Christmas in November

This afternoon I had a meeting in Greensburg, PA with a great young couple and the bride to be’s mother. They were all so nice and I had so much fun chatting with them. It was a great way to start the day.

After the meeting, I headed to the Westmoreland Mall to do some Christmas shopping. I thought I was doing “early” Christmas shopping, but apparently November 28 isn’t “early” any more. Oh well, as long as I’m finished before December 25th, it’s all good.

I was sure to take one of my cameras along as I shopped and I snapped some photos of the beautiful Christmas decorations. I even saw a world famous celebrity - Santa!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We had all turkey and all the “fixins” and I even made a chocolate peanut-butter pie. What’s really amazing is that it was actually pretty good.

Who’s heading out for the “Black Friday” sales? I have a meeting tomorrow morning so I’ll miss all the good stuff. That’s just as well because after my last purchase(a new blog will be coming soon), I need to keep my wallet closed for a while!

What happened to 2006?

The other day a friend mentioned to me that Thanksgiving was this Thursday. I thought she was crazy but when I checked, I saw that I was the crazy one. It seems like weeks ago that the calendar flipped over to 2006 and now Thanksgiving is already upon us. Before I know it, Christmas will be here and then time marches on to 2007. I can’t believe how time flies lately. A whole year passes in what seems like an instant. Does that mean I’m getting old?

A few weeks ago I had another photo shoot with Daria and Patrick Adams. I initially shot their wedding back in August but we never had a chance to shoot engagement portraits. So instead we got together and had a great time shooting some portaits of the newleyweds. The Adams’ are a very artistic, cool young couple and they were up for hitting some out of the ordinary locations. Here are some of my favorite pics from their shoot.

Back from Doylestown

Well, after driving nearly 500 miles in one day, I’m home again. The drive wasn’t too bad as we were able to take the turnpike almost the entire trip in. We passed the time by turning on our brand new portable DVD player and watching (well, I listened and drove, my assistant, Sharon, watched) a few movies. Still in the Halloween spirit, we watched Friday the 13th Part 2, Halloween 2, Joy Ride and Cabin Fever. I was amazed at how much that nicer that made the drive.

Yesterdays’ wedding was in the charming town of Doylestown, PA, which is just outside of Philadelphia. Megan and Kriston were married at Aldie Mansion, a gorgeous English Tudor manor built in 1927. After chatting with the coordinator, I learned that they sometimes hold as many as 5 weddings a weekend at the Mansion and after seeing how beautiful and scenic it is, I can see why it’s in such heavy demand.

Kriston and his family are from Canada and their Northern charm was contagious. The speeches given during the reception were some of the funniest and most entertaining that I’ve ever had the pleasure of hearing at a wedding. It was such a fun day and well worth the 500 mile drive. Although, I don’t think I’ll be doing it again any time soon.

Check out a few of my favorite photos from Kriston & Megan’s wedding.

This afternoon, I met Brad & Danielle, a great, young couple who are getting married in June of 2007. They were referred to me by Mindy & Sean (another 2007 couple, check out their e-pics from October 22) and I had been trading emails with Danielle for a few weeks. After meeting, they decided to book me for their wedding and I couldn’t be more thrilled. Danielle and Brad’s wedding should be especially interesting because they’re tying the knot on Pittsburgh’s famed Gateway Clipper. As long as I don’t get “sea sick”, that should be a fun, new experience!

Preparing for the weekend

While I’m quite used to shooting weddings, this weekend’s event does offer up a unique challenge and that is traveling. I’m not well traveled and aside from jaunts to New York and Illinois, I’ve spent nearly all of my life tucked safely into my Western Pennsylvania hamlet of Friedens. Tomorrow morning we’ll be leaving at about 9am to drive across the very long state of Pennsylvania to shoot a wedding outside of Philadelphia. I’ve never been that far east the thought of a 4 hour drive doesn’t exactly thrill me. But the couple getting married made the prospect so appealing and so much fun that I couldn’t resist taking it. Kriston and Megan are getting married at Aldie Mansion tomorrow afternoon and aside from the drive there, I’m quite excited about their celebration. Wish me luck for the trips out and back.

On some non-business related happenings, tonight is a new episode of Survivor. Last week’s episode was the dreaded “recap” where nothing interesting happens and no one gets voted off. I can’t wait for the show tonight to see what happens. I’m hoping for a merge as my favorite player this season, Ozzie, doesn’t have many friends on Aitu.

I’m a huge fan of reality TV and watch more shows than I care to admit. My favorites are Survivor and The Amazing Race. The rumors are that the next season of TAR will be an All Star/Return of the Racers edition featuring past players. As long as they bring back Colin and Christie, I’ll be happy!