Little Lo...

Quite possibly, the cutest boy ever. I was first able to take some photos of him when he was only a couple weeks old. Here he is at about 4 months. I have to say, I love this age. They still have that irresistible baby chubbiness but are so much more cognizant than newborns. You first start to see that spark of personality. And those baby giggles are enough to melt your heart...

These are the first photos that I edited on my new iMac. Since the computer isn't online yet, I had to burn them onto a cd and post them from my parent's computer. Ah, only 3 more weeks until we'll be settling in to our house. The color seems like it popped a lot more on the Mac. And the black and whites here seem a bit muddy to me. Perhaps I need to invest in some calibration. How do they look to you? CC is always welcome.

And not to be outdone, here's a couple of Matty. Rockin' his army hat and giving his Momma some love...

Oh Happy Day!

Even after learning that I had to work on Saturday, I couldn't be in a bad mood after seeing this! I was not expecting it to arrive since I had tracked it the day before and it had just arrived in Anchorage, Alaska. Look at the crazy journey that my Mac has made. You'll notice that they tried to deliver it in the morning and no one was home to sign for it. So they left a little note that said that they'd try to deliver it again on Monday (you mean, I have to wait out the weekend?!?) or we could pick it up at their facility... 45 mins away. Not exactly what I wanted to do after an 11 hour workday and an hour drive home. Don't get me wrong, I would have! Luckily, the best husband in the world was able to contact someone, who sent a message to the driver, who was nice enough to stop back at our house again on a Friday evening when I'm sure he just wanted to get out of that friggin truck. Crisis averted.

I love it so far. And that's an understatement. When I got it set up, I felt like a new parent. All I could do was stare at it admiringly and wonder what I'm going to do with this beautiful new thing. It's so overwhelming though. I'm trying to learn how to use my new iMac, and how to navigate through CS3, and I feel like this process is going to take me awhile. I have a feeling I'm going to be a bit sleep deprived for the next few weeks...

On another note, I thought that I'd be able to connect to the internet wirelessly with my new computer, but after reading up on it it looks like I need some things that don't come factory installed. As you can see, I don't know much about these things. If can share some knowledge about this, I'll owe you one...

Home...

Back to reality. We made it home late, LATE Monday night after a 1½ hour flight delay leaving me a refreshing 3 hours of sleep before dragging myself back to work on Tuesday morning. I did little more than sleep yesterday after work and feel like I could do the same today. Vacations are exhausting. hehe. I'm anxious to post some photos from our trip but I think I may hold off until I can post them on my new computer. Which, according to FedEx, is currently in Shanghai! What?!? I was expecting it to ship from California so imagine my surprise after attempting to track my shipment as non-obsessively as possible and seeing CHINA as the pick-up location! I guess it's doubtful that it'll arrive today. =)

We had a woooonderful time in San Francisco. We got to see so much, thanks to our fab tour guides (aka: inlaws). My favorite day had to be when we biked the Golden Gate bridge over into Sausalito. We had lunch overlooking the water, then took the ferry back to San Fran. Ahhh. The weather was perfect and I'm so happy that Kev got to spend his 30th birthday in California. I know he loved it. More details soon, I promise...

I'm leaving, on a jet plane...

Tomorrow, that is. Early. We're headed to San Francisco to celebrate Kev and Mark's (Kev's stepdad) birthday weekend. Strange coincidence that they share the same birthday, don't you think? The boys are starting to get spoiled... last year they celebrated their birthday in Italy, this year in Cali... Though I can hardly complain, as I get to go along! I'm already excited to see where next year's birthday takes us.

Kev turns 30 on Saturday. And though I think he's a little sad about it, I know he's thrilled to get to celebrate it in San Fran. He has wanted to visit California for so long. A fabulous vacation is sure to soften the blow a little ;-)

and since I won't be able to post it this weekend.... Happy (early) Birthday, love!

Mac Watch...

Waiting... and waiting... and waiting...

They quoted 4 - 6 weeks for it to ship. Four weeks is this Thursday. Can you tell I'm getting anxious? I was hoping that they were lying about the 4 - 6 weeks and just exaggerating the timeframe to cover their butts. Doesn't look to be the case. With any luck there will be a bright, shiny, new favorite toy waiting for me when we return from Kev's birthday weekend...

Chaddsford Winery...

