The email that I got from Erin was super intriguing…”So in case you  haven’t heard, my friend Nina, who was inspired by  her friend Maria, has begun a fun new tradition for 2010 … making 20 lists of 10 for 2010.  Of your goals, dreams, plans, wants, and flat out ‘need to dos’ for the year.  Think of it as a mini-life list, that can be as ambitious or as achievable as you’d like!  But it’s just for 2010, and is completely customizable.  Maria’s categories started out as one thing, Nina adapted them to fit her needs, and mine include some of hers, with some updates of my own!  If you want to do it, take my list as a template and start planning away It’s super fun and makes you feel like you have some real goals for 2010, although I’m not going to lie, it’s harder to do than it looks.  Whether you do it or not, and whether you think my list is a bunch of crap or not, I hope you’re all having a great 2010 so far (minus the crap happening in the world thus far, 2010 has not been stellar in a global way, unfortunately)!  I miss and love you all and hope to see you sooner rather than later!
XOXO
Erin
OH!  And there’s a blog set up just for these lists Once it’s really up and running, it’d be fun to post the lists, and then to post pictures of yourself accomplishing your goals and crossing things off!  Check it out … www.20listsof10.wordpress.com”

So at first I really didn’t want to do it, but then I started to think of a few things that I wanted to do.  And I saw a lot of things on her list that I thought would fit great into my year too.  So, here it is…..

Randi’s 2010

If you try it, I’d love to see yours.  You can download the MS Word version here.  Expect photos of a lot of these great things, even if I don’t call them out specifically in my posts.

HNY~

I get asked all the time “who photographed your wedding?” And I always have a hard time answering.  The short answer is Randy Harris.  He was a newspaper photographer and a longtime family friend that we hired for our special day.  The long answer is that Randy, me, and Dad.  Sounds crazy and I don’t recommend this.  Around this time, I was becoming obsessed with photography and wanted to do it myself, but obviously could not.  I had tons of ideas for locations and poses for both Ryan and I and my bridal party.  I also wanted tons of candids and photos that told the story of the day.  This took a lot of planning and driving people crazy. Totally worth it.  Read below about the wedding day and my contributions to the photography.

So here it is, September 16, 2006…..

Nicki is driving me to Phipps Conservatory in my dad’s 1979 midnight blue corvette.  Ryan and I used to go on dates at Phipps since we went to college right next door at Carnegie Mellon.  Photo by my mom. I love my dad’s outfit.

Bridesmaids bouquets modeled by Nicki, photo by me.  Denise Dembski made these (that’s my mom).  She was a professional florist while I was growing up until she became a nurse 12 years ago.

One of my favorite photos of me torturing my mom with my 6′ tall self.  She loves it.  Doesn’t she look so pretty!  Photo by Randy Harris.

This day was SO HAPPY!  Check out these smiles everywhere. Photo by Randy Harris.

No one can hold me back~ Photo by Dad.

Ceremony photos by Randy Harris.  He had a great time using one of my favorite lenses.

Notice my dad’s camera on his lap.  I’ve noticed this trait in a lot of Dads. So cute!

Another one of my favorites.  Everyone wore their hair down and looked great.  I thought everyone looked like themselves and it was so nice.  Jenn Pazdon (far left) eventually confessed to me that Nicki (far right…sister and MOH) told the bridesmaids “Girls, these photographs are very important to Randi.  Know that you are being photographed and smile all day.”  Nicki is the best sister ever!

My love!

I think that “bloopers” are a special part of a wedding.  Like a flower girl running down the aisle or a bride who has to blow her nose during the ceremony.  Just a quick time out.  Everyone is laughing because I accused my grandma of giving me a used tissue.

My shoes.  Custom made white Converse Chuck Taylor All Stars with our wedding on the back.  My mom loved showing these off and my relatives were losing it.

A sign of things to come… Nicki and I are reviewing some images from the ceremony… Photo by Dad.

Me and Ryan.  Directed by me, photo by Randy.

If you’ve been around us in public, you may notice that Ryan calls me “Little One” all the time.  While no one else finds my 6′ self “little,” I’m glad that he does.

