Evolve!

Last fall, I was doing a favor for a friend of mine at work when he asked if I could take some pictures of him and his girlfriend downtown Grand Rapids at night. Although nighttime pictures are not my forte, I thought it would be fun anyways :P While I taking pictures for Vern & Katie, I shot a few pictures of just the city scape of GR. On the following Monday my *awesome sister* (hehe) called me and said "So, I have to find out from Ben what you were doing this weekend?!" Ben works on the other side of my sisters cubicle, and told her that he took a picture off my blog of downtown Grand Rapids for his desktop background!! I thought it was great that a) someone was reading my blog!! b) someone liked a picture I took enough to make it their background!! :) Well that little picture I took last fall that Ben liked so much recently was published in Beene Garter's newsletter 'Evolve' ....how exciting is that!!! My sister had been asking for a few months if they could use the picture for this or that and low and behold this month I was published!!

Many thanks to my friends at Beene Garter, my sister Ween, and Ben (even though I've never met you, thanks again!! :)

Just for Ween!! :)

So while I am sitting here basking in my illness that has been diagnosed as 'travelers disease' (??), watching Dancing With the Stars (for the first time ever?!), and eating dry toast (as part of my treatment plan...how boring!!) I thought of my sister: Ween!! While we were in Florida we ventured down to St. Armands Circle. It is this cute little tourist trap full of neat stores, restaurants, and ice cream shops (of course!) While we were walking all through the little town trying to find a place to eat, we came across Crab & Fin, this expensive seafood and steak restaurant, and we thought 'why not!' Most of these restaurants have the menu outside so you can see if you really want to eat there or not, and here is the sign for Crab & Fin:

They get their crab from Deadliest Catch!!! How cool is that??! So when we are watching it in a few months and talking on the phone about how cool last nights episode was, I can say "Look! That is the crab Harry had for dinner!" :) (hehehe) Until then......

Florida!

Harry & I flew out for Florida last week Friday and had the time of our lives while down there!! Beautiful beaches, 82* and sunny everyday, and a good book...that was my ideal vacation! Oh! and good food of course! In the 5 days that we were there we: Enjoyed Anna Maria Island, Longboat Key (St. Armands Circle) Sarasota, and Siesta Key; Holmes beach and the Walking beach; The City Pier Restaurant, Gulf Drive Cafe, Daquiri Deck, Crab & Fin, The Beach House Restaurant, and Ohm (all had great food by the way!!) We ate breakfast at the apartment while watching a homicide unfold (crazy...I know!!) Bernie got a parking ticket after the valet parked her there (Cop incounter #2) and we have about 200 inside jokes from the 5 days we were there!! We arrived home on Wednesday to wind gusts at 35 mph, lake effect snow, and a temperature of 22*, not very nice, but we had a great vacation! Enjoy the pictures!

Blessed!

So before I head out to a sunny, 80* beach in Florida tomorrow, I really wanted to share something that truly touched me this week. A couple of months ago, a group of people from work were putting together a bake sale and were donating items to a really nice guy that we all work with named Dan. Dan's wife has cancer, and what a great way to raise money to help the family. I was not working the day of the sale and was not able to make my donation in time. I ran into Dan a few weeks later and we got to chating about my photography! I had really wanted to do something to help his family and all the sudden I thought "Pictures!!!" I told Dan that if he ever wanted family pictures or just pictures of his soon Cooper, to let me know and I would waive the sitting fee.

A few weeks ago we were able to catch up and plan a date to do pictures. I had so much fun taking pictures of his son and by far some of my favorite pictures were of Dan and Cooper together. Later that next week once I posted the pictures on my blog, I recieved a phone call from a friend of mine that works at a bank "Ashley, I just had to call and tell you that Dan stopped into the bank today and I have never seen him more excited! He was so happy about his pictures, he was showing all us girls your blog when he came in!!" I was sitting in my car about to go into work when she called me and the timing couldn't have been more perfect. I was sitting there with a huge grin on my face and I was so happy to know that I could make someone else happy with my work.

Last week I posted the pictures on my website and printed off a book for Dan and his family of all the proofs. I e-mailed Dan that the pictures were up and in turn, I recieved the nicest e-mail ever. Dan had said how happy he was with the pictures and how I was able to capture his son perfectly, and how happy he was to see this gift his wife had given him. It brought a little tear to my eye to read Dan's incredibly nice words and also made me remember why I got into photography to begin with. This is my passion and my dream, and I have had so many people helping me along the way. I want to be able to capture these special moments in peoples lives and hearing what Dan said really made me feel like I had. Last week Dan recieved bad news that his wifes cancer is back and the prognosis is not good. If you could keep Dan and his family in your thoughts and prayers, I can't imagine how difficult this must be for them.

And on a lighter note, Have a good weekend! :)

Ashley