1. Last week I had the honor of donating a session to be raffled off for sweet Charlotte’s Bone Marrow ‘Be the Match’ Drive.  I’m super excited to report we raised over $1000 for ‘Be the Match!’  I’ve already been in touch with the winner Andrea and I know a session with her two little blessings is going to be fantastic this summer.  Charlotte’s drive was a HUGE success.  Thank you thank you to all of those who came out and got screened.  I’m told a ‘good’ turnout is somewhere around 40-50 people.. between the two screenings we had over 300!  It really is amazing what a community can when we work together.  It was an honor to work with so many amazing people who love and support the Pineault family.  I look forward to working together again and getting to know all these amazing new friends

2.  Speaking of Charlotte — she is doing great.  For those who have asked, she is in her second phase of treatment here in Boston and is responding very well.  Her parents Ted and Constance are so wonderful about keeping up with her journal to keep everyone updated on her daily progress.  You can read their entries here: Charlotte’s CaringBridge Page

3. I’m headed down to my friends at Lens Pro to Go in Concord, MA to return a camera I rented last week while mine was out getting fixed.  Photographers in the area – If you don’t know about Lens Pro to Go already (which you totally should!!!) but if you don’t – GO to their website.  You’ll love them.  Paul is fantastic and has so much gear available to rent that you’ll be blown away.  Their customer service is amazing and their friendly advice is always wonderful.  They have also just introduced a new business called StudioShare. It is a really awesome concept — As they say on their website:

Community-based photo rentals enable photographers to make the most of photo resources that are already in use and owned by others in the photo community. Make money by renting out your own idle equipment and space, or rent others’ resources for your photo shoots. Share your skills, or hire experienced stylists, assistants, and other service providers, easily and securely.

So essentially if you have equipment you want to rent or studio space available or you need studio space if you dont have a studio – this is a place you can go to connect with other photographers and use it as needed.  Amazing, right!  Check it out – It’s going to be fantastic!

4.  In the craziness I’ve been really trying to take 5 minutes to start my day with a little bit of sunshine and a few minutes to quiet my mind.  It seems lately when I start the day I’m off and running before I can even catch my breath so I’ve been trying to take a few minutes before the day starts to quiet my mind and keep centered.  I really believe its important to take a few minutes to yourself, especially us Mom’s who’s days are off and running as soon as those little piggies hit the floor, as well as us business owners who are desperately trying to find more hours in the day! If we’re not good to ourselves, we cant be great for everyone else, right!? Lately with the nice weather I’ve been taking these precious few minutes down by the water on days that I leave first thing.. here are a few snapshots from my iphone I took to remind myself to stay centered when things get overwhelming.  Pretty, isn’t it!?

calm seas - singing beach - manchester ma

rough seas after the crazy rain and flooding - serious beach erosion

5. Can we talk about this weather!?  I am officially SO ready for Spring and Summer!  The last few days have been in the mid 60s and I hear it might even be 70 on Saturday.  SUPER excited about that — Family day on Saturday with 70 = awesome.  I’m thinking I might actually do a mini shoot with the kiddos and Rick as its been a long time since I’ve actually shot for my own kids — we’ll see if they are interested, or at least up for bribery! Nope, I’m not above it! Stay tuned.

6. The kids must be in the middle of a growth spurt because all of a sudden both of them are growing out of everything they have!  Apparently its a new season too.. Where are the weeks going? Rick and I were saying last night how these weeks are flying by.. Does anyone else feel like that?

7. Dane Sanders – Fast Track Photographer workshop is only a week away!! I’m SO excited my sweet friend Macy just signed up too — It’s going to be fantastic I know it   Check it out – You’ll think its going to be fantastic too!

8.  I don’t think I’ve reported how much I LOVE the program ‘Things’ from apple.  For someone that makes lists for lists it is awesome.  The best part is the app on my iphone syncs so everything on my computer is on my phone too! This is a HUGE benefit for me since I will lay awake at night and think of all the things I have to do the next day – now I just pick up my phone, log it into a ‘Things’ and its off my mind.  Such a great investment!

