Happy Halloween!

Eisley

The Brant's are such a lovely family, I had such a great time with them. Dan has found a new calling as lighting master (he worked magic with a mirror.) Candice and Eisley are just adorable, and Allison was an enormous help! All in all a great day!

Test Shots

Sweet little Cohen was my stand in today to test the lighting for the Brant's shoot. He did such a great job! I love this picture because he got so excited while his mom was talking to him!

Wondering aloud, or rather; in print.

As I was driving home from work I was listening to NPR as I often do, and This American Life was in Pennsylvania trying to figure out why and how John McCain and Barak Obama both think they can win there.

Most of the piece was getting to know the campaign volunteers as they made calls and went out on foot to try and convince the undecided to vote for either McCain or Obama, or to sway the decided to vote the other way.

The most interesting part of this piece for me was when the Obama volunteers asked the decided McCain voters why they aren't voting for Obama. Some said because of his health care and economic plans, but most just said they simply were not ready to vote for a black man.

Now clearly this is a bit offensive, and quite sad but not what caught my attention. What really has got me thinking is that Barak Obama is not a black man. His mother is White and his father is Kenyan or Black, so he is just as much a white man as he is a black man. So why is he only categorized as a black man? And really what would we call him, or categorize him as; since there are no names or categories for bi-racial people like Senator Obama and myself. And why is that? And why must there be racial categorization? Can't Senator Obama and I just be American?

Just something to think about, from my people to yours.

VCR

Allison and I are about to go through 7 hours of tape from London 5 years ago. Wish us luck.

General Store

So Traci is probably going to kill me for posting these, but these are my favorite pics from our shoot the other day! Like any of the clothes, jewelry or accessories? Get them here.

Nothing to Fear . . .

Today I found out that there are those out there who are inflicted with Samhainophobia. Samhainophobia just so happens to be the abnormal fear of Halloween. (Is there a normal fear of Halloween?)

Could it be caused by the department & convenient stores stocking Halloween paraphernalia the day after the 4th of July? Perhaps it is the plastic mask that is so precariously held together with two staples and a rubber band that it will inevitably snap, and thus flicking you right in the eye every time. I just find it amazing that there are enough people who have this phobia for them to actually give it a scientific name.

This got me to thinking, what other amazing phobias are out there? Please enjoy my findings:

Arachibutyrophobia- Fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of the mouth.
Asymmetriphobia- Fear of asymmetrical things.
Bromidrosiphobia or Bromidrophobia- Fear of body smells.

Caligynephobia- Fear of beautiful women.
Coprophobia- Fear of feces.
Defecaloesiophobia- Fear of painful bowels movements.

Deipnophobia- Fear of dining or dinner conversations.
Dutchphobia- Fear of the Dutch.
Geniophobia- Fear of chins.
Hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia- Fear of the number 666.

Phronemophobia- Fear of thinking.
Porphyrophobia- Fear of the color purple.
Pteronophobia- Fear of being tickled by feathers

And finally: Phobophobia- fear of being afraid

*Amovintagi: love of vintage, as in I love those vintage cards I found!

enjoying fall

I have finally warmed up to the idea of fall. Usually I love it after a long hot summer, but since this past summer was neither of those things fall was a little hard to take. Now that it's about over, I am fully embracing it.

Dismantling Geneva Steel

My grandpa worked for Geneva Steel as the Superintendent of the blast furnaces for over 30 years. So when I heard about Chris Dunker's exhibit Dismantling Geneva Steel at the BYU Museum of Art, naturally I had to check it out.
I was not let down, it is tremendous photography. I highly recommend going it is just stunning and even better, its free. It is on display until November 1st at the BYU Museum of Art, Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Saturday from noon to 5 p.m. Here is a little taste of what you will see. All photographs are by Chris Dunker.

Rebecca's Wedding round 2, better pics

Once again, Rebecca's wedding was a smashing success, everything was gorgeous (thanks in part to us.) And I must say I was really impressed with Millcreek Inn, their staff, surroundings and food were all great! All photos are by Dustin Izatt.
Notting Gate Floral is now booking for November, December and January.

