Linnie Arnesen Photos

Melissa + John | Topeka Engagement Photographer

2011-11-17T20:56:00.002-06:00

Melissa is a good friend that I used to work with in Topeka. She and John and getting married next June and will actually be my last wedding. I'm so excited for them! They're total goof balls. I think you'll be able to tell in their photos. Here are my favorites!

Jordan + Ryan | Baldwin Wedding Photographer

2011-11-17T20:36:00.002-06:00

This couple and their families are some of the most amazing people. Ever.

Jordan and Ryan's big day was absolutely beautiful. Everything about it. I'm so happy for them and I'm very proud to be able to share my favorites from their day with you.

Enjoy.

Jordan, you are so incredibly gorgeous!

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october 1, 2011 | baldwin city, kansas
ceremony & reception venue | Stony Point Hall
wedding coordinator & flowers | Red Door Event and Design
hair and makeup | Lindsey Medlin
cake | Cakes by My Mom and Me
catering | Papa Bob's BBQ
bartenders | Three Blondes and a Martini
party bus | Party Animals Party Bus
limo | Preferred Limo
dj | Show Pro Audio by Phil Wente

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Ella | McPherson Child Photographer

2011-10-21T19:39:00.002-05:00

Here's the last of my quarterly shoots with Ella in her first year. I can't believe she's 1 now! She's grown up entirely too fast! Here are my favorites from her 1 year shoot. Check out her adorable birthday outfit!

I couldn't resist this one.

And it had a hat!!

Jessica & Neil | Troy Wedding Photographer

2011-10-21T19:32:00.005-05:00

Hello yummy golden light!

This one is my favorite from their whole day. Calm moments like this on a busy wedding day are few but beautiful.

Thanks Jessica and Neil for allowing me to photograph your big day! I wish you both all the luck in the future!

Liz & August | Manhattan Portrait Photographer

2011-10-03T19:13:00.002-05:00

Last month, I got to spend an afternoon with my good friend Liz and her adorable 1 year old, August. Liz was just 6 days away from giving birth to her second son, Easton, so we took some last minute maternity photos, and of course, I snapped a few of cutie patootie August! Here are some of my favorites...

Leigh + Tyler | Platte City Wedding Photographer

2011-10-03T19:10:00.002-05:00

Their "first look", it was pretty cute! I loved the staircase!

Thanks Leigh and Tyler for letting me photograph your beautiful day! Best of luck to you both in the future!

Katie | Topeka Senior Photographer

2011-09-12T21:05:00.003-05:00

Meet cutie patootie Katie! I love love love her red hair and I think she totally looks like the lead singer of Paramore, just a random thought. I had so much fun hanging out with her (and her mom and boyfriend), so here are my favorites from her shoot!

Katie is on the bowling team at Seaman High School and they won the state championship last year!

Halley + Ryan | Hiawatha Wedding Photographer

2011-09-06T20:27:00.003-05:00

I love that I got to shoot so many weddings back in Hiawatha for friends of mine. Here's another Hiawatha wedding!

I loved Halley's dress!

Their "first look". He had a great reaction!

I had to include this last photo of their flower girl, Quinn, and ring bearer, Lucas. They are two of Halley's nieces and nephews and they're adorable!!

A Hard Decision...

2011-08-29T20:39:00.011-05:00

So when I first started writing this post, it was crazy long full of personal details and thoughts that I thought you all might want to know. Then I thought about it a little while and came to the conclusion that mainly people just look at my page to see the photos, not to read what I write. So I'll make this post short and sweet.

I have decided to make a major life change. Starting January 2012 I will be going back to school to finish up pre-req's that I need to be able to apply for medical school. All my life I wanted to be an OBGYN and then chickened out when it came time to actually head to college and now, working at a high-risk pregnancy office has really made me wish I had gone forward with that dream when I had the chance. So I'm going for it!

Don't get me wrong, I love taking photos, but working so many weddings a year has really taken a toll on my energy, enthusiasm about weddings and my creativity level, not to mention the massive amount of time that goes into all aspects of preparing for the wedding and working on the photos after the event. So as of now, I will not be booking anymore weddings. I will shoot the ones that I already have booked for 2012 but will not be booking any more. I will still book portrait sessions (families, kiddos, seniors) as long as I'm able to handle those and school, but will limit those sessions to weekends only and only take on so many a month. Eventually, once I get into medical school (fingers crossed), I will stop booking sessions altogether.

I really appreciate everyone's support and encouragement over the years and I hope you all know how much you have meant to me and how much I've loved getting to know you. It's just time to for me to go after a different dream. For those of you who might be interested in purchasing rights to print your photos and get your own disc of the photos from your session, just email me at linnie_a@hotmail.com and we'll talk about it.

Thanks again!
Linnie

Teresa + Levi | Hiawatha Wedding Photographer

2011-08-29T20:34:00.004-05:00

Teresa, or Treese as I call her, and I go way back! She's been one of my best friends since as long as I can remember. Growing up in Hiawatha, I'm not sure if I spent more time at her house or mine. I loved going to Treese house because she lived out on a farm and had cows and animals and all manner of things that us city girls just didn't know about. I learned about doing real chores at her house, like feeding the cows and, my favorite job, opening up the shoot when weighing them and getting the fear of God put in me by Treese's dad, Howard, that I had to be really careful or I'd get trampled by one. Eek! Teresa and I stayed really close all through school and were even each others dates to a Sadie Hawkins dance in high school.

I remember when Teresa and Levi started dating and it was pretty much a well known fact that they would end up together. And sure enough, they did. I can't tell you how much I love these two or how happy I am that they found happiness in each other. I was honored to take their wedding photos. Here are my favorites...

What's New Wednesday

2011-08-03T20:41:00.005-05:00

1. Last weekend Luke and I celebrated our first anniversary! This is really all I have to talk to you about this week, so I hope you're as excited as I was! I can't believe we were married a year ago, it does not feel like it's been a whole year. Our anniversary was technically on Sunday, July 31st, but Luke took off work on Saturday so we could go out and do something special. My only request was that we go out to eat somewhere that you had to have a reservation. I think that's a pretty good anniversary-worthy stipulation, don't you? So Luke did a little research and found a restaurant in downtown Kansas City called... The Rieger! Our name! Whoa! More specifically, it's The Rieger Grill & Exchange on 20th and Main. It was amazing! I didn't know this before we got there and our amazing waitress explained it to us, but they use as much local produce and meat as they can! Which made this green girl very happy! I had chicken that was from a local farm and Luke had the best steak I think we've ever had, and our salads were all local produce but was all different vegetables, not predominantly lettuce. We loved it! The food was amazing and the atmosphere was very fun and to top off the meal they gave us free champagne and chocolate covered bourbon balls. Oh man!

Before we went out to eat we had a fun time with a dead battery in our car in the Home Goods parking lot and then a nice time at the local Auto Zone, but then I got to see Monet's "Waterlilies" and a painting by my favorite contemporary artist, Elizabeth Murray, at the Nelson-Atkins Art Museum. I seriously got teary when I saw the Monet. Claude and I have a very special relationship, so it was really imperative that I get to see "Waterlilies" while it was in town. Once Luke was finally able to drag me out of there we walked around the Plaza till it was time to head to the Rieger.

We had a really great day and our wedding cake was still pretty good after a year. Luke gave me a really awesome iHome so I can jam in my kitchen when I'm cooking and I gave him a couple gun holsters. He's seriously the only person that would want work stuff for a gift. Oh well, he loved them!

Here we are outside of the Rieger...(sorry for the crappy quality of the picture, I just took it with my iPhone)

And here we are a year ago....
The year doesn't seem to have aged us too badly, does it?!

Thanks to all of our family and friends who congratulated us! It was nice to know you were thinking of us!

Here are a couple reasons I knew Luke was the one for me:
1. I can quote lines from "Spaceballs" or any other Mel Brooks movie and he knows exactly what I'm talking about and can usually finish the quote for me (he knows my "Princess Bride" quotes too).

2. He likes to cook with me. Hence the iHome. My favorite times are when he helps me cook and we just stand there with music playing and talk about our day or what's going on in our lives and just be. And when we're feeling really goofy, we dance a little.

3. He knows that if I'm seeming a little crabby that he should think about when the last time we went out and did anything special. And if it's been a while, all it'll take is a trip to get ice cream or to see a movie to get me back to my normal self.

4. He'll listen to all of my crazy music that he's never heard before and doesn't say a word.

5. He knows I'm about as stubborn and bull-headed as it gets when I dig my heels in. But he digs his in too and eventually we get so frustrated with each other that we just bust up laughing because we know how ridiculous we're being.

6. I'm the crazy loud impulsive one in this relationship, most definitely. I love that he's my opposite in that respect. We balance each other out. He keeps me grounded and I get him to unwind every now and then!

Honestly there are a million more reasons, but I think that will do for now.

Love you Lukey.

Nikki + Chuck | Topeka Wedding Photographer

2011-07-27T21:22:00.004-05:00

Hey look a wedding!! Nikki and Chuck were married last month in Topeka on a really hot but beautiful day. Chuck was in Luke's class at the highway patrol academy, so he went with me and it was a lot of fun to see him having a great time with his classmates. Nikki is the sweetest person you could ever hope to meet. And she has the deepest dimples in the world! She can put M&M's in them!! Anyway, here are my favorites from their special day.

I love this part of the day!

I couldn't resist including this one in my post. It's too funny!

Nikki and her sisters.

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july 2, 2011 | topeka, ks
ceremony & reception venue | St. Matthew Catholic Church
dresses | David's Bridal
hair | Stylin' Salon, Topeka, KS
florist | Dillon's
dj | Tidalwave Entertainment
cake | Kristine Hiebsch Romine

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Leigh + Tyler | Platte City Portrait Photographer

2011-07-11T21:53:00.003-05:00

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wedding | august 27, 2011 | platte city, mo

together | spring 2008

engaged | 4.17.11

leigh | management assistant

tyler | sales representative

their engagement story, as told by leigh | "It was his Cocktail party and it was before it started. We were dressed up and he pulled me into the dance floor. He asked in the exact spot we met!"

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What's New Wednesday

2011-07-06T12:02:00.005-05:00

1. I've been meaning to put a picture of this on here for ages, and keep forgetting! This amazingly adorable necklace was a gift to me from my sister a couple months ago...

Cute huh?! I love the little camera on it!She ordered it from a lady on Etsy, her site is www.3doodlefish.etsy.com. You really should go check her out! And as a thank you for ordering, she'll send you a lucky penny!
2. Lately I've been obsessed with this song...

I heart Florence and the Machine!

And this is my new workout song. It's perfect for me!

And I pretty much love anything Mumford & Sons plays, but this is my favorite lately.

3. Last Thursday after work I met my aunt and a group of ladies from my church in Topeka at the New Theatre Restaurant to see their showing of Andrew Lloyd Weber's Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. It was my first time to see a show at the New Theatre Restaurant and it was so great! The food was pretty good and the show was amazing! We loved the singing but were really blown away by the dancing. It was so much fun! I had seen Joseph before at TPAC but not since I was probably in the 5th or 6th grade, so it was really nice to see it again, and I still remembered all the songs! I would definitely recommend going to see a show there soon!

4. Last Saturday I had the privilege of shooting the wedding of our friends Nikki and Chuck! Chuck was in the same academy class as Luke and a bunch of other classmates of his were there too. I know Luke really enjoyed getting to see the guys again and we all had a lot of fun dancing the night away!

We had a ton of fun, can't you tell!?

5. This weekend I'll be up in Hiawatha shooting the wedding of my best friend growing up, Teresa's wedding which I'm WAY excited about! And then on Sunday we're having our sort-of-annual-but-really-it's-whenever-we-finally-set-down-a-date Arnesen family reunion! So I'll be a busy girl!

See you next week!

Adventure in Powell Gardens

2011-07-05T21:32:00.006-05:00

A few weeks ago Luke and I met my family at the Powell Gardens in Kingsville, MO on the east side of Kansas City. They were having a special Jurassic Garden with huge dinosaurs that my nephew Marcus was SUPER excited about! So this was a special trip all for him! It was a pretty drizzly morning which turned into a kind of chilly overcast afternoon, but we had a lot of fun. Here's Alexander all ready for his trek through the gardens!
And the serious dinosaur hunter! Marcus was funny and asked my sister if he could wear his dinosaur vest from his Halloween costume last year when he was a paleontologist. So he totally looked the part!
He got mad at all of us for walking slowly and not getting to the path fast enough! This is his exasperated face. He was very serious about his map reading duties.
Dinosaur footprints!

Marcus and uncle Luke were buddies that day!
Dinosaur hunters can't be bothered with silly things like taking pictures with their favorite aunts. Geez!
This is when Marcus and Jane saw a dinosaur in the distance for the first time. I think this is my favorite picture ever!

Alexander and grammy.

Marcus and the T-Rex!
Marcus and Luke at the top of the silo in the edible garden. You can climb all the way to the top and see all of the garden, which is huge!
This is just part of the edible garden.

Marcus was very sad to leave the dinosaurs behind.
Very sad.

I highly recommend taking the trip over to check out Powell Gardens. They have special events throughout the year and it's just neat to see everything anyway!

