Tis that time of year again...

Whell.

I said I wasn't wishing ANYONE a Merry Christmas until I saw some friggin' snow.

And I stand by that.

But I will wish ya'll a day of love and funky gifts! :D

I will be taking some time off from the blog to work on new designs that I can unveil in the new year but I will keep you posted!!

Calendar Launch - Hot Moms for Charity!!

Two things:

First, sorrrry I have not been around lately.

Moving. Packing. Unpacking. Painting. Cutting Trim. Oh, and sleeping :)

Secondly, lots has been going on business-wise as well. This post is a little late as per the above stated reasons, but here's the latest!

urbanLove was in attendance for a calendar launch held in the last week November. I had donated stationery pieces for Hot Moms for Charity who did a fundraiser supporting an organization called SWIM: Single Women in Motherhood.

SWIM raises awareness for and about single mothers who juggle life and careers, empowering them to succeed to their fullest positive potential (http://www.singlewomeninmotherhood.com/)

Hot Moms for Charity saw this as a great opportunity to help out in a cause that is close to their hearts, so enter the idea for a calendar of hot moms! It was originated by Angela Rivard and friend Yaira Estrada who works for a photography company, Last Forty Percent, who of course did all the photography for the shoot. There are more awesome pictures on their site if'n you feel like taking a gander: http://www.hotmomsforcharity.com/

They held it at a pretty swanky establishment called Cello Supper Club (pronounced CHello). There was a live DJ (who had turn tables!! I didn't know they still did that!! How old school!), or-derves (obv. I need to go back to said old school and learn how to spell), and a VERY Sex and the City crowd of socialites. Fun times!!

I purchased a calendar from last night's event and as you can see from the images I've posted, the photos in the calendar are very nicely done bein both sexy and tasteful. It just goes to show how hot moms can be!!
AND!! since I donated some art, I had special mention on the back of the calendar as well! Yay advertising!

Working mothers, single or not, are a hard-working group of ladies and it's great to see people who acknowledge and encourage us cause it's difficult most times to raise kids, pay the bills and find time for us to decompress, especially though if we are single. It's just harder on your own so it's fantastic and a bit of an ego boost to see that others support us :)

I also think they should do a Hot Dads calendar too, because there are alot of single Dads out there who juggle all these items as well and they too should have some rays of the spot light :)

So yeah, last night was great (all except for the $70 parking ticket [$40 if I pay in 7 days] that I found secured beneath my windsheild wiper, because apparently I don't know how to use those bloody parking ticket spitter-outter machines properly) and I had SUCH an AWESOME time meeting new people and others in the industry.

I hope to work with both HMFC and SWIM in the near future again!

Live life. Take Pictures.

Many changes have entered my life recently...alot of good things, and some not so good things.

I've had to come to terms with a personal loss, and learn how to look forward. Decisions have been made, paint chips selected, and I'm making a list and checking it twice.

Ever since I've made the choice to let certain things go, I've never felt more free and clear-headed about my life, about where I belong, and about how open I am to this journey set at my feet.

I feel it so deep in my bones that I am meant to be right where I am, and right where I will end up in the coming months. I'm good! I'm happy and smiling again and have an extra piece of vertebrae as a result of this departure.

In the midst of it all, friends and family have supported me. Co-workers have let me off the hook for being grumpy at times, and my beautiful children have been my strength. I know, sounds cliche but it's true!

OK ok, I'll quit getting all melodramatic on you :)

I left my boyfriend of 4 years (well, almost...3 years, 11 months, 1 day to be exact...so much for an anniversary right? LOL).

I won't go into detail because really, I just don't need to, but it just didn't work and I wasn't happy. Even though we both tried, in the end...well, it was just that: the end.

Sad. I know.

Bottom line, I realized we are not only 2 different people, but too different. And that makes a difference.

The love will always be there between us but it takes more than that to withstand, stabilize, and maintain a relationship.

So at the beginning of the end of this year, I move to the square in front of me, I move out and move on.

And through it all I have my new baby by my side...as my motto these days is to look forward, not behind....to live life and take pictures.

Enter my Canon EOS. Ah yes, a fancy-schmancy contraption of marvellous mechanical abilities! An entry-level, sure, but good Lord do I feel like a rockstar with it in my little hands! I'm capturing all these moments in my new life now with a camera that is (and I will get melodramatic now) meant for me :D

Life really is good these days...2010 will be my year, I know it! :)

Jake and Teresa - The Wedding

As recently posted, on a cool and breezy October 31st, my dear friend Jake married his soulmate Teresa.

