32 weeks

I have never felt
anticipation building
as strongly as now.

I am witnessing,
through a thin wall of belly,
our baby growing.

Already I feel
I belong to a new pack,
one I will defend.

No expectations
but to expect to love her,
whoever she is.

Three lakes

We usually try to make it home to Minnesota for the Fourth of July, but that date fell between France and a big work deadline this year, so we put our visit off until the last week of July instead. It actually worked out really well. This way we were able to attend a birthday/going-away party for R's sister at Pleasant Lake and a baby shower held for us at Ely Lake. We also spent some time at Lost Lake in between... So out of 10,000 lakes, we managed to spend quality time at three of them over the course of a week, which I'd say is pretty darned good. More important than lakes, however, we saw our families and some friends. It's always a pleasure.

Our niece and nephew are becoming even more adorable than before, if that is even possible. I went a little crazy with the picture taking. I can't help it. There's something in me that wants to preserve images of these kids. Maybe it has to do with living so far away and only seeing them a few times a year. My photos of them are the ones I find myself going back to and viewing more than any others I've taken. I can't truly capture their wacky personalities, their playfulness, or their spirit of discovery with a still photo, but I can sure try.

It's funny how our perception of Minnesota, the northern part of the state especially, changes the longer we are away: the blues and greens become more vibrant; the weather, more dynamic; the mosquitoes, worse. But other things don't change, like difficult good-byes and this feeling I get when I pass through my parents' neighborhood at dusk: I'm reminded of biking around aimlessly as a kid... of playing Nerf tennis with my mom on the driveway... of launching ants into space with bottle rockets... of living in the same house as my brothers... I'm not saying one time in my life was better than another; I'm just saying the nostalgia hits me hard sometimes if I let it.

If you haven't already seen the photos from our trip, check them out here.

30 weeks

Dang, she looks good, doesn't she? You might even say she's glowing...

In this impromptu photo shoot, R is modeling a new maternity top her mom sent. There are a few additional outtakes at the bottom of this gallery if you want to see more.

R is in Wilmington for work from Tuesday through Saturday of this week, leaving me here to grill a bunch red meat, post some blog entries, and stay up way too late listening to loud music and watching DVDs I've been meaning to get to for years. Well, that's the hope anyway. I actually have a lot I need to get done around here in her absence. Our spare room is still a mess. Part of living near downtown means sacrificing space. Having a child, means sacrificing some more. My goal is to further clear out the closet and then de-clutter every horizontal space in this room before R returns. It's a lofty ambition. Good thing this appears to be true.

R's trip comes on the heals of my own business trip, which covered five nights last week plus a surprise one due to a missed connection on the way home. All of this travel is messing with our now-kicking-in nesting instincts. Fortunately, we had a sun-kissed weekend together here in Santa Barbara to split up the two weeks apart. Yeah, I enjoy my time with the place to myself, but my time alone with R is starting to feel precious and scarce. Our baby is three-quarters of the way here. And I love that.

Emily & Brian's wedding video

I finally got around to finishing up the wedding video I've been editing off and on since last September (thanks for your patience, Em). Actually I'm still working on the full-length version, but I'm calling this shorter, web-friendly version complete. The idea is that this preview can be passed around to the newlyweds' family and friends and also function as a demo of some of my work. It has to be quick if it's going to hold a casual viewer's attention.

You may watch it and wonder why it took so long to make... Well, first of all I by no means dedicated 100% of my free time to it. Secondly, getting the tone and the rhythm of the cuts right was quite challenging. Maybe they are still not "right," but at least I've watched it enough times now to brainwash myself into thinking they are. To be honest, I could probably tweak and re-tweak a video like this forever, but I have to cut myself off at some point. There are too many other things coming up on my schedule.

I'm not sure what I think about wedding videography yet. No, it wasn't my top choice of projects to spend so much time on, but I am glad to now have a wedding under my belt. I feel like the quality of my work could only improve from here on out (you get what you pay for when it comes to this kind of thing, and this one was on the house). I can't see myself shooting one of these every weekend and editing 40 hours a week. It would have to get repetitive. I'm all about taking on a variety of projects right now and, thankfully, by not being a professional, I get that choice.