Jordan & Ryan | Lawrence Portrait Photographer

2011-07-04T18:03:00.002-05:00

Meet Jordan and Ryan! Jordan and I go way back. We lived together for a very fun-filled year at K-State and have been good friends ever since. Remember little Matthias' photos from a few months ago? These are his very cool parents. They will be married this October in Baldwin City, and I'm very excited to get to hang out with them all day and take their photos!

This photo was taken in the doorway of a very cool art installation on the KU campus. We thought it looked like something right out of Where the Wilds Things Are.

Hello rockin' eyes!

What's New Wednesday

2011-06-22T20:29:00.003-05:00

1. Yes I missed last week... sorry.

2. Two weekends ago, Luke and I met my family at the Powell Gardens. If you've never been, you should really make the trip. It's a beautiful garden! We had a ton of fun and I took so many pictures that I'm just going to make a whole blog post of that later this week. Here are a few shots I got of some of the amazing plants...

This one is my favorite. I think I'll be printing it to put on my wall.

3. I'm very excited because starting this weekend and extending through to August, I'm in my wedding marathon! That means a wedding every weekend and a lot of long hours for me, but that also means a lot of photos for you to see! Yay!

4. Thank you to those of you who took the time to comment on the Wednesday blog post two weeks ago. What easier way is there to win a photo shoot?! And the winner of the free photo shoot with me is....

Miranda!

Email me at linnie_a@hotmail.com to claim your prize!

5. Here's this week's Wee Bit!

{one} what color best describes you + why?Well, I think people would assume I would say pink, and you'd probably be right. Bright pink pretty much describes me. I'm a pretty outgoing, peppy person who's rarely in a bad mood. Even my coworkers after only 2 weeks of knowing me, said I was "perky". I just think it takes too much energy to be miserable all the time! Green would probably be another color, just because I love it so much and it's fresh and lively!

{two} how have you changed in the past year?I became a married woman in the past year. I think that changed me tremendously. I feel more grown up and adult and I have my own little family now. It's just the two of us but it feels great. We also moved away from all of our family and friends that we've been around our entire lives. That forced us to be even more grown up and on our own.

{three} have you ever had any surgeries? Nope.

{four} why did you start your blog?I started my blog because I felt like I needed a way to connect with people who take a look at my photography every one in a while. I want you to be able to get to know me a little bit better before making the big decision of who will photograph the important events in your life. And on my website, I only have enough room to put my very favorite photos, but on here I'm able to show you my top 25 if I want to! And I love being able to do that and telling people's stories.

{five} what are you looking forward to this summer?One would be our first anniversary, we've already started deciding what we want to do. It won't be a big to-do, but we'll do something special that we don't get to do every day. In August we'll be going to the Lake of the Ozarks, which is always the biggest thing in our summers. It's pretty much becoming our home away from home. And THEN to top it all off, we are going to the Kings of Leon concert on August 29th at Sandstone! So excited for that!

{six} do you have any family traditions for the 4th of July?
When I was little we used to have the ice cream social at my church whose backyard sat right next to where the fireworks were set off back in Hiawatha and that was the big tradition. Now I'm not sure that we really have a tradition. Usually we find friends to spend the evening with and watch fireworks somewhere.

{seven} what’s something new that you’ve tried in the past few months?Ummm... I don't know that I've tried much that was new in the past few months. My job is new. Does that count?

{eight} what is the perfect a/c temperature?I guess 70

{nine} what was the last movie you saw in the theater?The Adjustment Bureau. It was great! But what is ever bad if Matt Damon is in it?!

{ten} what song do you think everyone should hear at least once?"Here Comes the Sun" by the Beatles. It's my favorite song ever.

This is why...

2011-06-21T20:59:00.002-05:00

... I absolutely love what I do.

"As the morning of our wedding arrived the sky was gray and rain was definitely coming our way. I was immediately concerned that the rain would cause a huge problems for my hopes of beautiful wedding photos. Oh man was I wrong! Linnie worked her magic and somehow made all of us feel comfortable and at ease. She braved the drizzly mess to make sure I got all the pictures I had talked about. Never once did she bat an eyelash as it got colder and colder. Instead she kept this fantastic, upbeat attitude and made all of us smile and laugh. Our group was a rowdy one - from the bridal party to our crazy friends - and Linnie handled everyone with ease. At the end of the process she felt like one of the family. I didn't think it was possible to like Linnie any more than I already did and then we got the pictures back -- WOW!!!! They are FANTASTIC! My emotions ranged from tears of happiness to laughter as I got to relive all the little moments she captured. So many of them - that as the bride - I missed out on seeing. Everyone looks happy, relaxed and most of all - comfortable!! She is so fantastically talented and I feel blessed to not only have gorgeous wedding pictures but also now, a great friend!"
- Heather Hawkins

Hearing that people had that great of an experience with me makes all the hard work and long hours totally worth it. Thanks Heather, your kind words mean more than you could know.

The Gordon's | Baldwin Portrait Photographer

2011-06-19T17:52:00.004-05:00

Meet my good friend Katie and her husband Branner! If you're a loyal blog follower, you've seen them before as I took their wedding photos. It seems like forever ago when Katie and her mom came up to my sister and I at my very first bridal fair and eventually changed her entire wedding date to have me be her photographer. Ever since then we've become better and better friends, and now that we only live 15 minutes from each other we can shop at our favorite bargain spots and go out for margaritas together any time! Katie and Branner are great friends to Luke and I and I'm very excited to show you my favorites from the photos I took of them recently. Enjoy!

This one is my absolute favorite! I love that Katie completely trusted me when I ran into her house and said okay I need two of your old suitcases and old blanket and your G off the wall, I just had a great idea!

I have a new favorite spot!

We had to get a picture with their babies, Ruby and Knala!

Thanks Katie and Branner! You're the best!

Heather & Jeff Hawkins | Baldwin Wedding Photographer

2011-06-13T21:40:00.003-05:00

At the end of May I had the incredible pleasure of photographing the wedding of Jeff and Heather Hawkins. (You might remember their engagement photos from back in April... they're gorgeous people!!) After having the opportunity to meet so many different couples, spending time with them and being around them on the big day, there are definitely some special ones that stood out to me as people who were so much in love and were such great people, that I knew their day was going to be incredibly special. And these two are definitely one of those couples! Heather is just as bubbly and vivacious as she looks, and I've decided I want to be adopted by her family so that I can have their dimples. And Jeff is a genuinely really nice guy, oh yea and he played basketball at KU, just a little plus there. And to top it off their families are amazing people too!

Their day started out really beautiful and they had an outdoor ceremony planned, but the weather didn't really cooperate with us. We had to deal with just gross drizzly rain all day, so at the last minute everything was moved inside, and we even had to do some of their photos on the porch. But through all this, everyone kept their cool and everything went off without a hitch! The ceremony was beautiful and the party was even better! So, I'll stop gabbing, and show you my favorites! There are lots!

This is Jeff with their son Maverick, who is pretty much adorable!

This was the group standing next to me snapping photos... I had to get their photo because I've never had that many guys taking photos along with me.

To say they had a crazy crew is totally an understatement.

Jeff makes the funniest faces I've ever seen...

Heather and her two beautiful sisters!

They had a crazy good time at their reception!

Complete with their very own Michael Jackson impersonation, performed by one of the groomsman. Seriously, best I've seen.

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baldwin city, ks
ceremony & reception venue | Stony Point Hall
caterer | Oak Creek Catering
cake | Cakes by Helen - Helen Benefield
videographer | Greg Sorenson Videography
dj | Nick Reddell DJ Service
dresses | Timeless Tradition - Ellis, KS
hair and makeup | J Studio and Salon - Jenna Fellhoelter
tuxes | Weavers
florist | CSPost - Hays, KS
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their songs
first dance | "Lost Without You" - Robin Thicke
father/daughter | "Because You Loved Me" - Celine Dion
mother/son | "Cherish" - KC and the Sunshine Band

Thank you Jeff and Heather for such an amazing night! I hope to have many sessions with the Hawkins' in the future!!

What's New Wednesday

2011-06-08T13:10:00.010-05:00

Like the new name?!!? I wanted to change it because my church in Topeka has a program called The Word on Wednesday and I felt like mine was just silly in comparison to their Word.

1. I know, it's been awhile since I had a Wednesday update. I started full time at my day job last week and I just haven't gotten into a routine yet of actually getting things done at home in the evening. I can't say that I've ever had a "real" full-time job, so it's taken some getting used to.

2. Last weekend, Luke and I made a very quick run up to Hiawatha for his family reunion. Quick as in we left Gardner at 4, got to Fairview at 6 and left to come back home at 10:30. Yuck. I hate making that quick of a trip! Especially when I was nice enough to drive both ways so he could sleep and not be completely whiped out for work the next day. But we had a great time visiting with family and I met some new faces in what I'm coming to find out is a VERY large clan! We did take some family photos, but it was a little difficult to get absolutely everyone in the same place at once to do a whole huge group shot.

I had been dancing my tush off, so don't judge the gross sweaty hair. Ew.

3. The weekend before last, we went to Topeka for a barbecue at a good friend and fellow troopers' house. We had a great time, but it was interrupted with, ya know, a tornado. What else?! Here are some shots I snapped of it... and yes it was right above their house. I think I would've been more concerned if I hadn't already had a couple beers.

And, of course, we were all standing outside watching it all unfold. We are Kansans after all!

4. My plants are still alive and doing well! We had a little mishap with my jalapeno seedlings, but I started new ones and they seem to be doing well.

The inside plants are good too...

We have a family of bunnies living underneath our concrete patio, and I'm afraid they'll snack on my plants when we're not looking, so this is my makeshift garden for now...

I named one of the bunnies Stanley... in case you were wondering.

5. Luke and I are thoroughly enjoying the nice weather mainly because we're able to grill!!! I think probably 75% of everything we've eaten in the past month has been cooked on the grill. It's just the best time of year when we're able to sit on the patio with a beer or some other type of cold beverage and enjoy the nice weather while our dinner cooks. We've been having a lot of grilled chicken and vegetable kabobs, and I've been known to throw some fresh pineapple on the grill... AMAZING! What are some of your favorite grilling recipes?? I want to try some new things!

6. Lately I am reading "The Bucolic Plague" by Josh Kilmer-Purcell. If you are a fan of the Fabulous Beekman Boys on the Planet Green channel, then you know who I'm talking about. It's a great show about a gay couple who buy a huge mansion and a farm and grow their own food and do everything organic they can and sell their own goat milk products, and they're just funny and I love them. And that book is his memoir of how they got started at the Beekman. Also I'm re-reading "The Queen of the Big Time" by Adriana Trigiani, one of my favorite authors of all time. Seriously, if you've never heard of her or read anything by her, go get "Big Stone Gap" and "Lucia, Lucia" and get comfy because you won't be able to put them down. I promise!

7. This Sunday we're going to see the dinosaurs! Actually we're going to the Powell Gardens on the east side of Kansas City with my family and this summer the special event they're having are huge dinosaur statues scattered around the gardens. Marcus is SUPER excited and I am too because the gardens look amazingly beautiful! I'll show you pictures next week.

That's all I've got for now, so here's this weeks Wee Bit! See ya next week!

{one} how many times have you been a bridesmaid/maid of honor?Twice. I was the junior bridesmaid in my sister's wedding when I was 10 (and had the biggest bangs you've ever seen in your life!!!) and then this past September I was a bridesmaid in my best friend Tiffany's wedding. Normally I get to take the photos, so I'd never been in weddings before that.

{two} what’s the last thing your do before you fall asleep at night?Read and watch the news. Then I check my alarm about 7 times to make sure it's set for the right time and that it's on.

{three} you just won your dream vacation, all expenses paid. where are you going?Definitely Italy. I studied Italian art and architecture for 4 years, so I want to see it all sooo badly. Especially Florence.

{four} what is your favorite outdoor activity?Probably just going for walks or hiking. And I love to garden now that I'm not a black thumb anymore.

{five} as a child, what did you want to “be when you grew up”? did you end up there?I always wanted to be a doctor. And then as I got a little older (like middle school) that turned from just general doctor into an obstetrician gynecologist. I was very specific. I even watched a C-section for my job shadowing day in high school. And now I'm pretty far away from that. I got an art degree instead. But I do work at a perinatal practice now, so I'm in the general vicinity.

{six} what are 3 things your dream home would have that you don’t currently have?Our own yard! (our yard is taken care of by our landlord) A huge deck! A library.

{seven} what’s for dinner tonight?We were going to have my favorite lemon broccoli chicken, but went out to eat with family instead. It was Olive Garden, so who am I to complain!

{eight} if someone stopped by your house unannounced on a typical Saturday night, what would they find you doing?A Saturday night in the spring-fall, I wouldn't be home. I'd be at someone's wedding reception, working my tush off! If I wasn't working a wedding however, I'd probably be in my sweats either watching a movie or out with friends (if Luke's home) or up in my office working (if Luke's not home).

{nine} what’s your average monthly water bill?I honestly have no idea off the top of my head. And I really don't want to run downstairs just to check.

{ten} what do you do to relax?Cook, especially bake. Read. And sit outside and just enjoy the sunshine. Oh yea and get massages whenever I can!

