adventures in london part 3 | duluth, mn baby photographer

In case you missed it:  Installment 1 and Installment 2

Alright, so the real reason we went abroad….school.  To be honest, the actual ‘class’ portion of our life was pretty low on the totem pole of importance.  We were only allowed to take 4 classes (or 12 credits), so we had a LOT of free time.  Each class was an 1.5 hour lecture, once a week.   There were no papers to write, or weekly tests to take…not even a sneaky little pop quiz throughout the entire semester.   Our final grade in each class was based solely on ONE big paper due the last week of class…nothing else was factored in…not even my stellar attendance record.    Apparently, I don’t learn very well this way…I remember panicking that last week, when all of a sudden we had 4 HUGE papers to write and turn in.   I think the English students found our panic hilarious…as they were used to such teaching methods.  Needless to say, my grades were somewhat lackluster.  As in, they lacked anything higher than a C.

As I mentioned earlier, we were the first ‘crop’ of American students to set foot on St. Mary’s soil.  This caused a bit of a commotion during class time.  The professors were eager to hear our opinions on the Monica Lewinsky scandal…as though we ‘knew’ the players intimately or something.  Every time one of us spoke up in class, heads would immediately turn and stare, like we speaking in tongues, instead of just a simple Minnesotan accent.

I took a class in something…honestly, can’t remember what it was!  Anyways, we were discussing small business opportunities, and the professor had us pair up, choose a business we would like to start, and write a list of pro’s and con’s for a possible new business venture.   Krista and I thought we had a brilliant idea…a massage parlor.  Spa’s were becoming big business back in the states in the late 90′s, and we thought it would be genius to open up a spa of our own.  The professor called on us to share our idea…the moment the words ‘massage parlor’ came out of my mouth, I knew I said something wrong.  The looks of shock, horror and then hysterical amusement should have tipped me off.  Trying to keep a straight face, the professor asked me (in his proper little accent), ”and why would you open a massage parlor?”  I responded, “well, it’s an up and coming business.”  The class lost it.  They laughed for a good 20 minutes.  Apparently in England, ‘massage parlors‘ mean ‘whore house‘….as in, their massages come with a happy ending.  And I had just used the phrase, ‘up and coming’.  Yup.  Awesome.  I had officially confirmed every stereotype that my classmates had about Americans.  Dumb and crass.

Okay, let’s move along to something a little more innocent…and a whole of cute.  This little girl came to see me all the way from Duluth!  I was so flattered!  And I’m so glad they made the trip, because dang, this little girl is adorable!  I love her little baby rolls and her awesome spiky hair!  The day we had planned this shoot, I was hoping for a warm, late spring day.  Well, there was no sun…and no warm.  I wanted to bring a little ‘freshness’ into the studio, so I hiked out to our apple tree, and started chopping off a branch…I like how it turned out  I wish that tree would flower year round, instead of  only 2 days!

See those things on her feet…they’re called ‘baby feet decorators’.  No wait, that is NOT the official name…I do know where to get them though…mon petit in Buffalo

Got me some giraffe leggings from the boutique too…I wonder if they come in my size?

That shot above kills me…She loved that fur rug, snuggled right on down…all the babies that come in just adore laying naked on it…feels goooood