I spent a good couple of hours today doing my Christmas card prep.  My process involves going through my contacts list and sending out text messages to people that I would love to send Christmas cards to.  It involves putting stamps on letters, making sure that I even have enough books of stamps, and creating some semblance of organization as I write out address after address.

It's funny who and how you send your Christmas cards.  As addresses start coming in, I put aside cards within envelopes that are labeled, "Mom & Dad," "Shari & Steve," "Grandma & Grandpa," etc. Then I innately hunt down names of people who I absolutely want them to know that I'm thinking about them.  Not that I don't care about the 50+ people and families that will receive a card, but there's something about placing a stamp on that envelope that literally seals the deal.  In that moment I'm looking for the people that I value so much in my life because, "I'm just a phone call away" isn't just a saying.  They're the people who are not just friends, but family.  In my flurry of addressing cards and placing stamps, that stamp symbolizes that my family's love would be sent to that person.  That he or she or they would absolutely be receiving a Christmas card because I love them.

You didn't think it would get that deep?  Well I took it there.

It's at that moment that you realize as you're scrolling through texts and contacts of the many people who you haven't spoken with in forever, that people once valued in your life aren't really part of your life anymore.  They are the people who you spent so much time with, yet never speak to anymore.  I'm specifically thinking of many of my sorority sisters.  After my senior year, I lost contact with so many of them.  I don't live in the Midwest anymore because of the military, so visits back to Wisconsin are difficult and I simply don't see people.  It's amazing to see how that much of a difference will separate those who care and those who don't and I don't think it's a bad thing.  It's sad to think that relationships that were so much fun are no longer kept but that happens.  I'm realizing that as I get older, many of those friendships will flicker out.  I also realize that the friendships and the people that I care so much about are the ones who are telling me that they're looking at airfare out to Montana or are surprising me with cards, letters, and care packages in the mail.  I'm learning that it's good to briefly mourn those fleeting friendships but to value the ones that will last a lifetime.
     

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When You're Young, Married, & Broke...Tripod Photoshoots are Your BFFs (A Christmas Photo Tutorial)

A couple weeks ago, I had the pleasure of attending a huge, women-oriented conference that featured hundreds of booths.  It was fun and a great way to check out area businesses.  My crafty, photo-loving heart was absolutely giddy as I grabbed the business cards and info packets of photographers, only to realize that there was no way we could afford a photographer for our year photos aka "Christmas card" photos.  

It was disheartening to see a photographer's style that you just loved and couldn't afford to book a shoot with them.  Now I understand the costs of being a photographer, so I get that photos are worth the investment.  I fully support small businesses and that includes photographers.  I know that a lot of money goes into investing in photo equipment and software.  I own some it myself and used a lot of software in designing ad campaigns.  It is no cheap feat.  

But on that same note, I can't miraculously come up with a way to afford photos over grocery money.  That's just not happening and it would also be irresponsible.  

When we used to live at Camp Pendleton, we had such a large selection of photographers and many of them I still follow on Facebook because they're great photographers.  Back there, we could take the spot of a cancellation for $100, get an hour with a great photographer, and get a disk of images (some of them edited and some not).  I was completely happy with that.  Unfortunately I'm not quite as lucky to have found that opportunity here.  Instead, in order to get images on a disk, it was going to cost me $500 for one of my favorite photographers.  Yikes!

That price wasn't even remotely feasible for us.  So instead I decided to create my own photo shoot with my Nikon DSLR and my tripod.  I was worried because it wasn't ideal, I wanted cute pictures, but I also understood that financially the tripod was going to have to work some magic.

 

Ryan and I had an area in mind, drove around and decided to go by a public boat launch.  I prepared ahead of time by scoping out Pinterest and bringing along some props that I either had around or made.  Then we set out an area, set up the tripod, and set the camera on its timer.

Here are some of the results:

     

Now I also have Photoshop and the full Adobe Suite, so many of these photos were edited later on but I think the tripod and the Erskine's didn't do half bad.  To top of a great Sweetest Day, we ordered our Christmas cards, right after the photoshoot!

Be sure to look out for an upcoming post on how to style your tripod photo shoot and make it relatively painless for your partner =]

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End of the World...?

Well we've survived the end of the world.
I think this is cause for a celebration.
In fact, it's the start of our winter break.
I put my hands up, they're playing my song...
This break could not come soon enough, I am so thankful for the time off.
I did kick arse on my last exam, scoring 100%. Really amped that happened and now I start break after tonight's late training ride.

Downloaded song of the week


Obsessed with this song and highly recommend adding it to your playlist for the repeatability (that's not a word...) factor.  I play songs over and over again, so if I can stand them with a 100+ play count, they're probably pretty good.  I'll try to put together a wonderful collection of holiday favorites over the weekend, just in case you need to make a playlist for your Christmas dinner.

Speaking of Christmas dinner, what are y'all making?
I'm thinking of making a turkey dinner for Christmas Eve and then steaks for Christmas Day.  I lurve turkey. Holy deliciousness.

  I could always throw something in the crockpot, and with special thanks to my classmate Nicole for her awesome Secret Santa gift of a crockpot cookbook!  I use mine constantly and crockpots are just simply magical.  You can throw anything in there and it comes out delicious.  With such a busy schedule, our household crockpot has been used for dinners and class parties.  I think I may or may not have influenced many of my classmates (especially the guys) in getting one because they're so handy to have around.

  So far we've sent out 67 cards and have 13 left over to send out to family and friends- I know, so many Christmas cards! I actually had to order two different sets.  My favorite cards of the year are photo cards, just because I love to see so many shining faces.  So our first set were a more traditional open and fold card and the second set a flat photo card (both featured family photos).  The first 40 ran out so quickly and then I still had a ton of people to send them to, which I don't mind at all because sending and receiving anything in the mail (apart from bills) is so fun.  I don't think snail mail will ever die because of that.  I bet the U.S. postal service is having a field day with Christmas.  Every single time I'm there (which admittedly is rarely) it's crowded.  I try to buy stamps at our base exchange to avoid the lines and even going to the post office but I did have to go there to mail a package and pick one up.  How did I avoid mailing Christmas packages while being miles away from my FamBam?  An Amazon Prime account.  I get free two day shipping, so I would have my family members tell me what they would want and whambamthankyama'am, they sent back to Wisco in a few days.  I also heavily utilized Etsy, but who doesn't love Etsy?  If anything, it's a beautiful inspiration board, just like Pinterest. 

  Ermahgerd guys, I almost forgot that my Pampered Chef Cookie Press came in from eBay!  I grew up with one and I use to make so many Spritz cookies for the holidays.  It's on like Donkey Kong tonight as I, hopefully, will be able to make a ton.  The plan is to package some for our neighbors as a friendly, "thanks for being awesome."

Enjoy this weekend leading up to the big day!

xoxoxo,