Here's My Card

So I've been thinking about getting myself some business cards so I can try and get a photography business thing started for myself, but I'm feeling a little apprehensive about actually doing it.

I discovered a website called moo.com this afternoon (thank you Instagram) that has some really awesome, artistic business cards, like these Polaroid style ones above. They use 5 of your own images and have all your contact information on the back in a really cool looking font.

I picked 5 shots from the various senior portrait sessions I did with my daughter last summer and fall, then typed in some random info on the back, just to see how it would look.

The answer? Like I know what I'm doing.

But as I looked them over a few things started to nag at me…

• I don't have specific information where people can reach me (just my regular numbers and email address but that is easily remedied).
• I don't really have any set price lists in case someone wanted me to do a session.
• I would actually have to hand these out to people, which means talking to them and that always strikes fear in my heart.

I will freely admit that starting a photography business of my own is something I've wanted to do for a long time, but the fact that I don't really know where to start or how has always been a huge obstacle for me, so I tend to let it go and say to myself "Well, maybe someday".

But in my year of being open (and really trying to live up to that word), I've begun to think that maybe now is the time to do it. And maybe if I buy myself some business cards and actually hand them out to people, I will find someone who says "Hey, I'd like you to take pictures of me, my kids or my cat!" Because I would seriously do that. I really would.

But I've got this little nagging voice in the back of my head that keeps telling me there are a million billion photographers out there already, who have way more experience than I do and why would anyone ask me to photograph anything for them?

Yes, there are a million billion photographers out there (some with more or less experience than I've got), but they've managed to carve a little niche out for themselves. Why should I be any different? It's not like I want to do this everyday for the rest of ever, I'd just like to offer my services to people out there who'd like a nice portrait of themselves, their children or their families at an affordable price. 

And what's the worst that could happen? I get these cards, hand a few out, no one calls and I'm stuck with the rest of them? They're really cool looking so it's not a total loss… 

The Weekend

Thanks to the snow day on Friday, we had a nice, long weekend.

There was a salon appointment for me (way cheaper than therapy)...

Cats in boxes (always with the boxes)...

Taking down the tree (way more fun putting it up than taking it down)...

Chocolate souffle cake in a mug (a/k/a everything that is right with the world in a mug)...

Trivial Pursuit for National Game Day (and the first time I've beat my husband ever)...

Playing in the snow (you're never too old for this)...

Making a snow girl (named Regina George who was personally victimized by the warm weather we had today)...

And a fresh roast turkey dinner from our favorite local farm (turkey...it ain't just for Thanksgiving)...

Hope your weekend was good.

Snow Day

Today was our first official snow day of the year. 

Since  I knew it was going to be a snow day yesterday afternoon (my daughter's school called well in advance instead of 5:30 am the morning of the actual snow day), I was super smart and stayed up until almost 1 am reading a really great romantic historical fiction book (don't judge me). As a consequence, when it was time to get up and feed the cat, I was doing a pretty good Rip Van Winkle impersonation and was unable to rouse myself. Thankfully my loving husband did it so I could be a lump. Of course, once the cat was done with breakfast, she decided to join me in bed because why not?

In order for me to get out of bed at a human regular time, I had to turn myself into a contortionist a la Cirque de Soleil to get up without disturbing the furry hell beast cat. 

Once I was up (and having only pulled one muscle doing so) I went downstairs and made pancakes because IT'S WAS A SNOW DAY.

Regular pancakes for the rents...

And a fun snowman pancake for the kid. Look at that...I even sprinkled it with powdered sugar to give it a snowy effect. Y'all can stand in line behind me, THE MOTHER OF THE  YEAR.

As the day went on, there was a debate as to whether our daughter would go to her voice lesson in the afternoon or not. After much debate where my husband and myself tried to persuade her to just stay home, she won and I took her to lessons despite the 12+ inches of snow and 12 degree temps.

MOTHER OF THE YEAR PEOPLE.

The day has ended with our daughter going to a post holiday party with some friends while we stayed in and pretended I'm we're not living somewhere where it's 2 degrees out. My husband suggested we get pizza and watch Timeline this evening. So in the end...greatest day ever.

Accomplished

I am feeling pretty dang accomplished today.

