Here is a quick tease from Billy and Jennifer's wedding. The photos came out really well and the overall wedding was wonderful. Jenny and I had a great time sharing their day at Laurel Wood Gardens. It was nice to see how happy Jennifer was and I beleive that I captured her joy perfectly in one of the photos in the slideshow. Enjoy!!

Whew, what a long day. Started off by running a half-marathon at Starkey Park in New Port Richey. It was hot and slightly windy. All things considered, I am happy with my time of 1H:38M which was good for 8th plsce overall and 2nd in my age group! This was a tune-up race for the Green Bay Marathon in May. Everything went well until I started to fry, feet felt like they were on fire after awhile.

Glutting for punishment, I did this race on the same day as Jennifer and Billie's wedding. We had a great time photographing there wedding. As always, Laurel Wood Gardens is the perfect spot where things run smoothly and everyone has a good time! Thank-you Jennifer & Billie for having us!!

It truly has been a surreal week that feels like a nightmare that I am going to wake up from. I find it still hard to comprehend what has happened. All I know is I will never walk out my back door and hear Paul's plane or see him at airshows.

It was an honor for Jenny and I to attend Paul's visitation last night and funeral today. At the entrance to the visitation was a stack of cards that Paul had done up for the upcoming airshow season where he used my photo from our night session. Paul's Dad is a wonderful person and it was nice to talk to him for a while and meant a lot to get a hug after the graveside service.

The funeral service was held at St. Joseph's Catholic Church in Zephyrhills. It was a nice traditional Catholic service with the most touching moments from speeches by Paul's two sisters. We then joined the procession to Trinity Memorial Garden (the same place that Mamaw Dave is buried). After a short graveside prayer, five aerobatic planes flew over in formation with one pulling up and flying off. Nobody could keep the tears from falling.

Our prayers also go to the family of Ritchie Seufzer who was the High School Senior who was with Paul. From what I have read, he seemed like a really bright kid with a wonderful future ahead of him and a love of flying that would have taken him anywhere. It was heartbreaking to see Ritchie's parents who were also at the service.

Paul and Ritchie, may you fly in heaven with eternal blue skies...

Going out for a 15 mile run this morning, I figured I would be running alone. With about 5 miles left I picked up a black, four legged running partner. I passed the dog and didn't think anything of it until I could hear it running up behind me which usually gets me a little worried. It looked friendly, so I kept going. The dog just kept on running with me. She was a good runner as I did my last 6 miles around 7 min/mile pace. The dog kept up with me for 30 minutes before I finally turned around and didn't see her a mile from the house. Hopefully, she will find a home...I wasn't sure what I was going to do if she followed me all the way home.

We are deeply saddened by the news of the passing of our friend Paul Lopez. Paul and a passenger (we don't know who yet) were taken from us while he was practicing his aerobatic routine. Paul was an excellent pilot and we were priveleged to get to know him during a photo shoot with him.

We could hear him during what would be his final practice today when I came home for lunch. I was shocked when I saw the news a couple hours later.

We met Paul a couple years ago at an airshow and found out that he lives near us in Zephyrhills. We would hear him practing all the time. He seemed to be practicing a lot more lately. I know he was going to hit the airshow circuit full time this year, plus he was starting to do well in aerobatic competitions.

Our thoughts go out to Paul's family and that of his passenger.

Paul, it was a pleasure knowing and watching you do what you love...

Even though I have a cold a felt pretty awful last night, I managed to have a good race this morning. I finished in 19M:18S finishing 6th overall and first in my age group. By most race standards, it was fairly slow, but I willl take my first ever age group win. I also beat my 5K PR again. I may put an asterisk on the time because the final .1 miles looked too short. Oh well, another good day and my time confirms my training is going well for Green Bay.
I may run the Chasco Half-Marathon in three weeks which will be a great test of where I am at.

