The Habecks are some of our favorite, closest friends. And we love spending time with them! Unfortunately Atlanta and Jacksonville aren't as close as I'd like them to be, but we make the most of it when we all get to be together. They were here last weekend, so Anderson and I got to hug, kiss, squeeze, (fight over) and laugh at their adorable little boy, Asher. He's such a fun baby; always smiling and so easy-going. We had a great time playing with him...and his parents. :) I hope he didn't go home spoiled, because I kept thinking of excuses to hold him all weekend.
"He doesn't want to nap. I should just pick him up." "You're tired. I'll hold him for you." "Awe-the sun's in his eyes. I think I better take him out of his stroller."
They finally called me out on my slick game. Ha! That's what "Aunts" are for though. Right?!
Ben and Aud, We love you and are so thankful for your friendship. I think God made all of us a little crazy, so we would be "family" for life!
The other night after they left, Anderson and I were talking about how much fun we had with Asher and he said, "You better watch out, because when we have kids we're going to play pranks on you all the time!" Ha! Cant wait!
Since marrying Anderson (almost) 2 years ago, I've calculated that we spend about 15% of our time looking for his:
1. keys 2. wallet 3. phone
True story... We were leaving our wedding when Anderson realized he couldn't find his keys...anywhere. It's all a blur now, so I can't remember how long we looked for them. Probably about 30 minutes, but it seemed like a really long time. Here I was waiting to be whisked off to our honeymoon, but first I had to run around a large church and help my new husband find his keys. We eventually found them. In the trunk. When I thought about the situation later I could almost picture God laughing and saying, "Welcome to your new life Mrs. Almeida!"
The expression: "He's like a chicken with its head cut off" was created to describe Anderson. He's always in a frenzy. It's a constant state for him. He seems like he's constantly running. Sometimes when he leaves the house I hear him saying to himself, "Cell phone, keys, wallet. Cell phone, keys, wallet." Then, "Have you seen my phone?" So when I saw this rug I HAD to buy it for him. It makes me laugh.
-Loved this shoot. -I Never really wanted a sister until watching Morgan and Jensen interact with each other. -They are extremely close. The whole twin thing; so evident with them. -Every time I said, "Strike a pose," they did something eerily similar...without knowing it. -Both girls picked out the same outfit to wear the night before...without knowing it. Not sure who had to change. :) -They could be triplets, because their mom looks JUST LIKE THEM. I was confused when we met up, thinking, "I thought there were 2 of them. There are 3?" -We had the worst. weather. ever. Cold, cloudy and windy. The girls were such good sports though. I whined about being cold way more than them, and I was bundled up!
M & J, I had so much fun working with you. Thank you for being the best clients imaginable. :) Congratulations on making it through 13 years of school-whoo hoo!!!
Want to know how I do what I do? Here's your chance to ask me anything!
When I started in this industry several years ago I wish I would have known someone who was doing this type of mentoring program; someone I could ask all of my embarrassing photography business questions. I truly believe I could've saved myself a lot of frustration, headaches and moolah. (I won't bore you with all of my examples!) Now I get questions from other photographers all the time. Really good questions! And while I love hearing from you, I just don't always have the time to sit at my computer and respond to all of them. Regular FAQ posts on this blog seemed like a good solution, but I find myself overwhelmed with answering all the questions. I want to! It's just hard. So I've come up with a fun solution for me AND you!
Here's the deal: I'm a one-on-one type of person. I prefer to sit in a relaxed setting and chat openly and honestly with someone I feel comfortable with. And now I'm at a place where I can offer that to other photographers with my mentoring program: "How to Make Pink Coffee". I want this to be a unique experience for photographers at all levels. This isn't about me telling you how great I am. It's about me answering your questions and telling you where I screwed up and where I've done well. Then helping you think of ways to implement fresh, new ideas into your own business.
I'll tell you my secrets to: -branding your business -pricing your work -finding your editing style -blogging -using social media -scouting for locations -choosing the right clients for you -saying no to the wrong clients (tactfully, of course!) ...and SO MUCH MORE!
And this is my favorite part: "How to Make Pink Coffee" is also an opportunity for you to shoot a photo session with me. (You get to pick the type of session!) I want you to experience the fast-paced craziness of a real photo session, so we will be working with actual clients, not models.
BUT WAIT, there's more! (I've always wanted to say that!)
Because this is Love Month I want to GIVE AWAY a spot to one lucky photographer. Yay! If you're interested leave a comment on this post telling me why you'd like to have this opportunity. Make sure to include your email address. You have until Friday, February 12th. I'll choose a winner at random and announce it on Valentines Day.
And...anyone who signs up during the month of February* will get $75 off the regular price of $650.
Want more info? Contact me for a full package and all the fun details!
*Remember, February only has 28 days this year. :)
We're big planners when it comes to Valentine's Day. So much so that we have dinner reservations at a yummy restaurant today...at 4:00. Yep we'll be dining with your grandparents. :) Ha! Okay, so maybe planning isn't our thing. But you're not here to read about my fun Lunner (lunch + dinner) plans are you?!
I want to thank you all so much for participating in my "How to Make Pink Coffee" giveaway! I wish I could give mentoring sessions to each one of you. And I didn't want to make this tough choice on my own, so I used a random number generator to pick the winner. Each comment was numbered, and after taking out all the ones that weren't really entries, there were 41 left! So here goes:
Yay! Congratulations, Kristian! I cannot wait to meet you. Contact me and we will set up all the fun details. Thank you again to everyone who entered. Remember you can still get $75 off a "How to Make Pink Coffee" mentoring session through the end of February. Hopefully I'll get to meet a lot of you this year!
