MY COMMUNITY: Career Day at the Tottenham Public School

As I mentioned in my last post about joining Helping Hearts, last week was a great week :)

A couple of weeks earlier, my friend Sarah Toth gave my name to Jen from the Tottenham Public School as someone who might be interested in speaking at their Career Day for the kids. What a fun opportunity!

So of course I said 'YES' when Jen called to see if I was interested!

I mean really....look how long it too me to figure out what I wanted to be when I grew up. It wasn't until a few short years ago when I was in my late 30's. It wasn't like I didn't like the jobs I had during my career so far, but I knew it just wasn't 'the' thing I wanted to be doing.

When my little Ben told me a couple of months ago (when I asked him what he wanted to be when he grew up....I like to check in with him on that every once in a while), "I don't know Mommy, there are so many things to choose from", I don't think he really knew how right he was.

The kids were great. When I arrived, four of them greated me and gave me my schedule, map, water bottle and name tag. They were very organized and very polite.

I had four sessions to do. They were 30 minutes each, and trust me, 30 minutes to talk and answer questions really isn't that much time. Especially when the path I took to get to where I am now wasn't necessarily straight path. When you take a look back at the things you've done and accomplished, sometimes it's surprising and you wonder how the heck that all happened.

Some students had questions, some didn't. Some had an idea what they wanted to do career wise, and other had no idea. Pretty much standard. :) There was one girl, Kelly, who seems to have an interest in Photography and we chatted for a while. It will be nice to hear about her journey in discovering if Photography really is something she wants to pursue long term.

Hopefully the students got something out of my time with them. Even if something I shared about my experiences made only one or two of them think about something they hadn't considered contemplating before, that's pretty cool. As I mentioned in at least one of the sessions, you don't know what you don't know, so keeping an open mind and being in a continual learning mode will help you be successful at whatever you do.

The familiar chairs, desks and bins of the classroom

Thanks for looking and thank you to the Tottenham Public School for inviting me to be a part of their Career Day.

-- Lisa P.

MY COMMUNITY: Helping Hearts

What a great week this past week has been :)

In addition to the usual every day 'stuff', I had a photo session with the adorable Alexander. We were supposed to schedule his 9 month session in mid-late December, but everyone was so busy with the holidays that it just didn't happen. So we did a 10 month instead :) So much fun!

I also applied to be a Photographer for Helping Hearts .  I heard about Helping Hearts early last week from fellow Photographer, Jennifer Gilbert of Naturally Beautiful Photography on Facebook.  She had posted that she had been accepted to their group.  I checked it out and decided to apply.  On Wednesday, I heard back from Helping Hearts that I had been accepted to join the team.  YAY!! :)

Helping Hearts is a project created by Melissa Knowles & Michelle Regner from B.C. with the goal of being able to provide free photography sessions for families with sick children.

"Throughout a childs life, most families probably wouldn't expect their child to become ill, and possibly be hospitalized, or confined to home. This journey can cause a roller coaster of emotions for families – confusion, sadness, hope, celebration, and grief. During these times of transition, families may not have considered how important it may be to preserve the precious changes in their children. As parents and photographers, the Helping Hearts team of Photographers knows families will cherish these captured moments."  -- Taken from the Helping Hearts web site

If you are a family looking to book a session with a photographer in your area please email info@helping-hearts.ca. There is also more information on the web site under the 'For Families' section.

If you are a photographer looking to join the Helping Hearts team please email photographers@helping-hearts.ca. You can also find more information on the web site under the 'For Photographers' section.

I'm very excited to be a part of such a wonderful Canadian organization. :)

You can see the new logo on my blog over on the right side.

Thanks so much for looking.

 -- Lisa P.

PHOTO OF THE WEEK #30: A Peaceful Moment

A Peaceful Moment

Thanks for looking!

-- Lisa P.

PERSONAL: Here goes Maggie into Round 3 - Bissell MVP Photo Contest

Well, we did much better in Round 2 than we did in Round 1, but I'm pretty sure we didn't make it through to the finals yet in the Bissell MVP Photo Contest. They still have to announce the Round 2 winners, but we only had just over 100 votes and the 5th place in Round 1 had over 800 votes. So.....I think I'm safe to start bugging everyone again to vote in Round 3!! ;)

It's OK Maggie, It's Not Your Fault

If you read my post here, you'll know we are trying to win a donation of up to $10,000 for the Aussie Rescue organization we adopted Maggie from last November.