Nice weather this morning for a 14 mile run. It started warm, humid and windy turning into rain, cooler, and windier. That and I forgot my watch so I had to check the time on the van clock before and after to see how long I was out. I kept thinking about all the poor sods out running at Gasparilla and how much fun that must have been (glad I didn't bother). Not a bad run at 8 minute/mile pace. My calves got sore really quick for some reason. Hopefully, I will have a good week of training and be ready for the Strawberry Festival 5K Saturday.

I was surprised to find out from a friend that my photo that won the May FL State Park contest is on the cover of the winter edition of Florida Parks and Wildlife magazine. How cool is that?

You can see an online version of the magazine, click HERE.

I have partnered with Susan G. Komen for the Cure to raise funds through my running efforts for breast cancer research and treatment.

You can make a donation at www.runforbreastcancer.com

Thank-you in advance for helping me provide funding to cancer research that hopefully lead to a cure one day so people will not have to endure what Jenny and many, many others have gone through.

Mamaw Dave passed away on Feb. 3rd, she was 103 years old.

I really miss her. I am thankful that I got to know her for 15 years. I have so many wonderful memories that I will keep forever.

I remember when Jenny and I went over to her grandmother's house and told everyone that we were engaged. First thing Mamaw Dave did was throw her crochet ball at her!! We had to explain that we were engaged, I think she though we had eloped or something!

It was always fun going to see her, she would always notice when I didn't have a drink with my food. She would then proceed to yell at Jenny "Jenny, go get your husband a Pepsi"! As a joke, I would sometimes make it a point to tell Mamaw Dave that Jenny hadn't gotten me anything just to see Mamaw Dave's lips disappear and the stare she would give Jenny. 

Then there was the Christmas man calendars I always got her ever since the very first Christmas that I knew her. I have gotten her Chippingdales, PBR Bull Riders, but her favorites was always the Studs and Spurs. At Christmas, sometime I would wait a while to give her calendar and she would sit and open her stuff while her lip disappeared a bit. Everytime I brought her calendar, she would light up with joy looking at all the pages. One year she was surprised with a ticket to the PBR Bull Riding that she loved, but that's another story all together. She loved to show the calendars I got here to everyone, especially her preacher's Wife Mrs. Kelly who also liked them!

One of my final memories was the Disney Marathon that I promised to bring her my finisher's medal. I also told her I would bring her something from Disney. After the race we ate and walked around Epcot. I had planned to get her a pink pair of mouse ears with her name embroidered on the back. Guess what, can't get that done at Epcot. So, off to The Magic Kingdom! Like I hadn't done enough already. It hurt, but we got it done and she got her ears....

At Mamaw Dave's funeral, I was honored to be chosen as one of the pall bearers.

Mamaw Dave...I miss you, I love you, and I will always remember all the fun we had!

It has been 3 weeks since the Disney Marathon. I started training a week ago for the Green Bay Marathon. The annual Kumquat Festival in Dade City had their 5K run, so I figured I would see where I am at fitness wise. Nice cold morning in the 30's, great for racing!! Had a fantastic race and earned a new personal best of 19M:35S beating old best of 20M:50S. Man, I wish I was this fast in high school. I ended up placing 6th overall and 2nd in the 35-39 age group. My friend Lamont Singletary took first in our group. And all I got for my effort, a stinking little red ribbon like the ones you get at field day back in elementary school! 

Well, I can at lest say I am a marathoner now...Ok, so the race didn't go as planned. Here's the gory details:

1st off, I had a great time doing the marathon even though it didn't turn out how i wanted. Gives me more incentive to do another which will be the Green Bay Marathon May 17th in Green Bay Wisconsin at Lambeau Field.

Weather at 6AM race sart wasn't too bad, probably fifty something with decent amount of humidity. Could have been better. The race start was really cool with Mickey, Donald, and Goofy counting down. At zero, balls of flame and fireworks erupted giving a nice adrenaline shot. First mile was more conservative than I wanted around 7:50. So, I sped up and whipped off a couple 7:20 miles to get me on my planned pace. From there, I was running easy 7:30s. Made it to 10 miles right when I should have about 1H:10M. As we were runnign into The Magic Kingdom, things started to feel a bit off. Ran strong up Main Street, but the legs started to feel a little off coming around the back side of the castle. Once out of The Magic Kingdom, the legs kept getting a little worse so I backed off my pace and knew I could forget my goal time and go into survival mode.

