When Nicole contacted me shortly after her fall engagement session about wanting a guest book, I happily reported I was in the process of seeking a vendor for that very thing. With guest books and wedding albums, I give my client the option to pick their favorite image or images from the session and from there I design a cover based on their selection. This was Nicole’s pick for a full spread cover and I can see why. Doesn’t she have the SWEETEST smile here?

Inside the book, the pages are customized with photographs from your engagement session. I make sure to leave plenty of white space throughout the book so your guests have plenty of room to sign their names and offer the couple well wishes.

The size of the book is 8 inches by 8 inches and contains 15 spreads (so 30 pages total, front and back)

The pages are gutterless, but still lay flat for easy browsing and are made from heavy, creamy paper — you have to see one in person to see how gorgeous they are!

The books are made with quality materials to ensure that years after your wedding, you’ll still be able to crack it open as if it’s brand-new!

For 2010 brides who’ve already booked with me, there’s still time to order a custom-designed guest book of your wedding day! Contact me via e-mail for more details. The guest books are available at an a la carte price but are also included in a wedding package I offer that includes a wedding album. Both make excellent mementos of your wedding day

See more of Gail’s work at www.gailwernerphoto.com. Friend Gail on Facebook. Follow Gail on Twitter.

What, exactly, is that? Many of you have probably heard of this, but to the unfamiliar, it’s a list of an assortment of goals you want to accomplish over the course of nearly 3 years. Thanks to Melissa, I created my first 101 in 1001 on Jan. 1, 2008. Then, I promptly forgot about it. (Here it is, if you’re curious). When Melissa recently blogged about her version 2.0 of her 101 list (’cause, you know, she actually FINISHED her first one!), I got to thinking it’d be nice to give my own 101 a fresh new start (and the attention it deserved).

Looking back at my old list, I’m amazed to see I accomplished over a third of what I wrote down. As Melissa writes in her blog topic on the subject, people who write down their goals are much more likely to be successful in reaching them, and I couldn’t help but think she was on to something. So here’s to tackling everything that’s on this list of mine (and as you can see, I’ve left a small bit of wiggle room to add a few more goals too!). They may not all become reality, but if you don’t visualize ‘em first, how do you know how much you’re willing to try, eh? Wish me luck!

START DATE: March 7, 2010

END DATE: December 2, 2012

1) Travel Europe (this one’s in the works!)
2) Visit New England
3) Visit Seattle
4) Take a picture of myself visiting NYC in Times Square
5) Go sledding
6) Take a hot air balloon ride
7) Take a cruise with Nick
8 ) Visit a friend in a different state at least once a year
9) Pay for the meal of a stranger (drive thru counts!)
10) Help a local charity on a monthly basis for a whole year
11) Read the Bible in one year
12) Learn how to meditate
13) Join a Bible study
14) Adopt a family at Christmas
15) Ring the bell for the Salvation Army
16) Read three books a month for a year
17) Watch the LOST series
18) Art direct and create a video with my Flip camera
19) Create a coffee table book of my trip to San Francisco
20) Create a coffee table book of our Europe travels
21) Spend an entire day with my remaining grandmother
22) Tape record/videotape grandmother sharing stories about how she and grandpa met
23) Babysit for a friend and/or family member at least once every six months
24) Put a bun in the oven (had to throw that one in!
25) Cook dinner three times a week for six months
26) Create a easy-to-search cookbook for my favorite recipes
27) Migrate all my old CDs into digital music
28) Practice yoga once a week for an entire year
29) Run another half-marathon
30) Revamp my living room
31) Put flowers on the graves of my decease grandparents
32) Research a well-known photographer
33) Replace the roof on our house
34) Cook Indian food
35) Learn how to cook with a pressure cooker
36) Start an herb garden
37) Knit 3 projects a year
38) Sit down at the piano once a week — even if it’s for 15 minutes— for an entire year
39) Create a collage of prints of my travels; hang them in the living room
40) Have Nick and I’s pictures taken professionally again
41) Create pricing booklets
42) Fully integrate ShootQ into my business
43) Begin using SmugMugs for my picture hosting
44) Work on SEO for my Web site
45) Develop packaging for my products
46) Join WPJA
47) Shoot my first maternity shoot
48) Go to a Jasmine Star workshop
49) Attend WPPI
50) Post once a week on the forums I belong to for six months straight
51) Get inbox down to zero every day for six months’ straight
52) Create holiday card templates for clients to order
53) Introduce new line of guestbooks and albums
54) Read 12 business books in a year
55) Begin using Quickbooks
56) Implement client surveys to get their feedback on how I’m doing
57) Create Christmas ornaments for my past wedding clients of each year
58) Second shoot a wedding with Melissa Jill
59) Second shoot a wedding with Tina Jay
60) Get letterpress business cards made
61) Begin a client referral program
62) Hang a hammock up in the backyard
63) Bake a pie. From scratch.
64) Take a family vacation
65) Clean out my closet each year
66) Purchase the 35 1.4 lens
67) Purchase a laptop
68) Begin to offer slide shows at receptions for my clients
69) Keep a gratitude journal
70) Take a jewelry class
71) Read a classic novel
72) Go fishing with Nick
73) Ride in a bike ride with Nick
74) Join PPA
75) Learn how to play cribbage (with Nick)
76) Throw a party for someone
77) Go to a taping of Wait, Wait Don’t Tell Me in Chicago
78) Complete a Photoshop tutorial
79) Take pictures of my college campus (for myself)
80) Have my photography work published on a style/wedding blog
81) Have my photography work published on a Web site
82) Begin fostering relationships with vendors I work with
83) Create a canvas from my work
84) Shoot a session for a friend for free
85) Take swimming lessons
86) Watch all 100 movies on AFI’s 100 Greatest American Movies list
87) Go to a fancy New Year’s Eve party
88) Have a date night once a month with my husband for an entire year
89) Make a mix CD for a different friend every month for a year
90) Create a birthday list of family’s birthdays and send a card out to everyone for their birthday. On time (for a change).

