Is Monday over yet?

OK... almost a week of daily blogging... how am I doing? Am I boring you? Have I ticked any of you off? Sorry... not trying to upset anyone if I did. I was told my trying to be 'funny' can in text appear offensive. So I apologize if I have offended anyone.
Well... Zander's days of goalie are over... unless there happens to be openings toward the end of the season. He partly liked it, but is beating himself up a bit for "letting too many goals in" but for his 1st time he did pretty well... except the time I took out the camera & was photographing him & he was paying attention to ME! Oops! Yeah, my hubby told me to put the camera down! 
Let's see... a tad bit more about me... When I began my own photography studio, I was working full time as a CNA doing private care for a family. I took care of their mom who had Alzheimer's. I took extensive Alzheimer's classes & truly enjoyed my job. She became like another Grandma to me. When she died in 2006, it was VERY hard on me after working with her for close to 10 years. Hence the reason I did not go back into that line of work. It was too hard to not only lose a loved one, but then I lost my job all at the same time. When she passed away, her family gave me some severance pay (that I was not expecting, and was so very much needed & appreciated)  that is when I opened my studio in Buffalo.  With the economy, my husband lost his job that same summer as I did, so we both were searching for jobs. I had my photography, but it slows so much in the winter that I just liked having a regular paycheck. That way all photo money made, just goes right back into getting new photo stuff. I helped out at my mom's daycare for a while before finding my day job I work now. I work as the Party, Wedding & Event manager at Klatt Just Ask Rental. So still sort-of in the wedding field. My boss then had me take classes to become a "certified" Wedding & Event Planner/Professional (as it is called on my certificate) So I have a little bit more know-how than JUST being a photographer + I can give a discount to my brides for any wedding rentals too! Just a little extra "perk" for my customers.
 My job is fun. I work with a great group of people who in a sense are like my second family. For the most part get along with my boss. I just tell it to her straight up & she sometimes does not like me doing that. Some of my fellow co-workers who are afraid to ask for a raise... I go to her FOR them. I am just the "big mouth" at work.  Totally none of my beeswax. Oh well. The guys I work with humm... they are like working with two pesky brothers. I feel I could tell them anything in the world... yet they find a mouse on a sticky trap... they will A-  chase me with it knowing my ultimate hatred for mice.... or B- if I am NOT there, they send me photos of the icky mouse to my phone! Then giggle at me first thing they see me next. We all eat lunch together... and when someone ACTUALLY brings food from home... they are no fun, unless they bring enuf for all. If we were smart, we'd all do potluck with left overs from home.. but we are not. Our manager is obsessed with TACO JOHN'S. Literally for a while there we wondered if he was gonna turn into a taco himself. When it is nice out, we window-paint each other's vehicles. Our ultimate goal is to always get the manager's truck so he does not notice until he HAS to be someplace... but he'd find time to run thru a carwash I'm sure. LOL. We constantly pull pranks on each other, so you never know what to expect. If I have sick kids... it is a job where they "get" that, and I do not have to worry about my job because I chose to be a decent Mother & stay home with them. So all in all it has its ups & downs, but would not trade it for a minute. (anyone have any good prank ideas... manager has a birthday coming up we are all conspiring about... let me know!)

