A short wedding dress, fall-inspired details, striped socks, a gorgeous rural backdrop, torrential downpours followed by a double rainbow (!), some of the sweetest people, good food, cheeseheads, and a Packers’ win. What’s not to love?

Juli & Heidi, it was an honor. I had a blast shooting your wedding and I’m so glad we’ve met. Enjoy a few of your wedding images:

Sun is slicing through my blinds and I turn, open my eyes. 8am; so late already. I prefer to be up earlier but these past two weeks I’m restless, lying in bed until 2 or 3 in the morning, watching the clock numbers tick one into the next. Upon waking I reach for my phone and turn it on … listen to the buzz buzz buzz of incoming emails, texts, messages. I still have a Blackberry but on Monday I get an iPhone. After a quick glance at what I need to do today, I reach for my laptop and turn it on as well. Open 6 tabs, the usual: Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter, Bloglines, Gmail and the New York Times. Click in, click out … 30 minutes will do it. Turn off my laptop and walk into the kitchen … coffee brewing, check. With the huge weight of email/contracts/social media work behind me already, I read a few chapters in Wildwood. The Decemberists are a long time favorite band and as I play Feist’s new album on my iMac in the other other room, I’m swept into Colin Meloy’s fantastical world of make-believe, page by quickly-turned page.

Right as I was ready to post this I saw on Twitter that someone asked something like, “What is your morning routine? Is it like that of your heroes?” I’ve heard many of my “heroes” say not to start your day off in stress. Meaning, don’t check email, Facebook, Twitter etc right away. I tried that for a while, but I was less productive and even more stressed. I struggled with an “ideal morning routine” … (not turning on my phone/email, reading in bed for a bit, playing music, yoga … all before any other work). I determined that I’m the type of person who likes to front-load my work day by getting all the task-based stuff out of the way and out of my head. I couldn’t sit through a yoga session or read a book without thinking about what I needed to do the rest of the day. I prefer to take bike rides and workout during the afternoons — when my brain has shut off for a few hours and can’t focus on anything else.

It’s all about finding what works for you. For me that means 30 minutes of email/social media right away (while I’m still in bed) and then 30 minutes of reading a book with coffee. Then I launch full-force into the rest of my work day … editing, blogging, client meetings, accounting, photo shoots, etc. When my afternoon lull hits, I honor that and get outside or read more inside. It’s easy during this time for me to waste time around the web, but I try my best to stifle that by actually standing up and moving away from the computer.  My former 9-5 style job has conditioned me to stay in one seat all day — but I’m really working on remembering that, Hey! I’m my own boss! Once I’m over the lull, I get back to work again. By the time Troy gets home, if I don’t have an evening shoot, I’m ready to turn off my computer (and even my phone usually :)) and hang out with him.

Tonight I’m going to see The Head and the Heart! My friend and client owns the Majestic Theatre so he has hooked Troy and I up with an Opera Box for a view that is “aces.” I can’t wait and I’ll leave you with this:

Where to even begin? Jennie and Dave are two of the sweetest and nicest people I’ve worked with. It’s obvious they truly cherish and adore one another and they treat everyone around them with respect and kindness. They actually got the wrong cake (discovered upon cutting into it) and just brushed it off and laughed. I was so inspired shooting their city wedding — I love how they took a yellow taxi as opposed to the standard limo. I was obsessed with the wind and the water during portraits … two of my favorite things.

Congratulations, Jennie and Dave! I’m so happy we’ve met. Enjoy just a small taste of your wedding images:

Shout-out to Jennyface for making the girls all look gorgeous. And to daffodil*parker for being the most talented florist yet again.

Some of my August and September travels: the Mississippi River, Western WI and Eastern MN, San Francisco, back home for a bit before returning to San Francisco, Berkeley, Big Sur, Santa Barbara, and San Francisco again.

Just surround me with good people and good food … I’ll never be happier.

Starting this week, I’m gearing up for another big two months of travel: all around the great state of Wisconsin, plus Chicago (x2), San Francisco (and maybe Santa Barbara), New York City, and the okay state of Texas. I feel fortunate that both my job and my friends take me to new places so often. If you want to hang out — let me know.

*Photos of Em and me by Emily Steffen. Photos of just me alone by Encarnacion Photography.