The weather co-operated decently for the outdoor pictures as you can see, but the REAL fun was to be had later on following the reception...and THOSE pics will stay in the vault! :D

My ex-Fiance's Redneck Halloween'er Wedding??

Yes'sir and mam's!

My ex-fiance's redneck halloween wedding was yesterday and boy oh boy did I ever get alot and I mean H'ALOT of great shots!

But guess what?

My camera broke literally 2 hours before we were to leave for the wedding (I swear this is a direct result from that black cat who ran across my path the other day...) so I had to push a buck-twenty to Nicole's house to use HER camera. This is all fine and dandy, but I don't have any way of uploading the images from my memory card on her camera to my computer.

I'm sure there's a way, I just don't know what it is.

It's probably quite easy, but I just don't realize how easy.

Unless I grab her USB cord thingy...hey I think I just figured it all out!

While making myself look like a dummy online!

Go Lisa! :)

So until then, this blog will have to suffice. DAMMIT eh!

Oh and on a totally un-related note, Lisa from Weezi's uploaded this here fancy lil' blog about the Breastest Day Ever and she spoke some very kind and smile-provoking words about urbanLove!

So go!

Link!

Read!

And smile!

http://theweezistore.blogspot.com/2009/10/breastest-day-ever-big-success-happy.html

Dana and Weezi's Breastest Day Ever!!

urbanLove was able to take part over the weekend in a great opportunity to help raise money for Breast Cancer. It was also a great way to meet new people and network. All bases covered.

It took place at Weezi's Design and Fashion above St. Albert's diner in Londontown on Sunday October 25th. I had received an invite to attend the event via Facebook on a Monday evening and after reading in detail about the fund raiser and what would be taking place, I just knew I had to do something to help out.

I mean, I have breasts. Obviously. Small ones too, but if ever I were to lose them I would be devastated. And for those who are suffering through that traumatic time, I think they would like to take some kind of comfort knowing that others; friends, family, strangers alike, came together for a day to support the cause.

I emailed Lisa, the creator of the event, and cc'd Dana Brushette, the photographer (which I've had the honour of working with not once, but twice in the past for personal family portraits) who had both come together to create a truly beautiful calendar that was photographed by Dana. I asked what I could do to help.

I immediately began to brainstorm ideas because well...that's what I do. When I'm focused on something you can rarely take me away from it nor do I suggest you try because I can turn quite cranky if interrupted. Which is why I don't do ANY art until after my children are asleep :)

I sketched out ideas for layout designs and harmonizing captions for a couple hours. By midnight, my yawns had grown into full-blown tiredness but thankfully I had the initial design for the greeting cards down pat. I just needed a witty caption that tied it all together.

The following night on Tuesday, I worked diligently on the cards that last minute I decided to make into postcards. I drew and sketched, eye dropper tool'd and coloured, anchor noded and pen tool'd.

Finally, after what seemed to be forever, I sat back, staring at the screen trying to finalize a witty caption. As I zoomed out the image on the screen, after spending about an hour drawing and tweeking and adjusting lines and colours, it came to me.

"Like a good bra, I support you."

Perfect!

So anti-Hallmark too! LOVES IT!

I typed it in, situated it in the centre of the card, picked a font that suited the design overall, hit save, and then started on the bookmarks.

Bookmarks?!

Yes...I also donated some funky awesome bookmarks.

I mean, I could have just as easily gone the el cheapo route and dropped in a 3 cent business card in the bags. But of course, my mind stretches with ideas once I'm locked in that zone, and moments after the postcard save, I thought up the awesome idea to make hand-made unique bookmarks. Because everyone should spend an hour in Chapters to find their next good read and have a neat little bookmark to accompany it! :) See? urbanLove promotes literacy too!! Coolbeans!

Anyways, I was up till 1am that night. WOW. Tired much Lisa?? But it was worth it because the bookmark designs turned out pretty freakin' cool too!

I officially sent all the files to my printer at around twenty after one, and then retired to my bed. I don't even remember laying down I was that tired...maybe I didn't even make it to my bed, I can't recall, lol. Maybe it was the pile of laundry...hell I didn't care, I was too tired, lol.

The next day was chaos. I have a 9-5'er as well, so I couldn't do anything about my little stationery bits and bobs until after work. Once I picked up my kids from school and daycare, we headed the next city over to purchase supplies. I pretty much found everything in one spot, for a decent, round price.

