This took a lot of time.......thanks for sharing the info with us.

We had baked tilapia with panko coating. I've been feeling side dish-challenged a lot lately, so I figured this salad had enough veggies in it to count for 2 sides. Oh yeah - we had lemon meringue pie, too. The recipe said "makes 6 cups of slaw" - didn't say what a serving size would be, but I would think one cup. To be honest, I'm not a very good judge of weight measurements when it comes to cabbage and bok choy, so I probably made more than 6 cups. Shredded chicken does sound good. I'm thinking that ramen noodles would be good, too,instead of cooked pasta, as the recipe suggests.

Yes, it will cost a small fortune, but worth having the professional photo years from now. I still treasure DD's communion picture. The church had a photographer that shot for everyone, but I took her to a professional photographer whose work I admired. He usually shoots with very light or white backgrounds. I told him straight away that the white-light photos were not what I was looking for. I wanted more of an old fashioned-type photograph, think old time library, victorian style. He shot her with a brown-taupey backdrop, sitting in a Queen Anne style chair. Stunning. Actually put her portrait in the brochures for communions as he was so well known for doing the lighter settings. He wanted to show that he could do something a bit different. So, let the photographer know what your expectations of the photo are. You are spending alot of money, so you want the photos to have a certain style or look. With the digital age, professional photographers shoot digitally. I've never heard of a photographer who will sell you negatives even back in the day of film. The photographer will arrange an appointment for you to view the digital pics or "proofs". It is a PIA and tough to make decisions on pics that way, but unless you are hiring someone to do a wedding or something on that scale, that's how the photographers in my area do it. You may be able to find someone who still shoots film? But I don't think they will sell you the negatives. That's the way they make their money - by selling prints of their negatives. We just returned from a beach vacation. Our house is at the end of the island where there are alot of jettys (sp?) and big rock formations just beyond the dunes. Every night there were oodles of families on the beach taking pics at sunset. It was fun to watch, they were all dressed in khaki and white or denim and white. DH commented that alot had their own equipment as opposed to hiring the "beach photographers" advertising in the shore community. Much cheaper, but surely not the same result. I don't know where you are located, but you may want to ask a friend or someone whose had a beach photo professionally done for a referral.

Thank you all for your kind words. ftwpoolgirl...12" wow! That's got to be a record! Thanks for your kind comments about our pool. scott....yeah the east coast has been hit hard this winter...6 driveways by yourself...impressive. Who needs a fitness membership when you have a snowblower! Travis...thank you for your compliment on our pool. I'm with you on the bug thing...after the 12 degrees in January and now this...there's got to be some upside hopefully. I can't complain though...this was one of the best snowfalls I've ever seen and I grew up in the Midwest and vacation in Colorado snowboarding. There's only been a couple snowfalls I can remember as breathtaking as this one and they were all in Colorado after fresh powder the night before. Kelly...sorry to hear about your daughter. Glad to hear all turned out OK and no one was seriously hurt. We're in a small town north of Alexandria. They had 2-3" and we accumulated 5-7" only 50 miles away. Still weird to be talking about snow fall down here....you're right...the pictures will be treasured. Tara....Thanks for your kind words about the pictures. You're right...the hot tub soaks the past 48 hours have been more gratifying than ever with all the snow around. With all that said about the snow.....still can't wait for summer....counting the days patiently......