Leslie Rodriguez Photography

Meet Chupete

2010-12-31T18:53:00.000-08:00

Javier and I were trying to think of how we wanted to spend our New Years (we had a little fund for NYE celebrations from various Christmas gifts) and after Javier rejected a multitude of my suggestions (including "maybe we could get a pet?") he came back at me the next day with "maybe we could get a dog?" We went to check out the canines at a local shelter 10 minutes before it closed and we both settled on Chupete as soon as we saw him. His full name is Chupete Suazo after Javier's favorite Chilean soccer player, Humberto Suazo. Chupete means sucker or pacifier, which the Chileans have decided is a perfect nickname for Humberto thanks to his bald head. Javier has had this name picked out for his future dog for quite a while - every time we'd see a dog he'd say "yeah - that could be a Chupete for sure." Chupete is pronounced Choo-pet-eh, and we call him Chupetito and Chupetín, which aren't any shorter than the original but they are endearing! Below are a few pictures from the last couple of spectacular & exhausting days with our new pup.

These first few are from 2 crazy days at the dog park - Chupete can seriously hold his own against the other dogs!

This one is Darla - so pretty!

This mini bulldog - Olive - was CRAZY about Chupete. She followed him around all day and was so sad when Javi picked him up to leave!

These two fought the whole time and LOVED it - I know these photos make it look like Chupete is ridiculously vicious and aggressive but he's really got a sweet disposition! He's just getting it all out at the dog park.

Ohhh kisses for me!

This was a little bag of goodies that the kids at Ensworth School made for people who adopt dogs or cats

C'MEER!!!

This card is hilarious - the writing says "Thank you for adopting this dog! Make sure you: feed it, play with it, scratch its tummy, give it sleep, and most emportant, give it (lots of) LOVE! Hope you enjoy!"

Disciplining Chupetito

His whole body has brown spots but his little tail has only black spots! (he's a heeler/lab/beagle mix)

my mom with Chupete

He's my little muse now, so there will be plenty more of Chupete on the blog in the future!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!

2010-12-25T18:55:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas from the Rodríguez / McClure family!! For the past two years, Javier and I have flown down to Chile to celebrate Christmas with his family. Last year we arrived in Chile 4 days after our wedding in Nashville just in time to prepare for wedding v. 2.0 in Santiago, which was the day after Christmas. So tomorrow is our second first anniversary! This year marked several firsts for Javier: first winter Christmas, first white Christmas (it SNOWED in Nashville!), first Christmas in the USA and first Christmas without his family. It's hard when your family lives on another continent - it's not like we can spend Christmas day with one family and fly a couple hours to see the other family the day after Christmas. Christmas in Nashville was very relaxed - Christmas in the McClure family usually revolves around preparing for the next meal, working on puzzles / scrabble games and watching movies. It's AWESOME. Below are photos of the past few days around my parents house and a few additional photos from our Christmas celebrations last year in Chile.

Last year on Christmas day we drove an 11-seater van up dozens of hairpin curves to the top of these mountains - scared me to death. Especially to think that people do that in the WINTER - with chains on their tires. Lunatics. Anyway it was BEAUTIFUL - obviously.

Javier's grandma (eating homemade pan de pascua, or fruitcake, her specialty) and mom

On our way down Javier's dad said "the only thing missing from this day is seeing a condor (Chile's national bird)" Lo and behold....

Every year since 1990 my mom has bought me and my brother an ornament or two that reflects something from our lives in the past year. This year, we started buying our meat from Emerald Glen Farm and the farmer, Weldon, sends out a newsletter every week before they come to the farmers market with an update on what's happening at the farm. I love it because he always includes photos of the animals and they look so happy - some people think it's weird to see photos of the animals they'll be eating in a few weeks, but I'd rather see the photos and know they are happy than eat food that comes from who knows where under who knows what conditions. Anyway, this all leads to my parents teasing us about only eating "happy" cows and pigs and chickens and eggs...hence the ornament of the year. That is one happy cow.

My mom - total Santa babe

Merry Christmas to you and yours!!

Carson and Sarah Leverett!

2010-12-22T09:41:00.000-08:00

CONGRATULATIONS CARSON AND SARAH!!!! I have known Carson since probably my first week of college at Belmont University. I think we bonded over an affinity for Brand New and formed a friendship from there - he has been one of my closest friends since then and I could not be happier for him and his lovely bride Sarah! He brought Sarah to Nashville to meet his friends (they live in Abilene, TX) back in June and we all could see right away what a great couple they were. I am so so thrilled they tied the knot and even more thrilled that I could be the one to document the event! The wedding was in a beautiful ballroom in Abilene with all the Christmas trimmings, fun company and Shiner Bock one could ask for. Love you two!

The Rodríguez Family

2010-11-13T05:59:00.000-08:00

We found another Rodríguez family in Nashville! Well, in Spring Hill, TN actually, and they found us! We drove out to Spring Hill, TN last week to do a photo session with this lovely family - Tiffany, Justin, Mitch, Ben and Tabitha. Just as we started the shoot the sun was going down and we got some pretty awesome sunset shots and just for the record, sunset out in Spring Hill is something quite different than sunset in Nashville. It was so nice to spend the afternoon out in a wide open space and forget about traffic and homework for a couple hours! Hopefully we'll have more photos of the Rodríguez family up in the future!

