Today, we are in Oklahoma for my father-in-law’s family reunion and we are celebrating Colby’s birthday at the reunion. We’re having all sorts of GREAT BBQ and we’re bringing a couple of delish cakes. For Colby’s cake of choice, we’re doing a 1/4 sheet marble cake with fresh strawberry filling and chocolate butter cream frosting and for the other cake, well, my father-in-law and I just had to have german chocolate.

Colby,

Happy 25th birthday. I love you so much and am glad to be spending your 25th birthday with you. It’s been an amazing journey watching you grow into the man you are today and I’m so lucky to have you as my husband. I hope you have a FABULOUS birthday. Maybe someday, I’ll get to take you on a jet ski again for your birthday, but I think getting to see ALLLL of your family on your birthday is pretty special! I love you. Happy birthday.

Movie 7 from Jen Shannon on Vimeo.

Jen Shannon Photography, Chicago Wedding Photographer

It all started on Friday. Since Valentine’s day was on a weekend, we sorta celebrated throughout the weekend, but primarily on Sunday. Friday night we had a sweet date at Red Robin. I love Red Robin and we haven’t gone in awhile because it’s far away but we finally made the trek out there and it was good! Saturday we didn’t do much but we did have our hot date to Hamada of Japan and ohhhh emmmm geeee internet, it was so good! Hamada of Japan is one of those places where you only go on special occasions because when you go, just for two people, you know it’s going to cost at least $70. So we made reservations for 6pm and had some amazing sushi and we shared a hibachi grill plate of chicken and shrimp. I should also say before dinner we had quite the fiasco with the dogs. I had just finished getting ready and Colby says, “Honey, are the dogs up there with you?” I said, “No, why?” He said, “Because I can’t find them. They’re not out back.” Then I screamed, “OHHHH NOOOOOO!!! I forgot to tell you that I left the garage door and the door in the garage that leads to the backyard open to air out the water from the snow that melted off of the car!” We quickly went searching. Bentley, luckily, was already inside because he freezes so fast so it was just a matter of finding Riley and Jayda. Luckily we only go walking in one direction when we go for walks and that is the opposite direction of the main road. Colby got in the truck and went looking for them and I grabbed the leashes and a bag of suckers that I got Colby for Valentine’s day and I went looking on foot. Of course they were down by our neighbors house, the neighbors that dog sit for us. They were going wild! They loved being free! I yelled out their names and shook the bag of suckers and they both came running. Colby had the hatch open to the truck and when they came running to see me I grabbed their collars and put them in the back. This is only the second time that that has ever happened, but if it’s one thing I’ve learned, when you’re dog is off leash and you want them to come, don’t yell and freak out, just call their names in an excited voice. Don’t let them think you’re mad (especially because this time it wasn’t their fault). Anyway…. After dinner we came home and rented “Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs” from iTunes. It was such a cute movie, but it led us to one conclusion. We totally need to buy a small flat screen tv for our bedroom with a built in DVD player and mount it above our dresser. Movies are just more comfortable to watch when you have a place to prop up your feet (the coffee table just doesn’t cut it anymore).

This is the part where I pause to tell you about what happened Saturday night before I go into Sunday. For Valentine’s day, my husband drugged me. That’s right internet. My husband said, “Let’s take some NyQuil tonight to sleep really good.” I thought, “Well, ok, I could use a good night’s sleep.” He handed me a dose of NyQuil and then went into the bathroom where I thought he took some too. Liar! He’s so sneaky. He drank a full bottle of water because he knew it would wake him up in the middle of the night without waking me up so he could go to Walmart and get some stuff for Valentine’s day. Right before I fell asleep I said, “I bet you just wanted me to take NyQuil because you’re going to sneak out in the middle of the night to do something sweet.” Well internet, I was right. So even though my husband tricked and drugged me, I still slept well and woke up to a few nice surprises in the morning. I forgave him. hahaha!

