Author: alison@tinyblueorange.com

Some of you may remember little baby Danny from not too long ago. Danny’s mom, dad and I go waaaaaaaaay back (high school days) and when Sharon asked me to be at Danny’s baptism AND asked me to be photographer for the day I was thrilled. Sterling United Methodist Church was where little Danny’s baptism took place and it was beautifully decked out for the Christmas season.

The Rosenfelds are an amazingly talented and musical family. Willis is an awesome pianist and vocalist and Sharon is a beautiful vocalist as well.  It was such a joy to hear Sharon, Willis and the rest of their family, friends, and church community sing their hearts out on this particular Sunday.  The most touching was when mommy Sharon and daddy Willis sang a song to Danny after the actual baptism took place.  Beautifully done and touching.

Can I just tell you how much I love these booties. So cute!

After the service we were all invited to Sharon’s parent’s house for a celebration. A wonderful spread with lovely company and conversation. And of course more loving for the man of honor!  This kid is loved by so many people and it shows in the pictures from Sunday’s festivities.  Thank you for letting me share in your day Sharon, Willis, Danny and the rest of the family. I hope these preview images make you smile. The rest will be on the way soon!

Quick post as this day kicked my butt in every which way. However I hosted a lovely dinner with great friends tonight. Lots of garlic, lots of fresh herbs. Delicious. The dinner and the company I must say was the best part of my day. And I need to thank them, for letting me just be me. And let it all out. They know what I mean.

“You must have confusion in your heart to give birth to stars.” – Nietzsche

The quote above was tweeted by the amazingly talented and awesomely straightforward Danielle LaPorte earlier today.  If you have not heard of her or read her blog I highly suggest you click on over to her right now. She frequently takes words right from my mouth and spits them onto the page in the form of a blog posting. Like this.  So, I am over at her site site often. One day I’ll get my act together, get my inspirations into coherent thoughts, and feel motivated enough to do a fire-starter session with her. I can only imagine the amazingness that would transpire.

One day I hope it will.

More late night inspiration from the tree tonight. It’s been a long week of photo editing for my clients so no lengthy blog post from me today.  But sticking with my NaBloPoMo promise here is my contribution for this 16th day of December.

Faith is the bird that feels the light and sings when the dawn is still dark.

~Rabindranath Tagore

My first gifts are wrapped, under the tree, and ready to give tomorrow to some lovely friends. This is by far the best part of the season!

Giving gifts to those you love the most.

Making them smile.

Making the day a bit brighter.

♥♥♥

Tonight I have been working on the script for a very important project.  One that could be seriously life changing. I am trying not to get my hopes up, but the SOAR scholarship that the amazing photographer MeRa Koh is jump starting in 2010 is just perfect. 3 women will be empowered to start their own photography business next year and will be given all the tools to do it successfully. Camera equipment and accessories, business coaching, a website, branding, and national exposure.

Amazingness right?

This scholarship is screaming my name. And when I found MeRa’s website on December 4, 2009 I knew I had to apply.  The main requirement for the application? A 2 minute video. About why you deserve to SOAR. I think my story is a pretty compelling one. So I am going to share it.

And oh yeah, the video is due by Monday.

I have been pondering the video month. But as the date sneaks closer, I have been pondering it even more the past few days.

So has Vincent

Tonight was the night.  Come hell or high water (or the 18 inches of snow they have predicted for us in Virginia over the next 24 hours) I was going to finish the script for my video.

I typed, and typed, and typed.

And when I was all done I made The Calmer listen to me and timed me (remember, the video can only be 2 min.)

The script brought me to tears. Both in content and because it was over 3 minutes long.

Ugh.

So I stripped the script. And read it again.

2:35

and again

2:16

and again

2:09

The Calmer was slowly losing his calmness. If he had to pause his DVR one more time to listen to me read I thought he might just scream.  But he didn’t.  We were  pushing 11pm and I thought there was no way I was going to be able to express the emotion I so desired to express, keep the script to 2 min. or under, and finish it this evening. But in a moment of clarity I did it.  And the Calmer patiently and lovingly listened to me one last time.

1:58!!!!!

Tomorrow, is video taping day. The moment of truth. I’m ready to SOAR but I need all the encouragement I can get.  This may go down in history as one of the craziest most embarassing things I’ve done.  Or the most amazing. Only time will tell.  For now, I know that video cameras seriously scare me but I must face my fear tomorrow and try to take flight.

“It is our illusions that create the world”

~Didier Cauwelaert~

Some of you may have noticed I have not been posting my daily mitzvahs. Let me assure you I am doing them, it was just seeming so tedious to post them here on a daily basis especially with the amount of client previews and jobs I had this past week.

Today I did a mitzvah just for me. I honored my photography dream. I did my video and I submitted it to MeRa Koh’s SOAR scholarship for 2010. Whether or not I am chosen as one of the 3 final applicants I can definitely say I am proud of what I did today. For having faith and taking this leap.

I love when wishes come true. Like mother nature dumping 2 feet of snow, the largest snowfall on record for December in the Washington DC area, 2 days before our winter vacation. It snowed so much and so hard that we were granted 2 snow days on Monday and Tuesday and do not have to return to work until after the holidays. 2 week vacation, here I come!

Today I was finally able to get out of the house for a little bit and start winding down my holiday shopping.  The roads were still quite slushy and it’s days like today that I am so thankful for 4 wheel drive.  Tonight I have a peek for you all at what the blizzard of 09 did to our front yard after The Calmer got done shoveling our driveway. Now this is A LOT of snow.

Patience is definitely what I needed today as I braved 11 hours of sitting in traffic and an abundance of retail shopping.  I can now happily state my shopping is complete and we finally have gifts under the tree.

Have patience with all things, but chiefly have patience with yourself.

~St. Francis de Sales~

A special friend is in town for the holidays and tonight was spent at my place with her and her close knit group of supporters. There was food and drink, games, smiles, and lots of laughs.  This girl means the world to me and even though we’re miles apart now I know her heart is still close and I’m so glad to be able to have a bit of time with her around this time of year.

A friend is one who walks in when others walk out.
~Walter Winchell~