Everyone is back to work and school today (although there may be a snow day to tomorrow…knock on wood), so I'm home alone, doing my thang and getting it done in a very expedient manner.

I've worked out, started the laundry, bathed, eaten fairly healthy (the small portion of sea salt and vinegar chips I had with lunch should not be held against me) and watched several episodes of Torchwood while I finished these two babies:

My 2013 Project Life and my December 2013 Picture The Holidays albums.

This is the third Project Life album I've done and I really have to say…I love doing these. Back in the day, I was a rabid scrapbooker. I had taken my daughter to a local playgroup and one of the other moms was a Creative Memories rep. She had a small album with her that she had put together and showed it to all of us. I went bonkers. It was photos (I've always loved taking pictures), stickers (I had a sticker album when I was a kid) and was everything I felt like I needed to do, especially since my daughter was 3 years old.

But as the years went by, I gradually fell off the scrapbooking bandwagon. My daughter was entering her teenage years so there weren't as many photographic opportunities as there had been when she was little. I would put an album together every now and then, but the days of putting a two page spread together were gone.

Enter the idea of taking a photo a day to document your life plus the Project Life kits by Becky Higgins, and I was pulled back in like nobody's business. I love capturing the big events of life as well as the small, mundane moments that are often overlooked. Plus it's very cool to have a whole year laid out in front of you.

So, on the second day of the new year, I put the last two pictures in my 2013 album, added a few finishing touches then put it on the shelf to be perused at one's leisure.

Naturally I've already started on the 2014 album and even though it's only got two photos in it, I'm enjoying it. I got too comfortable with last year's album, not really venturing too much away from the basics of the kit set. But this year I've got a few ideas that I plan on incorporating to make it a little different and more personalized.

As for my Picture The Holidays album…ugh, I love it. I loved capturing the whole month in pictures. Plus I added all the Christmas cards we got in the mail to it, so that was kind of fun. I followed some of the prompts in the Tracy Clark class at Big Picture Classes. If you're into photography, you should look into her classes. They are so good and she is such an amazing photographer. 

An hour has passed since I started writing this and now my man and kid are home with donuts. I guess it's a good thing I worked out this morning...

New Year, New Me

It's the afternoon of January 1st, 2014 and I am already tired of hearing the phrase "New Year, New Me" along with the litany of resolutions that everyone seems to be craming down our collective throats on Facebook, Twitter and anywhere else one can make a public proclomation.

That's me. Just a little ray of sunshine.

Don't get me wrong...I understand that people want to better themselves and the act of putting their goals out into the world makes them more motivated to accomplish them. Add to this the idea of a fresh start of a shiny new year and it's the perfect storm for a tidal wave of resolutions.

I know what you're saying..gosh Jen, don't hold back, tell us how you really feel.

If I'm being completely honest, I've been thinking about resolutions the last few weeks. Every December I start thinking about things I'd like do in the new year. And every year I think about writing them down and putting them up over my desk, so I see them everyday. But I never do it, mostly because I'm lazy like that.

But last night I had an ephiphany...what if, instead of making a list of things I want to change about myself, I came up with a list of things I just want. And I'm not talking a list of material items, but a list of intangible things. I immediately thought "I'd like to take more meaningful pictures", "I'd like to spend more time relaxing" and "I'd like to be open to possibilities."

And that is when it hit me...instead of making a list of resolutions, I'd pick one word for the year I'd like to try and live by (Ali Edwards does this every year and I love the idea), and thus my word is open.

2014 promises to be a of change for me. My only child will be graduating from high school and starting college in the fall. I hate that these two very significant  milestones happen only a few short months apart. I feel like I should have some time to get used to the first one before the second one occurs. But I don't, and so I would like to be open to what will happen. Open to change, open to possibility, open to who I will be afterward.

So here is to a new year, and a year of being open to it and all it has to offer.

P. S. I find it extremely funny that under the labels I've made for this blog, one of them is "resolutions". Oh the irony...

Bye Bye Birdy

As you know, we had a robin's nest right outside our front door last month. It was exciting to get to watch this whole little experience unfold everyday, from the eggs being laid to them flying away. I kind of felt like they were my next door neighbors, The Robins. And they were pretty good neighbors at that. Not too noisy, kept to themselves. Just what everyone wants.

