The Harker Herald

The New Polaroid

2012-01-01T19:44:00.001-07:00

For my 27th birthday last month I got a new camera!

Not a new SLR. Not a new digital camera.

A film camera!

As you can see, it's not just any film camera.

It's an INSTAX camera.

Instax, by Fujifilm, is the new Polaroid.

You take a picture, and voila, it pops out of the top of the camera.

When I told my hubby this is what I wanted for my birthday, he didn't even know what it was.

I first saw them on Studio 5 because these cameras are really hot with scrapbookers.

And while I'm not exactly a scrapbooker, I figured I could find more than enough ways to use this camera.

Even though Tom had never heard of this camera before, he outdid himself by finding me a PINK ONE!

I didn't even know they MADE pink ones!

I got to try it out on my nephew during my birthday dinner at Outback steakhouse.

I forget that kids these days have never seen or heard of Polaroid pictures.

So sad.

But to see my nephew's face light up as he watched the image slowly appear in the picture?

PRICELESS!

Just another reason they think I'm the COOLEST AUNT EVER!

(That, and I'm married to Crazy Uncle Tom.)

Happy birthday to me!

DIY Fascinators

2011-11-10T21:39:00.001-07:00

I recently went home to Ottawa, Ontario for my sister's wedding.

And for her bridal shower, we went to "High Tea" at the Chateau Laurier, one of the fanciest hotels in Canada's capitol city. (Like the Grand America in SLC.)

To prepare for the British tradition, I went to Hobby Lobby and bought $100 worth of supplies to make our own fascinators!

(They don't have Hobby Lobby in Canada so I actually bought all the supplies in Utah and shoved them in my suitcase for the trip.

This is two of my sisters and my sister-in-law the night before the shower making fascinators on my mother's fancy dining room table.

At one point there must have been a dozen of us around that table sharing glue guns, lace and fighting for feathers!

I don't care how good my nephew, Jake, looks in a fascinator, there were no boys allowed!!

Here are all the fascinators sitting on my mom's grand piano.

Like I said. Lots of feathers.

My niece Carolyn and my sister Tracy getting ready right before the Shower.

My sister Sheri and my niece Jennifer getting ready.

And here's me all ready for the ball with my home-made fascinator!

I couldn't resist putting these pictures in because you can see all the decor in my old bedroom is still there!

Spice Girls Poster, Moulin Rouge stuff, and the blond is Hilary Duff.

Think this is a messy room? You should have seen it when I actually lived there!

My sister Tracy getting snapped by the Paparazzi (me).

Five of my nieces and my sister, Victoria, in the middle.

Now here's the fun part. Close ups of all the fascinators.

My sister-in-law Andrea wins the prize for looking the most British!

Her fascinator definitely doesn't look home-made!

Jennifer's fascinators was one of my favorites because it was PINK!

And I LOVE the veil.

My sister Sheri wins the tallest fascinator award!

My sister Catherine wins the award for putting the most work into her fascinator.

She crocheted the flowers and beaded it herself.

Sure, it may not be a real "fascinator" by definition, but it's gorgeous!

Full disclosure. We did not make my niece Christina's fascinator. It was the one I bought for $5 at Claire's to celebrate William and Kate's wedding. (Click here to see that blog post.)

I brought it as an extra fascinator for whomever wanted to wear and as inspiration for our home-made creations.

This is one of my favorite pictures ever of Christina. She looks like a princess!

My niece Julie wins for most colorful fascinator!

Momma Strang rocks the feathers!

You'd think the blushing bride would make a white fascinator, but not Victoria. She need BLACK to go with her sexy back dress.

Here's my home-made fascinator! I wanted something BIG with lots of feathers!

My sister Tracy with her blue fascinator again. I love this photo because it's one of the few I got of someone actually drinking tea at the tea party!

My niece Anngela made a fascinator that was also in the running for tallest fascinator, but her mom, Sheri, already won that title.
Instead, Anngela wins for BEST FASCINATOR. Hers was my absolute favorite. I liked it even better than my own! I'm just a sucker for the mini top hat and the feathers. (You can find them at Hobby Lobby in the doll section.)

Here are all the girls in our fascinators at the tea party. People were starting at us the entire time. They were so jealous!

Oh man, how did this picture get in there?! These are the shoes I bought especially for the bridal shower.

So hot!

Feel free to any questions about how we made our fascinators in the comments.

Baby Shower of the Century

2011-07-24T11:45:00.009-06:00

My friend Mallory and I just threw a baby shower for our friend Ashley.

We may have gone a little overboard...

But that's what happens when you have months to plan and a million ideas to fulfill.
Now it's time to show off all our work.

We made all these pom poms over the span of a few months. Every Wednesday was craft night.
The only one we didn't make was the circle lantern in the middle.

Our food table.
The forks look like silverware, but they're actually plastic!
That was one of Mallory's finds for the shower. You can find them at Walmart and most party stores.

Worried about cross-contamination at your party?
Try veggie shooters!
Thin slices of veggies in plastic shooter glasses with ranch dip at the bottom.

Cucumber sandwiches with the crusts cut off.
So delicious and perfect for our fancy party.
Thanks to Kelly for making them!

Here's the fancy pink cake Mallory made for the shower.
Mallory is the cake-making queen!
This picture of Ashley and Chase (taken by me) was also on the food table.
We put her maternity photos all over the party.
The prize table.

The gift table.

That's Kelly serving drinks for our party.
We bought plastic wine glasses for our raspberry sherbet punch.

Doesn't Ashley looked thrilled with our work?

This is Gaby. She helped us plan, decorate and get everything ready for the party. She was a superstar!

Thanks to everyone who made Ashley's baby shower so awesome!

Crepes Crepes Crepes!

2011-06-14T22:17:00.007-06:00

As you can probably guess from the title of this post, one of my favorite things in the entire world is CREPES!
But not just any crepe will do.
I am a crepe snob!

That's why I was STOKED to find a new crepe restaurant opened in Utah County!
It's called Roll Up Crepes.
Studio 5 asked if I would go check it out and take pictures for the show.
Best assignment ever!

This is the Nutella Strawberry Crepe. A staple of mine.
So delicious!

But they also have savory crepes like this one.
It's a turkey pesto crepe with cranberry drizzle.
Yeah, you might need to be adventurous to try it, but so worth it. I absolutely loved it!

The decor of this place also turns heads.
Like the fact there's a giant owl outside...

...Lots of owls inside...

...And a big tree in the middle of the restaurant!

Look closer at the tree and you'll see an engraving.
C&L stands for Curtis and Lexi.
The newlyweds that own Roll Up Crepes.
Guess how young they are!
Lexi is only 19 and her husband is 24.

Cutest couple ever!
They told me they started the business so they would never have to be apart.

Here's my friend Ashley showing off the chocolatey goodness.

And here's me licking chocolate off my knife.

And here's the menu now that you inevitably want to go there.
You'll find it at 1605 S State St, Orem, UT
And www.rollupmycrepe.com.

Other notes:
They have live music on Fridays and Saturdays.
All of their staff can sing (on top of their crepe-making skills).

They are open until 1 a.m. every night (closed Sundays.)

New Logo & My First Engagement Photos

2011-06-12T19:06:00.011-06:00

Remember when I posted this picture on facebook a few weeks ago?

These are Red Velvet Cream Cheese Brownies and I made them for my good friend Dave.

(Not a real mustache)
Dave works in the graphics department at KSL.
I enlisted his talents to make me a new photography logo!

A pretty good trade if I do say so myself!
I already have business cards so Dave used the colors and fonts on the cards to match the logo.
And I've officially decided to go back to my original business name, Harker Studios.
Because I'm pretty sure one day I'll add video services (since that is what I do for a living at KSL.)

I even have a new facebook page to go with my new logo!
Just search for "Harker Studios". (I'll have a URL soon)
I'm working on a new blog too, because "The Harker Herald" was never supposed to be a photography blog. I want to keep this one about the Harkers!

But until then, you have to put up with my photography posts.

The first photos to get my new logo are from my first engagement photo shoot!

This is Ginny and Evan.
They are getting married next weekend and I will be there!
It will be my first time photographing a wedding!

These are my favorite pictures from the shoot.

I passed this field on my way home from work one day and was determined to shoot there.
Luckily Ginny and Evan were game to put on some boots and walk through 6-foot-tall weeds and mud for me.

I LOVE how these pictures turned out.
And they didn't even mind when I wanted to get a little artsy!

We also found this huge rusty pipe nearby. A photographers DREAM!
But I won't tell you what was spray-painted inside the pipe. That wasn't so dreamy. :S

My Talented Niece

2011-06-04T22:55:00.006-06:00

I recently discovered one of my teenage nieces is a budding fashion designer!

This is me and my niece Jennifer about 4 and a half years ago.
Yeah, it's an old picture, but it's one of the only ones I have of us together.

Anyway, on her blog, Ginger Fashions, she shows off all the cool stuff she's made.
She's designed skirts, a swimsuit, a purse, and she modifies her clothes all the time.
She's crazy talented for a teenager!

In one blog post, she showed off what she can do with fabric markers.
I liked her design so much, I asked her to make me one!

This is my own original t-shirt designed by my own niece!

I LOVE it and one day it's going to be worth millions!

Thanks for the gorgeous shirt Jenn!
And keep up the great work!
You're inspiring!
Love you!

Celebrating 4 Years

2011-05-30T19:31:00.005-06:00

Tom and I just celebrated out 4th anniversary!

We're on a tight budget so I told him we couldn't spend any money on gifts this year.
I know, I'm no fun.

But he's a rebel and still bought me these flowers.
I gave him grief about spending money, but secretly I was thrilled.
They are so gorgeous!
I smile every time I look at them.

