It’s good to challenge yourself, right?

First, I woke up with a headache!  Argh!  This fickle Fall weather keeps my head spinning.  I’ve recently been using Claritin D & it’s worked!  Occasionally there are times when it’s not enough & sleep is the only thing that can save me.  Well, sleep was not an option on Saturday.  My wonderful husband Josh went in to work so that he could meet a deadline that would allow us to take our VACATION!  My sweet sister-in-law, Ashley, offered to have my girls come to her house for her son’s 4th birthday party while I worked.

Second, as I was driving the girls to Ashley’s house, Brooke’s drink spilled all over the passenger seat & I didn’t notice until I was almost all soaked up.

Third, after dropping the girls off, I began to sip my sweet sweet tea from Mickey D’s when, BAM, the cup malfunctioned, split, and spilled sweet sticky tea all over me & my car!!!!  My first thought – WHAT A WASTE OF SWEET TEA!!!  Needless to say, this ruined my professionally stylish outfit & I was late to meet Corinne at the Annapolis Mall.

However, just because a day starts out badly, doesn’t mean it has to continue in that direction.  And although the mall wasn’t the ideal place to photograph Corinne, it was all we had with the on-again, off-again rain.  So while we dodged rain & a gazillion trick-or-treaters in the mall, we captured some great shots of this up & coming writer!

Corinne is such a neat person & really easy to chat with.  I’m really excited to see her book when she finishes it, and you should be too!  In the meantime, after you drool over her photos (sorry guys, she’s taken), go check out her blog, Following Bliss & leave her some love.  Thanks, Corinne, for being so flexible & patient with me…and most of all, for pointing me in the direction of some non-dairy ice cream!

Okay, so I am a little slow, and just got into this whole “Twilight” phenomenon.  My friend Bethany mentioned she was watching the DVD with her high school youth group girls and I was slightly interested.  So my wonderful husband got us the DVD and we watched it (on Blu-Ray, of course!), and I was hooked!  I fell immediately into the world of forbidden love and vampires!  So, I have been preoccupied for the last week or so reading all the books from Stephenie Meyer’s series.  I just finished the last one and am now satisfied.  My heart has beat like a high school girl again….sigh!  You should go check them out, too!

Also, I’m really excited to be meeting a new little baby today who is three weeks.  I’ll have some of her sweet baby newness for you in a few days!

Back to reality….

I just finished reading It’s Sharing Day to my oldest daughter Emma.  But right before that, I was actually benefiting from what Dora preaches in her book…SHARING!  I just got off the phone with Ryan Swigert from Darkroom Branding.  Wanna know how I found out about Ryan?  Through Twitter!  I used to think Twitter was for techie nerds like my husband, but not so! (or I’ve just become a techie nerd, too)

Anyway, back to the topic of sharing.  Ryan offered, via his “tweets,” a 15-minute consultation for FREE on marketing goals and the business side of photography.  It was totally awesome and I am indebted to him for his knowledge, friendliness, and honesty.  He had me fill out a quick questionnaire and then we set up a 15-minute phone call to talk about his ideas for my business and my personal goals.  Basically he just pointed me in the correct direction.  Thanks Ryan!  I know how to take the photos, but Ryan reminded me that I want my photography to be an experience, not just a service.  He helped me realize that to set myself apart from others, I need to be offering photo sessions where I am real with my clients, where we connect, and where they and I both feel we’ve become friends, rather than just client & photographer.  He’s dead on!  We chatted about a few other things as well, and I will definitely be incorportating them into my business plan.

And lastly, I just had to throw out there a book that he mentioned reading.  I haven’t had the chance to read it yet, seeing as I just got off the phone with him 30 minutes ago, but the book is called Never Eat Alone by Keith Ferrazzi.  From the small amount I’ve read about it, this book is about the importance of networking and connecting with people and it’s vitality to success.  I’ll let you know what I find out when I read it.

So come look me, and Ryan, up on Twitter.  Happy Tweeting!