Last weekend Kev planned a fabulous outing for us. Don't you just love it when men take the initiative to plan something special? We headed about an hour south of here to the Chaddsford Winery for their annual Wine Festival. I'm pretty sure that by now you've noticed my affinity for wine. Twenty dollars got you a souvenir wine glass and as many trips around the wine tasting stations as you could manage. The weather could not have been more perfect. A jazz band set the mood. Kev packed a picnic lunch for us, so we sat in the grass and enjoyed our mixed greens salad, fruit medley, and sugar cookies. And then we took another trip around the tastings...

A sangria slushee. Whoever made this heavenly concoction is my new best friend...

By the way, do these photos look dark to you? Whenever I edit them at home they look good but when I check them at work they're always dark and blah... so please let me know what you're seeing! I hope everyone has a great week. It's a 3-day work week for me since we leave on Thursday for San Fran... woot, woot!

Birthday girl...

Happy Birthday Chloe! My baby turns 2 today. Oh, how fast they grow up. People probably think I'm crazy for making a big deal about my dog's birthday, and they might be right. But Chloe brings such an unexplainable amount of joy to our lives, her birthday deserves a celebration too. Here's a few of my favorite Chloe photos from the last two years, in honor of the Chloemonster's birthday....

The night we brought her home
Chloe's first Christmas
Kev and Chloe caught spooning... Don't tell that I posted this, I'll be in deep trouble! I love it though, she looks like a little piglet Clearly, being a wizard is hard work...
Last year's birthday. Her birthday ribbon reads: Kiss me, it's my Birthday! The card that I made Kev for our wedding day...

Logo...

I have a logo! Isn't it beauuutiful? It was designed by the amazingly talented Brianne Brose. Granted, there is no 'April Ziegler photography' as of yet but if it ever comes to be, I'm prepared (logo-wise, at least!). I've been seeing Brianne post logos for others on the Photo Board and quite honestly I wanted one of my own. =) I really just wanted to have a logo to start using on my blog photos. There has been talk of people's photos being stolen and posted by random freaks claiming them as photos of their own children. Sick. And I'm saddened by the fact that people who are trying to share photos their kids, friends, family and life have to worry about things like this. Such is the nature of the internet, I suppose.

I'm still holding out hope that my Mac will ship sooner than the estimated 4-6 weeks. I have photos from this weekend that I may try to post tomorrow, depending on how the computer is acting. It's so time consuming with the archaic editing program that came with the computer.

I hope everyone had a good Labor Day weekend. It was so wonderful to have 3 days off. We did a lot of relaxing, some shopping for the new house, and spent Sunday at a wine festival. Fabulous. More on that to come...

Sangre...

We broke open one of the bottles of wine that we brought back from Spain tonight. Sangre de Toro. Which means 'blood of the bull'. Despite the icky name, the wine is fabulous. Kev was hesitant to open it. Like all other aspects of our relationship, he's a saver... I'm not so much. I'm more the 'Carpe Diem' type.

I convinced him that there's reason for celebration. I got accepted into Wendy Schulz's Advanced Photography class, set to begin in February. I certainly don't feel 'advanced', but I'm looking forward to being challenged. Wendy is one of my favorite child photographer's, her work is nothing less than amazing. I can't wait for the class.

I'm still waiting for my new computer. In the meantime we've had to completely delete Photoshop due to computer issues. So these photos are basically SOOC. I'm trying out larger photos for the blog, instead of the medium-sized that I used to use... Thoughts?


And what happens after a little too much Sangre...

BIG NEWS!

We are now homeowners! Almost. Settlement isn't until October 15th, but we had the home inspection yesterday and everything went well so it should be smooth sailing until we sign the papers. ::: fingers crossed ::: We are thrilled and can't wait to move into our first home. This has been a long time coming. We started house hunting in December, some times more actively than others since we spent the beginning of the year more focused on the wedding. This place just fits us perfectly... I can already envision us spending many summer evenings enjoying dinner on the deck and many winter nights cuddled up in front of the fireplace.

Our new house is a 3 bedroom, 2½ bath townhouse in Schwenksville. It's about half way between both of our jobs, and my commute will no longer involve the PA turnpike so that's a blessing in itself. It's less than 5 minutes from Spring Mountain ski lodge, which means that Kev will inevitably have to teach me to snowboard this year. Should be interesting, hehe. And it's within walking distance to the Perkiomen trail, which will be great for biking and I'm sure the Chloemontster will love walks there. So here's a few photos of our little love nest. Most are from the listing so I can't speak for the quality but it gives you an idea... More to come in 2 months!

