Taylor's Falls Hiking

This summer my cousin, Taylor is living down in the Mpls-St. Paul area while she is interning at the MN Zoo. Her weekends are Sundays and Mondays. We have been trying to get together every few weekends and on June 24th (after the Back to the Fifties car show) she came over to our house for dinner and a sleepover.  :)
The next day (Monday) I happened to have off of work (I had a floating holiday to use) so we packed up Stanley and headed over to Taylor's Falls to do some hiking. It was a beautiful day and was a great opportunity to get some use out of my new camera lens.

Back to the Fifties

To say that Matt loves car/auto shows is an understatement. He has been looking forward to this car show all year. The month of June I basically "lost him" to our garage. He spent (almost) every free minute out there working on his truck. Not just any truck, but his 1954 Ford.

When the car show weekend came, he spent ALL of Friday, Saturday, and Sunday there. I mean ALL of it. Getting up at 4am and getting home after 7pm. But it's his thing and he loves it! I wanted to go one day, but couldn't go on Friday (because I work), and Saturday was just a long day, so I decided to go on Sunday (when the show only went until 3pm). Little did I know that we were going to be out the door by 5am! Ugh that was rough.

But it turned out to be a beautiful day, a little hot, but bearable. I of course brought the camera and my new lens (which I'm still in love with and have no plans to use the 30-day return policy) to try to get some photos that captured the day.

The car show is held at the MN State Fair grounds...which also means that tons of food vendors are there!

My cousin, Taylor, is in the metro area for the summer interning at the MN Zoo

Matt's parents came out too!

Probably the funniest thing I saw all day. Someone set up a fake dog, lifting it's leg on a car...and sprayed the ground with water!

Me and my handsome husband (and his handsome 1954 Ford...which is now for sale)

Bump-a-licious

A few hours before Josh and Emily's baby shower, we got together to take some maternity photos. They chose a location by our homes, which I had never been to. So I got there a little early to scope out the situation and hoped to find a spot or 2 that would work. What I found was a GREAT location! Full of a variety of settings and beautiful lighting options! I will definiately keep this place in mind for the future!

I was also pretty darn excited because I had JUST received my new lens in the mail (the UPS guy showed up literally as I was putting the dogs in their kennels and was grabbing my camera bag!). I quickly switched out lenses, took a couple practice shots with the new lens, just to be safe packed the lens I had been using, and RAN out the door.

 (p.s. that light streaming through the trees was completely natural! Love it!)

Family Photos

O.M.G! I am so in love with the results of our family photo session. This past week I shared how ridiculous the weather was during the session and was surprised if any even turned out ok.

Well not only did some turn out ok, they turned out b-e-a-utiful!

These are just from the sneak peak she posted. When we get the cd of the rest I'll be sure to add more. (ps I put them in collage form so that they'd fit better here).

Northwoods Promo Event

A few weeks ago I was invited to participate in a promo event that the shelter was participating in. Although I suspect they invited me so that they could get photos...but I'm ok with it.

It was a lot of fun...except that our table was set up next to the kid bouncy castle...yep we were this:close to dozens of screaming, shreiking, yelling children...with our 2 dogs. To say it was overwhelming at times is an understatement. I tried very hard to not get annoyed at the parents who weren't paying attention to their own kids and be a nice representative of the shelter. But when I felt my control slipping...I walked away to "get photos from a distance".  :)

See, I said we were this:close to that thing

Griffin is actually a shelter alum

This is Mr. Harley being so very good! He truly was a great puppy (9 months young) and presented at this event WAAAY better than he does at the shelter.

All in all it was a great time. Yes, I was annoyed at times, but then again, when you combine crowds of people, unsupervised childen who are getting hopped up on candy and bouncing til they (almost) throw up...WITH 2 dogs...I guess I really shouldn't have been expecting a calm afternoon. But it was fun! :)

Bump-a-licious

A week ago I went to a very fun Girl's Night at my dear friend's home. This friend also happens to be pregnant and so we took some updated photos for her.

Her "bump-a-licious" photos try to incorporate what is recently going on in their lives. Recently they have been making big changes in the nursery...including beautiful lilac colored wall paint and these adorable white wall decals. LOVE IT!

I'm also loving the way the purples played off of each other. She is just simply adorable and so happy to be pregnant with that little lady.

And of course, Mr. Wally felt the need to creep in on the action.

It was such a beautiful day out that we tried to get one out there.

It's Official!

It's official! I am so excited to share that I have created a new blog!

Currently the title is "Laura Shaleen...a Loose Leash Photographer". I'm still running it through my Type-A head to decide if I should keep it. I do love it and think it's descriptive without being silly. But like I said my Type-A personality always says that I could be doing something better, so time will tell.

I would LOVE LOVE LOVE it if you popped on over to that site and poked around and let me know what you think. Seriously, I would welcome any and all constructive feedback!

Feel free to share the new blog! Enjoy!

Hank is excited too!

Always Good For a Laugh

As I've said before, I really do love taking photos of the shelter animals, especially the dogs. It's not that I don't like cats, because I honestly do...I'm just more of a dog person.

Well it isn't always easy working with dogs who don't know the same commands that my dogs know...especially when you throw in a puppy who is just so dang excited that someone wants to "play" with her !

So I thought I would show the bloopers from one of my sessions at the shelter, enjoy the laughs because no matter what, that's what dogs and puppies are ALWAYS good at, making us laugh!

Wordy Wednesday

This past Monday I went back to the shelter and was fortunate that it was a gorgeous day out. So of course I rounded up some puppies and went a little "click happy"

Wyatt (Lhasa Apso/Yorkshire Terrier mix - appx 2 years young)

Harley (Labrador retriever - appx 8 months young)

Lamb Chop (Chihuahua - appx 1 year young)

Minnie (Chihuahua mix - appx 5 1/2 years young)

Nitro (Puggle aka Pug/Beagle mix - 5 years young)

If you or anyone you know is interested, please check out these amazing dogs that are available through Northwoods Humane Society