Shannon and Brandon!! 10.10.10

2010-10-25T08:27:00.000-07:00

Shannon and Brandon's wedding was one of the most fun weddings I've had the honor of shooting so far. First of all, these two have a really unique love story that pretty much everyone loved to reference in their toasts / congratulations throughout the night that made their union really fun to see through - these two are the ORIGINAL online couple. Remember the AOL chat rooms and the a/s/l queries that led to chat buddies? Yeah, that was the original version of match.com but without the filter for the...questionable matches....and somehow these two were able to find each other! The story goes that they had a long distance friendship that petered out when they were in high school. Where AOL failed, facebook stepped in and saved the day - these two reconnected through fb and eventually fell in love. Shannon, then in Arizona, moved to TN to be with Brandon and well, the story is obviously still going because they decided to tie the knot. Below you'll see some of the details from the wedding - Shannon literally planned this wedding down to the tiniest detail and it turned out perfect! It was held out at Cedars of Lebanon state park on a beautiful fall day. Shannon, Brandon, the wedding party and other helpers made everything from the center pieces to the bouquets to the garter - a real DIY wedding. Enjoy!

Ian and Andrea! Yeah!

2010-09-27T15:08:00.000-07:00

Back in August my brother set up a little table with a bottle of Dom Perignon for his then-girlfriend Andrea's "birthday celebration" on a rooftop in New York City. First of all, can we quickly just give a nod to my brother for "most romantic swoon-worthy proposal of the year"? Ok, so I was in line in the post office when he called me (I knew the proposal was happening that weekend but in my mind I would have received this phone call in a less public area where I could be LOUDLY and expressively happy for my brother) and he told me about the proposal, during which he got down on his knee and pulled out the ring and said a bunch of nobody-will-ever-know-what because Andrea was crying too much to hear any of the proposal. Luckily for Ian, and most guys out there, women know exactly what the kneeling down and fishing for a ring means so sometimes it just doesn't really matter what smooth words you've planned out because she'll never hear it anyway.

So let me say, I'm THRILLED to have Andrea as a future sister-in-law. Ian met Andrea on St. Patrick's day in 2008 at Moe's Cantina in Wrigleyville, Chicago, IL. Andrea was the bartender taking care of Ian's rapidly increasing tab, and the story goes that at the end of the night my alcohol-emboldened brother slipped her a napkin that said "Ian - ###-###-#### - brunch tomorrow" (the number signs were his cell number). Smoooooth! So Andrea took a chance and called him up and met him for brunch the next day. By the way, this was during the time when Ian was in law school in California. CALIFORNIA. ILLINOIS. Well, the very next weekend Ian decided that student loan cash is better spent pursuing a beautiful, charming city-girl from Chicago (who could blame him!?) than anything else, and he flew back out to Chicago to take her to dinner! The story, which is long and lovely, ends with the original "brunch tomorrow" napkin in a pretty frame on their windowsill in their Chicago condo and a small emerald on the bottom-side of her ring to represent the day they met - St. Patrick's Day. I love this story, and I love this couple!

Here are a few of the photos from our shoot last weekend in Chicago!

Sherry

2010-09-23T16:47:00.000-07:00

So these few shots are a sample from a shoot I did with Sherry Cothran Woolsey, musician and preacher woman extraordinaire. I've known Sherry for awhile - she has her MDiv from Vanderbilt Divinity School where she worked with my dad on a CD called "God in Music City," which I think is how I first met her. Since then we've been connected through different music projects and more recently because she's the head pastor at West Nashville United Methodist Church which is right behind our apartment on Charlotte Ave. This church is SUCH an awesome place - they have a bilingual ministry and every Sunday their service is entirely bilingual with a translator in the corner talking into a mic so those who want to hear the service in Spanish can hear it through headsets. We found out about the church because Javier volunteered one summer for their Vacation Bible School and the next summer we both volunteered. Go check it out!!

This particular shoot was specifically for Sherry's website and possibly for the artwork for her upcoming album (which my dad recorded in his studio, JonyMac Studios!). It's going to be a fantastic album with songs that tell the stories of different women in the Bible. I'll update when it's released!

So beautiful! Thanks Sherry!!

Tennessee State Fair

2010-09-13T18:55:00.000-07:00

(Don't forget to click on the photos! Depending on your computer, they should get bigger. You can also go through the photos by continuing to click.)

Javi and I bought our tickets to the state fair as soon as they were available a couple weeks back - we couldn't wait to get out there this year. Last year we went on a whim (and I forgot to take my allergy pills which made it a very short visit after hanging out with cows and goats and pigs), but this year we really planned it out. It's such a fun place to spend the day (really! I promise! I know there are skeptics out there!)

For about the first hour the weather didn't look promising for an ideal day at the fair, but it cleared up after a huge downpour (during which Javi and I were stuck in the cattle barn with cows who couldn't care less about the loud thunder and rain on the tin roof). The rest of the day was cooler, less crowded and cleared up, so it was pretty perfect. The vendors were so desperate to get rid of their as-seen-on-tv products (because there were so few people there interested in buying...) that my grandma wound up taking home some kind chopper/shredder thing - which I'm sorry to say is better than our rather expensive William Sonoma version.