I stuck to our zero dollar budget and made Tom a card with craft supplies I already had.
I'm not very creative, so I get a lot of inspiration from this blog.
If you click the link, you'll see the card I used as my starting place.
I don't have the man and woman stamps, so I drew them freehand and cut them out.

Turns out, I impress myself sometimes.
The chain was all my idea.
I knew Tom would love that.

This is what the inside looks like:

Again, made with supplies and a picture I already had.
(The picture was taken in Chicago on our honeymoon. That's why I look so skinny.)
I also blurred out my love note for Tom in this picture. No one wants to read that. *wink*

This is how you throw a Fondue Party.

2011-05-28T22:57:00.011-06:00

Every month my three best Utah friends and I (with our husbands) get together for a dinner party!
I say "best Utah friends" because I don't want to offend my best friends back home and because these girls will give me crap if I don't give them the title they deserve.

This is our fourth dinner party, but my first time hosting.
The host gets to decide the "theme" of the party and then we all coordinate what to bring.

I decided to throw a FONDUE dinner party!

This is Gaby at the cheese fondue, our appetizer.
This was Ashley's contribution. She brought the fondue pot, the cheese fondue ingredients (we put it together at my house), and the stuff to dip in the cheese fondue.

Mallory at the cheese fondue.
I don't know if any of us had ever made or even eaten cheese fondue before, but it turned out great! It was so delicious I almost forgot to save room for everything else.

Then we had a fondue pot with peanut oil to cook steak and pork in.
This was what I was in charge of.

There's the meat frying in the fondue pot.
It smelled soooo good!

I also made five dips for the meat fondue.
I knew I wouldn't remember what was what, so I made a little flag for each one.

Mallory was in charge of dessert because she has a chocolate fountain!
Gaby helped bring some fruit and stuff for dipping.
We also had a little fondue pot that we used for white chocolate.

Before we even started eating, Mallory got some chocolate on herself.
Next time, I'm making bibs mandatory.

This is Ashley. She's hiding the chocolate stain on her shirt with her hair.

Mallory and me.
Yes, that's chocolate on her nose.

Mallory and Beck.
Beck's the only child allowed at our dinner parties.
That is, until my friends have more kids.

The husbands enjoying our hard work.
I like this picture because you can see all the fondue pots and the crazy mess we made in my kitchen.

And last, but not least.
A cute picture of Mallory and Beck.
It was too funny not to include.

Tulip Festival

2011-05-28T13:52:00.010-06:00

Every year in Ottawa there's a huge tulip festival. There are tulips ALL over downtown.
Utah has a tulip festival too, but it's only at one location.

These are the pictures I took at Utah's Tulip Festival at Thanksgiving Point.
It was a fun date, but it made me kinda homesick.

We snuck Yoda into the tulip festival.

This is the first picture where I've experimented with a white vignette. I like it and think I'll be using it more often.

Below is the same picture without the vignette so you can compare.

This was a cool-looking structure.
But the coolest part about it is the pictures you can get when you shoot straight into to the sky.

I took this picture and turned it into two more while playing with it Photoshop.

The End.

Tell me which picture you like best.

The Unintentional Prank

2011-05-25T22:06:00.004-06:00

My hubby left these cookies on the kitchen table yesterday.
When I got home from work I did what any normal person would do and I ate one.
When Tom got home hours later he said, "Oh by the way, don't eat those cookies on the table."
I said: "Oh, oops!"
Tom: "Did you eat one?"
Lesli: "Yeah."
Tom: "They're dog biscuits!!"
(Tom proceeds to laugh hysterically.)

I completely blame Tom for this one. I mean, they look like cookies right? They're even cream filled!
They didn't taste good, but they weren't disgusting either. I just thought it was a bad no-name cookie with a hint of peanut butter.

I know I need to learn to laugh at myself, so I posted the picture and what happened on Facebook.
Bad idea.
I've been the brunt of several jokes today at work.
The best one probably came from my boss.
One of the first things he did today was bring me a bowl of water and place it on the floor beside beside my desk.
Later, he reminded my coworker to take me for a afternoon walk.

I'm so mad, I could bite them all.

But, Tom is lucky and will get off the hook because because today is our 4th anniversary.
As a present, I've decided to forgive him.

The Ultimate Photography Prop

2011-05-22T13:01:00.003-06:00

I'm just starting to get into photography props.
One of the trends right now is using vintage chairs outside.
Like here and here.
So I'm going to try it out.
I started looking on classifieds for vintage chairs and look what I found in less than a day!

The ugliest, most beautiful chair EVER!
And the best part?
It was FREE!!!
All I had to do was go pick it up!
I'm soooooo lucky!

The lovely lady in the pictures is my friend Gaby.
She came with me to pick up the chair.

Yeah, that's right.
We didn't need a MAN to pick up a piece of furniture.
(Mostly because my man was at a conference and couldn't help me, but still...)

We took these pictures in my front yard. There's a huge empty lot beside my house with a farm on the other side. Yoda sneaked into this picture. But it's okay because he's adorable.

Seriously though, I can't WAIT to use this in a photoshoot.
Let me know if you want to be the FIRST to shoot with this amazing piece of furniture!
It would be perfect for babies, couples, seniors (high school seniors for my Canadian friends).
Hey, we could even do a photoshoot with your pet and it would be adorable!
Send me a note at my new photography e-mail: lesli@harkerstudios.com

On another note, I'm trying new things with Photoshop. The first picture has a green filter on it. The second has a sepia filter and I added noise to make it look older.
This is my first time rounding the corners of my pictures too. I'm really digging that look.
Let me know what you think!

The Preggo Shoot

2011-05-16T19:53:00.008-06:00

(I've had the same background on my blog for over a year, so I decided to try out a new one.
Of course it still needed to have pink.
And I'm currently a little obsessed with feathers.)

Two of my best friends are pregnant right now.
And both just happen to be GORGEOUS!
The perfect recipe for a super-fun photo shoot!

This is Ashley. She's due in August.

This is Mallory. I don't remember when she's due, but it's far away.
We're going to take a picture of her in the same dress every month of her pregnancy.
This is the first picture, obviously.

Here are some more pictures of Ashley.
This is her "Kendra" face.
If you don't know who I'm referring to, good.
Consider yourself pure.

Love the backlighting in these pictures.

Another "Kendra" face. ;)

Ashley looking HAWT!
Don't I have stylish friends?

I let the sun do all the work here.

All the pictures in the field were taken at the tail end of the shoot. We were right beside a super busy road trying to avoid getting hit by cars.
But the pictures turned out really nice, so it made risking our lives totally worth it!
Plus a few cars even honked at my pretty friends!

Does Mallory have sexy knees or what!
This is one of my favorite pictures of her EVER.
I wanted it to be perfect so I spent a lot of time editing it.
See if you can find all the edits.
Here's the "raw" photo.

Other than the obvious color and warmth boost, I took out all the holes in the wooden shed behind her and took out the white paint splotches.
I minimized the lines on her face (not that she needed it), and made her right eye a little bigger.
(She's a little sensitive about her right eye. Can you even tell a difference?)

Sun-kissed Mallory.

Field shots of Mallory.

This is my other fav picture of Mallory.

I'm so glad I have stylish friends to teach me a thing or two.

And last but not least, a couple pictures of ME!

These pictures should really say "Ashley Photography."
Ashley has the same camera as me, so I've been teaching her how to take pictures in manual.
While I was taking pictures of Mallory, she captured these action shots of me!
Apparently I take pictures with my mouth open.
Or I may have been talking at the time.

I'm really glad she got this picture of me. It shows off my new camera ring!
They featured it in a segment on Studio 5 about "statement rings".
When I saw it, I HAD to have it. Only $8!!
Can you find it in the segment? You only see it for a second when they show the rings from Urban Blues.

Photo Shoot for Mother's Day

2011-05-14T18:46:00.010-06:00

My friend Mallory wanted some pictures of her son for mother's day so guess who she came to!
ME!

These are some of my favorite pictures from the shoot.

Kids can't fake emotions like that! I love how candid this is!

Beck is super curious. We caught him trying to see into this wooden shed.

His curiousness also led him to these "flowers".
This was the first time he's ever blown the seeds off a dandelion.

Beck blowing/spitting on the dandelion.

Beck had to leave for a while, but Clark Kent came in his place.

Or should I say SUPER BECK!
(What the backwards foot?)

Even super-heroes need to relax under a tree sometimes.

I love a mom who isn't afraid to lie down in the weeds for a cute picture with her son.

And here's one of just Mallory.
Beck's about to get a little brother or sister!
(This is a preview of my next post.)

My New Twin Nieces!

2011-05-08T10:52:00.007-06:00

This is my sister-in-law Emilie just a few days before she gave birth to TWINS!

As soon as they were home from the hospital, Tom and I had to go make sure we were the favorite uncle and aunt right off the bat. (Complete with a pocket full of candy for the other SEVEN KIDS!)

Tom holding Aurora.

Me holding Aurora and Ella.
They're both sooo small! If I remember correctly, they were just over 6 lbs.

To tell Aurora apart from her twin sister Ella, they painted her toenails!
Such a cute idea!!

Here's Ella's foot in my hand.

I can tell Ella already likes me, she wouldn't let go of my finger!

My crazy adorable niece Clara holding Ella.

Tom Holding Aurora. She definitely has the Harker face.

Me holding Aurora and Ella again.

Mathieu holding Aurora.

Mom holding Ella.

Clara carrying Ella. She LOVES carrying the babies around.

We caught a little smile from Aurora!

No babies in this picture, but I needed to show what inevitably happens every time we go to Dustin and Emilie's. The kids will attack Tom until he captures them and makes them his "prisoners". It's always a fun game. Plus Tom doesn't actually have to get off the couch to play.

