Photography Workshop

Today, I had the privilege of spending the entire day in a photography workshop with Val Westover and Stephanie Adriana. First, I’d like to thank Groupon because I would not have dreamed of paying full price for the workshop. Groupon made it extremely affordable and motivated me to go for it. Second, I have to thank my wonderful husband for taking the day off work to manage our three children while I spent the day engrossed in my own personal hobby. He’s the best!

The first half of the day was spent in a hotel conference room learning all about how to take photograph – mostly technical stuff with a few pointers on composition. The second half of the day was spent on hotel grounds practicing everything we learned. The teachers would give an“assignment” and we’d scatter and practice. They were available for questions and interacting with other students helped as well.

I really tried to spend my time getting the technical stuff down while I had access to the teachers. The artistic part will come with confidence and practice…I hope. Mostly, I'm just incredibly proud that I took all of these photos with manual settings.

I’m thrilled I had the opportunity to do this and am very satisfied the entire workshop.

Just a test…feel free to ignore…

This is totally a test of my new Windows Live Writer application (new computer!) 

Mayflower Lessons

#1 is learning about the pilgrims who came on the Mayflower in school. Each family could only bring what would fit into a trunk, so clothing, books and personal items were limited. Her assignment was to pretend to be a pilgrim and choose three things to bring with her and then write a paragraph about why she chose them. The three things had to fit into a paper grocery bag. She chose:

1) Her favorite baby doll, Julia - not a surprising choice because this doll rarely leaves her arms or vicinity.

2) Julia's blanket - also not surprising as she always makes sure Julia is completely comfortable. Julia and the blanket are rarely separated.

3) Her Taylor Swift CD - one of her very favorite pastimes is singing and dancing with Taylor Swift which would be very important on a long journey across the sea.

What would you choose?

Winning Streak

Our oldest must be eating her Wheaties because she has become a winning machine.

First, she won a costume contest (certificate is not pictured because she already turned it in to redeem her free dress day).

Then, she had her name drawn from the LASER cards at school and won Dunkin' Donuts. LASER is an acronym for our school's learning expectations. The children can earn LASER cards as positive reinforcement for using these skills. Every Friday, cards are randomly drawn for prizes.

She also came home with an honorable mention award for a poster contest for Rosary Sunday. The picture is of Mary at the foot of the Cross.

Lastly, at Micah's Knights of Columbus meeting last week, she won Knight of the month....well, sort of. Last month, Micah organized and orchestrated the annual tootsie roll drive which benefited the Down Syndrome Network. He would have won the award himself, but his fellow knights could not ignore the fact that he couldn't done any of it without his right hand girl. She worked ceaselessly all weekend collecting money, counting money in the parish office, bringing water out to the knights in the field and collecting donations herself. They felt her hard work warranted a family of the month award.

Very accomplished for a 5 year old, I'd say.

Natural Skin Care

Yesterday, I received huge kudos and accolades from a dermatologist for making and using my own soap. I guess there is something to this all natural, chemical free skin care. :-) :-)

She Ate My Soap

This past weekend, I took the plunge and sold my homemade soap at my church's Fall Festival and Bazaar. I have mixed review about my experience, but I learned a lot and did well overall.

But first, I'll start with a funny story.

My soap is often confused with baked goods. I've heard cookies, biscuits, fudge and cheese. This does not surprise me as I have often thought the same thing looking at my soap laying around the house. As a matter of fact, I always say it's a particularly good batch if it looks "yummy". Because of this, I say the word "soap" as many times as possible in my conversations with people and my signs say "soap" as well. Well, a sweet little old lady holding her little dog came to my table. I launched into my spiel and thought she was engaged. She asked for a sample which did not surprise me in the least since I had been passing out samples all weekend. The rest happened in a combination of slow motion and fast forward. The woman was either hard of hearing or not really listening. Either way, as I saw that she was going to take a bite, I tried to stop her, but she didn't hear me. Then, I begged her to spit it out, but she still didn't understand. It wasn't until after a couple of chews, she made a horrible face and everything came together for her. We were both horribly embarrassed and kept apologizing to each other. It was a nightmare. Later, she came by with her husband. She pointed at the soap and said to him "This is not edible." I was happy to see she had a sense of humor.

There were a few glaring problems with the bazaar itself that prevented all the vendors from doing well. Problem 1: It was our church's very first bazaar. So, right off the bat, we were dealing with the unknown. Problem 2: It was not promoted well. There were little to no announcements and very few signs. Problem 3: Location, location, location. If we had been outside along with the rest of the carnival activities, we would have been more visible.

Despite the problems, I fared well (though most of the other vendors did not). I actually did a lot better than I expected I would. I had approximately 20 customers, sold completely out of one type of soap and was invited to four more craft fairs this season (I declined one). Actually, for me, the problems with the bazaar were a good thing. It was a good introduction to the business without being too stressful. I learned about which of my soaps sold and why and I studied people's reactions to my display and tactics and discovered who my most likely customers were. Now, I can tweak everything for the next three fairs and be even better prepared.

Since soap takes several weeks to cure, I have to spend the next couple of days making a bunch of soap to be ready for upcoming events. I'll probably be exhausted by Friday, but I'm excited.

Halloween

We love Halloween!

This year, #1 was Sally from The Nightmare Before Christmas. #2 and #3 were Things 1 and 2 from The Cat in The Hat. We had A LOT of parties and events to attend, but all were tons of fun. Things 1 and 2 were such a big hit that we couldn't get two feet without someone stopping to smile and talk to them. #1 won (three-way tie) the costume contest for her age group. The prize was a free dress day - something that is highly coveted at a private school. Of course, I didn't get any pictures of that moment since I was serving hot dogs for my parent service hours. However, the stage was in my line of sight, so I didn't have to miss her very proud moment.

As is our tradition, the girls also enjoyed trick-or-treating with our neighbors.

FUN!!