My exciting news? My new website ! Visit, bookmark, and visit often! Katie Stasiak was married and now is Katie McCaw! Same photographer, same girl…different blog!

Check out my new website. I’m so proud of it and I am looking forward to another year of growing my photography and sharing with the world. My new website is where I will be posting from here on out. I will keep this one active for awhile for numerous reasons. Feel free to look around and enjoy the start of my photography business. For the next chapter in my life, head on over to www.katiemccaw.com!

We left for Punta Cana on Sunday, so we had a day in between the wedding and our honeymoon.  How people leave the day after their wedding is beyond me.  The next day we were driving around town picking up lost items from the wedding day, answering phone calls from friends, packing, shopping and preparing for our trip.  We literally packed in less than 15 minutes and needless to say, that was a mistake!  I told Shawn he probably only needed two t-shirts and since our brains weren’t functioning properly, he only packed two.  It was a joke for us because he wore the same two shirts everywhere we went.  Other than that, we lived in our swimming suits, flip-flops and sunglasses.

The beach was so beautiful, I have never seen water so blue and warm!  Oh it was so warm.  The weather was a little cloudy the first two days but the sun was still shinning through and we got  tan.  I loaded up on 50 SPF sunscreen and still got some sun.  The rest of the week was sunny and it was so nice relaxing by the beach and the pool daily.  One day we went zip lining, which was amazing.  It was by far our favorite thing we did the whole trip.  We like to see the culture of places we visit so driving through the towns, the dirt roads, and off -roading through the mountains to get to the zip line was right up our ally.  I’m posting a video at the bottom of this post that shows how bumpy our ride was up the mountain.  It had rained during the night the morning we went outbacking up the mountain so the “roads” were so muddy and wet.  At one point, I thought the truck was going to flip with all of us in it!  One we were up the mountain,  the thrill of zipping over the river and trees was beautiful and something I will never forget.

Everyone in the Dominican is so friendly.  They walk around with a  permanent smile on their faces and make jokes with everyone as they pass.  When you are on the resort everything is beautiful and great and you don’t realize you are in a third world country.  The people that work on the resorts are so thankful to be working and it is evident.  When we drove through the town, it was heartbreaking to see how these people lived.  Most didn’t have electricity or running water.  The kids don’t all go to school and the ones that do get to go, dress up and are thankful.  It was nothing I didn’t know before, but as you drive through these towns it’s such an eye opener.  I wanted to take back either a dog or a child but Shawn told me I couldn’t.  I really probably could have talked him into bringing back both, you know, if the world worked that way and it was easy to do.

I did end up taking my camera on our trip but it was kept in the safe for the majority of the trip.  95% of the pictures are from our old point and shoot but when you have blue skies and blue water, you don’t even need a fancy camera!

I didn’t plan on making a video from our honeymoon but we took small video clips on our cameras all week so I thought I would through something together.  It’s nothing fancy but I love how it turned out!

Untitled from Katie Stasiak on Vimeo.

Shawn and I both agree our honeymoon isn’t over until we say it is.  Even though we are back in STL….we are still going to celebrate!

I will share our wedding story soon but I wanted to get up our pictures from our honeymoon because everyone is asking!

Shawn and I haven’t stopped in over a month.  It has been non-stop everything. Between planning for the wedding, traveling for Christmas, our amazing wedding, and the warm honeymoon…I’m exhausted.  I could use a break from my break.

Here is a picture we took as soon as we checked into our room.  We have never, ever, been this exhausted and happy at the same time!

I’m thrilled to share with you all of the exciting news…and there will be a lot of it in the next few weeks so check back often!  Lots to share and even more to get excited about!

I was really eager to get out and take some pictures of the snow but with driving in it, Christmas, driving back to St. Louis, Christmas again, and everything else there wasn’t really time. So when we were at my parents the day after Christmas I pulled out my camera before the snow could melt away.  These are just pictures around my parents property.   I just love walking around it…brings back a lot of memories and I love the privacy of going in the back.  We moved to this house in 1994, I was in third grade and this place will always hold a ton of memories for me.  I will stop writing tonight…but someday I will post a long post about what it was like growing up here.

Here is the world’s best dad getting a few of his own pictures.  He was giving me tips about taking pictures in the snow and his tips helped!

Every year I do something crafty for gifts to give people near and far.  When I found this post right after Thanksgiving I was so excited because this would be my homemade gift!  Shawn took all the labels off the soap bottles(which were around 30 soap bottles in all!!!), he even surprised me while I was out running errands one day AND took pictures because he knew I would want to blog about it!  He knows me so well!   Well, I don’t have time to blog the whole soap process and since I wanted to put up this project before Christmas for any of those last minute people (like me!) you just get a picture and the link to the original tutorial.  I oh-so-loved making these little things!  Everyone was asking how I did it since they aren’t stickers.  These cute little soaps were so easy to make and made for a practical little gift.

