Gift of the Month!

Be the first person to book a Partner Package in the month of August and mention the Lush gift, and WIN this fantastic and yummy box. A $64 value.


The Nudge, Nudge, Wink, Wink gift box from Lush.

Us in Chicago

I am loath to hand my camera over to someone else, so we take our own pictures! This is our reflection in Cloud Gate.


(Click on photo to enlarge)

Party at Parkway Place

Click to enlarge

I love these photos of everyone gettin' down at Parkway Place. Aren't they super fun?

Chicago

Well, we spent 36 hours in the Windy City and did more than I have ever done in a day off before. Today, we:

1. were woken up early by my niece (we'll call her K.)
2. went swimming in the hotel pool
3. got room service pancakes and waffles
4. drove into the city and paid $25 for parking
5. went to Navy Pier (what? We had a kid with us!)
6. rode the carousel, gawked at the Ferris Wheel, ambled through the Crystal Gardens, and bought some souvenirs
7. hopped on the wrong trolley, got lost
8. rode the subway (K.'s 7, she gets a kick out of this)
9. got lunch at Foodlife and had crepes for dessert
10. went to the Hancock building
11. learned that tickets to the observation deck were $15 per person
12. scammed our way into the bar on the 95th floor, which is actually two stories higher than the observation deck. This was my niece's first bar.
13. got cocktails - two with vodka, one without, all for less than the cost of tickets to the observation deck. Also, my niece's first cocktail. If you stop by, check out the women's restroom which has an amazing view. People were actually taking pictures! Joe reports that the men's room was a disappointment.
14. designed K.'s Tower, our own Tallest Building in Chicago on the cocktail napkin (yes, I know the Hancock is the second tallest building in Chicago)
15. more souvenir shopping
16. visited the wonderful Millenium Park, got spat upon and completely soaked by the public art (you must see this if you haven't already, it's the best art ever), played under and photographed the Bean (which is actually called Cloud Gate), and were treated to a free outdoor concert at the gorgeous Jay Pritzker Pavilion, which was designed by Frank Gehry.
17. rode in a cab (now if only we could've ridden a bus, my niece's day would've been made)
18. changed into swimsuits in the car
19. went to the beach, where we swam and played in the sand
20. got dinner back at Navy Pier

We also filled up our compact flash card and will have pictures to share soon.

I'm a stylish platform bed!

I have always been a fan of IKEA, in college I loved their furniture, now I love their 50-cent hot dogs, so as soon as I got the chance, I had to see what my IKEA product name would be.


Get yours here and be sure to share!

Off to Chi-town!

Joe and I worked hard all weekend so we could take our 7-year old niece to Chicago. We'll be out of the office Monday, Tuesday, and part of Wednesday, but we'll be available via email. We'll be working on the road (thanks to Verizon Wireless Broadband), so if you need us, just drop us a line!

Finally! The new office is done!

We're a few weeks behind schedule, and still waiting on our vinyl signage and awnings, but everything else is done!

Here are the before pics, taken with my purse point-and-shoot, just to help us remember the space while we were office shopping:

Here's the table we asked the landlord to leave in the office (click on the photo to enlarge). I refinished it and now it looks fantastic!

These shelves were a pain to remove. They were attached with 98 screws, so I had a lot of patching to do. We ended up resurfacing the whole wall with drywall joint compound, then priming and re-painting, even though we wanted to keep the color.

And the after!

Click on any photo to enlarge - they look better big!

I love the exposed brick.

Isn't the chandelier fun? Joe hung it. That's the wall that used to have the glass shelves.

There's an office bunny in this photo - can you find her? You can also see the refinished table.

This is our shooting space, we hang backdrops over the mirror. Oh, and that's me.

A closeup of the chandelier

And the bunny. The stone step was here when we moved in, but we couldn't cut our floor planks perfectly around the curve, so we filled the space in with a stone/ceramic mosaic. Joe spent hours fitting all these tiny pieces together! We still have to grout it.

