Bia's second senior shoot

Since moving back to the US in July I've slept in my little sister Maria's room, and we've been spending lots of time together. She's a senior in high school this year and I did a summertime photoshoot with her and some of her friends in the summer. Last week we did a second senior photoshoot at a nature park just outside of town, capturing the chilly weather and fall colors.

She's a reader-writer-philosopher-thinker and she makes it look easy.

I've loved that Maria and I have hung out so much since I've been back, she both keeps me sane and keeps me in my place! This picture makes me smile because it's her in a nutshell.

Plus she's adorable.

She also recently got accepted to her dream college! Big smiles ensued!

I'm so happy I get to enjoy this last year of your life at home before you move on to great things Bia!

Isabel + Matt #2

These two cuties came for a visit on the first of October, and we spent a morning in downtown Brookings taking some more engagement photos, as a continuation of our quick shoot back in July.

Matt and Isabel are so naturally classy and adorable, it made my job easy!

Little sister Maria came along to help, and the whole shoot was relaxed and lots of fun for everyone.

I can't wait to photograph their wedding next July!

Much love to you both!

Sisterly Photoshoot #1: Tessie

The past three weekends have involved three photoshoots with my three sisters! The first was on a Sunday, when Tessie said "I look good today, let's do pictures!" 

So we did.

We found some nice new places down town that worked really well as shooting locations.

My baby sister is a cutie!

Two years and we'll be taking senior pictures!

Saturday Morning Downtown

This weekend was South Dakota's "Festival of Books," and there were plenty of attractions in little Brookings! Bright and early Saturday morning, Maria, my dad and I went to a poetry reading by Ted Kooser, who is a Nebraskan former Poet Laureate. I saw a reading he did at the University of Nebraska- Lincoln when I was in high school, and I've loved him and his poetry ever since. I was so excited to find out he was coming to Brookings!

The three of us woke up early on Saturday morning, made and ate some pancakes, and walked over to the Brookings Arts Council building, which was a lovely, cozy venue for such an event.

The reading was wonderful, and he mostly read unaired, recent poetry of his from the past few months. He even read us a poem he had written since being in Brookings. Although none had yet been published, they were all so polished which is a testament to his experience and talent. The whole session was very intimate, and he shared a lot of personal details (including his habitual wake-up time 4:30am, a relic of his years as an insurance salesman to squeeze writing into his day), and detailed backstory on a few different poems.

At the end I was even brave enough to go up and speak to him! We chatted for a few minutes and I told him about how this wasn't the first time I had seen him read. He was very gracious and even let me get a picture with him.

After the reading we headed to the farmers' market, which had a really great vibe that morning with story time, a small jazz band, the usual fare of fruits, veggies, flowers, bread and honey, and also some more unusual sights.

Fresh-squeezed apple cider, made by a colleague of mine!

Bia and I shared a cup of apple cider while admiring a pair of visiting...

Alpacas!

There were people spinning yarn from the alpaca wool next to them, and they had hand-knitted hats, scarves, pot-holders and more for sale.

So of course, I got the cutest turtle ever!!

After that, Bia and I perused the book fair and I made a wonderful purchase:

All in all we had a really lovely morning in downtown Brookings! Big city-style events, small town charm:

Some wonderful news...

Othman and I are through the first stage in the Green Card process!! 

It has been a long wait, and there are many hurdles yet to jump through, and two more stages in this long, tedious, and difficult process, but I'm celebrating this milestone!

Farewell for now

Yesterday Othman had to leave. We had such a wonderful time during his visit and it was hard to see him off, but I'm so thankful he was able to come!

Whenever someone who is visiting leaves, my family always takes farewell group pictures in the yard. Of course we couldn't break with tradition and took some cute ones before Maria and I took Othman to the airport.

I love these ones in particular!

During his visit Othman and I spent a lot of quality time together, bought a car, he met some of my colleagues and saw my workplace... all in all it was lovely, and a nice preview of what it'll be like when he comes for real! Fingers crossed that his green card processing goes quickly and well!

More fun in MN

In the afternoon Labor Day we headed to the Science Museum of Minnesota per the recommendation of Isabel and Matt who had been on a date there before. It was cute and educational too. We learned about weather, physics, dinos, and even past pseudo-science fads!

Othman even got to imagine himself as an astronaut.

It was a fun afternoon!

After that we were feeling peckish and went to a diner for some authentic American fare.

Awww, so cute.

While in the Cities we also had a lovely Sushi dinner with Isabel and Matt! It was a really lovely night and it was great to have a double date with them.

We loved our trip! We got back to South Dakota happy and rested from our little vacation.

A Morning at the Zoo

On Labor Day we decided to visit the Como Zoo in the morning, since it wasn't far and was a nice, small, and walkable. Plus neither of us had been to a zoo in years and years, so we thought it'd be fun!  

We laughed at the cute monkeys first.

There was a big family of Gorillas who were just beautiful.

There was also a super cute baby orangutan who was entertaining a big crowd.

We also saw some cool aquatic animals,

 and photogenic giraffes

and zebras.

We stopped by the gift shop on the way out and spent way too much money on gifts there, and then I had fun photographing some of the gorgeous water plants on the way out.

Next up: Labor Day afternoon!