Northwoods Life | We Bought An Airstream

Sorry for being MIA in the blogging world for awhile but with summer, beer festivals and wedding photography season taking hold life has been anything but dull here in the Northwoods!

Our big exciting news however is that over the weekend after years and years of lusting after various campers and having a bad case of wonderlust we bought an Airstream! Without further ado, introducing our vintage 1977 Airstream Argosy Minuet! 

After scouring the internet for countless hours/days/weeks/years we finally found the one that was perfect for our tastes and our budget. The Airstream we found was located in Indianapolis, Indiana which is about a 9hr drive from northern Wisconsin for us but we love road trips so we didn't mind! To our knowledge I believe we are the 4th owners by way of Texas to Indiana and now to Wisconsin (though I need to do a bit more research to be sure).

For those of you who don't know Airstream Argosies (or simply Argosy) were manufactured as a division of Airstream from 1974-1979 as a Class A motorhome using part aluminum, part galvanized steel, hence the painted look they typically have to prevent rusting. For a long time I wasn't a fan of the Argosy but it slowly grew on my, especially because of how creative one can get with the painting of the exterior. 

To say this has been a dream of ours is an understatement, in fact there was even a point in time we contemplated purchasing an Airstream to live in full time rather than a home... thats how much we have wanted this. I can't wait to share our renovations and travels with you in the future!!!

Credits | Author: Krista & Photography: Fornear Photo

Fornear Photo Friday | Shane & Ashley's Engagement Shoot

In honor of all the Match Madness going on (and the big Badger win last night!) I thought I would feature a fun college rivalry shoot we did this fall for Shane & Ashley's engagement session that literally took place on the Wisconsin - Michigan border no less!   

See the crack in the pavement where the yellow lines end?? That's the Wisconsin - Michigan state line with Ashley on the Wisconsin side and Shane on the Michigan side!

Confession... We aren't big basketball people or college sports people for that matter (hello... Matt & I both went to art school not a university so no big surprise there!) Typically we cheer for the home team Wisconsin when are here or Illinois when we are in that neck of the woods.   

I just LOVE Ashley & Shane's enthusiasm and dedication to each of their teams! I really think it made for a ton of fun on this engagement shoot and I certainly can't wait to see how it might be incorporated into their wedding which I KNOW they will be!   

In the case of March Madness itself it's probably the only basketball I can get into (maybe it's the single elimination style of it or the super short "season" I don't know). Considering Wisconsin made it to the Final Four last year and just made the Elite Eight last night again all I have to say is... Go Badgers! 

Do you get into March Madness at all?

Credits | Author: Krista & Photography: Fornear Photo

Fornear Photo Friday | Sara & Taylor featured on Offbeat Bride

Matt and I really luck that we have both amazing clients and other likeminded vendors we work with for Fornear Photo.... and Offbeat Bride is one of them!! 

Some of our very best clients we have ever had, Sara & Taylor's amazing Game of Thrones Wedding was featured today on there so rather than me clog up your feed please go check it out in all of it's awesomeness!!! Oh and it's a Game of Thrones themed wedding! Yeah, how cool is that!?

Please go check it out!!

http://offbeatbride.com/2015/03/wisconsin-medieval-wedding

Credits | Author: Krista & Photography: Fornear Photo

Northwoods Life | Northern Lights

I have said it many of times we live in a pretty special little place in this great big world... Northern Wisconsin! From time to time we are lucky enough to get to see some awesome natural wonders and the Northern Lights aka Aurora Borealis happens to be one of them! 

Matt & I do our best to keep a look out (online) as to when they are predicted to make their appearances and on the very early morning of St.Patrick's Day they did just that!  While I was sound asleep Matt snuck out and arrived home near dawn to make coffee and show me some awesome shots he got. 

Throughout the day we kept tabs on the KP levels (the global geomagnetic storm index with a scale of 0 to 9) that helps predict when you might be able to see the Auroras... basically all day they were going strong into the evening so Matt went out again. The photos taken were from the early evening just before midnight on St.Patrick's Day 2015. Aren't they amazing!? 

Just one perk of living in Northern Wisconsin and near Upper Michigan, enjoy!