91) Begin creating ShowIt +Sites for my clients
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As I ran today, clothed in multiple layers, breathing frigid air, but feeling blessed because, hey, at least I had sunshine on my side, I thought about how much better it’d be to run in the sun when it’s nice out. Preferably in shorts. And as I ran, I thought about other, non-wintry things.

Here’s a random list of nine of ‘em. I’m a big fan of even numbers, so wanna help me out and leave a comment for ideas for No. 10? Tell me what YOU’RE most looking forward to about winter coming to an end. Because quite frankly, I think we’re all holding on to that shred of hope that spring is on its way. PURDDDYYYYY PLEASSSEEE SPRING BE ON YOUR WAY.

1) I’m so over this being my come-home-from-the-office work attire. A worn-out pair of GAP track pants I should really retire and any one of a number of my pairs of fuzzy socks. You know who else is probably over this unflattering attire? MY HUSBAND.

2) I’d love it if, you know, the next time I went to weather.com to check the forecast it involved a number that didn’t start with a 3.

3) I’d kiss the makers of these Isotoner mittens on the mouth because they are the best things I’ve ever stuffed my fingers into but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t tired of toting them with me everywhere I go. And leaving one of ‘em at work. Or on the floor of my parking garage.

4) I wanna wear flip-flops again. ‘Nuff said.

5) I’m tired of looking at THIS. By this I mean the nasty inbred step-cousin to the pretty white fluffy stuff that’s so deceptively gorgeous. This is the gross stuff that lingers like the unwanted guest that it is, which is oddly making me think of this movie. (What can I say, I’m in a silly mood tonight).

6) I’m reallllyyyy looking forward to being a wedding photographer again (and bless your souls, y’all probably are too!)

7) I’d like to drive home to this view once more.

8 ) I want to take my dog on regular walks around the neighborhood. Bonus if this can be done while wearing No. 4.

9) And I’m dying for a big, juicy burger that’s fresh off the grill, plopped on a plate, and shared with Nick on our back patio, cold beers in hand.

See more of Gail’s work at www.gailwernerphoto.com. Friend Gail on Facebook. Follow Gail on Twitter.

