Sunday, November 30, 2008

consider this

My friend, Barb and her trusty assistant, Natalie, are the Queens of Green so I'm jumping on their bandwagon this Christmas, especially after reading a great article by Spencer Hunt in the Columbus Dispatch:

The goal of an environmentally conscious holiday is to change spending habits and traditions in ways that cut pollution without diminishing the Christmas spirit. Consider this:
  • Every year between Thanksgiving and New Year's Day, people throw away 25 percent more trash than normal: about 1 million extra tons a week;
  • The number of greeting cards mailed each year in the U.S. could fill a 10-story football stadium, according to waste-reduction advocate Use Less Stuff.
  • Powering decorative lights strung on homes will result in power plants producing more than 400,000 tons of carbon dioxide, the lead ingredient in global warming and cost homeowners more than $250 million.
Most of us are already aware of how to reduce our footprint on the planet but it can be tough reinventing tradition. The following Christmas considerations aren't that big of a jump:
  • Choose LED lights if you're gonna' string 'em up - I bought mine this weekend for our FAKE Christmas tree (fake is also good, but I just learned that REAL trees store carbon, provide habitat, are grown locally, and 90 percent are recycled as compost and mulch).
  • Use gift bags that can be re-gifted - my girlfriends and I do this all the time.
  • Send email holiday greetings to those in your address book (see my previous post) and only snail mail cards to those who aren't as technically advanced.
Ready to make the leap?

Thursday, November 27, 2008

Which One?

I'm doing my Christmas cards early - now that my photo sessions are done I have lots of free time on my hands before I head out to Vegas to see Luke. Every year, I sit down with my address list and a cup of hot chocolate, turn on iTunes and sign away. But instead of buying a box of cards, I decided to make my own photo cards and send them via email.

Hmmm, wonder which one YOU'LL get? Only Santa knows.






Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Brrrr...


I'm generally not one to complain but my feet have been freezing ever since the weather turned cold a few weeks ago. I've got all the cold-weather footgear a girl who lives in Ohio needs: wool socks (that are kinda scratchy), fuzzy slippers (that could pass for dust mops) and a million pairs of boots (mostly black).

Not a good sign - it's only November.

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Holiday fear

My usual holiday cheer is feeling more like holiday fear as I try to gauge how much I need to get done between now and my pre-Christmas trip out to Vegas to see my 29 y.o. bundle of boy (besides the holidays, I've got to squeeze one more high school senior session in here somewhere). I had a feeling that once I decided to bail out of BECKY J. photography that these last few months would push me to the limit....but it's definitely worth it, financially and emotionally. I've been giddy over the number of sessions I've done and the amount of photography my clients have ordered. It's all gone to my head and I'm feeling very blessed.

It's funny, though, how in the midst of all this craziness, my right brain is still trying to figure out how it can stay involved in the photography business even though my left brain is screaming, "Are You Completely Crazy??" R-Brain loves all things creative. L-Brain totally sucks at going to networking events, pricing competitively, or even entering stuff in QuickBooks - the easiest software to use on earth! It makes me cringe to type an invoice or write a proposal - it makes my heart sing when I open up PhotoShop. You get the point.

So, here's the compromise...how about I handle your holiday cards for you? Choose one of my newly-created E-photocard designs and I'll customize it with your information. Or, send me your own jpg and I'll whip something up. I'll even send this little creation to your personal or business email list as an E-Card - no postage, no licking envelopes, no writing little notes. Very eco-chic and unique! Here are a few samples...ahhhh, feeling much better. R-Brain got its fix.





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