Texas Blue Lime Productions

Wow. What a week it has been! And it’s just Thursday.

1. Tuesday was our (mine and Beth’s) little Taste of Dream Dinners party. As You Wish provided updated headshots/avatars to those in attendance. Another friend, Victoria sold her necklaces. It was small, but valuable for each of us involved. I have been too slow at getting those images processed.
2. Wednesday, I was “it” at my monthly Brainstormers group. I presented a problem: how to market to school-age kids, Tweens, and teens and their parents. Through a process that adheres to the rules of Brainstorming, I was literally bouncing up and down at all the fabulous ideas. I can’t wait to implement some of them. I was also happy to see that my brainstorming topic was one that could apply to a lot of the members of the group.
3. Thursday morning I had an interview for a great job—-I’ve kept my job search a bit on the down-low, I’ve had enough bad bosses/jobs thankyouverymuch [1]—-as an Education Coordinator…but as it turns out, it has a 75% travel time. I could easily be gone Monday-Friday for three weeks of every month. If I get an offer from them, we will have to consider it very carefully.
4. Thursday all day, As You Wish was the Groupon.com deal of the day for Austin. As of this writing, I have 90 portrait sessions from new clients for the Austin area! And, my business name has been in front of 44,000+ Austin members today. In addition, I also got a new Senior Ambassador, and I sold a Womb-to-Bloom portrait series that includes a maternity session, newborn session, 3-6-9 month sessions, and a first birthday session complete with balloons and CAKE! (Maybe #3 isn’t so important, after all…?). Whew! Late in the day, I learned that a potential bride and a close friend were on the list of those who purchased Groupons. Thank you, both. You “warm the cockles of my cockles”. [2] Ack! I just checked again and it’s up to 95!!

There have been several other happy moments this week: I was selected to serve on two committees for the Nuptial Essentials Association of Wedding Professionals; I’m going to be working with great folks on both of those! And, my new friend, Hilarie, gave me some excellent feedback on a challenging aspect of my website, which I took to heart and applied fully. Just a few days later, I was able to return the favor to her in the form of reviewing her “audition” piece for a graphic design job. She was pleased with the feedback and genuinely considered my thoughts. She and I are on to something, here… There were others, too. It’s been a week of amazing moments.

When will my world stop spinning? I can only handle this adrenaline rush for a little while longer. At the same time, it sure is a spinning a web of happiness; a web that I know will catch me when I fall.

“If my friends could see me, now!” Oh wait; you can! You just did!

Oh, and BTW, adrenaline and/or sheer excitement is an easy fix for a caffeine dependency. I’ve barely had any today and have hardly noticed. How do I get THAT side effect more often

Happy Weekend, everyone!

At Texas School this year, I bought a small softbox and a tiny flash and some comm devices to sync them. I have a lot of plans to use this little (light and portable) setup and have my first opportunity coming up in a few days. Since May, I had played with them all, but still needed a light stand to take the rig out in public. I ordered a stand over the weekend and it came in today.

Parker Bear was my first model, but he was quickly joined by Sosta (who loves that blue “skipping stones” afghan I made a few years ago).

I’m still learning how to blend the lights exactly the way I want. I’ll have to wrangle Purrrrrl into a photo session tomorrow.

Parker Bear and Sosta Kitty Strike a Pose

Well, today is Emil’s first day of work. I made us a sausage and eggs breakfast so he could eat well for his first day. It was cool this morning, so we had a lovely breakfast on the balcony.

He planned for 45 minutes of driving, but it only took ~20. (yay @bennrosales and @laniar for helping us find the right place to living and for knowing how long it would take. We planned extra time for insurance.) So, he can tweak his leave time by a few minutes once this week for the school year and again next week after Austin ISD schools are through for the year.

I did quite a few things around the house and spent a large chunk of time changing more addresses. With owning a small business, changing the mailing address is almost as time-consuming as changing my name when we got married! When I needed a creative outlet from that monotony, I worked on As You Wish’s new logo. It’s not finished, of course, but I have GOT to order Austin business cards, so I brought it to a stopping point. It meets most of my criteria: (simple/elegant/edgy, color yet easily convertable to b/w, and watermarkable) and misses some elements (a “picture/icon/image” and the website). Feedback is welcome.

I took care of some errands and hit the gym (I think I might have mentioned the 11,000 sq ft gym at our complex…? It’s the largest private gym in all of Austin.) and had a healthy lunch and a nice afternoon break…..at which I met not only an employee of Apple, but also a recruiter. Austin’s Apple campus is closer to our apartment than front office. The recruiter I met is not only interested in seeing my resume for potential moonlighting work while I expand As You Wish into the Austin branch, but also about to get engaged!

I haven’t had such a productive day in a long time. Well, that’s not true, moving day is productive, but it’s not fun-productive, even with the help of @roybragg and Sandra and two of their kids.

So, I’m leaving, now to meet @emil285 for a quick/light dinner and then to a Board Game Tweetup with @bennrosales, @laniar, @conniereece and several other Austinites who Tweet.

OK, seriously, how do good friends know just what you need and just when you need it?

Jordan, Leanne, JJ/Becky, and even Louie (whom I’m certain does not read our blog) have all been completely and totally there for me today while I’m in that frustrated panic to get everything ready for my first year to be a Wrangler at Texas Photography School. (Actually, being a Wrangler doesn’t have me nervous at all…..but just getting their with all my stuff I need and working out logistics is making me a wreck. It’s unreal how much there is to prepare for this trip.)

