1) “Room” by Emma Donoghue: My friend Stacey picked this book for our local book club’s fall selection and I was COMPLETELY wrapped up in its pages from start to finish. It’s such a fast read, with a storyline that is original and harrowing but beautiful at the same time. I gushed about it earlier this month over on my GoodReads profile. Hands down one of the best books of 2010. One of those books you’ll finish and then have to go tell everyone you know to pick up. Kind of like I’m doing here :)

2) “Love & Other Drugs”: It’s ridiculous how long I’ve been waiting to see this film. Anne Hathaway is one of my favorite actresses and Jake Gyllenhaal, well…he’s dreaaammmyyyy with a capital “D.” These two, to me, are our generation’s Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan. And since I just came back from a showing of this film tonight, I can confirm that it is good. Like, SO SO good. Like, whew, a lot of scenes of…well, flesh. I’ll say flesh and leave it at that. But add that it’s Jake’s flesh, and that you might need something to fan yourself with and….. OK, shushing now. But not before plugging the trailer – which is SO cute and has one of my favorite INXS songs in it.

3) Pampered Chef Food Chopper: You’re probably looking at that thing going, “Huh? Really??! A food chopper?” But Internet peeps, this kitchen doo-dad has been LIFE-CHANGING. I’m embarrassed to say it was a long-ago gift from Nick’s mom/sister that I had forgotten I’d had until I was cleaning the cupboards and Nick spotted it earlier this month. Since then, it’s been used at least 3 times a week on everything from celery and carrots to onions and broccolli. The best review I can give it is saying I can now chop up an onion in one minute, with no tears. That’s what you call getting your $30 worth, right there.

4) “Modern Family”: I’m a total late-comer to the “Modern Family” fanwagon, but man oh man, better late than never to this laughter train. I decided to wait until the first season came out on DVD to see what all the fuzz was about. And then, I begged Nick (who is Anti-Sitcom) to watch it with me. Just, you know, ONE episode. We watched that first episode, came to this scene and seriously about fell off the couch. After that, he was sold and we watched the entire season in one weekend. Can I just say I think Cameron is the most hilarious and adorable character on TV right now? His Fizbo the Clown episode was my favorite (even though, like Phil, I hate clowns). On to Season 2!

5) Pumpkin Pie: You think I could end a favorite things post for November and not give a nod to Thanksgiving? Pumpkin pie (more specifically, my mother’s pumpkin pie) is my FAVORITE pie on the planet. One of those things you look forward to devouring all year long. Needless to say, in one week’s time, I’ve had my fair share. And by fair share, I mean darn near an entire pie. That treadmill is BEGGING me to jump back on it now!

See more of Gail’s work at www.gailwernerphoto.com. Become a fan of Gail’s work on Facebook. Follow Gail on Twitter.

I don’t know where the past 10 years have gone. It seems like time just flies (isn’t that what everybody says?) So when I sat down and tried to recall how long it’s been that I’ve known Emily, I did one of those mental double takes that involved a lot of capital letters and exclamation points and went something like this: “NINE YEARS?! HAS IT REALLY BEEN NINE YEARS?!”

It’s been two of those years since I’ve seen her in person last, so it was wonderful to see them on their visit back to the area from Idaho (where she lives with her hubby, Joe, and that cutie-patootie on her lap, Juniper) for the Thanksgiving holiday. Mother Nature held out for us to get some festive pics of this sweet little trio and I’m so glad we were able to reconnect in person in 2010.

More to hit the blog in December … but for now, a sweet little glimpse.

See more of Gail’s work at www.gailwernerphoto.com. Become a fan of Gail’s work on Facebook. Follow Gail on Twitter.

Jennifer has a special place in my student-lovin’ heart. When I first started my job at Ball State nearly three years ago, Jennifer was one of my office’s student employees. She was calm, cool and collected in a way that made her seem light years older than most of her peers in the college crowd and she was a lifeline to me as I struggled to get my bearings in a new job that frequently featured me coming to her asking, “So, Jennifer, how exactly do we do this again?”

I’ve loved keeping tabs on her over the past few years and was elated for her when I saw on Facebook she was engaged to wed her sweet fiance, Brandon. The two met in college at Ball State (a story I’m fond of since it reminds me so much of finding my own love story there), so the university’s campus was the perfect place for an engagement session with these two. Jennifer and Brandon, if your wedding day in September is a tenth as relaxed and fun as this afternoon was, we’re all in for a treat!

WATCH THEIR SLIDESHOW

Jennifer, you are the epitome of gorgeous here! LOVE this image of the two of them in front of Ball State’s Museum of Art

From the Quad, we headed over to the heart of campus where we hit up another ginkgo tree, this time in front of the Art and Journalism Building. Jennifer’s outfit was the perfect complement to those newly fallen yellow leaves!