Credits | Author: Krista & Photography: Fornear Photo

Fornear Photo Friday | Dan & Kelly's Northwoods Winter Engagement Shoot

It feels like forever since I did a Fornear Photo Friday! Life has been crazy around here and I have a feeling it is not going to be slowing down. Since we have returned home from our travels the Northwoods has gotten CONSIDERABLY warmer... like every day above 40 degrees for about a week! I mean in these parts it's practically summer!

That said tomorrow Matt & I will be shooting what might be our last "winter" engagement session for the year considering there is very little snow left (though it is not unheard of for us to get hit with a March or April snow storm.) That said, so I am really happy to post Dan & Kelly's engagement session that we shot on New Years Eve!

We had such a blast with these two! Such a fun loving and very adventurous couple we shot at a few places around Eagle River, Wisconsin including Kelly's family cabin that is featured in some of the shots. 

I LOVE that they were actually more than willing to play in the snow (which was Kelly's idea!) but to also brave the temps, it was pretty chilly that day to boot. Enjoy these images of winter, they might be some of the last for awhile!

Credits | Author: Krista & Photograph: Fornear Photo

Northwoods Life | Auggie the Kitty

So if you follow me on Instagram the "cat is out of the bag".... (ok bad pun sorry guys but I just had to!) and I haven't blogged about it until now so..... I suppose I am making it "blogging" official that I am a kitty mama! If you would have told us a year ago or even six months ago we would would EVER have a cat I would have laughed in your face and said a very flat "hell no"! Most of this anti cat talk really derives from two places.... 1- we never had a cat growing up always dogs so I wouldn't even know the first thing about one and 2- my husband is deathly allergic (as is most of his family), as in he will sneeze his head off for about 24hrs within any contact. After hearing that I am sure you are still wondering how it came to be that we have a cat. Well, here is our story!

For some reason I remember the date very well, it was August 15th. We had went out for dinner and we arrived home in the dark to see a shadow of something sitting on our door step, which turned out to be a cat. The cat didn't get spooked, in fact wanted to come greet us. She was so friendly I just had a feeling she must be someone's pet so we brought her in our garage to see if we could locate her owners. After a few pets on the head Matt started sneezing like crazy and had to go in the house away from her. I started right away trying to reach out to people via Facebook, our neighbors, the local animal shelter and animal control person in our township but nothing. 

She seriously is the sweetest cat ever and as an animal lover I had a really tough time putting her back out. So for the next week or so I would leave food and water outside and visit with her constantly. Slowly we started letting her in our garage at night so nothing would "get" her (we live in the Northwoods after all!) During this time she was growing on Matt and surprisingly his allergy symptoms were slowly going away too (and now have entirely subsided)! 

Finally a little over a month had passed when I took a girls trip with my mom and sisters for the weekend leaving Matt home with the kitty (that we had since named Auggie, short for August when she "arrived" to us) and he, the allergic one brought her into the house so he would have company and so she wouldn't be cold.... and that folks is how we have come to have a cat!

Since our boxer Giada passed this spring our house felt really lonely and not the same to the point Matt and I would both remark to each other from time to time about it but now it feels whole again. It has certainly been a learning curve having a cat there is no doubt. One of the craziest things is that Auggie's personality is SO much like our pup Giada's was it's almost creep at times, like she has a bit of her spirit with her. Its funny too but several people have said to us about the finickiness of cats and that if they like you they "pick" their humans and I would more than have to agree in this case!

Credits | Author: Krista & Photography: Fornear Photo

Northwoods Life | Polar Bear Plunge

I am not sure about your neck of the woods but in mine January is pretty damn cold time of year (as I am writing this the current temp is -8 with a windchill/feels like temp of -26 below. Yeah) This means it's cold old enough to stand, snowmobile and even drive a car on the frozen lakes in the neighborhood. For the last 15 years on the Saturday after New Years people have been cutting a huge hole in one of said frozen lakes and folks jumping in all for a good cause! Note I am NOT one of those crazy people, I don't mind winter but jumping into cold ass water... hell no! I am happy to go drink beer and cheer everyone on in support however! Check out the awesome Sprecher Brewing Beer Rescue Ambulance that came out for the day too!

