Jennafer & Jeramey

A couple weekends ago, I drug my husband with me (his first time going to a session with me) to Keokuk to shoot Jennafer & Jeremy (boy, do I hope I spelled those right!).  Ah, the humors of a month pregnant woman hobbling around a farm!  No climbing or crawling this time around.  🙂

J&J are so cute!  Jeramey isn’t a big fan of the camera, but after a while, loosened up, and I think we got some real smiles and emotion from them.  These two are tying the knot next January, and it will be a beautiful wedding!

I loved this little old car!  If I had enough land, I’d buy it and set it out just to let clients play in!

Ok, we were doing an engagement session out in the country, a farm-setting.  Who could resist?

And last but not least, everyone knows I love dogs!

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Jim "homer" - Really like the look of these. For lack of a better word they have that rustic look to them. Very nice.

   

Sneak Peak of our New House

Just wanted to share a quick image of our new house, taken the night we made an offer.  We LOVE old homes!  Our first home was built in 1874, and this one was built around 1902 (year isn’t exact).  I love the original woodwork and wood floors, the trim, the ceilings, the doorways, the creative use of space, and the character and history of a house that has been “around the block”.  New homes are nice, but even our realtor pointed out as we were looking that we always seemed to like the older ones and not so much the newer ones!

That’s my dad, by the way.  A BIG thank you to the team at Century 21, specifically Jon Salvador, the listing agent, and Tammy Starkey, our agent, who made the process incredibly easy.  Also, thanks to Jamie Chenoweth for setting us up with a second mortgage and for getting us closed two weeks ahead of time.  We had a wonderful team to work with, an amazing couple that we bought from that lived in and loved this house for 43 years, and now have a beautiful home that we can hopefully spend another 43 years in!

We have a lot to do to make the house our own, including painting, laying some laminate in the sunroom, updating fixtures and hardware, painting, installing some more ceiling fans, painting, decorating, and did I mention painting?  We’ve already done quite a bit, and I’ll try to post some before/afters as we finish up with projects.  We are working on practically every room at once, so it is taking a little longer to get done than I’d like, but since I am 7 months pregnant and can’t paint, lift, or even walk sometimes (fell and threw out my hip the night we closed, darn flower pots!), I don’t really get a say in it! 🙂.

   

Phone issues and patience!

One of these days I will post some images, I swear! 🙂

We had a VERY fast closing on our new house, and have spent the last two weeks moving.  Unfortunately, I have also spent most of that time also dealing with two different phone companies on a daily basis trying to get things sorted out and my landline working!!!  I won’t go into details, but by the time I got off the phone with someone this morning, my full-blown pregnancy horomones went crazy on me and I cried myself to Davenport.  Ah, well.

So if you have been trying to reach me at the office number (319-753-3061), and all it does is ring and ring and ring, I apologize.  We hope to have the issue fixed by the weekend, but it may be mid-next week at the rate things are going.

In the meantime, please call me on my cell, 309-333-0618.  It is a US Cellular number, so that means free mobile-to-mobile for other USC customers!  Yay!  Or you can email me at contact@inspiredimagesbywendi.com, and assuming that our DSL line doesn’t get messed up, I’ll get back to you as soon as possible!

On a side note, I will no longer be taking summer bookings starting July 1st, including newborns (unless already planned for), seniors, and family sessions.  I have two weddings left for June, and after the last one I shot in May, realized that I am just not as mobile as I was hoping I’d be this far along in the pregnancy, and for my safety, my baby’s safety, and the quality of work I value for my clients, it is best for me to take a few weeks off until Baby Boy gets here.  I am due August 14 and have a wedding on August 30, and several in September and October, so I want to make sure that I take care of myself so that I am at my top game post-partum.  I appreciate all the inquiries and well-wishes, and I’ll definitely be posting during my break.  Who knows, maybe with my extra free time, I’ll finally get around to posting some images from Mexico! 🙂

Also, keep an eye out in the coming weeks, I am hoping to finally get my website updated!  It’s been way too long, and is definitely not representative of my work and style now, so changes should be coming down the pipe soon.