BONUS: Remember that question I asked earlier in this post? You gotta find it, but answer it in the form of a comment on this post and I'll randomly choose someone to win a FREE photo session! If you can't figure out how to post a comment, just click on the button that says something like "post comment anonymously" and then in your comment itself, include your name, so I know who you are! Thanks and good luck!!

Lilly | Topeka Children's Photographer

2011-06-02T20:11:00.002-05:00

You remember my little buddy Lilly right? It doesn't seem hardly right that we met last weekend to take her 2 YEAR photos. Ah! She's getting so big so fast! Here are some of my favorites from my shoot with the oh so fashionable miss Lilly...

Yep, she has a Coach purse... I don't even have a Coach purse! But ya gotta love her hat!

This is when we were searching for Diego (Dora the Explorer character). If we hadn't had the "where's Diego, Lilly?!" game, I don't know what we would've done!

Love love love this shot! You might notice my super cute green adirodack chair. It's been in a couple of shoots now. It was a great World Market find!

Of course, we had to get a little silly!

Thanks Lilly for doing so well on your shoot and for looking so dang cute!

Lilly's momma, Ashley, is the stylish gal behind A.C. Style Files and also a consultant for Stella & Dot jewelry, hence Lilly's very cute necklaces. You should definitely head over to her blog and say hello!

Ella at 8 Months | Gardner Child Photographer

2011-05-30T17:58:00.002-05:00

Little miss Ella is 8 months old now! I can hardly believe it! Here are my favorites from our third photo shoot together, enjoy!

Paula & Phillip | Seneca Wedding Photographer

2011-05-24T18:02:00.002-05:00

Just to warn you, I loved this wedding. And I now totally have a thing for April weddings. The light is just perfect and everything looks so springy! And there are tulips!! What more can a girl want!?

Paula and Phillip are amazing people. Paula is as bubbly and fun as can be and was no different on her wedding day. I think all brides should aspire to be like her. I think I could have ran over her bouquet with my car and she wouldn't have cared... okay that might be a stretch, but really she was that cool about everything! And Phil just adores her and it totally shows.

Tulips are my new wedding favorite, I think.

Their first look...

Yup, they're that cute!

They were married at St. Bede's Catholic church in Kelly, KS. I'd heard of it and how amazingly gorgeous it is since I grew up in the area, but I was completely blown away by it!

And here's a quick shot of their first dance that I thought was adorable.

Word

2011-05-18T10:44:00.003-05:00

1. I have sad news. My dog-niece, Mambo, died last week.

I miss the little poop.

2. Last Friday, all of us at my office were treated to spa treatments for administrative assistant and nurse's day. We went to Par Exsalonce and got to pick either a massage, a facial or a mani/pedi. I had a massage and it was AMAZING! I would definitely recommend them anytime!

3. On Saturday, Luke and I had a double date night with our buddies Katie and Branner. We had dinner at Mi Ranchito with some amazing margaritas!

We liked this side of us better...

Katie and Branner...

Our margaritas!!

After dinner, the guys dropped Katie and I off at Home Goods and I bought the cutest pillow (I'll show you later) and after looking around getting ideas we went to Orangleaf for some self-serve yogurt! So fun!

And the boys!

We didn't get a photo of Luke and I, so this is the only picture we have of him. He's such a party pooper!

4. Here's this week's wee bit!

{one} what profession have you always admired?I think teachers. They have one of the hardest jobs and aren't appreciated enough.

{two} what would the title of your memoir/biography be if it was written today?"The Life and Times of a Smart Ass"? I have no idea!

{three} how far do you commute to work?About 20 minutes one way in good traffic.

{four} are your earlobes attached or detached?Detached.
{five} do you eat the unpopped kernels of popcorn at the bottom of the bag?Ew no. I feel like I'd break my teeth.

{six} what is the strangest gift you’ve ever received?A wrapping paper tube filled with batteries. My brother went through a lets-see-how-stupid-a-gift-I-can-put-together phase.

{seven} what is one tv show that you wish hadn’t been cancelled?Accidentally On Purpose. It was on last year and I thought it was hilarious!

{eight} what is something that you are saving money for right now?A trip to Colorado (we think) next summer! Oh and a bike for me.

{nine} what hobby would you like to take up?Sewing. I can't sew a square pillow, but I want to learn and be more crafty!

{ten} how many times a year do you get really dressed up?Ummm... the last time I got really dressed up was probably my friend's wedding and before that was probably prom, other than my own wedding. So not enough!

See ya next week!!

Jessica & Neil | Gardner Portrait Photographer

2011-05-05T16:02:00.002-05:00

Meet Jessica and Neil! These two will be married September 3rd in Troy, near my hometown. Here are my faves from their engagement session. Enjoy!

Word

2011-05-04T09:01:00.004-05:00

1. I have now survived almost a month driving to and from work in Kansas City rush hour. My conclusion... all of Kansas City needs to go back to driver's ed, and I think my husband would agree. I've gotten through without any fender benders or incidents, and I've even been able to keep my road rage at a manageable level, except for the day a guy tried to turn into the lane I was turning into and almost pushed me into oncoming traffic... he got a few choice expletives yelled at him. Now I just have to un-learn how to signal, properly merge and change lanes and use my blinker, and I'll fit right in with the rest!

2. Luke and I were back in Hiawatha again last weekend. Friday night we went to our niece and nephew's preschool open house where they showed us their classrooms and all their fun projects. Saturday I had a BEAUTIFUL wedding in Seneca (see #3) and then Sunday we went to my nephew, Marcus', 4th birthday party! He's such a big kid now! I can't believe it!

3. I traveled to the Catholic church in Kelly, KS on Saturday for the amazing wedding of Paula & Phillip. It turned out to be a gorgeous day and they were so fun and so overwhelmingly happy that everyone around couldn't help but be giddy right along with them. And Paula is probably one of the funniest people I've ever met. And she was one of the most laidback, happy-go-lucky brides I've ever had. It was just a great day! Here's a little teaser for them...

There will be more of them on here in a couple weeks!

4. Here's this week's Wee Bit!

{one} when was the last time you used a pay phone (if ever)?I've never used a pay phone.

{two} did you ever fail a subject in school?I never failed, but I never did well in algebra and more advanced math. I remember my 8th grade pre-algebra teacher threatening to put me back into regular math because I was awful at algebra.

{three} where do you go to get your favorite hamburger/cheeseburger?That's easy... Dairy Queen. But now that we're city folk, I'd have to add Five Guys to that list.

{four} have you ever served jury duty?Nope. I was called to serve once but I was 2 hours away at college and got out of it.

{five} how old were you when you moved out of your parents’ house?I guess when I was 18 and went off to K-State.

{six} what is your favorite color to wear?Ummm I'm not sure. But if you looked in my closet, black would be the answer.

{seven} do you have a pair of shoes that you wear all the time?My boat shoes. And now at the office I wear my black ballet flats from the Gap all the time.

{eight} do you enjoy talk radio?Not so much. I have to have something to sing to!

{nine} if you could turn one unhealthy food into a healthy one, what food would it be?Anything Mexican. I LOVE Mexican food.
{ten} who is the best speaker you’ve ever heard in person?I'm not sure. I haven't really heard many famous people speak in person. I went to a Leadership camp one summer for high school and the pastor they had speak there every year was really great.

See ya next week!! Oh, and I'm thinking of renaming this little Wednesday update... any ideas?

Word

2011-04-28T10:28:00.004-05:00

1. I hope you all had a great Easter weekend and enjoyed the beautiful weather we had! Luke and I headed home last Friday to see friends and on Saturday I had a couple photo shoots. Where I got to see these two...

The bean!

And Ben!

Yep, he's pretty much the cutest little man ever!

My family spent Easter Sunday in Topeka at my aunt Jane's. We went to the beautiful Easter church service at Faith Lutheran and then had a great dinner and ate WAY more than we should have! After dinner, Marcus got to hunt eggs!

And Alexander is smiling now!

Here are the boys together...

They're going to be good buddies.

Sorry, no pictures of the big people. We were too busy playing with the kids to bother.

2. Here's this week's Wee Bit!

{one} have you ever been stuck in an elevator?No. I thought I was stuck in the elevator at the library once when I was like 13, and I kept hitting the call button and freaking out, but really the door just took a little while to open. Oops.

{two} have you ever ridden on an elephant?I don't think so. Maybe at the circus when I was little, but I can't remember.

{three} have you ever met a well known celebrity?I met the band Trick Pony... they're not that famous anymore though.

{four} do you have any food allergies?Uh, nope thank goodness... I like to eat!

{five} do you know how to sew?No. I wish I did. I could barely sew a square pillow in middle school. I want to learn though!

{six} did you get an allowance when you were young?It wasn't exactly a weekly allowance. But I did get some money when I'd clean and do things around the house.

{seven} how often do you fill up your gas tank?I don't know. Every other week? I don't really keep track, but I do drive a lot.

{eight} have you ever been stung by a jelly fish?
No. The remedy for that is gross.

{nine} have you ever been robbed?My bike was stolen once when I was little, in broad daylight outside of the library! It was a bad day for me.

{ten} what is the worst haircut you’ve ever had?Ummm I'm not sure. The bowl cut I had when I was little wasn't that great. I had a bad hair cut a couple years ago when it got a little too short and spiky. Not great.

Word

2011-04-22T10:19:00.003-05:00

Yup, this one's a little late. But hey I was doing really good there for a few weeks!

1. Last weekend my best friend in the whole entire world came to visit! Well, not exactly me, Tiffany and Ryan came to get out of Ellsworth for a couple days and to do some major shopping, but then got together with Luke and I! Saturday we ate dinner at the best Mexican restaurant in Olathe, Mi Ranchito. Yum-O!! And Sunday we went to Legend's for some shopping and an amazing burger at Five Guys. Yea it wasn't exactly the best weekend to be watching what I'm eating... but it was a special occasion right?! I didn't take any pictures of us this weekend, so here's Tiff and I at her wedding this past September...

And us at my wedding in July...
And then just us being us a couple years ago in Aggieville...
We loved that stupid Sonic commercial where the lady tries to sound like a man ordering and she puts her finger over her mouth like a mustache... it's totally dumb but we made fun of it all the time.

Anyway, it was a great weekend and I find some awesome deals at the Gap and Old Navy and Forever 21 (seriously a $1.50 necklace!!! Yay!).

2. Still reading tons, I just finished the fifth Sookie Stackhouse book and am about to start Water for Elephants. I needed a little change of pace and I want to see the movie, so naturally I have to read the book first. Do all of you have any good book suggestions??

3. I'm making a ton of fun 4th birthday decorations for my nephew, Marcus', party next weekend. I'm having so much fun being creative and using glue sticks and construction paper... I feel like I'm in elementary art class. I seriously sang the "curve off the corners" song the other day when I was cutting out circles. Mrs. Olson would be so proud. I'll take pictures of all of the stuff when I'm done to post on here.

4. And here's this week's Wee Bit!

{one} how often do you do laundry?Once a week… sometimes twice if there's something I really want to wear that's dirty.

{two} what is your favorite type of cookie?

Either oatmeal chocolate chip, or oatmeal raisin. But really is there a bad cookie??

{three} what would you do with an extra $2000 per month?Pay off ALL of my stupid student loans and hire a personal trainer. And shop!

{four} what was/is your favorite subject in school?My favorite would have to be history. Loved it!

{five} have you ever ridden in a hot air balloon?No, I think I would like to if I could get over the height thing and the hanging in a basket thing.

{six} what was your high school mascot?We were the Redskins and then after a bunch of controversy we were changed to the Red Hawks... scary huh.

{seven} if you had the chance to go into space, would you?Ummm probably not. I would be freaked out by the take off and being in a small space.

{eight} how often do you go dancing?Hardly ever, unless we go to a wedding dance.

{nine} would you rather drive or fly?I don't really have a preference. I really like road trips, but flying is WAY fun too!

{ten} have you ever been caught re-gifting?No… I don’t think I’ve actually ever re-gifted.

See ya next week!!

Heather & Jeff | Lawrence Portrait Photographer

2011-04-18T19:52:00.003-05:00

Okay I'm going to warn you, you may have to avert your eyes from the gorgeousness you are about to see! Yea over-dramatic, but I'm not even kidding.
These.
Two.
Are.
Beautiful!

And take my word for it, they are just as beautiful inside as they are out. Heather and Jeff will be married this May in Baldwin City and I cannot wait! Here are the favorites...

I think every happy couple on the face of the Earth should have a photo like this. It just screams "HAPPY!" to me.

See! I told you they're beautiful!

Thanks Heather and Jeff for an amazing photo shoot! It was great getting to know you (I think we're going to be besties!) and I can't wait for your big day!

Brittany & Will | Topeka Engagement Photographer

2011-04-17T20:43:00.002-05:00

These two will be tying the knot this September! I'm already excited to shoot their beautiful Topeka wedding!

This one is my favorite!

Word

2011-04-13T20:51:00.004-05:00

1. I don't have a whole lot to tell you all this week! I was boring! On Sunday both of our families came to visit! It was very nice to see everyone and an added bonus that we didn't have to buy the gas to drive home! Win win! Of course all the kiddos were here running around! It was so great to see them. It was the end of February when we saw them last and they'd already changed a bunch! Here's Marcus and Lily having fun playing upstairs looking over the railing. They're boyfriend and girlfriend by the way... at least that's what they tell us. It's pretty cute. Marcus got SO excited when Lily got here! "Wiwy's here! Wiwy's here!!"