So anyway, our main excitement of the day was checking out the animals, including bulls, heifers, huge fluffy rabbits, all kinds of birds, 5 sheep (literally there were only 5), a ton of pigs, and a weird variety of animals at the petting zoo (including a camel, some animal that looked like a cross between a buffalo, cow and dog, miniature goats and a llama). My mom and grandma were pretty stoked about their corn dogs since they don't really eat them at any other time of the year, and while the state fair food is slightly overpriced, the tickets are so cheap to get in that it doesn't really put a huge dent in your wallet. We saw a lumberjack demo and a tap dance show, and I think the only two things we missed that we were expecting to see were the cow milking sessions (...weird, I know, but we've never seen it before! hahaha) and the goats (besides the petting zoo, there wasn't a goat barn like there was last year and those are our favorite!).

So now I'm sure everyone it thoroughly weirded out by our state fair experience and expectations, but it really was fun and I hope everyone goes out to support!

she gave this to me!

gma not so sure about this miracle chopper guy

I love 3 generation photos

Never thought I'd see a stylish sheep - he's just too cool to keep his wool out of his eyes.

California Vacation

2010-08-14T10:23:00.000-07:00

Chicago - 7.22 - 7.26

2010-07-27T12:28:00.000-07:00

This weekend I took a quick trip up to Chicago to visit my brother and his girlfriend Andrea in their new abode. I probably could have spent the entire weekend in their apartment building without leaving and still felt like I got a satisfactory Chicago experience - their gorgeous (brand new) building is in the heart of the city with amenities you wouldn't believe. The pool on the 8th floor is surrounded by views of the Chicago skyline (which is one of my favorite skylines ever) and is complete with cabanas, lounge chairs, a hot tub, little couches and 6 grills (what?!). Just inside from the pool is a gym that is basically a mini-YMCA with all the new and updated equipment, plus a little coffee bar and a basketball court. Oh, don't let me forget the actual movie theater - with huge plush leather seats - around the corner from the work out rooms that plays movies all day and that you can rent out for an evening with your friends for *free*.

If I did spend the entire weekend in the building, however, that would have left me with a boring blog post indeed. Thankfully, Ian and Andi had an awesome weekend planned out for us complete with a trip to Wrigleyville, a stop at Lincoln Fest and a gorgeous walk through downtown to Navy Pier.

hey one of me! Thanks Dakota

you'd never know just by looking at these guys that they have great self esteem ;)

this is what I'm talking about...why would anyone ever leave this place?

Ann and Adam!

2010-07-22T23:59:00.000-07:00

woooo I feel like I just had a major victory - I'm in Chicago in my brother's new apartment and when I tried to figure out the internet connection I wound up resetting the whole password and we couldn't figure out how to work the internet for 2 hours! and it FINALLY works! So now I can share these awesome photos from Ann and Adam's wedding!

Ann and I go way back - we were friends in middle school and kept in touch in high school and college through our mutual friend Gretchen and of course facebook. She and her husband both went to Centre College - as did Ann's parents - in Kentucky. This spring she took a chance and hired me without knowing how my wedding photography would turn out - and I have to say I'm pretty proud of these shots! In fact I'm thrilled with the way these photos turned out. The whole day was so much fun - we started out with the ceremony in Lexington, KY and then drove out to Gingerwoods in Louisville, KY for the reception. The weather was gorgeous in Lexington and turned ominous once we arrived in Louisville but the dark clouds made for some great shots! The weather was working with us because as soon as we finished taking photos outside and moved inside for dinner a huge thunderstorm rolled in. The guests hardly noticed and danced to the music from the live band until about 12:30AM...all in all a pretty spectacular wedding! and SO good to meet Adam and catch up with Ann after all this time!!

DON'T FORGET you can click on the photos and go through them that way and they should get bigger on your screen!

Happy 4th!

2010-07-05T22:01:00.001-07:00

The Fourth of July is one of the BEST HOLIDAYS EVER. Yesterday Javier and I headed out to East Nashville for the Hot Chicken Festival - we didn't actually eat any chicken (I know...whaaaat?) because Javier isn't a huge fan of spicy food and I didn't want to wait in the crazy lines - BUT we had some fun snapping photos of everyone in their 4th of July gear enjoying some delicious food! Afterwards we headed over to my parents house and had the ultimate summer grill out. My dad set up his PA under the gazebo by the pool and he jammed out with my cousin Andrew and a bunch of my friends all. day. long. A group of my friends from college who moved away after we graduated were in town for a wedding so we had a fantastic crew out at the house grilling food, lounging by the pool, playing beer pole (a frisbee / beer game - also known as beer frisbee), attempting to walk the slack line and playing music. It was the PERFECT 4th of July.

Hands off ladies - the tube wearing grill master is all mine.

