SICK!

I ended up in urgent care with severe bronchitis last week. Well, at least that explains why I’ve been coughing for over a month.

But after a round of antibiotics I’m feeling much better, and gradually digging myself out from under the mountain of work that’s accumulated. Fortunately today was my last of work at school, and I am now officially on vacation!! I got caught up on all of my emails today, and I only have one gallery left to finish. Then a few book designs, and I’m done! Just in time for the summer rush to begin.

Speaking of summer, if you are planning to schedule a portrait session in July or August, contact me right away!! I was checking my calendar earlier today, and things are booking up fast. While I still have several dates to choose from in July, there is only one remaining weekend session in the month of August! Go here to check my availability for the summer months. And please note that the website with my calendar on it is still under construction. I’ve set it up for client proofing and the calendar, but none of the galleries have been added yet.

I’ll be back soon with a couple more posts, but for now I’ll leave you with a picture of our puppy, Otto, discovering that he does NOT like to swim in our pool.

Mini Sessions: This month’s Mini Session theme is “Rock the Frock.” Have a prom dress in your closet and don’t know what to do with it? Don’t just let it hang there, let’s have some fun with it! Not sure what a Rock the Frock session involves? Well, first check out Taylor’s session from a few weeks back. Then pick a location that you’d like to rock, and give me a call! And if you want to take it beyond just rocking and into full “trash the dress” we can do that as well!

The cost of a Mini Session is just $125.00. You get a 30-minute session, 2 free gift prints (up to 8×10), and 20% off all other prints that you order. Call me today to schedule yours!

Clicks For Conners: This program has been extended for the month of June! Details of the program can be found in this post. Anyone who schedules a Rock the Frock mini session this month will automatically have 10% of their session fee and their print order donated to the Golisano Children’s Hospital. Want to help donate but aren’t interested in rocking a frock? No problem. For the month of June you can call me and let me know that you’d like a Clicks For Conners mini session. It can be any kind of session you want – family, just the kids, senior, whatever. But due to time constraints, no newborn sessions please. Contact me soon if you want to take advantage of this offer. I only have a few session dates remaining for June!

June Session Dates: To help me maintain my sanity while I get through the rest of the school year, I am going to be limiting the number of portrait sessions that I do this month. And if I find that this works well, I may do something similar next month, as I try to balance my photography work with my home life. As I mentioned earlier, the boys have a number of summer day camps that they will be involved in this year, and Mom’s Taxi Service will be working overtime!

Here is what I have available for the month of June (I will update this post as the dates are taken):
• Saturday, June 12th – 8:00am
• Sunday, June 20th – 8:00am or 5:00pm
• Saturday, June 26th – 8:00am or 5:00pm
• Sunday, June 27th – 8:00am or 5:00pm

I am not going to be starting my weekday sessions until July, with one exception: if you live in the Fayetteville-Manlius area and are interested in a portrait session the week of June 28th, please contact me. Grant will be attending MPH’s summer program that week and I will be looking for something to do while he is there. I don’t relish the idea of driving from Fulton to Manlius and back TWICE every day, so if I can book some portrait sessions in the area during that time, it would be great! He will also be at MPH the week of July 12th, so contact me if you are interested in doing something that week as well.

Gift Registry: Expecting a baby soon? Want to create beautiful portraits of that precious little one that you will cherish forever? Then you need to get on my Gift Registry! This has been a hit with expectant moms since I launched it at the beginning of the year. Call or email me for details!

That’s about all the news I have this month. I’ll end with a more personal update on the newest member of our family…

Otto: People have been asking about how our puppy has been doing lately. He is growing like a weed, and we have determined that he is going to end up being one big dog!! He is now housetrained, and he likes being in his crate, so life is pretty good. He loves having his sister living next door and they love to play together. But if for some reason he isn’t able to have his “play date” with her on a particular day, watch out! He gets very hyper and whiny. He’s also not happy when the boys get on the bus to go to school. He used to just sit and whimper, but now he totally freaks out! Running around, jumping up on the door, barking like crazy. He misses his boys during the day! Here’s a recent picture of the Otto-bot:

On this Memorial Day, please take a moment to remember who have given their lives so that we may live in freedom. I will be remembering my grandfather, Harry Powers. He survived the hell that was World War II. When it was over he came home and raised a family and lived long enough to see his great-grandchildren. He was an amazing man, and very special to me. I miss him greatly.

“It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God that such men lived.” — General George S. Patton

And a special “Happy Mother’s Day” goes out to my mother. Thank you for all you have done for me over the past 41 years, including (especially) playing silly games like this with my silly children (and my silly sister). I love you!

And just a note that Jen Marriner Photography is closed today. I have vowed to stay out of Photoshop, stay off the blog (well, except for this post), not edit any pictures, return any emails, answer any phones, proof any sessions, or order anything except good food. I promise to get back to all of the above first thing tomorrow morning. Have a lovely rest of your day!

Doesn’t he have the cutest face you’ve ever seen?

And this is Lady. She is Otto’s sister, and she was adopted by our next-door neighbor on the same day that we got Otto. I’m so glad they get to grow up together!

We’ve been bringing the dogs out to our back yards to have “play dates” together. Here’s Otto trying to give Grant a kiss.

And both of them try to knock him down.

Hello, handsome.

Kayla was recording the puppies playing together. Here the Three Musketeers check out the video.

Siblings at play…

Oh, I’m going to have such a hard time resisting this little face.

That’s all for now, though I’m sure there will be plenty of Otto pics in the future!!

One of his many attmepts, with Dad hanging on.

He’s got it!!

Oops. Needs to work on the steering a bit.

Off on his own.

Around the loop.

Wrong turn!

I’m so proud of you, Griffin! And won’t your brother be suprised when he gets back from camp to find that he has himself a riding partner!