And then they decided to throw dandelions and strings down at us from upstairs.Ben was not to be left out!How adorable is this!!I feel really bad I didn't get a single photo of Alexander! And he was the one who had changed the most! I'll take pictures of only him next time! Honestly, I didn't take too many while they were here. I was too busy enjoying their company... and the tons of food.

2. I started my new job last week and I'm happy to report that it's going very well! I really enjoy what I do and especially the people I work with. That makes the 20-35 minute (depending on the AWFUL traffic) commute totally worth it.

3. My plants are still alive!!!!!! Yea me! I'll have to post of picture of them next week to show my progress!

4. Here's this weeks Wee Bit!

{one} have you ever fainted?nope.

{two} what is your favorite casino game?umm, well my very first casino I went to was on my mini-honeymoon in Omaha and I played a shot machine for 4.5 seconds and won 10 cents. So I gotta say I'm not a big fan. I'm a board game/trivial pursuit kind of girl!

{three} do you have a good sense of direction?Yes I do!

{four} laptop or desktop?I love my desktop. I never really had a need to carry my computer with me, then I'd just work all the time. And I have a BIG screen!

{five} what is your go-to hair style when having a bad hair day?I put it up in a ponytail.

{six} do you read the newspaper on a daily basis?I wish we took the paper, but we don't. I do watch the news everyday, until I get overwhelmed with the negativity, then I take a break for a day or two, but then came back to it.

{seven} do you have a favorite celebrity chef?I love Rachael Ray, and then I like Tyler Florence and Guy Fieri

{eight} what tv show would you like to make a guest appearance on?Old show = Gilmore Girls, hands down, easy answer. Current show = Glee! Or Parenthood... I love it.

{nine} do you have satellite radio in your car?Nope. Sometimes I wish I did, but usually I can find something to listen to.

{ten} what was the last movie that made you cry?"Life As We Know It", it has a sad minute or two and then it's fun again.

Word

2011-04-06T14:33:00.006-05:00

1. Friday night my momma came to visit! We went to the Kansas City Symphony's performance of music from The Music Man. We had so much fun! The singers were amazing and even though they didn't actually act out the whole musical, they made the songs very entertaining and at the end a real high school band came out to play in the aisles! It was so great!

And looky here! I remembered to take a picture of us before we left!

2. Good Juju!! Saturday morning we headed to the West Bottoms area of downtown KC, Mo. There are a bunch of different consignment and antique stores there that are only open the first weekend of every month and I've never been able to go because of weddings or other things going on, but we finally got there! It was sooo much fun! There were tons of great things to look at and lots of awesome deals. I would definitely recommend making the trip down there!

Here we are in front of Good Juju, the main store at 12th and Liberty that I knew about. There are about 4 or 5 stores all along the same road.
And then a really nice lady offered to take our picture together! Thanks nice lady!I wore my deal findin' shoes!
These little babies almost got to come home with me! But I refrained... they wouldn't work in my red kitchen.
I was on the lookout for patio furniture because ours currently has nothing more than a few bag chairs and a bbq grill. I liked these...
Ooo and these...
If you've ever been to the haunted houses right under the 12th street bridge in Kansas City, then you've most likely driven by Good Juju. They're right next to each other. I however would never set foot in a haunted house because I'm a big fat scared-y cat.
I did bring these cute little guys home with me! An adorable $5 green enamel kettle and a $2 white vase. The vase actually came from an antique mall in Olathe, a.k.a. my other home.
At the antique mall I got this box too! It's an old pop bottle box and I turned it into a planter in my guest room! On top of one of my vintage suitcases.

You haven't seen our guest room yet because frankly I don't like it! Luke and I keep going back and forth about the bedding because he thinks the one I like is too bright (but he doesn't understand that it is from Pottery Barn and therefore trumps anything he's got!) and I think the one he likes is too boring... I mean, come on, it's beige!!!! So until this is all figured out and redone... you won't see it.

3. My plants are still alive! We had a scary moment with my ranunculus yesterday when it looked like we were going to lose her... but she came back! I'm a overly attentive plant parent. I look at them every 2 minutes and either over water or think I'm going to over water and then under water. I don't get it!!

4. Thank you Mother Nature for the nice weather! I had 2 engagement sessions in the past week! Yay yay yay!

5. I'm feeling 110% better this week! After I posted that I was sick on Wednesday, I just got progressively worse and worse and got a little scared Sunday when I thought it was going to make my asthma an issue, but then I got better! Yay! I still have a nasty sounding cough, but that's all. I'm glad to be done with it. Thank goodness for Zicam!

6. I start my new job tomorrow! I'm super excited! Yay!

7. I discovered a very cool blog last week called This Lunch Rox. The lady that writes it is a photographer and a mom of 2 boys and she is very health conscious and they are an organic family... which I love and aspire to be more like. But the cool part is that she makes her oldest son his lunch everyday to take to school and makes it so fun! You just have to look at it, it's hard to explain, but if I have the time and the imagination whenever I have children, I SO want to do this. I think she's amazing! I mean, just think how special her son feels when he opens up his lunch everyday! Go check it out!

8. I finished The Help about two weeks ago at almost 2 in the morning and then last week I finished the third Sookie Stackhouse book, Club Dead, and now I'm almost done with the fourth, Dead Till Dawn. I'm going through them pretty quickly and I'll be done and won't have anything new to read, so I need some suggestions! What are some of your favorite books??

9. If you know me well, then you know I'm a big music buff, and I pretty much like everything. Here's a few songs I've been a little bit obsessed with this week!

This next song is just amazing... it makes me smile.

I love Alexi Murdoch oh so much. And Ray LaMontagne. They have similar sounds to me. This song was on last nights episode of Parenthood, my all-time favorite show at the moment.

This song is older but by one of my favorite bands ever! It just makes me happy and I play it when I clean so I can dance around my house! There's a nice visual for ya!

I could go on and on, but I think that's enough for this week. Can you tell my taste in music is pretty diverse?

10. Here's this weeks Wee Bit!

{one} what is one food that, as an adult you love, but as a child you said you’d never touch?Probably asparagus. I don't think I was all that picky as a kid, but I know I never would eat it.

{two} did you go to college? if yes, what was your major?Yes, I did. I have a bachelor of fine arts major in photography. I was a secondary history education major for a whole semester though!

{three} what’s the most wild animal you’ve seen in real life (not counting the zoo)?Ummm... we saw some kind of deer in Colorado up in Rocky Mountain National Park. I can't remember what they were and I can't find the picture to figure it out right now... good story.

{four} have you ever been to a fortune teller?nope, I think they're full of hooey

{five} can you juggle?No. I tried really hard when I was little though. I remember I made my mom buy me a learn-to-juggle book at the middle school carnival one year that came with the little multi-colored bean bags, and I could never get the hang of it!

{six} hardwood floors or carpet?I love hardwood floors because they look so clean, but I like carpet because it's warmer on my bare feet... I don't like to wear shoes and socks when I'm home.

{seven} is it called “soda” or “pop”?Pop

{eight} what was your first car?Technically it was a 1995 Eagle that was pretty sweet and even blasted the heater in the dead of summer... nice.

{nine} what is the most decadent dessert you’ve ever eaten?I'm not sure. We usually don't order dessert from restaurants. I did like the brownie cheesecake at The Cheesecake Factory though and the apple tart we had at Angler's in Lawrence on my birthday was pretty amazing!

{ten} how often do you rearrange your furniture?Not very often. With how our duplex is set up, there's not many ways to do it, so it's stayed this way since we moved in. However, we've been talking about switching our room with the guest room which means moving tons of furniture up and down stairs... not very excited.

See ya next week!

Word

2011-03-31T11:36:00.008-05:00

1. On Saturday I went over to Topeka for a little girly time at a Stella & Dot trunk party hosted by my good friend, Ann, and her daughter, Ashley, and they were nice enough to ask to feature my photography! Yay! We had lots of fun, a few too many mimosas and hermosas, yummy pastries and oh yea we were surrounded by pretty jewelry!

I was eye-balling those little beauties! And the long necklace to the left of them. Cute with a capital Q! (You only get that quote if you've watched Will & Grace too much... like me.)

Here's the super cute flower ring that I've had my eye for years! Luke, if you're reading this, here's the link to buy it for your wife who loves you... click here.
Here are my scones!!!! These are the orange ones. They're pretty much amazing if I do say so myself, and I was told to just go ahead and open up a bakery. I would love to, except for that whole getting up at 4 in the morning crap.
And the cinnamon chip scones. I used Pioneer Woman's recipe for these and they turned out pretty good.
This is Ashley and all of her pretties.

2. Saturday night, we went to a going away party for our best bud, Kody, who is leaving us the beginning of April for military training until the first of August... sad face. It was great to see everyone and we had so much fun even if it was in honor of something I don't like to think about. Here's my buddy Mackenzie, "Mackie", she's my friend Amber's daughter. We colored all night.
And tried to take a picture together. She thought she needed her eyes right in front of the lens.
Here are my two favorite guys.
And me and Amber.
3. My plants are still alive!! The weather has sucked so I've been waiting to put the ones that have grown like crazy into bigger pots. I wish the weather was nicer so I could put them outside!

4. I'm sick. I haven't been sick in forever and it hit me like a ton of bricks on Monday. So not fun. Especially since I was supposed to start a new job yesterday... on to #5.

5. I got a job! I will be the front desk lady for a perinatal office in Overland Park. I'm super excited, mainly for something to do other then sit in my house in my sweats all week. And I wanted to be an obstetrician when I was growing up, so I'm excited to work with babies around! Don't worry, I'm not backing off of my photography, it will just become more of a weekend business. I just had to get something to help pay the bills!

6. I am currently working on designing all of the invitations and decorations for my nephew Marcus' 4th birthday party! Designing invitations and decorations are some of my favorite things to do. I'll show you all of it when I'm done!

7. I planned out Luke and I's meals for all of April the other day. Yes, I'm that kind of person. And yes, I do have that much time on my hands... hence the second job. But it makes life so much easier! I don't have to make little trips to the grocery store every other day and there is never a question of what's for dinner. The calendar and every recipe we need is on the front of the refrigerator and everything we need for them is already bought! I'm in organizational heaven!

8. My momma is coming to visit me tomorrow! We are going to go see the KC Symphony play the music from "The Music Man" on Friday night and then Saturday we're going to do some shopping. I'm excited! I'll try to remember to take some pictures of our adventures to show next week. I have problems remembering my camera for everyday things.

9. My favorite show "The Fabulous Beekman Boys" on Planet Green is back on!!! Yay! It's a great show about a gay couple who bought a historical farm and live off of what they grow. They also make soaps and other products out of goats milk, from their own goats, and sell them in their super cute little town, Sharon Springs. I love it, I want to meet them, and then I want a garden just like theirs.

10. Here is this weeks Wee Bit!
{one} if you won a trip to Disneyland/world, who would you take with you?Well, I don't think Luke would enjoy Disneyland like I would, so I'd probably take my sister and nephews.

{two} when was the last time you listened to a CD?I'm still old school and listen to cd's in my car. I haven't bought the adaptor for my iPod yet.

{three} what spice/seasoning is your favorite?Cilantro! It's the best thing ever. I'm growing lots of it!

{four} if you were in a band, what kind of music would you play?I listen to alternative/indie music all the time. So something along the lines of the Shins, the Strokes, or Sleigh Bells (I really like them lately!).

{five} if you could have personally witnessed one historical event, which one would it be?My favorite period in history is Tudor England with Henry XIII and all of his wives, so I'd probably like to live during that crazy time.

{six} if you could go back to school, what would you study?I would go back to be an OBGYN or else get my interior design degree.

{seven} if you could go to one sporting event, all expenses paid, which one would you see?Probably the NCAA championship. I wouldn't have fun at the Super Bowl because I'm not a huge fan of professional sports.

{eight} do you drive an automatic or a manual?I drive an automatic.
{nine} are you comfortable speaking in front of people?No, not at all. I get super nervous and play with my hands, it's awkward and uncomfortable.

{ten} have you ever experienced an earthquake?Nope… thank God!

Pam & Aaron | Manhattan Wedding Photographer

2011-03-24T11:18:00.003-05:00

Hold on to your hats... this is a REAL post with REAL photos!

Pam and Aaron were married in Manhattan at St. Isidore's Catholic Student Center on a really cold February day. We tried to go outside to take some photos but I just couldn't do that to poor Pam in her strapless dress, it was SO cold! After the ceremony we went to the Konza Prairie to take some portraits but it was freezing and foggy! It took about 5 minutes for my blue hands to finally thaw out. They had a really fun reception at the Wareham which included one of the best first dances I've seen... you'll see those photos down a little ways. Here are the favorites!

This was before their "first look". Isn't Pam just amazingly gorgeous!

They're pretty much one of the most adorable couples I've had the opportunity to photograph.

This photo just makes me cold all over again!

I don't usually put up photos of the family but I love these two of Pam and her mom.

And here's their fun first dance. They were really nervous about the flip because they hadn't practiced it in Pam's dress, but they did amazing and it was so much fun!

The bridal party dance was way fun too!

