Kristen Leep

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Today was Rob’s 33rd birthday. We spent the morning having our DirecTV fixed by a wonderful tech named Frank. After the storms (I really don’t know which storm, but I am assuming it was the storm after the flooding sometime and probably the same storm in which our wireless router got fried) both of my receivers stopped working so I have been relying on Hulu to get my Shear Genius and Baby Borrowers fixes. Today, Frank installed a HD DVR and life is getting back to normal.

Anyway, after Frank left, Rob suggested leftover pizza for lunch and I countered since it was his birthday, we should go out to the Cheesecake Factory. So, off to the mall it was after a much-needed shower by yours truly. We sat outside, had a nice waiter and they brought out his Peanut Butter Cup cheesecake with confetti sprinkles and “Happy Birthday Rob” written in chocolate sauce with a candle. We took the 1974 SuperBeetle convertible that my dad so generously is loaning us for the summer (there’ll be a separate post with pics in the semi-near future) up to the Fashion Mall and had a nice late lunch and bought Rob some new kicks. I call them his driving shoes because they have thin soles so he can really feel the mechanics of the stick-shift Beetle and where the clutch actually kicks in. I have always worn thin-soled shoes when driving stick shift vehicles because it is something ingrained in me by The Wag at Frick’s Driving School in Mishwaka where I took driver’s ed eons ago. Anyway, it was raining in Anthropologie and the store was closed (I am assuming as a result of yesterday’s downpours), and we stopped in the Sharper Image- which is going out of business that advertises 50-70% off, but is really just normal prices because they mark it up before they mark it down- and laughed at the prices and what was left.

After we left, it was off to the Urgent Care for me as I am developing an ear infection which I just thought was from sleeping weird and maybe with my hand under my head (sometimes I do this and I wake up with a sore ear) until I noticed the right side of my throat hurt when I was swallowing. Just prior to 6 PM must be the perfect time to get to the Urgent Care because I was checked in without a wait and when I came back out to meet Rob the waiting room was full. I guess people get home, eat, and then go to the doctor. After that it was off to CVS where this lady told me I looked so happy and healthy and commented that the car probably contributed to that (which is totally true- it is like Prozac riding around in that thing).

Then I got home and watched some TV, ate some Parmesan breadsticks from Papa John’s (seriously the best breadsticks from a chain pizza place ever available), and saw that my cousin April started a blog about my Grandma and her paintings. That chick is so stinkin’ cool. It’s always cool when you grow up and you realize there are people in your family that you have stuff in common with and you’d probably want to be friends with them even if you weren’t related.

So, it was a good day. And because I’m not leaving you with a photo, I do want to leave you with this super cute doggy video. I could watch this guy’s YouTube video’s all day:

Happy 4th of July. It was a good day all in all. Got off to a rough start since I didn’t sleep well, but the day ended well, as I ate really good watermelon with Rob as the sun went down. I hate fireworks that people do at their homes though. I’m kind of a curmudgeon that way.

Anyway, this song is doing great things for my mood right now, and I thought I’d share it with ya. Enjoy the UK’s Doves with probably one of my favorite songs of theirs “Pounding”.

Cats don’t like water normally. Usually they will do anything they can to avoid it. Some cats will splash in really shallow water (like ours), but they sure as heck don’t like being submerged. I give you the bathtub kitty.

Robbie Williams - “Angels”
When I was watching this video today I couldn’t help but singing along at the top of my lungs while Rob started organizing his stuff we had to evacuate. The version on the DVD I was watching has Bonnie Raitt taking on the guitar solo. It seems more appropriate though to show tis version from Glastonbury Festival 1998. As with Woodstock it seems that teh weather is always a little wonky at the festival, and it is kind of a running joke that if you go, it will involve people mudsliding in their swimsuits (or naked) at some point. Well, this performance by Robbie was during a break in the rain an the sun started peeking through and I thought it was totally appropriate for what we’ve been going through here.

And as a bonus, because I think every day deserves a Kylie Minogue song, here’s “Spinning Around” with Kylie workin’ her famous gold hotpants. Like Madonna, Kylie excels at booty-shakin’ pop/dance music. I just wish I had her butt to shake.

I have been attacking my closet with a slow and steady pace. Sunday night I started going through my closet. I needed something cheesy and mindless to watch and our DirecTV box is out in the bedroom, so I grabbed our Apple TV from the living room and brought it in the bedroom. I tested out the movie rental feature by renting 27 Dresses. It was exactly the kind of light-hearted, predictable rom-com that I was in the mood to watch. If you can believe I had 22 black dresses in my closet ranging form casual to dressy and my goal by the end of the movie was to halve the number of LBD’s in my closet. I am proud to say I achieved my goal.

Yesterday I got rid of more dresses in various colors.  While undertaking that feat, I streamed episodes of AMC’s Mad Men on the Apple TV.  I love the show and am so excited for the new season on July 27.  Plus, the costuming is so wonderful and I imagine myself to be as hot as Christina Hendricks as Joan Holloway (the redheaded office manager), so it made it easier to let go of clothes that didn’t make me feel great.

