Stephanie Clark Photography

Near the top of exciting things that happened over the last few months… my Dad gave up his job as Ashland's Mayor to become the superintendent of the Ashland Independent Schools.  Unfortunately there was a conflict of interest being both, so the city's loss is the schools' gain.  Interesting side note:  My Mom and Dad divorced 15 years ago.  After their divorce, my Mom went to the University of Kentucky in Lexington and got her doctorate in education.  After that, she came back to Ashland and became the principal at Hatcher, a local elementary school.  She's now an administrator at the central office (Director of Pupil Personnel and Title 1).  My Mom and Dad's offices are steps apart.  Crazy, I tell ya.  What better form of family counseling than working together everyday?  I'm pretty sure somebody's already lined us up for a reality show on the E! channel.  Good times.

In my excitement to reconvene blogging, I almost forgot to mention that over the summer, in addition to several speaking gigs and a family vacation, I went… drumroll please… CAMPING.  That's right folks, I said camping.  Katy and John (my Sis and BIL) bought a camper, for reasons I'm still unsure.  Under the guise of "quality family time" I've been lured into some of the less luxurious vacation spots I've yet to visit.  Over Memorial Day weekend, the Kentucky State Horse Park was the first stop on my camping trifecta.  Despite sharing a camper with seven other people and having to use the bathroom for all to see and hear (sorry, TMI I know), I actually had fun.  My sister is a fantastic cook and kept us all very well-fed.  Brent and John kept the coolers well-stocked so as not to become dehydrated.  We even got to see our first Polo match.  Fun stuff!  My second camping trip was during the Fourth of July at Grayson Lake.  Since it was close to home, I drove up separately and snuck away relatively unscathed.  This past weekend was my last camping adventure.  I got home from Florida on Friday night, slept a few hours, washed the airline yuckies off, and hopped in the car for Fallsburg.  Don't let the "Falls" part of the name fool you.  Brent and I joked as we passed school buses and satellites in most of the front yards along the road.  Heaven forbid there be a cell phone tower nearby.  That's asking far too much.  I'll admit, we did share some QT together.  My sister and her family are truly our best friends… it's just that I'd rather spend QT at a Four Seasons.  Hell, I'd even settle for a Ramada.  Dirt and bugs should not be part of a "vacation".  I'm just sayin'.

I also traveled to Northern Ohio for my step-brother's wedding this summer (Mark and Erin).  Annabelle and my niece, Langley, were flower girls.  How cute are they?  It was a beautiful wedding and the reception was way fun.  I'm posting this picture mostly because I think the girls are edible, but also so you people will stop asking me to photograph your weddings.  Clearly, I'm no wedding photographer!  This is proof.

I'll leave you with one last highlight of my summer.  Each year I put an ad in the Ashland Tomcat football program.  For the past four years I've photographed one of the "stars" of the team for my ad.  This year, Ryan Bonner was the star of the show.  Isn't he pretty?  Not a bad football player either.  Go cats!

I've got a couple more traveling jaunts before the year's over.  Next Tuesday I'll be in Louisville speaking at the KPPA Fall Seminar.  My personal photographer, BFF, Jen Hillenga is speaking on Sunday.  If you're a KY photographer, I'd love for you to come to my class, but Jen's class is an absolute must-see.  The girl is crazy gifted and you shouldn't miss out on this opportunity to learn from her.

I've got one more trip before the Christmas chaos begins.  In a couple weeks I'm going with Erica and Rachel (my two BFFs from high school) to the Camelback Inn Spa in Scottsdale, Arizona.  This will be a much more relaxed trip than last year's Miami trip.  I can't wait!  It'll be bliss (as long as they don't bust out the conservative blah blah blah).

One more thing… since I posted a pic of Annabelle, I'd remiss if I didn't post a pic of Carlyle too.  Don't want to provoke any sisterly hatefulness.  So here's my little straight A, never-missed-a-day-of-school-EVER seventh grader.  I hope I didn't just jinx her.

OK, I'm off to bed to watch Tivo'd SNL.  Thank goodness for Sarah Palin fodder.  Have you seen the Katie Couric interview?  Again, I'm just sayin'.  :)

p.s.  Whitney, Winnie, and Joanne… I had a blast with you girls today.  I hope Annabelle didn't traumatize you too badly.  Winnie, I'll be on the lookout.