This is my cousin Andrew Jacobs - check out his rocking guitar solo at the Little People of America Convention (in front of 700+ people!!!) HERE

Rafael and Melody - 6.19.2010

2010-06-22T08:20:00.000-07:00

I met Rafael last year when he started his first year in the Center for Latin American Studies at Vanderbilt. He's from Nicaragua and got engaged to his American girlfriend Melody over Christmas in Nicaragua. Their whole wedding planning process reminded me so much of what Javi and I were going through this time last year - flying the groom's parents to the US, planning one wedding in the US and one abroad, balancing cultural traditions & doing all of this while going to school and working and trying to stay sane. and they planned one BEAUTIFUL wedding! Melody is an artist and definitely had a vision for their big day. She had all kinds of fun sketches of their rings and her dress and the bridesmaids dresses, she made little nests for the flower girl and ring bearer - all the little details matched in a bright yellow and white wedding that came together just right. Not to mention she and Rafael are crazy about each other which made photographing the two of them together so much fun for me. Below are some shots from the day! (reminder: you can click on the photos and they get bigger, and if you keep clicking on the photo it'll go all the way through!)

a busy week

2010-06-18T21:38:00.000-07:00

Here's how my last few days have been.

We had a 6:30 AM World Cup party for the Chile vs. Honduras game at my parents' house with as many Chileans from Nashville as we could get together. Chile won their first WC game in 48 years, and their first WC game ever out of the country. Passionate cheering and coffee were abundant:

see Javier in the back with his Chupete mask? He made that of his favorite player Humberto Suazo.

a lesson in how to celebrate a "gooooooolll" properly...

On Wednesday afternoon Javier, Paula, my parents and gma and I all drove up to Louisville and spent the evening grilling out with my brother, his girlfriend Andrea and my aunt and uncle Marian and Stephen.

Stephen

Marian

gma

Paula

On Thursday, we went to Churchill Downs because my dad won a drawing for a day in a box and a free meal for 6 in the Turf Club - which was awesome! So we spent the whole day living it up in the air conditioned Turf Club and then betting on horses.

the lucky winner - my dad (who has never won anything in his life)

my mom and her racetrack hat

Andrea

the big bro - Ian

My dad insisted on getting his hand in this picture so I could document for my father-in-law Pancho (whose birthday was yesterday) that my dad was drinking '4 dedos' (fingers) of cerveza in his honor. And by the way my mom is a total babe.

So yeah, it's been a pretty busy week! and this weekend is even busier - we drove back from Nashville today and tomorrow we have TWO weddings! In the morning I'm shooting Melody and Rafael's wedding (get excited! it's going to be beautiful!) and tomorrow night I'm singing for my good friends Josh and Sandy in their wedding on a rooftop downtown. Doesn't get much better than that! Happy weekend!

David and Kim - 6.12.2010

2010-06-15T08:35:00.000-07:00

This past weekend I got to photograph a beautiful wedding on probably the hottest day so far this summer (it was already 90 degrees when I arrived at 8:45 AM!). David, the groom, called me about 5 months back and told me he and Kim were planning to get married at Second Presbyterian Church - a setting I know very well and have photographed several times before. One exceptionally awesome aspect of this wedding was that David and Kim joined two families - Kim has one daughter (the little one - Hannah) and David has a son (Isaac) and a daughter (Cherie). These three were just as excited as their parents about the wedding, which made it ten times more special for everyone. It was a wonderful event, from the people down to all the details. Congratulations David and Kim!!

Javier's birthday!!

2010-06-10T09:11:00.000-07:00

Javier turned 25 on Sunday!

So on Sunday morning we went out to Foggy Bottom Canoe Rentals on the Harpeth - if anyone is looking for a fun and different way to spend a summer afternoon, go to Foggy Bottom! We rented two canoes for $34 each and took a four hour ride along the Harpeth - it was so relaxing and beautiful out there! Actually, it would have been more relaxing for me if I hadn't brought my nice camera and two extra lenses in the canoe...I almost had a heart attack about 3 times when I thought the canoe was going to tip (which, under other circumstances, would have been just fine with me!) but it was worth it to get some fun pics of the fam together on Javi's birthday! Also, it was a real eye opener to see all of the wreckage from the flood all along the banks of the Harpeth - trees uprooted, debris and trash in the branches, a table in the middle of the river, a piano on the banks, etc. The owners of Foggy Bottom watched their home and business disappear under water, but they are slowly recovering after the flood and I really encourage everyone to go support them!

Sunday afternoon Javier had a soccer game, which his team dominated as usual. He and his friends from Belmont, mostly ex-tennis players and fellow South Americans, have a team together and play almost every weekend. I love taking my camera to the field...sitting outside on a summer afternoon taking photos of Javi's games is always fun for me.

The game started an hour late so we were SO ready to eat home made empanadas (the best EVER!) Paula made for Javi once we got home...so ready in fact that I failed to get any pictures of the actual empanadas before we ate them! :( but they were beautiful!

Happy Birthday Javier!!

Madrid

2010-06-08T08:04:00.000-07:00

So the great thing about summer that balances out the negatives of bug bites and sticky heat is that, as long as it isn't raining, you could spend all day outdoors having a good time doing pretty much anything besides sitting in front of a computer. The other side of that of course means I slack off on blog posts! I can't believe it's taken me a week to put up something on Madrid. Sooo without further ado....