Anyway, tonight was skirt and pant purge night.  So first I started with YouTube ABBA videos, but I was getting tired of finding a new one after one ended.  Rob suggested hitting up our DVD closet.  There was no ABBA, but there were tons of other musical goodies.  I tried to watch Later…with Jools Holland on DVD, but it kept screwing up.  So, I moved on to Kylie Minogue’s Body Language DVD.  There were some skippable moments, but overall it’s a joy to watch.  She has such great style and  she’s just so cute (well, when she doesn’t look like Joan Rivers).  

Anyway, when that was done, there was more work to be done in the form of folding clean laundry, so I popped in this Michel Gondry video anthology I have.  Side A is pretty good, and I’m not familiar enough with his earlier work or the artists he worked with to be interested in Side B yet- maybe another night.

I have been watching the videos going chronologically backward starting in 2003 with the White Stripes “Hardest Button to Button”.  I like how Gondry riffs on repetition in this collection.  Visually, he uses two different views or combines takes and has lots of dreamy repetitive people walking around.  Anyway, Michel Gondry is one of the things on the list over at Stuff White People Like.  I do recommend at least heading over to YouTube and watching some videos.  They are such nice eye candy and he definitely has a unique point of view and even when using the same “gimmick” of repetition in a few videos, he manages to keep it fresh.

Here are a couple of my favorite videos:

“Come Into My World” - Kylie Minogue - Kylies EVERYWHERE!

“Let Forever Be” - The Chemical Brothers - Hard to tell on YouTube, but uses video and film in a nice contrast.

“The Hardest Button to Button” - The White Stripes - Just a great pairing of simple visuals that really work with the music…

I’ll update more tomorrow, but for now I will give you 3 videos.  Last night while we were sleeping, it stormed more and when we came downstairs today we discovered there had been about 3 inches of water at some point overnight because the carpet was squishy, water was dripping out of computers and stuff had floated and been carried over to other parts of the basement.  It’s been a rough day and with the help of our neighbor Ryan and James and the guys at Five Star here in Indy, we have stuff moved out of the basement and fans and dehumidifiers doing the evaporation work.

And because I don’t want to leave you on a depressing note and for a little perspective (because there are people worse off than we are). Here’s some super cute kitties. note how the one at then end starts growling when they try and move his food while he’s eating. I don’t know how to embed this one, so just click this link: Attack of the Hungry Kittens

Later taters.  I’ll keep you updated.

Yes, I like this Jesse McCartney song “Leavin’”.  Although it’s weird to me that he references a Gulfstream G5 Jet and that we’re in a culture where lots of people know what that is. Nevermind, I guess people know what 737’s and whatnot are, so I guess it’s not TOTALLY weird.  Anyway, this video makes me feel 14 again.

And here’s a weird fact for you: this kid also wrote the Leona Lewis song “Bleeding Love” with that dude from that OneRepublic (”Apologize”) band.

And tonight Rob had to come in my office and tell me to keep it down because I was dancing around to this song by the Ting Tings- “That’s Not My Name”. It makes me happy:

In the past year, I have been making a conscious effort to change and be less wasteful and more eco-conservative. I fail miserably in some aspects of my life, but around the house I do pretty well. Here are the small and not-so-small changes we’ve made to conserve the earth:

• We take our own bags to the store.  I have a bunch of random bags- Envirosax, a Rootote, a Reseinthal MiniMaxi Shopper, and a couple other random ones from IKEA and Trader Joe’s.  I even turn down paper bags now.  It is so easy to do.  I just make sure I have a few in my car.
• I have started making my own house cleaning formulas using vinegar, baking soda, lemon, juice, and borax for different areas.  It’s pet-safe and better for the environment.  I figure it to be the for the best considering we have a well on our property.
• I bought a low-flow shower head.  It works pretty well, and it’s regulated to allow good pressure.  I do notice that it seems to have better pressure in shower than the other, but I think that has something to do with our plumbing and how much further down the pipes the lower-pressure shower is.

Things I still want to do:

• Get a programmable thermostat (I need 3 of them for my house).
• Get some window film for our windows without any window treatments.
• Schedule my computers to shut down and start up automatically.

It’s a start.

So, when we went home last week, I tortured Rob by listening to the radio and not pulling out the iPod on the drive from Indy to South Bend. Some of those songs made it to my current iTunes playlist, and I’ve been listening to them for the last week.  I’ll give you a quick rundown of what has worn out its welcome, and which tracks are welcome to stay awhile. 

