Missing the Snow?

As I was walking to my apartment tonight in the rain, the thought "If only it were snow..." popped into my head. I know that a lot of people think that I'm insane, but I'm really sad we haven't broken the record for snowiest Milwaukee winter EVER. EVER people! How much cooler would it be to say "I lived through the snowiest winter Milwaukee has EVER seen" instead of "Remember that time we had a lot of snow? Wasn't it, like, the second snowiest winter or something?" I think the fact that I'm secretly wishing for more snow is strongly influenced by two other things:

Thing #1 - I rent, and therefore don't have to do any shoveling (thanks nice Shoreline folks!).
Thing #2 - My dog loves (and I mean LOVES) snow. I think in order of things she loves it goes:

1) Snow
2) People
3) Belly rubs
4) Food

Although 2 and 3 could possibly be combined, b/c without people, there are no belly rubs.

Moving on...

There's this amazing dog park I try to take her to at least once a weekend (especially the day after I shoot a wedding and she wasn't able to get much exercise). It's called Granville Dog Park. It's an off-leash park that I always say is just like a dog food commercial. We walk in and there are hills, trees, paths, deep snow in the winter, and wildflowers in the summer. There's even a river for the dogs to swim in. I'm not kidding. It's a little slice of dog heaven. Here are a few photos from the last time I took my camera with me:

Murphy being chased by an adorable Corgi.

The chase continues...

These dogs were a little faster than the Corgi, and didn't want Murphy to steal their stick (her specialty is stealing toys, etc. from other dogs....she's sort of obnoxious like that).

I still don't know how it happened, but the stick managed to break into three pieces so everyone was happy.

Good dog.

Just a little plug here, and then I'm going to bed. I got Murphy from the Wisconsin Humane Society, and she's a fabulous, fabulous dog. The employees and volunteers are really nice there, and it's really clean, and they get a ton of dogs from other states b/c their adoption rate is so high (Murphy's actually a stray from Indiana). If you haven't been, I highly recommend stopping by...even if you just want to look at puppies on your lunch break, like my old coworkers and I used to do from time to time. :)

Miss Ruby

Miss Ruby is a fabulous bridesmaid and special occasion

dress shop near the 3rd Ward. Erin, the owner, is incredibly sweet.

She's managed to put together a really nice environment

for hanging out with your good friends and picking out dresses.

She sets up appointments with wedding parties, so that you

and your group can have the store to yourselves.

Check out some photos I snapped the last time I was in there:

She carries some really gorgeous dresses.

This place is both incredibly stylish AND incredibly cozy.

Miss Ruby offers more than just dresses.

These bridesmaid survival kits are fabulous!

All sorts of fun goodies...including "Bachelorette Bash" Mad Libs.
Hilarious!

Check out the size of these dressing rooms!
It's possible they're bigger than my bedroom.
Ok. Maybe not.
But I'd say they're at least half the size of my bedroom.

UCP Taste of Milwaukee Fundraiser

I had a chance to photograph a fundraiser for United Cerebal Palsy

a few weeks ago. It was a great event at the Pfister where local

restaurants brought tasty treats for the guests to sample.

There was also a silent auction, a book signing by

Jacquelyn Mitchard (The Deep End of The Ocean)

and a live auction of several big ticket items.

Some tasty salads from Kil@wat. It's a restaurant in the

InterContinental Hotel downtown (Kilbourn at Water).

However, blogspot wants to pretend it's an email address.

That's cool. Do what you need to do, blogspot. :)

Cheesecake from Simma's - it was amazing!

Some folks sampling the deliciousness.

These ladies were excited about winning a live auction item.

Love that polka dot dress!

Jacquelyn Mitchard with Katy, the organizer of the event.

I can't imagine how stressful it would be to try to coordinate

so many restaurants AND auction items, but she did an awesome job!

Gail, from UCP, is a good friend of Jacquelyn's.

I love this photo. It was the last one I took that night.

Everyone seemed to have such a great time at this event.