I should probably tell you guys...

I'm engaged!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dan proposed last night.  SUPER sweet.  We were grilling shish-kebabs (our favorite healthy, low carb meal) - and I was editing photos as usual.  Dan called me out on the porch to help him.

I went out and said, "What do you need, babe?"
He said, "I need to do this."

Then, he got down on one knee, pulled out a ring, said some very romantic things, and asked me to marry him.  Woo-hoo!!

Oh, and here's the ring:


So, I just thought I'd keep you all posted on the deets.

I'm off to Denver in the morning for a little trip so I won't be blogging too terribly much for the next week.  (Not so different from how it's been lately, I know.)

In the mean time, check out these weddings and things I've done over the last few weeks - it'll help explain why I've been a blog slacker. :)~

~Jenn

Salena and Gene's wedding (Click here for their photos)


Katie and Mark's wedding (Click here for these)


Kristin and Dan's wedding (Clickaroodle)



Whitney and Nathan's wedding (Click on that)


Carmen's boudoir session (Click tastic!)


Jessica and Adam's engagement session (Click and a clack)

Gypsy?

Looks like this is the winning costume.

And, crap, I realized I forgot to include (probably) the reason why I'm drawn to it.  It was the best costume ever when I was a little girl.



And thanks for the notes/reminder that I can do this costume on my own instead of buying it.  /doh!  I just don't have a tendency to think creatively - and I shop too much.

On another note, after a month of the scale not moving, I weighed in at 156.4 today.  With a little luck, I might actually hit 155 by the time I go to Denver on Tuesday! :)   That will mark 70 pounds lost for me.  Woo-hoo!

Well, I just wanted to check in.  I'm off to shoot a wedding and then I have another one tomorrow.  :)

~ Jenn

Halloween: Costumes!

I can't believe it's already time to shop for Halloween costumes again.

I just get so frustrated trying to find a costume.  It seems that everything that's fun is also SUPER short.  Have any of you guys noticed this?

Here are some of the ones I really like, but won't wear because they're so short.



SO adorable.  Totally slutty.

Also, what exactly is the difference between these two costumes?



The thought had occurred to me that I could rock a red-head character because I already have the red hair.  I thought maybe one of these might work:



Also, what...exactly... is "plus size" about this girl?



Is it that she doesn't look like this?



Because honestly, the "Plus" size model is way... WAY hotter.

Ultimately, I think I might have decided to go "Gypsy."  Of course the costume I want is around $120.



Thoughts?

~J

How in the hell do I...

...make my life what I want it to be?

This is a thought I've had for the last few days.  I recently interviewed a bunch of potential interns, and made a hiring decision for JBe Photography.  It's official, I'm a grown-up.  I've got an intern, I'm paying someone to do stuff for me, for my company.

It feels wonderful and weird and awesome.

It's reminded me of the journey I have been on for the last four years, and what has led me to this point.  It makes me wonder where I'll be in four or five years from now.  It's also made me think of the people who hate their jobs.  I get questions from folks quite often about how I started in photography, or if I trained under somebody, or how I ended up where I am.  Honestly, I think these questions are far less about "how to start your own photography business," as they are, "how can I do what I want to do and be happy?"

I had a conversation about this very thing with a friend of mine tonight.  She's in her mid thirties, and just started Law School.  She's had tons of various jobs from bartender to esthetician, to you name it.  She's just now at the point in her life where she's feeling happy with who she is and where she's going.  I decided to chat with her to determine what might be good advice for people who are feeling stuck.  STUCK.  That's such a frustrating feeling.  Stuck in your job, or in your relationship, or in your life.  Stuck feeling like there's no way for you to start over, or no way for you to end one thing and begin a new one.

Kristin said two things to me tonight that really stuck out:

1.  You can either do what makes you happy, or do what keeps you comfortable.

This is HUGE.  This is so true.  Now, I'll preface by saying that I understand how ridiculously lucky I am.  I'm 28 years old, I own a photography business and I'm in a happy, long term relationship.  I understand that to some of my very close single friends in jobs they dislike, they might easily think, "Jenn, you can shove it."  But, I wasn't always this person.

I worked in Property Management for seven years, and I drained myself.  Emotionally, spiritually, physically, mentally.  I worked and worked at a thankless job where my gifts and abilities were ignored and stifled.  I was exhausted and frustrated.  At the same time, I also worked at a "relationship" with a guy who felt nothing for me but the comfort I gave him on a drunken, cold and lonely night.

So, when did it change?  It's cliche', but it was sort of like a light bulb.  I was laying in bed and the thought suddenly and simply came to me:  "Is this really what I want?"  Do I want this man who doesn't love me?  Do I want to keep pining after him until he drops me for the next best thing?  Do I want to waste the rest of my life on a company that doesn't value and appreciate me? Do I work and work there until I retire, and wish to Zeus I'd done something that made me happy instead?  Isn't there something I can do that will be of value to others and make me feel like I'm doing what I should be doing?

So I had to make the jump.  I had to invest my life in something else, live it in a different way.

I had to choose.

So, I chose a man who valued and loved me.  One who made me laugh instead of cry.  One who did the dishes after I cooked dinner.  One who I knew would be there in the morning, support me when I fell down and through any tears or tough times or fatness or anger or frustration or whatever... would tell me, "I love you, you're beautiful, you're worthy, you're capable.  You're amazing."

I chose to look at what I loved to do and make a career out of it.  For me, that meant building a company from the ground up on my own.  For someone else, that might mean going back to school, quitting their job, switching careers, leaving a higher paying position for an entry-level spot in a totally different field and starting from the bottom.  But sometimes, that's what it takes.

Kristin said, "I had to do something I hated for a little bit... but it was a trade off.  Hard work and crap hours then, but happiness in the long run."  She mentioned how much she'd sacrificed in personal comfort, her preferred lifestyle and her finances.  She doesn't go out to eat much.  She saves instead of spends.  But it's worth it.

And this leads to the second thing she said:

2.  What was I waiting for?

Kristen told me, "I spent my twenties waiting for things to happen.  I was waiting for things I wanted to be... to be.  And you know what?  They didn't happen.  Then I got into my 30's and thought, 'What am I waiting for?'"

I was waiting for things to happen too.  I was waiting for the guy to "come around," to finally see me for the beautiful, wonderful person I thought he should see me as.  To finally realize I was his saving grace and his one true love.  I was waiting for this company to finally wake up and smell the freakin' daisies and realize my potential, my abilities, my talents.  ...But after seven years none of that happened.  Can you imagine how many more years I would have wasted if I didn't do something about it?  How much more frustration and heartache I would have gone through?  How much time I would have let slip by... unhappy, unfulfilled and unrealized?

So... I'll ask the question to you.  What are you waiting for?

~J

I'm gonna be a whore.

Yeah, and that means I'm begging you guys for a favor.  Whoring myself out, as it were.

It will take 2 seconds.

Please, please go over to the A-List WISN and vote for me (JBe Photography).


(Just click here.)

Please.

Thank you.  <3

~Jenn
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