A Credo for Making It Happen

I adore Danielle LaPorte.  She really speaks to me in ways that have helped Michael with his business but also helped me with my art.  She now has a book The Fire Starter Sessions. Before she wrote the book - it was an ebook/eworkbook and I have it and it is excellent so I know the book will be great and plan on getting it. But this video she did as a little teaser for the book is excellent and inspiring.

Time Away

We were able to take some time away this weekend to have a lunch with friends. Michael has been so busy with work that I know he needed the break. And I have been caught up in stuff around the house so it was nice to get out.

Really we want to go do a day trip around here locally but we just haven't had the time. Hopefully in early May some time we can get away. A friend, who just moved to the area, wants to go with to see more of this of the state.

Also we would like to go to Iowa this summer to see my niece. We haven't met her officially yet. And I would like to before she graduates. :) It is just hard to get away when having your own business. It takes all Michael's time and with how bad things were last year - we are just so thankful for how busy things have been this year. And Michael is just working really hard. Not knowing how things will be 6 months from now we just have to be grateful of the work that is coming in right now. And we are very grateful. But that also means we don't get to plan trips very easily. But it is our hope to get to Iowa over the summer when my sister isn't working and be able to spend time with her and her family. And meet my precious niece.

Keystone

We are in Keystone for work. This is the view from our room....



It is so pretty at night. There are a lot of sparkly lights and people are skating. Oddly enough this was the best thing about our room. It has some strange things to it. It was good but not like last years.

*photo is from mobile phone as that is all we had with us (besides many video cameras)

Just a little update...

We were in Denver last week for work. It was easy for me. I sat in the hallway all day reading so that no one would walk into the filming area while they were filming. The first day we didn't know that I would be doing that and I only had a couple magazines in my bag. And I so regretted not throwing my book in my bag before we left in the morning. As I started the new book of the Outlander series. So the second day you know I brought it and enjoyed being able to read so much of it!

Michael's Dad makes the BEST sauce with meatballs. I have never tasted anything so good. They only make them once a year as it is a full day of cooking. So we gorged ourselves on that our first night in Denver.

I am watching The Holiday right now. I am trying to resist watching Love Actually until later in December as it is a good Christmas movie. And I really hope I can convince Michael to watch it with me this year. I know he would like it....even if he has doubts.

I called in one of my prescriptions over a week ago and my doctor called me to say he wanted to see me. Just to check in on how my meds were working. So while there I decided to ask about something I have been putting off going to the doctor for that has been bothering me for a long time - I mentioned it a while back about how I have a pain down my bottom and into one of my legs. It feels like a pulled muscle or pinched nerve. I hardly can stand up after sitting too long. And If I stand too long it hurts too. Bending over hurt....you get the picture. So I discussed that with him and he told me what he felt I had - gave me some exercises and also gave me prescription that is helping. My pain level today has been great. But the meds is making me feel out of it, very tired and dizzy. It feels like I am kind of in a fog. So I am hoping those symptoms get better as it gets more in my system. But if it doesn't....well maybe going down in the dosage will help. Right now I am just thrilled to have the pain level go down so much.

The new oven is GREAT! I can't believe how well things are cooking in it. Turkey dinner turned out great. The rolls I made turned out perfect. But....for some reason my pumpkin pie didn't turn out very good. Not due to baking. It just tastes a little off almost like I didn't add sugar but I know I did because....I realized at the end that I didn't and added it. So not sure what I forgot. It isn't horrible - it just isn't as good as usual. Really though I can't wait to bake cookies!

I am going to start decorating for Christmas next week. Not sure what else is going on....making presents and getting holiday cards out. That is about it.

So...

I think I am going to sign off and actually go to bed early for me.

This weekend has been very nice. Relaxing with Michael, eating and just having a great time together laughing and talking.

Working on Promotional Materials

Our business has taken a different direction then when we first were starting it so it was time for an overhaul. I designed a new logo and then this week my life is all about promotional materials for our business. I am designing 2 postcards, 1 brochure, 1 rack card (which we are inserting into a packet), a business card and letterhead. So far I think things are coming together fairly well. It just is a lot of reworking the copy (the writing on all the materials). Because of this promotional packet we are doing has created a different look for us, I am going to have to re-design the website. So that will be the next thing on my list. I am keeping busy.

