The "Manssage"

Okay, I totally made that word up, but I can't think of another way to describe my massage this past week. First of all I'll fill ya in on some background. Brooke and I were at this conference in Richmond, and Monday was a very intense and rather depressing day for me. We listened to this uber eccentric business guru (which I had mentioned in my previous post) all morning and had a 3 hour break, or maybe it was a 4 hour break, I can't remember now, but it was a significant amount of time to say the least. We noticed there happened to be this beautiful looking spa at the River Rock. Brooke suggested we see if they happened to have any RMT's available during our break. As it turned out they did. B was booked for 12:15 and I was booked for 1:15. I spent my hour without Brooke hanging with some cool photographers as she got manhandled, err, I mean massaged.

1:15 = my turn. In enters my guy (he shall remain nameless to protect his identity). A rather nice looking young fellow. Okay, I can handle this I think to myself. The only other massage I have ever had was by a hippie on Bowen Island, who had hairy armpits and a "massage room" (I have no idea what they're really called) overlooking the ocean where really anyone could walk by and see me. Anyway... back to "the guy." He asks me if there is any particular part of my body that I would like massaged. Uh, yeah, my shoulders and neck please, I reply. On a side note I have been experiencing horrible neck pain on and off for the past month, some nights so bad I can't sleep because every time I move the pain wakes me up, but that is a whole other story.

So he leads me into this lovely, dimly lit room with soft romantic music playing and tells me to take off my robe and lie down. Rrrrriiiight. I give him this look and he says he will leave the room while I do so. Uh, thanks. So, here I am, completely naked under this thin sheet with this man and he's rubbing oil on me. I am at this point feeling somewhat uncomfortable. He tells me that I have a lot of tension in my shoulders... no kidding!!! Let me tell you, this guy had hands. Really strong man hands. It was a painful massage for a person who likes a deep tissue massage, but I didn't want to say anything... I'm not a wimp right? I can handle a simple massage. Anyway, so now he has this heat thing on my a** and he asks me to flip over. He then blindfolds me, okay, slight exaggeration, places a nice warm thing over my eyes and proceeds to massage my scalp. I'm thinking, this is nice. Feeling slightly vulnerable, and not entirely sure the sheet is completely covering my chest, since I'm blindfolded, but figure, what the heck, it's not like there is really much to look at anyway. But it would be nice if there happened to be a panic button handy, you know, just in case. But then I think "Lar, you're being ridiculous!" Okay, then he starts to breathe...hard. I can feel his breath on my head and at one point it feels as though he has touched my head with his... WEIRD!! He them moves to my feet, which I am somewhat relieved, although I am still blindfolded. After a while he gently touches my arm and says in an overly soft voice "our time together is over for today, I will now leave the room for a minute while you put your robe back on." Whew, it was over I survived. Who would have thought a massage could be so stressful?? I felt really good after though. I think from now on I will stick to the female variety.

I Love...

This is a total random post, but I actually thought about posting it on my other blog, but realized I didn't have any kick a** pictures to go with it... so it's here. I am trying to be more "me" on my business blog, but I always hesitate, I hate feeling vulnerable. Anyway back to my "I love" post.

Today I:

* loved watching Elissa interact with a boy during her swimming lesson. I was sitting across the pool from her and I have no idea what they were talking about, but I found it so interesting watching her body langauge. They were standing on the edge of the pool waiting to jump in and I could see this boy looking and talking to her. (He's older btw, and quite a bit taller than her) I could tell she was talking back to him, she had a big smile on her face, but she would NOT make eye contact. She would look into the pool or somewhere else. She also kept tucking her hair behind her ears and fidgeting with her hands. Soooo cute! Also kinda scary seeing as how boys in the not so distance future will be looking at her in a different way. Eeeeeks, God help me.

* loved making rice krispie squares with the kiddos. First of all I had forgotten how much I LOVE these little treats, and second of all it was fun just hangin' out and chatting with the kids in the kitchen about their days. They seem so grown up all of a sudden.

* loved wearing real lipstick. Yep, that's right, real lipstick. For years and years and years, I have been a fruity lip gloss kind of girl. I have not bought real lipstick since my addiction to "Toast of New York" lipstick when I was a teen. But the other day I was thinking that every now and then I like to be girly, like really girly so I actually bought real lipstick. This is good quality stuff too. When I put it on, it reminds me of the Merle Norman lipstick my mom would always wear when I was a kid and I would sneak into her bathroom and put it on. It smells just like it. I think I just matured a little more today by wearing this.

Alright, y'all probably think I'm nuts, but those are my ramblings for the day.

home again!

Wow. That about sums up the past three days. I am seriously on information overload right now. I am not sure how I can be so exhausted after sitting for 8-10 hours at a time for the last 3 days... but I am.

The conference was amazing. So many perspectives on how to go about running a photography business. I have to say, one day after an 8 hour session I was ready to throw in the towel. I told Brooke that this was it. I didn't think I could do it. I am NOT a business women. I can NOT sell a 16x20 image to a family for $1600. Nope. Just can't. Not me. It would literally make me feel sick to my stomach if I had a client pay me that much for 1 image. This business guru had all the lines. Icky lines that made my gut do flips. One of his final messages that night was "If you are not a outstanding business person, you will not survive in this industry." Okay. Well then, I guess I'm not cut out for it, because all I like to do is take pictures of kids being kids, families interacting with eachother and watching brides fall in love with their groom's all over again on their wedding day. AND, I like doing it without causing them to go into debt.

