amazing… I’m in love.
I’m looking forward to a great run in beautiful weather tomorrow, a photo shoot over at Adventure 212, and checking out Sam’s Club with Brian. We’re looking into getting a membership. Any thoughts?

Miles this year: 113.5

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