It was chilly and as I was changing lens, I looked up with just enough time to capture this sweet little moment between these two A brief detour to get warm inside the Letterman Building. Love all the white space in this shot!Oooohhhh perfect fall light, how I love thee! Emmmbrracceee the grain (get it? ‘Cause, Brandon’s embracing Jennifer? hehe) :) That light, those trees, this kind of snuggling? It’s all perfect. This is such a candid shot — captured as we were walking back to the parking lot—but it’s my favorite because of how happy Jennifer looks here. That smile of hers is pretty awesome, isn’t it Brandon? A quick wardrobe change and a request from Jennifer and that was to capture a few images of she and Brandon in front of the residence hall where they met. Coincidentally, Nick and I also lived in this same residence hall (though, we didn’t meet there). Jen was a Botsford girl too (Brandon a Swinford resident). Even cooler? Jennifer’s parents ALSO met living in this same dorm! AND her grandparents also met at Ball State. It’s awesome that she can carry on the family tradition in that same kind of way.

See more of Gail’s work at www.gailwernerphoto.com. Become a fan of Gail’s work on Facebook. Follow Gail on Twitter.

I can’t think of a better way to end my 2010 wedding season than photographing Emily and Kevin’s big day. Surrounded by friends and family in a BEAUTIFUL Catholic church in downtown Indianapolis, these two tied the knot and celebrated in a way that made me wish I could have a reception again just to have that much FUN! (Can you say photobooth?! :) )

Here’s a peek of what’s in store in the full post. And I have to give these two MAJOR props for having THE COOLEST honeymoon of anyone I’ve ever photographed. When I asked them where they were headed, they said in unison, “TAHITI!”

Ummm…can you say “Jealous much?” Hope you two are having a blast there! (Pssttt…who am I kidding? It’s TAHITI. Of COURSE you’re having a blast!)

See more of Gail’s work at www.gailwernerphoto.com. Become a fan of Gail’s work on Facebook. Follow Gail on Twitter.

Prior to this month, I could have counted on one hand the number of baths I’d taken in…ohhhh, the past 20 years of my life. People, when I say I am not a bath person, I mean it passionately.

But we’ve had quite the month of conundrums in the Werner household; both issues stemming from the two bathrooms in our mid-century home. I’d noticed some issues with our linoleum flooring warping around the toilet in our guest bath. I told my husband to check it out (because isn’t that what ALL women do when they encounter a household-related “fix-it-please?”), and while he was under the house, he encountered the motherload of “you’vegottobekiddingme” home improvement woes. While the problem with our front bathroom was minor, the as-yet-to-be-discovered-until-that-very-moment problem in our master bath (where our shower is) was HUGE. Major leaking=rotting wood underneath the house=mental calculator going into overdrive at what this was going to cost us.

This alone would be bad enough. But the real kick in the pants is how much this scenario made us feel like extras in “Groundhog Day.” See, we’d ALREADY fixed this shower—two years ago, to be exact. And back then, it cost us a lot of money to pay a contractor to tear up the tiling, replace all the rotted out floorboards and cover him for all those hours of grunt work involved. Now, here we are, having to pay someone TO DO IT AGAIN.

We’re not sure if we’re in this boat because of a shoddy job by the last guy or if a new problem has arisen (note to self: our next home will have a vinyl shower), but either way, we’re entering this holiday season with a major unexpected home repair on the horizon. (And because, let’s face it, THAT’S JUST HOW LIFE GOES).

Which brings me to my long-winded take on this month’s self portrait—back to the bath.  A ceramic tub I’ve grown all too familiar with in the past two weeks. I wish I could love this experience more. I wish I could be one of those women for whom a soak in the tub is one of the most relaxing parts of their day (or, at least come around to the idea a la Chandler Bing). But I’m too impatient to sit there waiting for the water to fill up. I can never get the temperature just right. I try to read a magazine or a book and find myself forgetting that well, my fingers are, you know, WET, so the next thing you now, I’ve got an issue of Entertainment Weekly that’s as waterlogged as the Titanic.

And finally, while I might have fit into the bathtub when I was a kid, I don’t really “fit” the same way as a grown woman who stands at 5’9″. Meaning I’ve had some cold knees for the past two weeks.

Oh, and one last thing I’ve discovered? There is such a thing as TOO MANY BUBBLES.

See more of Gail’s work at www.gailwernerphoto.com. Become a fan of Gail’s work on Facebook. Follow Gail on Twitter.