Santiago de Compostela - my Galician homeland

2010-06-02T11:23:00.000-07:00

I LOVE THIS CITY. Adore it. It's not my home anymore, but Santiago de Compostela will always have a special place in my heart, especially after this week. This past Saturday was Tara and Jorge's wedding, which was beyond beautiful. Tara and Jorge are so in love and so perfect for each other - check out this photo of them from the wedding!! Eliesa Johnson, super bosslady from Photogeninc.com, took that picture and I'm guessing a few thousand other amazing ones (check out her personal photos from Santiago de Compostela). She was the wedding photographer, and it was SO much fun and such an awesome learning experience for me to watch her do what she does. She has a real gift and a talented eye for photography, and I cannot WAIT to see the rest of the pictures from the wedding! My new friends Matt Brue and his wife Faith Brue were also in attendance, Matt was taking care of the videography. Make sure to check out his website Capture Studios to see what he came up with from the wedding and to see his awesome work in general (looking at the site makes me really wish I had had a videographer at my wedding)!

So one special thing about this city is that it is a pilgrimage destination (I think I mentioned this before?). Supposedly, the apostle James was charged with converting the Iberian peninsula and made his way over here and died in the northwest corner of Spain known today as Galicia. The construction of the cathedral over his tomb began in 1060 and ended in 1211. Thousands of people walk and bike to Compostela every year using five main pilgrimage routes, the most popular being the Camino Francés which is the one I took three years ago. Pilgrims have to walk 100 kilometers to be officially considered pilgrims - each one gets a 'passport' at the beginning and has to get a stamp at every albergue, or shelter, along the way to prove they completed the proper distance. Bikers have to do the same but for 200 kilometers. My friend Carol and I did 110 kilometers in 2007 when I was doing research for my thesis. It's an experience I'll never forget and highly recommend it to anyone who loves hiking and being outdoors.

Another particularly notable thing, perhaps not as pleasant, is the weather in Santiago. It's RAINY. and gray. I remember when I lived there during the month of February I thought I'd never see the sun or have dry clothes again. I didn't have rain boots and the wind broke about 2 umbrellas a week. It can get really old, but it's also something that characterizes Galicia, and you learn to live with it. Also, it means that Galicia is green green green and absolutely gorgeous. It's reminiscent of Scotland, and the bagpipes and celtic tradition that somehow found its way to Galicia helps this impression.

The photos below are from my trip to Santiago de Compostela. Please, please if you ever go to Spain, take some time and visit this place. You'll fall in love like everyone else.

Senior Portraits...in Spain!

2010-05-27T06:04:00.000-07:00

So you may or may not know that for the past few days I've been hanging out in Santiago de Compostela, Spain. I lived here 4 years ago for a semester and finished up the requirements for my Spanish major at Belmont University. When I first found out that the only study abroad program in Spain was this obscure little town in the northwest corner of what is known as Galicia, I was pretty bummed out because I wanted to spend the semester in a big city like Barcelona or Madrid. Let me say, I've never fallen in love with a city more quickly than I did when I arrived in Santiago. This place is unlike any other in the world - a Spanish city with a Celtic tradition as well as an international pilgrimage destination, Santiago de Compostela is literally a magical place. Thousands of pilgrims travel to Santiago de Compostela every year to arrive at the Cathedral of Saint James, which was built near the spot where the apostle James was supposedly buried and subsequently discovered centuries ago. St. James was the patron saint of Christians in the Spanish reconquista and plays an enormous role in Spanish history. I could go on...an on...(this was my thesis topic as an undergraduate) but I'll get on with the present.

So, when I lived in Spain I met my friend Tara, an American from Loras University. Like everyone else who visits this city, Tara fell in love with Santiago and returned to the city after the semester we spent studying together to live here for an indefinite period. Shortly after moving back to Spain, Tara met a handsome young Spaniard named Jorge and they fell in love and got engaged last spring. Long story short, she invited me to sing in the wedding ceremony here and I couldn't be more thrilled to be able to participate in her wedding and be back in Galicia.

In the meantime here in Santiago I've had a chance to get to know her family who have all traveled here for the wedding. Her brother Jake is a senior in high school and we had some time yesterday so Jake and I wandered around the 'old zone' in the city to get some senior portraits done. How many high schoolers get to do their senior portraits in Spain!?! Here are a few favorites from the afternoon!

Gretchen and Brandon

2010-05-26T02:51:00.000-07:00

Actually, the title should be Gurt and Winkler (Brandon's last name) - that's what their names have been to me for the last several years. Folks, I've been waiting for this photo shoot since before I even had a camera. These two have been dating since my junior year in high school and it's about time they decided to tie the knot!!! I'm just excited that I'm the one who got to do their engagement pictures!

Gretchen has been one of my best friends since we were in...well probably freshman year in high school was when we became particularly close but we've at least been friends since 6th grade. She was one of my bridesmaids in my wedding this year along with our friend Danielle - we were a pack of 3 in high school that pretty much did everything together (someone called us the DLG once "because it sounds like a BLT!" and somehow that stuck for us). Gurt was always the pretty girl who all the guys liked (obviously) but I was so happy when she started dating Wink. There are so many stories I could write in here about these two...like the time he drove her to Chicago for a surprise birthday trip or the time in high school that we went downtown to Winkler Ave. in Louisville at around 4:00 AM to steal a street sign with his name on it for a Christmas present (wait...what? we didn't really do that) or maybe the time Winkler showed up with a crazy mask on outside my house when Gurt was staying over and scared us out of our minds after we watched the Ring, or...the dozens of times I called her at around 5:00 in the afternoon after school to ask "so did he kiss you yet or what!?" These two are about as amazing as a couple can get.

