I Have a Husband

I have a Husband......

....... who is a child trapped in a man's body.

........ who changes his mind, plans and dreams faster than Fintan when he's trying to escape the neighbors dog.

........who almost never listens to a word I say (éist liom).

........who f*#ks up, regularly.

.......who insists on answering his cell phone during all our meals.

........who buys clothes I raise an eyebrow at and wears them, with beaming pride.

........who exits in a form of "Tunnel Vision" when the Red Sox or Patriots flex their baseball or football muscles.

........ who stays up waaaaaay past his bedtime.

........who says I'm not scared of murderers and rapists when I'm clearly and plainly telling him, in English, that I am scared of murderers and rapists.

........who forgets to show any romance for occasions like Valentines Day and Anniversaries.

........who frustrates me so much that I want to smack him, HARD.

But I also have a Husband...........

.......who understands my twisted sense of humor and thinks I'm hilarious.

.......who makes me laugh, even when I don't want to.

.......who knows how to disarm me when I'm mad.

.......who forces me to try new things, regardless of my protests and never says "told you so" when I end up having the time of my life.

.......who says "sorry", even though I know he has no idea what he should be sorry for.

.......who knows what I'm thinking before I even open my mouth.

.......who doesn't judge my twisted way of thinking and my weird and wonderful habits.

........who supports any and every new avenue I want to pursue.

........who shows up with the most random gifts and leaves me wondering "what the hell was he thinking??"

.......who won't stop talking about baseball and football, long after I'm done listening.

........who insists on explaining the inner workings of a car engine or pointing out how I should get from A to B via a map when he can clearly see that the lights are on, but nobody is home.

........ who says its "ok" when I scrap, dent or crash yet another vehicle (even though I know its not, he's gutted but trying to be nice)

.......who turns a blind eye to my ever increasing collection of boots, shoes and dresses.

....... who never complains as the above collection of boots, shoes and dresses creep its way onto "his side" of our closet.

.......who believes I can be great at anything I do.

........who got me the most amazing birthday gift, ever.

Yes, today is my birthday and right when I fear he may show up with something random, leaving me wondering "what the hell were you thinking", Husband blindsides me with a gift that proves

1. he does in fact sometimes listen to me and

2. he knows what I'm thinking before I even say a word.

Husband you know what you did. You did good. Enjoy this blog of compliments cos nice Shinks will be gone again before you know it.

Whirlwind Weekend

Its been a whirlwind weekend. Thursday I flew to Ireland cos on Saturday, I was shooting the wedding of 2 Irish athlete friends of mine, Marian Andrews and Robert Heffernan. I'll blog more about their big day as the week goes on. I just got back to Atlanta today and I am wrecked. I think I may have picked up the flu. Regular, Swine, Bird or whatever the latest designer flu is thats going around, I think I got it. The symptoms are all there.

I haven't had a chance to go through all of the photos yet, but I have gone through some. I included 2 of my favorites so far below and hope there are plenty more favorites where they came from.

Marian and Rob just after the ceremony.

Holli and Jeremy Wedding

So I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that I'd made a trip to St. Simon's Island, Georgia to shoot a wedding. Well, really my amazing photographer friend Jill Higgins, who I'd assisted back in June at a wedding in South Carolina, was shooting, but she offered me the opportunity to tagged along so I could get some much needed wedding photography practice.
Honestly, I can't say enough good things about Jill. She has been such a resource, help and example to me of what an amazing photographer should be and her coolness and professionalism makes me feel like such an amateur. I can only hope that one day I'll be able to shoot half as good as she can


But let me briefly mention the bride, Holli and groom, Jeremy. The day of the wedding was our first introduction. I'd never met either of them before and I can honestly say, if you ask either of them now, after the wedding, if they remember me there, capturing photo after photo of their wedding day, I'm betting the answer would be "No". Why? Because this couple only had eyes for each other all day long. It was amazing to see and even more amazing to shoot. A couple this much in love provides endless opportunities to capture moment after stunning moment of timeless photos. From a photographers perspective, it was so freeing. Holli and Jeremy were so absorbed in each other, they didn't care what was asked of them. As a result, Jill and I were able to get some very special shots.


Holli and Jeremy also decided to have a "First Look" before the ceremony, giving them some stolen moments together before all the guests arrived and us an opportunity to get some great photos of them together.


And from the tons and tons of photos I shot that day, below are a bunch of my favorites. I hope you enjoy.




Holli gets some assistance getting into her stunning dress.






The final touches before she goes to met her future husband.






Jeremy, tall and handsome, waits patiently for his bride.




















Holli puts Jeremy's final touches together.






Love, love, love this photo. Love it.






Love this one too.


































