When I picked up the latest issue of Phoenix Bride & Groom, I was happy to flip to page 95 and see my first major print ad.

Arielle and I bought our house about a year and a half ago. She actually put the offer in while I was at a photo conference in Florida. She had found a place in out current neighborhood that had good bones but needed some TLC. The whole place had been pained Navajo White. That years of cigar smoke buildup and horrible lighting made the house look dirty. All the fixtures, cabinets and counter tops were builder original circa 1983. There was track lighting above the ceiling fan in the kitchen.

Since we bought the place, we’ve painted almost every square inch of the walls and ceilings, replaced the toilet and sink in the 1/2 bathroom, replaced the chandelier in the entry, added curtains to the living room, replaced all the switches and outlets, moved around the ceiling fans,
replaced the single mirror over the double vanity in the master bathroom with 2 framed mirrors and replaced 6 light fixtures.

Our latest project was a new toilet in the master bathroom. The old one was a low flow toilet from the early 80s that didn’t actually flush anything down unless you flushed 2 or 3 times. (Kind of defeating the purpose of a low flow toilet and adding frustration to the user)

Arielle was a big help removing the old toilet and installing the new one. Here she is cleaning up the mess I made during installation.

We still have a to-do list longer than the done list, but we’re slowing checking things off. I never wanted a house. I always saw them as to much of a hassle. I still dread the idea of doing house projects, even though I love doing them. I’m very glad we found this house. Even with our huge to-do list, it’s perfect for us right now.

One of the reasons I try to keep a camera on me at all times.

The last couple weeks, I’ve been opening the window in the afternoon to let some fresh air and warm sunshine in the office. I think the cats have enjoyed it more than I have.

Arielle and I ventured out after I low key New Years Eve. We checked out several local shops including our new favorite music store, Stinkweeds where we bought the latest Rodrigo y Gabriela CD.

Arielle loves football. I think she loves it more than I do and I’m a huge fan. Most of the time I would rather watch it on TV than go to a game. I can enjoy the game more and get a much better sense of what happened and who did what.

When Arielle got tickets to the Packers-Cardinals playoff game on Sunday I couldn’t turn down the opportunity to go to our first ever playoff game. I’m not a huge Cardinals fan but I’ve become very familiar with the team living in Phoenix for 3 years.

It turned out the be a very fun game to be in the stands for. When Arizona finally pulled it out in overtime the crowd exploded. Wow, what an awesome experience.

I wanted to clean out my backlog of post before I post my photos of the year for 2009.

Here are a couple photos form the last fews days of 2009.

In November I had the opportunity to shoot the Old Bags Luncheon at the Arizona Biltmore. The event is a fundraiser for Homeward Bound, an amazing charity whose mission is to assist families achieve economic independence, secure long-term, safe, decent, affordable housing and break multi-generational cycles of homelessness and domestic violence.

The event included a fashion show put on by Neiman Marcus.