Sunday I woke up and there were roses in the kitchen for me (pictured below). He had also bought the fixin’s for chocolate chip pancakes (a rare, yet delectable treat) and made me breakfast. Then we lounged for a little while, watched some TiVo’d episodes of Friends, then took the dogs for a walk around the neighborhood. I love taking walks with the dogs. Then Colby had a lunch surprise of roast beef croissants that were delicious! Then we lounged around to some TV and then got dressed up to go take photos.

Here’s another part to pause to talk about the photos… It was cold. Really cold. Colby and I don’t have anyone that can take pictures like we do around us so usually you see just him or just me in a professional photo, but not both. So we decided to dress up, go outside, take a few new head shots for each other, and use a tripod and my remote to take engagement style portraits of us. Well… When it’s 24 degrees outside, the wind is blowing, the sun is going down, and you’re not wearing anything warm, you get numb FAST. So after multiple attempts we gave up. Monica, we’re flying you out here at some point. The photos below were all we were able to get.

After that we came back and I edited some photos. Colby finished cleaning the kitchen from earlier so I could make him a delish dinner! I made ribeye steaks with quinoa risotto. I need to find a better recipe for quinoa because I didn’t like the beef broth and quinoa flavor combined. Maybe chicken broth would have been better to cook it in. You got that one wrong Cuisine at Home… Anyway, but the steaks were fabulous! I’m not afraid to cook steaks anymore! I seasoned them with salt, cracked pepper, and garlic salt on each side, then seared them each for 4 minutes on each side and finished cooking them in the oven at 425 for 10 minutes. They came out medium well, juicy, tender, and YUMMY! My honey was happy and of course loves that I know my way around a kitchen (thanks to Cuisine at Home and Rachael Ray).

The last surprise of the night was fabulous! Colby made me chocolate covered strawberries, oranges, and bananas! He used both regular milk chocolate and white chocolate. He had snuck out around 2am, got the groceries, made the goodies, and came back to bed at 5:30am. That shows how much he loves me! hahaha! As for the rest of the night… Well… That’s none of your business! lol! Enjoy the photos!

Jen Shannon Photography, Chicago Wedding Photographer

I can’t remember the last time I had a Valentine’s Day without Colby. It’s been so long, but I do remember our first Valentine’s day while we were still friends. We were in high school. Colby had a crush on me but I didn’t like him like that… yet… For Valentine’s day he got me a single stemmed rose to “embarrass” me at school because he knew I wasn’t into that kind of thing. By then I knew he liked me so I knew he was using it as an excuse to show he cared for me, which of course was ok! hahaha! Turn the clock forward 8 years later (we didn’t know each other as well for our first Valentine’s day when we were just friends). Here we are, 2010. This is our 4th Valentine’s day together as a married couple and I have to say, in the famous words of Christina Aguilera, it keeps getting better. The romance is not lost, it’s more alive than before. The love is stronger than ever. Our appreciation for each other has grown even when we didn’t think it could, etc. We have God to thank for ALLLL of this.

To me, Valentine’s day is not just a “lovers” holiday. To me Valentine’s day is about celebrating the love you have for everyone that you care about. Your family, your friends, your husband, wife, children, etc, are all part of the celebration of love and while it is definitely more geared towards your significant other, I still see it as a day to celebrate my love for the people I care about. I remember in elementary school we’d always make these heard shaped construction paper envelopes that we’d hang off the end of our desks and we would go around and put a Valentine in everyone’s envelopes. I never got one from anyone that I “liked” like that that was any different than what everyone else got from the boy I “liked.” It made me jealous to not ever get one from a boy I liked. My mom, though, would always have a nice Valentine’s day surprise waiting for me when I’d get home. I know when you’re young you don’t see that type of thing as sweet and it doesn’t make you feel much better but when you get older you really see the love that goes into the sweet things that parents do for their kids. So if you don’t have a significant other be thankful and celebrate the love you have for your family. Think of it as thanksgiving for the people you love and who love you back.