Ayden holding Ella.
I remember when Ayden looked a lot like this when he was born. Minus the bows.

Clara holding Aurora and little Camille...poking her??
HA HA! That's something I didn't notice until I was looking through the pictures later.

Move Over Kate Middleton!

2011-05-01T19:55:00.006-06:00

I was triple-dog-dared to wear a "royal hat" to work on Friday.

You know, in honor of the royal wedding.

So I went out in search of the perfect "hat".
Preferably with feathers like Kate Middleton wears.

Check out what I found!

Is it perfect or is it perfect!
I found it on CLEARANCE at Claires for FIVE DOLLARS!!!
And yes, I wore it the entire day at work.
I got lots of funny looks, but I think I was more suprized by the coworkers who looked at me and didn't bat an eye, like this is how I look every day.

While many people call these headpieces "hats", they're actually called fascinators.
The perfect term if you ask me.

Here are some of the awesome/crazy fascinators worn to the royal wedding.
(This is mostly for my parents who I'm guessing haven't seen these already.)

Love them or hate them, these princesses know how to make a statement!

And my fav fascinator, worn by forever Posh Spice, Victoria Beckham.

Bottom line is I'm officially obsessed with fascinators.
But they aren't the kind of thing you can wear just anywhere.
So everyone join with me to convince my sister, Victoria, to make fascinators mandatory at her wedding in September.

Maybe like this one?

Yeah, I could rock that.

Graduation Photo Shoot

2011-04-26T21:55:00.004-06:00

I recently shot my first graduation pictures!
This is my friend Steve (Gaby's hubby).
He was SUCH a good sport.
The picture above is probably my fav from the whole shoot.

I used the "flash at sunset" technique which I learned in my intermediate photography class.
Remember the first time I used that technique?

I managed to sneak in a few cute pictures of Gaby and Steve too!

The "casual" pose.

This is where Gaby stole the show.
She was showing Steve how he should jump off the rocks.

Good effort Steve!
Not quite as adorable as Gaby though.

I am in love with the background in this picture.

Here's the final invitation I put together for Steve and Gaby.
It's my first invite/announcement I've ever done.
Not bad if I do say so myself!

Vegas Freebies

2011-04-17T20:45:00.006-06:00

Check out all the SWAG we got in Las Vegas!

Tom used to work for a security company and he likes keeps those skills in his back pocket.
So last weekend we went to Vegas for a "Security Conference."
But it was really just a trade show with more than a hundred companies trying to sell their products.
One of their strategies to get you to their booth?
Free stuff!

Ironically, most of the freebies had nothing to do with security.

Like flashing hats...

Flashing necklaces and flashlights...

Luggage tags...

Chocolate (WOOT!) in the shape of casino chips and cards...

Squishy things...

A random sample of fencing...

LOTS of screwdrivers...

And pens, pens, and more pens.

Here's the final count:
82 pens
18 screwdrivers
12 toys
10 notepads
9 things like *light* up
7 lanyards
5 hand sanitizers
4 flash drives
2 aluminum water bottles
2 smoke detector checker
2 lunch boxes
and 1 label dispenser.

Priceless beauty for less than $4

2011-04-14T21:26:00.006-06:00

I bought this aqua ring yesterday for $3.80 at Forever 21 and all day today I've just been staring at my hand.
I know. So vain!
So how do I blog about something so superficial?
Turn it into a photography post!

So this afternoon I took Yoda for a walk and tried to find a setting that would contrast with the ring.
One yard had these orange rocks, the perfect spot!

I'm surprised I got a steady shot with Yoda pulling me in every direction!

Another yard had this red bush, but I'm not in love with this picture so much.

The Hubby's Sewing Skillz

2011-04-11T20:24:00.005-06:00

I don't sew, but there is a sewing machine in my house.
It is for my jack-of-all-trades husband.

He likes to bring it out once in a while and make pillow covers, blankets, or VESTS for ugly sweater parties.

His latest project? A doggy sling!

Like a baby sling, it's for carrying Yoda around hands free!

You see, we like to sneak Yoda into stores with us.
So we'll usually stuff him in a hoodie or jacket and let his head poke out the neck.
With the Yoda Sling, we can bring him places and not worry about stretching our sweaters.

So practical right?

Can't you tell how much Yoda loves it?!

Tom even made a hole for Yoda's tail!!

Can you handle the cuteness?

P.S. The American Flag will not be residing on that wall for much longer. We were just trying to get the wrinkles out.

Why I Love Easter

2011-04-05T22:41:00.006-06:00

Because you get to put candy on display!

Okay, I know you can do this for any holiday, but this is the first time I've done it.
Once I had all the yumminess on display, it just screamed "take my picture!"
The photo above is probably my favorite. I love the reflection on my shiny countertops!
Like my background?
It's a blanket.
(Looks a little better than my stove doesn't it?)

For this picture I used my new "star" filter, which instantly gives you a cheesy 80's glow and turns any spot of light into a STAR!
Totally worth the $4 I paid for it.

I felt like this picture kinda had a vintage feel to it, so I tried to play on that feel with my new Photoshop skillz. This was the result:

Okay, so it only barely looks different. Whatevs.

Turns out this will be the only time I put candy on display in our home.
It only lasted one day.
After Tom and I ate the entire trifle-bowl of eggs in one sitting, he made me bring the rest to work.
We just don't have the self control.

Photo Shoot Extras

2011-04-03T10:10:00.005-06:00

I did a graduation photo shoot this weekend, and while those photos aren't ready to show off yet, I did get a couple cool shots for myself at the end.

This is Utah Lake after sunset. It was REALLY dark, but with a really high ISO, I was able to pick up the last remaining light in the sky. The high ISO is why the pictures look a little grainy.
These pictures make it look a lot lighter than it is.

I know these pictures look really similar, but I couldn't decide which one I liked better, so you get to see both! (One is just a bit brighter than the other.)

Photoshop Homework Week 3 & 4

2011-03-27T19:27:00.006-06:00

I finished my Photoshop class!
I probably spent about 4 hours on this last assignment using all the retouching techniques I learned.

Here is the original picture:

There are a million things I could pick apart about this picture. I REALLY didn't want to post it.
But I guess you have to see the before to appreciate the after.

And here is Lesli "Photoshopped".

I added eyelashes.
Got rid of the bags.
Smoothed the skin.
Brightened the eyes.
Deepened the lips.
And much more I can't tell you about.

Is the last class we learned how to make our own actions.
(If you don't know what actions are, click here.)
I used to add my "watermark" to each picture for my blog one by one. Now with my "watermark action" I can to it a LOT faster.

I'm sad the class is over now, but it was soooo worth it.
Here's the info again if you're interested.
A Photo School by Jedediah Photography.

Shooting Guns and Pictures

2011-03-21T21:31:00.008-06:00

Tom and I went shooting last weekend with some friends of ours.
I figured I would do most of my "shooting" with the camera, but our friends brought sooooo many cool guns.
And I got to shoot all of them!

This is me shooting the 9mm handgun. You can even see the cartridge flying out of the gun! How cool is that!

I even got to shoot a high-powered rifle. Check out the size of the ammo! That gun had more kickback than a shotgun!

Here's another pistol I got to shoot.

This is the gun Tom got for his birthday.
He's sighting in the rifle.

You better be smiling Tom, that gun and scope was PRICY!

The Barsh brothers shooting their guns.

Gaby, James, and Brother Barsh shooting three of their guns. Do you see how many more are on the ground? This family is hard core!

Our good friends Steve and Gaby. Gaby looks HOT holding a gun!

Tom and his new .22!

This is the latest gun Tom added to our little collection. He bought it with me in mind because it's a lot shorter and lighter than his other shotgun.

He even bought me some PINK shotgun shells!!
(They matched my pink boots!)
I've never been so excited to go shooting in my life!

This was my first time shooting clay pigeons.
I'm proud to say I actually shot one!
Those pink shells were good luck!
(Funny story, when I posted this on my Facebook, some family members thought I actually shot a pigeon. I had to clarify it was made of CLAY.)

My shotgun shell casings. Have you ever seen anything so beautiful?

Just looking at this picture makes me SUPER EXCITED to go and shoot more pink shells!
But I have to wait until my shoulder gets better.
It is soooo sore and bruised today. (Because I'm a weakling.)

Photoshop Homework Week 2

2011-03-19T22:01:00.007-06:00

Last week we learned how to use filters in my Photoshop class.
And not the lame-o filers like "make-your-photo-look-like-a-painting filter".
The coolest filters are the liquify and lens correction filters. The liquify filter is probably my favorite because it's the one that makes you SKINNIER.

Here is my "Photoshopped" image:

Hopefully it doesn't look too Photoshopped. As my teacher says, subtlety is key.
Here's the original:

Now I'll take you through my transformation.

First I wanted to make my arm skinnier, then I went for my tummy.
My teacher said I made my eyes too big, but you can't blame a girl for trying.
I made Tom's eyes a little bigger too.
Then I used the lens correction tool to add a vignette.

Next, I adjusted the color. I mostly just upped the saturation to bring out the skin tones and bright colors.

Third, I took out some blemishes that were bothering me. Like red spots on my arms and face. I also minimized the bags under our eyes.
(I don't know about Tom, but I didn't sleep very well the night before our wedding...)

Lastly, I used the High Pass filter to sharpen the image. This is something my teacher says you HAVE TO DO to every picture you Photoshop. It will make any picture you print much better.
It's hard to see a difference unless you're looking very closely at the details.
Here's the final image again.

I may have to print another wedding picture...4 years after our wedding!