• “See You Again” - Miley Cyrus Believe it or not, this is the first Miley Cyrus song I have ever heard.  I’m not exactly surrounded by 8-year-old girls, so I have limited knowledge of Miley Cyrus’s actual music.  So imagine my surprise when I was listening to the radio and this song came on.  It channels Blondie and Kylie Minogue with a little Avril Lavigne thrown in.  Two out of three ain’t bad.  Anyway, I had to pull out the iPhone and look up who sang it since the radio neglected to inform me.  I purchased it on Amazon (where I seem to be doing most of my legal MP3 purchases these days), and I have had it almost a week now, and it is only just now starting to wear out its welcome.  It’s still a fun one to blast and dance around to when Rob leaves the house.
• “Mercy” - Duffy Obvious comparisons to Amy Winehouse abound.  It channels older music, but with a modern twist.  Not as dark as Ms. Winehouse, and without the tabloid fodder.  Plus on the album, she namechecks the first tube station I ever lived by- “Warwick Avenue”.
• “Number 1″ - Goldfrapp This song never really gets old for me.  Anything I’m doing seems cooler for having this song in the bakground.  ”Ooh La La” It’s like a female new-milennium Canned Heat.,
• “Low” - Flo Rida The first time I heard this song it made me laugh.  It still does.  I tried singing it to Rob, and he thinks it’s the most ridiculous song ever.  I think this song hit its peak for me about 3 days ago.  But I’m still enjoying it, but it has moved closer to the end of the playlist.
• “Give It 2 Me” - Madonna I don’t remember if I blogged about my disappointment with the latest Madonna album.  In fact,I will.  For now know that this song is in my rotation, but is on its way out.  But, you will get more explanation in a near-future post.
• “Konichiwa Bitches” and “Handle Me” Robyn I like this album.  It’s pretty well-rounded.  I like how it easily melds pop and dance.  These are my current two favorite tracks, but that changes form week to week.  Rob doesn’t get my music taste sometimes.  But often the music I like just needs to accomplish one thing- SHAKE MY A$$!  It’s so super simple.
• “Move Shake Drop Remix”- DJ Laz feat. Flo Rida Again.  It shakes my juicy booty.  So much that I had to take a break from writing this, pump it on the living room speakers, and take a mini dance break to shake it.  
• “Calabria (2008)” - Enur feat. Natasja I pretty much consider buying every Ultra Dance album that comes out.  I tend to like their collections and the remixes.  This one is experiencing a bit of a resurgence.  I keep hearing this lick everywhere.  It’s on some Pitbull song now too.  It’s like Mighty Dub Katz “Magic Carpet Ride” 10 years later.
• “Promiscuous” - Nelly Furtado This is a great song to revisit now that it’s not everywhere on Verizon commercials and whatnot.  The whole album holds up really well, and this song in particular is a nice segway from spring to summer. 
• “Touch My Body” - Mariah Carey This song does not hold up on repeated spins.  It has almost worn out its welcome after only 5 days.  Hearing “I will hunt you down” in lyrics is kind of weird.  It definitely has a certain vibe, but it’s just boring after too many spins.
• I’ll add a sample player later.  Amazon is giving me hassle on it.

Let me just tell you- Alex is just so stinkin’ cute!  She’s got the world by the balls right now, and I don’t even know if she knows it.  So much to be excited for in her future! She’s entering the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism at Arizona State in the fall.  Her favorite movie right now is Breakfast at Tiffany’s so we tried to do an updated version.  Unfortunately the only jewelry store in downtown South Bend has moved.  I’m pretty happy with how these turned out.  Hope you all enjoy these!

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I’m editing some awesome senior pictures with Alex!

Here’s one of my favorites so far (click for full size):

UPDATE: I like this one a lot too.

I bought a new bike today! I am so excited! I am now the proud owner of a black Electra Amsterdam Classic 3 bike.

photo by Flickr user mimisip

I so excited to ride it up to the first farmers market this year in my neighborhood tomorrow morning!  They had these awesome blackberries last year.  They were so good, and I don’t normally like blackberries.  So, I find myself anxiously counting down to blackberry season this year!

I’ve been playing more pinball.  The other day when we were playing the ball got stuck and we had to tilt the machine to get it to come back down.  You can choose your theme music while you’re playing.  Your choices are: C&C Music Factory “Gonna Make You Sweat”, “Lethal Weapon 3″ Theme, or ZZ Top “Sharp Dressed Man”.  I tend to do better without the C&C Music Factory.  I am learning just how much pinball is a very auditory game and picking up aural clues.  

Although with ZZ Top in the mind, this link seemed even funnier.  I would link straight to the picture, but if I did that, it would actually show a pretty obscene picture because the site doesn’t like people linking their content and stealing their bandwidth and pageviews.

I finally saw Juno.  It was really cute.  And the best part was the 90-minute run time.  Perfect movie length!  Easily able to be stretched to two hours with commercials.  It will make a Saturday or Sunday afternoon classic I’m sure.  I am now off to watch a couple episodes of Mad Men bought from the iTunes Store.

I went to this amazing workshop this past weekend in Phoenix. It was with Cheryl Muhr and Amy Smith. The focus was building a portrait business. I got so many good pictures! If you like this, I am proud to announce that I am officially in business and available for hire! I’ll be updating this site with more information in the next few days! I am just so pumped! I have been tweakin’ all stinkin’ day!

I got to meet so many freakin’ cool photographers! Special shout-outs to my table-mates who were so inspiring to be around! Leah, Ellen, Gustavo, Lori, Sarah, Lindsay- such talented people!

While I work on some paperwork, here are my pics from the workshop!