Lindsay and Charles

We love shooting at St. Pat's Historic and the Toledo Hilton. Here is a gorgeous wedding, both the bride and groom are veterinarians, which explains the dog-shaped ice sculpture.

Click here to see!

My hair smells really delicious

Honestly. I've been using Philosophy's 3-in-1 products (you can use them as a shampoo, shower gel, and bubble bath) as shampoo for years, and I just change up the "flavors" whenever I run out. Right now, I'm on Belgian Waffles and it's just amazing. I like Red Velvet Cake in the winter, Pumpkin Pie for fall, and Señorita Margarita on vacation.

I don't know much about hair, but my stylist assures me mine's in great shape. The only problem is, I'm hungry all the time!

Ooooh! We're famous!

There are so few products and services that have not disappointed me lately, I like to compliment the people and companies that make my life easier.

I sent an email and a photo to the creators of the Shootsac, a new camera bag that's really changed the way we shoot, and they posted it on their blog! Click here to see!

Joe's Shootsac is plain black, but I like to fancy mine up with pretty covers. I have this one now, and I'd love this one, if anyone feels like buying me a way-too-expensive gift.

Too hot to cook?

In northern Ohio, 85 degrees is too hot to cook. It blew my mind how the bulk of the Jamaican diet is made up of stews, curries, and slow-cooked jerk meats. In that kind of heat, Ohioans and Michiganders would only eat salads and sandwiches!

This list of 101 quick summer meals is my go-to guide when I don't feel like spending a lot of time in the kitchen, and the idea of firing up the oven is anathema. I often forget how good simple food can be, and the list is a great reminder.

Here are just a few favorites:

Pan-grill a skirt steak for three or four minutes a side. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, slice and serve over romaine or any other green salad, drizzled with olive oil and lemon.

Boil a lobster. Serve with lemon or melted butter. (This is my favorite meal in the world, btw.)

Slice or chop salami, corned beef or kielbasa and warm in a little oil; stir in eggs and scramble. Serve with mustard and rye bread.

Grill or sauté Italian sausage and serve over store-bought hummus, with lemon wedges.

Boil-and-eat shrimp, cooked in water with Old Bay seasoning or a mixture of thyme, garlic, paprika, chopped onion, celery, chili, salt and pepper.

Combine crab meat with mayo, Dijon mustard, chives and tarragon. Serve in a sandwich, with potato chips.

Pit and chop a cup or more of mixed olives. Combine with olive oil, a little minced garlic, red pepper flakes and chopped basil or parsley. Serve over pasta.

Making your own cards

I just made this thank you cards for our vet - he gave us a fantastic deal on some care Pixie (our foster dog) needed. If you want just one card, KodakGallery will make it, for as little as $1.59.

Front:

Back:

The family biz

Did you know that DMP is a family business? I (Bridget) got things started, and Brenna (my sister) and Joe (my husband) joined me shortly after. I took my first photography class because my mother loved photography so much, and my father's always been interested in the art. I'll never forget my baby brother running around with his Fisher Price video camera - it actually worked!

In fact, there is another family member who is considering joining the family biz in his spare time. I can't say who, but I can say he would be an awesome addition to the company. And I can tell you it's not my brother. ;)

The drawing above looks remarkably like my family, except the youngest should be a boy.

More on the Pet Portrait Tour

Here's the flier, now we just have to set dates!

Click on the image to enlarge, or else you can't read it!

Leslie and Sean in Jamaica

Leslie and Sean got married in Jamaica, and brought us along for the ride. I'm so glad we have these amazing photos to remember our trip - they're much more fun than the sea urchin spines in poor Joe's foot!

Click here to see!

Let them eat cake

As wedding photographers, we eat a lot of cake. All wedding cake is good, but some is exceptional.

I was talking cake with a bride tonight, and thought this warranted a blog entry. My picks in the Toledo area...