Made it to half way (13.1 miles) in 1H:40M only 5 minutes off my goal time. But, I was starting to feel like crap. By mile 16 or 17, I was having to take short walk breaks and stretch some. As time went on, my wlk breaks got longer. My calves and hip flexors were cramping any time I started to run. After mile 20, I was done. All I could do was start enjoying a nice walk. I was cramming Powerade and bananas trying to regain life, but nothing worked. Tried running a few times, but the legs cramped immediately. The worst part of the whole thing was that Disney prints your name on the race bib. So, as I am walking, there are all these people yelling my name and giving encouragement. I needed a sign that said "if my legs would quit cramping, I would blow by all these people passing me".

The finish line couldn't come soon enough. I managed to run the last bit leading to the finish line through all the spectators. Finish time 4H:28M. Poor Jenny and Tommy had been standing at the finish for an extra hour and fifteen minutes. The really sad part was that outside of my cramping legs, I felt great.

I am really glad I dodn't do anything stupid that would have jeopardized finishing. I had promised Jenny's 103 year old great-grandmother that I would bring her my finisher's medal to show her. At this point, she was bed ridden and not doing well, so if I had to crawl six miles, I was finishing!

Been a lot going on the last month or so. Also got myself locked out of my account and haven't been able to post. Stay tuned and i will get you updated.

This morning I ran my last 20 miler before the Disney marathon which is 3 weeks away. I also used this as a dress rehearsal to simulate race day as close as possible.

I woke up at 3AM and ate breakfast. Went back to sleep and got up at 5:15. Headed out the door at 5:30 and drove up to Dade City to the Suncoast Trail. Got ready and started my run at 6:00, the same time as the marathon. It was dark, a little foggy and the temperature felt great in the 50's.

As usual, started off too fast with a 7:05 first mile. I backed off and settled into a nice rhythm of about 7:37/mile as originally planned. The trail passed right by the Trilby Methodist Church where Jenny and I got married, so that was cool.

Ran in the dark for an hour. Mile 8 made my whole day. Gave me a huge smile and a good chuckle. I was running and feeling well, about 50-100 feet in front of me pops out a huge deer and runs across the trail into the trees. Then another one and another one. I don't think I have ever seen such big deer. Beautiful white tail deer these were with large, fluffy white tails! I had a big smile and got to thinking about our friends in Wisconsin who hunt deer (they hunt for food, so I am OK with that). Now, I am thinking to myself "Wish I had my camera" while Carrie and Terry would be thinking "Wish I had my gun, we'd eat good for the whole winter"!! Gave me a chuckle. At least the trail runs through a protected area with no hunting.

I busted out 15 miles at an average pace of 7:38/mile, right where I wanted to be. At this point, things changed and my legs crapped out quickly. I ended up walking the end of mile 16 and all of 17. Not good being 4 miles from the car. My body had another joke for me...being out on the trail in the woods is a bad place for a #2. No, couldn't have done it at the bathrooms in the trailhead at mile 14! Well, I had to give in, so off the trail and into the woods to do my business the old fashioned way. Back walking on the trail, my legs started to feel better after a couple minutes. I started picking out leaves on the trail to run to with short walk breaks. Towards the end of mile 18, I just kept running (kind of like Forrest Gump). I ended up back on track clocking the 19th mile in 7:37 and decided to pick it up for the last mile with a 6:41 (fastest mile of the day)! Obviously, my digestive system was stealing blood away from my legs which is why they croaked on me.

They say that running is like life and provides many lessons. I believe that to be entirely true in that if you push too hard, you will pay. If you go too easy, you end up wondering what if. If you set your goals too high, you set yourself up for failure and pain. Set goals too low and wonder what could I have really done. Like a lot of situations in real life, listen to your body and take action to rectify the problem as soon as possible. You just may find that you will be rewarded for it. Life is about balance. Get it right and life is good, screw it up and life kind of sucks. This parallels my own life lately...