Moving on to the spouse side of Valentine’s day… I’m so thankful that God brought Colby and I together. You can read here about the Valentine’s day post I should have waited until today to post but decided not to. There’s so many times I’ve taken “us” for granted and then had to step back and realize that even though things are hard sometimes, life always goes on. Things always move on. Tempers fade and what’s left is the love that sustains us. I sit back and am so thankful for the good times, the bad times, the sweet times, the ugly times, etc. I love our history. I love telling our story. Most of all, I love him. He loves me for who I am. He looks passed my flaws, he holds me when I cry, he comforts me when I’m upset, he supports me in my dreams, he encourages me when I fall, he loves me more than anyone in the world, he is romantic, he’s loving, he’s slow to anger and quick to love, he’s forgiving, he’s quick to say he is sorry, he’s warm and cuddly, he celebrates my successes and encourages me in my failures, and he loves me. What more could I ask for? I can wait for what I’m about to say but at the same time I can’t wait to see us 50 years from now, celebrating our 54th Valentine’s day together and loving each other even more than what I’m typing today.

To Colby: I love you. I love you sooooo much that I can’t think of words that describe how lucky I am; lucky that we found each other and we are so blessed with what we have. Like any relationship, even through the hard times, I love you, even though I might not show it.  Even when my pride or stubbornness gets in the way of showing it, I still love you. I can’t imagine my life without you and I dread the day I ever have to be without you. Even though there are things in my life I wish I could go back and change, you are the one thing I would never change. I’m lucky to be loved by you and I love being in love with you. I love you. You’re my sweetheart. You’re my love. You’re my everything. So I leave you with the lyrics from that song you’ve been listening to a lot lately.

Lucky

by Jason Mraz and Colbie Caillat

Do you hear me,
I'm talking to you
Across the water across the deep blue ocean
Under the open sky, oh my, baby I'm trying

Boy I hear you in my dreams
I feel your whisper across the sea
I keep you with me in my heart
You make it easier when life gets hard

I'm lucky I'm in love with my best friend
Lucky to have been where I have been
Lucky to be coming home again
Ooohh ooooh oooh oooh ooh ooh

They don't know how long it takes
Waiting for a love like this
Every time we say goodbye
I wish we had one more kiss
I'll wait for you I promise you, I will

I'm lucky I'm in love with my best friend
Lucky to have been where I have been
Lucky to be coming home again
Lucky we're in love every way
Lucky to have stayed where we have stayed
Lucky to be coming home someday

And so I'm sailing through the sea
To an island where we'll meet
You'll hear the music fill the air
I'll put a flower in your hair

Though the breezes through trees
Move so pretty you're all I see
As the world keeps spinning round
You hold me right here right now

I'm lucky I'm in love with my best friend
Lucky to have been where I have been
Lucky to be coming home again
I'm lucky we're in love every way
Lucky to have stayed where we have stayed
Lucky to be coming home someday

Colby and I were heading home from dinner at Williamson’s the other night and he whips out his phone and says, “I want to read something to you and get your opinion.” He proceeds to read me some blog article from a blog talking about customer service. I call it Client service because I like Client better than customer. Anywho… The article talks about this guy who goes into Starbucks and was waiting in line to get his coffee. The lady in front of him who has already purchased her tea explains to the cashier that she over sugared her tea and wants to know if they’ll give her another one at no charge. The cashier says she needs to get a manager and let the manager decide. Basically the blog article criticizes the cashier for not being able to make a decision to eat the 10 cents and give her another tea bag, cup, and water. Instead she had to get a manger. He claims it should have been a no brainer decision to just do what it takes to make the customer happy. It is a minimal cost to Starbucks and keeps the client happy. While I agree that the best thing to do would just be to give her another tea bag, cup, and water at no charge I don’t think the guy criticizing her for getting a manager realizes that many people who are not on a management level that work in retail do not have the authority to give away a product.

