See this handsome guy?  That's my JJ.

See his t-shirt?  His idea, his design, his clever saying on the back AND he wore it in public.  That's love, people.

This is us having fun.  He's a fun guy.

This was JJ last week.  He was/is suffering from a potentially life-threatening auto-immune disease called Guillain-Barre Syndrome the last few weeks and was finally hospitalized last week after he met with a neurologist and discovered he had no more reflexes (and apparently they may never come back, but they probably will).  I lived at the hospital, leaving only to do some photo shoots and occasionally try to get a bit of work done in the middle of the night while he was knocked out from sleeping pills.  He was constantly in a lot of pain and it was really hard to leave every time.  A day before he was admitted he started experiencing partial facial paralysis and couldn't smile or close his right eye without effort.  The day he was able to smile normally again was an extremely happy one for me .  I may or may not have asked him to smile about a dozen times.

JJ is home now and, while recovery will take several months, his first day home (today) went much better than expected (after a rough morning).  I hope you will forgive any delayed pictures or late emails, but I'm working double time now to make up for this unexpected "vacation."

Kelli, since you have been so busy the past few days weeks months year I thought I would do a guest post...

Remember all the fun making Texas Christmas gingerbread houses? I thought a few others might enjoy your work.
Also, please let me know when the shipment of mistletoe arrives so the IT department can pick it up.  Thanks!

- Mr. C.

I'm a firm believer in helping people become self-sustaining.  I believe the best way to help others is to teach them and give them the resources they need to help themselves.

I'm sure many of you have already pulled out your wallets to send help to Haiti or some of the other regions of the world that have recently sustained damage due to natural disasters and I know your generosity is greatly appreciated by many.  The current economy has affected many people, including members in my immediate family, yet people continue to donate their time and money to help those in need.  What a great country we live in that we're able to help so many others!  If you're able and feel so inclined, here's another great way to help.

One of my past grooms (and a close friend for the last 8 years) has helped build an organization called Sustain Haiti.  He recently served a mission for our Church in Florida, where he learned Haitian Creole and frequently interacted with and taught Haitians and is now looking forward to helping them this summer in their homeland.

This is Craig (and his lovely wife Jackie) back in October:

More than 100 BYU students have formed Sustain Haiti, a group dedicated to helping the victims in Haiti. Led by Warner Woodworth – founder of HELP International and Humanitarian Action Research Team – they are graduate and undergraduate students (some speak French or Haitian Creole and some are native citizens of Haiti ) looking to make a difference to those affected by the earthquake in Leogane.

For more information and to make a donation, go to:

http://www.indiegogo.com/Sustain-Haiti

Volunteer!  They're still looking for volunteers and if anyone is interested in going to Haiti to help out you can contact Craig directly at palssonc (at) gmail (dot) com or you can send me a message from my contact page above and I'll forward the email.

You can stay current on the project at their blog:

http://sustainhaiti.blogspot.com/

You can read a short news article here:

http://universe.byu.edu/node/8034

In the past I've been able to travel to the Philippines and Africa to serve in orphanages and I would have never had such an opportunity without the generous donations of others.  Here's a picture of one of my sweet little African orphans.

While I can't show you any pictures of the kids from the Philippines (they had a strict picture policy and I made a promise to the nuns; you can't break a promise made to nuns!), but here's a shot (back when I shot 100% film) of some other cute kids:

Their goals for Sustain Haiti are so practical in helping the people in Leogane become more self-sufficient.  It sounds like such a great opportunity to all involved.  Go here to donate!

To the mom who carried twins to full term while raising three other crazy little kids and then continued to carry us both (I'm sure we both weighed more here than all the camera gear I carry at a wedding.  Moms just have arms of steel, you know).

To the mom who taught me a love of photography by taking me into a dark room at the tender age of 14.  Where would I be without you?

And to the mom who forced me to learn how to cook and become awesome at it (um, due to not cooking amidst college classes and raising 5 kids) and to always use real butter and make brownies from scratch.

I love you Mom!

Hope everyone had a great weekend and a fun Valentine's Day!  Last minute I decided to get some heart-shaped cookie cutters (like, I got the last heart-shaped anything at Michael's) and since one of them was metal I though it'd be fun to try and make heart-shaped fried eggs (boyfriend's favorite) and heart-shaped french toast bites!  Rounded out with orange juice and super delicious super crispy bacon, just the way he likes it; I prefer mine chewy!

I'd love to find some fun V-day traditions that I can incorporate into the holiday (I'm not a huge fan of too many traditional traditions ).  How did you celebrate??

It's not a hurricane... It's SNOW?!! This will be my first Winter in Houston, TX. It looks like I won't be able to escape the snow no matter where I live.

Typically, Houston will get a bit of snow every 4 - 6 years during the Winter. There have been estimates that some areas of Houston will see 4-5" today. Snowball fight anyone? .

This is the earliest snow in Houston since 1889. Measurable snow has NEVER been seen in back-to-back winters. We're breaking records here, people!

See Houston's Climate History Here

Instead of spending Black Friday heading to the stores and acting like animals, it seemed like a better idea to head to the Houston Zoo to actually see animals.  My boyfriend thought it would be a good idea (it was free)

He thought I should have more photos of myself on my blog so I let him practice.  This was his first time shooting with manual controls!  He did an amazing job and enjoyed the opportunity of making me feel awkward by posing me in busy walkways .

My bf kept asking for directions to the evil petting zoo.  He really wanted to see a goat eat a can. I just wanted some hand sanitizer.

This duck had a lot of attitude. The bf really thought this bird should get some gold chains and a posse.

I taught him all about finding good light (even in a bat cave).

One of those busy walkways where he made me stand for 5 minutes (he tricked me into looking happy).

He really wanted one of us to get a picture petting the large cats, but I didn't think it was such a good idea.

Oh my...

All pictures shot by him, edited by me.

I've been working on my new proofing site for a while now and, though it's not 100% I'd like to share it with all of you! You can see it here. You'll have to create a login when you get there so you can use the features such as marking favorites and so you can see pricing. The old one is still up, but I will slowly be trying to move all of my shoots from that site to this one. Let me know what you do and don't like about it and I'll see what I can do. Thanks!

Hey all you friends from the state I love so much! I haven't been able to schedule as many shoots as I would have liked for my upcoming trip to the bay area so I'm going to be shortening my trip. If there is anyone out there who'd like to schedule something let me know soon so I don't accidentally cut off the days you might be available . Thanks!

Wow, I had no idea I'd neglected my blog for so long! I have a TON of work I'm trying to catch up on and get things out to clients and I'm sorry I've been absent for the month of September.

Anyway, I'm so happy there's so much interest in the tutorials and question/answer segments! If I get enough questions together by next week I'll do my first one. I already have a few sitting in my inbox, so thanks to those who sent them! Once again, anyone who has a question leave a comment here or send an email to kelli @ kellinicolephotography.com with a subject that says something to do with tutorials or blog questions. Thanks!