Our second Photoshop assignment was to make a collage using layers and layer masks.
I made a collage of some of my nieces and nephews (on Tom's side). It was just a quick homework assignment so I didn't have time to gather pictures of all my nieces and nephews. I may have to add more later. (We have 46 nieces and nephews in total with 5 more on the way!)

If you'd like more information on the Photoshop class or any of Jed's Photography classes, go to his website or find him HERE on Facebook.

I meet Mark Brunetz!

2011-03-11T20:39:00.005-07:00

Mark Brunetz is the designer on CLEAN HOUSE!
It's a show on the Style Network Tom and I used to watch ALL the time when we had cable.
Now we watch it ALL the time on Netflix!
He's in town for the weekend for the Spring Home and Garden Show (which I'm going to tomorrow) and today he came to do a segment on Studio 5 on how to make a "mom cave".
Of course I had to sneak in to get a picture!

Not sure why the flash went off. There was more than enough light in the studio. I knew I should have brought my SLR.
Note to self: Celebrities deserve the SLR.
Brooke looks FABULOUS is this picture. I'm jealous.
I was so excited Mark's arm was around me, I think I forgot to look pretty.
But I don't care because I GOT TO MEET MARK BRUNETZ!!!
He was sooooo nice and he even gave me a hug. Or maybe I gave him a hug. I can't remember. It's all a blur now.

Have you noticed this post is basically a complete ramble? It's because I'm still so excited!!!

Here's a little promo for Clean House if you've never seen the show.

Basically they go into a ridiculously cluttered home. Convince the owners to part ways with ugly nick-nacks. Sell all their junk at a giant yard sale. Then they use that money to redecorate, refurnish, and reorganize the home. And mixed in are a ton of cheesy one-liners and bad jokes, which usually make me and Tom fall over laughing.
It's GOLD!

Photoshop Homework Week 1

2011-03-10T16:47:00.006-07:00

I am LOVING my new Photoshop class with Jed from A Photo School.
(And not just because I'm taking it with my friend Mallory and we talk and giggle the whole time!)

I've been using Photoshop for years, so I wasn't sure how much I would learn in the first class.
But HOLY COW, I learned more than my little brain can hold!

Our first homework assignment was to take a Raw image (a photo taken in raw format on a DSLR camera) and using only the Photoshop RAW tools, make the image better.

So here's my RAW image.
This was part of the shoot I did for my mother and father-in-law for their wedding anniversary.

And here's the one I changed using only the tools in Photoshop's Camera Raw.

It doesn't look like I did much more than make it black and white, but I swear I did.

Our other homework assignment was to create an image in Photoshop and play with as many tools as we wanted.
Here's my masterpiece.

Pretty sweet right?
My drawing skills haven't improved since I was 3.

I CANNOT wait to see what Mallory came up with.
Our second class is tonight.
Wish me luck!

Oscar (Wild) Night

2011-02-28T21:19:00.007-07:00

It started as a normal Sunday night...

I invited my best girlfriends over (Mallory, Ashley, and Gaby) to watch the Oscars with me.

To make us feel more glamorous, we wore tiaras and high heels with our jeans.
And then we pigged out on sweets...LOL!
That's something those skinny actresses can't do!

This is one of the treats Mallory brought over. Brownie bites with cream cheese icing and fruit.
Ashley got a little creative with hers.
Is it a happy face? Or something else...?

Ashley brought her dog Roxy over. Yoda thinks she's his girlfriend and try to make love to her ALL NIGHT! (They're both fixed.)
Roxy likes to play hard to get!

I had all my friends fill out papers with their Oscar pics.
I only got TWO wrong! But that's mostly because I watched the Oscar pre-show and knew what all the predictions were.

All that is pretty standard Oscar night stuff right?
Well, since my celebrity crush, James Franco, was boring the heck out of us hosting the awards show, we had to spice things up ourselves.
So here's where things started to get a little crazy...

Since we were feeling glamorous, we started taking GLAMOR SHOTS with my camera.

Here's my glamor shot with my tiara and sparkly earrings (and crimped hair).

Here's Ashley showing off her tiara.

Ashley's real glamor shot. She has the preggo glow!

Gaby's glamor shot! She's being all coy by not looking at the camera!

Mallory was the first one to really start CHEESING it up. She was lying all over the couch for her poses!

Then Gaby surprised us by pulling out a shinny silk curtain out of her bag for us to use as a red carpet dress!!

Isn't it fabulous! Ashley looks better than a preggo Natalie Portman!

And like Natalie Portman, Ashley cried during her acceptance speech.
(Pretend the Christmas tree is an Oscar.)

This is Ashley's Vanity Fair cover shot.

Then it was Mallory's turn with the Oscar dress!
She "Mormon-ized it"

Even when Ashley was tailoring the dress, Mallory kept on posing!

"Who are you wearing?"
Ashley's a natural with a light sabre - I mean, a microphone.

"This old thing? I designed it myself!"

Mallory's modest acceptance speech with the Christmas tree.

And here are my unflattering photos.

Those are some acting skills!

Gaby isn't in nearly as many photos as she should be! How did we let her get away with not trying on the curtain dress!
Next time, Gaby...Next Time.

And you know it won't be long until there's a next time, because the party was SO MUCH FUN!!
Let's do it again next weekend!!
(Taco night! Woot woot!)

The Letter Photo Shoot

2011-02-24T22:10:00.008-07:00

My sister-law-law wanted photos of her family making the letters of their last name.
I was up on a ladder, they were on the hardwood floor in light-colored clothing.
I love how they turned out!
(I wish I could say it was my idea.)

Here are a few of my favorite letters.

And here's the whole name!

(Click to see it big.)

After the letter shoot we were able to go snap a few cute photos outside.
It was really foggy, but I think it adds a really cool effect.

Mama's boys.The Hecklinger men.
The boys started running down the street followed by little Mac.

He is too cute in this picture! I love his little vest.

The happy Hecklinger clan walking out of the fog.
Little Mac was sooooo done at this point.

The Hubby's Surprise Party

2011-02-12T19:19:00.013-07:00

This weekend I threw a surprise party for Tom!
His birthday was on Friday, but he had class until late that night, so he thought we were going to celebrate the next day.
Little did he know that all his favorite people would be waiting when he got home at 10 pm!!

This is Tom's "surprised" face.
The theme of the party was "gun-totin' rednecks, so I made Tom put on his camo shooting hat as soon as he got home.

For Tom's birthday cake we made a giant shotgun shell. (There was icing sugar everywhere!)
Thanks to Mallory from Livin' Sweet for helping me put it together.
My friend Gaby did the writing for me.

I should also mention my friend Ashley (who's three months' pregnant) did all the cleaning and decorating for the party. Seriously. She was standing on chairs and doing everything I ran out of time to do.

Yay for preggo prictures!

So basically, this party wouldn't have happened without my amazing friends and family to help me out.

Here's Gaby helping make some dessert wontons. (Recipe from Studio 5.)

They're seriously super yummy and super easy if you want to make them.
They have cream cheese, raspberries and white chocolate on the inside.

This is Andrea's stamp of approval!

Me and Tom admiring the birthday cake.

Tom blowing out his candle.

So as part of the theme, I told people to dress in camo, plaid, overalls, or anything that said "I eat rabbit for dinner".
So here are my friends, Gaby, Mallory and Ashley showing off their redneck behinds!

Take a closer look at Gaby's butt.
She totally stuffed it!
I almost died laughing!

Some people really got into the theme.
I captured this shot of our friend Chris and just HAD to Photoshop in the straw. It was the perfect pose!

Here's another great outfit! This is my sister-in-law Andrea. Notice the front of her shirt.

And here's the back.
But my favorite part of her outfit was definitely the white trash nails!

Love them!

In an equally appropriate outfit was her husband Chris.
No, that is not his real hair.
Chris won third prize in our costume contest.

Second prize went to my sis-in-law Ashley.
This is Ashley and her husband Aaron doing their "redneck prom pose".
Take a closer look at Aaron's teeth.

First prize in the costume contest went to my brother-in-law Neil...For obvious reasons.
Check out the redneck tattoos on his arms!

The Nerf shotgun he's holding was one of the main attractions of the party.
We used it in a shooting contest to see who could aim the best.

This was our target. You can see by the names on it, the girls were doing WAY better than the boys.

Gunslinger Andrea WON the shooting contest.

Here are the other shooters:
Gaby, or should I say the "Hunting Princess".

Mallory, who would have would have hit the target no problem if she was shooting with a piping bag.

Chase, who you'd think would have an advantage since he's from Emery County.

Ashley, who's baby bump gave her super strength. She kept shooting both "shells" at the same time.

Thomas, the redneck with style!

Chris G, who showed off by shooting from the hip!

Can you even see Chris H in this pic? He's so camouflaged!

Don't let Holly's purdy outfit fool you! She's VERY experienced with a shotgun!

Ashley barely had to try. She has it in her genes. She's Tom's sister.

I don't have a picture of Nick shooting, but this one is just as good.
Him and his wife were the perfect redneck couple.
They were making out all over the place!
(Just kidding. I made them pose for this pic.)

I also don't have a picture of Tom or Robert taking their turn with the shotgun. Sorry guys!

Here's me getting ready for my turn.
(I didn't even hit the target.)

The reason for the whole "redneck" party was due to Tom's main gift.
I bought him a .22 rifle complete with a scope, a cleaning kit and a carrying case!

The hat on Tom's head was one of his gifts from a friend.
He got lots of cool things...

Including one present wrapped in toilet paper!!
(It was a banana clip.)

He also got a spy kit!

And tons of ammo!

But I must say the weirdest gift he got was this:

As my friend Mallory here so beautifully demonstrates, it's a tool for butts.
It's called Butt Out.