A really fun part of the night for me was that 2 other couples I've photographed were there! You might remember Rosie & Josh (who know have an adorable little boy, Miles!) and Rachel & Brent. It was so fun to catch up with them! Here are the girls.

Thanks Pam and Aaron for such a great day! Congratulations and best of luck to you both!

Word

2011-03-23T14:28:00.004-05:00

Hello Friends!

1. Welcome spring! I can't tell you how excited I am that the weather is finally changing and the world is turning green again! In our little development, we don't have many fun plants to take pictures of, so I had to settle for the one tree in our backyard.

2. Here are a couple photos of Mr. Biggs. He's still here, but I think he'll be going back to his previous owners sometime soon. We feel really bad about it, but we just need a little less needy and less aggressive dog.

3. I'm gardening! Well trying. Luke says I have black thumbs because every plant I touch dies. But I am bound and determined to turn that reputation right around! I've planted some herbs (cilantro, basil and parsley) and some jalapeno plants and green pepper plants. I started them all in a little Jiffy box thingy from seeds because I figured if I can get them past the seed stage, then I can handle anything! And I didn't go nuts and plant every single thing I want to. I thought I better start small with things we'll use the most until I decide if I'm the plant black widow or not. I'm really excited that they're sprouting! And look very much alive!

I can't wait to use the cilantro and jalapenos in my homemade pico de gallo!! Yay yay ya!

4. This Saturday, I'll be showing my photography at a jewelry party in Topeka hosted by my friend and Lilly's momma, Ashley. She sells Stella & Dot jewelry which is way cute and her mom, Ann, is hosting an open house and invited me and all my portfolios to come on over. I'm really excited about it! And I'm baking scones to take! I don't know which part I'm more excited about. I'm planning on making orange scones and cinnamon chip scones because they're my favorite and make my mouth water just thinking about them. I'll be sure to take some pictures of the fun on Saturday to show you all next Wednesday.

5. Last week, my buddy Katie and I went to a local antique mall. The words "antique mall" give me visions of gross floral patterns and mothy smelling pieces of furniture, but man was I wrong! We had so much fun and this place was HUGE! We walked around in there for a little over and hour and while I'm proud of myself and I didn't buy anything (that was really hard), I did find a really neat booksellers table that I think I'm going to have to go back and get. Here's what bookseller tables look like if you've never seen one...

I've always loved the style of these tables, so I think my will power will not hold out much longer and it will have to be mine. The one I found has the trough-like shelf on the bottom and a flat shelf on top and it has a chipping white paint job on it that I'd sand off and see what I have to work with underneath. If I get it, I'll show you the progress!

6. I finally got Luke to redo our "niece and nephews wall". We needed to add Alexander's photo to the group but that involved rearranging and rehanging every frame. He wasn't very excited, but he did it!

I wanted them to be a little closer together, but hey I'll take what I can get! And now looking at that, I realize some of those photos are over a year old. Whoa.

7. If you are a lover of all things design and decorating related, you need to check out www.houzz.com. It's a website full of photos of houses that you can look through and get ideas from. The fun part about it is that you can create a look book and put your favorite photos in your book to look back at later! So fun! I could literally spend hours looking through all the photos. I can't wait to have a house of our own to decorate!!

8. I feel like every week (well the ones that I actually post on here) I tell you about the books I'm reading, and sorry if that gets a little old, but this week I HAVE to tell you about the book I'm reading!! Right now I'm almost done with The Help by Kathryn Stockett. If you haven't read it, please go get it right now and dive in. If you have, then you probably understand why I'm writing about it. It's an amazing book about 3 women in Jackson, Mississippi in 1962 during the Civil Rights movement. If you love to read historical fiction or just love a great, well-written story, then definitely try it! You won't regret it! Here's the amazon link.

9. I am going to add a new element to my Word on Wednesday called A Wee Bit of Me Wednesday. Again, my friend Ashley and Lilly's momma and also the brains behind A.C. Style Files, does this on her blog and I think it's cute. Also it would give me something to post every Wednesday even when I have nothing of value to tell or show you. So here goes!

{one} what was your first job?technically, I was like every other teenage girl and babysat, but I really didn't like it. So I count my first job as being at "Just For You" the jewelry and gifts store in my hometown.

{two} have you ever seen a stand up comedian?Yes I have! We went to the KC Improv in Zona Rosa back in November and it was the very first time I saw live comedians. It was SO much fun!

{three} when was the last time you played mini golf?I have no idea. I really like playing mini golf and I always say that I want to go in the summers, but I don't think we made it there last summer.

{four} what was the last picture you took?The pictures I posted above of my plants!

{five} burnt food: yes or no?no… yuck.
{six} if you have a pocket full of change, what do you do with it?Luke and I are putting all of our loose change in a container to save for a "real" honeymoon. I know it won't amount to very much but it's fun to watch it collect.

{seven} can you touch your tongue to your nose?Yes I can.

{eight} do you scrapbook?I used to all the time and really enjoyed it. Then it got to be a pretty expensive hobby and I kind of just got out of the habit. I looked at my scrapbooks just the other day and the last things I put in there was Marcus' 1st birthday party. He'll be 4 this May... whoops!

{nine} do you buy lottery tickets?I've never bought a lottery ticket. But we were given lottery tickets for Christmas this year by Luke's grandparents and I won a whole dollar. I'm not a very lucky person, so I never really feel like willingly giving up my money.

{ten} do you prefer to be in front of the camera or behind it?behind it… no doubt. I am SO uncomfortable in front of the camera. Having my picture taken at my wedding was a really weird thing for me.

Word on Wednesday

2011-03-09T14:25:00.008-06:00

Hey all! Yup, I realize that it's been forever since I posted anything of real substance and I'm really sorry. Here's why...

1. It's all the weathers fault!!! Being a mainly "natural light" photographer, I rely on the weather being cooperative with me to schedule photo sessions. With the gross and never-ending winter we're having, I haven't had a lot of opportunity to take photos outside. As you can see by the larger amount of sessions I've done inside in my little make-shift studio in my dining room, i.e. Ella, Matthias, Alexander. I gotta say, I really do prefer outdoor photos and I'm so anxious for the weather to get nicer!

2. We have a possible addition here in the Rieger household. Meet Biggs!
We have him on a trial run basis to see if he works with us. So far he's doing pretty good. He doesn't really like other dogs though, which is a worry, so we're still debating on whether to keep him permanently or not. But for now, he's a pretty good little body to have around to keep us company.

3. Baby Alexander was baptized last weekend. Luke and I along with my aunt Jane were his sponsors or God parents. It's an honor to be his sponsor and this is actually my third god-son, so I'm going to be responsible for lots of kiddos!

Here's my sister and her little family. Like Marcus' hair? Luke, Chad and I cut it! We thought it was time to do away with the floppy hair, and now he looks so much older!
And here are Alexander and his sponsors. By the way, the baptismal gown he's wearing has been around a long time. My great grandmother (I think) made it. And everyone in my family since has worn it. So it's a really neat tradition to have.

4. On the same day as Alexander's baptism, we had Lily's 4th birthday party. I can't believe our little Lily Bean is 4! It seems like she was just turning 1!

She is a horse lover and was so excited about her new horse!Oh and here's a quick shot of Ben and I. He'll be turning 2 in June! I think I might cry at that one.

5. I've been reading a lot lately. I finished the newest Janet Evanovich books, "Wicked Appetite" and "Sizzling Sixteen", oh and "Plum Spooky". Can you tell I love her books? They're just great mysteries with a lot of humor. Also, I just finished the first book of the Sookie Stackhouse series by Charlaine Harris, "Dead Until Dark", and picked up the second book this morning! I tried "Dead Until Dark" about a year ago and just couldn't get into it, but this time I couldn't put it down and finished it in about 2 days. If you like the Twilight series and maybe want a little more adult version of them, then try the Sookie Stackhouse books!

6. Other things I've been reading are the Gorgeously Green books by Sophie Uliano. Her first book, "Gorgeously Green" really changed the way I looked at recycling and what we consume and I would definitely recommend it to anyone wanting to know more about being eco-conscious. I also bought her book about eating "greener" and although I don't think I can get Luke to cut out red meat (neither can I!), it does have some good tips. Lately I've been reading her newest book "Do It Gorgeously" all about how to make less toxic, less expensive products. It has everything in it! You can look how to make anything from beauty products to baby food to cleaning solutions to learning how to garden. If you're into all this stuff, like me, you should definitely check out "The Naturally Clean Home" by Karyn Siegel-Maier. I made the her Basic Sink Cleanser and it's amazing! You should try it if you're wanting to get rid of the commercial chemicals in your home. It's easy! Just 1/4 cup baking soda, 1/2 cup vinegar and about 3 drops of lavender, rosemary, lemon, lime or orange essential oil. You mix all the ingredients together, slowly with the baking soda and vinegar, and then using a sponge scrub your sink with the solution and then rinse with really hot water. I used sweet orange essential oil and it made my whole house smell amazing! Oh and I buy my essential oils at the Merc in Lawrence. They're little bitty bottles but last a really long time since you only use a couple drops at a time. You should definitely try it out and see how much money you'll save by not buying all those really expensive cleaning products!

7. Last night Luke and I went on a date! We ate dinner at Granite City in Olathe and then went to see "The Fighter" at the movies. It's sooo good! Our main deciding factor to see it was because Mark Wahlberg is in it. He's Luke's favorite actor and I really don't hate having to look at him! Anyway, it's an amazing movie and if you can get past the drug use and swearing oh and fighting, it is a really great story about beating the odds and achieving your dreams. I recommend it to anyone!

My Prediction...

2011-02-22T13:01:00.003-06:00

... that I will hear this song at a LOT of weddings this year!

I'm okay with it, I love it and have always loved Train (just ask my sister, I listened to "Drops of Jupiter" on repeat after I bought that cd). And I really love all the couples telling their stories in the video, it reminds me of "When Harry Met Sally". So sweet.

Matthias | Gardner Childrens Photographer

2011-02-21T14:22:00.002-06:00

Meet Mr. Matthias! The adorable 1 year old son of my good friend and roomie at K-State, Jordan. I'll have to dig up some old photos of her and I together to show, we had some fun times at our house on Pierre street!

I love his toothy grin!

I was excited to finally get to pull out some of my new props! This adorable birthday hat I found and my HUGE trunk that I painted myself! I'm glad it has a use for something.

Behind the Scenes

2011-02-19T20:52:00.003-06:00

A little while back a photographer friend in one of my newbie photographer groups shared a photo of her office. I love to see what spaces other people work in and what organizational tricks they use. This week, I was suddenly struck by the crazy urge to really completely overhaul and organize my office. It took 2 days and years off my life but it's done! And it's beautiful! I threw things away and hung photos on the wall finally after living here for almost 7 months. See what you think!

My office is the space on our second floor that looks over our living and dining room. I love it! It's big enough for all of my stuff and has its own closet, where I keep all of my art supplies. The photo above is looking into my corner of the world.

My desk! Which I bought from my mom's friend and I love it because it's HUGE and HEAVY and simple. I made the memo board hanging on the wall with a $4.95 clearance frame at Hobby Lobby, a piece of plywood and some fun fabric. On it I keep photos and notes for inspiration, future symphony tickets, a print one of my 2010 brides made for me in the top right corner which I really love, thank you notes from past clients and all of the fun photo booth photos I've had taken at weddings and shows.

This is my little organization station where I keep all shipping supplies, portfolios, catalogs and product magazines, office supplies, and of course hanging on the wall are my Incredibles action figures.

And here are my newest additions. I bought this chair at a local consignment shop and the table I bought at a garage sale a long time ago for $12 and I decoupaged them with wedding and engagement photos I've taken. I made them for the bridal fair last weekend and I received SO many compliments and comments about them. I even had one bride ask me if I would make her a table like that. Now I like them sitting in my office!

Here are a couple closer looks.

Alrighty, there's a little look into my life! I hope you enjoyed it! I'm praying that I can keep it this neat for a long time because my life feels so much less chaotic!

Alexander | Hiawatha Newborn Photographer

2011-02-16T16:12:00.002-06:00

They're finally here! My nephew, Alexander's, newborn photos! Trust me, he's as sweet and cuddly as he looks.

Sporting his very first Grammy hat!

And sporting his new monkey hat from Aunt Innie!

I love that he had his tongue sticking out for most of his pictures. So cute!

This one was my Facebook teaser. I think it's totally going to be printed for my wall.

We were able to get Marcus to cooperate for a couple photos. I had to play blocks with him to get them!

Happy Heart Day!

2011-02-14T22:43:00.006-06:00

I hope everyone has gotten to have a great Valentine's Day with your loved one! My Valentine got up and made me chocolate chip pancakes and gave me "Life As We Know It" a very cute movie (go buy it if you haven't seen it! It's totally worth it!) and a really nice card. Then he went to work... bummer. So I was looking through pictures of us and thought I'd share our little story with you.

Here's where it all started... the bowl cut. Yep, we were on the same soccer team when we were 6.

This was taken New Years 2004, when we decided to be an official couple.
Who wouldn't fall for this?!
Then we went to prom together. He was crowned Prom King by the way.
Then we were off to K-State!
And finally, after 5 years together, he decided to give me something pretty.
And we planned for a big day.
And on July 31, 2010 we became a Mr. and Mrs.
Love you Lukey.