9.  Last weekend we headed for a big treat — Rick, Jackson, Molly and I met our friends Heather and Tyler and Emma at the Rainforest Cafe for dinner. The kids were awesome and had a blast!  When got home late -  I took Molly to her room to put her bed – Rick too Jack duty. I knew it was late but I sat in her rocking chair and just snuggled her .. it had been a while since I had done that but I figured, hey, we’re already past bedtime — why not!?  We sat there, I sang her her little ladybug song and she giggled.. She held her lovey and her paci (I KNOW! only for sleeping.. relax… she won’t be in kindergarten with it!) and just snuggled into my arms.  It was perfect. It was just what my heart needed.  She was angelic.  Our schedules have been so crazy lately I was grateful she gave me this little gift.  Usually she goes to bed just as we’re finishing dinner and theres still so much to do that she goes right to bed… not lots of time for snuggling.. Although I might change that.. I know I wont get this time back.. And just so I don’t forget I snapped this…

10.  It’s THURSDAY already!??!?!? HOW did that happen!?  Here’s to a busy rest of today and tomorrow and then onto a perfect weather family weekend! I hope you enjoy your weekend with those who make you smile!
Much Love,

I got an email this afternoon from one of my favorite clients.  Jenni just wanted to share how they ended up displaying the wall images we picked out together.  She loves them and so.do.I!!  Thanks for sending this along Jenni – It looks awesome!

If you have a display in your house from our session send me an email – I’d love to see it!

Much Love,

Jackson was a newborn and I had started snapping crazy amounts of photographs of him.  I didn’t want to miss anything.  I didn’t want to forget anything. I knew with every passing day he was one day older, one day bigger, one day away from this newborn little precious miracle I loved more then myself from the second I knew he was going to be my son.  I knew in a blink he was going to be graduating! Although photography had always been a passion of mine, I never had any ‘formal’ training.  I played with my camera, tried different things, tried to figure out but mostly didn’t really know what I was doing.  When I was getting married, I did a lot of research on ‘The Knot.’  I was kicked over to ‘The Nest,’ after I had Jackson and there were some women there that were in my exact same position! They loved taking photographs of their children and they were learning about their cameras and how to get the photographs we’d all fallen in love with online from other great photographers.  Those women started a message board and before I knew it we had so many members who enjoyed the love of photography and many of them had young kids at home so it was an instant bond!  It was there that I became to ‘know’ Lyndsay.  We have never met, and I’m not sure she will ever know how grateful I am for her gifts she doesn’t even know she’s given me, but I know. And I am forever in debt to her.

She made a post one day about a friend of hers, Erin Cobb, whose daughter was in the running for the Gap Casting Call.  Sarah (Pigbear as she is nicknamed!) needed votes to win so Lyndsay posted the link to Erin’s blog and of course on Erin’s blog you could click to vote for Sarah!  It was that day that I added Erin to my favorites and have been following her ever since.  I started reading about her and her adorable little family and I felt like if she lived near me, we’d totally hang out!  That’s the amazing thing about blogs, isn’t it?  We feel connected and friendships for people that we may really have never met – how incredible.   It was about that time that Rick and I began seriously considering photography as a business.  I had been doing a lot of thinking and a lot of praying about it.  I had just finished my Masters in Elementary Education and received my license to teach, but Jackson was a newborn and I was nannying at the time.  I needed to work but with the great family I worked for, he could come with me and I could still work and watch him grow up – again, a huge blessing.  Should I go back to teaching just because I could? Should I try to start a business following my passion? Who knew which was the ‘right’ answer?  We discussed it, a lot.

One night after Jackson went to bed I was reading Erin’s blog and she had posted about her friend Wendy Schulz.  Wendy had mentored Erin and took her under her wing to teach her about her photography and help her grow into what she wanted to be.  After I read Erin’s post, I immediately went to Wendy’s blog and saw that she started offering an online workshop – to do the same thing!  SOLD.  I talked it over with Rick and we decide this was it.  Let’s give this a shot.

So I signed up for Wendy’s class and without a doubt, SHE is the reason I am where I am.  She gave me challenges and feedback that has taught me about myself, about my camera, about my craft.  She is amazing. She is inspiring, and boy is she hysterical!  I have since sent Wendy a few of my friends and even my cousin Jake took her online course.  I’m sure her waiting list is long, but if you want to know about photography from one of the greatest teachers, SIGN UP. You won’t regret it.

So lets recap.  Lyndsay ‘introduced’ me to Erin. Erin ‘introduced’ me to Wendy, and Wendy is what gave my business the foundation  to become a business.  Well, this past week Erin was visiting her friends in Boston and asked if any Bostonians would like to come out to get together — It was about a second of  before I responded – ME ME ME! Remember, we were friends in my head already! Ha..

So luckily, Rick was sweet enough to come home after a long day of work and let me take off to Starbucks to meet Erin, finally!  In typical Boston fashion, there was traffic so of course I was late but nevertheless, I made it and guess what…  She was JUST as sweet, if not more, in person!  Just like I knew she would be!  She jumped right up and gave me a hug and we all started laughing right away – like we were all old friends.  Just the way it should be with someone who has helped shape your life, right!?