We headed home and I did the MomThing and decided that since the bookmarks were probably going to take the better part of the night to assemble, I rewarded myself with a night off to relax. So when the kiddies were in bed, so was I.

Thursday night.

AWESOME.

My 12 year old daughter and I sat down in the living room at 9pm promptly and I had all the supplies laid out before me on the coffee table, like a cute little assembly line. As we watched Grey's Anatomy and Private Practice, we both worked silently on the bookmarks, intertwining wire and jute and adding little embellishments. It was great spending this time with her; a nice Mother-Daughter evening in! :)

By 11pm all the bookmarks were completed; close to a hundred. Holy stamina! The stationery set I was donating was ready to go and the postcards were trimmed to size and the bookmarks coupled with the above, were ready to become a part of the Boobie Bags!

Saturday afternoon we dropped them off to Lisa and chatted like excited little school girls about the following day. I could not wait! Neither could she! Someone gimmie a woot woot!

Fast forward to Sunday afternoon...we walked up the flight of stairs to Weezi's studio and entered a whole other realm or rather that's what it felt like. Pink.vintage.retro.everything everywhere. A table was set up with all the donatables, and then in another area, the Boobie Bags.

We chatted with others, perused the clothes and funky hand-made vintage fashions, and had some yummy cupcakes and!! PopShoppe pop!! OMG! I totally remember having that when I was a kid! Horrah!

By the time my daughter and I had left, which was close to an hour later, we had some parting gifts and smiles on our faces knowing that all our hard work, even though it was in the form of twine, wire, and card stock, was going to a good cause. Go team Us!

If you would like to see what kind of awesome retro fashions and pieces that Weezi's offers, you can check her out at www.weezi.com.

The talented Pin-Up photography queen that is Dana Brushette can be found at www.danabrushette.com. Please check them both out - I implore you! :D

www.pinkribbonpinups.com

Can't wait to work with you ladies again!!

A Quick Update

Holyfriggin'goodnessIambusy!

I just wanted to say hi and let you know I am still ::here:: but am really over ::there:: alot.

My dear friend Alison has asked if urbanLove would like to donate some stationery pieces for an upcoming fundraiser for the over-populated stray dogs on the reserves, namely in the Kettle Point Region. I think she's doing a grand thing. And I wanted to be a part of said grand thing so I fashioned up a small but cute stationery set complete with 3 greeting cards and an organic note pad.

THEN I got an invite to a Breast Cancer Fundraiser on Facebook about 24 hours ago and after reading the event information, I knew I had to be a part of that grand event as well! So I emailed the Admin/Creator Lisa, from Weezi Creations in London and asked how I could get in on this and help out somehow.

Well! Lots of ways really!

I'm donating 3 stationery sets of a new line of witty Retro greeting cards, as well as funky hand-made bookmarks AND!! I've also created a really cute and light-hearted Breast Cancer postcard.

I'm also handing those postcards out for Steelway's Breast Cancer information night next week too so as you can see a) urbanLove is ALL ovah the place and b) I'm redic. busy.

On that note, I must return to my art as it awaits me.........vroom..........

Western Fair Bridal Expo 2009

Ooops, I did it again

I set up a booth

Got lost in the game

Oh baby baby

Ooops you checked out my cards

And said they were awwwwesome

That I'm so.damn.creative.

I cannot beLIEVE I just loosely quote Brit-Brit, but that's a catchy song so...deal with it :)

Last weekend urbanLove was a vendor at the Western Fair Bridal Expo 2009.

I loved our location, I loved our booth and LOVED the lime green silky fabric that I found last minute to cover the table.

Where, you ask?

HA! Len's Mills, $4/yard baby. It made everything on the table, pop.

It looked (in the words of my secret love Perez Hilton) faboosh.

I kinda sorta rocked it ;)

Overall in attendance, there were around 800 Brides the whole weekend. Not that I handed out 800 business cards, because unfortunately not everyone has a chance to get to EVERY booth, but I did go through the whole lot of cards that I had printed, and also handed out all the mini padding board info sheets that I had created as well.

As you can see from the many images I've attached, we had a good time as per usual. We chatted with many a Bride and Groom and even had a few couples enjoy the same-sex wedding invitations that are offered by urbanLove (can't wait till Gay Pride!)

