Buuuuuuuuut, then there's this:
Tomorrow starts day one of the first run of our professional photographer workshops, so please understand if it takes longer than usual for me to respond to phone calls and e-mails. I'm so excited. The house is ready. The dish strainer is scrubbed. My computer is fired up (and *running*). I'm pumped. So excited to meet everyone and talk shop for a few days...just us girls!
But I think the computer gods were smiling down on me (or perhaps it's because I *just* went through an external hard drive failure this summer), because we've been able to recover from this one pretty well. I've become a pro at backing up (all of my client pics are safe) and the guys at Apple were very helpful, too (for once, I'm glad I bought the extended warranty).
Two things kept me in check during this little crisis:
#1 My kids. Evidently, the world doesn't stop for them when Mommy is having panic attacks. Amry was so sweet to serve me up some delicious tea yesterday. I love that she loves to pretend.
#2 Our first full-fledged, actual, real-life family photo session (that I almost considered canceling in light of my meltdown) with Bonnie -- or as Amry likes to call her, Miss Bunny Rabbit. I *reaaaaaallly* didn't think it was wise to continue with the session as planned, but something told me that I needed it. I'm so glad we did. I'm so glad I had a good excuse to step away from my smoking computer and just be with my family for a while. And I met a new friend in the process. I'm very much looking forward to seeing the images from our evening and I'm very thankful that she helped me (unknowingly) through quite a trying time.
[Also, don't miss the annual "Year in Review" slideshow at the end of this post]
Let's kick off 2011 the best way I can imagine with a recap of 2010 and determining our 2nd Annual Pinkle's Pic of the Year Winner! Each month in 2010, I selected an image (or images) that moved me, but now (as before) it's YOUR job as the Pinkle Toes Blogstalkers to decide
which of these was the best image of 2010. M'kay, let's vote! You can click on the images in the poll to view larger:
The fine print:
- Voting will run January 1st-31st (ending at midnight central time)
- Voting is monitored by IP address, so no multiple voting.
- Results will not be shown, but I will announce winners on the blog Tuesday, Feb 1st.
- I reserve the right to disqualify entries or terminate/modify the contest if necessary.
- No purchase necessary to win.
Just like last year, I have absolutely NO clue who is going to take this prize. I'm just as excited as these families are to find out what will happen. (Did you know we had more than 1,400 votes last year??? Craziness!)
And of course, I can't start a new year without taking a look back at all of the amazing people I've had the fortune of working with last year. I love making this slideshow every year...I love remembering each and every session. Be warned, though, this slideshow had to go pretty fast so I could fit all of the images in. Be sure to watch because it's full of my favs from the year and many, many images that I haven't even blogged yet:
I've said it many times before, but thank you...a million thank you's to all of my clients. I truly feel blessed to have met each of you. Thank you for inviting me into your homes, to the births of your children, to glimpse into your lives and for trusting me to capture what makes your family so special and beautiful.
Much love,
Michele