Go ahead and read the directions if you dare.

"Butts" was kind of a reoccurring theme of the party.
This was one of the prizes I gave away.

It's called "Anti-Monkey Butt".
It's a powder you use when you've been sitting on your butt all day waiting for a fish to bite or something like that.
It absorbs sweat and helps with friction.
Best line of the night was when Ashley said "We could have used that in Hawaii!"
Over all, the party was a huge success and Tom loved it!
Thanks to everyone who came!
Happy Birthday Tom!

LillyMae Giveaway Winner!

2011-02-06T12:38:00.004-07:00

The flower LillyMae Bag was the clear front-runner with 11 out of 17 votes.
And the winner of the flower bag (as chosen by random.org) is...
Anne (Brent and Anne)!
Luckily she was one of the people who voted for the flower bag.
She said: "I love the flower bag!! So cute! I also love all your California pics... you met a ton of characters!"
Congratulations Anne!

Even if you didn't win, you're still a winner because you can still get get 15% off any LillyMae Bag you want from the website with the coupon code "15001".

Happy Shopping!

The Heart Cake on Studio 5

2011-02-01T09:10:00.007-07:00

Yesterday I did my first real segment on Studio 5.
I was soooooo nervous, but everyone on the show was so nice and helpful!
Check it out!
(The original blog post is here. The heart cake on my blog actually looks better than the heart cake on the show.)

Please don't make fun of how many times I say "I know, right?" like a valley girl.

Please do make note of how awesome my nails look. Thanks to Ashley for the awesome french manicure!!
And thanks to Annie for teaching me how to curl my hair properly!

A few people have asked about my apron.
It's from Anthropologie.

Also, don't forget the purse giveaway closes Feb. 5th.
Enter here.

Heart Cake

2011-01-27T21:34:00.010-07:00

This is a cake you can really put your heart into.

I wanted to do something cool for Valentine's Day like the 4th of July cake.

So I did a google search and found this cake from the blog I AM BAKER.
But I figured there must be a way to adapt it so the heart is on every slice, not just in the entire cake.

Wanna know how I did it?
Trust me, it's super easy.

What you need:
1. Three boxes of cake mix. Two white and one red velvet. (If you live in the Canada and can't find red velvet cake mix, just use a white cake mix and add a TON of red food coloring.) You also need any ingredients the cake mixes call for.
2. Three store-bought tubs of icing. Yes I said three.
3. 8-inch or 9-inch round cake pans.
4. A metal heart-shaped cookie cutter. Plastic cookie cutters will NOT work.
Plus any other baking gadgets you like (i.e. cake leveler, bake-even strips, etc.)

Step 1. Make FOUR 8-inch or 9-inch round cakes. I used two boxes of white cake mix for this.

Step 2. When these cakes are cool, put them in the freezer for a few hours or overnight.

Step 3. Make a pan of red velvet cake. This does not need to be any shape or size.

Step 4. Use a fork to break up the red velvet cake. Add one tub of icing and mix it in. It should look like the picture above. Cover and put this mixture in the fridge for later.

Step 5. Layer your cakes on two plates with icing in the middle.

Tip: If you put saran wrap on the plates you can label one "top" and the other "bottom".

Step 6. Put a toothpick in the middle of one of the cakes. Put a second toothpick in the cake about a half-inch away from the edge. With floss or string, tie the toothpicks together. Hold the middle toothpick steady and drag the second one around the cake, making a circle indent all the way around. Using the same toothpicks, repeat this on the second cake.

Step 7. Draw a line with permanent marker in the center of your cookie cutter. Stick the cookie cutter right side up in the "bottom" cake so it barely covers the line. Using the circle indent as your guide, drag your cookie cutter around the cake until you complete your circle. (The shape will be much better if your cake is frozen at this point.) Remove the loose cake.

Step 8. For the "top" cake, turn your cookie cutter upside down and carve out cake the same way as in step 7. Remove the loose cake.

Your bottom cake should look like this.

Your top cake should look like this.
(I know, I know. They kinda look the same in these pictures, but trust me, they're different.)

Step 9. Crumble your red velvet mixture into the holes. Be delicate when putting it in at first. Once you have them filled, you can pat them down a little. Put your cake back in the fridge or freezer for at least 15 minutes to let the cake set. Your cakes should look identical at this point. This is why it's important to label each plate.

Step 10. Ice the edge of the white cake and the middle part. Do not ice anything red!

Step 11. Flip the "top" cake onto the bottom cake. The easiest way to do this is just to use your hands.

Step 12. Use the rest of your icing to cover the entire cake. I like to make it look really plain so people will be EXTRA surprised when you cut into it.
Congratulations! You're done!!

When I gave my hubby a piece of cake, he said "Wow, this tastes really good."
Seriously?
Like I care how it tastes!!!

Purse Giveaway!

2011-01-25T21:18:00.006-07:00

Remember when I blogged about my friend's LillyMae Bags?
Well she's made some improvements is letting me give a NEW one away to my lovely friends!

But first, let me tell you how much I LOVE them.

As much as I shudder to compare it to a fanny pack, it really is just as convenient, but ten-thousand times cuter. And unlike your 80's fanny pack, you can also wear the LillyMae Bag as a cross-body purse.

It's small and light so you barely know it's there, but it's big enough to hold your cards, money, and phone (or ipod).
Every purse has an adjustable strap and an eyelet for your headphones.

I know from my experience of having one for over a year, they are sooooo perfect for working out or traveling.

This is me and my LillyMae Bag in Mexico!
I had easy access to my money when the street children ran up to sell me "chiclets".

What to see what other memories I've made with my LillyMae Bag?
Me at a Mexican Walmart.

Me, my LillyMae Bag, and Viagra Man.

Me and my LillyMae Bag on Catalina Island.

Me trying to ride a bike on Catalina Island. I would have been doomed without my LillyMae Bag. Can you imagine trying to do that with a bulky purse? Not fun.

Sometimes I think the LillyMae Bag was invented just for amusement parks.
I took my first trip to Disneyland and California Adventure this year.
My LillyMae Bag was glued to my hip the entire time!

I'm sure you get the point by now.

LillyMae Bags ARE AWESOME!

So for the giveaway, all you have to do is visit the LillyMae Bag website and tell me in the comments section which purse you want me to give away between these two:

The Flower Bag?
or
The Butterfly Bling Bag?

The winning bag will be shipped to a random commenter.
(So make sure I know you or have your e-mail address to tell you if you won.)

And don't worry.
If you don't win, you can still get 15% off on the website with the coupon code "15001".

Good Luck!
Giveaway ends February 5th.

Family Photo Shoot

2011-01-20T20:58:00.009-07:00

I've been meaning to post these pictures forever!
They're from our "family photo shoot" before Christmas.
All the pictures were taken by my sister-in-law Megan.
I wanted to post even the goofiest ones!

This is Tom gearing up for a "cheese-filled photo shoot".

My "candid" shot was not as attractive as I thought it would be.

It looks like Yoda is eating Tom's face.

Group hug!

Kissy Kissy!

Try to look natural Tom. Oh great. That's perfect.
Yoda was wearing the elf outfit Megan got him for Christmas. It had this adorable hood, but it kept covering his eyes.

We'll get the shot one of these days...

Doesn't Yoda look like he's having so much fun?!

More kisses from Yoda!

Both me and Yoda giving Tom some love!

I actually love this one, even with Tom's cheesy smile.

You think Yoda's getting tired?

This is definitely one of my favorites.

Yoda the elf.

This is the picture we ended up using for our Christmas Card.
(The post-Photoshop version.)

And here's our finished Christmas card!

New Shoes!

2011-01-20T20:22:00.002-07:00

It doesn't take much to get me excited.
Like new shoes for instance!

When these came in the mail, I SQUEALED with joy!
I mean, come on, how often do people blog about new shoes?
It's the small things in life, right?

You know what makes this purchase even sweeter?
They were only $15, down from $80, with free shipping!!

This calls for a song!
This is one of my favs right now. I first heard it in Canada.
It's about new shoes!!

TWIN BABIES!!!

2011-01-10T21:46:00.006-07:00

I just finished editing the most adorable pictures!
And I don't just think that because I took them.

Meet Oliver and Nicholas.
Nicholas is the one with the scratch on his nose.
It would have been easy to photoshop out, but then we wouldn't know who was who!

We almost got a smile in this one.

The shoot was a week before Christmas so they have on their adorable holiday PJs!
You can't go wrong with cute pictures on the bum!

This is their blessing outfit.
I snapped as many pictures as I could while they were both sleeping.
I knew it would be a small window of time.

Baby Booties!

Ready for your close up? This is Nicholas.

Oliver's close up.
He was a HAM for the camera!

Mom and baby Nicholas.

Mom and baby Oliver.

This is when we knew they were DONE!

Naming Contest with PRIZES!!

2011-01-09T20:17:00.007-07:00

My sister-in-law, Andrea, needs a new name for her business and is willing to reward anyone who comes up with a good one!

Old name: The Baby Source (Doula Services, Breastpump rentals and sales etc)

New Direction: Sleep consultations and sleep coaching for kids (infants to teens), Parental support (parent coaching) And postpartum Doula Support (practical, in-home support for families with infants)

Basically Sleep and Support for tired parents (and eventually teens)

She's looking for a name that she won't have to change in the future and will not seem lame to teens using sleep services. (Not a babyish name.)

Anything works. Think of an alliteration, a rhyming name or a sleep related word in another language, or a name that is fun to say like Lululemon (too bad this one is taken)

Andrea also likes the idea of something related to blankets or the comfort of wrapping a blanket around you.

PRIZES:

1. $20 Gift card to Amazon (via e-mail). Picked randomly from everyone who submitted an idea.