Sorry for the "deep" read. Ultimately, it was a great run on a beautiful, paved trail that had nice mile markers so I actually knew how I was running.

If you would like to get live text or email updates while I run the marathon, you can signup HERE
Just create a username/password and put clements in for the last name and neil in for the first name under Select Entrants to Track. You will receive live updates of how I am doing at various times during the race.

Today starts the one month countdown to the Disney Marathon! I am excited and petrified at the same time. I know I can run the distance, I just hope I don't do anything stupid. I have one more 20 mile run to do and a couple of tests to see what pace I should really run at. I found out my race number this week which will be 941. Numbers are given out based on projected race time which is figured out from a previous race time (the Daytona Half Marathon in my case). Last year, over 12,000 people finished the race. So, that puts me well into the top 10 percent of all runners! This will also put me in the first start corral which will keep me with people going my pace.

Believe it or not, I already have another marathon planned. Jenny has a friend in Wisconsin and she asked if we could fly up for their American Cancer Society walk (she heads up the walk). Just so happens that the Green Bay marathon is the same weekend! The event is in May which gives me time to recover from the Disney marathon and four months of training.

My marathon goal is to qualify for the Boston Marathon (I need a time of 3:15) and run Boston in 2010. My brain tells me to use Disney as an experience race and really go for it in Green Bay. We'll see what happens with that theory!

This morning, I ran the Brandon Half-Marathon. I posted a personal best 1H:36M:52S and came in 53rd overall. This is almost a minute and a half faster than my time from the Daytona Half in October. I am so happy I set a new best, but it could have been so much better. It was nice and cool this morning and felt great running. I started off way too fast with a 6:11 first mile. I then settled into a comfortable 7 minute pace. Minor issue this morning...WIND!! At the turnaround point, we were running into a fairly stiff headwind the whole way back. I didn't lose much time until mile 10 when the wheels fell off my train. Legs pretty much told me to get screwed and did not want to work properly. I ended up losing a full 5 minutes in the last 3 miles of the race. So, I maybe would have come in at 1:32:00 which would have been unreal! Oh well, it was still a good time.

The Disney Marathon is only 5 short weeks away...AHHHHHHHH!!

I am raising money for The American Cancer Society. If you would like to donate, please visit my donation site www.runforbreastcancer.com to make a donation.

Sorry, no pictures from the race today, Jenny was doing the 5K which started an hour after I did.

Josie & William's wedding album design is finally finished!! You guys look great and Jenny and I  wish you all the best!!

To view the album, click HERE.

Jenny and I had a wonderful time attending Josie & William's wedding at the Historic Columbia Restaurant in Ybor City. The Columbia was a beautiful setting with great food and atmosphere! Josie and William are a fantastic couple and great people. Thanks again for inviting us to be part of your celebration!

Jenny and I had a wonderful time with Josie and William this morning. We met them at Plant Park located on the University of Tampa campus. We did some shots around the campus then strolled down to Franklin Street in downtown Tampa. Josie and William were fun to work with and we were able to visit a lot of places. We went to the Sacred Heart church and was able to go inside. What an incredible place. beautiful stained glass everywhere.

Josie and William's wedding will be at the Columbia Restaurant in a couple weekends. We are looking forward to attending!

