gailwernerphotography.com

I must have been wanting to relive my high school days of designing posters for Homecoming (Fact: I once made this really elaborate sign only to finish, look down and realize I’d spelled it ‘HOMECOMIG’!” GAH!) but earlier this week, I had this idea to announce my big move to the new blog via the same grand gesture. Only this time, instead of getting high off a Sharpie in the process, I let Photoshop help me out (spelling errors are a lot easier to tackle that way too!)

So all this to say, GO, SHOO, SKEDADDLE and head on over to www.gailwernerphoto.com and www.gailwernerblog.com!!! Oooh, I’m excited about this move, you guys! It feels good both to see my work represented the way I’ve long dreamed of seeing it displayed and also to get this project off my shoulders!

One last story before I abandon this trusty old blog (oh but she was good for me while it lasted!): While Nick was helping me out taking the above photo, I decided to take advantage of a) having my hubby within range of my viewfinder (I swear, we get pictures of the two of us about as often as there is an eclipse) and b) to test out the new tripod I purchased that will come into use for our family vacation we’ve got coming up.

THEN I thought, heck, why not make it a TRUE Werner family portrait and get DAISY in the shot!!!! Ummmm….. seriously, WHAT WAS I THINKING?! Mission impossible, that was. So on that note, it took these four frames (and about 50 more) to go from chaos …..(seriously, that first frame makes Daisy look like a white speeding bullet and that’s TOTALLY how she was behaving throughout all this!)

To the photo I’d been hoping to capture (minus the pup after all). Oh Nick, I do love ya babe! Muwwwaahhhh (and thanks for being understanding about your status as a “living room widower” the past few weeks as your wife holed up in front of the computer to finish this redesign!)

Based on conversations I’ve had with my photographer friends, I’m starting to think those of us who wield cameras on a regular basis are cut from the same cloth: We all live so far in the future — booking sessions into 2010, taking appointments for next month, thinking about that batch of photos we have to edit this week— that we can have a hard (SO HARD) time living in the moment. You know, just sitting still. Doing nothing. Chillaxin’ … (Even if I do take a minute to curl up on the couch, I’m all, “Where’s a book? What can I be knitting while I watch this show?” I take multitasking to a level that’s unheard of…)

Enter my husband. In this department, he is the ying to my yang. Nick grew up in the prettiest pocket of Indiana (Brown County for the unfamiliar), which means the man craves nature like I crave the click of my shutter. On any given weekend, we exchange a hug and a kiss, and I’m out the door shooting a wedding while he’s spending 7 hours fishing or kayaking or bicycling through the countryside. It’s a lifestyle that suits us perfectly, but every so often, Nick asks if I want to come along. On Sunday, I said yes.

So we took a little venture complete with picnic, boats and a stretch of sandy little beach to just relax and say “Ahhhhhh.” It was SO worth it. I love doing things like this with my husband. It centers me. Reminds me how good it is to get out. And how sometimes, in this thing called life, we need to do just that. LIVE IT.

Now, this wouldn’t be a tale of adventure without uncoordination on my part (this is, after all, the same gal who, when attempting to ski with her husband for the first time in Colorado, ended up with a bruise on her tailbone the size of a 4×4 tire). As we were headed back to shore, for some reason, no matter how hard I tried to correct it, I started paddling in circles.

Nick: “Just, just … I think you’re thinking too hard about this.”

Me: “Nooo. I promise you, I’M NOT.”

Nick: “Well, keep your eyes on the shore and maybe if you focus on that, it’ll get you there.”

Me: “Okay, do you see how well this is working” (paddling furiously as my eyes stay focused on the horizon and whole body shifts to the left with the boat)

Nick: (Pulls a rope from his kayak) “Do I need to pull you back to shore with this?”

I’m not even kidding when I say that little scenario could act for a tidy little summary of my marriage (and just for the record, I DIDN’T NEED IT )

PS - I was totally rocking the “I-just-rolled-out-of-bed-and-didn’t-do-a-thing-to-myself-but-put-on-sunscreen” look here, so my apologies if that close-up gave you all a scare. At least my hubby’s cute, right?

I can’t help it — it’s the kid in me.

There’s just something about a freezer pop that takes me back to childhood (and hot days at band camp). And while it’s been summer here now in Indiana for weeks (one of the mildest in years, which Nick and I have been LOVING), it didn’t really “feel” like summer to me until I bit into one of these artificially colored creations this week.

Now all I’ll need is a baseball game, a convertible ride and an afternoon of basking in the sun with this song on the stereo and I’ll be able to call it a season.

Earlier this month, Nick and I made the trip over to Cincinnati to help his sister and her family celebrate the first birthday of one of our newest nephews, Benjamin. Now, this trip was also meant to be a photo session for Ben and his big brother, Sam, but, well … the rain decided it didn’t want to cooperate. As luck would have it, Aunt Gail had her camera on hand (of COURSE she did ) and a few requisite shots (you HAVE to have a photo of your first birthday cake!) were taken.

I’m not sure what’s sweeter about this image — the yummy cake or the cuteness overload that is Ben.

Nick’s mom gets the grandkids these fantastic monogrammed comfy chairs from Pottery Barn for their first birthdays. Clearly Ben is enjoying his (and his big brother can have his back now too!)

It may have been Ben’s birthday, but big brothers deserve a little present too, right?

Ben is seriously one of the happiest babies I’ve ever met. I love, love, LOVE it when I’m quick enough to capture that fantastic grin of his

And finally, let me just preface this photograph by saying NO I’m not pregnant and NO Nick and I are not intending to start our family any time soon (I’m still growing a business, people!) but dang it all if seeing my handsome husband with a kid on his lap doesn’t make my heart get all mushy on the inside. Seriously, HOW CUTE ARE THEY?

It’s because of moments like these.

This morning, as I was blowdrying my hair, I turned to see my pup at the entrance way. Giving me this look. I mean, seriously, how could you not fall in love with this face? It makes me look past every awful thing this god-forsaken dog has done in the three years Nick and I have called her our own. This includes annihilating coffee table books, DVDs, and dog beds of which I’ve lost count.

But one look at this mug and all is forgotten.

I imagine this is what parenthood is like. Only, you know, TIMES SEVEN MILLION.