Helvetica

We watched Helvetica tonight and I enjoyed it. I have a thing for typography/fonts but also from a designer-graphic artist-mixed media artist, I could appreciate it too. And even though I am a designer and have a thing for typography I didn't even realize how often Helvetica is used. I actually don't use it all that often. I didn't even have it as a font on my computer until 2 years ago when a client had it is in his logo and I was designing letterhead/business card to match so downloaded it. Probably very sad that I haven't used it. Probably will now though. :)



I really liked this guy - Michael wasn't as amused by him as I was though.

And then I also liked this guy too...

Being sick is no fun!

It's been a tough couple of weeks for us.

We've been trading colds back and forth -- which only makes the recuperation time go on for days on end. I seem to be the lucky one and have gotten over it first, so now the task is to try and get Darby over it once and for all.

Work has been doing okay lately. We hit a pretty big lull starting at the tail end of the year and it's starting to improve, but we could really use some consistency. With the economy the way it is -- I know we're extremely lucky to have what we do and we keep running on the positive approach that things will be okay. We're going to get some good business the next couple of weeks and then hopefully a couple of big projects that will come to fruition.

Caesar's allergies have come back a little bit -- thankfully I think we caught it in time, but we'll have to keep an eye on it. So he's back on his meds and taking them like a trooper -- (well sorta...) :) Chessie is doing just fine and she's been spending her mornings and afternoons in the window catching our beautiful spring weather. And it has been really spring like around here lately -- temperatures hitting the 60's .... and we're still in February..... (Gotta love that Colorado weather...)

Nothing else on the plate for now. Just thought I'd catch up the blog a bit.

We have Colds....

A little life update...

Michael and I have been sick. He was sick and I thought I was getting spared but then I let up on the airborne for one day and...the next day I woke up with it in my lungs. And of course that was yesterday, the day we were doing the live broadcast in Denver. So I was pretty much muddling through it. I looked horrible and wasn't very social or with it.

After we got everything loaded up, I couldn't breath. I was having a pretty bad asthma attack. Michael asked me if I wanted to go to the ER and I shook my head no as I couldn't talk. Not enough oxygen. Michael stopped and picked me up some things to help me. Just went out of his way to do everything he could to make me calm and better. As I said in yesterdays post, I am very grateful for all him and all he did to make me feel better.

The live broadcast went so well yesterday. Michael invested in a new piece of equipment that allows for really high quality streaming. And being the technology geek he is he was in heaven how well it rocked everything he gave to it.

Today we just really were taking it easy. We needed to go to SAM's for more airborne and a few other things. And also Tuesday Morning as they had a good sale ad. We picked up a couple packages of pillow cases there.

Tonight we watched National Treasure 2 and had take-n-bake pizza. So just taking it easy and trying to get over our colds.

A Bit Sleepy...maybe more then a bit...

Okay so late Thursday afternoon we were suppose to leave for Denver. We were doing a live webcast on Friday for a conference. Michael decided to test one thing before we left...well...it didn't work. And it ended up messing up something else which would end up messing up something....you see the pattern right? So he spent all afternoon and evening trying to fix it. We were suppose to be setting up at 7am on Friday morning in Denver. We live in Grand Junction 4 hours away. So 10:30pm comes and I finally say that it is probably best we go to bed and get at least some sleep before getting on the road at 3am and lets pray for it to work in Denver. Michael agreed so we went to bed and slept until 2am. Got up - showered, loaded the car and started towards Denver. We got to Denver a little before 7am.

Michael figured out a way to patch things together to make it work for the conference. So we did the webcast until 3pm when the conference ended. We packed up all the equipment and got out of there about 4pm to head back to Grand Junction because we had a wedding to film on Saturday. We arrived home about 8:15pm on Friday and went to bed by 9pm. Saturday morning wedding day filming started with the being at hair salon at 10:30am to film the bride. So were up about 8am to get some things done before heading there. We then were on the go and working until 11pm last night.

So needless to say today we are kind of tired. We did manage to drag ourselves out of bed to go our favorite breakfast splurge that is only available on Sunday at Rockslide Brewery (they don't have a website or I would link to it). It has really good food fresh food. So we went there this morning and toasted with mimosas for surviving the weekend.

After we came home, I did a few chores (dishes starting to stack up from our grabbing quick bite and then running out again) and then I went to crash. I slept all afternoon. And really felt like I could have kept on sleeping but I worried that I might not sleep tonight. I made a lasagna the end of July and put half in the freezer - let me tell you how thankful I am for that lasagna today so I don't have to cook dinner tonight. We have a busy week ahead of us too so I am hoping that this day of rest helps me get through it.

