Had a talk with Tristan tonight… “THE Talk”.

I’ve been planning it for the last couple of weeks. I wanted to get the point across in the right way. It went as well, or maybe even better than expected.
I love my boy.

It wasn’t until a little later that I realized what the date was. May 7th. I Hate this date… Maybe something in my subconscious is trying to change that, because now it has a new significance.

Also, I recorded the entire conversation with my iPhone. Heh, should make for a good conversation piece in about 20 years.

KoP

It’s Friday night, and I’m pimpin’ my friends new product:

www.JavaBoyCoffee.com

Order it online and they deliver straight to your home. Tastes like REAl coffee house coffee.

Tell ‘em Phil sent ya. (It doesn’t get me anything, but I hope that my pimpin’ efforts help my buddy out)

Oh, and HI, everybody!

KoP

What Uuuuuup? Having a few margaritas on this LOVELY Friday evening. All is well here. Hope all is well with you. I miss you. Yes you… and you… and you too.

We’ve been so busy. A good kind of busy. I feel great. Back in the gym lifting. No more running. I lost too much weight. Frack. I watched ALL of the Battlestar Galactica series over couple of weeks. Loved the frack out of it.

Anyway, I just copied a movie over to my hard drive so I can “edit” the bad parts out so Tristan can watch it with me (read: the titty parts HAHAHAHAA)

Ok. Movie’s done. See ya kids.
CHEERS

KoP

I’m working today.

Not fun, but I had the day of Tuesday so I could attend a lighting clinic for photography.
It was pretty cool, fairly informative, and REALLY made me want to buy some lighting equipment… which was the purpose I think, since they were pushing Photogenics product.
I think lighting is the next step for us, to take our shots up a notch or two.

It’s so nice to relax for a bit when I first get to work.
Yesterday, I forgot to mention that my old boss is GONE. He was the jerk I would periodically… sporadically write about. I don’t hate him, just the way he was.
He was transferred to an inside job, which leaves us without a supervisor, more or less. We do have a stand-in super from another crew, and it’s like night and day. He’s so busy trying to manage the two crews, that he really doesn’t have time, nor the inclination to bother us… which is exactly what I want. Leave me alone so I can do the job.

For the past several years, I’ve always started out the year by writing a list of things I’d like to do. Not exactly a resolution, but… sort of.

Anyway, this year I didn’t write one, but I have made a mental note, a decision to try and live my life more positively this year, to try and be happy regardless of my circumstances. This includes: not complaining about my job (I fail at this sometimes. ha!), not cursing (I didn’t think I could do this, since I can curse like a sailor, but it just took some time and constant awareness), not combat driving, being more grateful, being more hopeful, showing and telling Amy and Tristan how much I love them (I did that already, but now I keep it at the forefront of my mind), and just trying to maintain a positive attitude in general.

You know what? It has absolutely helped me. I FEEL less stressed. I FEEL healthier. I feel like… I dunno, like we’re going to make it.
HOPE
If nothing else, it certainly beats the alternative…

Ok, gotta run. Message for the day:
WORK on being more positive for a few weeks and see if it helps your state of mind. It takes 21 days to develop a habit, but I think you will see results way sooner than that

KoP

Hello, everyone… anyone?

I hate it that I don’t write anymore.
I’ve tried to figure out just what the problem is, and have come to a conclusion:

TIME

BUT, there is hope.
My job has finally turned another corner and the good people at… the phone company, have allowed us to go back on Home-Dispatch.
This means instead of driving to the office and sitting in redundant, blow-hard policy meetings everyday, I drive straight to my first job from my house. It gives me about an hour of “free” time to get settled, have a cup o’ Joe if I wish, and catch up on my reading/blogging.
I may actually have time to write again! After all, it only fell apart whenever we were taken off Home-Dispatch while a new contract was negotiated. It only took a year.

All that being said, we are working hard on the Photography business so I can quit my regular job by next January. We are doing sessions just about every week, and we STILL haven’t really gotten out there and advertised yet. So far it’s been all word of mouth.

This week was Tristan’s first week of public school in almost 3 years. It wasn’t an easy decision to take him out of private school, but they really left us no choice. The teacher he had this year was deplorable. He had shut off to her, which I wasn’t very happy about, but his grades were suffering pretty badly, and he was miserable. I tried to coach him on dealing with a bad situation, the way I did with my crappy job, and crappy boss (HA!!), but he had already shut down completely.
When we took stock of where we were, we decided that he had gotten all of the rudiments that he had missed in early elementary by now, and was ready to swim with the big fish again. They started him in a higher grade than he was in at the private school and he was tickled pink at that. Plus, he has his old friends back. Overall, I think our decision to pull him from public school, and now reinstating him, was good. It worked out.
I hope… we shall see…

KoP

Thank you, Secret Santa!  …whoever you are… hehe

The card is lovely, and the fudge was delicious. Tristan and Amy agree.

