My Belly Bumpin Buddy!

Meet Monique! She is about a week more pregnant than I am, so we had a great time sharing stories and comparing belly bumps. She's such a cutie and we had a great time during our session. Had to share her photos!

A whole new look!

Had a break in the action today, so I spent a bit of time working on getting my new site up and running. Kim Townsend from Simply Splash was the creative guru who put together my new logo and splash page... LOVE her! I am loving the new look and having a good time tweaking it and making changes. I've always felt my site wasn't quite "me", so my goal with this one was to make it very much ME! Well... me and John...lol. He loves it too tho, so we are good on that front. If you have a few check it out! The portrait side of the site will remain the same for a while, but will probably be changing soon also. The wedding side tho is a whole new site and weddings now have their own dedicated site. Take a peek! I'd love to get feedback, so let me know what you think!

www.cristynielsen.com

Enjoy!

Prayers for a fellow photographer!!

Please take a moment today and say prayers for a photographer from my photography group, Laura Wolff and her family. This morning they lost their home in a housefire. It's a horribly tragic situation and there are no words really to express the pain that I am sure they are feeling. They lost most everything... So please think good things for their family in hopes that they can begin healing and rebuilding their lives and her business.

Taking the weekend OFF!

John and I will be headed to the Dave Matthews concert this weekend and we are SO excited! Just wanted to let you all know in case you try to email and I don't respond. Will get back to you all on Monday! Have a great weekend!

:)

Prepare for some changes!

I am currently redoing the website! I'm so excited about this and can't wait to share it with you all! I am splitting our wedding photography section off from our main site and giving it it's own place to be displayed. It's been a work in progress for quite some time and hopefully will make it easier for our brides and grooms to see our work in a way that is more organized and appealing. The more I work on it, the more I love it, so I hope you all do too!

I'm looking for a few testers for the site, to play with it, give me some feedback, and make sure everything is working okay. If you are interested, please email me at cristy@cristynielsen.com and I will provide you with the link to check it out. It should be finalized and all up and running within two weeks, so keep checking back for more updates!

You know those people in your life...

Those ones you just can't live without... I am blessed to have many of those people in my life. I swear all of my friends were given as gifts to me, they push me, challenge me, wake me up when I'm being an idiot, and make me laugh till I feel like I'm losing my breath. Julie is one of those friends. I have written about her before, spilled my feelings if you will. BUT... I had a dream last night and she was in it, so I figured I would post about her today.

We met a year and a half ago in Chicago, IL at a photography convention. Who would have known that this girl that is soooo totally different from me would turn out to be a dear dear friend that now I can't imagine my life without. We spent the weekend learning about photography and really didn't get a chance to talk or connect much... until we shared a cab to the airport. I was running late... SHOCKER, and scrambling to get my plane. I knew she was pure gold when she called me as I got to my gate to make sure I had made my flight. Ever since that day we have talked almost daily and our friendship has blossomed into this beautiful, loving sisterhood that still baffles me, makes me cry, makes me miss her like crazy and makes me want to jump on an airplane to Utah like once a week just to see her smiling face, Sesame Street PJ's and hear her laugh.

She is coming here in six weeks to shoot Graham and Travis' wedding with us. She'll be leaving her 5 kids with her inlaws and bringing her hubby David along for the fun. It's their anniversary weekend, and John's birthday so we'll all have a nice adult weekend of celebrating. We'll be traveling to Marco Island for the wedding and renting a condo there to enjoy a long weekend of R & R, fun, and I'm sure tons of giggles... we tend to do that like teenagers! She will also be coming back again in December to be here to photograph the birth of our baby and stay for a week to help out and keep me sane while I begin my transition as a mother of two!

I have tried not to think about when she is coming because it seems to drag the time on... but I woke up this morning dreaming of us having a waterfight on the beach, and it hit me that we are so close to our fun weekend...YAY! Anyway, this girl means the world to me... she's made me appreciate life in a way I hadn't before, made me see how precious family, our friends and relationships are. She's one of those people that you just hold onto with everything you have because you know they are a gift in your life. She's been plunked into my world for a reason... I wish she lived closer, but it also just makes me appreciate her that much more. I'm also totally excited for her to meet my other two best buds who I can't live without... Lesa and Tamu!

Love you Jules... see you SO soon! Don't hate me but I had to add my fave shots... and yes we are TOTAL cheeseballs...lol.