Beside my criticism of his observation this brings up something I wanted to talk about for our industry. How do you decipher when you should just eat a small cost to make a Client happy or when you should say no? It’s a tough question. On one hand if you do eat the cost you could have a Client for life, referrals from that Client, etc, but on the other hand you might just make that person happy and not get any additional benefits of it. Is it enough to just put an extra skip in our Client’s step without getting something in return? I’d have to say it is. Sometimes it’s just about putting a smile on the Client’s face. If that lady ultimately got another tea for free from Starbucks would it generate referrals from her to Starbucks? Probably not. If they wouldn’t do it for free, would she never go to Starbucks again? Probably would go to Starbucks again.

That brings me to another question. How do you decipher if a Client is just complaining because they’ve learned that if they complain about things they get what they want? That’s also a tough question. Last Friday night my husband and I went to Chili’s for dinner. I have an intolerance for corn kernels. I don’t know why corn in things like corn syrup and such don’t bother me, but corn kernels tear me up. I ordered their BBQ chicken salad with no corn. They bring the salad out and it has corn all over in it. I send it back. They bring me another salad that does not appear to have corn in it. I start eating it and look down to find corn hiding throughout the salad. I just picked the corn out of the salad, brought the waitress over and instead of complaining told her that she needed to just let the chef know that he could cause serious harm to people if he isn’t careful. The manager came over, apologized, and took my meal off of our bill. I had every intention of paying for it but it was good customer service that the waitress, instead of just relaying my message to the chef, relayed it to the manager who then came over to “make things right.” It made me happy and I still love Chili’s. In this instance you see that the fault rested on the restaurant for not providing me with what I ordered. With photography it’s more complicated because art is subjective. If you deliver what the Client ordered and they still aren’t happy, do you try to place blame somewhere? Many times a Client will complain just to get something for free and place all of the blame on you. Yes, you might be hurt by it, you might not like what they have to say, and what they’re saying may not even be true, but ultimately the Client is who needs to be happy. That doesn’t mean you need to give anything away for free but I do think we need to get past the blame game. Sometimes it doesn’t matter who’s fault it is. We should want to leave a positive lasting impression on our Client’s. As a society we’ve turned Client services into something where the Client almost feels like they have to apologize when they ask an associate to get something or do something for them. Why is that?

I think the key is to be able to suck up your pride, set aside who’s fault it is, and service your Client the best way you can. If you feel a Client is just trying to complain to get something for free, then consult a photography community and get their opinion. If generally they agree that your work and products represent what you sold to your Client, chances are they might just be complaining to get more out of it. The question then becomes do you give in? I don’t like to look at it as giving in. I like to look at it as an investment in my Client’s long term satisfaction with the job they hired me to do. Unfortunately there is no one answer to how you should deal with your Client’s but ultimately I think it comes down to one principle. Put yourself in your Client’s shoes. Try to understand, from their perspective, what they are telling you. Set aside pointing fingers or placing blame, and do what is in the best interest of both your Client and your company. Sometimes it’s doing nothing. Sometimes it’s giving something. Ultimately, even if it is the Client’s fault, sometimes sucking up the cost of the tea bag, cup, and water will put that extra skip in your Client’s step.

Jen Shannon Photography, Chicago Wedding Photographer

There fairy tail begins… Well, not really, but the story begins….