We networked with so many others in the industry, including another invitationer from Chatham who does the whole "tri-folded metallic cardstock and silky ribbons" deal. She does very nice work I must admit and seemed to have had quite the response...but I am a little partial to my creations :) And so were many other Brides so...yay!

But it was great to see a show that offered a couple different kinds of wedding stationery, even if on some level, we were competitors. But it's nice to have a choice, right? Right.

I had been contacted a little while ago by Brianna from Last Forty Percent Photography as she happened across my little blog and praised my work. Not only were they at the show, but they were the booth across from us!! It was nice to see a face to the name :) Gorgeous work too, check them out at lastfortypercent.com and take a look at the waterfall pictures!! AMAZING!!

I had such a good time that I cannot wait until the January show!!

Wake me up when September Ends

...that, by the way, is a good song by Green Day.

In fact, Green Day is one of my most-liked bands. Ahh...good ol' 1993, lol.

OK that statement just made me look old.

Digressing.

September is drawing to a close and boy have I been busy!

As in, super.busy.

I've worked on some wedding invitations, prepared for the bridal show this weekend at the Western Fair, aaaaannd....bought myself my first ever Mac!

Yeah I know, "it's about time Lisa"...

It's used, I won't lie. But it's a great entry level so I can get used to the feel and dashboard of the system.

But I'm so excited!

I have Photobooth on here (I think that's pretty standard) and have been having a riot with both my kids :) Pictures to come. No, crazy funny pictures to come.

I'm currently waiting for my copy of Creative Suite to be shipped to me. Should take between 7 - 10 business days as per the confirmation email I received. And until then, until I install Photoshop, I can't really adjust the sizes of some recent pictures from my life and business...iPhoto can do that, just not as easily and as well as PS.

But trust me my friends, I've got some GREAT posts and pics to come! So stay tuned! TiVo me if you must! But I'll be back in 10 - 12 business days with new updates yo!

See ya on the flipside!

The visit from my "Sister In Law"

My sister in law Melissa was in town today and we had a chance to catch up cause it had been a while....a long long while.

But first, here's a quick history of me and Melissa to catch you up:

Melissa is my sister in law, quote unquote. I "married" her sister Amanda years ago and by married, I mean that Amanda and I connected INSTANTLY and had SO much in common, and loved her awesome sense of humour and wit and logic SO much, that I just started calling her my wife one day.
I actually asked her nonchalantly "Panda, will you be my wife?"
She laughed so hard her 40D's bounced as she giggled out a yes.
That was 5 years ago.

Now...Mel and I didn't exactly hit it off like Amanda and I did. Oh lord no. She has pretty much the same personality as I do which caused for us to have friction. Meaning, she's outgoing, loud and fun just like me...but can whip into bitch mode in a nano-second just like me. I'm not trying to degrade her, I bet if she's reading this now, she's nodding her head in agreement and laughing about it too, so she knows I say it with love. :)

But yeah, for a while there you couldn't put us in the same room. You wanna talk Cantankerous Kangeroos...lol.

Then one day we kinda looked at each other and said "Why on earth are we even fighting? This is child's play, we aren't 11 and in the school yard!" And ever since then, we've been besties.
Sigh.
Girls eh :)

Fast forward to today. Mel and her boyfriend Jeff drove to London from their small town north of the T-Dot because Jeff had to have surgery. Whilst he lay on crisp linen sheets and donning those embarrassingly unattractive gowns (sorry for the visual), Mel, my daughter and I had some serious girl time.

I rubbed her belly (she's due in January so that makes her...I dunno, far enough along to have a cute belly!), told her the story of a restaurant that didn't give away plastic cutlery with take-out orders that in turn caused me to eat fudge (in lamance terms, I am purposely leaving some information out), and gave her an awesome home-made semi-hand painted card. There were some tears; of laughter and of joy.

Jeff was still in surgery and Mel was going a lil' nutty from looking at the walls and seeing as though I had some places to go and people to see, I brought her along with us. :)

We went to Gift of Art so I could drop off the labels, show off my new catalogue, and let Mel ooh-and-ahh over the great pieces of art.
OH! And I showed her urbanLove's display.
Of course!
Of course.