Fave shot on our way to take more photos. No direction from me.  Photo by Randy.

Introducing our bridal party (Left to right) Laura Voss, Aaron Buzzay, Steve Quaday, Nicki Dembski, Steve Voss, Randi, Ryan, Jennifer Pazdon, Jenny Voss, Chris Voss, and Kevin Voss.  Yes, Ryan is the second of six children.  This is an example of a shot that I set up, then put myself right in prior to snap.

I took this shot of Ryan on the move.

Fun!  This is on the stairs of Hamerschlag Hall at Carnegie Mellon.  Ryan is stopping my fun and my bridal party is looking confused. Photo by Randy or Dad, can’t remember which.

Best.jump.ever.  Check out that flower flying out of my bouquet.  The weather was perfect!  We got tons of air on Schenley Oval.

During cocktail hour, I set up a Camera Scavenger Hunt Game.  I made lists of shots to find/create and 10 disposable cameras.  Anyone who was interested grabbed a list and went for it.  There were more points for harder to find shots.  Some highlights include “Three people with the same first name. Four people who have been to Germany.  Four generations in one photo.  Your whole table in a pyramid.  Your whole table in a totem pole.”  Below is a pyramid of my parents’ table on the left and on the right is a “totem pole” which actually was a “dog pile.”  Oh well!  The photos were awesome and everyone had a great time moving around and meeting everyone.

Cutting a rug

I took this shot at the end of the night when I was allowed to have the camera back again. 

Me and my Canon.  And Kevin Voss and Laura Fonzi.  Laura’s wedding is coming up on 9/18/09!

Wedding aftermath!  My family and aunts (especially Aunt Carol) baked near 6,000 cookies for our wedding.  Yes, you read that correctly.  We had 108 guests, do the math.  So there were a lot of leftovers and the catering staff at the reception got to enjoy some too (as did the people at the airport, in Virginia, in Minnesota, at my workplace……)  I had the most fun ever at my wedding and I still think it was great and wouldn’t have changed a thing!

I personally design the first draft of the wedding album for all of my clients. From there, they are able to make changes.  It usually takes a while to figure out your favorites and the photos you can’t live without in your album.  Obviously, 3 years later, I found this task nearly impossible to complete with my own wedding.  I noticed that I care way more about people than I do for photos of cakes or centerpieces or flowers (except that Mom made them). I remember the people and how I felt on that day. I have a lot more respect for brides going through the album process!  I wanted to make it complete, but not cluttered.  Tell a whole story, but not forget any of my favorite moments.  Good luck, ladies and gents!

I’m off to dinner to celebrate the start of our marriage!  When I am meeting new clients, it usually comes up that I recognize the difference between a wedding and a marriage.  A wedding is an event, a celebration, and a marriage is forever.  Here’s to forever!

From left to right….Mount Foraker, Mount Hunter, and Mount McKinley.  Today, all images are straight out of the camera, no photoshop, no processing.  It’s just that amazing!

Ryan and I having a good time on the flight

These granite cliffs on the right protrude 5000′ from the top of the glacier below.  The glacier extends 3000′ below the surface for a total of 8000′ of depth of the crevasse. 

Heart shaped glacial movement.  Aw…..

Landing on the glacier.  Getting there was so amazing.  It wasn’t a straight line right to the landing site, we flew in circles and all around the mountains.  We were really all over the place.  Sometimes I looked out of the front window of the cockpit and all I could see is mountains.  Kind of freaky, but very cool.

First steps on that glacier….

Ryan took this shot….he makes me so proud!

Getting a cold and wet dupa, but so worth it!  Those booties were essential.

Fun!  It was so bright with the reflection coming from the snow.  I could not take off those sunglasses.

The flight on the way back down to earth…..

Glaciers are the main source of water for these nearby rivers and they have lots of sediment from rocks they have crushed.

Photo by our pilot, Will.  Should have taken this on the glacier, but we were having too much fun!

We visited this rest stop yesterday, but it was too dark to see both the rock and the mountains.  Someone was nice enough to label them on this rock.