My best friend, Megan, (who if you’re reading this I’m going to sign you up for Facebook dang it!) and I have known each other since the 3rd grade. It was our junior year and luckily we had 2nd period together. We always rode to school together (we’d switch off driving every week) and of course talked about the guys we thought were cute. One day she comes into second period and asks me if I had seen the “guy with the buzzed brown hair and bleach blonde bangs.” I hadn’t so one day she pointed him out to me saying he was hot. I was like, yeah, he’s hot, but I had another interest at the time. Way led to way and turns out his step brother, Cole, was in my home room class and happened to be good friends with Megan. Megan had no idea Colby was his step brother. So after a little while of calling him “bangs” or “cheese” for our code names for him, she mentions to a guy named Erik that she thinks he’s cute. Erik happened to be friends with Colby so he dropped by our second period class before the bell rang to introduce him. He popped his head in, said hi, and that was that. Later that day Cole decided we were going to meet him while we walked out to the parking lot after school. We met him, he was funny and had a little ham fight with one of his buddies (it was the last day before Christmas break in 2000 so they had had a party in one of his classes) and Megan ends up getting his phone number through Cole but was too afraid to say call him. So later I happened to con her into giving me his number and I said, “Ok, if you don’t call him now, I’m going to three way him.” So we three way called him and invited him out to bowl. The rest is pretty much history. We talked all night. We had no interest in each other romantically at the time, but poor shy Megan was too shy to talk much hahaha! Megan ended up finding someone else she liked and Colby and I remained friends for a year and a half before we started dating. During that year and a half we became best friends and hung out all of the time. We’ve been friends for 9 years. I’m so glad that God brought our love story together (all the way from Oklahoma!) the way He did.

So, without further ado, here are some photos of our time together.

Disclaimer: The wedding and engagement photos were taken by Monica Starr Brown.

Jen Shannon Photography, Chicago Wedding Photographer

Before I go into anything else I need to stop and say a bit about Colby, my husband. Colby and I work fabulously together. Aside from the occasional tiffs here and there (mainly my doing because I’m a perfectionist) we work together practically flawlessly. He is so strong and smart in areas that I am not and vise-versa. We really do make the perfect team. From planning to execution he is there every step of the way and does an amazing job with everything. When we plan he thinks of EVERYTHING. I mean EVERYTHING! My mind is focused on the creative side of it all while he’s thinking of practical applications, people interactions, technical details of execution, etc. He also keeps me grounded when I start freaking out about details and plans that aren’t going the way I envisioned them to go. He plans the budget then I find the items to stay within the budget. I give him an idea and he figures out all the technical aspects of the idea and works it all out for me. Aside from that, when we are actually at the events he is phenomenal. He does all the stuff that either I don’t want/like to do or mans the table while I go socialize and network. Whether it’s an event at PetSmart or this type of wedding show event, he does it all. I’ll go more into that in a little bit… So with pen and paper in tow, we planned out all the details over fabulous bunless burgers at Williamson’s (though his had a bun).

The first step was the pricing lists… Meet the pricing lists. To say these things were a pain in the butt is a severe understatement. It was like DIY wedding invitations all over again.. Ugh! We ordered the paper and folders, then printed the front, inside left, and inside right sheets, cut them, then hand glued them with Elmer’s glue sticks for the first 100 or so until we realized spray glue, while messy, may be faster. So we ended up finishing them with spray glue. Anyway, then once glued, they had to be folded, smashed to lay flat, then tie ribbon around them, clip the ends of the ribbon at an angle and pack up for the show. At first I couldn’t find ribbon I wanted, so we settled on red ribbon, though red is in ZERO of my color schemes. So I tied 200 bows and realized I hated them so went and got sheer white and silver (they didn’t have enough white) for me to just tie them around the middle. After realizing I sucked at tying bows that way I just double knotted it and cut the edges to make them fancy. After two virtually sleepless nights and many other late nights, this is the result. They are awesome! I have left overs for future events too so I won’t have to deal with those next time!

After the pricing list plans came the set up. We didn’t want a traditional booth. We don’t have huge gallery wraps and prints to display so we decided to use technology and furniture. We did a living room set up and use our tv and apple tv for a slideshow which turned out fabulous! I love being unique so I was happy to see we were the only ones there with that kind of set up, but honesty, the tables that everyone had were just beautiful! Here are some photos of our living room set up below. Our faux polar bear fur rug was freakin’ sweet but our coffee table ended up being too wide for it so we used it as a rug in front of the chairs instead of the display as a whole. Next time, I’m getting a huge faux polar bear fur rug! We used our table that we use at the front door as the tv stand (which matched flawlessly I might add!) and the lamps were from our bedroom. Love those too. Now I want to go back to Ikea and buy two more just to have for those tables now that it has a home in our second floor office! lol! The furniture was from Ikea, which we love! It’s simple, elegant and goes well for a classy show.