Word on Wednesday - Special Edition

2011-02-03T13:07:00.005-06:00

Ha! That sounds like Extreme Makeover Home Edition or something. But this is a very special edition of Word because the event that I've pretty much been counting down to has happened!

1. Baby Alexander Aaron is here! I now have nephew #3! Last Friday evening I got a text from my sister saying that I should maybe get my bag together, to which I freaked out and started flying around my house getting clothes ready and showering and getting myself ready to jump in my car at a moments notice, and got a phone call from Manda saying that they were going to the hospital just to get checked out. Then about midnight I received a text saying that she was just dehydrated and they were most likely going to send her home. Not 15 minutes later I got a phone call from my brother-in-law that she was going in for a C-section!

I sprang out of bed and threw on the clothes that I had set out for myself earlier, grabbed my bag and my camera bag and ran to my car! I made the 2 hour drive from Gardner to Hiawatha in record time and made it to the hospital at 2:30 am to see this...

The sweet little boy was born at 1:59 am weighing in at 7 lbs 2.5 oz. and 19 inches long. He's absolutely beautiful! My sister was still in recovery when I got there, so they had Alexander in the nursery in an incubator to keep him warm. Here's the grandma's admiring him. They're pretty proud!
He looks so much like Marcus did! And then sometimes he looks totally different. Which is good, he should have a look all his own. I love his nose and mouth, they're perfect.
They finally wheeled Manda down about 45 minutes later and she got to see her little boy finally.
Here's my mom with Alexander. I think he'll love his Grammy as much as Marcus does!
Pretty little boy! He has some dark hair... for now.
Yours truly with Alexander. And no I don't have baby fever, not really anyway. Luke and I want kids, but like being just us for now. And I'm perfectly happy to be able to spoil my niece and nephews and then send them home.

This is Marcus seeing his new little brother for the first time. "Is that my baby?" He loves him, but he hated the hospital room. I can imagine that it looks scary to 3 year old's though.
Marcus checking out Alexander's teeny tiny feet.
There are some open eyes!
Don't judge. I drove from 12:30-2:30 am and stayed up all night and then only got 3 hours of sleep the next morning... I didn't look great! But it didn't matter. I think I was telling him that Aunt Innie is the coolest... just ask his brother.
And here's Marcus holding his little brother by himself for the first time. He looks pretty excited, huh?!
I'm planning to head back to Hiawatha next week to take Alexander's "real" newborn photos. So check back for those soon!

2. The weather here, as with the rest of the country, is nuts! We got about 10 inches of snow on Tuesday with huge 4 foot drifts. And poor Luke had to work in all of it! I was nice enough yesterday to get out and shovel, pretty much, our entire driveway so that he could get his car back in it. Which today I'm regretting because I about can't move my back... and neck... and wrists. What the heck! I'm not 80! Apparently someone needs some more gym time.

3. Bright and early tomorrow morning, the Rieger's are heading to Branson! They got more snow then we did, so pray that we make it there and back safely. I think we're too determined not to make it though. We all need a vacation about now!

See you next week!

Ella Grace | Gardner Baby Photographer

2011-02-01T11:15:00.003-06:00

Here are some favorites from little miss Ella's 4 month shoot!

Ya gotta love these big smiles!

2012 Seniors!!

2011-01-27T12:51:00.001-06:00

Valentine Cards!

2011-01-24T17:00:00.002-06:00

Still looking for the perfect Valentine?? Look at these!

I think I'm in love with the cuteness! Contact me to order yours today!

Word on Wednesday

2011-01-19T22:29:00.002-06:00

1. We are officially in a winter tundra! I think we've gotten about 8 inches so far here in Gardner and there is no end in sight, it's crazy! And poor Luke is, of course, out working! Ick. Here's the view from our front door when it first started to snow...

And here is pretty much the same view about 20 minutes ago...

I promise there's a sidewalk and driveway in there somewhere. Normally I totally love snow, but I'm really okay if it would be done now. I was supposed to drive to Topeka tomorrow for a photo shoot and now I'm not sure I'll be able to get out of my driveway!

2. Our very nice neighbors shoveled our sidewalk and entire driveway again. During our last big snow, I was cleaning up because I had nothing else to do and went by our front door and heard something and looked out and 3 of our very nice neighbors were shoveling away! I went out to thank them profusely and all they could do was tell me to thank Luke for all he does in his job and saying how they noticed his patrol car was gone and that they wouldn't want to be him and have to come home after a hard day of work and shovel their driveway. It was so great! So we (and when I say we, I mean me) baked them cookies, and now I'll have to figure out something else to bake them... maybe cupcakes! I just feel bad that our driveway has blown over with snow again and you can't even tell they were here.

3. Yesterday my friend, Katie, and I drove into Olathe to do some shopping! But we don't do "normal" shopping. We go to antique and second hand stores and find all kinds of goodies we can decorate with or paint and make pretty again to decorate with. And we found some amazing deals!!! And we discovered some new stores! It was a great day and we're heading back out next Monday! I found a HUGE steamer trunk that would normally be $100 easily and got it for $12!!!! I'm going to paint it and make it look awesome to use at the bridal fair! So excited to get started on that project!

4. When we got back from shopping, Katie and I started setting out all of the new goodies I'd gotten and ended up redecorating my house. I have to give her pretty much all of the credit because she's amazing, and basically all I did was get her things. She's one of those people who can literally decorate her entire house with things she bought at Salvation Army and make it look like a page in the Pottery Barn catalog! The girls got skills!! I'm not completely done decorating, so I'm not ready to show you the final photos, but here are some details...

None of the things in this photo are new, but I thought it would help explain the colors I use a little better, so my stuff didn't look so random!

I'm still working on my centerpiece. And here's the mess of things I'm working with...

This isn't new either, but I collect R's and this is one of my favorites in my red kitchen!

5. Still no baby, my sister is still pregnant. And I'm getting really anxious to meet my new nephew!!

Well that's pretty much all I have for you this week. With the weather, we've been pretty boring! See ya next week, hopefully with some photos of 2 little girls that I'm supposed to photograph this week, weather permitting! *fingers crossed*

Word on Wednesday

2011-01-13T22:11:00.004-06:00

So I really did start writing this weeks' Word on Wednesday yesterday and then got a migraine and went to bed the rest of the day. Sorry!

1. Luke and I have been pretty boring lately. He's been working a lot because "normal" work day hours in cop world means nothing! Lots of overtime though! I've been busting my butt getting things ready to go for the bridal fair and designing my booth, which has taken up a LOT of time. I'm lame and I have no real pictures to show you of my progress right now, but here's a teaser... I bought a plain old wooden chair and a ton of 3.5x5 and 4x6 prints. I know, you're on the edge of your seats!

2. I'm developing a new L.A.P. (Linnie Arnesen Photos... sometimes I'm lazy and don't feel like typing it all out, ha!) Senior Model Program. I'm really excited about this! I've heard of other photographers putting on these great programs for their seniors and I'm really jazzed to get mine going! I'll have details about this coming soon and 2012 senior had better be listening up!

3. I'm going to be an aunt again any day now. I feel like a fire fighter or a nurse or someone that's constantly on call, because I am totally ready at a moments notice to jump in my car and head to Hiawatha for the little man to make his appearance. My sister is probably getting a little tired of me constantly asking how she's feeling but I missed Marcus' birth because I was handing in my finals at K-State, so I want to be there this time! And I'm totally going to be using my new nephew to try out some fun newborn photo ideas I've been coming up with! He's going to learn real fast that Aunt Innie comes with a big flashy black thing.

4. Last week, Luke and I met our bff, Kody, in Lawrence for my belated birthday dinner. You gotta love police officers who work on the actual day but try really hard to celebrate it when they can, so we celebrated my birthday on the 4th instead of the 30th. But who cares. We ate at Free State Brewery on Mass street and it was amazing as always! And then went to the 23rd Street Brewery for a couple drinks with a friend of Kody's. We had a great time, but sadly I have no pictures. The boys suck and my camera stayed in my purse the whole night.

5. The first weekend in February I'll be on vacation! The Rieger's are going to Branson! Last year we all decided that instead of exchanging gifts we'd like to take a family vacation. So this is our first one and we chose a spot not too far away to ease our way into the whole big family vacation thing. I've never been to Branson and am normally not one for Dolly Parton shows, but I am actually really excited. I love to travel and see new places and this is definitely a new place. We've booked a really great cabin with 4 big bedrooms, each with their own bathroom, and plan to just relax and play games and watch movies and shop and have fun! I'll definitely have pictures from this one! If only I could get a shot of the caravan of 3 vehicles, 7 adults, 2 kiddos and 2 dogs... priceless!

6. I have been doing some uber research and educational videos/webinars/seminars for my photography lately. I've decided with the down time that January brings that I would catch up on all the latest trends and products in the biz and I'm going to be announcing some new things soon! So excited! And if you're a loyal/recent client of mine (or I just like ya!) you can be expecting a surprise in your mail very soon!

7. I have a few shoots coming up with little girls who have graced my blog recently. Little Miss Lilly, little baby Ella, and adorable Faith. I'm super excited to see these little ones again! Have I mentioned how much I love taking babies photographs?!

Okay that's all I've got for you right now. I'm hoping my life will get more exciting for next week!

My Life in Ornaments

2011-01-10T10:27:00.002-06:00

In my family, ornaments are a big deal. Every year for as long as I can remember, we all went to the local craft fair to pick out an ornament for our collection. Since I'm married now, my mom gave me the box of my ornaments to hang on my own tree, and I had a lot of fun looking through them all and seeing the years on the backs and remembering when I picked it out. I think the years on them are accurate for the most part, although some written by my mom looked brand new... hmm.

The first ornament actually arrived before I did. I was due November 30th and didn't make my entrance into the world until December 30th. Whether I was just a late baby or they got the due date wrong, who knows. But my very first ornament came before me!

Oddly there's a 4 year stretch where apparently I got no new ornament. But the next one was the ornament I remember always being a big deal. The lady that made it still has a booth at the craft fair every year, kinda neat. (And yea, that's my real name.)

My sister and I both have this ornament. And now that I look at it, I don't think it came before I was 6... I wonder what date she has written on the back of hers!

I remember I bought this ornament at Claire's, the jewelry store in the mall. I was 10 and thought it was very cool that I could buy the ornament by myself!

I collected lambs when I was little. My very first stuffed animal was a lamb and thus started the collection of about a million stuffed lambs and then came these little figurines.

I have zero memory of this little guy, but I think his Santa slippers are cute!

This year I got a "Jo" ornament in honor of Little Women, my favorite book of all-time. And then of course you have to have Mrs. Pott's from Beauty and the Beast! There used to be a little Chip with her, but I don't know where he is by now.

The next year I got "Meg" and Madeline! My favorite!

And in 2004 started my obsession with Willow Tree angels. I love them!

2005 was the first Christmas that Luke and I were together. I think I picked this one out for him.

My grandma and I used to watch the Peanuts all the time. We loved the music and the goofy characters and the cartoon still has a special place in our family. Now Marcus loves to watch the holiday specials!

From here on, I bought 2 ornaments every year. Luke and I had been together for a while and I had a pretty good feeling that we were going to end up together. I love this snow man!

I don't know where my ornament is from this year, but this is Luke's.

The Barbie shoe was a gift from a good friend in honor of our wedding and my wearing pink heels. It was technically given to me in July of 2010 but I call it my 2009 ornament because I don't think I bought a special one that year.

I bought this cookie cutter ornament this year from Nell Hill's, one of my favorite stores in the whole wide world! Someday I want to have a really cute tree in our kitchen (if we have a big kitchen) and put this on it with other kitchen-y ornaments.

Here's my favorite addition!! I found this one at Kohl's this year, on the 23rd... never go to Kohl's on the 23rd of December!! But I love it! If you know me well, you know that the Beatles are and always will be my favorite!

This ornament was a wedding gift from a good high school friend. It's pretty!

And here ends the ornament tour. I hope you've enjoyed yourselves, you can tip your tour guide on the way out. Sorry for the lack of posting ideas, can you tell I'm hard up for something to show you!!

I have to put up this photo of my Christmas card ribbon. I love it! I clip the cards we receive on it but this year they overflowed. So now I'm sad that I'll have to come up with another way to display my cards. Maybe someday I'll have ribbons of cards everywhere!! And I love that there are cards that I designed on there! Makes me feel good! My good friend Liz's card on the right side of the photo is my favorite that I made this year! So fun!

Jessica, Brad & Colton | Topeka Family Photographer

2011-01-02T13:20:00.003-06:00

Jessica was the winner of my photo shoot giveaway that I held a few weeks ago! She and her adorable family now live in North Carolina, but they were going to be in Topeka visiting family for the holiday, so it was perfect timing that we were able to get together! I took Jessica and Brad's engagement and wedding photos a year ago and I follow her blog and was very excited to see that they had a little boy! Mr. Colton is 4 months old and absolutely adorable! Here are the favorites.

He has the best smile!

This is definitely one of my favorites!

They are just one of the cutest families ever!

Gotta love tall grass!

He is one lucky little boy. This was their Facebook teaser photo.

And I have to end this post with my favorite photo ever!!! I think I might have to print a big one of it to put in my office just because he's so cute!

