LONG HOT SUMMER | SUMMER HIATUS

Sigh. It's Summertime, folks. A time that sounds blissful to most, but to those living in the suburbs of Phoenix with 6 children 7 and under, it is less than awesome. It is chaos. It is too hot for kids to be outside, it's too hot to cook dinner, it's really even too hot to work. I knew this would be coming, and I purposefully planned not to take any shoots until the summer was over. Of course, that doesn't mean that there wasn't work to be done. I still have plenty of client orders to process, a wedding and an extended family session to shoot on location in Sedona, client consultations, and marketing and branding planning galore. I have actually been working my ass off, just more behind-the-scenes. And now I'm tired. I'm so tired of not being out in the world like a normal person, interacting with grown-up people that share my same interests, not just my DNA. Don't get me wrong, I have truthfully reveled in my children being home and we have created so many fun memories and have grown so much just in these short weeks of summer. We're in a place now that I never dreamed of being before. We took our kids on a trip ALONE. No other adult help. We take all our kids to the swimming pool; just Braden and I and 6 kids. Alone. I never thought that day would come. But it has. With the loss of my children's utter dependence on us, we have gained so much freedom as a family. We have been brave, and have struggled many a time, and we've been frustrated, and now we are proud. We have survived the summer once again in this blistering heat, and have only a few short days until our three oldest kids will be going to school, and our twins will start preschool twice a week.

I've missed my online world, but am gaining so much by taking a step back and taking a much needed "break" and have some really amazing things in the works. There's going to be some changes on the blog coming up- a new layout, a new approach, and a fresh perspective on where I want to grow as an entrepreneur and creative. I have a few other projects in the works that will be announced soon, that I'm just too excited about and have a lot of kinks to work out before their launch. I've tried to stay current on my instagram at the very least, and sometimes Facebook but again right now my days are just filled to the max, and I may be sparse for another couple of weeks until Back To School blows over. I just wanted to touch base with the world again and let everyone know what's been swirling around in this head of mine.

MESA GLAMOUR PORTRAITS | CHELSEA'S MODERN GLAM SHOOT

Meet Chelsea. She's a mom of two adorable little girls and one sweet little boy. She is an esthetician on top of being a full time mom so she rarely has time to do anything for herself. Ever. 

Luckily, Emily from Molto Bella Studio referred her to me and we gave her a Pamper Day just for herself to look beautiful and get some gorgeous photographs of herself done. Once in a while, it's so nice for it to be about Mom (for a change).

Hair & Makeup c/o Emily Anderson | Molto Bella Studio

GILBERT ENGAGEMENT PHOTOGRAPHY | JACKIE & JOE GUEST BOOK ALBUM

I'm so excited to have finally published my very first ever Issuu document. I have so so many ideas in the works to utilize Issuu, but for my first one I kept it simple and wanted to share Jackie & Joe's Engagement Album that I designed for them to use as their guest book at their wedding I will be photographing in December.

I hope you enjoy it! I'm ordering the book today and can't wait to see it in print.

MESA GLAMOUR PHOTOGRAPHY | LAURA + KELLI MOTHER DAUGHTER PORTRAITS

I fell head over heels in love with these women. Kelli & Laura are just the sweetest two ladies on the planet, and their kindness and gratitude exudes from them both. When we met up for their consultation, they talked about how they haven't had their portraits professionally taken in a long long while, and they were both super excited about getting all dolled up and having direction to be able to produce the best images of themselves. I called up my right-hand-girl Leah and she worked her magic on these two beautiful women.

Do they not look ah-maze? Leah is so so good, especially when working with other hairstylists, which Kelli is. She is a wizard with my over-50-and-fabulous clients- Laura looked elegant but not too done up. Perfect combination. I was so happy when I dropped off their Folio Box filled with their images- Laura sent this message to me:

"Thank you; thank you; thank you! You are AMAZING and I especially liked the tag on the bag. Love you tons!"

And THAT is what it's all about my friends. I have these awesome new hang tags I am including on all my clients orders that I'll share on the blog later this week!

Hair & Makeup c/o Leah Fitts | Molto Bella Studio

MESA GLAMOUR PHOTOGRAPHER | TIFFANY'S MODERN GLAM SHOOT

My favorite thing about what I do is turning moms into models. Women that spend all their time worrying about other people get to have a day to themselves where they can get their hair & makeup done and play dress up and get amazing photographs of themselves.

Tiffany is a mom of three who happens to also be a hairstylist in Gilbert. It was strange for her to be on the other side of the curling iron and makeup brushes for a change, but we had such a great time with her and she looked incredible.

HAIR & MAKEUP c/o Leah Fitts

A NEW VENTURE AND A NEW RESOURCE

I've been quiet on my blog & social media all week, in preparation for some exciting upcoming projects that came out of nowhere and hit me like a ton of bricks. I'm dipping my toes in the waters of business consulting and education next month, sharing what I can do for business owners in the Beauty Business. Since my Glamour Photography and hair htylists, makeup artists, and other beauty industry professionals go hand in hand, I had a request from T & G Concepts owner to teach my first of possibly many Visual Marketing for Beauty Business classes in July.

I met with the owner, Tanya on Monday and since then, I've designed this flyer and tickets for distribution today; put together a quick little website that will be added to and upgraded as I develop more content for the class, and I've began my keynote presentation that is already blowing my mind.

I purchased this Power Point Template from Creative Market that works on my Apple Keynote program, and it's crazy awesome. Last night I started customizing the designs and filling in with my content and I can't believe how good it looks and how it is sooooooooooo much faster and better than trying to start a keynote completely from scratch. I have a real micro-managing problem and always think, "oh, I can make that myself for free", but it's not really free if I spending hours and hours and getting frustrated on something when I could be working on other aspects of my business that could be making me money and I can be happy and spend time with my kids instead of cranky and irritated. So, for $15 I got an awesome template that I can use in so many ways (I can give a fab looking presentations to my portrait and wedding clients during their consultation and ordering sessions!) and there are literally dozens of other designs that can all be customized to fit anyone's brand. 

GILBERT GLAMOUR PORTRAITS | SARA'S LOCATION GLAMOUR

Sara is one of my stylists' clients, and we wanted to do a glammed up shoot on location, instead of a studio look. Location shoots are always a bit of a challenge, finding great backdrops, dealing with the elements (heat), and crossing paths with spectators, but when you find a great spot, it is MONEY. 

She found this incredible vine wall at ASU Polytechnic campus where she goes to school, and it was the perfect place to shoot, since there were multiple and unique backgrounds all in one location. And, bathrooms! Hooray! Whenever my clients don't have to change in their sweltering cars, it is a bonus.

Now I'm on the hunt for more fab locations to bring my clients that want a little something different for their own Glam Shoots.