Ah, yes. My cousin Inho was in town, and the cousins got together at his parents' place. His mom cooked a gourmet feast, and we stuffed ourselves silly. Inho comes to town about once a year, so it's a big deal. Cadence obviously had fun.
And here she is playing Uncle Inho's cello--upright bass style. I used to play the cello when I was in high school. It's something I'd like to do again someday. It's one of my favorite instruments, right there behind the melodica, banjo and accordian.
This is probably one of my favorite Cadence outfits. It's what Ted dressed her in on Friday. Those pants are around 6 inches too long (and probably 6 inches too wide too), and that's why she looks like a stackabones. Oh, and she actually ASKED me to take a picture of her picking her nose. She is obviously not embarrassed by it, although we're TRYING to get her to be a bit more private about it.
Friday night, Cadence and I went to a get-together at our friends Ryan and Jan's. Jan just got back from Portland, OR, where she was a Band Manager and counselor for Rock 'n' Roll Camp For Girls. We got to see a couple zines the girls had made, as well as photographic and video footage that Jan had taken. All I can say is, I'm definitely sending Cadence when she's old enough.
Saturday was our friend Mikey's big Graduation Garden Party. He recently finished Rolfing School in Boulder, CO, and is now back in the Chicago area.
Also gracing us with his presence at Mikey's party was Jozka in his mighty spiffy suit, all the way from Ann Arbor, MI. He brought the suit at my bequest so that I could have the pleasure of shooting photos like this one.
And this one...
And this one...
Plus I finally got to meet Leonard up close and in person. No, Leonard is not Jozka's twin. It's his mustache. What? You don't have a name for your mustache?
The prize for furthest travel to be at the party probably goes to Phil, who hitched a Craiglist ride at the last minute from Portland, OR. Yeah, he made that face right when I clicked the shutter. Impeccable timing, as always.
We had some kickass dueling gyile duets by Mikey and his friend Gina, accompanied by various people on the bell.
Even Cadence got to get a little gyil action in. She likes playing her little xylophone at home, so maybe she'll get into the bigger wooden pentatonic one when she's older.
So yeah, good times, good times. I was partied out by Sunday and skipped out on yet another party that evening at our friends Nathan & Bryn & Fischer's. Ted and Cadence went, though and stayed out past her bedtime. Of course, since I wasn't there, I have no photos to show for it. Well, at least I did some laundry, the dishes and vacuumed Cadence's room in anticipation of Uncle Erik's arrival Tuesday night.
#1--I had a new post up on Shutter Sisters the beginning of the month. You can see all my past posts on Shutter Sisters by clicking here. I post every 1st and 3rd Sundays of the month, so I'll have another one up this Sunday.
#2--I got to see the band Frisbie at the Taste on the 4th of July while Cadence and I were on our mini-vacation. This was a big accomplishment for me as it was actually on my list of things to do that day. I almost missed them because they played 45 minutes earlier than I thought they were scheduled to. Luckily, I was foraging for food near the stage around the time they started playing, and I recognized their music right away and hurried over there. Cadence fell asleep after the first song, so I shot the entire set of photos sitting down at a table with Cadence in my left arm, and shooting w/ my zoom lens with my right.
#3--I took some really fun photos while on our mini-vacation. There was so much to see. I'll spare you the clicking to Flickr with a Pictobrowser (sorry if you can't see this in your feed):
#4--I made Cadence a new dress. It flippin' ROCKS. This was a t-shirt Ted used to wear back when we first started dating. It doesn't fit any more. Now it's a dress.
#5--Last last Saturday (the 5th), I had the honor of photographing The Maplewood Summer Olympics. Cadence was in the medal round for the Short Jump at one point. It's really harder than it sounds, even when you're half the size of everyone else. Lots of craziness ensued that night, including a bit of a SNAFU involving Cadence and vodka watermelon, but it's all good. Again, I'll resort to good old Picto to paint the picture:
#6--Cadence and I went to the Shedd Aquarium last Monday with my our friends Amy (the mom), Rudden and Jack. We had fun, but Cadence did run out the door with a stuffed penguin at one point (because I wouldn't buy it for her) and there were at least a couple major meltdowns. We survived, though. Fortunately, Amy is one of those friends who I know won't judge us in the present or hold this against us in the future.
#7--The day after Ted came home, we had a BBQ at our friend Yvonne's whose condo building has this ginormous patio overlooking their private beach. We really like Yvonne's neighbors and friends, so it was a good time. I had fun taking photos of the kids, and the lake and sky were just gorgeous.
#8--So the exhibit and Wicker Park Grace's Rent Party fundraiser were on Saturday. I got lucky that Tim V., who is active at WPG, was there on Saturday during the day when I came in to hang my photos. Tim is an artist and has a lot of gallery experience, so he basically put all my photos up for me.
I was surprised by how many people showed up, including folks who never let on that they would be there, like my friend Denise and her son Zachary. My brother brought a whole contingent from his church. All in all, the evening was a success. Lots of folks showed up to raise money for WPG, and I sold 4 frames prints from the exhibit and 2 more in the silent auction and received orders for a few more. Considering I had 15 pieces total, I'd say that was a pretty good night. Thanks to everyone who came out or who sent me notes of congrats or helped pick photos for the exhibit. I don't think my photography could have come this far without all the support I've gotten from you all.
And that will be my last Pictobrowser for this post. Those are the photos from Saturday night. Alright. I think that's quite enough for one post.