A view of the ceremony venue. I shot this from the 5th floor of the hotel, hence the miniature looking seating.






A closer shot.






The cutest, blondest and most handsome best-man, ever. Holli's son.



























Finally, Mr & Mrs.






Look out boys, this maid-of-honor is gonna be a stunner. Holli's daughter.






The necklace was a gift from both Holli & Jeremy.

The first dance.

Enjoying a view of the ocean from the hotel roof-top.


Congratulations Holli and Jeremy. And thank you so much for letting me be a apart of your special day. Thank you too Jill, for being amazing.

U2

Just back from the U2 concert. Great night. Band is amazing live. Off to bed. Got to get up for work in a few short hours. My ears won't stop ringing. Not even the cabin-pressure yawn is helping (frequent flyers know what I'm talking about). Just have to sleep on it.

My New BFF Maggs

While its true I've been living in the US for a number of years now, I've still never managed to develop any sort of comfort level when it comes to driving the highway and byways of this vast country. I feel like an alien or at the least a tourist, every time I need to go somewhere that is outside of my regular driving routine.

The first problem is the sheer size of the roads. Highways so wide you could land a jumbo-jet. Then there's the fact that Atlanta is a city so spread out, nothing is ever close to anything else, so driving is a must. You can't avoid it. If you want to go out, if you want to have a life and socialize in this city then you better get to drivin and for a girl with serious and I mean serious, just ask Husband, sense of direction issues, driving is nothing short of a fecking nightmare.

Manys a time I've suffered the wrath of a venomous drivers horn because I suddenly discovered my turn or exit was fast approaching and I needed to make my way across 4 lanes in the next 200m. Missing my exit is not an option. Missing my exit sends my brain into a spin and I loose my bearings. Missing my exit feels like someone just blindfolded me, spun me around 10 times in each direction, put a tail in my hand and told me to go pin it on a donkey. Yes, its that bad, just ask Husband.

But that was me at my worst. That was me before Mapquest. For years now Mapquest has been my saving grace. Mapquest empowered a girl from a small village in Ireland (really it was a town, but allow me some dramatic license, just for effect) who's main mode of transportation was her bike (this is not for dramatic effect, this is fact) to confidently take on the cut-throat and hostile world of the US Interstate. In my mind nothing could beat Mapquest. Nothing that is, until I met Maggs

Maggs is my new Sat-Nav/GPS and a birthday gift (its not my birthday yet, but soon) from my brother and his wife and why I have not got my hands on one of these babies sooner is beyond me. This thing is genius. My brother was tired of seeing me search and print (or write out by hand if your printer is broken) the directions to every place we planned on visiting almost every day of his trip. To him is was unnecessary and needed to end. And end it did with the arrival of Maggs.

Maggs, is short for Margaret and why we called her Margaret in the first place, I'm not sure, when she spoke, she just sounded like a Margaret or Maggs to her friends. And since we are now friends and I have learned to put my full trust is her and her ability to get me from origin to designation safely and correctly, Maggs is what she'll be.

Last Baby Blog, I Promise

This is the last baby blog, I promise. The reason its the last is cos our guests have gone back home to Ireland. Sad, I know. But we had a blast and managed to pack so much into their 10 day visit. Many, many photos were taken as a way to embarrass my nephew someday when he is much much older, but mostly to help document his adventures long before he has the ability to remember. He'll thank me some day, I just know it.

Below are a bunch of photos from our trip to Atlanta Zoo. Its mostly panda's and guerilla's, cos lets face it, who doesn't love a panda or a guerilla?

Adorable.

Intimidating.

There is a guerilla sitting next to that tree, look closely.

Adorable again.

Now here we have some of the photos my nephew will NEVER thank me for taking, him dressed as a pumpkin. His mother made me do it, honestly.

His own dad was in on it too.

This One's For My Dad

I'm trying not to be too overkill on the baby blogs. Babies are not everyone's cuppa tea and I can appreciate that. But yesterday morning I woke up to a very distressed e-mail from my dad. Everyday he's been logging onto the blog, waiting and waiting for more updates on his grandson's adventures Stateside. And everyday this week he has logged off disappointed. So he decided to take matters into his own hands and write me a strongly worded e-mail to communicate his frustration.

So today, this post is for my dad, full of photos from Evan's trip to the Pumpkin Farm. 

Loadz a rows of pumpkins. Pumpkins of all sizes and all shades of orange.

Choosing is just too hard.

We eventually chose a nice big one and my brother used this opportunity to show off his man-strength.

Evan just couldn't wait to jump on board.

These pumpkins are a blast.

But Evan wanted one of his own. One he could sink his nonexistent teeth into.

We walked away with a fine selection and my garden is now ready for Fall.