2. $20 Gift card to Amazon for the winning name!

Submit name ideas in the comments on this blog post or on Andrea's contest page on Facebook!

CONTEST ENDS: Jan 31, 2011
UPDATE: Contest has been extended to March 22nd.

Senior Shoot

2010-12-19T00:08:00.008-07:00

The first time I ever heard of "senior shoots", I thought the photographer was talking about about REAL seniors.
As in people over 65 years old.
Weird, but okay. Old people need pretty portraits too.
Then I found out senior shoots are shoots with high school seniors!
We have "grad pictures" in Canada, but no "senior pictures".

Why not give it a try, eh?

Meet Jessie.
A real high school senior!

We had to get a picture with her car! You gotta document a teenager's first ride!

These pictures were actually taken weeks ago at the height of fall.
This Provo Canyon park had a million picture-perfect spots!

With senior shoots there are lots of wardrobe changes.

You want to showcase every side of who the teen is at this point in her life.

Jessie is a super sweet girl glowing with inner and outer beauty.
And she has this spunky side which had us laughing during the entire shoot!

The "blue shirt" pictures below are my favorite of the whole shoot!

Isn't she gorgeous!

This is my favorite picture. It screams "top model" to me.

Here are the "tree pictures"
We found this tree with a sideways branch you could sit on!

Jessie is also a softball player so we got some sexy-sporty pics too!

And lastly, we snapped a few pictures of Jessie holding these rings she wears on a necklace.

They have sentimental value for Jessie and she wears them everyday.

You can see them in almost every picture, but I wanted to make sure we had a few pictures just of the necklace.

Overall I learned senior shoots are a lot of work, but they're fun because you get to explore all the different sides of one person and tell a story through pictures.
If you get a fun person like Jessie, the shoot is a piece of cake!

A Doggy Birthday Party!

2010-12-12T18:26:00.010-07:00

Our little Yoda is one year old!
I never in my life thought I would throw a birthday party for a dog, but here I am!

First things first.
You HAVE to see the invitation I made for Yoda's doggy friends.

This was the perfect excuse to invite my friends and their dogs over and have a dog-friendly cake!

My friend Mallory from Livin' Sweet is known for making amazing cakes, but I think she's outdone herself with this one.
It was a peanut butter cake with carrot shavings on top.
Yoda loved the carrot shavings!

Here's us presenting Yoda with his cake.
Yeah, we put Yoda in his Christmas outfit, so sue me.

All the dogs LOVED the cake! It was gone in minutes!

Here's Roxy eating her piece.
Roxy is my friend Ashley's dog.

Harry in this adorable elf costume.

Pete, in his hilarious Christmas sweater.
Both Pete and Harry are Mallory's dogs.

This is Cali. My friend Gaby "borrowed" her sister-in-law's dog just for the party! LOL!

And last, but not least, this is Cleo, Aaron and Ashley's new dog.
She's huge, but was probably the calmest one at the party.
She's such a good dog.

Here's Yoda cleaning up the crumbs.
I was going to get plates for dogs, but come on.
They're DOGS!

For the humans at the party, we had a hot chocolate bar with all the toppings you could dream of, including my new favorite, eggnog whip cream. So yummy!

We also had three kinds of marshmallows: mini marshmallows, strawberry marshmallows and GIANT marshmallows.

Ever seen a dog try to eat a giant marshmallow? It's hilarious!!!!

The marshmallow is almost as big as his head!

Some of Yoda's friend even brought him presents! That sure was a surprise!

The first gift we opened made me burst out laughing.
It's a dog Snuggie!

The second gift was a stocking full of dog toys!

Even when some of the guests were leaving, Yoda was still the life of the party.
Watching him play with his friend Roxy was hilarious!

Here's our birthday boy all pooped after the party!
Make fun all you want. We had so much fun!

Happy Birthday to Me!

2010-12-11T23:43:00.006-07:00

Apparently we came home from Canada with more goodies than I realized.

You see, I fell in love with a tuque/scarf set when we were at Roots, but they were too much money considering how much I had already spent on our shopping trip. (See former post.)
But what I didn't know was that Tom BOUGHT the set when he bought his Canada hoodie.
He surprised me with them on Thursday morning, my 26th birthday!

They're PINK with a gorgeous maple leaf pattern!!!!
They're also super warm and match my winter coat. I love love love my new tuque and scarf!
Thanks to my wonderful hubby who clearly loves me sooooo much!

These pictures were taken at Tucanos, a Brazilian restaurant where you can eat as much delicious meat as you want! Then they roll you out of the restaurant in a wheelbarrow and you quickly slip into a food comma.
It was awesome.
Happy birthday to me!

A Picture Perfect Family

2010-12-01T19:31:00.005-07:00

Meet Nate, Sheree, and little Rivers.
Have you ever seen a family so photogenic?

They were soooooo fun to shoot!
It helped that my friend Ashley was there to make little Rivers smile and laugh the whole time!
The location for this shoot was a little random.
There's a house/farm I pass on the bus everyday with a really cute barn in the backyard.
One day I got up the courage to walk up to the house and ask if I could take pictures there!
"Ummm, hi. I'm a photographer. Can I take pictures at your house? I promise I'm not a stalker creepy person."
Surprisingly, they said yes!
There were a million sweet spots to choose from.

Who doesn't love hay pictures!

Fence pictures (with mountains)!!I actually did this shoot on October 31st - Halloween!
So we had to document Rivers' 1st Halloween costume.
He was a Pea in a Pod!
Homegrown by Nate and Sheree!
;-)

There were over a hundred good pictures from this shoot. Sheree looked stunning in every one! Nate looked like the perfect dad in every one!
And Rivers, well, do I even need to say how adorable he looks? I want to pinch his cheeks in every picture!
It was REALLY hard to narrow them down to just these nine pictures.

Canadian Shopping Spree!

2010-11-29T22:06:00.010-07:00

Most people come to the states to shop.
But not me and Tom, we go to CANADA!!

The more time I spend outside of Canada, the more I want to buy things that say Canada on them. (I've lived in the U.S. for 3 years now)

This past trip to Calgary over Thanksgiving weekend, I may have gone a little overboard...

I bought this bag at the Roots outlet. It's one of my FAV purchases.
Wanna know why?
It was only $2!!!!
LOVE IT!
It even has the Roots beaver on the back!

Remember this post from last year? I was SOOOO excited to get the Canadian Olympic mittens for my birthday from my dad!
(Yeah, I know I went a little crazy)

Well, over the past year of wearing my mittens EVERYDAY on my freezing cold bus, they've gotten a little worn out.

Luckily, the Bay has NEW Canada mittens.
I bought them 5 seconds after I laid eyes on them.

I love how when you put them together, they make a maple leaf!!

Old mittens, new mittens.
I can't decide which one's I like more!
I hope they have new ones every year!

Last but not least, I bought this super adorable shirt from Bluenotes!
It was $2.50!!!
I love the lumberjack-plaid pattern in the maple leaf. It screams Canada!

Tom even got into the spirit of things, buying a Canada hoodie from Roots!

Isn't he sooooo cute?

Oh yeah, I also bought a little souvenir for my desk at work.
Meet Zed, the Canadian beaver.

Thanks to Christina for the name and everyone else who suggested names.
Other ideas were:
Foreign Exchange Student
Beaver
Hoser
Timbit
Poutine
Loonie
Benjamin
Lonny
America Jr. (:S)
Canook/Canuck
Sorry (said like a Canadian "Soorry")
Bucky
and Mahonri Moriancumar!

My Real Job

2010-11-20T12:22:00.004-07:00

With all this photography, I bet you forgot what my real job is.
Here are a few of the promos I've produced for KSL during this past ratings period.

This is the most recent promo. I got to work with Nadine Wimmer on this one. She is the nicest, most talented anchor ever! The eye-opening story airs Monday at 10.

This next one was for a story by Jennifer Stagg. Definitely one of the BEST reporters at KSL. You should see how many friends she has on Facebook. Everyone loves her.
The story is definitely a tear-jerker, so beware if you watch the complete story.

This is a promo for an "Ed Yeates Special". He's our medical reporter. He actually retired a while back, so he only comes back for the REALLY good stories. The full story is here.

This next spot isn't a promo for a regular story, it's a promo for our COVERAGE on Election night.
We call it a POP, or Proof of Performance spot.
I take clips that actually aired on television and make them into a promo that shows off how AWESOME we are.

These promos are only a fraction of the reason I've been so busy lately.
My boss has been off for the past month and a half because of surgery and I've been working his night shift. It's a nice change, but A LOT of work on top of the fact it's also Sweeps.
When this month is over, I think I deserve a day at the spa, don't you?
(Tell Tom will ya?)

The Orange Photo Shoot

2010-11-14T13:51:00.006-07:00

This is Beck "The Situation".
I did this photo shoot a while ago but I couldn't decide what pictures to post because there were SO MANY awesome ones!

So I'm just going to post ALL my favs.

Beck's mom is my good friend Mallory. She has the best style ever and dressed Beck in the CUTEST little outfit!

There's a beautiful orange building in Lehi that I've been dying to shoot at, so we made orange the theme of the shoot and went to a bunch of different locations.

You could light up a room with that smile!

Location #2 was at the pumpkin patch!

Location #3 was a random spot with a ton of construction drums. Beck loved running around them like he was in a maze!

Location #4 was on a farm.

I've decided I really like shooting kids and families. They're so fun! Candid photos like these are my favorite.
And there's definitely no shortage of kids in Utah!

Yoda the Tiger

2010-10-31T17:45:00.009-06:00

For Halloween, our dog Yoda transformed into a ferocious tiger!!