Thank you Jessica for entering the contest and congrats on winning! It was so great to see you guys again and meet your little man!

Weddings of 2010

2011-01-01T16:31:00.003-06:00

Happy New Year everyone! I hope all of you had a fun and safe New Year celebration. We were pretty boring here in the Rieger household. Luke had to work until 11 so I made myself some fettuccini (which I'll be working off for the next 2 weeks... but man was it good!!) and watched some of my favorite movies. Oh and I started organizing my office which needed it really bad! Sounds fun huh?!

In honor of the new year, I'm going to take a look back at 2010. First with the weddings and then in a later post, the families and kiddos that I've had the privilege to photograph. Here are the weddings!

First, Emily and David, wed January 23rd in Lenexa. This was my first Kansas City wedding, which I drove to by myself with the help of my GPS, completely terrified the whole way that I would get lost or shot. But I made it and we had a great time!

Next, Hope and Cory, married April 3rd in McPherson. I made my very first trip to McPherson ever for this wedding and Luke even went with me. Their wedding was very nice and laidback and was the beginning of many many photo shoots with this family. Most recently, I photographed their newest addition, Ella Grace!

Rachel and Brent were married April 10th in Corning. This was a BIG wedding for me because both sides of their families have LOTS of people. I had so much fun with this group though and some of my favorite photos I've taken were from this wedding, like this one!

Katie and Jacob were married May 1st in Topeka. Their wedding was very special for me because the ceremony took place at my church, Faith Lutheran, and a lot of people I know were there. They are an incredible couple and had such an amazing group of people there to celebrate with them!

Next, Jamie and Chris, were married May 8th in Topeka. They could not have picked a more beautiful day to get married. It was an outside ceremony and the weather was just amazing! They are a beautiful couple and so incredibly in love, which made my job super easy!

Sarah and Dylan were married June 5th in Topeka. Their ceremony and reception both were held at Heritage Hall, outside of the Kansas Expocentre. It was a crazy hot day (I think I melted) but it was a beautiful ceremony and very fun reception!

Next up is my cousin Chris! He married Laura on June 12th in Topeka. It was a very special wedding for me to photograph and was a ton of fun!

Amy and Derrick were married June 19th in Topeka. The ceremony and reception were both held in new places to me, which was fun, and everything was beautiful!

Emily and Mark were married August 14th at the Loose Mansion in Kansas City, Mo. I really cannot say enough good things about this couple. First, the venue was beautiful! Everyone involved in the wedding was great and really made me feel like one of the family, especially Emily's mom, Barbara. This was my second Kansas City wedding and Luke was nice enough to help me!

Next up is Jenn! One of my biggest fans and good friends. She married Jake on September 18th in Topeka. The ceremony took place at Jake's parents house and the reception was at the Great Overland Station. It was such a great day! I felt like I was just hanging out with friends the whole time... which I pretty much was. Everything was beautiful and once again, some of my favorite photos I took at this wedding, especially the one of Jenn by herself! Ah she's gorgeous!

Michaela and Jason were married October 16th in Overland Park. I can tell this story now because I'm over being embarrassed by it, but I actually showed up for the wedding a week early and even called Michaela to see where they were... only to find out that I had my date written down wrong. I promise that's the only time that has ever happened, and will NEVER happen again! I was mortified! They are such a great couple and I had such a good time spending their day with them. Michaela's dad is one of my new favorite people. He thanked me profusely before I left the reception for being their photographer!

Carissa and Kevin were married November 13th in Topeka. They had an outdoor wedding at Lake Shawnee and of course it was absolutely freezing!! But we didn't let the weather ruin it for us! It was still a beautiful ceremony and we all had a great time at the reception!

And last but certainly not least are Kale and Brooklyn, our good friends, who were married November 20th in Hiawatha. I grew up with Kale. We went to the same babysitter and were pretty much inseparable when we were there. We were even known to eat a Milk Bone or two when we played outside with the dog, so this was a very special wedding for me to shoot. Once again, it was freezing on their day, like 20 degrees while we were driving around town taking their portraits but we all had a great time and their reception was one of the best ever!

I can't say thank you enough to all of my great couples! I wish you all a lifetime of happiness and I hope to photograph your families as they grow!

Word on Wednesday

2010-12-29T22:36:00.005-06:00

Hello friends! I hope everyone notices that it is still Wednesday that I'm posting this... woot!

1. I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas! I know we did! Luke and I had 5 different Christmas celebrations which was pretty exhausting but it was so great to be able to spend so much time with family and friends. Here are some pictures from a few of them...

Lily and Papa Jerry looking at the photo book Lily's mom gave them, Christmas Eve...

Marcus, Christmas morning...

Marcus and my sister opening his present...

Isn't he cute?!

Marcus got a camera for Christmas and was showing me his skills!

Marcus and Aunt Innie. I had to use my flash, which resulted in this face...

Hi there!

Lily Bean opening her gift from me, duh! Look at that wrapping! I think I spend as much time wrapping gifts as I do shopping, it's my favorite part!

Little Bennie!

Our dog Duke, showing his Christmas spirit!

I love this one of Ben. He's very much a sit-back-and-watch kind of guy.

When I got home and was loading my many memory cards from our holiday, I realized that Luke and I never got a picture together. Whoops! I guess we'll just remember our first Christmas as a married couple through my photos of other people.

2. I really love baking cupcakes and making them pretty! So I asked for a good piping kit for Christmas and I got one from my sister! Yay! I think I have some dormant talent for amazing cupcake decorating that I now plan to unleash! Stay tuned for pictures of what I make! And the resulting posts about being too sore from the gym to move.

3. I've been in reading hyper mode lately. Normally, I read a lot. My mom's a librarian, so it's in my genetics to read. But I've just gone through book after book lately! Most recently I finished "Plum Lucky" by Janet Evanovich. This is one of her Between the Numbers books. If you haven't read her Stephanie Plum number series, you need to! It's laugh out loud funny! Luke looks at me like I'm crazy when I read them and suddenly bust up laughing. Here's a teaser, in the very first book her grandmother shoots a chicken off the dinner table. I also read "Plum Lovin'", another book in that same Between the Numbers series. Then I had a change of pace and read "The Choice" by Nicholas Sparks. Normally his books make me cry, i.e. "A Walk to Remember" and "The Notebook", but this one had a happy ending and was a very good read. Check them out!

4. I realized today that the big Perfect Wedding Guide bridal fair in Overland Park is less then 2 months away. Whoa! I have so much to do before then! I think I know what my booth will look like, now I just have to do all the other things, like printing photos and informational handouts and all that great stuff. I'm excited though. I really love bridal fairs! There's so many people to talk to and hear about their weddings and of course wedding cake samples!

5. You'll notice in the next few days that there will be some changes to Linnie Arnesen Photos mainly in the packages offered and pricing areas. Some prices will go down and some will go up, but mainly I'll be adding amazing products and offers for my clients! And something I'm very excited to add is specials for my repeat customers! Stay tuned for some exciting stuff!

6. My birthday is tomorrow! I'm hitting the big 2-4! I think I've hit that age when my birthday just seems like another day because I kind of forgot about it. We weren't planning to do anything because Luke is working evenings this week and won't be around and I have to go to Topeka anyway for a meeting with a bride, but then my best friend Tiffany called me yesterday and said she and her husband, Ryan, would be in town! So we're going to get lunch! I'm so excited! I haven't seen her since right before Thanksgiving. Here's a photo of her and I at her wedding back in September, taken by Sarah over at Beautiful Isolations Photography.

I think we look a lot alike... freaky. Anyway, I'm very excited to see her! Now I wish I could find them jobs here in Kansas City so they could move here from Arkansas, which is WAY too far away for my taste!

That's all I've got for you now, see you next week and have a safe and Happy New Year! I'll be in my jammies watching old movies!

Jessica, Brad & Colton | Topeka Family Photographer

2010-12-28T17:29:00.001-06:00

Here is a quick peak at the photo shoot I had last week with with Jessica, Brad and baby Colton. Jessica won my free photo shoot giveaway! Check back later this week for more of this adorable family!

Word on Wednesday

2010-12-23T14:30:00.003-06:00

I know, I know... I skipped last week. But I genuinely had nothing going on to tell you about!

1. Two weeks ago, Luke and I went to the Plaza with some of his work friends. We had a great time and had a few... drinks and then stayed at the Courtyard Marriott. The Plaza is beautiful this time of year. All of the lights were amazing and then just as we got there it started to snow! Now, it was absolutely freezing and extremely windy and we were walking.. but hey! It was beautiful!

2. I was looking through my photos to clean off my computer and put everything I can on my exterior hard drive, and I found quite a few photos that I had meant to share with you and hadn't! I'll start with these few of Luke and Lily when they spent the night with us back in August. They're adorable... and I see a little girl who loves her uncle. And vice versa.

3. We are heading home for the holiday tomorrow once Luke gets off work. Being in law enforcement, his time to be off work is always tentative and with the weather that we're supposed to get tomorrow, I won't really be surprised if he doesn't get off on time. (Everybody please drive safely so that we can get home on time for Christmas!!!!) I'm trying not to think about it and instead I'm getting ready to go! And thinking of these little faces that we'll finally get to see!

Mr. Marcus... (no he doesn't have Justin Bieber hair, he was being silly and his hair had just gotten swept to the side by accident!)

He's getting too big too fast!! I don't like it!

And Miss Lily, our little diva!

And our little baby Ben.. who I don't think was ever really "little" but now he's taller and running around and growing up!

Gotta love sibling affection.

4. I'm so excited for the holiday! It took a while to actually get in the holiday mood, but my tv has been set to ABC Family and AMC constantly for the last 2 weeks because of the great Christmas movies they've been playing. I love it!

5. We are now about 6 weeks from my sister's due date, but if she's right, it might be more like 4. I'm so excited! I love babies! And lately they are my favorite people to photograph.

6. On Tuesday of this week, I went to Topeka to hang out with my aunt for a while and then go to "Music of the Night". This is a group of ladies from our church who get together every couple of months and we eat and chat and then sing. We have the best time! This time we sang only Christmas carols and it was great!

7. Yesterday I made the best while chili for supper. I might have to make it again soon just to take pictures and share it with you all because it's definitely worth making!

Well I think that's all I have for you now. I've been pretty boring lately. I had a shoot on Tuesday with a 3 month old that I'll have to share with you next week and then I have a big family shoot this Sunday morning, and then of course, photos from my Christmas in Hiawatha. I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas and enjoy time with your families and friends!

Kale & Brooklyn | Hiawatha Wedding Photographer

2010-12-17T14:07:00.003-06:00

Get comfortable, this is a loooooong post! It's the wedding of my two friends, Kale and Brooklyn. They got married November 20th in Hiawatha and my husband was actually one of their ushers. It was a great (but really cold!!) day and we all had so much fun! Enjoy!

One of my fellow bloggers, Ali Moore, of Three's Company is in this picture!

Sierra & Brandon | Kansas City Family Photographer

2010-12-17T12:08:00.001-06:00

The Galvan Family | Topeka Family Photographer

2010-12-10T12:57:00.002-06:00

Meet the Galvan's! Liz (the momma) is my really good friend and former Pier 1 boss, and she was a bridesmaid in our wedding! I was very excited to take their family photos because Liz has an amazing sense of style and I knew she would come with the colorful clothes that I'm always hoping for in a photo shoot. And as a bonus I got to see my little buddy, August, her adorable 8 month old and my honorary nephew!

August wasn't diggin' his shoes.

If I had a picture like this of me and my mom, it would be the one thing I'd grab if there was a fire.

Troy and little Mya.

They were all getting over colds, but poor Mya still wasn't feeling very well... and not into having her picture taken in the freezing cold. And August is just smiling away, like usual!

Word on Wednesday

2010-12-10T10:43:00.003-06:00

... finally posted on whatever day this is.

1. I am officially (well pretty much) done with Christmas cards! Yay! I love designing and putting them together but they are pretty time consuming, so it's a happy day when I'm finished.

2. We found out on Wednesday that my sister is going to be having another little boy! I really did think she was having a girl and someday he'll just have to forgive us for calling him Megan while in the womb, but I'm very excited to meet the new little man in February. Now to just figure out his name.... I doubt they'll go for some masculine form of Linnie...

3. Last week I wrote about the great time that my mom sister and I had at the symphony here in Kansas City and a couple days later I received a hand-written note thanking me for writing about my experience and two free tickets to the concert of my choice. Thank you so much Kansas City Symphony!

4. I had a very boring weekend. Luke went back home to Hiawatha last Thursday through Sunday to go deer hunting for the first time in a couple years, and before he left we found that his truck wouldn't start... so he took the car. Which left me by myself for 4 days and without a vehicle. Wow. It's been a while since I felt so stranded! But I did get a lot done! My house was very clean, cookies were made, many movies were watched, books were read and lots of photo editing was completed. It was a very productive weekend to say the least. But I've never been happier to see my car when he got back!