I'm pretty sure we need to aim for over 1000 votes to make it through to the finals. Each and every vote each day is so important.

"If I smile, will you vote for me?"

Here is the new link for Round 3.

Bissell MVP Photo Contest - Round 3 Link to vote for Maggie

Thank you to everyone who is voting for Maggie. Your help is really appreciated. :)

Thanks for looking!

-- Lisa P.

ON THE BUSINESS SIDE: Mix & Mingle with Dufferin Mompreneurs

Just over a week ago I went to a networking Mix & Mingle over in Orangeville.

Sara and Rachel started Dufferin Mompreneurs to help local Mompreneurs by providing affordable opportunities for local moms in business. They plan events for mompreneurs to sell and showcase their products to the local community.

Meet Sara and Rachel of Dufferin Mompreneurs

On January 15th, they held their first Mix & Mingle.

So off I went. :)

I took a few photos as I knew I'd want to do a blog post about it.

A bit of 'Mixing & Mingling'

Mini-Facial Demonstrations

Jewellery

A selection of our business cards & marketing materials

Door prizes donated by those attending

It was nice meeting all of the ladies and hearing a bit about their businesses. It was a nice cross section of businesses: Photography, Baking, Jewellery, Fitness, Handmade textiles & other cute things, Cosmetics, Interior Design, Housewares and I know I missed a few.

Thanks Sara and Rachel for hosting the event and it was great meeting everyone! :)

Thanks for looking.

-- Lisa P.

PHOTO OF THE WEEK #29: What do you see.....?

I was so fortunate to photograph two newborns in the first two weeks of the year. :)

What do you see with those big, beautiful eyes?

Thanks for looking! :)

-- Lisa P.

CLIENT SHOOTS: Meet Baby Athena

I was so fortunate to be able to photograph another new baby girl last weekend.  She was another baby 'A'.  Athena will definitely be growing up with a lot of love (and probably some loving torment as well) from her 4 older siblings I'm sure.  :)

She is a wee bit older than the previous baby girl I photographed. She was born in late December. She too was a wide awake baby girl, despite the feeding, swaddling, direct heat from the little heater......she did not want to miss any of the action.

She loved to be in the cocoon

Almost asleep and curled up so cutely

Very curious

Her big brother Daniel got in on some of the photo action. He had just woken up from his nap and wasn't too keen on being in front of the camera.

"You want me to wear this?!"

"What tie?"

He was so cute in his little suit. But he wasn't very interested in having the tie on. He much rather enjoyed just playing with it.

And one last sneak peak of baby Athena. So adorable and cute and almost asleep....finally.

Almost asleep

Thank you Joe and Yeni for having me in your home to photograph your beautiful children. I'm looking forward to when we can get all of the kids in front of the camera :)

I hope you enjoyed your sneak peak.

Thanks for looking.

-- Lisa P.

PERSONAL: Maggie's in a Pet Photo Contest

Hello to my blog readers in Canada and the United States.

I'm writing today to ask for your time to help support a pet cause.  Bissell is having a photo contest.  The prizes include a donation to the pet charity of your choice.  Our pet charity is the Aussie Rescue Placement Helpline, which is where we adopted Maggie from last November.  The winner will win a donation of $10,000 to their charity.  Second place wins $5000 to their charity and third place $1000.  A charity can do a lot with that much money.

What's in it for me?  Well, we could win a Bissell product like a pet vacuum (boy that could come in handy with the extra fur around the house these days) and a pet shopping spree (which is in the form of a VISA gift card) so we can keep Maggie stocked in toys, treats and food so she will stop eating MY snacks!! (see the introduction of my January Newsletter for more info about that!)

You remember Maggie, right?  In case you've forgotten, click here.

This contest is LONG!  There are 12 rounds, however, if you make it through in one of the rounds, you don't have to enter in subsequent ones.  The top 5 from each round go through to the finals.

You know what that means??  If you can help get Maggie into the finals in round 2, then you won't have to hear my pleas for votes after round 2 is over!  How awesome would that be?!?! :) haha

I know these things can be tedious at times.  Registering can be a pain in the arse.  But once you're registered, you only have to enter your e-mail address to vote each day.  Unfortunately, you can only vote if you're from Canada or the United States.  They validate that by the e-mail address you sign up with.