Whew, what a day. Finally got home a little while ago. Been up since 4AM and started running at 7. The weather was fantastic. We had a cold front go through last night which made the temperature in the high 50's at race time and stayed nice throughout. I had a really good race. I finished in at 1H:37M:57S. I was 47th overall out of 527 finishers and placed 7th in my age group. I kept an average pace of 7:29/mile.
It was so cool running around the track. The curve bankings tower over your head and the track looks so much more narrow than on TV. Hard to believe they runs 3 cars wide in those curves! It was a weird feeling when I got to turn four running under the spot where Dale Earnhardt died.
From the track, we ran to the beach for a quick glimpse of the ocean. On the way there, we had to run over this huge bridge over the Halifax River. Going over the first time, I didn't lose much time and felt decent when I made it back to go over the bridge again. The view at the top of the bridge was beautiful. The sun had just come up and was big and orange reflecting off the river (I wish I had a camera). The second time over messed me up. My 7:15 miles turned into 7:45 miles. Luckily, there was only a little more than three miles to the finish. At lease my mile times got faster after my worst mile.
After the race was over, it was back to the hotel and then we went over to the Daytona Experience. We all had a great time. They have a lot of great exhibits and interactive simulators. we also got to go on a tram tour that takes you around the track and infield. We all had a crack at the ARCA racing game, Tommy got the fastest lap of the day! Unfortunately, someone edged him out a little later. The coolest simulator put us into a mini racecar that moved with the game. I cussed Jenny...I was passing her and she says she didn't know I was there until she creamed me and sent me flying through the infield. Also saw a NASCAR 3D IMAX movie. We had seen it in St. Augustine, but mot in 3D. It is an awesome film!
It was a great weekend and we are already planning to go back...

Made it into Daytona this afternoon. Staying at the Quality Inn across the street from the speedway. Great location. Guess during the races, rooms are $450. They are booked for the next 7 years!!
After picking up my race packet, we headed to the Ponce Inlet Lighthouse. What a beautiful lighthouse!! As much as we love St. Augustine Lighthouse, Daytona beats it.



The lighthouse is the tallest in Florida and has 208 steps which we climbed to the top for a nice view.



Looking up through the middle of the lighthouse.



View of Ponce Inlet and the Atlantic Ocean.



After visiting the lighthouse, we had a nice dinner at Olive Garden.
I will have my alarm set for 4AM to have breakfast and head out to the track about 6. I will be curious to see how it goes running over the bridge at mile 6 and again on the way back. It is a pretty big bridge! I will post how I did late Sunday...

In the morning, we are off to Daytona Beach for the Daytona Half-Marathon. I am excited to see how it goes, the legs feel good and I don't have any niggling injuries. My goal time is 1:35:00 which would put me at a 7:15/mile pace. It will be so cool to run around the Daytona Speedway starting on Pit Road and ending at the finish line.

We plan on checking out the Daytona Lighthouse and the beach on Saturday. Have a nice dinner and hopefully get some sleep for a 4AM wake up to eat before the 7AM start.

Check in, I will have some pictures up from both days!

This morning was the Rattlesnake Run 5 mile in the hills San Antonio. Finished in 35:19, 51st overall, and at 7:04/mile pace. Two lessons learned today. One, don't do a 7:10/mile tempo run two days before the race. Two, do more hill workouts. The three tiered hill in mile two really sucked. Took 2 more miles to get myself back to a good pace. The good news was I had a great (but too fast...stupid) start, and a really good finish. The kid in black behind me in the picture tried to outrun me to the finish line, I had none of that and smoked him!

Tommy and Chris ran the one mile. Chris finished under 10 minutes for the first time and Tommy was about 30 seconds behind.

After the race, we all went to the Rattlesnake festival. Emily, Chris and Tommy did the gopher racing. It was a Clements sweep with Chris third, Tommy second and Emily first! Emily got to do another race in the heat finals, but couldn't get her wood gopher going as well. She didn't get a trophy, but got another ribbon!

Time to be smart and rest up for the Daytona Half Marathon next Sunday. This is the first year for this race and is really cool because it is being run at Daytona Speedway. I get to run around the track, out to the beach and back.

Thanks to all who have donated to my Run for Breast Cancer fundraiser!!

Anita & Chad's album design is ready!! I think it came out really well and am sure they will love it.

You can view the album design HERE.

Instead of running the Disney World Marathon solely for the self torture aspect, I have created a personal fundraiser to benefit The American Cancer Society. They have a really cool program where you can tie your event to fund raising. Please checkout www.runforbreastcancer.com for more info or to donate. I hope to raise at least $1000 by marathon day on January 11th. Thanks in advance for your help!!