Sooooo cute! Best $3 costume ever!

Occasionally Yoda would try to catch his fake tail. It was super hilarious so I tried to catch it on camera.
Beware, the video may give you motion sickness, but at least you can watch it in HD!!

For Halloween, Tom was a...
...Cubs fan.
(He was even wearing Cubs Crocs)
I'll let you make your own jokes here. I have to live with the man.

For work, I wore a blond wig.
But 8 hours later I was ready to rip the stupid thing off.

So for the ward activity, I borrowed a pink wig and wings from a friend so I could be a fairly princess.
Not bad, considering I put it together an hour before the event.

That's my friend Ashley. She was a hot Cat Woman.Yes, I realize these pictures are blurry.
That's what happens when you let someone else use your camera. LOL!

The Things I Do for my Blog

2010-10-31T14:32:00.020-06:00

Like getting up at 5:30 in the morning to take pictures of a stranger.
The other day my friend Ashley was doing a shoot for Studio 5.
(This is Ashley. Can you believe how good she looks at 6:30 in the morning?)

The story was about a dad who gets up every morning to wave to his teenage son on the school bus.
The kicker?
This dad dresses up in a DIFFERENT costume everyday to embarrass his son!
I know, hilarious right!
He's worn more than 40 costumes!
I went along because I thought it would make a pretty great blog post.
Here's some of the pictures I took during the shoot.
What does the teenage son think about his crazy father?
Turns out he thinks it's pretty cool and he's even gotten some extra attention from the ladies.
Today Dale, the crazy dad, is a red devil. This is his wife. She takes pictures every day for their super-hilarious blog: waveatthebus.blogspot.com
You can see ALL the different costumes on their blog. He's been everything from a princess to Nacho Libre!
That's me and Dale! (I don't look as great as Ashley at 6:30 a.m.)
Dale doesn't just wave at the school bus, he waves at all the neighbors as they walk and drive by!
Everyone thinks he's a hoot!
Dale trying to show affection to his son.
Like father, like son.
Ashley doing a standup for her story.
And here's Dale waving at the bus!
Did I mention he has a fake leg? He lost his leg in a motorcycle accident 20 years ago, but his "replacement" totally works with his costumes.

Here's the story that aired on Studio 5.

Isn't he awesome!

I kinda want him to adopt me.

Tonight I Won an Award for Prostitution...

2010-10-27T22:29:00.003-06:00

Remember this promo?
I made it nearly a year ago.

(It should be 16x9, but it may play distorted. It uploaded weirdly.)

The promo was for a story called "Prostitution".
Tonight I received an award for that promo!
Get it? I won an award for Prostitution!
LOL!!!

Dave and Lance were the guys who helped me PIMP out the promo with graphics and editing.

Yeah, the award may look like a laminated piece of paper, but trust me, it has powers.

Amazing powers to enlarge egos!

Our department also won an award for the promos we made to play during the Olympics.
This is one of them.

And here is the award.
My name was even in the program! It was all nice and shiny!
I like shiny things.

I will always remember the night I won an award for Prostitution.
Tom was so proud.

Talking Pumpkins on Live TV!

2010-10-25T21:19:00.005-06:00

I'm almost puked from nervousness today.
Seriously.
I've had a month to prepare for this (unlike my other Studio 5 appearances which were only days notice), but nonetheless, I was 10 times more nervous.
You see, I had to TALK on television.

If I hadn't promised some people I would post this, I'm not sure I would.
I've been picking it apart in my head all day.

I can't believe there are people who do this for a living!
Don't be fooled by the fact I may look like I'm having fun.
I'm just excited about my new blazer. (It's cute right?)
Definitely the plus side to my TV appearance.
Yay for new clothes!

A Sure Sign of Sweeps

2010-10-21T19:20:00.004-06:00

We're not actually in sweeps yet, but we're gearing up the promos and pumping up the promotion already.

Because I'm the only girl in my department, I tend to get the sappier stories. Here are my latest two promos.

Here's a link to the story.

Link to the story.

My Hair is Famous!!

2010-10-19T09:02:00.005-06:00

I did it! I was on T.V.! And I wasn't super nervous!

I mean, there were kids in the same segment, and they didn't bat an eyelash, so I really had no excuse.

Here's the clip. That's actually my hair in the freeze frame. Cool eh?
I'm about 2 and a half minutes into the segment if you want to skip to it.
Beware: the mole may freak you out!

Believe it or not, that hair style only took about 5 minutes to throw up.
It took longer - and was much more painful - to take out!
But the hairspray brushed out nicely, and left my hair really soft for the rest of the day.
Everyone who saw me that day was surprised my hair survived the torture.

A Special Baby Shoot

2010-10-17T18:45:00.005-06:00

Meet Alea.
She's older than the other babies I've photographed.
But that's because she was in the hospital for the first few weeks of her life.

Alea was born with Down syndrome.
You can hardly tell by her looks or her actions.
Babies with Down syndrome usually aren't very fidgety. But not this baby. She was flailing all over the place!
It made for a very eventful photo shoot.

Alea's dad started a blog called "A Walk With Our Angel" to talk about their experiences.
It's definitely worth checking out.
Alea's older siblings have a unique perspective about the whole thing.
When told that her baby sister had Down syndrome, one of her sisters said "So? I will still love her."
The blog is full of great stories like that.

I love sleeping babies!

Dad and Baby Alea.

Alea's cute little hands.

Dad and Alea starting at each other.

Mom and Baby.

And my favorite picture from the shoot...

Love it!

Look who was on TV today!

2010-10-14T21:38:00.004-06:00

It's ME stuffing me face with dessert!
Watch for Tom too!

I love that I'm getting credit for discovering a store that's been open for 10 months already. LOL!
In reality, I feel like I was the last person to find out about it.
I was taking pictures so I could blog about The Chocolate, but ended up giving them to Studio 5.
But this makes a much cooler blog post, don't you think?

And if you think this is cool, stay tuned!
I'm going to be on Studio 5 FOR REAL this Monday, October 18th.
I'm going to be a model!
Well, a witch model...
Modeling witch hair...
Whatever! Make all the jokes you want. I'm excited!

I'm Banning Tom From the Kitchen...

2010-10-13T12:01:00.004-06:00

...Because of this:

Wondering what on earth happened?
Let me tell you.

I wanted to cook a batch of frozen rolls.
I let them thaw and rise all day, and then forgot about them.
My first mistake.
Tom saw the rolls and offered to put them in the oven. I said "Sure!".
My second mistake.

When the buzzer went off, I went to take them out of the oven.
But something was wrong. They weren't brown like they were supposed to be.
They were SHINY!
That's when it hit me.
Me: "Tom, did you take the plastic wrap OFF before you put these in the oven?"
Tom: "Ummmm... Nope!"

That's why my rolls looked like this.

And Tom looked like this.
GUILTY!!

There was plastic everywhere! You could even pull it off the rolls!
And the pan!

As you can also tell from the picture above, Tom still ate some.
He said they were delicious.

Our New Car!

2010-10-09T18:50:00.005-06:00

We finally gave up on our Honda Civic.
I don't care how great people say Civics are.
Ours was a lemon!
We had to fix anything and everything on it.

This is our new car!

It's a 2009 Pontiac G6.
During the financial crisis, GM discontinued the brand, but will still service them.
But their loss is our gain because the cars are CHEAP now!

The car is great, but my fav accessories? The remote car starter and the FREE satellite radio!
(We're not sure who's paying for it.)

This is Tom enjoying his rare opportunity to be in the driver's seat.
Because this is MY RIDE!
Wicka Wicka Wicka WHAT!

A Not-So-Sleepy Shoot

2010-10-01T22:03:00.006-06:00

This is Hattie!
She's the first girl I've had the pleasure of photographing!

So cute right?
I managed to get a few shots in the 10 minutes she stayed asleep.
(Okay, it was longer than that, but it seemed like no time at all.)

We had a few guests at the shoot too.
Remember McKay? He was the first baby I photographed a few months ago.
Mckay and Hattie are cousins.
You can tell they're going to be close. McKay is already working on protecting his little cousin.
I just about died when they snuggled up like this.

Hattie's big sister was also there for the shoot.
I know this picture doesn't actually have Hattie in it, but it's one of my fav pics from the shoot!
The pics WITH Hattie in them are pretty great too.
Hattie's dad also showed up for a few minutes during the shoot.
They requested a few pictures like this.

That's the end of that shoot.
More to come.
Have I mentioned I'm now in ADVANCED photography?
Wish me luck!

Ukraine Temple Promo

2010-09-30T21:12:00.002-06:00

It wouldn't be General Conference in Utah without a documentary from Carole Mikita.
Here's the promo I produced for her documentary on the Kiev, Ukraine Temple running this Sunday at noon on KSL 5 TV.

Fun with Child Models

2010-09-12T20:48:00.005-06:00

This is Ashlee and Briana. They are some of the cutest kids I know!
Turns out they also make beautiful models!
They were nice enough to help me out with a photography assignment I had a while back.
The assignment was to use an off-camera flash to mimic the effect of the sun (to create a halo-like effect).
Some of these pictures have the effect, some don't. We just had lots of fun taking pictures.
Here are my fav shots.
(There are no actions and no editing on these shots other than the watermark)

I brought leis and butterfly sunglasses to make the pictures interesting.
The girls LOVED them!

I LOVE Ashlee's smile in this picture.

I'm pretty sure Briana was born to model. She came up with the best poses!

Around the corner from where we did our photo shoot. there was this open garage with a broken down truck. So we took some pictures here too.

These girls were seriously in sync with everything they did.
This pose took no prompting. They just did the exact same thing!

Thanks for the fun photo shoot girls!