A fun night, a busy day ahead

Last night I brought my sister with to a benefit for a woman named Mary Lund. I do not know Mary, and only met her last night. She has stage 4 renal cancer. My friend, Sarah, held a benefit for her in Maple Lake last night. They raised over $8,000! We get there & only know Sarah & her husband, so we volunteered to work whatever was needed. It was fun! I met a lot of new people... and come to find out we were spending the evening with some of the "Top Dogs" in Buffalo. The whole room was filled with Wright County Judges, Cops & Lawyers. Even got some free business legal advice from one attorney, and got some business cards from some others. It was a BLAST! Even my sister... who does not ever do anything- she is just a 'homebody' and does not like to go out much had fun! My friend Sarah helped at the benefit we held for my sister who under went several brain surgeries this past fall. So we went to help her with the one when was heading up.
 We were amazed by the things they had at the silent auction. I ended up with a new lipstick pink (i got out bid on the black one I wanted) Jessica Simpson purse, and a new digital video camera & $250 towards a new bed. I got out-bid (thanks to Sarah lol) on all the scrapbooking- creative memories stuff they had... but I left happy. My sister got a huge cuisinart pots & pans set, and some lia sophia jewelry.  All in all it was great! Sarah did a great job in organizing the event- so much so I know she is in the wrong line of work. LOL She could be arranging these things for a living... but I suppose no one really pays for anyone to come do that do they? She did a great job!
As for today it is the middle of January & we NEED to get our Christmas tree down. YES, ours is still up! We just have not had the time to take it down. So plan today is Church/ Sunday School, Hockey game, and come home & clean. We have a lot of people coming to watch Zander play Goalie again today so who knows we may end up going out for dinner afterwards with everyone. 

Hockey day today

I am up! Groggy & only half awake but I am up. I figure if I sit at my computer I will be more productive than falling back to sleep laying on the couch. My girls get up at like 4:30 am E-V-E-R-Y DAY! I having this dang cold cannot pull myself out of bed. SO the girls get up, and when I hear them fighting I drag myself from my bed to the couch. Zander gets up, and is watching the clock until it is a 'decent' time he can go over to the neighbor's house. So it is now 10:30- WOW already? Geesh! Seriously I have been half-awake/half sleeping in a dream like state since they were fighting at 4 something this morning. (I am still taking cold remedies)
Today the plan is: get the kids ready.. very soon actually & get over to the arena. Like most every weekend. Saturdays & Sundays in the winter we LIVE at the Buffalo Civic Center for Zander to play hockey, so if you are inviting us to anything on a weekend we will probably have to decline until March.
 Funny, after the new year by boss tried to tell me I need to start working weekends. I laughed & said "Um NO, I can't I am way too busy". I was not hired for weekends, and cannot work weekends. She then emailed me & said I have to work 1 weekend a month. I told my husband & he was MAD, and told me to tell her if she wants me to work weekends she will have to fire me because we are too busy on weekends with family stuff, and I was hired only to work a few weekend events and that is it for weekends. So I went in & showed her Zander's hockey schedule, & told her the only thing that 'trumps' hockey is a wedding. If she wants me to work regular weekends then she'd need to fire me & find someone new. Needless to say I am still there. She changed the subject & we have not discussed it since. Even if I wanted to, which I don't I simply do not have the time to go in on weekends. I work 4 0 hour days so I only see my kids in the morning as it is... so I am not about to take time away from them on weekends. Now maybe if I was getting paid a LOT more which is not going to happen LOL ;)
 At the mite level we feel we live at the arena ALREADY.... and we already know it only gets worse. More time there as they get older. Today is Zander's 1st day playing GOALIE! Zander is in his 4th year playing hockey, and this year moved up to the "Mite" level.I am a co-manager for his team (yet I often feel like a heel because Jill is such a good Manager, she does not need me... but I managed last year & enjoyed it). Ever since Zander was 4 he wanted to be the goalie. in the mini-mite levels the 4-6 year old they do not have goalies. Now that he is a mite they get a chance to try it out & see what it is all about. We do however, even at this YOUNG age have parents who think they are watching college or professional hockey, and spout out this & that about the goalies. I so hope Zander does well & we do not have to hear anything bad from that Dad. He does not even realize it may be a kid's very first time in the position. My husband, Spencer, said "I better not hear anything or I may have my first hockey Dad fight". IT can be brutal... Yet we LOVE it. Zander played baseball for the 1st time this past summer. He was actually really good at it. Much better a baseball player than a hockey player. Yet the baseball families, are so not what hockey families are. Yeah you get those few Dad's out there spouting their mouth off, and making a fool out of himself... but in the scheme of things, even as young as our kids are you almost become a family with your fellow hockey families. At baseball, heck I had no idea who's parent was who's and who was on Zander's team. It is neat to have another parent holler "Go Zander!" then you go talk to them & say "hey Thanks for routing for me kid". Last year as a manager, I made a point of knowing all the kids names on my team & being the one to Holler "GO Joey" "Good Job Ben!" I think it helped the parents knowing me their manager is routing for their kid too.
Anyway, Zander is nervous about today... but I think he will do well. Like I said he has always wanted to play goalie so he gets his chance today.  I just hope they have the dang heat on in there today. On New Year's Day his team had a double header, which means we are at the arena ALL- DAY... and it seemed to take me that whole night to warm up I had been so cold in there.
Well have a Nice Saturday all!