I told you was drinking beer in support, ha!

Even one of my sisters and her two littles came out to watch!

Held at Bonnie's Lakeside in Three Lakes, Wisconsin this year there was over 100 jumpers dressed in lots of wild costumes and at a new location they raised over $50,000 for Angel On My Shoulder a fantastic local organization that helps those with and affected by cancer, especially children. One of the biggest things Angel does is puts on camps for kids who's family members have been affected by cancer and allow them time away from the situation to just be a kid again. Having been one of these kids myself (my father passed way from pancreatic cancer when I was 10 years old and my sisters 7, 7 and 5) I always think this would have been great had it been around when we were kids. Please go to their website to learn more, it really is a great cause!

When I was first out of college I helped at some of their first jumps and I am happy to say the brewery I work for now helped get involve this year too which means I will get to be a part of it going forward in the years to come. The weeks leading up to the plunge even had a 30 hour pledge-a-thon put on by the local radio station WRJO where I spoke on-air and even had several cases of gourmet soda donated away to people making some of the larger pledges toward the end of the drive. It was a blast!

The jumpers had it pretty good this year in terms of conditions, little wind and a balmy 29 degrees... it was the perfect day (with some liquid courage) to jump into a frozen lake. As you can see from the pictures it was an amazing turn out! So I have to ask... would you do something like this for a good cause??!

Credits | Author: Krista & Photography: Fornear Photo

Happy New Years | Thoughts & Goals

Happy New Year 2015 friends! 

I think for the first time in my post 21yrs old life I hadn't had any set plans for New Years Eve this year. It was both odd yet felt perfect right. We ended up having an engagement shoot with a great couple from Milwaukee who wanted some shots in the snow of the Northwoods (and boy did they ever, snow angels and all!), then on a whim we hit up our favorite local brewery, Tribute Brewing for just a couple of beers and since they close at 9pm we headed home for a very late dinner making of NY strip steak toped w/ blue cheese & mushrooms, roasted potatoes and cheesy pull apart bread with a bit more craft beer and even some wine. Full and sleepy we hardly made it to midnight when my husband lit off a few fireworks and we called it a night... fun times!

It's funny I think I am sure I am like many others with making "resolutions" in the sense of them, you know the "this year I am getting my act together on X, Y, Z..." but after not being able to sleep after our exciting night, I thought maybe rather than resolutions I would work up a few "goals" and JUST MAYBE if I got them down I can hold myself a bit more accountable. 

Sitting here with a hot cup of coffee and quietly jamming out to The Shins, I realized that over the years I have found I more of a list making person than I ever thought I was. So in the spirit of lists here is what I came up with for my 2015 goals.

What do you think? I am hoping they will be both inspiring and do-able! We have personally have some big plans for the year and I can't wait to share them with everyone as they unfold. Here's to a great 2015!

Credits | Author & Graphic Design Images: Krista

Fornear Photo Friday | Kaitlin & EJ's Northwoods Winter E-Shoot

Happy Fornear Photo Friday friends! Now that Winter is fully upon us we have several couples this season that are going to brave the elements for some amazing winter engagement photos! Matt and I love shooting these not only because they look awesome but it's a real contrast to our couple's summer or fall wedding photos which makes it a lot of fun. 

One of our winter engagement shoots from last year was Kaitlin & EJ's (who have since gotten married this past October and you will probably see soon here too!) Shooting at Kaitlin's family's cabin located in Three Lakes, Wisconsin we hung out with both Kaitlin and EJ entire families that were all there spending the holidays together. We sipped hot chocolate, old fashioneds and road on backs of snowmobiles across the frozen lake to one of our shooting locations... it was a blast!

We love working with our couples coming up with creative shots for their engagement and wedding sessions and Kaitlin & EJ thought of tons of great winter wonderland ideas including the sweet little Chapel in the Woods. 

We couldn't have been more excited as to how beautiful these photos turned out that we couldn't not share them. In a few short weeks now that we have tons of snow up here in the Northwoods and the snowmobile trails officially open for the year this afternoon, we will start our winter engagement season so I know I will have many more great shoots like this to share!

Credits | Author: Krista, Photography: Fornear Photo