Now, the club was wanting to promote it’s view of the city, but of course, it had to be on the day of the wedding show that the fog was so thick and terrible that you couldn’t even see a foot in front of you at that height outside? We all thought the windows were frosted or something but nope, it was the fog…

A view of how intimate it looked after the sun went down. I just love it!

Next we planned the details of the event. We got some pens with my logo and website on it! They are of sucky quality so I’m glad I only ordered 10… I’ll have to look into a better quality pen vendor.

Info Sheets

Sucky pen…

You see the “metal” on it? Yeah, it’s really plastic… That’s why they are sucky. They feel cheap too. And the printing is terrible… That’s typical from anything I’ve ever ordered from Vista Print…

Pen holder! I love the glass with the iridescent marbles. We thought about doing coffee grounds so it would smell good but we figured the florists would have that covered… And they did. We happened to be right next to one of the floral vendors and those flowers smelled so good! They gave me a bouquet of flowers to take home and are sitting on my desk as I type!

Ok, funny story behind our raffle holder. They asked me if I wanted to do a raffle and price sort of thing. I said sure! So I bought raffle tickets and the glass cylinder with the marbles as the the “box” you drop your raffle ticket in. Well, turns out they were pulling people’s names out of their registry for it… So the raffles ended up being pointless. But we gave away a digital photo frame which the couple really liked, though Colby and I don’t think they came by at all during the show… Not sure.

Finally, the sign! I LOVE LOVE LOVE this sign! I know it’s stupid to love a sign, but I love it. First, I had my logo printed by the lab I use on an 8×10 piece of Kodak luster paper. Then I was just going to put it in a picture frame because I didn’t want a huge sign. I went to hobby lobby and found these FABULOUS photo frames that look like digital photo frames but aren’t and I said, “THAT’S THE ONE!” So I bought an 8×10 for the sign and a 5×7 and 4×6 for my photo samples.

One of the things I wanted to mention about Colby was that he manned the table while I buzzed around from table to table meeting vendors, collecting business cards, etc. I really love networking and it was so great to have Colby there to take care of potential Clients while I networked. I also manned the table for awhile and met many potential Clients that I am so excited about, but it was nice to have someone there so I could network too! Overall we had a fabulous time. There were some times where I didn’t think we were going to be able to pull it off but I think we did it and we did it well! Stay tuned for blogs of part 2 and 3 of the Willis Tower wedding show. I’ll tell you all about the fabulous vendors that I met and one, in particular, that I just think is fabulous!!! With that said, I leave you with these videos! enjoy!

The set up and my handsome hubby!

Me giving you a fancy tour! lol!

The brides arrive!

Jen Shannon Photography, Chicago Wedding Photographer

Ok, I have to brag a little. I have always maintained that my father-in-law’s tacos are the best, which they are the best ground beef tacos, but tonight, I trumped him! *gasp!* It’s like speaking blasphemy! David, sorry if you’re reading this! Actually, I’m not sorry! My stomach is so happy right now! I made pot roast tacos from the left over meat and sauce from yesterday’s roast (fried my own flour shells). THEY WERE THE BOMB!!!! Now, Colby still says yours are the best, so it’s just my opinion!

Anyway, today was a great day! Great way to start 2010! I had a fabulous 2009 so I’m hoping for a fierce 2010! It’s hard to believe it’s Friday. I’m glad tomorrow is Saturday and not Sunday. Here are the photos I took last night. If you are my friend or fan on Facebook you may have already seen them. It’s ok though! I love them!

Jen Shannon Photograpy, Chicago Wedding Photographer

Jen Shannon Photography, Chicago Wedding Photographer