I hope you have a wonderful Christmas, Happy New Year, and may all your wildest dreams come true!

Tristan and I got up early this morning and went to the gym. YES! He wants to get mus-cles like his ol’ dad so this is going to become our new “thing”. Makes me proud. He and I are good buds.

We’re going crazy with these Christmas card orders. Everyone likes to wait until the last minute… me included. It creates a while lot more preasure than what is necessary. Next year, I’ll have a template page and a number of vendors put together that can do just about anything. If it isn’t on the list, we don’t do it. We’ve been jumping through hoops for people… and I guess as a young business, we should expect to do that. I don’t mind on normal shoots, but Christmas-time deadlines are the worst! I haven’t bought a single Christmas present… with the exception of my Secret Santa gift.

All that being said, we scored a HUGE business client a couple of days ago. We did the photo shoot, which went really well, and they placed their order: 2,150 Christmas cards! Wow and ouch.

The only problem is that after all the research to get them the type of card that they wanted, they balked at the price tag, and cut the order in half. ha! We’re still getting paid, but it was a lot of wasted time and pressure. A learning experience…

We’re loving that new 5D Mark II. I’ve got my other two cameras on Craigslist, one selling tomorrow I hope. I may just keep the 40D as a backup and eventually give it to Tristan. It would be cool to get him into photography too. I’ll be getting another 5DMII and a 70-200 f/2.8L today or tomorrow as well. WOOHOOOO!
Gotta Christmas shop this weekend…

Have a great day, peeps!

KoP

I am here.

I am lurking.

Everything is good with us. We’ve just been REALLY busy.

Quick notes:

-I AM playing the SecretSanta game even though, I’m sucking at it this year… I HAVE sent my gift already though, so that’s a plus I guess…

-Our photography business is doing GREAT! busybusybusy

-We got the Canon 5D Mark II last week. I am in LOVE!

-I am now trying to sell the 40D and the 50D so I can get another 5DmkII.

-We did a session with a musician/producer friend of mine’s debut solo CD. He saw our photos, removed all the CD artwork he previously had, and used the our photos. Ahhhh… exposure…

-Amy is sick. Very sick, but she’s getting better. I’ve been playing Mr. Mom all week. I suck at it I think…

-Tristan was sick through the entire Thanksgiving holiday and the following week. He’s much better now, but I think Amy has the same thing now.

-I am desperately trying to stay well… but I think I feel a scratch in my throat…

-We are NOT going to my parent’s tomorrow for the annual Christmas get together. This makes me relieved although I DID want to see what gift I got from Walgreens or where ever. haha

-I miss writing…

-My despicable boss is being TRANSFERRED to another department in January. FINALLY.

-I miss you guys.

KoP

This is Tristan and me.
He just started learning bass, but is already light years ahead of where I started. He’s playing the bass that I learned on almost 25 years ago.
In this pic, we were playing “With or without you” by U2, one of the first songs I learned back in the day… ::weep::
My brother-in-law is off to the side playing the drums. It was just a moving moment where it all clicked…

KoP

Ok.

I’m finally going to write… or something.

Last week, we FINALLY got our business started for real. We are AllisonRose Photography.
www.allisonrosephotography.com

I got our DBA, business bank account, and Business Paypal account so clients can make online credit card payments. It looks and feels like it’s all coming together.

We are currently editing the shoot from last weekend. Learned a few lessons on that one. Don’t shoot it direct sunlight no matter how much they want it. I’m having a hard time with the editing for that. Also, we will not be shooting a family of 10 (it was 10, not 9 like we were told) for a normal sitting fee. It’s difficult getting everyone, including the toddlers, to look at you and smile at the same time. Jees.
The photos are still coming out pretty good though.

Next Sunday we will be shooting some former brides… or not necessarily new brides… ok, one is actually in the middle of a divorce, but hey, she’s pretty and she’s down with modeling for us.
Weird, I know, but expedient.

I’ve got to look into some advertising solutions. Yahoo.com me thinks…

KoP

…Because I haven’t been writing at all lately.

KoP

Man, I need to get on the stick.