Oh, wait. One more thing. I've started a daily photoblog on my new website. This will be mainly about the photo and not so much about life in general, and most of the photos will be non-Cadence related. Some of the photos will be from the archives--stuff I never had a chance to post here but really liked and want to talk about. If you're interested in hearing me talk just about my photos, you can check it out.
Ok, I'm feeling a bit more up to posting photos from the weekend after taking a half-day vacation yesterday. Just a few of my favorites. You can see ALL my favorites in the pictobrowser in yesterday's post. As you can see from this shot above, we were kinda high up above the beach. So the wedding ended up being on the lawn overlooking the beach, and not actually on the beach, because somebody probably would've hurt themselves trying to walk down to the beach (most likely me).
I took this one of the groom Dave and two of his siblings through the screen door. I like the soft glow the screen door filter created, kind of like the time I took a photo of Cadence through a pair of pink tights.
I thought this was a cute one of my friend Alana the bride peeking out while waiting to walk down the "aisle." I loved all the songs that were played as part of the prelude, including Big Star's "I'm In Love With a Girl", which kind of threw me for a loop as this is the first song on Cadence's Sleepy Songs CD which we play for every nap and at bedtime. I almost started looking for Cadence so I could put her to bed. They also played Wedding Day, which our friend Ian Moore often sings (it's an Alejandro Escovedo song) and which I also played as part of the prelude for my wedding. The wedding party walked down to "New Day," one of my favorite Ian Moore songs (Ian is how Alana and I know each other).
And this is the maid of honor, Alana's oldest daughter Autumn. This is probably my favorite people shot from the evening. She just looks so elegant and beautiful.
I thought it was funny that there was no champagne at the wedding, but there WAS Miller High Life, the Champagne of Beers. Heehee. I love how casual and laid back the whole wedding was, and this photo captures it pretty well.
This photo makes me so happy. Click on the photo to see a larger version, and you'll see that the dad's umbrella matches the daughter's outfit and vice versa. It was during the dancing portion of the reception. Yeah, it rained.
It rained ALOT. But that didn't stop the bride from dancing with her guests, even if an umbrella was required.
And here are the newlyweds smooching it up again. She actually pulled him in by his necktie to get this kiss.
Here's a non-wedding photo from the weekend. I wish I could say I actually took the time to look around, but I was anxious to get home, so I only made one little stop by a field of dandelions for a couple shots.
So that's it in a nutshell. The entire wedding photo set (of all 302 photos) is on my other Flickr if anyone's interested.
Thanks for all your well-wishes and votes of confidence. It was a really good learning experience for me.
As you can see from this photo, my friend Alana did indeed tie the knot this weekend. Here she is kissing her husband Dave for the very first time as his wife.
Okay, so the title of this post is misleading, as I'm too tired to do an actual review. I'll let the PictoBrowser* do that for me with some of my favorite photos from the special day. Suffice it to say that there were tornado warnings and a lightning storm that lasted, oh, from around 9:30 until at least the time I got back to my hotel after midnight. I learned a lot from this experience, and I'm so thankful to Alana and Dave for entrusting me with the honor of documenting their special day.
*FYI, if you're reading this on my Facebook FlogBlog, the PictoBrowser won't be visible unless you click on the link to the actual blog post on my domain.
That's right, folks. It's my six-squared birthday today. I'm well on my way towards the middle ages now. Let's just hope with the older will come the wiser.
I have no idea how to catch y'all up on this weekend. Saturday, Sunday and Monday were devoted to friends, food and frolicking. It was more than a birthday girl could ever ask for.
Our friends Sarah, Ben and Eleanor were in town from Grand Rapids this weekend, thereby creating the impetus for much of the fun. Ben is the Ben of Ribbons of Song and Ben and Bruno, two bands that The Tim Lowly Ensemble has played with on numerous occasions. Sarah is one of the coolest moms I know, and Eleanor is about as spunky and creative a kid as 3 year olds get.
We threw a Panini Party for folks who know Sarah & Ben on Saturday night. Cadence was SO excited about Eleanor coming over. All day Saturday she kept asking when Eleanor would get there. It was probably one of the few times when she couldn't wait for the sun to go down because that's when I told her we'd see Eleanor.
It was a great time just hanging out and eating yummy food (and drinking yummy framboise for me and homebrew for others). Cadence is quite fond of Sarah, and I just love this shot of them reading together.
Sunday evening, we hung out at a park before grabbing some awesome Thai food. The weather was gorgeous, and it was just perfect for a lazy Sunday late afternoon romp in the park.
Here's a pictobrowser of the rest of the photos from the evening. It was a total treat to be able to spend two evenings in a row w/ Sarah and Ben and Eleanor.
On Monday, my cousins came over to hang out. It wasn't officially a birthday celebration, although it was my cousin Kris's and my birthdays this week. We did have cake and ice cream, at Cadence's insistence.
Another reason for the get-together was that my cousin Ben and his wife Rachel and daughter Eden are moving to New Jersey next week. Baby Eden has been one of my favorite kids to photograph, and I will really miss them. She's just great in front of the camera, and it's been a total delight watching her get bigger and bigger.
Cadence missed her nap today, and by the time 6pm rolled around, she was looking pretty beat. Out of desperation, we gave her a piece of chocolate truffle to hopefully keep her awake for just a little bit longer.
And this is how I found her 5 minutes after the truffles. Apparently, our plan failed.
Other than the total meltdown she had when we tried to wake her from her slumber (we really are stupid sometimes), she has been so sweet to me this weekend, wishing me happy birthday numerous times and telling me she loves me and that I'm her favorite friend. She's the best birthday present I could ask for.
Monday, August 18, 2008 at 10:00PM 
