What Gets You in the Mood?

For Thanksgiving?!  Get your mind out of the gutter ;)

I'm on the hunt for movies that make you feel the coziness that Autumn is supposed to bring.  Houston doesn't see much of a fall scene, so I have to encourage the season along with lots of pumpkins, leaves, and orange lights, and it doesn't hurt to pop in a movie I love watching this time of year. 

In October, I try to watch The Nightmare before Christmas, Hocus Pocus, Casper, and Meet Me in St. Louis. 

December gets LOTS of movies!  Meet Me in St. Louis (AGAIN!), It's a Wonderful Life, Borrowed Hearts, Miracle on 34th Street, The Holiday, Little Women, that cheesy movie where the woman gets pulled into her dryer to an alternate reality.... the list goes on and on!  And yes, I love those silly Lifetime Christmas movies... and the ABC Family ones.

But November usually gets You've Got Mail, and.... and.... and what???  Thanksgiving movies are seriously lacking!!  What do you watch this time of year?  What puts you in the turkey and cranberry mood?

What Day is it, and Sticking to a Schedule?

Do you ever have to actually ask someone what day it is?  Since the lay-off, I feel like this a LOT.  And it's not that I don't have things to do on specific days of the week (I have had SOME photo sessions, though not as many as I'd like), I just find that it's so much harder to keep the days straight now that I'm not trudging through my week just to get to Friday.

And there are so many things I want to make time for... yet some days slip right past and I have to think back to figure out if I actually got anything done at all.  I've thought a lot about implementing a schedule.  Plan out my whole day and try (for the most part) to follow through.  If I had the discipline for it, here's how I'd like to do it:

7:00am

Wake up

take care of the dogs

eat breakfast while catching up on emails and blogs

7:30

let breakfast settle while doing a Rosetta Stone lesson (Spanish or Italian)

8:15 or 8:30

Hip Hop Abs (I have this... yes, yes I do.  And it's AWESOME)

After 2 months, when the hip hop abs program has run once through, work in Turbo Jam also

9:00

Shower because by now I totally stink

Start editing those sessions, find new ways to market

11:00 or Noon

make and eat lunch (AWAY from Honeycrisp)

1:00

write for at least an hour to give the editing eyes a rest, and to make progress on the WIP

2:00ish

edit more, market more

5:00

STOP WORKING!

hang out with hubs, make dinner, eat

I'd also like to find a set day a week to play tennis (there are courts right by my house, and I played in high school, so I ASSUME I still know how..... ;)

We also aren't eating out too much these days.  But I found that I'm always cooking the same things.... and I have LOTS of cookbooks!  Guess I need to open one once in a while. 

So, how does my schedule sound?? Doable??? It doesn't seem too incredible structured or difficult to me, so theoretically I should be able to stick to it.  But I've yet to actually start....

Do you try to stick to some sort of schedule?  Any tricks to staying motivated?

Catching up, Blasts from the Past, and Newborns Everywhere!

It seems like every time I say I'm getting better about blogging and commenting on your blogs, I miss a whole week of it!  My head just hasn't been in the game this week.  I finally got Photoshop for my Mac in, and even though I know how photoshop works (for the most part), I still feel like I'm learning it all over again... new mouse, new keyboard... new operating system.  It's like I was driving standard, and now I'm driving a stick shift. hahaha. But... a much FASTER and PRETTIER car of course. 

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I was anti-Facebook for a long time, as some of you know.  But when I started my photography biz, I signed up because it really is a great marketing tool.  Much more so than my photography blog... I only have 6 followers there, where as my FB page has 86 "Likes".  Not too terrible for a couple months, I'd say.  

And I've reconnected with some people from the past, and it's not only neat to see where they are in their lives, but some of them have inquired about photo sessions. :)

About a month ago I reconnected with someone I used to coach with back in my figure skating days, and she had her second baby the same day another friend of mine from the rink days did!  

I LOVE taking pictures of brand new little humans.  Even though they really really really don't like getting their picture taken for hours on end, they need to eat VERY OFTEN, and they pee and dump all over everything, I am just so honored to capture this moment in their lives. 