Friends

So I see I had a text at 7 something this morning. It was from Jeremy telling me he fixed my logo here on the blog & will work on how big the photo is later.  What great friends I have! ;) THANKS Jeremy!  Truly when I sit back after being a whiny baby all week... I have been S-I-C-K, and me & my germ-o-phobia this does not settle well with me...  Come visit me & see my GI-NORMOUS bottle of hand sanitizer, and Lysol wipes, and Lysol spray in case someone touches my phone or computer at work! I so get teased for that! You outta see me wipe down the dang carts at the store! ha ha ha! Anyway I got to thinking in a drug induced state (too much NyQuil) how blessed I truly am! Yes, I complain a lot, but in my day-job I work with mostly all guys... which is like working with your annoying brothers constantly- just wait I have lots of stories to tell about what they do to pick on me there! But to be HEARD there, you gotta whine. I am so getting off track here. Oh well... Where I am going with this, is a few years ago I had hired on a gal whom I had been 'kinda' friends with, our husbands were friends, and she was one of those people we ran into EVERYWHERE. Anyway, shortly after I had my twins, she kept saying how she wanted to get into photography,  and literally would not leave me alone. She then asked me to take her daughter's photos (which to date are still some of my faves no matter how much I dis-like the mom now). Well rather than paying for them... she decided to 'trade' me stuff for them. Which I was fine with I had just preferred we discussed that prior to the session lol.  Well this gal is one of those kinds of people that is hard to say "NO" to, and I am known to be a push over... so that's setting up the story already huh? Well, she had asked me if she could "help me out" in my studio, or at weddings & what-nots. Me who can never say no said "Yes, but there are some papers I make everyone sign".  I explained how much I pay & how she has ZERO experience, so she'd have to work her way up the pay scale based on how she learned & she agreed to that. Well this was in 2008... when we were getting smacked with the economy issues. I had her assist at one wedding, alone, as Alicia had just had her baby & was unable to make it to that wedding, so I was glad to have this gal there to assist. The wedding went well, so I thought. I later had complaints from the mother of the bride & a bridesmaid (that I never did tell to this assistant) Then this gal tells me the same day of this first wedding she worked after we got home that the money she made was just not enough. It was not enough to even take her kids to Dairy Queen with, and she needed more money! At that point I had one more wedding to do for the year, and was not sure about Alicia with her just having had the baby, so I agreed to give her a bit more money as long as she got her paperwork signed & to me right away. This paperwork is stuff I have always had. I got it from another photographer & modified it, and had an attorney give me the OK on it. Just is a basic No-compete agreement.   Meanwhile... She had asked me if she could use the studio to get some "practice". She wanted to take some pics of her kids, and some friends/family. To make a long story short, she assisted on the 2nd wedding... and I had Alicia training  her in, yet this gal felt she did not need to be trained in by Alicia... (I think since Alicia is much younger... not real sure) We got some awesome shots that day, yet later heard from the wedding family about this particular assistant as well about her attitude & they complained about her again. UGH! I was not sure even WHAT to say to her.  "Hey keep your mouth shut & do not give your opinion on a wedding?" I mean really what do you say when it is some one's characteristic/personality that is not sitting well with these people? Things that she thought were OK to blurt out these people at the weddings were taking offense to.  Anyway...  a few months go by & I get a call from my landlord... I come to find out she had been up at the studio much-much more than she was telling me, according to my landlord... and when I asked this gal about the paperwork she said she refused to sign it. In case she found a better job, that offered more hours & better pay they the crap I was paying her she could not sign it. The economy she was not taking into fact obviously as I would normally been able to give her many hours, but just did not work that way. Alicia has been with me since 2003 so I must not be SO bad to work for.I had a bad-feeling about this gal from day-1 that I SHOULD have listened to. My husband even said from the get-go NOT to, that she was too pushy, and would try to 'take over" which in fact was what she was trying to do. When I put my foot down she became upset. So I asked for my studio key back & that we part ways. OH she was MAD! She came into my other place of employment, made a fool of herself & tossed my key at me. And ever since has been bad-mouthing me & my studio. So when I met Jill Fillyaw who is now part of Kellie Allyn Photography... I was "gun-shy" to say the least! But she has been a GOD-SEND! I am not kidding! She also knows of this 1st gal, and she & I both run into her, all we can do is ignore her right? FYI... she wears one of those hats I was talking about yesterday LOL!!  not sure how she is pursuing her photography 'career' now other than I know she is doing sports photos... not real artistic- but she wears the 'hat' anyway. lol.  So now having Jill working, and Alicia on-call, and friends who at 7 am are helping to make my blog look better I realize I am truly blessed! I am blesses to have that person OUT of my life, so better people could enter my life. If you just read this, take a moment to think about your friends. Some I do not talk to as often as I would like, and some I text non-stop. I am not a highly religious person, but THANK-YOU GOD for all my friends today! For those of you in business thinking about hiring that 'person' GO with your GUT feeling! I promise your gut instinct is RIGHT!