Well, we made it!

It has been a very grueling 72 hour period -- we finally made it on the backside. We've known about this schedule for last month and we both knew it was going to be incredibly hectic..

It was..

A host of technical malfunctions didn't make things better, but we hung in there - the "no quit" attitude and kept focusing on the task while trying to resolve what we could..

Bottom line: we're both incredibly tired and very grateful to be home. We're taking the day off today before getting ready for next week's broadcast, so while the schedule should be easing somewhat, it will be better than it was..

Dealing with the Unpredictability of Tomorrow

This month has been two years since I started my business.

There have been some definite joys, some eek-moments, and a greater sense of peace as the layers of stress have either abated or they have taken on a much more manageable form. It doesn't always look like it's manageable: a.) I'm working longer hours, b.) I'm taking on bigger projects, c.) there is no such thing as a weekend or vacation and d.) my desk is living proof of things gone amok.

But above everything else that's out there there's but one single thing that I have not been able to fully address: tomorrow. It's elusive. It's the "how are we going to pay next month's bills" or "do we have enough time to tackle yet another project." We've been riding a pretty substantial tidal wave since the spring time -- and yet I get the knots in my stomach when I feel like I can see the end of the projects appearing on the horizon.

Darby keeps my head focused on the: "it'll be fine" mentality because anything less and I'm going to squick myself into a pit of self-doubt.

Ultimately though - she's been right on the money each time. We have been incredibly blessed with a tremendous amount of word-of-mouth marketing -- that we haven't needed to do much in the way of advertising. In fact, we haven't had to advertise -- but we're gearing up to send out our first official advertisement directed at lawyers that can hire me out in a myriad of different ways.

It's scary -- it's exciting -- it's reassuring -- it's humbling.

I recently got a referral from someone who I met only once -- merely just sitting in his conference room talking technology .... passed my name to someone and that will likely garner another unforeseen vein of incoming business. Someone who doesn't really know me from Adam -- and all of a sudden I'm being referred.

Keeping it going in the positive direction is tough .... very tough. There are moments when I feel the tidal waves crashing on us -- but we keep moving forward and the unpredictability of tomorrow fades a bit in that moment. Our September is going to have some incredibly busy times for us. It's positive -- and if it keeps going like it is ... it might be very positive.

So in the meanwhile, we'll keep doing the bucket brigade to get the water out from the bottom of the boat ... and let the waves of stress take us where we need to be.

Lots to do -- signing off for a bit.

I had the dumb

Today we were out on the Colorado National Monument with the couple whose wedding we are filming. They are a lot of fun so there were many laughs. I still had a little lagging migraine so when we got home I pretty much went to bed. After I got up, I was going to attempt making dinner but thinking wasn't coming so Michael ordered us pizza. Thank goodness because when I came to look up if there were any coupons online - I had to put our zip code in and couldn't even remember it. I had to pull a bill from the stack I had sitting on my desk to input the correct zip code. So I fear what would have happened if I had tried to cook.

Sunny Saturday Out

Michael agreed to do a wedding video. The personal type videos aren't really his main area but he LOVES doing them for the very reason that they are personal -- about people. He likes capturing people. And he has a way that just seems to put everything together to create very beautiful and touching memory.

So today we met with the couple and went through some pictures with them and he asked them some questions to prep for filming them tomorrow. He is doing a pre-wedding interview for the video.

Because it has been raining every afternoon/evening -- we saw clouds forming over the Colorado National Monument -- where we were going to film. So that made us a little nervous that we might get rained out or that one of the areas we were filming would be too muddy to film (coincidentally the place is called Muddy Springs - and even after all the rain it wasn't Muddy). After meeting with the couple we went to check it out and it was fine. It was again nice just to kind of get out of town. I mean it wasn't far -- still in our area but up on the Monument and in Glade Park. But still incredibly beautiful. Always reminding me how lucky we are to live in Colorado.

Unfortunately by the time we got home I had a migraine. So had to take some meds and get into bed with an ice pack. I hope it clears up before tomorrow.

But over all it was a very nice day.

Font Conference

A friend who knows I am font fanatic sent me this tonight so no one will probably think it is funny except well....those that like fonts as much as I do. (Be aware this is hosted on an adult humor type site but the actual video itself isn't adult.)

