Most of us have a bucket list, right? At least… most of us have one since that awesome movie came out, right?

On my bucket list (that I wrote out two-ish years ago), was to have a feature article about our business in Rangefinder magazine. Why Rangefinder? Well… I have a few reasons. 1) it was the first photography magazine that I subscribed to. 2. It’s one of the largest circulation photography magazines in the country and is also the sponsor of WPPI. and 3) Almost every photographer I know subscribes.

When, back in November, I got an email from Rangefinder’s Features editor that said this, “We’ve been hearing great things about you two and are wondering if you would be open to a feature article in January issue of Rangefinder magazine talking about yourselves and your work”… I was speechless… absolutely speechless. After the first five minutes of picking my jaw up off of the ground I shouted, “WOULD WE?! ABSO-FREAKING-LUTELY!” Mike came running in… “what are you shouting about in here weirdo?!” I showed him the email… he gave me the biggest and best hug ever as I was wiping the tears from my face.

Drama queen? Probably. But I’ll say this… this is, for us, our biggest photography-related accomplishment to date.

Now, I’m not trying to sound all braggy… I promise you I’m not… but, again, this is a really proud moment for us. 🙂

When it came in the mail… I could hardly contain myself!
And then my ingrate self saw the title and font. WHAT?! CURLZZZZ?! REEEEEEALLY??!!!?! CURLZ?!!!? Before I was a professional photographer, I was a graphic designer… and every designer has fonts they despise… most of which we all share. ie. Comic Sans, Papyrus, Curlz, Bradley Hand, Marker Felt, Kristen ITC, Sand, etc. So when I saw that our article was titled “Bobbi + Mike = 4Ever” in a font I didn’t love… I wasn’t nearly as excited. Yes, YES… YES! I’m the definition of dramatic. After a few day of the dramatics and shock wearing off… It hit me… there we were, IN RANGEFINDER!!! ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! Then I showed my mom, she cried too, “Mike and Bobbi… this is your story… and it’s just awesomel!”   For those that are subscribers and want to read it, it’s on pages 28-38… with a few ads sprinkled in. I sent them 50+ photos for them to choose from. When Addi’s cuteness made the cut, I couldn’t WAIT to tell Ryan. It’s my favorite part of the whole article. 

Friends… I cannot thank you enough for all of your support and love over the years. I won’t lie… this career has been quite the roller coaster. But these amazing moments make all of the hard work worth it.

Thank you thank you thank you.

Much love friends!

~bobbi+mike ❗ + ❓

::EDITED TO ADD:: For those that aren’t Rangefinder subscribers, you can download and read the article here.

PS. because this is a “subscriber only” magazine and our families are DYING for a copy (my G-ma has a copy of 3 of the Digital Photo Pro’s with Mpix Pro’s ad  featuring us laying out as a coffee table book… I’m SO not kidding you right now)… would any of you be willing to mail us yours when you’re done reading it? If so, we would REALLY appreciate it! We can send you a self addressed, ready to mail envelope if you’d be so kind!  😀  email hello at bobbiandmike.com if you’re willing 🙂

Jeffy turned 21 this month. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! TWENTY ONE???!?! It’s SO weird to see him as technically old enough to buy alcohol. If you’re a long time blog reader you know Jeffy 🙂 If not… well, I’ll tell you 🙂 Jeffy is Mike’s challenged brother who will forever be Mike’s baby brother. 🙂

He also happens to love all things Sesame Street. We invited Mike’s family to our house last week to celebrate a belated Christmas (we were with my family this year in Kansas City) and also Jeffy’s 21st birthday. I JUMPED on the opportunity to make him a birthday cake.

Ever since I made my birthday cake last June I’ve been OBSESSED with baking and creating. For me it’s a creative outlet that’s not photography… and I LOVE the entire process (though not the best new hobby considering the healthy train!).

For months, I’ve had my eye on these sesame street cake pops for Jeffy  (by the famous food blogger Bakerella). I’ve never made anything like it and was super excited to try my hand at it… I FINALLY had an excuse to make them. Oh, for those wondering… essentially a cake pop is a ball of cake and icing covered in colored white chocolate and then decorated…

So, without further adieu… here they are!