As soon as we entered Denali National Park, Erin mentioned that it was a protected area and we were more likely to see wildlife.  About 4 minutes later, we saw this mama moose and her moose cub by the side of the road.  We couldn’t move too much because we would frighten them both (away) or mama would charge our car.  So we watched for a few minutes and they got bored and left.  So there you have it….our animal sighting in the wild!

A view from the side of the road in Denali.  The pink plants in the foreground are “Fireweed.”  Erin says that a few weeks ago they were vibrant, very bright pink. I think they still look good but she claims I’d be disappointed if I saw them before. 

The main reason we stayed in Seward was so we could go to Exit Glacier. Erin and I are snapping pics at the glacier.  Photo by Ryan.

Exit Glacier in Kenai Fjords National Park

See me?

You can normally hike to the “toe” of the glacier, but it was closed due to flooding.

The incredible shrinking glacier…..

View of Mt McKinley on the way to Talkeetna.

Tonight we are staying in Talkeetna.  Talkeetna is the real city on which Cicely is based.  Cicely is the home of the folks from the good ole television show, Northern Exposure.  It is very cute and we are staying at the Talkeetna Roadhouse.

Tomorrow…..a flight around Mt McKinley with a glacier landing.  I hope everything goes well and we are able to take that flight!

We started out in Anchorage and had a repeat breakfast at the Snow City Cafe.  Our waiter told me I was honored to get the coveted “Pug Mug.”  The cafe has all different kind of coffee mugs.

After breakfast, we started driving toward Seward.  We didn’t make it far, only to a lookout point.  These cool rocks surrounded the parking lot.

Next stop–Girdwood. We went on the Aleyeska Tramway at the Aleyeska Resort.  The tram climbs a 2000′ vertical.  Atop the mountain, there is 1000 inches of snow annually and the staff works hard on Avalanche control.

A pup we met at the top

Just a few miles down the road, we stopped at Portage Glacier

One of the most exciting things that Erin was dying to share with Ryan and I was a trip through the Whittier Tunnel.

Whittier Tunnel is a 2.4 mile long ONE WAY tunnel into a mountain.  The tunnel runs on a schedule — 15 minutes into Whittier, 15 minutes closed, 15 minutes out of Whittier, repeat.  I took a video but it is too large to upload right now with limited computer resources.

Some nice photos from Whittier.
Prince William Sound. This area wasn’t impacted by the Exxon-Valdez oil spill.

These flowers are made of metal

Then the MOST EXCITING PART OF THE DAY!!!!  BEAR!

Confession: we were not in the wild. We are at the Alaskan Wildlife Conservation Center. From their website “WCC takes in injured and orphaned animals year-round and provides spacious enclosures and quality animal care. Animals that cannot be released into the wild are given a permanent home at the center.”

WOW amazing, huh?

During our drive south….

We didn’t make it into Seward until 9pm so looks like we will be exploring it tomorrow.

Tuesday morning, we had breakfast at Snow City Cafe and took a walk around downtown Anchorage.  I think I look pretty good on this moose.

These salmon sculptures are around the city

Fur store

One thing that really surprised me was the amount of flowers in Anchorage (or Alaska for that matter).  Erin said the flowers are plentiful because the growing season is so short, but there is a TON of daylight, which the flowers love.  I also learned that bears love the Anchorage Daily News.

Me and a wooden moose (who was skateboarding)

This is what our photos would look like if Erin and I were having an engagement photo shoot with this stuffed moose.

Westchester Lagoon

Earthquake Park.  “Welcome to Earthquake Park” with 4 bullet holes.  Apparently, people like to shoot things up here.

Concrete scoring.

Amazing stat!

Potter’s Marsh.  We didn’t see any wildlife, but did learn how quickly the weather moves in Alaska.  We had to run from the incoming rain!

My husband, Ryan, and tour guide (and BFF), Erin.

Tonight, as we came out of the hotel for dinner, a rainbow was shining down on this Auto Parts store.

After dinner (it was not yet dark at 11:00pm) I grabbed a shot of this painting by an artist whose work I was admiring earlier in a shop.  Katie Sevigny Art.