On strike...

Photoshop is officially on strike. Our computer is so royally messed up that I cannot do any editing. It's frustrating, to say the least. I'm going to see what I can do to remedy the situation this weekend, as I know that Krista is patiently waiting to see her photos from last weekend.

But, in better news...

My iMAC is on it's way. Well, not yet. But it's ordered. I cannot wait! They quote 4 to 6 weeks until it will ship. Isn't that cruel?

Just one...

I got together with my friend Krista and her boys yesterday. I wanted to edit all the photos last night so I could get them up since I haven't been posting much recently. But, predictably, the computer started to rebel. So I only had the patience to do one... a sneak peak! Mac is calling my name...

I had so much fun with you guys, like always! =) Thank you for lending me your adorable little models. I hope you had a good evening and that Judy had a fabulous birthday dinner...

More pups...

Ok, I lied about there being something other than dogs posted. But sometime within the next few days there will be some real life humans on my blog. This time I'm serious...

Here's my parent's older pug, Harley. He's 13. But still cute in his own deaf, toothless kind of way...


And we all know this irresistible mug...

Pugs and obesity....

Can you tell that I'm desperate for subjects? This is my one of my parent's pugs... Angel. She weighs in at a whopping 35 lbs. A little overweight. hehe. Adorable, nonetheless. And I have to give her credit for always keeping such a sweet, calm temperament... even when Chloe is biting her face. Yes, Chloe has aggression issues.

I swear, I will post some non-hairy subjects as soon as I can!

Chloe...

Who can resist this sweet face? I love her to pieces... Even when she talks back, like this. Chloe has quite the attitude and she doesn't hesitate to let us know when she's not happy. Her ears still make me giggle. Although they're still kind of big, when she was little they were hugely disproportionate to her body. Adorable. I'll have to find some photos of it.

Random photos...

One of the flowers that Kev got me for our six monthiversary...

My little sister. I love this shot of her because she never ever smiles in photos. This one feels so genuinely her...

My handsome husband, cooperating for all of ONE photo... And the Chloemonster. I don't know why we still insist on buying her toys... She's obviously much more smitten with the apples that she finds in the backyard...

Technical Difficulties...

I haven't been posting much recently due to some technical difficulties that we've been having with our PC. I haven't even been able to look at my new photos. I'm half tempted to make the switch to the dark side and purchase a Mac... but the thought of change terrifies me, plus we'd then have to buy new Mac compatible software. This new hobby can be quite costly! So I think for now I will try to reinstall Photoshop and hope for the best...

Half of a whole year...

That's how long we've been married. Plus one day because I didn't post this yesterday. Yesterday was our 6-monthiversary and like every month, I'm amazed that this much time has passed this quickly. Isn't it crazy how the whole concept of time changes as you age? It seems like time just flies by these days. How is it that as a child it seems like you're constantly waiting for the last day of school, the weeks before your birthday go by in slow motion, and the entire month of December is torturously unending?

6 months. As I explained to Kev yesterday, that's half of a whole year. He giggled. I adore that giggle. He succumbed to the pressure of monthiversary celebrations and surprised me with some beautiful flowers (photos to come!) and an anniversary card. Apparently Hallmark hasn't been made aware that there's a market for 'monthiversary' cards. We went out to a fabulous dinner at our favorite hole-in-the-wall steak place and then topped off the evening with some wine and Big Brother watching. It was so perfect to just be able to relax with my husband after all the busyness recently. And it still makes me smile at my desk each time I get to type husband. Especially in italics.

A friend of mine, Sarita, featured our big day on her wedding blog yesterday which was quite an honor. Check us out...

Sunflower Celebrations: Laughter & Love

Wine and Crime...

We've all heard of the alleged health benefits to drinking red wine, such as lowering the risk of heart disease. But I have recently stumbled upon what appears to be yet another positive aspect of wine drinking. Check out this chart, which shows an inverse relationship between wine consumption and violent crime.

The chart is from a new site called Swivel, which is trying to be a “YouTube for data”. Commentors are quick to point out that correlation is not causation. The top theory on wine-crime relationship so far is that an aging population (which we have I suppose) would be more interested in drinking wine than committing crime. Maybe. Wine does have a “civilized” connotation in US society. Are we becoming more civilized?
from 'Winelog'

Conclusion: Drink more wine, have less crime!