You have read my grumbles about not taking enough, “me” pictures. I have serious commitment to document my life after the wedding, after my new branding/business is exposed, and after the new year. This morning I sat there in bed thinking how exactly I am going to do it. How am I going to take time for my personal life pictures? So I logged onto Flickr. (Flickr is a photo site where I used to upload my pictures. Then I started this blog and everything stopped over on Flickr.) I clicked on something I have been interested in doing for awhile.

So what am I going to do?

Yes, this is serious.

I want you to join too. Maybe you will get a DSLR for Christmas, maybe you are learning to shoot manual, maybe you are wanting to challenge yourself, maybe you just need to get out and shoot.

Either way, do this project with me! Let’s meet new friends, create, give ideas, and share our images.

Click and join me here!

If you read this blog you know I love dogs. I had always had big yellow Labs growing up and knew I wanted another yellow Lab one day… but when I met this little dog named Scarlett, I knew that I was a lover of all dogs. This dog of mine changed me. I found this video on my computer from a year ago… what was once trash is now treasure.  I am so happy I didn’t delete this video because it made me smile all night.  We, (Shawn and I!) are obsessed in love with our little joy, aka, Scarlett.  In case you don’t already know, here is her story, short and sweet.

Adopt a pet in 2011.  It’s the greatest gift of all!   Cheeeesy, but it’s true.  I will never buy a dog in my whole life.  The whole adopting the bad qualities and fixing them are far more rewarding than anything. It’s not easy but it’s so worth it. There will never be a dog that will be by your side more than a rescue dog. Ok, ok, enough cheese for one night.  If you make it through this video, God Bless you (for real!).

The gift of a dog. from Katie Stasiak on Vimeo.

Side note: Tonight, after listening to this video play a few times, Scarlett started *scratching* under the closet door.  Since she never does this, I became worried and opened up the closet.  Guess why she was doing that?!  She knew where her hide-a-squirrel was…right there in that closet! Who says small dogs aren’t smart?!

Remember this post?  ”I need 30 vintage clocks!”.  Well we have counted , winded up, batterirized (nooo that isn’t a word but I like it), and packaged up more than 80 clocks!  We.are.set.  I kind of wish I had just twenty more but oh well somewhere between the summer and now I started slacking with the clock hunting. Watch out 2011, we’re counting down!

We literally have one of everything without having too many.  We found some really funny ones tonight like a German Shepard holding a clock, a telephone, a Winnie the Pooh clock, and a bunch of old clocks that went in those zipper pouches for traveling salesman.  Do you know how to wind up a clock?  Well I didn’t.  Thanks to Shawn and my dad for doing that part as well as truly fixing a few and bringing them back to the year 2010.  Of course I didn’t bring my camera during this process (I’ve been too busy to remember such things!) but here is a few I found via google images search…

A special thanks to my Aunt Marty who made about half of these clocks possible…and my mom who made the other half possible.  Plus Amy (my MOH) who went to a special “discount” store and stocked up and literally flew across country with over four bags full of clocks.  Oh and me,  who went to a few resell it shops and scored myself like..uh…seven.  Thanks to everyone who has had as much fun with this planning process as I have! Let the countdown begin!

Guess who is watching this sweet thing while we are on our honeymoon?!

My parents!  We are so happy, grateful, and everything in between that Scarlett will be with them!  She loves them and is the most thankful because she won’t be put in a kennel for over 10 days (including wedding weekend, etc.).  Her days in the kennel will only be two.  Thank you, thank you, thank you to my mom and dad!  She promises to be good and to clean your kitchen floor upon arrival.

11 days til Christmas?  I don’t even have a tree!  Forget the presents…I don’t have anything holly or jolly prepared.  I went shopping to get in the spirit and came back with things only for me!  Christmas is my favorite holiday but this year?  My head is filled with wedding information…wedding to dos and wedding countdowns.  I have calls I need to return and friends I need to contact.

I woke up on Saturday morning like I always do and sat in front of my computer.  I read a few of my favorite blogs from my google reader while drinking my cup of coffee.  I stretched out on my comfy chair and pulled out a few pictures I took from the week and started editing.  Only to realize…pictures from the week…images to edit…are you kidding me?  I haven’t pulled my camera out since Megan’s shower?!  Call it crazy, call me bonkers…but I realized in just a few short weeks of not having a single photography session booked, that my mental break is my photography. My photography is so much more to me than any craft project or any beverage I could sit to enjoy.  I love my crafts and I love my tea…but I miss my photography.  I pretty much have been missing that crazy busy life of teacher and photographer and part time planner.

I’ve turned into full time planner.  Which is nothing new.  I’m a full time planner all the time. If I don’t have my day planned I go insane.  I’m not good at breaks.  Which is why…I guess I’m doing ok right now.  I’m a planner.  Lately, I’ve been a  planner for the wedding, a planner for the future of my photography business, and a planner for the rest of my life.  So how is planning going?  It’s great.  Really!  It is!

While I won’t be checking each Christmas list twice and finding the best gift for everyone this year, I will try my best and find time to craft up a few homemade gifts like I always do.  I have my Christmas candle burning and my the Christmas music playing but all I can hear are the wedding bells that are ringing.  18 more days…