Link to Video - since it screws up the blog layout

No More Papyrus Please!

I just read one of those lists -- 25 Reasons you might be a graphic/web designer. And all to many of them I could relate too but one of them has been a personal crusade of mine for a long time. It is to not use the font Papyrus. For the last several years -- to urge people not to use it. I said it once in a workshop I was teaching and they just looked at me like I had slapped them in the face. But I guess they just don't see how OVER used it is. To me it feels clunky with most designs. Nothing seems to mesh with it very well. So my suggestion is to not use papyrus for anything you do (I was going to add except for personal correspondence but really it even bothers me seeing it there.) Please just step away from the papyrus font! Pretty Please!

Boxes Boxes Boxes

Our UPS guy probably hated us yesterday. I have been working on a postcard project for a client. We ordered the postcards just a little over a week ago and almost all the postcards were delivered yesterday. The company that we got them through - sent the majority of these 4" x 6" boxes individually and then 3 bigger boxes filled with the little 4" x 6" boxes. I am not sure I understand why you would send so many of them separately. The UPS guy had to scan them all in and then we helped him bring them up to our house. Yay for steps on the porch (yes that is said sarcastically).

It took us 2 hours of going through each box and mark whose cards they are and whatnot. Our hands were black with toner ink (from the shipping labels) and dirt that had collected on the boxes. The next step, after we get the last of them today, will be loading them all into our car, bringing them to the place they need to go and then unloading them there.

Thankfully the project is almost done for everyone involved!

Reflecting Time Redesign

Several months ago I started a redesign for Reflecting Time Productions - Michael's business website. And last week I had a little time now that I am done with my big postcard project so I worked on it and got it up. I am really happy with how it turned out. I still need to add graphic art to the services but Michael is better at writing the little blurbs for them.

Just a screen shot....click on the link to actually see the site.

Reflecting Time

In the busy....

I have been working so much that I haven't had time to really slow down and write/think. The graphic art side of our business is usually a smaller side but right now it has been extremely busy. So I have been sitting at the computer a lot more then usual but not able to surf, catch up on blogs, email and so on. I just am working working working. I been snappy and having a few melt downs but luckily I have Michael to help calm and center me again.

When The World Travels 200mph...

This has been a very busy week for us.

It started out with our major print project swinging into high gear. Then to get a very last minute video production request in a near by town ... all the while getting caught up on some of the other projects that require a bit of time to keep track of.

But today -- was a very very busy day. Filming for over 3 hours, getting wind blown, wind whipped, wind filleted.... Oh it was bad. Darby really helped out though which made it go a lot easier. I'm not sure what the attorney was thinking that my filming would be no more than 30 minutes.... It took us 30 minutes just to do a walk through of the place..

Thankfully I don't have any appointments scheduled in the next 48-72 hours, so hopefully we can recover, get some minor work done, and maybe rest a little this weekend. When I say rest, I'm probably meaning work in there -- since we have so much to do. It's a blessing that we're so busy, but I'd like a break every now and then.

The wayward travels continue

It's been a very busy time around here lately. I just got back from a week over in Denver on a video production that went about as well as a herd of horses spooked and running on an open terrain. In another words: it wasn't very good.

I started off being very sick and couldn't travel over until very early the next morning. Canceling wasn't an option because I had to make the event. It's in those times that my folks reminded me that "it would've been different if I were still employed by the state: I could just call in sick."

*ouch*

Yep.

Very true though. Sick time and vacation time is a concept that's been foreign to me for the last couple of years because when you're self-employed, you don't have that luxury of being able to "call in" when you're feeling well under the weather. And I really could've used the time this past week as it was evident that I needed some rest and recoup time to get over my stomach crud.

But - the show goes on and so does the business. Thankfully I got better as time went on and eventually we got the footage shot. Was it as good as last years? I'm afraid not - a multitude of problems existed which made it virtually impossible to capture each speaker as we wanted. Still - we did the best we could and will hope for the best.

Now I'm home for at least a week, maybe longer. It's been a roller coaster ride and I hope things can settle down for a bit so that we can catch our breath.

For now -- I'm grateful to be home. Darby treated me to a splendid home cooked dinner last night and we spent the majority of the day together. I'll probably start answering emails tonight and get busy on the next round of projects, but this is all good -- it's for the betterment of the whole process and I'm grateful.