Richest, Most Intense Cake if You're Not on a Budget:


Zingermans! Check out this deli/bakery in Ann Arbor and you'll love me for recommending it. Joe and I begged them to make our wedding cake (the Hunka Burnin' Love flavor), which I believe was their first, but now they're doing it all the time. It's not as expensive as it may seem either, because their serving size is much larger than the average. We had months' worth of leftover cake from our wedding, which froze well.

Best Cake in Ohio:


Myles Baker Street! Ever since I met Meredith Myles, co-owner of Myles Baker Street, at her own wedding, and tasted her wedding cake, I've been a fan. Joe and I drive to Bowling Green a couple times a month, just to sample the latest treats at Myles Baker Street. I gather that while it's easy to make a pretty cake, it's hard to make a gorgeous cake that tastes amazing. This is a small, family business, and their prices are very reasonable.

Best Cupcakes:


Cake in a Cup! I've blogged about these guys before, but like their cupcakes, one is not enough. If you're thinking about cupcakes for your wedding, check out their amazing, modern cake stand. We got a peek at it the last time we were in the shop, um, testing different flavors. It's all part of the job.

Now if I left anyone out, please just send us some cake and we'll consider it for our next awards post.

Ooh! Wendy and Cliff online!

The story from The Knot: Ohio is online, with more photos. Check it out here!

Leslie and Sean in Jamaica

I looove this one, but there are plenty more to come! Stay tuned!

Click to enlarge.

Before and after

One of the things that makes Decisive Moment so different is that we personally retouch every image our clients choose for their albums and prints. We do this ourselves, in our studio, rather than outsourcing the work (we're control freaks about this stuff).

We have access to all sorts of special effects, which help us make our photos look sharper, softer, warmer, cooler, and just plain gorgeous. The trick is not to overuse effects, so that people see the finished image and say, "Wow, you look good!" rather than, "That's so cool! How did they do that?"

Here's an example, a photo from a 2004 wedding, actually. I love how the retouched version looks like something out of a fairytale (one with a happy ending).

Click on any image to enlarge.

SOTC (straight out of the camera):


And after a little work:

Mimzy in the trashcan

I'm sorry, it's just that she's particularly cute lately!

I couldn't find Mimzy anywhere, and Joe pointed out she'd found a new hideout. This is a mesh wastebasket that we just moved from the old office, on top of a box full of binders, which is on top of a wheeled cart. I kept walking by, not taking a picture, but I finally gave in.

Mimzy the office bunny. Chillin'.

Yes, another Mimzy video. This is a typical day for an office bun.

Pet Portrait Tour 2008!

Well, it's really 2008-2009.

We're taking this show on the road! Beginning October 18 (hello, Birmingham, AL!) I'll be traveling the country, meeting awesome pets of all kinds. Right now, the following areas are on our list, but we'll have to narrow them down a bit:

Birmingham, AL
St. Louis, MO
SoCal
Dallas, TX
Denver, CO
Atlanta, GA
Charleston, SC
Chicago, IL
Detroit, MI
Phoenix, AZ
Portland, OR
Kansas City, MO
Boston, MA
Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill, NC
Louisville, KY
Baltimore, MD
Nashville, TN
Indianapolis, IN

Watch the blog for more details.

Honey, pictured above, was adopted! Check Petfinder for adoptable pets in your area.

On newstands now!

Be sure to grab a copy of the new Fall/Winter issue of The Knot: Ohio to see Wendy and Cliff's wedding pics, by yours truly. Or just click on the images here to enlarge.

We've been in enough magazines now that I've lost count, but it's always fun to see our work in print.

The Jerk Centre

I suppose this is where some of my ex-boyfriends came from. These are all over Jamaica. Stay tuned for destination wedding pics!

Us on the beach

There are way too many gorgeous photos of Leslie and Sean - we will need some time to narrow them down. But here's one of Joe and me on the beach.

Incommunicado

Sorry we've been incommunicado! We're in Jamaica, and though Verizon promised we'd have phone service, we don't. We can get text messages out occasionally, thank goodness, but internet (and email) have been very spotty. So spotty that I'll be lucky to get this blog entry up.

It's been lovely here, but I am itching to get back to civilization and my dogs!