What do we do as creative types? We compare ourselves to everybody else out there who’s chasing the same dream. As photographers, none of us are going to be Nate and Jaclyn Kaiser or Jasmine Star. There’s only one of ‘em. Musicians know they’re never going to be Queen or The Rolling Stones. There’s only one of ‘em. If we’re smart, we’ll all keep our heads to the grindstone and find ways to make our own talent shine and forget about how many others out there are doing the same. The Avett Brothers know this too. It’s why, when I listened to them sing Sunday night at their sold-out, standing room only Indianapolis concert, my heart soared a tiny bit with them. As Scott Avett sings in this song, “Decide what to be and go be it.”

Amen to that boys.

2) If you set out to do something, do it with all your heart.

The Avett Brothers are now on a short list of artists I will drop everything to go see live (others on this list: Coldplay, Josh Ritter, Paolo Nutini and The Swell Season). How’d they get there? Because the times I’ve seen these acts on stage, I KNOW they’ve given it everything they’ve got. Chris Martin says it best in this 60 Minutes interview (which I always swoon over every time I watch it. Yes, every time, as in, multiple viewings. All by me.): “We rely more on enthusiasm than actual skill. Whatever you do, do it enthusiastically and people will like it more. I can’t dance like Usher, I can’t sing like Beyonce, I can’t write songs like Elton John. We can do the best we can with what we’ve got. So that’s what we do. We just go for it.”

So here’s to being the photographer who shows up at every one of her shoots this season with the aim to do the best she can with what she’s got.

3) And finally … don’t get drunk with your boyfriend and darn near ruin it for the rest of us.

Okay, so at a concert level, I mean this one quite literally. As in, don’t be the girl who pushes her way in front of someone only to have an expletive-laden fight with a boyfriend that involves tears, slurred words and air quotes (“SO GO HAVE YOUR ‘FUN’ AND LEAVE ME HERE, OKAY?!”) then embarrass yourself further by following that up with a make-out session during which, between kisses, you come up for air long enough to sing along to someone else’s favorite song. OFF KEY.

How do I transcribe THAT into a take away? Well, quite simply. Don’t be obnoxious. In whatever you do. Be it attending a concert or running a business. The same rules apply, right? Right

On a lighter note, folks, if you’ve never heard of the Avett Brothers, you’re missing out. Here’s a sampling (though I will say, nothing beats ‘em live. Here’s where they’re coming next — if you’re around those parts, you’d do yourself a real favor to make it to one of their shows!)

See more of Gail’s work at www.gailwernerphoto.com. Friend Gail on Facebook. Follow Gail on Twitter.

I love to tell people about a movie I adore but then I hate to watch it with them. ‘Cause for the next 120 minutes, I’m inside my head wondering what’s going on in THEIR head, monitoring their reaction the whole time, thinking things like: “Okay, WHY DIDN’T YOU LAUGH THERE? That was SO funny!” or “Uh oh… okay, he just frowned. That is not good. He must hate this movie. Abort, abort, ABORT!”

I discovered this mind-game with Nick early in our relationship. Specifically how it could dampen a viewing of my favorite chick flicks. Like when I asked him to watch “Love Actually” with me. He relented. Then, after 2 hours of me watching his response to every scene, said “Eh, it was OK.”And yawned. OKAY?! THE SWEETEST CHICK FLICK EVERY MADE WAS JUST OK?! AND YOU JUST YAWNED AFTER IT?!

I gave up on Operation Make Him Love This Movie shortly after. Which means it’s been years since I’ve asked my husband to watch a chick flick with me. AND I AM OKAY WITH THAT. Now there is a whole stack of movies in our house only I touch. And when I’ve finished watching “The Notebook” for the 112th time, I don’t have to hide sniffles from a guy who greets this kind of mushy stuff with a series of eye rolls.

I mean, we can’t all be married to THIS Nick, now can we?

See more of Gail’s work at www.gailwernerphoto.com. Friend Gail on Facebook. Follow Gail on Twitter.

It was that kind of sick where you can’t get up from the sofa, the TV is on the entire time, and you have long stretches of hallucinatory unconsciousness followed by brief moments of lucidity. Like, I remember attempting to down this God-awful Theraflu concoction while watching the men ski the giant slalom. About when Bode Miller couldn’t make it down the rest of the hill is when I decided I couldn’t chug the rest of that stuff without gagging and so I succumbed to sleep once more. What I remember of the 18+ hours that followed may or may not have involved having make-believe conversations with Matt Lauer, hearing Dr. Phil stage an intervention in my sleep and dreams in which I danced on a coffee table with Ellen.