Yesterday, we photographed Chad & Anita's pool-side wedding at the Tampa Bay Golf & Country Club. It was a gorgeous wedding at a beautiful location. Thanks again to Chad & Anita for having us, Jenny and I had a great time!!

It is not often I write anything political, but the news of the Bush government spending $700 BILLION of our dollars to bail out the financial institutions and their poor decisions ticked me off. As I did, I urge you to contact your congressman and let them know what you think. If you don't know who yours is, go here to find out: http://www3.capwiz.com/mygov/dbq/officials/

Here is the email I sent to my congressman:

Hello,

I just wanted to write to you with an appeal to vote "NO" to the proposed $700 billion bailout of financial institutions. This country is willing to bail out the rich for their poor decision making and greed, but the average American is left on their own! I also find ironic that one week ago, the Bush administration and Henry Paulson each said everything was fine while Lehman Brothers was going under. Upon further investigation, I find that Henry Paulson was the CEO of Goldman Sachs and still owns half a billion dollars in Sachs stock. While his competitor Lehman collapsed, Paulson did nothing. But then, his company starts to go and Paulson runs to his good friend Bush to push a huge bailout. Hmmm.

Also, all the talk of taxing the rich and/or cutting taxes to the middle class is a sham. Economics is a one-way street from the poor/middle class to the rich. No matter who you tax or don't tax, the rich win (remember "trickle-down economics?). I don't understand how people and politicians don't get that if you tax the rich, it gets passed to the consumer with higher prices. If you lessen taxes to the rich, they pocket the money and prices stay the same. If taxes stay the same for rich but go down for poor/middle class, we are told to go spend to stimulate the economy. No matter what, the rich will be unaffected and the rest of America pays. For the rich, it is simply good business to do so. Unfortunately, nobody seems to have an answer, only bailouts and band-aids which puts America in further debt to other countries.

Thank-you for taking the time to read this and hopefully taking action.

Hope everyone had a fun Labor Day! Thankfully, Hurricane Gustav missed us in Florida and wasn't a Katrina repeat in Lousiana.

We had a really busy day. Got up early for the Rumble Thru The Jungle 5K in Tampa. I ran really well and set a new personal best time of 20:50. I placed 3rd in my age group and 17th overall. My training now focuses toward the Daytona Half-Marathon next month. I never thought I would do it, but I have decided to run a full marathon. I am planning to run the Disney Marathon in January. This serves as a double bonus because Jenny has been bugging me to go to Disney for ages. 

After the race we took the kids to the Museum of Science and Industry to see the Dinosaurs exhibit before it leaves. The animatronic dinosaurs were pretty good. We got to learn about and hold some fossils also. It wasn't a big exhibit, so it didn't take long to go through it.

Later in the day, we went to Jenny's Grandmother's house for a cookout. I grilled up some pretty good chicken that everyone enjoyed. It was fun since even my parents were there and everyone had a good time!

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We had a good time with Billy & Jennifer at Hillsborough River State Park doing there engagement photos. I had been wanting to do and engagement session  for some time and it worked out really well (except for the mosquitos)! Everyone got ate up, at least Jenny had some repellant...I am not sure it helped much. I am pleased with the photos and look forward to their wedding next year at Laurel Wood Gardens.

We are so happy to be photographing Anita and Chad's wedding in September. You see, Anita was Jenny's chemo nurse while we were doing the cancer thing. Anita is awesome. So, when she called to book us to do her wedding, Jenny and I got so excited.
We went over to Anita's house for an engagement session. Her house is wonderful! We did stuff both inside and outside trying to get it done before everyone got too sweaty from the heat.
Enjoy the show!!
 

Today is my 35th birthday! Took off work today to hang out. Went down to Ellenton to the outlet mall to get the kids shoes and clothes for school. Ironic,  my birthday and I go and buy the kids stuff! One cool thing we did (Jenny would beg to differ)...in order to get from Ellenton to Clearwater, we had to cross the Skyway Bridge which I have never been over, Jenny doesn't like the thing. We went to Clearwater Beach to run in the Sunset at Pier 60 5K. This was Tommy & Chris' first ever 5K. Chris got 3rd in the 10 & under division and Tommy came in just behind him. I forgot how much harder it is to run on the beach so my time wasn't as good as lately, but I ended up with 3rd in my new division of 35-39 (holy crap!!).
Overall, not a bad day, time for bed!