So fast forward to yesterday. Jasmine Star. My girl. My favourite. I love her. No seriously, I really, really love her. She started her business the exact month and year I did. Wow. She has accomplished so much inthis time it kinda makes my head spin. Although in all fairness, I was raising two little kid's, being a wife and taking care of the home. Anyway, she talked a lot about "Old school photography" and "New school" photography. Up until then I had never really thought of it that way. I was always listening to the seasoned pros who were old school. Where they would schmooze with the clients and word everything so specifically that by the time the clients left the ordering session (another thing I never liked but always felt if I were to take this up a notch I would have to conform to) the photographer would be $2000 richer... for a family session. Uh, no thanks.

Jasmine... her mantra, just be YOU. Seriously, how hard is that? Run things the way you want to run them. Be different. There will always be old school photographers and there will always be the newbie's who just spent $500 on a new DSLR who think they can start a little side business with no real knowledge of even the basics of photography. But then there are photographers who sell themselves, just by their personality and work. That's how I want to do it. She gave us a lot of little tools and tips about how word of mouth can keep your business alive. Facebook and Twiiter alone can pretty much generate full time business...if you work at it. The cool thing though, it's free. Word of mouth is the best form of advertising... and it's free! You are not selling yourself, others are selling you. Love it!

All of you who are reading this blog are very near and dear to me. You have all supported me so much through my journey through photography and I appreciate it so much. Your word of mouth referrals have meant so much to me. Thank you for believing in me!

Love you!

Happy Spring!

I am getting ready for a three day conference in Richmond. I am both nervous and excited... more excited than anything though. I was explaing to Joel on the way home tonight that I am super excited to be inspired and learn more about how to run my business, also to meet and network with other photographers, especially those who I've been "chatting" with online for the past year or two, and finally to have a change of pace. I will be staying at my sister in laws in North Van. for the 3 days, so it's kind of like a mini holiday for me.

Just my ramblings for the night :-) I hope you all got outside and enjoyed the warmth and sunshine today! I spent 4 hours in the yard/garden and it was so nice! I love the spring.

~Lj

118 miles run so far this year. Trying to break 500 by Dec. 31 2010.

Ahh, back to school and other ramblings

I say this with a bit of a sigh. A slight sigh of relief as well as slight hesitation. I love my free 2.5 hours in the morning, but I was also enjoying lingering in bed and reading while the kids hung out in pj's and played. This morning I did a very thorough clean of the house, placed an order, and set up Elissa's birthday party. I cooked garden burgers and veggies for dinner...mmm, and the kid's and I enjoyed some organic coconut milk.

On Friday night I watched a great documentary called Food Inc. It was all about the meat and grain industry and how horribly animals are treated. Not only are they treated poorly, but they are pumped full of hormones and antibiotics. Also the grains that are put into all the food we eat (anything that contains corn, which is pretty much everything) is all genetically modified, it's not even real! Ughhh, the film was so eye opening. I have come to the conclusion that meat is okay, in moderation and that I will try to only eat meat where the cattle has grazed freely and been fed only grass and natural grains. As well as only free range chickens that haven't been pumped full of drugs. We are so lucky to have a great new market so close to us that provides this kind of meat. Lepp Farm Market is my new favourite grocery store. I think I have mentioned them before. Alright I'll get off my soapbox.

So Saturday I ran my first 10k race. It was okay, but I was a bit disappointed in my time. I reeeeaaaaally wanted to do it in under an hour. My finish time was 1:01.55. I felt good running it, which surprised me a bit. The week before I had knee and foot problems, but I seemed fine that day. I won't include the pic Joel took of me crossing the finish line as I look like I'm going to fall over, but this is taken right after :)

home sweet home

After being away for 5 days it is nice to be home. Although my time away was fabulous and relaxing. I finished a book and started a book. Right now I am reading this fascinating book called "The Tipping Point." It's all about how trends become trends, why some diseases spread rampantly, and the chapter I'm reading now is all about the 6 degrees of seperation. How we are all interconnected somehow. Anyway, I'll probably write more about this book as I continue reading it. Here are some fun snaps that were taken with the little Canon Powershot.

Mom and I on a walk with the kiddos

Disc Golf

Craddock Beach

We spent hours in this pool!

~Lj

Aaaand, it's over

The Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics are now done.

Life can now return to normal.

It was a great couple of weeks. Very exciting times for us Canadians. I enjoyed introducing my children to the different sports and thought it was neat watching Elissa get so excited about watching figure skating. I was about her age when I started figure skating and she somehow dug up some of my old skating outfits and has been wearing them around!

Yesterday I had planned a longer run. I was going to try and do 13 or 14 kms. But this funny little game of hockey seemed to be getting in the way. There was a big hockey/birthday party going on at the in-laws so time was slowly closing in on me. I ducked out of church early and left for my run. Joel and I agreed that 10 kms would be a good compromise; still giving us time to watch part of the game at his parents place. I missed the first period, but as I was running through a subdivision I heard an eruption of cheers coming from many different houses at once. Canada had scored. It was very cool. I got home, quickly showered, and we were off. The men were watching downstairs, the women upstairs. We had Brooke. Our American sister. Crazy girl was going for the US. Deep down she wanted Canada to win, but she was really hoping the US would tie it up, just to make it more interesting. As we all know, they did. And it certainly did get more interesting. We all know the end result. It was a great goal. Driving home last night we had to go through town to pick up something from Joel's work. It was CRAZY! Everyone was on the streets waving flags, cheering, and honking horns. It was really neat.

We did well as a country.