We're gearing up for our new office opening party! (We have tried for hours to think of a cool name for this shindig. All we can come up with is the "Grand Re-Opening Party" just because we think re-openings are really funny. I mean, why do you need to re-open?) 
 
So ... mark January 17 on your calendars and come over to the studio for music, wine, food and fun! We'd love to see everyone :: friends, family, clients, blog-stalkers, ex-boyfriends and that barista at Starbucks that Kory has a crush on. :) Come one, come all!  
 
Doors open at 6pm at 215 North Third Street in downtown Grand Forks.  
 
Here is a photo of my old closet office at my house, just to get you wondering what the NEW office may look like! I think the total square footage of my office was um, 53 sq. ft. Yeah, it was pretty huge. But it was a great little office for me. What's behind the curtains, you wonder? Tons and tons of paperwork, boxes, CDs, printers and one large hockey stick (in North Dakota, a hockey game may break out at any time and you must be prepared.) 
 

Great news! I had a photo place in the recent WPJA contest! The Wedding Photojournalist Association is a great group of photographers, and it's an honor to have a photo place in their contest! 
 
The winning image is from Helen and Chris' wedding this August ::

Our friend and amazing photographer, Britta Trystad from Milestones Photography in West Fargo, also placed a couple images in the contest, too. Hip hip for North Dakota :) 

For the last couple of years, I've been making photo note cards for the holidays to give to my family and friends. I love giving homemade gifts ... you know, something you just can't find in stores. This year I've decided to offer some of my art cards to you, my favorite little blog readers :) All the images are from my travels this year :: Seattle, Medora, Cass Lake, Minneapolis, and Minot. Each pack of cards contains 10 different cards (pictured below), but if you'd like more of one card, just let me know and I can create a custom-pack just for you!  
 
Art cards :: $25/ pack of 10 with envelopes  
Our limited-edition premium holiday cards are printed on heavy, 5x7 inch cardstock with a metallic finish. Cards are blank on the inside. I've been giving them to my family for holiday gifts, and now you can give them as gifts, too :) 
 
Call 218-779-2294 or email me at shawnanoel at gmail dot com to place your order.  
We're taking orders until Dec. 15 -- one week from today -- and we'll process your order the day you place it.

During the last four weeks we've been hard at work painting, taping, sanding and building furniture for our new office space! We were having some "issues" with our old office space so we decided to see what else was available for us. We found a cute space with enough room for a meeting area, plus an office for me and an office for Kory. It's not huge ... but it's a good space for us and we LOVE it so far!  
 
We still have furniture to buy and photos to hang and new lighting to install and oh! the list goes on, but I thought I'd show you what we've done so far!  
 
In January we're planning on hosting a big open house/party extravaganza, so stay tuned for more info about that :) 
 
 
Our new meeting space (gotta love that wallpaper border) ::

After the wallpaper was removed and the walls were all fixed up ::

Walls painted, some furniture in ::

Kory during the wallpaper stage ::

Me, blurry, while painting.

Kory building my desk. Yay for an eight foot desk!

My office as of last night ::

Kory in full-tape mode ::

Kory building his storage cabinet ::

It's Kory's birthday TODAY, so send lots of birthday wishes his way!