So, one special thing about Gurt and Wink is that they practically live in a zoo. They bought a puppy shortly after their freshman year in college together, I think that was Dallas, and then Memphis the cat came along, then Droopy the enormous bloodhound / mastiff, oh wait and then the mini-PIG Gurt bought for 50 dollars at the state fair named Bo - then Rosco and some fish and who knows what else. I blame Gurt for the animal collection, and Wink is good enough to go along with all of it ;) Anyway, these are the pictures in the photoshoot that included the animals. For the rest, go to the facebook page!

That's Bo!

Gurt and Droopy

This is Dallas

And here's Rosco - Bosco's replacement

Trying to get a family pic - but Droopy decided to roll over and knock everyone down.

Determination!

2010-05-24T15:44:00.000-07:00

Last weekend Javier, Paula and I drove up to Louisville for the wedding of two good friends on Saturday. We also managed to get two photo shoots in on Friday! First, I drove out to to see my high school friend Nikki and her 2-year-old son Jonathan to get some pictures of Jonathan ON HIS GRANDPARENTS FARM - which was one of the coolest places ever! and perfect for some awesome pictures and running around! I hadn't seen Nikki since high school graduation 6 years ago so this was extra fun for me to be able to catch up and meet the newest edition in her family. Jonathan is one awesome kid - so full of energy and is constantly laughing which made my job pretty easy! I think the favorite activity of the day was to throw a nerf ball at me - I got more than one accidental picture of an orange ball flying my way compliments of Jonathan. A good time was had by all.

I took the series below when the shoot was winding down to a close...the trike was at the bottom of the hill and Nikki, Javier and I were talking and walking in front of Jonathan and I turned around and saw him putting all of his energy into getting this trike up the gravel driveway. He didn't give up!! It lasted about 10 minutes before Javier finally gave him a break and pushed him up the hill! hahaha so awesome. You can see the rest of the pictures on the facebook page.

Featured! (on TV!)

2010-05-20T22:42:00.000-07:00

Last week Cristina Allen, the host of News Channel 5+ "Que Pasa Nashville?", called me about the possibility of profiling Leslie Rodriguez Photography on the show and featuring the "Do I Look Illegal?" shoot in particular. "Que Pasa Nashville?" is a half-hour show that highlights different aspects of Nashville's Hispanic community - for example, Billy Ramirez of the band Kazique was also featured on today's taping (definitely check out their music!! amazing stuff!!). Of course I was thrilled to be asked to be on the show and to have the chance to talk about that particular photo shoot! Being on the TV set was really fun - I've never been on TV before much less in a TV station, so Javier and Paula and I kind of geeked out (okay maybe it was mostly me) and took some ridiculous pictures acting like a news anchor and obviously being really cool in the process...I'll spare you those pictures (though if you are my friend on facebook I can't promise you the same censorship). Anyway keep an eye out for the show! I think it airs on June 3, but it's definitely going to be on in June and when it's on the website I'll obviously let everyone know.

Tennessee Renaissance Fair

2010-05-17T08:01:00.000-07:00

Hey folks - please don't miss this fair if you have a free Friday / Saturday / Sunday in May. They seriously go all out here - actually, Javier, his sister Paula and I were the minority at the fair in that we didn't dress up in corsets and capes and velvet with swords, shields and fairy dust. It was wild. The costumes were impressive; I didn't know who was a paid actor and who just enjoyed dressing up and playing the part (in this case, for free, because it looked like the actors were having a ton of fun too, except when the human chess match suffered a torrential downpour and had to continue playing anyway). The fair's fare was turkey legs and "ye olde ale" - who knew Budweiser was served during the Renaissance! At first it looked more like a general medieval fair than a Renaissance fair, but looking back at the chess and the pirates and Shakespearish characters (the fairies...for example) and the merchants, it was less feudal and much more renascent than I originally thought. See for yourself.

Javier and his turkey leg...

at this point it started pouring rain on us - they didn't flinch!

Vanderbilt: The Party

2010-05-14T12:26:00.000-07:00

It's GRADUATION TIME at Vanderbilt!!!!!! Which means I'm finished with my Master's in Latin American Studies!!! It's been a fun and difficult two years but the program has prepared me well for the Sociology PhD program at Vanderbilt, which I start up in the fall. So...only 5 more years until I'm doing the graduation festivities again! Only this time I'll be celebrating like you've never seen a graduate student celebrate before...hopefully, however, with less alcohol and more class than some of the PhD graduates demonstrated at the graduation ceremonies this morning.