It’s my new laptop background.

I’m very excited for tomorrow. We are heading south of Anchorage towards Seward and Whittier.

Due to recent pool problems and class cancelations, my parents’ dream of being certified by the time they head to Hawaii was in jeopardy!  Thankfully, Dad’s cousin Jim was nice enough to allow my parents and Mike to his beautiful SALTWATER pool for a class.  When I heard of this news, I hopped in the car and headed over there for some photos.  It was so worth it!  Here’s a recap of that class…..

Gearing up!  We were watching the weather closely because there were scattered storms tonight and diving isn’t allowed during lightening.

Mom getting ready with that mask.

Rich, Mike, and Denise in the pool and ready to start the lesson.

This is how you are supposed to get into the water from the back of a boat.

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

There was some more playing with the mask

Getting regulated….

And then THIS was all that I saw for 45 minutes!

Jim lit a fire in their awesome natural gas fire pit.

The gas burns below this shiny blue glass, SO COOL!

I did get to see them swim around a little, but mostly they were at the bottom of the pool practicing emergency situations.  When you are deep underwater, that oxygen tank is your lifeline.

Mom taking a break.  “Breathing is hard work” she says.

After the dive, everyone was having a great time.  This is Dad’s face when he is really having fun and enjoying himself.  Makes me smile to see this!

Rich, Denise, and Instructor Mike

Then this party crasher (its ok, he lives here) jumped into things.  I think Mike was doing some recruiting for future divers.

I love that left foot in this photo.

Finally, some heavy and wet gear.

It was really fun to watch my parents do this.  Luckily, I was also taken to dinner for my photographic efforts.  Have fun in Hawaii, Mom and Dad!

Ryan and I wouldn’t have bought this home if my dad were not my dad. My dad, Rich, has given us so much help, work, advice, and love that we want to make art in his honor. I thought I’d start with these “before, during, and after” photos.

My family did most of the work on the house–with help from my dad’s crew. Many of my friends gave helped with painting, decorating, and listening to me talk about my house. We also had help from Uncle Bobby, BJ McNeil, Tommy “magic man” Frederick, and Tyrone the bricklayer.

Let’s begin!
This is our house when we first bought it. It kind of looks like a dentist office with the porch enclosed. As you scroll down, you’ll see that dad’s truck is a downgrade from his Corvette….and the dumpster is even more of a downgrade. The last photo shows our new porch–just like it used to be!

Another view of the front of the house before…and after.

Here is the back of our home. Our lot is 40′x100′ so there is a lot of stuff packed in there. Check out those tomato plants!

Come on in! Here is the old front porch addition. This is what you saw when you came into the house and turned left. The big sliding glass door was put in when the 3 windows were removed. Now the windows are back in we have a wonderful front porch!
(The porch was just opened last week –more photos of the crew at the bottom of this post). All week we used the metal chairs on the porch as ladders. And I swear that those chairs can travel on their own.

This is our front entry and living room. The main event. In the before and after, it looks the same except you don’t see the two weeks that Ryan and I spent removing wallpaper and scrubbing glue off of the walls…every wall on the first and second floor…except for the walls dad tore down.

Here is a view of the living room, facing towards the front of the house. On the left, a pane of stained glass window is the door for the dry bar. Sliding glass door on the right. The “after” photo shows our new-old-fashioned entry door on the left, windows on the right. Yay!

Ryan is on the move!

The stained glass windows are in good shape, but the fire place was covered in drywall. Not cool. Under the drywall was the same pattern of wallpaper! And brown tiles everywhere. The exposed brick aren’t the prettiest, but I think it looks great with our custom mantle and African art from Nicki!

Progress photos of that fireplace….definitely worth it. Also notice that the radiators are gone. 4000 lb of metal went to the scrap yard and we got a new HE furnace and central air.

Dad is making a list of stuff for us to do. I loved how our porch swing was inside.

Ryan and I resealed the wood floors on the first and second floor. Thankfully, mom and dad were nice enough to let us stay with them during the renovation so we didn’t have to inhale fumes all night. We actually didn’t move into our house until 4th of July weekend, or just over 2 months.

