Vacation!  

Posted by: Valerie and Bryan

Well, we are officially on vacation... at least until Monday! This morning we loaded up and headed down to San Antonio to Janice & Kenny's. And, right now, I'm in charge of stirring the infamous "Cheesy Poblano Pepper Soup" while Bryan and his mom went to the store; Kenny's at physical therapy; and Julie's at work. I thought this would also be a good time to read up on what everyone else has been up to and do some work on the laptop. There is no end to that.

We are looking forward to meeting up with Tim & Rhonda and I think Jon & Kelly too, for dinner tonight in New Braunfels. We haven't seen them in a long time so it will be nice to visit.

Tomorrow we are grillin' and chillin' !!! That's why Bryan went to the store with Janice - he doesn't think she will get the steaks that he wants to grill LOL.. he's so picky.

On Friday, Bryan and I will be headed down to McAllen for a couple of days. We have some friends there that we will be doing some maternity photos for... so you can bet we've got all the camera gear and the studio lights all packed up with us today. We're going to stay Friday night and Saturday night at the Embassy Suites there so we can take advantage of the pool and relax a bit.

Then it'll be back to the daily grind on Monday.. but the days are counting down until the big trip across the pond. Can't wait! I'll post some pics and stuff later.

love to you all!!
~V&B

a recent wedding  

Posted by: Valerie and Bryan


from the other blog.. the business side.. this is my favorite from June 6th... for a better look, go to www.lightwavefoto.com/blog
this reminds me of something out of 1940's gangster movie...


Check out Lightwave Foto's New Look!  

Posted by: Valerie and Bryan

I've had a few hours to work on our website this evening and have updated it with the new Main Logo and the branding for each line. Lots of stuff is on the horizon for us and we are working really hard to move forward on several projects.

Our recent renovation of the upstairs studio/office space turned out excellente! I'll try to snap some pics and post soon.

We have 12 weddings booked for 2009 so far and several already for 2010. That's a huge jump for us in comparison to all the previous years. We believe that 2009 is going to be an exciting year and we are certainly looking forward to the remaining 6 months. If 2009 is any indicator of things to come, then I hope 2010 will be twice as good!

Tomorrow evening, Bryan and I will celebrate 3 years of marriage with many many more to come. That's the legal anniversary in case any of you are wondering. We'll celebrate again in September (16th) while we're in Italy. I could not ask for anyone better than Bryan as my loving husband, loyal best friend, secret confidant, and the only person I know that can truly put up with my IED issues (intermittent explosive disorder). Fortunately, we are one in the same!

Love to everyone - have a great week and I'll try to update more often!

Oh one other thing. On Monday, they did not do the needle core biopsy that was planned. After the breast surgeon did an examination he determined that it is not a cyst that has any fluid in it so it would not make sense to stick me! Yah! Instead, we are waiting to schedule an MRI. He said that if there is any abnormality or cancerous stuff, the MRI should pick it up. That's the non-evasive choice right now which is ok with me. The other two choices were either Surgical Biopsy of the tissue or "do nothing". I didn't really like either of those two choices so I went with the MRI. I'll keep everyone updated as I find out anything new. Thanks for all of the thoughts and prayers. My spirits are high and I'm not worried about it right now. Just taking it one step at a time.

Website & Server problems  

Posted by: Valerie and Bryan

geez.. we've had some weird problems.. i posted two sneak peak weddings up last night on the Expressions blog and today our webhost did an upgrade.. apparantly they pulled a backup and i lost what i had posted.. but, luckily, I'm able to repost it.

So, if you have not had a chance to visit the Expressions by Lightwave Foto blog then please do!

Also, we hope you like the new logo. Each line of photography now has it's own unique brand and logo; and, the main Lightwave Foto logo got a facelift too!

We'll introduce them to you little by little.

New Stuff  

Posted by: Valerie and Bryan

not much going on but weddings...

check out www.lightwavefoto.com/blog

for a few images

Austin PPA Annual Print Competition  

Posted by: Valerie and Bryan


Last Sunday, I attended the annual print competition for our local PPA guild and am proud to announce that I brought home for Lightwave Foto one First Place, a Second Place (both in the Wedding Category) and a Judge's Choice award.


They just got these results and photos published on their site today and they have me at 1st & 3rd - actually me & Carroll tied for 2nd so there wasn't a third place. But no big deal!
Go to this link for a better look! May 2009 Winners

Bad Luck & Weird Things Come in 3's  

Posted by: Valerie and Bryan


I came home yesterday evening to a green lizard perched inside the front window by the door. I suppose he was waiting to greet me after a long day of work. Unfortunately for him, I don't like lizards and he had to go. He did take a little trek across the dining room floor before I carried him outside on the leg of a dining room chair.

Then, later the same evening, I had a couple leaving that had just booked us for their wedding and there was a snake on the front porch.
If you are wondering what the sign in the window says, well it goes like this:
CAUTION
No Soliciting
Video Surveillance in use
Insured & Protected by Smith & Wesson
We GUARANTEE you will be caught
And now you ask, what's the reason for the sign. Let me tell you! Last Thursday, my next door neighbor's house was broken into sometime between 11:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. Bryan was home and said he heard some banging around next to us where their side door to their garage is but figured it was just the man putting something in his garbage can. Little did he know, the thugs were back. They've hit several houses within a few blocks of us in the last couple of months. Now they are hitting in our cul-de-sac. It's a little too close for comfort but what can you really do? We're arming our alarm all the time, got the gun handy, and ain't taking no crap off any strangers.
Oh and to top off the evening last night, we experienced a pretty serious computer crash. Luckily we had our images from the wedding we shot last Saturday backed up to the server. I do that immediately. But all of my initial editing, color correction, cropping, rating, and culling of 997 images went POOF! So I get to do those 8 hours of work all over again. And we have another wedding this Saturday so I'm about to be doubled up quick. Something corrupted the RAID5 array and Bryan had to totally wipe the hard drives... man that sucks!

Update on the Lump  

Posted by: Valerie and Bryan

I had the diagnostic mammogram and ultrasound on Monday. Radiologist says it just looks like thickening of the breast tissue. And that message was relayed to me via the rookie ultrasound operator. I'm waiting a few days until the report and scans get over to my ob/gyn to review. Then I'm considering a needle aspiration to have it tested to make sure. I've read far too many accounts of mammogram and ultrasound bogus conclusions and I'd rather not be caught with my britches down, or rather my bra off. So we'll just wait and see what's next. No news is good news right?