Although I usually like to hang back to capture what is happening, sometimes you have to move in! This is a great photo Jenny got from the last wedding. We usually stay out of eachother's way, guess I messed up her shot! The shot I got wasn't bad either.

Corey & Lindsey's album design is done! You can view it HERE 

I am very pleased with how it came out and I am sure they will love it!!

I made it! Ran the Bridge of Lions race this morning with no problems.


I finished 2nd in my age group and 27th overall with a time of 21:46. I am pretty happy with that since I haven't run in two weeks.  


After the race, we picked up some breakfast at the St. George. It was cool to have my photo hanging over the breakfast bar where everyone can see! We then went to the Castillo de San Marcos to see the canon firing.



After an afternoon nap, we went out for some pizza at Pizzalley's. Their pizza has one of the best crusts I have had. We then got to see the changing of the guard at the Government House which was really cool. The sun came out and put some nice light on the Basilica, Jenny got a nice shot.



I didn't bring my camera this trip, so all photos you see is what Jenny has done!

Later tonight at 10:30, we will be going to the St. Augustine Lighthouse for a night tour that they do only when there is a full moon. Unfortunately, it is cloudy and raining periodically, so no moon.

We made it with the kids to St. Augustine today. Came up for a relaxing weekend and The Bridge of Lions 5K race in the morning.
We are staying at the St. George Inn again, this time had a nice gift for them. I had contacted them after our last trip about printing up a photo of the Inn for them. I finally got to present them with a 20x30 print in a nice walnut frame to them today. They loved it and will be putting it up in their lobby area!

In the morning, I will be running in the Bridge of Lions 5K. Hopefully, my calf will hold up after straining it training a couple weeks ago. I was hoping to get my time near 20 minutes in order to place in my group, but now am just wanting to get through unscathed!
Other than hiking the kids around town, we don't have much planned. We'll have a nice dinner at Outback tonight. Of course we will have Kilwin's ice cream tomorrow. Kilwin's is at the bottom of the stairs to our room which is driving the kids nuts! It's the best!
I will also be finishing up Lindsey & Corey's album and "should" get it up Sunday night and definately no later than Monday. I am really happy with it so far...
Check in tomorrow to see if I am still walking!

Congratulations Corey and Lindsey!! Your wedding was wonderful and Jenny and I thoroughly enjoyed being your guest. God bless both of you and the long road ahead.
The wedding was held at The Rusty Pelican and was a fantastic place to shoot. The weather cooperated and provided beautiful lighting for the garden ceremony. After, we moved inside for an elegant reception turned frat party! Lindsey, you do a great worm (awesome for wearing a wedding dress)!!

Check back later in the week for the album design...

Jenny and I woke up early this morning for an engagement session with Corey & Lindsey at Sand Key Park. We had a great time with them and can't wait for their wedding Friday!

The first photo with the lifeguard chair is the one I picked out for their 8x10. It is a bit more bold than I usually do, but it just pops and will look awesome on the metallic paper I use. Another I love is the black and white close up which looks just naturally "them".

Hope everyone had a good 4th! We had a great time today. Started out at 6AM, ran a 5K race in Lutz. I ran another personal best of 21:11 beating my previous best by 2 minutes! Unfortunately, I screwed up by going out too fast. I missed out on the trophies for my age group by 10 stinking seconds. I then ran the 1 mile with Jenny, Tommy, Chris and Emily. Everyone did good and had fun.
After the race, we stayed for the big parade. Long parade, Bout an hour.
Then it was on to Jenny's grandmother's for a cookout. I cooked up hamburgers and hotdogs, stuffed ourselves real good.
And then...we ended the night in Dade City for their Sparklebration. They did a good job this year with the fireworks, the kids loved it.