Here are a few of my favorites from the last two newborn sessions!

Miss E

Miss T

There's a Mac in my Life...

Well, last week I was in tears.  A virus ruined my computer, and the cost to correct the issue (or for them to TRY to figure out how to fix the issue) was so not worth it.  She's a five year old laptop, and I've had problems with her for a couple years already... it's time to put her down. 

This week, I write to you on a brand new iMac, a wonder of wonders I thought I was years from being able to experience.  The transition from Windows to Mac is a bit shaky, but I'm catching on, and I'm sure by the end of the week I'll have a much better handle on it (and hopefully I'll learn how to type on this ridiculous little keyboard).  As she is an Apple, I've named her after my favorite apple, Honeycrisp. :)

I hadn't realized just how much I had on my computer that was Windows specific!  But the lovely people at Adobe are sending me a new disc of Photoshop CS5 Extended for Mac, at only the cost of shipping (I verified this BEFORE the Mac purchase... that would have been a horrible surprise).  The lovely people at Rosetta Stone have helped me with my Spanish and Italian course license issues as well.  I also spent a chunk of time on the phone with the lovely people at Microsoft getting my MS Office for Mac situated.  I've felt dizzy quite frequently today.... not sure if it's because of the giant screen I get to look at all day now (which will be LOVELY for photo editing!!! I can't WAIT to get Photoshop back!), or just because I've been in hyper-info-dump-into-kristin's-brain mode.  It's probably a combo.

So, Mac users, what is one thing you love about your Mac?  Is there a particular shortcut or feature you learned and thought "So THAT'S how you do that!  If only I knew that SOONER!"? Please share your tips! I feel like I'm still fumbling around this thing. :)

Oh computer virus that caused me such misery but a short time ago... I thank thee.

For thou hath brought me to a new world of delicious Apples... a better world...

a virus-free world! 

Marketing on Halloween? Opinion PLEASE!

I'm not even going to tell y'all how frustrated I've been the past two days (with no end in site!)... there's no reason to bring you down with me!  All I'm saying is: computer virus, thought it was fixed, desktop icons, start menu, and taskbar are all M.I.freakin.A  I guess I have a date with the Geek Squad tomorrow, because clearly this is beyond my capabilities (And that's what makes me the most angry, I think).

ANYWAY... OPINION TIME!!

I frequently look at other photographer's work and websites, and I saw that one local gal is tying a business card to bags of M&Ms to pass out to trick-or-treaters.  Another blogger I saw is passing out little goody bags to the parents with her biz info.

Some of the comments I've seen under proclamations such as these were interesting.  For every 5 people that think it's a great idea and want to try it themselves, there is 1 person who thinks it's very very tacky (obviously, not a business owner).  

Now, I'm a bit on the fence, because initially I thought, WHAT A COOL IDEA!! It clearly sounds perfect to give parents my photography info, because what parent doesn't like pictures of their kid? (And Christmas is coming up, HELLO)

But the Negative Nellys out there made me stop in my tracks, because I hate the idea of people thinking poorly of me (or that I am tacky! HEAVEN FORBID!), and I don't want to get a bad rep right when I'm starting out.  

But again, I just lost my job (so I'm desperate for ways to find clients) and how many free marketing tools are there?  After all, people will be coming to MY DOOR (or, my parent's neighbor's driveway for the hayride, which is where I will very likely be) begging for MY CANDY, so would it be considered soliciting at that point?

So what do I do?  Make up treat bags with a discount coupon for a session and give them to the adults?  Ask them outright if it would offend them?  Forget I ever saw the idea? 

Alaska Pictures!

Last month, hubs and I went to Alaska with his parents, brother, and our sister in law.  (This trip was planned and paid for long before the lay-off knowledge... we really aren't irresponsible with money!)  