I made three of each so that I had enough left overs to bring over to Addi and for Karen (Mike’s mom) to bring back to her great nieces. PS. After about a day and a half of constructing them… the final touches didn’t happen until the sun went down and the light in our loft wasn’t at its best. Not to worry, I took a few more photos of the leftovers the next day with the sun!

But of course I had to make a cake to put them all in. I tried to make the icing look like grass. Mike’s parents bought us a Kitchen Aid Mixer for Christmas and I put it to work RIGHT away on that icing! (BEST GIFT EVERRRRR!) Oh, and yes… my expression in that photo on the left would be categorized as joyfully intense. 😉 Jeffy, however, wasn’t as excited about them as I was.  Oh well… I still had a blast making them!  Posing it up. Here are the photos with a bit more detail taken the next morning in the sun light 🙂

Big Bird was the most popular.
Here were Addi’s favorites 🙂 …but Oscar was who I was most proud of!  That’s it! Hope you enjoyed…

And to the healthy train… don’t even THINK about it… this thing is a calorie bomb! I ate half of one cake pop and had WAY too much guilt to complete it!

Much love!

~bobbi ❗

PS. Just to reiterate… before you try your hand at these know that they are pretty labor intensive! It really did take 1.5 days to complete… I wasn’t exaggerating (…as I’m known to do 😉 ). That being said, they were really fun to make… and I’d totally do it again!

 

that’s right… PLATFORM SPEAKERS!!!! Can you believe that?! HOW FLIPPING EXCITING!

Yes yes yes, we’re speaking in Vegas 😀 And this time… not at a tradeshow booth… THIS time… we’re speaking ON A STAGE!  I gotta tell you, we’re incredibly honored and… well… I’m a bit nervous…

(us speaking at the mpixpro tradeshow booth in 2010)

 

Okay, let me slowwww down. Many of you have heard me talk about WPPI… but what exactly IS that?! Well, it stands for Wedding and Portrait Photographers International. And every year, for the past 31 years, they hold a tradeshow and convention in Las Vegas. It also happens to be the largest tradeshow and organization in the world for wedding and portrait photographers. There are thousands of people who go every year… last year there were a record number of photographers (nearly 15,000)…

We were thrilled to speak at the tradeshow last year… but when mpixpro asked to sponsor us as platform speakers this year… I poopied in my pants. Okay, that’s a lie… I didn’t do that… that’d be wayyyy gross. Why do I even say things like that?! I’m weird. Anyhow…

And what are we speaking about?! Well, if you read the WPPI blurb about our talk it says:

“bobbi+mike discuss what they consider to be the root of their success – finding a balance between professionalism and down-to-earth relationships. From the first call to delivery of the album, learn why technical skills need to be complemented by building rapport with couples.  Come hear how bobbi+mike photograph who people really are.”

Oh, and I should mention… we’re listed under the “motivational” category. We don’t really know what that means 100%. After Mike saw that we were listed there, he considered wearing the money suit from this infomercial… because who’s more motivating than THAT guy?! 😀

We’re really excited… and honored… and as I mentioned earlier, I’m nervous. I mean, I’m not the most eloquent speaker. I talk fast and I’m a little ADD (okay, a lot ADD… it’s a good thing that I have Mike to keep me on track!) 🙂 We do however speak genuinely, passionately, and energetically.

So, if you’d like to come hear us…. set your alarm on Monday because we’re scheduled for 8am that morning (February 21). Yeah you heard me right… Monday at 8am… maybe we are motivational.  I mean, you have to be pretty motivated to get up that early the day after you get to Las Vegas! 😉

And I should mention… WPPI is doing something this year that they’ve never done before… an “early admission and guaranteed seats for your favorite Platform classes” system. 🙂 If you dig us and want to come… here’s the link.

PreBoard WPPI 2011

I HIGHLY suggest you go there and sign up for all of your favorite speakers right now. Trust me, I’ve been there… waiting in line forever… only for the room to fill up before I can get in. This is a very welcome change for the convention and I’m a big fan of the idea 🙂

I hope to meet MANY of you there!

Much love friends 😀

~bobbi+mike ❗ + ❓

 

…and just because I love this photo of us… a little blog entry bonus 😀

❗ + ❓

PS. there’s an article in the January issue of RangeFinder Magazine about us and what we’re speaking about… pages 28-38. I’ll be writing more about that next week 😀