Day three and still at it

Yes, I am aware when you get to this blog our logo is like HUMONGOUS... me and my so savvy computer skills am right on top of that... yeah right. I talked to Jeremy who is helping with the wedding showcase (a.k.a. my free computer guru- uh oh I probably should not be saying so or he'll start charging me for all my quirky dumb computer questions... he has all my passwords so I better be careful I'll start seeing new charges on my paypal accounts. LOL). Come on now...  when my computer crashed last fall... and I had to get new software I have been learning new photoshop CS5, Lightroom3... isn't that enough? LOL.
I LOVE lightroom, and at first I thought I was going to HATE it... well at first I DID hate it. I have a lot to yet learn in that program as well. A fellow photographer, Mike at UM photography I met thru CMWA has been so kind, and has opened his studio to me & said he would teach me all about LR. I was so taken back by that! So many photographers are just out there for themselves, and even LIE to you about their knowledge, clientele, their sales, and only brag to you about what they are buying... that when he was so kind I was dumbfounded & had to pinch myself. With the photography field so heavily saturated with photographers, and those who are trying to become photographers it becomes a dog eat dog field.
Jill & I do joke about the newbies, but really you can almost spot a  "newbie photographer" out there in an instant... 1st they wear "The hat" you know, those wanna-be stylish crocheted or canvas brimmed artist hats (Kelly K & Patti I am not talking about either of you here... you both are able to pull off wearing cute hats- you both know the 'hats' the newbies wear that I am talking about), 2nd... find their work on the net and low & behold you will see they have a family posed on a (usually green) couch in the weeds! Now I am NOT saying this is wrong by any means. We simply giggle at how EVERYONE trying to be unique & different is in fact copying each other. I had better shush Or I am gonna get a bunch of smash-mouthing here I am sure. And a few of my fellow friends who do this per request of their clients you KNOW I am not poking fun at you, so do not even go there :)
OK.. Onward to the good stuff... like poking fun isn't the good stuff? HA! I am so Kidding! Now, the Showcase! We are FULL on photographers! Is that good or bad? Well, when I am in charge and only allow a few in that is good. Who wants to spend a couple hundred bucks to be in a wedding show, only to realize "a lot of good this show does me there are 7 other photographers besides myself here" so no, that is WHY is even started doing the Buffalo Area Wedding Showcase, is so that vendors are NOT just a number feeling like all they are doing is passing out their resume to Bride's. IN FACT, I was just at a seminar on Monday, and they said to STOP being a part of those type of wedding shows that allow SO MANY VENDORS PER SERVICE! As a vendor the speaker pointed out that the brides do just seem to walk around and say "Oh you are a wedding photographer? What are your prices? You Might do". Yet as a business, we want more from our customers too. We want to get to know THEM first, we want to be sure we are a good FIT for each other.
 Seriously I think it is best we get to know each other first so we know it is a good "fit" & I can capture the images you really WANT. For example, I know of a fellow studio here in the area that photographed a friend's wedding while  I was on bed-rest with a pregnancy (this photographer does not even know this they never told her this, and neither did I ), but they thought her voice was so high & squeaky & annoying, that, HER annoying voice is what THEY think of now when they look back on their photos- even years later. They said her pics were good, but it is their experience with her is what they remember. I certainly HOPE If someone has a bad experience with us we are told about it so we can try to make it right. I mean yes I speak VERY FAST... so I hope that is not what people remember about me.
 Thinking about this is why I try to get my couples who book with us to come it to DO the complimentary engagement sessions so we CAN get to know each other, & get a feel of how working together goes. 

