How to get your tickets:
(1) Register HERE for Heel to Heal
(2) After registering, you will be emailed a receipt
(3) Print receipt and bring it into the Pediatric Cancer Foundation office Monday – Friday between 8am and 5pm!

*Note: Please call PCF before stopping by to ensure tickets are still available (813-269-0955).

The studio will be closed Wednesday through Sunday.  Feel free to shoot me an email and I will try my best to be in touch prior to next week. 

I hope you have a wonderful 4th of July, filled with family, friends and fun.  The studio will be closed through Tuesday- we are headed on vacation to the beach- woo-hoo!!

Other exciting news, make sure to stop by the Andi Diamond Photography kiosk at International Plaza in Tampa, starting tomorrow and for the next month!  High school seniors, check the kiosk next week for some FAB offers!

On a side note, if you are interested in birth photography and live in Tampa Bay, please contact me asap as I accept a very limited number of birth photography assignments as I am on-call 24-7 for the mommy-to-be.

With such a beautiful couple, I cannot wait to design their next album after their wedding in July! 

Gotta love it!  Happy Friday!  Andi

A little background: Neiman-Marcus, if you don’t know already, is a very expensive store; they sell your typical $8.00 T-shirt for $90.00.
My daughter and I had just finished a salad at a Neiman-Marcus Cafe In Dallas, and we decided to have a small dessert. Because both of us are such cookie lovers, we decided to try the ‘Neiman-Marcus cookie.’ It was So excellent that I asked if they would give me the recipe, and the waitress said with a small frown, ‘I’m afraid not, but you can buy The Recipe.’ Well, I asked how much, and
she responded, ‘ Only two fifty – it’s a Great deal!’ I agreed to that, and told her to just add it to my Tab.

Thirty days later, I received my VISA statement, and the Neiman-Marcus Charge was $285.00!  I looked again, and I remembered I had only spent $9.95 for two salads and about $20.00 for a scarf.  As I glanced at the bottom of the statement, it said, ‘Cookie Recipe-$250.00.’   That was outrageous! I called Neiman’s Accounting Department and told them the waitress said it was ‘two-fifty’, which clearly does not mean ‘two hundred and fifty dollars’ by any reasonable interpretation of the phrase.

Neiman-Marcus refused to budge. They would not refund my money because, according to them, ‘What the waitress told you is not our problem. You have already seen the Recipe.. We absolutely will not refund your money at this point..’
I explained to the Accounting Department lady the criminal statutes which govern fraud in the State of Texas . I threatened to report them to the Better Business Bureau and the Texas Attorney General’s office for engaging in fraud. I was basically told, ‘Do what you want. Don’t bother thinking of how you can get even, and don’t bother trying to get any of your money back..’  I just said, Okay, you folks got my $250, and now I’m going to have $250 worth of fun. I told her that I was going to see to it that every Cookie Lover in the United States with an e-mail account has a $250 cookie recipe from Neiman-Marcus…for free. She replied, ‘I wish you wouldn’t do this.’ I said, ‘Well, perhaps you should have thought of that before you ripped me off and slammed down the phone.

So here it is!

Please, please, please pass it on to everyone you can possibly think of.  I paid $250 for this, and I don’t want Neiman-Marcus to EVER make
another penny off of this recipe!

NEIMAN-MARCUS COOKIES (Recipe may be halved)
2 cups butter
24 oz. Chocolate chips
4 cups flour
2 cups brown sugar
2 tsp. Soda (baking)
1 tsp. Salt
2 cups sugar
1 8 oz. Hershey Bar (grated)
5 cups blended oatmeal
4 eggs
2 tsp. Baking powder
2 tsp. Vanilla
3 cups chopped nuts (your choice)
Measure oatmeal, and blend in a blender to a fine powder. Cream
the butter and both sugars. Add eggs and vanilla, mix together with
flour, oatmeal, salt, baking powder, and soda . Add chocolate chips,
hershey bar, and nuts. Roll into balls, and place two inches apart
on a cookie Sheet. Bake for 10 minutes at 375 degrees.
Makes 112 cookies.

OK, so I don’t think this story is at all true but the cookies are de-lish!  ENJOY!

Also, quick reminder- the “Take Better Pictures of Your Children Workshop” is coming up April 6 at 6pm at Art Explorers.  RSVP to andi@andidiamond.com asap to reserve your spot.