Anyway, here are a few pictures from the PARTY at Vanderbilt this year. My friend Robert Early plays in the Vanderbilt employee band Soul Incision, who opened for Felix Cavalier's Rascals at the PARTY. I could have danced away to Soul Incision all night - they put on a spectacular performance. All of the music at the party was fantastic, as you'll see below from all of the pictures of happy, dancing people. Which brings me to my most important point:

Do I Look "lllegal" - Part Two

2010-05-11T10:35:00.000-07:00

1st week of summer

2010-05-07T08:16:00.000-07:00

Well, it's only been a week since I finished classes and turned in all of my final papers and I've already had an eventful summer. As many of you know, Nashville was hit by the devastating "500-year" or "1000-year" flood. No picture can possibly account for the horrific nature of the natural disaster, but my friend Melissa and I did our best to get an idea of what was going on at least in the downtown areas where the river overflowed onto Nashville's historic lower broadway. We went downtown around 6:00 in the morning on Tuesday - it was eerie how quiet and empty the area was. The water had crept up onto 2nd Ave - 1st Ave was completely underwater and 2nd Ave. S. was likewise covered. On Monday, the water was all the way up to 5th Ave. but everyone was advised to stay at home so we didn't go out at all. Yesterday, Javier and I volunteered over on Sawyer Brown, a street in Bellevue that experienced the worst of the flood. I didn't take my camera with me but the destruction was unimaginable. From where Javier and I live, it is impossible to understand the seriousness of the situation because we only had a small leak in our basement. This street, Sawyer Brown, is an example of how the storm seemed to affect one community directly and skip over another - on one side of the road people were piling all of their belongings onto the street, tearing up carpets and stripping the insulation from their walls in an attempt to clear out their houses and prepare for federal aid and collection agencies to come and gather the garbage and start rebuilding their homes. On the other side of the street, which was slightly higher up, the homes were completely untouched.

The most reassuring side of all of this was that neighbors were meeting neighbors - helping one another in a frenzy to alleviate the situation. They don't call this the volunteer state for nothing, folks. I have never seen a community rally so quickly to help one another. For all the differences that exist between neighbors in this city, of which there are many, the only thing that has mattered in these past few days is that we all belong to the same community and can find some way to chip in. I am so proud of Nashville! In this vein, Javier and I have decided to start a Nashville "featured" series on the blog in which we spotlight different faces from the community who have contributed in one way or another to our fine city. We're really excited about this - if you have any suggestions, send them our way. The pictures below are a few memories from my first week of summer.

Jim's Last Sunday

2010-05-03T09:39:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday was Jim Kitchens' final Sunday as the head pastor of Second Presbyterian Church in Nashville. Second Pres has been my church home for the last six years. Jim performed the marriage ceremony between me and Javier in December and has always had a special place in my heart and in all of the hearts of the members of Second Presbyterian. He has a passion for social justice and a mind that crafted many superb sermons that resonated with the church's theology and the issues in the world today. There were few dry eyes in the congregation last week - between being majorly bummed out that Jim is leaving and laughing til we couldn't breathe watching the "saggy bottom boys of Second Presbyterian" and Elvis' resurrection performance - it was quite a morning. These are pictures from the pre-service coffee hour, the service, and the luncheon following. We miss you Jim! Good luck in California!

me and Javier with Jim :)

Do I Look "lllegal" - information for Part Two

2010-05-02T17:52:00.000-07:00

Hey folks - we received an overwhelmingly positive response after the Do I Look "Illegal" photoshoot on Friday afternoon and we had a strong turnout. Because we planned the event at the very last minute, there were a number of folks who weren't able to participate either because they didn't get the info in time or they had other plans. We want to make sure that everyone who wants to participate gets the chance, so even though the official "Do I Look 'Illegal'" day is over, we want to have another photoshoot this coming Saturday, May 8. We feel like it's still appropriate and important to take a stand against the Arizona legislation known as SB1070. The plan, just like last week, is to take pictures of as many people as possible with a sign saying "Do I Look 'Illegal'?" We will post the pictures on our facebook page and encourage all of the subjects to use these pictures to raise awareness about the legislation and the racial profiling it encourages. We will also send the pictures to Governor Jan Brewer in Arizona as part of the protest.

This past week we had great weather and had a good time at the park so feel free to hang out for as long as you want, but I'm only taking a couple of pictures per person so it should not take long at all if you are short on time. Stop by and get a quick picture and bring the kiddos, pets, friends, neighbors, etc.! Here's the info:

where: Centennial Park - up the stairs on the main entrance to the Parthenon that faces the pond. We'll have signs and try to be obvious but you might not see us if you just drive around so please venture on up to the Parthenon because we will be there!

when: 5:00-7:00 PM May 8

I've already covered the "what" and "why" and the "who" is myself, Javier, and as many people who can come as possible!

If you are on facebook, please go to the facebook event and invite as many people as you think might be interested! If you aren't on facebook, send the link to this blog post to your friends on e-mail.

Thanks! I look forward to seeing everyone there and meeting new people!

Do I Look "lllegal" - Part One

2010-05-01T21:45:00.000-07:00

I'll let the photos speak for themselves.

Easter Sunday!