Back to the showcase... This year we have a website, and facebook page JUST for the show. We moved it to a better location which is at the Buffalo Community Middle School on Hwy 25, across from Walmart... we ARE looking for a few more vendors.  Hoping to still get a Limo company, a tuxedo company, a hair salon, a videographer, and any LIVE musicians. IF anyone reading this knows anyone, please pass the word along.  Thanks for tuning in again today to our blog!

WOW 2 days in a row?

So, Jill, the second photographer of Kellie Allyn's Photography still has not read the "BLOG" yet. he he he. Nothing bad... right? Those of you who had hired me in the past & remember Alicia, she is still around too. She is the #1 assistant, and helps out when we need her. With Jill now as a 2nd photographer she and I then work together as each other's assistants too. At the moment we are waiting to hear back about a possible studio change. We will keep you posted as we get it figured out.
Getting to know Jill a little bit... Jill is ALSO a hockey mom. That is how she & I met! She was my son's team manager a couple of years ago. Jill in now known in our Buffalo Youth Hockey Association is the "SUPER MANAGER". I managed my son's team last year & this year I am co-managing in the shadows with Jill (LOL). Jill has a 12 year old Daughter, Nicole who my twins LOVE... & we also hit up to babysit. Jill also has a 9 year old son, Carter. He is 'the big kid' my son wants to always hang out with, who are on the same hockey team as well.
 Jill is also SUPER MOM. She works for a childcare center, and it so shows in all else she does. I think you can point out a child-care provider a mile away. My sister is also one of these moms. These are the moms who have a suitcase of snacks, & 3 outfit changes "just in case", plus swim suits & the snorkel gear in case it stops raining & they get to go swimming... just to spend the day at my house. Humm.. and when I drop my kids off I just drop off my kids & go... I feel like the pathetic mom compared to any daycare mom! LOL! Jill is THAT great to work with too! When I forget say my bottle of water, she has me covered. Or  forget something back at the studio, she is going back to get it driving mach 3 speeds in her mini van that no cop would ever think to pull over ha ha ha (try to keep up with her I dare you!)  And being a nervous bride... Jill is that person with the calm voice to just ease all the tension away as well. 
OK Now that I have said enough about Jill today & myself yesterday... tomorrow, I will start chatting about the wedding showcase more we are planning. It is already NEXT MONTH! woohoo!!