5. Wednesday evening I drove over to Topeka and went to the Topeka Symphony's holiday concert with my aunt and her good friends, who are also my honorary aunts and uncles. We met for a glass of wine and then had a fratilla at Tequila's Mexican restaurant in Brookwood Shopping Center (delicious! If you haven't had a fratilla, you need to go get one! It's a cross between a Mexican pizza and a taco salad, oh so good!). Then we headed to the symphony! They had an amazing guest pianist, Rich Ridenour, who was amazing! Not only was he a great pianist but he was an amazing performer as well. He was hilarious! They played "Linus and Lucy", one of the Christmas songs from Charlie Brown, that also happens to be my favorite, so that was really exciting. I've been very blessed to be able to go to so many different concerts so far this year, and they've all been just amazing. Take advantage of your local arts!!

6. Luke and I are now about 75% finished with our Christmas shopping. It's been slow going because we are exact opposites when it comes to Christmas shopping. I think of what I want to get someone, write it down and then find the best deal and then just go get it. I would be done shopping by Halloween if I thought I could be, but Luke's least favorite thing in the entire world is shopping/spending money/fighting his way through crowds, so it's no wonder that he puts it off and puts it off. I think he'll be one of those old men that wraps up things he has laying around the house for gifts someday. Ah!

7. I saw this morning that past bride and groom of mine, Amie and Jarrod, welcomed their little bundle of joy last night, little miss Waverley Nova! Congratulations you guys!

8. Luke and I have a fun weekend coming up! We are going to spend this weekend on the Plaza with good friends and I cannot wait! I haven't gotten him over to the Plaza since we moved here, which is a shock because it's my favorite place ever, and Luke's never been there! So I'm very excited to go out and have fun with good friends!

9. And since I don't like to have a blog post without a photo, here's one of me freezing in my car Tuesday morning waiting for my friend, Liz and her family to arrive for their photo shoot! Thanks Luke for such fine photoging skills.

Seeya next week!

Lilly | Topeka Childrens Photographer

2010-12-04T18:20:00.004-06:00

I have had the pleasure of watching this little lady grow up for the past year. Our first photo shoot was a year ago when she was 6 months old I believe...

Then I took some pictures of her cute little family about a month later...

We met again for her 1 year portraits...

And I had the honor of being at her first birthday...

Here are my favorites from her latest photo shoot!

I think it took her a minute to remember me... and that we were buddies.

There's that smile!

She's much more mobile then the last time we worked together. I now have to constantly run around and get on my knees and jump up and chase her and tickle her to get her to smile. I would be in excellent shape if I had a photo shoot with her everyday!

For a minute she forgot about how much fun we were having!

And towards the end of the photo shoot she found a bench that she thought was crazy fun to climb up on and tried to stand on the very back (which made me a little nervous). In this picture she was posing for me!

All the photo shoots with Lilly and her family remind me why I love my job. I absolutely love getting the opportunity to repeatedly work with a client and really get to know them. I can't tell you how great its been for me to see Lilly grow up! I'm already excited for whenever our next shoot will be!

Carissa & Kevin | Topeka Wedding Photographer

2010-12-02T14:22:00.002-06:00

Look at these rockin' awesome shoes!

Their wedding ceremony took place on a very chilly, 40 degree day, in November in the Pergola at Lake Shawnee. It was beautiful but my fingers were blue by the time it was over.

Thanks Carissa & Kevin for a great day! I had a ton of fun! Especially having IHOP at 3 am. I love my job!

Word on Wednesday

2010-12-01T17:02:00.004-06:00

Hello everyone on this fine Wednesday!

1. Christmastime is here! On Sunday, Luke and I put up all of our Christmas decorations! I love it! All of my trees are up and decorated... I say "all" because I have 4. Yes I know it's an illness and the number grows every year. I love trees! I seriously want one in every room of my house someday. We still have a few things to hang and take back down to the basement, but for the most part, Christmas has landed at the Rieger residence. Monday night I put together and decorated my office tree which has all of my "retro" looking, brightly colored ornaments. It's my favorite and I add to it every year! Here it is in all it's glory!

This is the ornament that started this tree. I found it in Weston at my favorite little shop.

And this is the new addition this year... I found it at Target!

Here's an overhead shot of our main Christmas tree. My office is on the second floor of our duplex and it's a loft, so it looks over the living room... handy!

It will have many more ornaments on it after Luke picks up all of my ornaments from my mom's this weekend. Then we will probably have no more room at all!

Here's my absolute favorite wedding gift we received. My mother-in-law knew how much having a nativity scene meant to me and she gave us this!

I love it! I just need a stable for it.

2. As you all know, last Friday I had a table at the Sabetha Christmas Window Opening. A bunch of local vendors had tables set up in the City Hall gymnasium to sell their products and promote their business. I was the only photographer among a sea of Scentsy and Mary Kay and Avon and Home Interior vendors, so I felt a little like the odd man out, but it was great to get out there and promote my business. I've never handed out so many business cards in my life. Here's a quick shot of my table...

The photos on the wall don't look as big as they really are. The middle one is a 16x24 and the two on either side are 11x14's. I love them!

It's a fun event for me to have a table in because Luke's mom, Julie, has a table too! She sells Silpada jewelry. It's amazing! Here's her table!

I gave away a photo shoot at that event too and the winner of that contest will be called tomorrow!

3. Last Saturday, my mom, sister and I all headed back here to Gardner together for a big day in the city! I'm trying to be good about not just sticking in my little town where I'm comfortable, but actually go out in the big scary city and find fun things to do! So a couple months ago I looked up the Kansas City symphony schedule because that's really something I enjoy going to. And I saw they were going to be performing Handel's Messiah which is a favorite of ours! So Saturday after some shopping and a quick nap, we girls headed to Independence! It was a really great concert and the singers were amazing! We actually knew one of the sopranos in the Kansas City choir, so that was neat. It was a longer performance, 2 1/2 hours, but well worth it... until we couldn't find my car in the parking lot afterwards. Walking around frantically searching for your vehicle in 30 degree weather while in high heels, worrying about your 7 month pregnant sister is not a really fun thing to do at 10:30 at night. But I think I'd like to go again next year! It was a really great way to start off the Christmas season.

4. While decorating for Christmas this week, I got out my Christmas music! I am one of those crazy people that is perfectly happy to start listening to it the minute the Thanksgiving turkey is cleaned up... I do, however, take issue with the radio stations who start playing it the day after Halloween. That's a little excessive if you ask me. But I found my (or my sister's... who can remember) Harry Connick Jr. Christmas cd! It's my favorite! My absolute favorite on that cd is "I Pray On Christmas", I just love the jazzy feel of it. Here's a video made for it:

And I cannot keep dry eyes when I hear that man sing "Ave Maria". It's not possible.

Mainly, I love the Peanuts Christmas music. It's my all-time favorite!

Then you have this classic...

I love it!

5. I'm still debating whether or not Luke and I will send out Christmas cards. I have a card design that I LOVE but I don't have the right picture of us to go with it. So I'm thinking instead of making what I have work, I'll just save the super cute card until next year. Here's the picture I was thinking of using. It's not a professionally taken one or anything. We had Luke's sister, Amy, take it when we were doing Rieger family photos.

Then there's this one of us with Lily and Ben, who look just like their uncle Luke. I think I know now what our kids will look like.

So Happy Holidays from the Rieger's!!

6. And now the moment you've all been waiting for! **Drum roll** The winner of the free photo shoot is.......

Jessica!! Email me to schedule your shoot!

Thanks so much everyone for entering. It was really great reading everyone's responses. I love hearing of everyone's different traditions. Here's what I love most about the holidays:

My favorite part is just getting to spend time with everyone. I love seeing all of my family at once. After going off to college and then moving twice (both times progressively farther away from my hometown) it is really fun for me to get to go home and just spend time with everyone. Christmas Eve is spent first at my dad's and then Luke and I head to his maternal grandparents. We go to Christmas Eve Mass first, which is so beautiful that I usually get teary, and then go to their house for a gift exchange. I don't have a very large family on my side, but Luke has a HUGE family and it's been really great for me to finally be a part of it. A lot of the time I just sit back and watch everyone interact because I'm used to a family who can all fit around 1 normal sized table! But not them! We are all spread out because there's so many people! It's so great to have so many loved ones. Christmas morning is spent with my family. We've always gotten up early and opened presents and then the boys make breakfast. Or else that was the tradition we girls tried to start up... I think it worked a couple years, not so much anymore. Now since we have my nephew Marcus, it's a lot more fun to open gifts because he gets SO excited! It's a lot of fun to watch him open them and now I have a helper when I pass out the gifts. That's nice too. Last year we started the Rieger family Christmas tradition of not exchanging gifts and instead we get together for a family meal and then play games all together. And I can't tell you when I've had more fun. I hate it when people put so much emphasis on the gifts side of Christmas and forget the real meaning, and this was a nice tradition to start because we all genuinely enjoyed each others company. Then of course other things I love about the holiday are the food and all the cookies and the music and of course the decorations and lights. I just love the Christmas spirit!

Thanks again to all of you who entered a comment on the giveaway. I liked reading them so much that that might happen more often!

Paula & Philip | Kansas City Engagement Photographer

2010-11-30T14:20:00.004-06:00

This one is my favorite!

Thank you Paula & Philip for a great shoot! I had a ton of fun and can't wait until your wedding!

Happy Turkey Day...

2010-11-28T10:46:00.006-06:00

Today, in honor of Thanksgiving and all the food I ate, and because I forgot to blog my Word on Wednesday last week, and because I had a great time at the Open House night in Sabetha on Friday, and because I'm too tired to get out of my pajamas this morning, and because I had an amazing time with my mom and sister at the KC symphony last night, AND to mark the beginning of another holiday season, I'm giving away a photo shoot!

HOW TO ENTER

To enter the giveaway, just answer the following question in a comment to this post:

What is your favorite part of the holidays?

I want to know what your favorite part is. The music? Being with family? The food? Tell me about it!

THE RULES

Entries will be accepted up until midnight Tuesday, November 3oth.

The winner will be accepted at random and announced in my Word on Wednesday blog post.

This shoot includes family, children, engagement or maternity shoots. No weddings, sorry.

So enter now!! Good luck!

Oh, here's a pretty picture since I don't like to write a post without giving you a photo!

I printed this photo and 2 others on cards to sell on Friday. If you'd like some, just write me a message for more information!

Sneak Peek

2010-11-23T17:14:00.003-06:00

I'm going to give you all a quick look at the photo sessions I'm currently working on. I didn't have as productive of a day as I had originally intended because I've been taking care of a sick husband all day and I'm still working on things for the Open House in Sabetha on Friday. So here's a few photos to tide you all over until after the holiday! That's better then nothing, right?

Paula & Phillip's downtown Kansas City, MO engagement session...

Carissa & Kevin's beautiful Lake Shawnee wedding...

Kale & Brooklyn's amazing Hiawatha wedding...

And Lilly's 18 month photo shoot in Lawrence...

Be sure to check back often to see their full posts and many others to come!

And, did you notice my new logo?!?! I think I kinda love it!! It was designed by Jenni Molhollon of Jenrik Designs based out of Topeka. Thanks Jenni!

Linnie Arnesen Photos

Melissa + John | Topeka Engagement Photographer

Jordan + Ryan | Baldwin Wedding Photographer

Ella | McPherson Child Photographer

Jessica & Neil | Troy Wedding Photographer

Liz & August | Manhattan Portrait Photographer

Leigh + Tyler | Platte City Wedding Photographer

Katie | Topeka Senior Photographer

Halley + Ryan | Hiawatha Wedding Photographer

A Hard Decision...

Teresa + Levi | Hiawatha Wedding Photographer

What's New Wednesday

Nikki + Chuck | Topeka Wedding Photographer

Leigh + Tyler | Platte City Portrait Photographer

What's New Wednesday

Adventure in Powell Gardens

Jordan & Ryan | Lawrence Portrait Photographer

What's New Wednesday

This is why...

The Gordon's | Baldwin Portrait Photographer

Heather & Jeff Hawkins | Baldwin Wedding Photographer

What's New Wednesday

Lilly | Topeka Children's Photographer

Ella at 8 Months | Gardner Child Photographer

Paula & Phillip | Seneca Wedding Photographer

Word

Jessica & Neil | Gardner Portrait Photographer

Word

Word

Word

Heather & Jeff | Lawrence Portrait Photographer

Brittany & Will | Topeka Engagement Photographer

Word

Word

Word

Pam & Aaron | Manhattan Wedding Photographer

Word

Word on Wednesday

My Prediction...

Matthias | Gardner Childrens Photographer

Behind the Scenes

Alexander | Hiawatha Newborn Photographer

Happy Heart Day!

Word on Wednesday - *Special Edition*

Ella Grace | Gardner Baby Photographer

2012 Seniors!!

Valentine Cards!

Word on Wednesday

Word on Wednesday

My Life in Ornaments

Jessica, Brad & Colton | Topeka Family Photographer

Weddings of 2010

Word on Wednesday

Jessica, Brad & Colton | Topeka Family Photographer

Word on Wednesday

Kale & Brooklyn | Hiawatha Wedding Photographer

Sierra & Brandon | Kansas City Family Photographer

The Galvan Family | Topeka Family Photographer

Word on Wednesday

Lilly | Topeka Childrens Photographer

Carissa & Kevin | Topeka Wedding Photographer

Word on Wednesday

Paula & Philip | Kansas City Engagement Photographer

Happy Turkey Day...

Sneak Peek

Word on Wednesday - Special Edition