The Balloon Guy

2010-09-09T20:58:00.010-06:00

Meet the Balloon Guy, AKA Jeremy Telford!
He's one of the best balloon artists in the whole world!
And he was on Studio 5 today.
The creation in the picture above is a DJ spinning some turntables.

This is Snow White!
She even has a apple in her hand!

I LOVE her!

For Studio 5, the Balloon Guy spent NINE HOURS creating a "balloonscape" for the Studio 5 set.
Check it out!

The best part of my day? I got to snag the bunny and the bouquet of flowers!

The Balloon Guy makes a living off making people smile. I absolutely love that. It's so inspiring!
I always thought my job was pretty cool, but I have to admit, working in a T.V. newsroom can also be depressing. There are so many sad stories.
But no worries about that now, because I have these colorful creations sitting on my desk at work. They make EVERYONE smile!
Check out the Balloon Guy's other creations HERE.

Another "Sleepy Shoot"

2010-08-23T21:07:00.004-06:00

This is baby Eli.
(Once again, not my baby.)
But he was my subject for a photo shoot!

Eli was the perfect model. He slept like a ROCK and let us mold him all we wanted!
By us, I mean me and my sister-in-law, Megan. She was the perfect partner in crime during this shoot.
Thanks Megs!

I'm in love with Eli's hair! How often do you see a baby with sideburns?!
Sooooo adorable!

Eli also does this thing where he sucks in his bottom lip. It's super cute. I tried to capture that in the pictures.

Let me know what you think!

Also, I need ideas for a business name.
Harker Photography?
Harker Studios?
Suggestions please!

My 100th Post!!!

2010-08-23T20:44:00.004-06:00

Take a sip of non-alcoholic bubbly and celebrate with me!

(Yeah...this picture was taken a year ago. Don't laugh.)

More fun with Canadians

2010-08-22T21:06:00.003-06:00

I forgot to mention in my last post my parents also brought me this gorgeous bottle of maple syrup from Quebec. It's now on display in my kitchen!
Nothing says "I'm Canadian" like an overpriced bottle of maple syrup!
Think I had a lot of Silly Bands in my last post? Check out how many I have now!!

You can tell I don't have "teenager wrists" because the bands are cutting off circulation to my hand.
Looks like I may have to use them as real elastic bands.

Mama Strang learns Thriller

2010-08-19T11:30:00.002-06:00

My mom and nieces learned the Thriller dance at our Family Reunion.
Luckily I had me camera on me.
So glad I didn't miss this moment!
You can even watch it in HD!

Silly Bandz and Chocolate Bars

2010-08-18T10:08:00.004-06:00

My parents and two nieces are visiting us right now. They're all from Canada.
Check out the loot they brought me!

Tons of Canadian Chocolate Bars! And this is after we ate 4 of them!
Oh Henry is not a Canadian Chocolate Bar you say?
I bet to differ.
In the U.S., Oh Henry is made by Nestle.
In Canada, it's made by Hershey.
The Hershey version is A MILLION times better. It's one of my FAV Canadian chocolate bars.

My nieces also brought me these:
A ton of SILLY BANDZ!
I've wanted some for a long time.
Look at all the fun shapes!

There's wild animals, farm animals, Disney Princesses, sea animals, and Disney characters.
I look sooooo hip when I'm wearing them! LOL!

Another T.V. Perk

2010-08-16T20:19:00.004-06:00

Look who I got to hang out with on Friday!
The Radio City Rockettes!
Well, four of them anyway.
Don't I totally fit in?

They came to KSL to promote the Christmas Spectacular show coming to Utah in November.

For girls as gorgeous as this, they were actually super fun to hang out with! LOL. They had lots of fun in the newsroom.

Pretty cool, eh?
They even gave me a picture with their autograph!
It said "To Lesli, You Rock!"
I'm going to keep it forever!
Or...at least another week.
=D

Yoda's First Trip to the Groomer's

2010-08-12T21:52:00.003-06:00

Yoda before the groomer.

Yoda after the groomer.

I know, he looks like a giant RAT!
I wanted to make sure it was really short because my mom is coming to visit and she's allergic.
I just can't get over the fact he doesn't look like the same dog!
Cold now, Yoda will be.

Flash Photography

2010-08-10T23:13:00.004-06:00

Tonight was my last class for Intermediate Photography.
Tear.
But the good news is my brain is bursting with theory and techniques for using flash (off camera).

One of the techniques we learned was how to use flash at sunset.
My GORGEOUS friend Ashley helped me out *again*. :D

This is Utah Lake at Sunset with no flash.
Basically, you get a perfect silhouette.

This is what you get WITH a flash (and an orange gel).
Pretty cool eh?

With Flash.
No Flash.
Check out those sexy legs!

I am IN LOVE with the results of this shoot.

For part of the shoot Ashley wore a floppy hat and a feather boa and we pretended she was a celebrity. It was hilarious!

I think this would be the perfect technique for engagement photos, or even bridals!
Sunsets, silhouettes, a gorgeous lake...
What more do you need?
Seriously, I'm dying to try it out again, so if you know any engaged couples, send them my way!

Thanks again to my beautiful model Ashley!

This is how my dad points out a grammar mistake...

2010-08-03T08:50:00.005-06:00

Got this e-mail from my dad referring to Saturday's blog post:

(Keep in mind he's 68 years old.)

Look at this: "Him and his wife Nicole own Now & Then."
Now look at this: "He and his wife Nicole own Now & Then."

Now look back at that. Now look at ME. DAD.

Feel the 'OOPS' stare.

Be sorry.

Pretend you really are a Journalisn Graduate and double-check your grammar.

Now look at me. I'm FOFL!!!

Now it's my turn to make fun of him.
You spelled "Journalism" wrong, DAD! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Who's FOFL now!!!

(I will never let him live down this picture. He took it in between dentist appointments and made the mistake of sending it to me.)

But seriously, my dad is hilarious.
Now I'm ten-times more excited for my parents to visit me NEXT WEEK!!!

Ad-nalysis Sunday: Yahoo and Kanye West

2010-08-01T21:00:00.003-06:00

This commercial makes me want to get up and dance.

The commercial has a catchy Kanye West song, a likable nerdy actor, and a cheesy plot that's easy to follow.

"Stay close to the spotlight." Very to the point. What else do you use the internet for other than celebrity gossip? (P.S. I'm totally hating Mel Gibson right now.)

Did you know Yahoo is the number one source for entertainment news? You do now! This commercial targets that audience like a pregnant lady targets Taco Bell (LOL Megan!).

Remember way back when Yahoo used to be cool? (Around the time Al Gore invented the Internet.)

And then it was "totally la-ame". "You still use Yahoo? You need to switch to Google!"

I HATED their "Ya-ho-o-o" jingle. You know, the one that sounded like a yodel.

Well, I'd like to officially welcome Yahoo back into the world of "cool". It's still not up there with Google, but today it gets the official Harker Herald nod.

Word.

A Utah County Gem called "Now & Then"

2010-07-31T21:08:00.013-06:00

Disclaimer: I did not receive any goods, cash, or discounts for writing this post.

You HAVE to visit this store in Utah county.

I don't even know if you can call it a store, it's more of an experience.
I discovered it while looking for photography props.

It's called Now & Then, and it's just down the way from Thanksgiving Point. You can see it from I-15. It's next to "Rod Works."

The store is one-third antiques...

(That's a tobacco cart/stand)

...one-third consignment...

...one-third boutique...

(I love love love these boxes!)

...and 100 percent amazing.

(This was one of my FAVORITE items in the store!)

I couldn't believe all the cute stuff I found! And the prices are great!
Right now their necklaces are buy one get one FREE!

All their Campbell's antiques are 50% off! And they have A LOT!

They even have a MAN corner!

This is Dave. He and his wife Nicole own Now & Then.
He was super nice to let me take so many pictures of the store.
He even revealed what sale they're having next month!
In all of August, all of their boutique items will be buy one get one 50% off! That's ONE-THIRD of the entire store!!

Are you ready to see what I bought here? I'm SOOOOO excited about it!

I bought two sizes of these baby-themed baskets to use for my baby shoots. I already got to use this one today! And the best part is, they were only a couple bucks each! I had to ask to make sure the price was right! I heart this store!

Meanwhile, on the other side of town, D.I. (the local thrift store) is selling ugly used sunglasses for $5 each. What's up with THAT!

Working in T.V. has its Perks

2010-07-27T19:20:00.009-06:00

Look who I met today!

It's BYU's Stephen Jones, or should I say, the "New Spice Man".
He was on Studio 5 today as part of the segment "His Perspective". Check it out if you have a minute, it was hilarious!

Wanna know what Stephen's favorite blog is?
Check it out.

Okay, I know that was totally shameless.
But TOTALLY worth it!
Thank you Brooke Walker for planting the idea!

Shooting the video with Stephen was so much fun! This guy is hilarious!
Here's a cut down of our shoot.

That's me giggling in the background while I'm holding the camera.
Who knew "Harker Herald" was such a tongue twister.

Joining us on our little tour of the newsroom were a couple girls who also appeared on Studio 5.
I told them I would post their photo.

I feel really dumb because I didn't realize who they were until after our adventure.
On the left is Kami Watson from the blog Sweet Charli, and on the right is her sister.
I feel like an idiot because I already follow her blog! I'm a huge fan! She's really creative. Today on Studio 5 she did a super-cute segment about how to turn shirtsleeve cuffs into chic bracelets.

So there goes another average day working in television...
Okay, not really.
But still, my job is pretty awesome.

July Sweeps

2010-07-27T11:33:00.003-06:00

Here's a promo I produced for July Sweeps.
Story airs this Wednesday on KSL 5 News at 10.