It’s 4 o’clock now and I finally feel human again. Which means now that I can string coherent thoughts together once more, my brain automatically wants to start ticking through that to-do-list of mine. Then there’s my body, which is weak enough to remind me I just need to relax. Hold on to that pillow and blanket and all-night coverage of the Olympics just a bit longer. After all, being “me” is what helped land me here in the first place. Trying to do everything and nothing at once. So if I want to be 100 percent again before tomorrow, I gotta at least let myself be sick for the rest of the day.

Just so, you know, I can cross it off my to-do-list and all

See more of Gail’s work at www.gailwernerphoto.com. Friend Gail on Facebook. Follow Gail on Twitter.

If I could make one wish (because that’s what people tell you to do on your birthday), it’d involve celebrating a birthday like I was a kid again.

When you were a kid, a birthday was about anticipating the date a week in advance, mom making you your favorite cake (home-made German chocolate!), mentally preparing yourself to blow out all those candles (and being able to do it in your Strawberry Shortcake pajamas), hoping your parents got you that certain something you wanted (a scooter for your Skipper Barbie) or having every girl in your class over for a slumber party where you stayed up too late eating gummy worms.

When you’re an adult, a birthday is condensed to a few cards in the mail from your parents and siblings, seeing your name on an office birthday list, having people you haven’t seen in 10 years wish you “Happy Birthday” on Facebook, and/or pondering what it means to turn another year older, wondering if you’re where you thought you’d be when you turned the age you’ve just become. Not quite the reverence the day is given when it involves turning six years old, right?

This weekend I’m celebrating my birthday with a certain something I’ve been wanting (a pair of TOM shoes!) followed by an out-of-town slumber party with three amazingly awesome girlfriends.

Which leads me to believe if ever there was going to be a birthday where a wish like this would come true, well, today may just be the day.

See more of Gail’s work at www.gailwernerphoto.com. Friend Gail on Facebook. Follow Gail on Twitter.

1) This season of The Bachelor

Guilty confession: If I would let myself, I’d get horribly hooked on every craptastic reality show there is out there. When we had cable (notice the past tense), I got sucked in to the worst of the worst. For hours at a time. I’m talking GIRLS NEXT DOOR, PEOPLE! I’m sure if we had MTV, I’d be watching Jersey Shore.

Stuck now with the networks, there’s still one old reality habit I can’t kick and it’s watching the occasional season of The Bachelor. Why? I seriously have no idea. It’s trite, cliched and just plain awful television. And yet, when it’s on, I’m suddenly all, “Oh no she didn’t” and “Could these girls BE any more fake?!” So, for those who are fellow viewers, who do you think Jake’s going to pick? I was SO rooting he’d take Ali back (she was my fave), but after this week’s episode, for some strange reason, I’m now pulling for the person I h-a-t-e-d from the get-go: Vienna. Again, I’ll echo what I said before with a Why? I seriously have no idea. Maybe it’s ’cause she’s got that crazy eye.

2) Pureology shampoo and conditioner

Folks, this stuff is not cheap; I’ll be the first to admit that. But I buy one bottle of each for an ENTIRE YEAR to get me by, so I figure if other girls can buy handbags and shoes, I can invest in the one type of shampoo and conditioner that makes my hair feel like I could just *maybe* pull off starring in a hair-care commercial. The kind where they frollick in fields and swing their tresses around like they don’t have a care in the world. ‘Cause we all want that kind of life, right?

For real, this stuff is liquid gold (especially if you color your hair). The fact I’m almost out of my yearly stash means I’ve been trying to milk every last drop out of those plastic tubes (which have been hanging upside down, toppling out of my shower caddy for 2 months now).

3) “Bright Star”

I watched this film earlier this month and it darn near took my breath away. If you’re a sucker for anything Jane Austen-ish (aka, all things romantical about bygone eras), it’ll probably grab you too. I’m not sure what I loved most about it. An incredible true love story portrayed by two awesome actors (Abbie Cornish was robbed of an Oscar nom, I’m tellin’ ya), shot in the most BEAUTIFUL locations, it made me think about romance in a time of true courtship and how much sentiment can be wrapped up in a few words on a page.