Fitness Orb

So I got an e-mail from work giving me the option to purchase one of these for my office:


And all I could think of was this:

All The Great Rooms

A long time ago, I worked with these fine gentlemen at my cousins furniture store. They were the burly delivery guys and I was the receptionist that called them all day long to inform them of changes and angry customers (sometimes they drove over lawns : ) and sometimes just for a little comic relief.
It was really good to see them yesterday, they are still funny as ever and ladies . . . they are single.

Cohen & Steve

Conference Weekend

Another great conference weekend, Luke was gone the entire weekend translating for conference and I was yet again a conference widow. Thanks to Heather & Ryan giving me amazing tickets to the Sunday afternoon session, my mom and I were able to go. Singing with 20,000 people is quite the experience, it really was incredible. Afterward Temple Square was abuzz with fresh faced latter day saints enjoying the afternoon and all for a moment united in a desire to do better. I love being at Temple square, I have been there a million times, seen hundreds of pictures and still it is one of my favorite places to be.
Click here to hear Luke translating in Armenian.

Rebecca's Wedding

Allison and I another lovely floral filled weekend! And after a whole week filled with sunshine, our poor bride got rained out, great for the flowers not so much for an outdoor wedding. All went well (kudos to Allison for our first ever fresh flower ring pillow) except everything got moved inside and it was really dark and these are the only 2 shots that turned out (damn my low fstop crap lens.) So here is a little teaser till the photographer (with an amazing lens) can send me his flower detail shots.
Also if you or anyone you know are in the market for wedding flowers, just give our little blog a look-see and get in touch with us!

We also have this little guy to keep us company, it is so hard to work with cute guys around.

Beehive Tea Room

The Beehive Tea Room is delightful and one of my favorite spots in Salt Lake. Everything about this beautifully designed quaint oasis makes you feel warm and fuzzy! The food is simple and delicious and the people make it worth going back again and again. If you haven't been go, if you have go again! 12 W Broadway Salt Lake City, UT

Specificity is not their specialty

NPR: Senator, as you know, the vice presidential debate comes on Thursday — your running mate, Gov. Sarah Palin, against Joe Biden. Gov. Palin has been asked about her foreign policy qualifications and cited Alaska's proximity to Russia as one reason she's qualified. I'd like to ask you, senator, what specifically do you believe that Alaska's proximity to Russia adds to Palin's foreign policy qualifications?

Sen. McCain: Well, I think the fact that they have had certain relationships, but that's not the major she has stated, and you know that. The major reason she has stated is because she has the knowledge and background on a broad variety of issues, including probably the major challenge of America, and that's energy independence. And she has been responsible, taken on the oil companies, and we now are going to have a $40 billion natural gas pipeline. She has oversighted the natural gas and oil and natural resources of the state of Alaska and, by the way, quit when she saw corruption there. She has the world view that I have. She is very highly qualified and very knowledgeable.

NPR: Given what you've said, senator, is there an occasion where you could imagine turning to Gov. Palin for advice in a foreign policy crisis?

Sen. McCain: I've turned to her advice many times in the past. I can't imagine turning to Sen. Obama or Sen. Biden, because they've been wrong. They were wrong about Iraq, they were wrong about Russia. Sen. Biden wanted to divide Iraq into three different countries. He voted against the first Gulf War. Sen. Obama has no experience whatsoever and has been wrong in the issues that he's been involved in.

NPR: But would you turn to Gov. Palin?

Sen. McCain: I certainly wouldn't turn to them, and I already have turned to Gov. Palin, particularly on energy issues, and I've appreciated her background and knowledge on that and many other issues.

NPR: Does her energy qualification extend to the international energy market?

Sen. McCain: Of course, that's what it's all about. It extends to a broad variety of issues, from her world view of the threats that we face of radical Islamic extremism, to specific areas of the world. I'm very proud of her, and proud of the knowledge and background that she has. She's also been a governor of a state, and she has been involved in running a bureaucracy, she has been in charge of running a state, and it's not an accident that she's the most popular governor in America. I remember, in all due respect, that some people, when Ronald Reagan came out of California, said he was totally unqualified. I remember an obscure governor of the state of Arkansas that people said he was totally unqualified. This kind of thing goes on, usually in Georgetown cocktail parties.

Read this interview in it's entirety here. All text above is from NPR.com