Ellen and Diana are from Boston and also follow Erin’s blog so it was nice to make new friends too -  Samantha and Erin have been friends for a long time and the 5 of us had a great visit together just chatting it up!  The time passed too quickly of course, but hopefully the next visit Erin makes to Boston we’ll have some more time to catch up!

Totally ‘borrowed’ from Erin — You can see her thoughts from our meet up here:

(l->r) Ellen - Erin - Diana -Yours Truly - Samantha!

So Lyndsay, Thank you for posting Erin’s link.  Erin thank you for posting Wendy’s link and Wendy, thank you for making me jump when I wasn’t sure their was a net under me.  Turns out I didn’t need it anyways thanks to you.. For that, for all of you, I am grateful

We are grateful.

Much love.

Thankfully,

Announcements tomorrow

1.  This is day one of our new business approach.  Thanks to Dane Sanders, we have adopted a new motto — All in business or All in family.  As a wife and Mom and a small business owner, there is a constant battle between the two.  When I’m with the kids I feel like I should be doing some sort of work, but when I’m working I feel like I need to be with the kids.  (Other Mom photographers feel my pain, yes?!)  But after watching The [b] School Study Hall with Becker and Dane Sanders there was a moment of clarity.  I asked Dane about balancing his wonderful family (of a great wife and 4 great kids!) and his very successful business.  He told us he doesnt believe in balancing but rather out of balance.  He goes ‘all in business’ or ‘all in family.’  In order to make wide awake decisions in both business and family he allows one or the other to ’suffer’ a day or two while he nurtures the other.  Brilliant.  It’s like someone slapped me or gave me a breath of fresh air.   So, we have adopted Dane’s work style.  (**Sidenote; Super excited to meet up with Dane and other Fast Track Photographers at his Boston Workshop – Check it out if you haven’t already!) So, here we are, day one of ‘all in business’ and I cannot tell you how awesome it is.  (I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t dying to know what the kids are doing with Rick every second (thank God for texts!) or that I don’t want to run home and smooch their faces. But the business decisions I’m making are amazing. Clear and awake. This is the start of a super awesome wonderful thing.)

2.  Lots of changes on the horizon.  Business is up first.  Website, blog, promotions, etc. So keep an eye out.  It’s going to be good.

3.  I just bought Things to help organize the chaos of home and work.  I read about it here but had been debating it for the last few weeks. Sweet Chenin convinced me to do it.  I’ll report back with my opinions.

4.  Does anyone know if there is a way to post videos from my iphone onto the blog? or I should say the easiest way? An App maybe?

5.  Two more days until Rick and I celebrate our anniversary.  Excited to celebrate. I love celebrating holidays/special occasions. Weee..

6. I have so many things backlogged that I need to blog.  Both business and personal I hope once new business changes are made to get some of them up. For real.  I might even get my friend Heather her pictures from last Summer’s vacation. If she’s lucky.(The only downside to being friends with a photographer. It takes forever to get snapshots.. ha!)

7.  I love shooting digital. There are so many great things about it. Its still pretty amazing to think about.  BUT there is something to be said for printed photos. You know, like the whole roll of 24 or 36 images that you had to pay for and maybe 10 were worth saving?  I loved the ones that weren’t perfect.  I wonder what our kids are going to do when all they have are the ‘good ones’ when they grow up.  I need to make a point of printing more photos.  My poor kids will only be able to plug in a hard drive to see their childhood.  I want them to have the actual prints. I want actual prints. (fellow photogs, how do you keep up with printing your own family images? where do you put them?)

8.  It’s been snowing for the past few days. I generally don’t mind so much but this snow is terrible.  It’s wet, heavy and slushy.  It is no fun to shovel. Ew.

9.  Cannot even being to express how excited I am that Jack Bauer is back in action.  Totally 100% over the top but I love it.  Jack saves the day 12098987 times in 24 short hours. And he rocks a man purse.

10.  Shout out to my awesome husband.  Since he’s been home for a while he has been such a rockstar at joining forces and taking on our daily stuff.  Laundry, picking up, playing with the monkeys while I work! We are usually used to trying to fit in as much as we can with the few weeks hes home here and there but we are loving this extended time – So this is what it’s like!  Love you babe.  Can’t thank you enough for being such an awesome help. And Daddy. And husband.
Whoa. can you believe it! I made it through… Pictures to come soon. Promise.

Bonus:  Follow me on twittter.  I’ve ventured into it and plan to start using it more – and even including business promotions and specials there!
*KERI ON TWITTER – FOLLOW ME

*blogging is now schedule so posts should be more often.   thanks for sticking by me.