Unfortunately, I still can’t “get” poetry. Sigh.

4) OmmWriter

I have Dane Sanders to thank for the introduction to this one. OmmWriter is a free app for your Mac (sorry PC folks) that lets you mentally get your ommmm on with soothing music. I like to listen to, you know, stuff with words most of the time while I’m editing , but when I’ve got a deadline I’m facing or something I have to concentrate on while writing, I turn this program on. It’s been a lifesaver at the office for cranking out policy documents! Great way to get your concentrate on if somewhere along the way, Twitter/Facebook/TV has caused you to lose it.

5) Diane Birch’s “Bible Belt”

This woman can sing. And sing. And SING SOME MORE. This is her first album and that fact alone blows my mind. She sings like someone who’s had her fair share of gigs behind old pianos crammed in smoky bars — so in other words, this is a gal with a voice beyond her years.

Give her a listen whydon’tcha? (and thanks to my former student Hillary for turning me on to this gal!)

Fave tracks: Valentino, Rise Up, Photograph, Mirror Mirror and Ariel

See more of Gail’s work at www.gailwernerphoto.com. Friend Gail on Facebook. Follow Gail on Twitter.

First of all, let me apologize. I was in a hurry. Trying to toss the chicken, peppers and onions for those fajitas on a scalding hot skillet AND attempting to multi-task? That was dumb of me. I shouldn’t have tried to cut open that pack of Organic Valley cheddar at the same time. And when the scissors wouldn’t cut through that rubbery plastic that was literally, like, molded to the cheese? Well, I REALLY shouldn’t have turned to the butcher’s knife next.

Picking up that knife was Mistake Number One, obviously. Mistake Number Two, of course, splicing the tip of you open and letting loose a string of expletives I’m not proud of having unleashed. They were, however, words that got the attention of my husband. So I guess they did the job. And by job, I mean getting Nick to join me at the faucet with an “Ohmygawdwhathaveyoudone?!!!!!”

While I’m on a string of apologizing, let me just say I’m sorry you had to see me in the state I was in post-gash. I mean, really, could I have BEEN more of a girl? I went from fine to “I-think-I’m-going-to-toss-my-cookies” in 60 seconds flat. As I was laying on the floor next to the toilet, white as a sheet, blood soaking into the paper towel wrapped around my hand, I apologized to Nick too. (Who knew I’d be so apologetic in times of minor crises?) “Sorry to get all Bella Swan on you babe, but I think I’m either going to pass out or throw up,” I told him. It was a joke. He didn’t get it. Neither might some of my readers.

Having you out of commission for part of my week has left me with predicaments aplenty. After all, you are a VERY important appendage. The jerks on the interstate who don’t like my driving might say the digit beside you is more important, but come on, we all know who’s calling the shots on this hand. And it’s you.

So let me issue Apology Number Three and say I’m sorry for always taking you for granted. The list of ways you make my life immeasurably better start with taking the lead on helping me type 60 words a minute to being the finger that gets the job done when it comes to buttoning up those stubborn, just-out-of-the-dryer jeans. Especially when it comes to those jeans.

It’s times like these that I wouldn’t trade you for any other finger in the world. Of course, if I ever find myself stranded with a flat tire by the side of the road needing a ride, it’s Mr. Thumb I’d turn to but I shouldn’t be telling you that, right?

Yours affectionately,

Gail

(Photographer’s Note: I cannot lie .. I was totally inspired to have fun with this post based on my months-long obsession with the crafty writers who do this kind of thing 10 times better than I ever could over at McSweeney’s. If you want to read some HILARIOUS open letters, head there.

A few of my favorites:

An Open Letter to Facebook

An Open Letter to My Local Newspaper With Advice For When It Runs Its Next Two-Page Photo Spread on the Beautiful Colors of the Seasons

An Open Letter to Jonelle, Who Sent a Three-Song Dedication to Her Boyfriend, Rob

An Open Letter to the People Behind The “Now That’s What I Call Music” Series

Hope you get a laugh out of some of them too!

See more of Gail’s work at www.gailwernerphoto.com. Friend Gail on Facebook. Follow Gail on Twitter.