Now welcome to our dining room…this wallpaper was the most difficult to remove. We had to rent a wallpaper steamer and it took forever. Also, that wall is GONE!

This is what it looked like when we moved in last year on 4th of July weekend. And below is what it looks like this 4th of July weekend. So much better for us, but may look the same to you.

Here is the lovely kitchen. Under that wallpaper was….MORE WALLPAPER. It doesn’t really matter since all the walls were gone soon. We closed on our house at 10am and the cabinets were in the garage and there was a huge “investignation” hole about the stove at 1:30pm. And by 4pm, our new kitchen was ordered from a W.T. Leggett. Ryan makes an encore appearance in the second photo, looking much more comfortable at home.

These really are the same photos taken just over a year later. Also there is new lighting and a crazy amount of cabinets. I collect Fiestaware and dad and I (and Rose from Leggett) thought the glass-faced cabinets were the best way to show it off.

I am going to frame this photo and hang it in our kitchen to remember that anything is possible.

Some work in progress. Dad’s design (Ryan and Justin’s build) for this room dividing beam is awesome! I wasn’t a believer at first but I think its great. It matches the style of the cured wood in our entry way. All I have to do now is paint it white.

This photo is also going in a frame. I love that there WAS a toilet where our refridgerator is now.

And another one for the frame. Dad took down so many walls so we can have heat and AC on our second floor. “So Randi doesn’t get a cold dupa.” I like this photo with Nicki using the shop vac. She came back from Semester at Sea just so she could vacuum my house. Mom is here too. She was taking a break from the wood staining and varnishing operation that was going on in the basement. Mom also helped a ton with taking down wallpaper (and making us lunch/dinner all of the time)!

One of my favorite rooms, Ryan’s office. This wallpaper was unbelievable! No, that is not our backyard, but a wallpaper mural coming to you direct from the 1970′s!!! Also that wood-like laminate floor was covering up more hardwood!

The awesome wallpaper continues into the bathroom. There is still a mystery light switch above his computer monitor–1 of 2 in our house.

Dad decided to borrow some room from this bathroom for our refrigerator. Plumbing, tiling, and painting.

Another “during” and “after.” All of the floors in our house were covered in that pink paper. It was amazing how much abuse the papers took to save our beautiful floors.

This is Cynthia. She keeps out evil spirits.

Our stained glass window in the stairway.

This is the second floor while we were refinishing the floors. Fumes!

This is our bathroom. We really didn’t do too much in here other than take down the terrible shower curtain and remove the radiator. To the left of the toilet is our LAUNDRY CHUTE! That is the reason that I wanted to buy this house.

Bedroom 1 of 3, our guest room. Bye bye wallpaper, hello blue!

This is our master bedroom! The fireplace got the same treatment as the one on the first floor. Dad mixed concrete in our bedroom while we were living there. How many people can say that?

Bedroom #3 is my office/studio….where all of the magic happens!

We also have an unfinished, walk-up attic. It still looks like this.

Strike a pose!

Finally, here are the work photos from the porch demolition last week. Notice this technique–3 guys working, 2 guys standing around, and 1 taking photographs.

Yes!

There were so many things going on at once!

You need finger strength to lay bricks. Salt and pepper.

After the porch was done, Justin and Rye worked on interior trim for our windows and doors. Everything looks awesome!!!

Clean up. Dad is taking it all in.

Dad’s idea to jump on the porch at the end of the workday on Friday.

After the jump, Ryan and I cleaned for 2 days straight.

So if you haven’t seen me for a while in that past year, I’ve been here working on our house….or building my new business.

I would never dream of doing something like this on my own, nor would I want to. I have the best family in the world! Thank you for making my first house my dream house!

Love, Randi

Next we crashed the Paull’s picnic and hung out late into the night. Erin Paull, so pretty.

We had such a great time and I got to meet some of her family including Elizabeth (right) who is in Erin’s wedding.

After sunset. This is JP on the right.

Happy fireworks!

Shopping at UNIQLO

Waiting for Jenn Pazdon in the street

Paz on the phone.