On the morning of May 16th, I noticed the parents were not on the nest and two of the baby birds were sitting on the edge of the nest. I thought "Oh, today is the day!" and just like that, one of them took off and flew away into the trees on the side of our yard. It was really amazing to see it happen.

I ran to get my camera so I could try to capture the next one before he flew away. I came back, got the next two shots, then left him alone so he could do his thing.

"Quit staring at me."

"I'll go when I'm good and ready weirdo."

Only he didn't. He sat on the edge of that nest for hours and by hours I mean like 5 straight hours. Every now and then I'd go check on him to see if he'd left, but he was still sitting there like he had no clue what do.

"Leave me alone creeper."

I tried giving him a pep talk. I told him I knew it was scary and it was hard, but he had to go out into the big wide world and make his own way, discover who he was and maybe have a family of his own.

And then I got sad from my pep talk and had to go lay down for a bit.

The entire time he was sitting there, I could hear his parents calling to him. That's when I saw them in the trees on the side of the yard where the first baby bird flew away to. They were trying to get him to come to them and he just wasn't having anything to do with it.

"Would you hurry up! Dinner is getting cold! Freaking kids."

But finally he took the leap and flew away to his mommy and daddy. That's when we noticed a third baby bird in the next who we thought at first was dead (it was just laying at the bottom of the nest not moving) but as it turns out was just taking a rest before he too flew away.

The nest is still in our rhododendron, just sitting there empty. I read online that some times robins will move into an empty nest and lay eggs. So far that hasn't happened and I doubt it really will, but I can hope that it does.

My Life, In A Nutshell

I woke up this morning to find a note on my Facebook wall from an old friend saying "Just checked your blog...". My response? "Did you see a tumbleweed blow through?" because really, it wouldn't surprise me in the least.

My life, as of late, has been a tad chaotic. And by chaotic I mean bat poop crazy. This coming weekend is the first one in at least a month where we have no plans at all. None. Like I have two days wide open  with nothing going on and I don't know how to handle it.

"So what's been keeping you so busy Jen?" Here's a run down for you...

• The birds that I wrote about in earlier posts flew away. I was lucky enough to see it happen and it made me so sad I had to lay down for a while.
• I turned fourty...something. Meh.
• Mother's Day was the weekend after my birthday and I spent it at home watching Doctor Who and drinking Prosecco (greatest Mother's Day ever).
• My daughter went to the prom. All the work I put into getting her ready for it, I felt like I was the one going (side note: she had a great time and looked beautiful. All the work was totally worth it).
• I tripped over the hem of a maxi dress while out on a romantic date night with my husband and went down like a ton of bricks. I hit my left knee, right hand and chin on the curb. I skinned my knee and hand and got a lump on my chin that made me look like Jay Leno. Lesson I took away? Hobbits shouldn't wear maxi dresses.
• My husband turned and even older than me forty-something.
• We took our daughter and a friend to Boston Calling over Memorial Day weekend. This was a big, outdoor music festival in Government Center in Boston. It would have been great had the first day not been rainy and cold. Only in Boston can Memorial Day weekend be lousy and awful. But I had a cute rain coat and kept my social anxiety levels in check despite being in the middle of a crowd of 20,000 college kids all smoking pot.
• My daughter, who will be ending her junior year of high school in just a couple of weeks, has been occupied by all these wonderful tests like an AP Language, the SATs as well as these gems called Subject Tests that I've never heard of in my life but are the biggest pain in the butt. She took the Subject Tests this past weekend. I thought "Yay, we're done!" but apparently not. She plans on taking the SAT again in the fall in the hopes of improving her test scores (yes, she is an overachiever).

All this plus loads of laundry, sinks full of dishes and all the other daily nuisances of life have prevented me from keeping up on my blog duties. I really should do a post on all these separate things because I got some great pictures of each event (except the tripping and injuring myself. If I got that on film I'd cry for the rest of my life). Perhaps I'll be able to do that, what with the entire weekend open before me...

And since I hate a blog post without pictures, I'll leave you with this shot I got of my cat Cali recently...

In my next life, I want to come back as a cat so I can lay around in the sun and sleep all day.