Look for some images soon! 🙂.

   

Sometimes life takes over

Wow, first of all, I am sorry for not posting in a while!  In the last 3 weeks, my life has gone from hectic to downright crazy, and my blog has unfortunately been neglected.  Outside of work, sessions, meeting with clients, and preparing for the busy wedding season ahead, my personal life has exploded in activity.

First, baby update – we are 27 weeks along, and now going to the doctor every two weeks.  My belly is growing immensely, and baby boy is moving like crazy.  Well, most days.  🙂  He is responding to voices, now, which fascinates me.  He doesn’t respond to mine, but that is probably because he hears it all day long (I’m a talker), but when my husband is talking, or even a doctor or nurse, he will start kicking up a storm.  I love this part of the pregnancy!

Second, houses are exhausting!!!  Many of you know that we have our beautiful little 2 bedroom on the market, but we haven’t been looking too hard for a new house, and weren’t planning to buy until ours sold.  We have been going to open houses on weekends, and lo-and-behold, 2 1/2 weeks ago we walked into a house and fell in love.  The next night we made an offer, and after a whirlwind of activity, we are closing next week (two weeks early!).  It is a beautiful 2000 square foot, 4 bedroom with a walkup attic that could easily be two more bedrooms, a nice sized front room that I’ll use to meet with clients, and a huge sunroom with lots of natural light.  Since I don’t forsee, or even particularly need a storefront location due to the type of photography I do, it is a perfect house to set up shop in, given the layout and space.  The yard is perfect for our dogs and cat, and the neighbors seem nice.  We are going to take our time moving in, but hope to be moved by the second week of June.  We have a lot that we want to do to make it our own, though I feel a little useless since I can’t paint or do heavy lifting at this point.  Fortunately, we have a lot of family and some wonderful friends to help out where I can’t!

Third, I love furniture shopping!  I have a new desk suite coming to keep me more organized, a bedroom suite for our master bedroom (now that we will have the space!), and our crib will be delivered for the nursery in a couple of weeks.  I am most excited about that room.  The crib is a beautiful cherry colored sleigh-back.  I have found a changing table to match and just need to order it.  For a dresser, we are using one that was handed down to me from my dad.  We will refinish it to match the other furniture, put new knobs on the drawers, and make it a third generation dresser, which excites me.  Now, I just need to decide on bedding for both our room and the baby’s! 🙂

I am also doing my childcare search, working with a new realtor to get our house sold, and a dozen other things that are keeping me running around, so unfortunately haven’t gotten a chance to blog about the recent sessions or weddings I’ve shot, and my Mexico images have taken the backseat once again.  One of these days, I promise!  And I’ll get some house pics up soon to share as well, but likely after we are moved and settled.  That might be after the baby gets here, though.  Ah well! 🙂

I’ll try to update more often!  In the meantime, take care of yourselves, don’t let life get too overwhelming, and keep a smile on your face!

Love,

Wendi.

Jim "homer" - Wow Wendi, you sure do have a lot on your plate at the mement. Before you know it you’ll be in a new house with new little one as well. Is this your first one?

   

Community Basket 2008

Peter Harmon is not only a great chef, but he is also a big community supporter.  His Community Basket has always been one of my favorite events in the community, and the Chicken Lip Foundation gives out excellent scholarships to local high schoolers.

For the second year, I am proud to be a participant in this.  If you win the Community Basket, you will have a gift certificate from Inspired Images for a free portrait session and a gallery wrap of your favorite image from the session, valued at $350.  And, your ticket purchase will go towards helping area teens reach their educational dreams!

Click here or on any of the links in the post to go to the Community Basket website for more information or to purchase tickets, or you can call me!.

   
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