Over the past several months I've registered with Pepsi and Aviva contests to support both animal and people causes of friends and followers like you.  I haven't received e-mail SPAM from any of those to date.

So please, if you can spare a minute each day, head on over to Bissell's contest and vote for Maggie.  We need probably around 175 votes or so a day to make it through.  That's a lot of votes!  Please share with your friends and family.  The link is below her photo.

http://bissell.promo.eprize.com/mvpcontest/gallery?id=26174

Thank you so much!! xoxo

 -- Lisa P.

PHOTO OF THE WEEK #28: New Family Love

New Family Love

Thanks for looking.

-- Lisa P.

ON THE BUSINESS SIDE: Refresh Your Professional Headshots for 2011

I had been hoping to have my January Newsletter out by now, but it seems that hasn't happened yet. So in the meantime, I thought I should post this before January was over!

You'll save at least $20 as the digital images are not usually included with the session fees.

If you require that I take your photos at your location, a small travel fee may apply. Let me know what you're looking for and I can customize a session just for you. :)

Thanks for looking!

-- Lisa P.

CLIENT SHOOTS: Welcome Baby Addison

I was very excited to receive a call from someone who received a gift certificate for a session at their baby shower, from an existing client of mine. Their little bundle was born on New Year's day. How exciting!

And was she ever cute! :)

This was the only time she slept

Precious

Innocent

Adorable

Content in protective arms

Hanging on

Feeling safe in Daddy's arms with eyes on Mommy

A beautiful new family

It's amazing how strong her little arms and legs were already. I would try and put her in her little poses and she would have nothing to do with it! :) She was awake almost the entire time and there was hardly a peep out of her. Such a precious little thing.

Congratulations to Mom and Dad and thank you for having me in your home to photograph your new family.

Thanks for looking!

-- Lisa P.

PHOTO OF THE WEEK #27: Happy New Year!!

Just after midnight we ran in front of my camera to get our "Happy New Year" shot. :)

Happy New Year to 2011

Thanks for looking! :)

-- Lisa P.

MISCELLANEOUS: Bring on 2011! :)

2011 already! 2010 seems like such a blur. Time has always gone by quickly, but I think even more so since having a child growing up in the house.

I had all of these things I wanted to get done during the 'holidays'. I must say, I'm not very good at working at home when the rest of the family is on holidays from work and school. :( The week between Christmas and New Year's was a busy time with family and friends. It was quite nice actually. :)

Some of my work plans during that time included reviewing my costs (as every busines owner should do periodically) and re-align my pricing accordingly. I also wanted to organize and announce new product offerings. And probably the toughest thing (for me) was that I wanted to get my home office all organized and start the year off 'fresh'.

How did I do? I did a wee bit of work on the first two and as far as the organization goes..... well that didn't happen.

I decided that it was good to take a bit of time with the family and enjoy a few days with them. I could do without the few extra pounds I packed on though (and my Wii Fit Plus disc seems to be having issues too!).

So now my first order of business for 2011 is to totally re-organize my business office and our personal office/play room space. Boy what a job! But I did get a decent start yesterday :)

I hope to get my first Newsletter for 2011 out this week, as well as post my new pricing and product offering information.

I knew this picture of Ben cleaning the bathroom (the one and only time he's done it so far in his 7 years) would come in handy one day ;)

Thanks for looking.

-- Lisa P.

PHOTO OF THE WEEK #26 - Maggie's First Christmas

Ben was very excited about Christmas this year. But equally excited, in her own way, was Maggie. This was her first Christmas. I'm sure she has no idea what the fuss was about, but she definitely knew there was a fuss. Ben picked out her Christmas present himself and she loves it. Each section of that snake has a squeaker in it. She even got poop bags in her stocking from Santa.

Maggie scored pretty big with treats and toys from family and friends. I think she was one happy puppy.

You can see something else close beside her in this photo. It's the first present Ben gave her when we brought her home. It's a skunk that she licks and tosses and squeaks around. It's getting a bit 'ratty', but she really likes that thing. I think she loves all of the presents she's gotten from Ben :)

Maggie's First Christmas - She LOVES that snake

Thanks for looking! :)

-- Lisa P.