Despite knowing I was out of a job in just a few weeks, I was able to relax!  I took TONS of pictures; did quite a bit of fishing; taught my sister in law how to knit scarves (while sitting on the porch of the house we rented, in full view of a GLACIER... amazing); read Paranormalcy by Kiersten White, A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray, and started Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen (it was on the bookshelf at the house, so I had to pick it up--I finished it at home with a library copy... it was okay); stalked the Time Bandit from Deadliest Catch; ate the most AMAZING snow crab legs; ate more; shopped along the Spit in Homer; got my internal clock all messed up and STILL haven't recovered (not having a job to get to everyday will allow you to sleep in... and stay up late... it's a problem).  I'd definitely go back to Alaska at some point.  The weather was gorgeous, scenery was, well... take a looksie: 

The river outside our cabin in Cooper Landing:

Night view from house in Homer:

Sunset on the Spit in Homer

  

Amazing food!  We ate at a fish market on the Spit that gets their crab from the Time Bandit!

We took a glacier tour!  This sucker is MASSIVE.  A mile wide where it touches the water.  If you look closely, you'll see a huge piece of this is falling off.

This is the same photo as above, but to give you an idea of scale, click on the photo so it fills your screen and see mid-left I highlighted a massive bird flying in the shot.

Bear print we saw at one of our stops on a guided fishing trip.  According to our guide, this was a smaller bear, maybe 2 years old.  My hand wouldn't even take up the bottom portion.

A black bear we spotted on the glacier tour.  The black bears are smaller than the brown ones because black bears stick to the mountains and eat mostly berries and what they can find, while the brown bears stick to the rivers and eat fish, getting more protein.

Brown bear we spotted on our fishing trip.  Even though he's super far away, and I zoomed in as much as I could (and cropped the photo to zoom in even more, so it's a little grainy), you can see this sucker is MASSIVE.  There were people wade fishing right by him, but he only cared about the fish.  Here he was walking along a sand bar, and shortly after he went for a swim, scooping up fishies and tearing them to shreds.  It was fascinating.

A pair of Otters we saw on the glacier tour.  They just float on their backs and twirl around in the water, keeping a layer of air between their skin and the water for insulation.

These were the most skittish little guys.  As soon as the boat approached, away they flew, or down they dove.  This little Puffin had trouble taking off and kept skimming the water surface.  I zoomed in as far as I could, and crop zoomed even more, so it's a bit grainy.  You can still see how adorable he is though! 

I did NOT expect to see so many sea lions.  This is just one location we found them on our glacier tour.  They were LOUD too!

Here is the front of the Time Bandit, as seen on Deadliest Catch.  We didn't get to meet Captain Jonathan or his brothers, but we did meet their mom working in their little Time Bandit Shop! (But I did meet Captain Sig Hansen (of the Northwestern) and his brother Edgar at Disney World a few years back!)

That's us... in a crab pot.  From left to right:

Hubs, me, sister-in-law, bro-in-law, mother-in-law, father-in-law 

Here is hubs fly fishing with the new rod his dad got him for his birthday.

That's all I've edited so far... just the highlights of the trip.   Hope you enjoyed them!

A Storm of Brains

That sounded a bit zombie-ish, didn't it?

I'm talking about BRAINSTORMING!!

Thank y'all for your opinions about modern retellings, and for the encouragement.  I think that right now, since I have too many things on my plate, and too many WIPs already going, this idea will be in brainstorming mode for a while.  We'll see what I'm able to come up with.  Gotta make sure it's fresh!

So, speaking of this storm of the brain... what's your process?  You get an idea... what's the first thing you do?  Do you reach for a notebook and pen (I seem to do this most often), or open a blank document and start typing your ideas (which I've also done)?  Do you draw a big grid and storyboard it (which I'd LOVE to be organized enough to do without needing a super eraser)?  Do you roll up your sleeves and dive into character sketches?

When you get to the writing writing part, do you mostly write from start to finish, or just write what comes to you when it comes to you?  Often I'll start at the beginning, then something later in the story will come to mind and I'll hop around to make sure it gets written while I'm thinking about it.  Then something for a completely different story comes to mind, so I have to write that down somewhere.  It's a wonder I get anything done at all.

Oh wait.

I don't. ;)