Thank you, friends.

smooches to you all!

Some of you may remember when, earlier this year, a good friend of my dad’s passed away. Well, the next step was to add Harold’ s name to the Memorial Golf Tournament. There are also plans to install a memorial bench at the course, like the one there in memory of Daddy.

Larry Salter & Harold Morrison Memorial Golf Tournament
benefiting the Prairiland Academic Trust Foundation
which supports Prairiland ISD schools, namely scholarships for graduating seniors who might not have funding to attend college

My has the tournament grown since that second year when we became involved. (The first year, Daddy played in the tournament. The next year, he died just before the event and the planners named it in his memory.) The first year we were involved, there was one flight of four-man teams. A couple of years later, they went to six man teams and then to two flights just after that. This year, both flights were brimming over: 21 and 24 teams on an 18-hole course.

It was a very windy day that constantly threatened rain. But, all in all, the weather was not to warm or cool and made for a nice day for golf. Emil even got to use the driver he won as a door prize last year. He played on the As You Wish team, which came in last in their flight and won free golf lessons.

I’m anxious. I don’t really get nervous, but this is close.

Tomorrow morning, I leave for South by Southwest, the Interactive, Music, and Film festival/conference. I’m volunteering at a booth (setup and take down) in exchange for an access badge to the trade show.

I’m not even officially attending. I’m not attending any of the official programs or presentations (that’s a different access badge). I won’t be in the room when Twitter blows up with people angry that the speaker isn’t prepared (yeah, that happened last year).

I’ve heard over and over again, “SXSW is really about what happens in the hallways between sessions.” I’m going to milk that (and the trade show) for all I can. I’m going to have my photographer look about me (camera, nametag, giant stack of business cards, etc.). I hope to make a lot of contacts with people in Austin as well as those who might need a photographer in Texas.

Still, even with my “in the wings” style for attending, I’m freaking out a little bit.

There will be 8,000+ people attending this event. That’s 8x (EIGHT!) the size of Texas Photography School. Most universities aren’t this big! The University of Miami was only 12,000 when I attended (it’s ~15,000 now). Can you imagine 8,000 trying to get into the same speaker/panel/party when the cap on some is 100?

I have two main concerns/fears:

1. It will be so crowded that my personal bubble (which, as you all know, is quite large!) will be violated constantly. I’ll feel like the country kid in the big ol’ city bar and won’t be able to find the air I need to just breathe normally. (no, I’m not really claustrophobic, I’m just not a big fan of strangers touching me as they push past. I much prefer the gentle hand on the shoulder or back that says “It’s loud in here, so I can’t shout ‘EXCUSE ME!’ but I need to excuse myself past you to work through the crowd.”
2. I’ll be so overwhelmed that I’ll retreat and then be the quiet person in the corner that no one talks to.

Now, in reality, I know that I’ll fall somewhere in the middle. I’ll be fine.

[Oh, crap. I just realized I don't know where to park for tomorrow morning's set up.]

I understand these rules of this event:

• Go with the flow (your individual schedule will likely change a great deal every day).
• approach people. Don’t ask what they do, ask them how they are enjoying SXSW.
• Listen more than you talk.

I’m also completely—over, in fact—prepared with non-perishable food items that can be my meals and snacks. So, if the chance for free food or a meal out presents itself, I’ve left room in my budget for that. But, if I’m buried/involved and don’t want to leave, I have sustenance.

Except for parking and the unknown, I’m as prepared as I can get.

Wish me luck.

1) I’m doing a photo-a-day-for-a-year Project365. Any comments you have on any of my images would be much appreciated.
http://365.asyouwishbcs.com/

2) As You Wish is having a sale. That’s right! 20% off everything until the end of February. So, now is the perfect time to book a photo session. If you know anyone that needs business headsots, family portraits, or other photography, please send them my way!
http://www.asyouwishbcs.com/2009/01/21/sale/

I’ve been too overwhelmed in the last few years to make New Years’ Resolutions. Plus, with all the news articles about not making them so you won’t feel like a failure, it’s not been in vogue to do so.

This year, though, I really wanted to do some good goal setting for me and for As You Wish.

So, I made three major goals. After a week (ish) into the new year, I can say that I’m a solid 2-for-3.

1. I have been doing my daily Project 365 photo-of-the-day for As You Wish.
   I set some flexible rules for myself for this. I must take a photo for every day of the year. However, I can post/blog 2-3 at a time. I keep my little camera with me, but I make an effort to use my good camera as must as is reasonable. When I have time, I also post these images to Blogger, Flickr, and Deviant Art. The point of this project has a primary goal of making me find something, every day that is worthy of a photo. I’m forced to look at the world with more detail.  A secondary benefit is that by posting the images so widespread, I draw more traffic to my site.
2. Weekdays, I have a task that I hope will help me communicate better and more often with my family, friends, and clients.
   It’s just a little thing, but I’m putting a lot of meaning behind it.
3. Three times a week, I’m supposed to carve out some time that is designed for me for relaxing.
   I have seclude myself, have some green tea, rest, and listen to something soothing. It’s my own little siesta. My evening is so much better when I make the time to do this. So far, this is the one that has suffered. I hope to get a better grip on this one over the weekend so I can set a better pace for next week.

So, we’ll see how far I make it. I know that most of us lose steam for our resolutions pretty quickly. And, I’ve read that it takes 30 days to make a habit. (I’ve also read it takes 100 times of doing it…don’t know which is true.)

Now, where did I set down my green tea?