This radio belongs to Jenn’s new roommate, Marshall. Its an awesome Lasonic shoulder-style old school boombox….except it hold an ipod instead of a cassette tape. Neat.

Jenn checking her phone in some bar. It was super dark.

Jenn and I in a bathroom in a bar after we met Janna. Fun.

Thanks to Erin for letting me come on her trip and Nina for putting me up! And Kent, Stephanie, and Josh for lunch. And Jenn for nighttime fun!

Here we are in the car on our drive here.

Nina is kind enough to host us at her apartment. Here is the view from her living room (same view from our guest room).

Self portrait after dinner while Erin and Nina were philosophizing over the laptops.

More philosophizing among Hirschfeld…”margaritas, margaritas”

See you tomorrow…

Krissy made this beautiful cake

We played the TP wedding dress game. Check out this hotness.

And the winner is everyone! ….Alice, Leigh Ann, Sara, Liz, and Randi. I look more giant than usual. Leigh Ann’s wedding is August 1, 2009 and I bet her dress looks just like this.

Sara was so much fun when she was opening her gifts.

Cheryl toasting her daughter

Johanna, Alice, Cheryl, and Sara

Sara and Randi-yay!

What a great end to a great weekend!

Sara thought she was going on a run with Catriona and Krissy, but the Shannon, Jamie, and Kelly also arrived. Note that Sara is airborne–this will happen a lot today.

Sara said “Oh this is so cool, we should have made t-shirts.” Just then, Catriona pulled out the “TEAM SARA” t-shirts. So happy!

Krissy and Sara walking before the run.

The first of many high-fives that will happen today.

Sara and the flying-V crossing the finish line after a 3-mile run.

Yay! My favorite shot of the morning. I love everyone in the background with very happy faces.

Sara reading her finish-line love letter from Nigel. Nigel is in Wales right now visiting family and having a “stag-do” (aka bachelor party).

Sara and Team Sara after the run. Kelly and I had a team Sara rest-on-the-bench while the other ladies went for a run. Someone had to handle the finish line!

Our next adventure started at 11am! We surprised Sara with a limo!!! The limo came to Sara’s house to take us away for wine tasting at a Hillsborough. Catriona bought Sara this awesome cowboy hat and a box of fun.

Bride-to-be glass

Everyone is already having a great time with Miss Piggy.

Here is Hillsborough. I took an image VERY SIMILAR to this one 3 years ago. Really, its almost the same image, but different weather.

Our picnic lunch. Obviously, we are having a really rough day.

Sara and Johanna. Best friends since age 3.

Group shot (with Baby Noah) by our limo driver, JC. There were a lot of guest photographers today.

Now we are at a Notaviva. The owner, Steve, is telling us how he and his wife visited a vineyard on a Friday and bought a farm 9 days later. Living the dream!

Krissy, Sara, and Randi

Krissy is the GOAT (Greatest of All Time)

Still the greatest….

Dancing. There was music, but not really the kind of music that could inspire these awesome moves.

The compass. The theme/symbol for Sara and Nigel’s wedding.

Group shot at Notaviva.

Now its party time! We headed back to Krissy’s for Fulton Fajitas (prepared by Jon Fulton–yay Jon)!

Nice.

Classy.

How did I do this?

This may replace the shot of Sara running as my favorite of the day. Johanna’s hair is awesome. Please note that Johanna is the mother of two wonderful girls.

Microphones.

Seriously, it WAS this much fun!

Best.day.ever.
We love you, Sara!!!!!

Notice the pink and blue t-shirts with the awesome design by Nicki.

Nice socks!

Jacked up.

Jacked up again.

Uncle Ray on the run

Sweet D scores

Guido’s injury

My touchdown catch (even though its out of focus)

Have you guys considered modeling?

Sisters hug!

Happy Easter!

Ryan said “Rich, what would you do if the pain-medicine-machine beeped, but it was a placebo, and nothing came out.” Dad said “I’d be pissed.” He’s funny when he’s drugged!

Here is part of that magic machine.

Hopefully he’ll be home soon.