Then we went to pick up a funky round red table that I found off Kijiji for a whopping $5. The guy who sold it to me was pretty cute too...a nice ego boost mid morning never hurt anyone ;)

And then we headed over to Traditions and Occasions to see Cheryl who owns and operates the ever-expanding store. Right now she's got a newly introduced ice-cream shoppe that also sells candy and specialty teas. She's doing more reno's over the course of the next month so once that's complete I will for sure upload a blog about her as well cause she's super cool people to chat with :)

After all that was done, I drove Mel-Mel back to the hospital where Jeff was probably groggy yet happy to see his gorgeous Baby-Mama to be :)

Then my daughter and I headed to Value Village for some retail therapy where I found the pieces for my 2009 Halloween Costume AND my 2010 one as well! All for under $20! God I love that place........

So that was my day with my Mel-Mel. It may have only been a couple hours, but it will have to do until I see her next; at her baby shower!

O-ffic-i-al! urbanLove is in Gift of Art!

Holy AND cow!
What just happened recently (I can't say 'days ago' because it's actually been in the making for about a month) to urbanLove was HUGE!

We landed a display space at the tremendously unique and awesome gift store, Gift of Art, on Richmond Row, London Ontario!!
HUGE!!!
If my mouth could stretch across my face wider than what my jaw would allow, I'd do it! Because that's how happy I am!!

OK let's start at the beginning because that's always a good place to begin, so as not to confuse the locals, lol...

Around July 20th, I was sitting here thinking of ways to advertise effectively and how else to get my name out there other than bridal shows (which although are alot of FUN, are also kinda costly) and pinning my business card on local community boards across the tri-city area. When I say tri-city, I mean Aylmer/St.Thomas/London. Disclaimer: I realize Aylmer is NO where near the size of a metropolis, but we ARE google-able. So that counts.

I began thinking about how they did it back in the day: pounding the pavement, cold calling, that sorta deal. Hey, you hafta start somewhere. I thought of all the places I wanted to network, day-dreaming about being in certain stores in the area, and achieving world peace.

Gift of Art crossed my mind. I was introduced to this store by sheer accident and chance many years ago; I was in a coffee shop waiting for my tea and glanced down. Staring up at me was a picture of a man standing outside of his store. It was an article in the business section of the London Free Press about a store that offered Canadian art and gift alternatives to what you see in mass-produced big box stores.

After scanning the article, I felt something warm in my chest and no it wasn't just the hot tea going down my throat...it was this sensation to want to see this store in person. After all, it mentioned one thing I loved: art. I immediately felt the desire to maneuver my car through downtown traffic to this little piece of heaven.
So I did.

It's a small store that is so beautifully decorated by pieces of art that it took me a minute to gather myself. It was candy to my eyes! Bright bold acrylic paintings adorned the walls, trendy little trinkets filled the store, and colour and art was alive and kicking in this small space.

There were pieces I've never seen before and never will again; which is the beauty to Gift of Art. Nothing is mass-produced, but everything is 100% original.

No where else will you see 3-D heart-shaped paper weights made out of blown glass that is hand painted with such detail and skill. No where else will you see steel that is twisted and contorted to make gorgeous eccentric wall hangings.

And what's even better, is that ALL the art is Canadian made, with at least 25% of the inventory being from right in the London area. How's THAT for keeping business local??
Awesome, that's what.
Exactly!

I knew then, in that moment of kid-in-a-candy-store/Lisa-in-an-art-store that I either wanted to own this place one day, as silly as that sounds, or somehow become a part of it.

Who knew. Funny how life works out eh?
I would try to visit the store each summer as part of my secret rendezvous with Richmond Row but had no idea that one day my designs would be displayed in Gift of Art.

Fast-forward to July 2009; I called up Gift of Art that sunny July afternoon and spoke with Brad, the owner, for all of 4 minutes seeing as though he was closing for the day in 5 minutes. I told him quickly of my business, what I am trying to do with it, and if he was interested to peruse my website.
Which he did.
And was impressed with my portfolio. He suggested I come in and we talk shop in person.

So I scheduled it for the day after the Hip concert since I was going to be in town anyways. I dressed in a cute dark fuchsia top that I bought at le Tarjay, and a nice pressed pair of black pants (that I got from Value Village for $5 - not ashamed at all to admit I shop at thrift stores, I mean seriously have you BEEN there recently?).

I gathered up my portfolios, my keys and my smile and headed out into the warmth that was the 10am sun.

Arriving at the store, I was so totally nervous. To me, this was a little piece of heaven and there was a part of me that wanted to just toss my credit card on the counter and shop till the plastic melted from all the swiping.

'Ah, patience my friend' my conscience said gently.
'Move forward, for great things await you grasshopper' followed my internal Mr. Miyagi.

