Today I am soaking in the luxury of not traveling in snowy weather.

Today I am enjoying spending little nuggets free time with my boyfriend in between work.

Today I am answering emails and fulfilling print orders before I’m away from the computer for two days.

Today I am eating the last of my stash of Thin Mints.

Today I am mentally preparing myself for my very first ‘destination wedding’ in St. Louis this weekend.

Today I am looking at photos of my two favorite boys.

That’s what my Fat Tuesday looks like. How about yours?

If you’ve ever been in Rapid City, you know about Armadillo’s. If not, I’ll take you there next time you’re here. Promise.

They have amazing soft-serve ice cream – including a new sherbet flavor every other day. EVERY OTHER DAY!!

They just opened for the season a few days ago, and I have been looking for an excuse to go ever since. So today while I was out running errands (in the 2″ of heavy SNOW we got last night), I decided I would treat myself to either ice cream at Armadillo’s or a latte elsewhere, depending on what today’s flavor would be. Because having to run errands after a heavy snow is a good excuse for a treat in my book. :-)

The sign read “Today’s flavor: COFFEE”

It was meant to be.

BOTH coffee AND ice cream?! Win for me!

In case you’re wondering, I got the coffee+vanilla twist. It was fabulous. :-)

Welcome, my wonderful blog readers, to the february edition of ‘laura loves…!’

There are several things that have made me smile this month, and here are my top favorites:

1. This video on YouTube makes my heart melt a little every time I watch it!! Part-way through the song, the dad is whistling and the little girl is pretending… she looks over to her dad and asks “one day I’m gonna whistle?” SO cute. And it’s a good song.

2. Rapid City is getting a Bed Bath and Beyond, and I caught them while they were working on putting up the sign. I think it would be much funnier to have a Bed Bath and Beyo…

3. Colorful yarn – I have finished several projects since I re-taught myself how to crochet using YouTube videos. My favorite part is picking out SOFT yarn in FUN colors.

4. Flowers – Lance had flowers delivered to my apartment for our 4-year dating anniversary almost two weeks ago. The original arrangement is on the left. Today I took all the still-fresh-looking flowers and created the arrangement on the right.

5. To My Wife – I subscribed to this blog a few weeks ago. My favorite is the one about slow walkers. Every time Lance and I have to go to WalMart, we are always on a mission to get what we need and get out of there.

6. Burros – I was cleaning out the text messages on my phone and this picture from Lance made me laugh. out. loud. It’s now the background image on my phone. :-)

7. Boots – I have never been a fan of boots. On other people, sure. On me, no. I wear a size 9 shoe and I feel like boots would really accentuate the hugeness that is my feet. But then I found this pair on Zappos.com and I figured why not try them on? It’s free shipping both ways. I got them in the mail a week ago and they are never going back. I think it was the buttons that sold me.

Hello and Happy Valentine’s day!!

I want to thank all you married couples out there for believing in love. For believing in each other.

This weekend at mass, the priest gave an amazing homily about things not being possible until you actually believe they are possible.

Believe God will take care of you and He will.

Believe you can climb a mountain and you will.

Believe you will be true and faithful to your spouse and you will.

After the homily, the priest asked all the married couples to renew their wedding vows right then and there. The elderly couple sitting in front of me reached out to hold each other’s hand. All the married men in the church spoke together, promising their love and everlasting commitment to their wives. Then all the married women in the church spoke together and promised their love and everlasting commitment to their husbands. It was all I could do to keep the tears from streaming down my cheeks.

I felt so overwhelmed (in a good way) to be surrounded by so many people who believe in love. Who believe in their spouses. I see this kind of love and commitment at every wedding I photograph (and yes, I tend to tear up during their vows, too), but to hear a hundred couples renewing their vows – after having been married anywhere from a month to 50+ years – is really an awesome experience to witness.

So thank you again to all you married couples for believing in love. For believing in each other. You make Valentine’s Day ‘love’ly. :-)

If you know me, you know that I love having coffee dates. With old friends, new friends, photographer friends – anyone who likes coffee. Within the past week, I’ve had four coffee dates.

Now, I try to schedule these coffee dates in places that don’t have metered parking. Except today. I was craving my usual German chocolate cake white mocha from Bully Blends. I only had a dime and a nickel for the parking meter – I actually had to go inside and pay for my order with cash so I could get more coins to go back outside and get myself an hours worth of parking.

I really should know better. I can’t talk photography AND drink coffee in less than an hour!

So Amy and I are chatting, having a good time and we realize it’s past our metered hour. We walk outside, and this, my friends, is why I need to carry more change in my purse…