New Year... New Blogs... Hopefully

HAPPY NEW YEAR! Well... It is a New Year! New things are a happening. First off this darn blog I said I was going to do once a month... that just never happened. So perhaps I can get that going more in the new year. Second, Last night I was to a TCPPA (Twin Cities Professional Photographers Association) Meeting last night & the speakers there were AMAZING... helped they were WEDDING photographers who were fellow NIKON users as well, so I had immediate respect for them. Was so sick of all the canon speakers last year at the meetings. But where I really did not learn anything really "new" from them as far as wedding things go, I have been in business much longer than they were... I did learn that they earned a whole different relationship with their clients because of their BLOG. So I decided I had best get er going & get a crack'in at this. They also say to talk more open & get more PERSONAL in it so people can relate. SO here goes! Where I was actually doing totally opposite. I have my "personal" facebook page, and a "business" page... well WHY NOT let my customers see me for who I really am?  I am a lady with way to many "irons in the fire" I was once told by a fellow photographer. I am a hockey mom, I work a full-time job at a rental store where I am a certified Wedding & Event Coordinator... not that that title does me much good in this neck of the woods, but I like to help brides all I can in their wedding planning.
Me personally... I am a Scorpio.. I am super superstitious. I believe in all the 'hocus-pocus' non-sense- to a point.... more for the fun of it. I have a Grandmother who consults a psychic & reads taro cards regularly so I guess a bit of that rubbed off LOL yet I was raised Catholic & now go to a Lutheran Church... ha! AMEN. I have a 7 year old son, Zander, who plays hockey and his teacher is a former fellow classmate of mine, and we have identical twin daughters, Julia & Laura, who turned 3 in November... (also Scorpios... their bday is the day after mine). I Met my husband, Spencer, when I was 19, and we got married when I was 24... I had to propose to HIM! Ask me & I will tell you "our story". My hubby &I went to the same high school in Rockford, MN, but were NOT high school sweethearts lol!! We met when I was bar tending in Loretto while still in college. We have a puppy that is a mix between a Rat terrier & a Beagle we named Mayzie... and let me tell you she is a HUGE pain in the butt! Potty training (at the time) 2- 2-year-olds AND a new puppy... WHAT was I thinking? CRA-ZY! YEP!
 I went to college in Eden Prairie at Hennepin Tech for Professional Photography. Then went back to HTC for a nursing certificate as I worked as a CNA trying to open my own studio. I worked privately for a person for nearly 9-10 years in her home before she passed away. When she did pass, her family gave me the courage & incentive to finally open my own store-front studio in 2006 (I had been running my own photo biz since 2000). In 2007 I was on bed-rest with my twins and then this economy hit, so I had to take on a full-time job again, and make photography a part-time thing... but it still works. I mainly do Weddings & Seniors, and recently in the spring of 2010 hired on Jill, and will now be having her working on many more new projects we have up our sleeves. We were VERY busy with High School seniors this past year, so we hope that 2011 can only be better! We are involved in TCPPA, WPPI, CMWA, Which in lamens terms are just abbreviations to professional organizations we have become affiliated with.
Kellie Allyn's Photography along with Flamingo DJ, & Klatt Just Ask Rental are also all proud sponsors of the 5th Annual Buffalo Area Wedding Showcase. I have been running this show since day 1. I have had help along the way from many & with out them we would not be where we are today! This year looks to be the best year yet!... I know, I know I say that every year. But I fell that way before each show, because I feel we out-do ourselves each year.. OK. I am done yapping for one evening. Perhaps if I post this now to FACEBOOK we will get more followers! I will get some input from Jill to so u all can get to know us BOTH! Please let us know if  you need any photo services... a business head shot, a wedding, pregnancy, family... whatever it may be!