Oh, and last night, we went to the drive-in to see Wall-E again. Another good movie from Pixar. If you haven't seen it, go check it out!!

Remember that Women's Studies class you considered taking in college? Allow us to summarize what you would have learned: All of our society's gender issues stem from the fact that fathers once used their daughters as currency to a) pay off a debt to a wealthier land owner, b) symbolize a sacrificial, monetary peace offering to an opposing tribe or c) buy their way into a higher social strata.

So next time you tear up watching a beaming father walk his little girl down the aisle, remember that it's just a tiny, barbaric little hold over from the days when daughters were nothing but dollar signs to daddy dearest.

And that veil she's wearing? Yeah, that was so the groom wouldn't know if he was stuck with an uggo until it was time to kiss the bride and too late to back out on the transaction. (There is also some superstitious B.S. about warding off evil spirits, but we think you'll agree that hiding a busted grill from the husband-to-be is a more practical purpose.)

Check in each day to find out how many of our wedding traditions started.

The white wedding dress

Technically, today's wedding gowns aren't white. They are "Candlelight," "Warm Ivory," "Ecru" or "Frost." But there was a time when a bride's wedding attire was simply the best thing in her closet (talk about "off the rack"), and could be any color, even black.

To convince her groom that she came from a wealthy family, brides would also pile on layers of fur, silk and velvet, as apparently grooms didn't care if his wife-to-be reeked of sweaty B.O. as long as she was loaded.

It was dear ol' Queen Victoria (whose reign lasted from 1837-1901) who made white fashionable. She wore a pale gown trimmed in orange blossoms for her 1840 wedding to her first cousin, Prince Albert.

Hordes of royal-crazed plebeians immediately began to copy her, which is an astonishing feat considering that "People Magazine" wasn't around to publish the Super Exclusive Wedding Photos, or instruct readers on how to Steal Vicki's Hot Wedding Style.

To view Andy & Rosy's proofs and to purchase prints, go HERE

All orders completed in the next 2 weeks will receive 15% off.
All prints are made on Kodak Metallic paper and each photo is color enhanced with minor retouching.

After losing 3 days to cleaning up the huge tree branch that fell in our backyard, I have finally completed the pre-design of Rosy & Andy's album...Hope you enjoy it!

You can view it by clicking HERE

Giving myself a personal pat on the back for being the winner of the Florida State Parks photo contest for the month of May. I shot this beautiful sunset in March while we were in Panama City for the Tyndall airshow.

Emily's birthday is tomorrow. So, today we took her to get her ears pierced. She is so happy to have gotten it done. After some nervous tears and the initial ouch plus some more tears, she loves her new look!

Had a fantastic session with my friend Hedi's daughter who is graduating high school this week. She is a beautiful girl with a fantastic smile. It was so much fun creating photos with her!!

Today was Tommy's 5th grade luncheon and awards ceremony. Tommy did great! He received awards for Best Male PE Student for his class, he was one of only about 5 5th graders total who earned a black belt in Recorder Karate for music class where he had to play a different song perfectly to receive a belt, he was  the one chosen for his class to recite his Most Memorable Day at Woodland essay, and best of all he received the Silver President's Academic award for getting all As & Bs plus being an all-around good kid.   
Jenny and I are so proud of him.
Way to go Tommy, and keep it up in middle school next year!

Thank-you to Rosy and Andy for inviting us to their wedding. Jenny and I had a wonderful time meeting all of their friends and family. The Dominican food was great...not spicy (as I learned, they don't spice it up)! It was a fairy tale wedding that everyone enjoyed.

Keep checking back as I will have the album design up later this week.

 

Jenny and I just got in from Rosy and Andy's wedding that took place at The Event Factory in Tampa. It is an interesting venue with different themed areas. We were in the Enchanted Forest. It was different shooting a wedding entirely indoors. We had a great time with a wonderful group of people.
Hmm, it is 1AM Monday morning, so check back later tonight for a short slideshow!!