But that’s not the important part of the story.  The most important part was the ENTHUSIASM Colleen and Mark displayed for Sugar Mountain Bake Shoppe (on Alexandar St).  They insisted it was amazing and could not believe I hadn’t been there.  Colleen even went so far to post today’s special cupcake on my facebook!

So I had to go.

I brought my mother.

And guess who was sitting on the porch eating cupcakes?!  Yup.  Sugar Mountain’s BIGGEST FANS IN THE WORLD! ::laughing::  Here’s what they look like without cupcakes:

So.  Then I had to try them myself.  One of the owners approached us with a sample of their vanilla cupcake…

Oh.  Em.  Geee.

So…SIX cupcakes were purchased.  And they are so beautiful I had to drive straight home and document them for all time…

Say hello to today’s dessert:    Rootbeer Float.  Very Vanilla.  Caramel Apple.  Lemon Raspberry.  Pink Lemonade.

They are sweet.  yummy and Colleen and Mark were absolutely right.  They are DELISH.

Here is my unbiased foody review:  They.  Are.  Yummy.

(My mother likes them too.  Her opinion is worth more than mine.  She cooks.  I don’t.)

Also — I didn’t tell anyone I was writing this.  I wasn’t paid to promote Sugar Mountain.  I just liked them.

Now I have to go walk around the block 158 times.  Cuz.  That’s. a lot. of.  sugar.

Here it is:

My dog HATES the black clicky thing.  Anytime I try to photograph her in any significant way she LITERALLY will not look in the camera.  And then she barks at me.  Loudly.  Obnoxiously.  Until I put that annoying camera away.

Today was a sneak attack.  She was distracted by Jess paying attention to her.

haha.  Gotcha.

Lulu. Is.  The.  Best.  Dog.  Ever.

And well fed.

Obviously. 

So, for starters, I love this. Actually, I love everything in her entire store! So purdy.

I am currently OBSESSED with the Creators Project. If you have not checked this out yet, then DO IT! Do it now!!! But be forewarned…once you’re hooked there is no going back.

Any greeting card company that organizes its cards by the subjects of Food, Drink, Educational Sort Of, Work, Cheer and Pessimism gets my vote. Fomato has some amazing cards. Some super cute illustrations. And some seriously exciting salutations.

I am constantly calling Jess “Martha Stewart,” especially those mornings like today when she shows up with still-hot, crusty homemade bread. Seriously!!! And Martha/Jess is head over heals for these aprons right now.  She just bought this one, and apparently is threatening to either not take it off, or go back for more.  (And no. She hasn’t worn it to work yet. Thank God.)

very rarely do I mix and cross over these groups with each other.  So…since I thought it might be interesting to push everyone into one slideshow (read:  laaazzzyy ::laughing::) — so that there’s a record of 2009 visually all together in one place.  It’s pretty cool.

Some images you’ve seen…some you haven’t.  And no, this isn’t EVERYONE who I worked with this year — that slideshow would be about 4000 hours long (not really — but I wanted to fit it into one song – -so this is my best shot)…so I pulled images that appealed to me TODAY.  If I worked on a slideshow tomorrow — it would be completely different.  So…gather what you want about my mood today — here is 2009 in 4 minutes.  Put your seatbelt on please.

Click on the image.  Ra ra ah ah ah….

Busy.

Twins.

Nutritionist.

Dogs.

Weddings.

Seniors.

Maternity.

Engagement. Wait. no. no engagement shoot this week. ::laughing:: I must be delirious!

These are seriously fun to put together. You should see me in front of the computer peering at all of my images from the week. It occurred to me that it might be good for you to understand my workflow (right? cuz you’ve been laying awake at night thinking…I wonder…what Tammy’s workflow is…yeah. I know.)

When I photograph a person…or a wedding…or a dog…I have to immediately go home and look at the images. Sometimes I get so excited about images that I want to leave the shoot and go home and immediately start working on them! Just kidding (sort of). ::laughing:: I always give my clients a sneak peek. Digital has made us all immediate gratification junkies. I see everyone (me too) peering at the images on the back of your cameras — I so get that. So I edit up one or two images and post them. Usually on my facebook first…or email (if it’s boudoir, obviously) if the client prefers that instead…or doesn’t…have…a…facebook…account. Did I just say that outloud?That doesn’t really happen, right?

So. Sneak peek done — my lovely and efficient assistant Jess contacts the client and puts them on the calendar for their proofing appointment. Yep. I do it all in person. Because I like to SEE you react to your images. It means a lot to me — so I make this a priority. So my point being — that I work on images twice — first time is the sneak peek — second time is in preparation for the client seeing the images — so sometimes you’ll recognize a person (or dog or wedding) you saw two weeks ago. Sometimes I pull out old images and work on them just for the fun of it. Those might show up too. I just can’t promise that all my stuff is chronological. It’s more “tammylogical” which makes way less sense but is much more fun. (at least…in MY opinion. ::grin::)

But first…lest you think ALL my work is perfect (because it’s so easy to show only the GOOD stuff) here’s a moment that I LOVE actually, from my session with one year old twins — (happy birthday AJ and Sophie!)…this makes me laugh every time I see it:

haha  — funny right?  I love everyone’s mouths in this image.  I should add speech bubbles!

Here’s the pretty stuff:

Shimelle.com offers crafty scrapbooking classes for people and she has an annual “journal your christmas” class going on right now.  It looks seriously cool.  I was reading about one person who did this last year and treasures her journal because her life is so different (and not in a good way) this year.  Shimelle has all kinds of ideas and advice and inspiration in this class — so if it sounds good — it’s not to late to sign up!

Woo!  Fabulo!

Remind me to be more understanding to everyone I’m photographing would ya?  Because I had a harrowing experience.  I didn’t know what to do…where to stand…how to look.  And I totally get why people are relieved when I direct them in how I want them to pose.

But…the also good news is that — I love a whole bunch of the pictures.  Not EVERY one — because I makes some WEIRD faces…but a LOT of them.

Like this one.  Which I want to use for my branding now.  Cuz I lurve it.

Thanks Gwyn.  xoxo

Maybe that was a good thing, no? ::grin::

1.  I take a quilting class with the adorable and majorly talented Carol Taylor ::waving hi Carol!::

2.  In only the way I can I joke around in class and end up meeting the talented Amy B who has a sewing machine to match her sewing room.  (or something like that.  Or maybe she WANTS a sewing machine to match her sewing room.)

3.  Amy B teaches a class for musicians who are beginning to put their press kit together as performers.

4.  Regular photographer pulls out.

5.  Email to me as a favor.

6.  I take on 14 musicians in two weeks (I think I am crazy).

7.  Now…I am regularly working with musicians — and am LOVING it! (Click on the “In the Limelight” tab above if you haven’t seen some of the images)

Most recently — I photographed the highly talented and photogenic Nick — who is patiently waiting to see his proofs.  (Psst.  Nick — check your email tomorrow.  ::wink::)

Here’s one he hasn’t seen yet.   Don’t you think he’ll love it?!