I greeted Brad with a thousand watt smile laced with 500 watts of nervousness, said 'hello I made it' (duh, obv. Lisa), and set my portfolios down on his counter.

Initially, he said I would probably only be there for 15 minutes...
An hour later I walked out beaming as he not only boosted my confidence that day, but placed an order for me to create wedding cards that would be sold exclusively in Gift of Art AND offered me an area in his store for me to display my invitations.

As we brainstormed over ideas and signage and businessy things, I could see that he was a well versed and secure business man, yet at the same time, completely cool to just hang out and talk shop with as well.

Since that day, I've printed off the wedding cards and assembled them, complete with Card Candy as I call it (aka Swarovski crystals that adorn certain designs), created/printed/and displayed posters in gorgeous bold black frames, and commissioned my co-worker Eldon Peters (yes, I have a 9 to 5 as well) to manufacture me a sign made out of expanded metal and galvanized steel.
See attached. Hell, see all the attached photos, they pretty much tell the story! :)

Currently we are tying up loose ends; I've printed and assembled by hand some cute-n-colourful labels for my display, I've worked on a new design for his bag stuffers as I am doing some marketing work for him, and I've also had time enough to spit out the new urbanLove catalogues! Which Brad will have on display in Gift of Art as well.

Rock-freakin'-on, yo!
It's SUCH an ago boost to see your art on display in a prominent and well-liked store. To see my passion on the walls does wonders for my psyche. To have someone believe in me...priceless.

So here's to a new venture in both our lives ::cheers clink::

Gift of Art is located at
575 Richmond Street
London Ontario
519.642.4095

Hours:
Mon-Wed: 10am-6pm
Thu: 10am-7pm
Fri-Sat: 10am-6pm
Sun: 12pm-5pm

Photo Shoot with David Irvine

It became apparent to me, quite a while ago in fact, that I needed a new profile image for my Facebook account. The one I had was done professionally but was from when my son was about 9 months old. He's now 25 months. Yep, it was time.

I mean, I had a few "homemade" self-portraity shots I did in the privacy of downtown traffic, lol, but they just didn't quite capture ME.

Back in March I posted a blog about doing a Bridal Show at the St. Thomas Golf and Country Club. Which is where I met David Irvine. We talked shop over the next few months, when we both had TIME to talk said shop, and then I finally sat him down and booked a session.

Last Wednesday we couldn't ask for better weather. It was super warm out (not hot tho) and the sun cooperated magnificently...except for when it was in my eyes, lol. Squinty shots were not processed as you can imagine ;)

I did indoor shots, outdoor shots, shadowy "low light" shots, several wardrobe changes...2.5 hours and what seemed to be a million images later, we were done. I was actually exhausted from not only stretching my body into proportions and angles in an attempt to get that "perfect" shot, but from trying to not laugh half the time; not out of nervousness, but because I felt super comfortable around David and let him see my natural goofy side. I had a freakin' blast :)

David is really professional and a good conversationalist as well, and really makes you feel at ease. He's truly talented and knows how to properly guide you with head tilts and glances ("ok look at the corner of the desk, not at the camera, and think about what you did yesterday") so that you find that right moment of composure...and then you hear the soft click of the lens knowing that that image is caught on film foreva :)
OK maybe I'm being a little melodramatic, lol...

I swung by his house today to pick up the photos and disc. He handed me my album and gave me a quick tour via his computer of what I was receiving.
I oohed.
I ahhed.
I gasped in shock and utter glory, covering my mouth and pointing as I was totally impressed with his ability to capture the moment and make it look even more real than real life, if that makes any sense :P

I will not disclose how much I paid or how many images I received (so don't ask, lol) because that's a personal deal between he and I, and really, everybody's portrait package is going to be different.

But I will say though that he is absolutely worth my time and money. His talent exceeds others I've been introduced to and I am officially hiring him as my photographer; for our family portraits and possibly, one day if I am so lucky to say this, my wedding. Hopefully he will still be around by the time that day comes! LMAO...

He was also gracious enough to take some non-portrait images that I will be using for an upcoming wedding invitation design. It g'onna be awesome.

Please, I suggest that if you are looking for a great photographer for either your wedding or how you look in your favourite outfit as you lean up against a brick wall (um, ME), follow the link to his site and start there. His work speaks for itself. www.jdwiphotography.com

Thank you David for a great time and for your professionalism and talent. At the risk of sounding a little teeny-bopperish, you rock! :)