KoP

We had a photoshoot today with a family… well, actually it was four related families.
I’m thinking we’ll get a lot of print sales out of it. We only charged one sitting fee since they are friends.
Hopefully that pays off.

KoP

Didn’t write today…

So, I’m going to try and catch up.

Let’s see… this would have been Friday.

Friday went well. Had a decent day at work and then went out with friends that evening.

I found a new love for beer and it’s name is Blue Moon. Yum. What are your thoughts, Steve?

Sushi was also on the menu. The total tab for food and drink was $370. Ouch. We split it three ways though, so all was well.

K. That’s enough for Friday. I stilll have Saturday and today to catch up on…

KoP

Ok. I need to stop being lazy. This is yesterday’s post. I’ll catch up with today’s in a bit.

Thursdays have turned into extremely busy days.
Morning gym
Work all day
Come home to a 20 minute dinner, then turn around and walk back out the door for rehearsal that lasts until at least 10:30. ugh.

Of course, when I get home, I MUST watch Survivor which has been DVRed.

This season’s Survivor is turning out to be kinda cool. I feel bad for the black Russel that went down last night. That had to have been pretty freaky.

The white Russel is my new hero… and not just because he’s from Houston. I love his black heart. haha. He’s an evil little game player that is playing this game probably better than anyone I’ve seen yet, and he’s TOUGH. Let’s see if it pays off.

KoP

Had drinks with a couple of friends. It was a busy day, but I’m too tired to write it right now. Catch you on the flip.

KoP

Yup. I’m going to pimp our website to you one more time (today)… before I click on my daily ad here.
www.allisonrosephotography.com

I’ve really got to get myself to the County Clerk’s office to get our DBA and all that. Somehow, making everything official will make me feel better… legit.
Maybe I’ll take half a day off tomorrow to do that.

I’m starving right now. Ok, there. Now I’m eating a chicken breast sandwich
as I type.

This morning in a meeting, we were told not to go into certain neighborhoods alone, or at all after certain hours. They are considered “Red zones” which means they are extremely dangerous. Part of the reason for this call is because some brilliant DEA agents disguised themselves as phone technicians while staking out some crackhouse or something like that. Apparently the word is out among the kindly and neighborly gangs around this area. So, thanks a lot for the target on our backs, DEA. The red looks great against the AT&T blue.

Oh what a happy day, the day I leave this place…

KoP

OK.

The site is finally UP ^!!

www.allisonrosephotography.com

I’m still working on it, adding things, editing text, and all that, but it’s up!

We’re happy, but man, I’m tired.

Talk to you guys soon… don’t be mad when I pimp the site again tomorrow.

KoP

Today we’re going to see “Where the wild things are”.

I’m not sure what the reviews are saying, but I think it’s going to be pretty cool.

Our website is STILL not up. I emailed them on Friday, but because of their hours, I can’t expect a response until Monday.
Annoying.
Amy has rounded up four fairly recent brides who are willing to pose for us so we can add a bridal portraits section to our portfolio.
That’ll be a big plus.

It’s going to look great on the site once they get their crap together.

KoP

I am unflappabe.

Ironically, this is the first thing that popped in my head when I opened this window to write something.

I am absolutely flappable. haha
I fly off the handle sometimes, and actually, I am quite perturbed at the moment. Don’t ask with what. Nothing serious, just draining.

Ah well. Whatareyagonnado?

I’m going to finish out this day at work, and then I’m going to go straight to my other gig at the church. It’s a good, but I’m just tired and ready to get home and chill.

This morning I got up before work and did a swim workout. It kind of goes against the “no cardio” mantra of late, but believe me, it wouldn’t have fallen under that category anyways.
I only did 800 yds and my arms felt like they were going to fall off. It’s all the lifting throughout the week that’s got me broken down.
It’s exactly what I want though.
Saturdays shall henceforth be called Swim Recovery Day.
Just stretching it out a little.
Sunday is a Do Nothing But Play Music Day.

I hope everyone is having a nice weekend. The weather in Houston is impeccable. Highly unusual…

KoP

I’m sitting here watching The Ring 2 with Tristan.
It’s not holding my attention…

Tomorrow I work, which is cool. I can always use the extra $$$. I know it’s crazy, but we are still working without a contract and could go on strike at any time.

I was talking to a friend at work today. He is as fed up with the company as I am. He seemed really down so I tried to encourage him to look beyond the semi-comfortable retirement (yet always in jeopardy at every new contract negotiation) and consider doing something that he loves.
It’s one of the lanes on the road to happiness.

KoP