I'm baaaaaack!

Retreat was, in a word, AMAZING! If you've never experienced an Assumption retreat then you almost cannot imagine how moving it is, and how much raw emotion and energy it creates in you to be a part of it - even as an adult leader...we are probably the least "involved" of any of them. Anyway, Mary Beth (my boss!) and I were the adult leaders and we had such an inspirational senior leadership team. It makes you feel good about the future to think that girls like this are our future - they are intelligent, kind-hearted, open-minded, independent, confident young women who inspired me, and so I know they also inspired the freshmen girls that they were leading. I have to admit that I cheated and did not actually get any portraits on the first day, Tuesday...both of the pix below were taken on Wednesday, but I'm going to let this little cheater by because I got some other cool photos on the first day, so my photography skills did not go unpracticed! I am off to see Wicked tonight with the women of my family in celebration of my grandma turning 82 at the end of this month - and still as feisty as ever! So, I will have one more photo tonight to add (hopefully of the birthday girl!). But here are my two photos for Tuesday and Wednesday of my amazing senior retreat leaders...enjoy!

VN4Life!

Monday nights are choir nights (Vochay Nochay for Life!!! as my hubby likes to say)...tonight, Mandy and Jenny and I enjoyed dinner beforehand at Cafe Lou Lou as we caught up on the latest gossip. It was lovely! I don't get to spend nearly enough time with my girlfriends, so any chance we get is fabulous. We will be getting lots more together time this weekend for the VN retreat. Speaking of retreats, I will also be leading a freshman retreat tomorrow and Wednesday, so I will not be posting. But I WILL be taking photos to post when I return! We'll be at the lovely Mt. St. Francis, which should provide some phenomenal pix, especially if we get a little bit of snow on the ground - fingers crossed! Plus, I am going to try to begin working on an all-new project inspired by a co-worker, so stay tuned for the unveiling! Back to today's photo...Jenny got a new Corolla over the weekend and had to show it off. It's fabulous, just like her! Unfortunately, it was rather dark, so the photos are also dark and a little grainy because I had to bump up the ISO - no tripod to drag the shutter (alas!), but a couple turned out fairly decent. So, here is Jen and her new set of wheels - HOT!

Real Estate Woes

We had a showing of our house today, which is SUPER exciting! But along with that excitement, it also brings hours of cleaning and de-dogging, and trying to get the house in pristine condition for a showing that may or may not even last 15 minutes...today just may have been a turn in our real estate luck, however, the couple REALLY liked how cute our house was, and they are apparently mulling it over. Keep your fingers crossed or say a prayer for us that if this isn't it, it will happen for us soon. In honor of our real estate rollercoaster, here is my photo for today - it's Elvis' plea to the couple that came through, "Please buy our house!!!!"

Good Catholic Girl

Thanks to Mrs. Kern and the cantoring schedule, I am a good little Catholic girl! I made it to 5:00 mass tonight to sing, and there was apparently some kind of flooding on Christmas Eve, and the poor organ pipes have still not fully recovered. Now if you know Mrs. Kern, you know that she loves nothing more than to whale on those pipes! We were able to do a few songs on the organ, but most of the mass parts on the piano tonight...and I felt a little like I was the one blowing people out of the church with my pipes! At any rate, Mrs. Kern was lovely enough to let me take a few photos of her after mass. She is the sweetest woman, albeit completely scattered, and I love singing with her, and loved having her play for my wedding last year. So, here she is in her element: a good view of the concentration, a shot of the organ and music (notic the scattered thing I mentioned before), and finally a close-up that really shows how much she loves what she does. This poor woman played 5:00 tonight, and she's also doing 7:30 and 12:30 masses tomorrow - sheesh! She and her husband practically live at the church! Here she is!

Finally Friday!

Well we made it through what seemed like the longest week ever! We made tentative plans with mom and dad to go to the movies tonight...the new Brad Pitt aging backwards into the Greek God that he is movie. Anyway, Mom called about 7:15 to say she and dad were already falling asleep waiting to meet the Cusick's for dinner. So much for family movie night! But David and I were happy to resort to our old standby - snuggling at home in front of the tube...tonight's feature presentation? Strangers! I love a good (or bad) scary movie!

So, my shots for today are of David on the couch, post-workout (he's training for the mini marathon and 3 other races, I think), post-shower, in his comfy clothes, playing online (ogling expensive watches that he doesn't need but doesn't stop him from looking, while I finished a recorded episode of Real Housewives of the O.C. Friday nights are my guilty pleasure nights! At any rate, I'm including two photos of David for tonight - one without the flash and one with the flash...which do you prefer? I think the one without is a bit blurrier, not quite as crisp (though I could bump up the ISO and get a little more, but it would also get grainy)...but I think it has more EMOTION to it. Let me know your preference - leave me a comment! I'd love to get some feedback!!! Until tomorrow...

Pizza Night

Okay, it might technically be Friday, but I haven't made it to bed yet, so it's still Thursday night! And Thursday night, OF COURSE, means pizza night at the Kremer household! Mom did not disappoint tonight, though we had a variation on the usual...flat crust, as requested by Kaia. So the lucky Hannah Montana wannabe got to be my portrait subject for the day - and she definitely was up for the job! Kaia is my sister's new boyfriend's 7 year old daughter, and she is a firecracker! I sound like an old person when I say that, but she really does just ooze personality, and she's a fun (if not tiring) kid! We enjoyed good pizza, followed by sundaes (and some fun with whip cream - see below) before watching the big Grey's/Private Practice back-backs. Hence my late return home...since tomorrow is another day (a work one, that is), I am now off to bed...until then!

365...a little late!

Okay, so I decided to try out the 365 Project where you take a picture a day every day for an entire year - thus the 365 thing...so, ideally I would do a photo every day in 2009, but I am unfortunately a bit late. Not to let a silly thing like that stop me, I am resolving (it's not too late for that!) to take a picture every day of 2009 - starting TODAY! I sound like all-too-many new year's resolutioners, vowing to start tomorrow, huh? Well, just you watch - I am ON this from here on out! And because portrait photography is my thing, I am resolving to take a portrait a day from here on out... I don't know about you, but I have good vibes about 2009. This is going to be the year of the Kremer/Klines, that's for sure! We've already started the year with news that I will be an aunt, come September - what better month to have a baby?! (I'm just reeking of modesty, huh?) I see a large purchase in our near future, as well...following a large sale first, of course - Zelma Fields is gonna sell, I can feel it! We are also planning a few trips later this year...Gatlinburg with my sisters-in-law and their SO's, Key West with my mom- and dad-in-law, a possible Carribbean cruise sometime later in the spring, and a month of weddings in October - in Louisville, Cincy, and San Diego - oh, my! Anyway, to get us started with my latest project, here is my portrait for today - two, actually, of my hubby and his "baby!" We will see if I can improve over the course of these next 365 (-6) days...