2010-04-29T14:15:00.000-07:00

I looooove Easter Sunday. Love it. I grew up as a double PK (both of my parents are ordained ministers - though neither one preaches at a church every Sunday) in the Presbyterian Church USA and pretty much everything about Easter Sunday has always made me so happy. Growing up, I sang in the children's choir at Crescent Hill Presbyterian Church and we sang the SAME SONG EVERY YEAR - which always made me happy because I loved the song but I think it also made the other kids happy in the choir because it meant we didn't have to learn anything new. I forget the song title..maybe "That First Easter Day" or something similar...I still know all of the words. I love the music on Easter Sunday, especially now that I'm a member at Second Presbyterian Church in Nashville and the choir is A-M-A-Z-I-N-G and they let anyone join up in the choir loft after the benediction to sing the Hallelujah Chorus. I sang alto this year...but sometimes it's fun to slip into the soprano part because it's SO HIGH and it doesn't matter how loud you get because with 50 sopranos singing a high F#, there's no way one person can make it any louder than it already is. And did I mention it always sounds incredible?

My church is pretty awesome all around. Everyone arrives on Easter and the church is totally packed out, everyone dressed in their Easter best, the color palette is insane. All of the kids are running around tripping over clicking shoes, taking off sweater vests, picking at clip-on ties, comparing easter basket goodies. The hats are especially fun - it seems people are only brave enough to bring out the Sunday hat on Easter but all the ladies look so confident under a brightly colored hat that you'd never know it's just an Easter tradition.

We usually have a big Easter potluck brunch in between the early and late services - this actually kind of bums me out because I am lactose intolerant (I know - you'd just die if you couldn't eat cheese right? yeah I get that all the time...you really wouldn't, I promise) and everyone finds a way to slip some cheese in all of their egg & sausage casseroles and it smells so damn good and I just can't indulge. But the fruit array is always impressive and I can easily make do by 'settling' for a fruit cup. Then just before the service starts we have a huge easter egg hunt for the kids - they are split up into age groups so the littlest ones have a chance (and to separate the easter eggs w/ candy from the easter eggs with cereal inside...) and the revelry was truly something to behold. Kids dashing everywhere trying to find all of the eggs while parents attempt to take pictures of their colorful blurry children, and then come the confetti-filled eggs which, I have no idea how Cathy Hoop, our director of children's ministries, made these things but they were SO COOL! Kids were instructed not to throw them at each other or smash them on each other...but I think a few eggs accidentally slipped on people's heads...

And then the service. I already mentioned the music, so I won't digress, but the service is always beautiful and so rejuvenating. Our pastor Jim Kitchens preached a powerful sermon this year about Jesus breaking all societal conventions and making Mary the first ambassador to the "Realm of God where mourning and crying and pain will be no more." My favorite line from the sermon: "Rather than trying to make the resurrection fit into our worldview, how about if we allowed it to remake the way we understand the world, so that the power of death no longer would have any sway over us, this death-dealing society in which we live, or the fate of creation itself?" (You can download a copy of the sermon here). Jim Kitchens has been the pastor at Second Presbyterian Church for 7 years, since the church burned down in 2003. He is accepting a call in San Francisco and leaves with his wife Deborah for California in April, so it was really wonderful for all of the church members to have him there to preach his last Easter service.

Finally, Easter lunch / dinner. This year Javier and I celebrated Easter lunch with the fine folks from the Center for Latin American Studies at my friend Katie's house. Another potluck, this time there was less lactose and more carbs, which is perfectly fine with me. After hanging out for a bit we went over to my parents house - here it would be nice to say we helped prepare dinner but I'm sorry to say we were useless - and then later we had Easter dinner with the family (minus the brother). EASTER HAM! and cranberry apple bake! Now that Javier has joined the family my mom tries to make all of his favorite dishes, so we had some random beets and cold green beans (which are way better than hot green beans!) in there. Yum! My mom and gma are some genius cooks.

Katie's cupcakes! You have no idea the labor that went into making these little beauties...

my mom giving dad a nice little warning to stay away from the ham...hahaha

Anyway, this was by far the longest blog I've written, so I hope at least someone got to the end of it. I just figured after the first line that I needed to explain why I love Easter so much! So hopefully now you have an idea!

Beth and Conner 4.18.2010

2010-04-22T06:47:00.000-07:00

Pretty much the only thing that makes getting up at 7:30 today a happier thing is that I'm going to post these pictures before I start working on my final paper for one of my classes. Also, from the sound of the cars on the road outside my window (I'm too scared too look) it's been raining and it doesn't look like it's going to be a nice day, so these pictures will hopefully brighten things up a bit for everyone!

Last Sunday I met Beth Whaley and her son Conner for the first time at Centennial Park. Conner just turned 1 a couple weeks ago and Beth dressed him up in his Easter best for some fun portraits. Let me say, this kid was dapper! Dressed up in a white seer sucker outfit and somehow magically drawn to the dirtiest patches of ground all over the park - we had such a good time getting these pictures! I don't know why this kept going through my head, maybe it's because I love Javier's baby pictures so much, but I kept thinking "oh my gosh in 20 years some girlfriend of his is going to see these and melt...and he'll resent so much that he's sitting in a flower pot." Good thing we got some pictures in front of a train! Here's a selection from the day - the rest can be found in an album on my facebook page.

LOOK at that smile!!

See what I mean? haha but I love this picture...

yeah! thanks Beth! This was too fun!