I don’t usually get into the resolution hype. I am a goal setter in general so I feel like the the whole new year resolution concept is just a way I really hope live my life in general… but, something happened this year. I think I allowed myself to be a little bit lazy the past few weeks in anticipation that I knew that I was going to work 2012. Kimberlee and I always say to “Dare to Dream” and to “make shtuff happen” and so as this new year is upon us I have so many ideas and goals that my head is abuzz with excitement. From studio set revamps to Boudoir International to re-doing our “Workshop in a Book.” But from past experience I know that I really need to focus my time and energy every day in a strategic way to make those things happen, and with that said I need to start every day organized and with a game plan. So I wanted to share with you what my to-do list looks like and invite you to use it if you wish. Here is what it looks like…..

A few tips on how I like to use this thing. So the bottom four blocks are my list of all the things I want to accomplish this week. Then every morning I decide what I will tackle that day, and I add to the day’s to do list. I love feeling like I met my goals at the end of the day, so I select my day’s to-dos without being too overzealous. I try to be realistic. It keeps me calm and then I feel more satisfied at the end of the day. If at the end of the week you haven’t finished all the to-do’s in your four boxes at the bottom, you can always move them over to the new week’s to-do list.

The long term goals are things that take a substantial time to accomplish. I put the overall larger goals there with due dates. Then every week I assign myself smaller tasks to chip away at those.

Another little tip is that I love to put photography goals in my “major goal this week” area. For instance I wanted to improve my “wide open” technique and set an intention to try to get
sharper images at the time I chose to shoot at 1.2 that week. Another week I wanted to master my black and white presets making them look more film quality etc.

So as I sit at my desk for the first time in 2012 I feel so grateful and blessed to be where I am right now; so many of my dreams realized. But I know that God has more planned for K and I, and I am eager to get started. I pray this is new year finds you refreshed, invigorated and ready to make 2012 your bitch! Make it be the vehicle for the life you envision for yourself. And if you are brave enough to commit to your big goal, we would love to hear them! Let’s encourage each other as we start the new year with a serious bang. Love all you fellow Bou photographers!

Tonight I was inspired. Really. Not just saying that in the flippant way people say, “uh…mazing.” But in the way that makes you sit on a couch and stare at wall for a couple hours. I picked up a magazine today and found an article about Angelina Jolie that really got me thinking. She wrote a screen play and has now directed her very own creation.  It is a very worth read, and I won’t spoil the article for you by spelling it all out, but I will leave you with a few of the quotes and one of the main points that really left me pondering my own course in this short life.

One section reads, “you have to admire her. If she felt the need to write and direct, something lighter would have been the easier choice…..Easier still would’ve been to continue on as she had been: big movies for money, small movies for soul, sitting back as the coffers filled. Being a movie star is not such a bad life. But this woman, a pure product of Hollywood, is not only wildly ambitious…. [she] knows that capital kept out of the game is not saved but diminished. To get big, risk big.” Vanity Fair Writer

“There’s a famous quote, if it doesn’t scare you, it’s not worth doing. I think there is truth to that.” Angelina Jolie

She goes on to talk a bit more about other things that spoke to me as well, and while I do my best to be as open as possible there are some things that are just legitimate TMI. So I will keep the how and why to myself on those items, however, the words above….I can’t tell you why they speak to me exactly. I might never know. But after dealing with what felt a little bit like a season of winter in my life, I feel spring upon me. I feel like it’s time to enjoy this unreal day to day we call The Boudoir Divas, but also time pull up the sail because I feel the strong winds ready to take this adventure to a new height. We just need to decide what that is, and there are so many different pictures that could look like. What an amazing place to be. I feel so blessed. I don’t know what season you are in in your life, but I pray that you too are able to soon enjoy a season where the snow settles and all you see in front of you is an overwhelming excitement and adventure. Risk and reward.

So if you are in the grocery store line, I recommend grabbing this article, read about someone who seems to have reached all her goals just to stretch herself to new place she never thought she could go. Uh- mazing ;) – M

Heeheehee… I just HAD to post this!!!! In the midst of our photo shoot, while we’re dancing, moving, and being silly in front of the camera, M had a little wardrobe malfunction, a la Janet Jackson at the Superbowl halftime show. ;) (Scroll down)…

OMGosh I just LOVE this photo; it makes me laugh every time I see it! Hope you all have a wonderful day. Don’t take yourselves too seriously… hope you find something today that makes you laugh!

Ok, so this is JUST A LITTLE BIT belated (since her bday was actually over the weekend!) Sorry M! I know I’m late on this, but I couldn’t let it go by without taking a moment to say how much I love you. Thanks for being the most amazing friend, business partner, and confidant. God knew that I needed a “Diana” (aka kindred spirit) in my life, and I’m SO thankful that He brought us together five years ago. I love you so much and I’m excited for what’s ahead, all the adventures we are still going to have together, and all the postcards we are going to buy to add to our scrapbook. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!


PS: if you don’t know how M & I met, go check out this blog post and find out! :)

Things are always a-changing around The Boudoir Divas’ photography studio. Wanna hear about our newest biz changes???… watch the quick, somewhat-crappy-quality video! Ha ha. Hey I have a lot to do today, wish I had time to whip out the MarkII! Anyway TGIF to you all and say “hi” below please! I always love to know who is checking in. It makes my day! -M

Ps. I cracked up at the thumbnail YouTube chose. I know I can change it but it’s so bad it’s good. Lol.

I am thrilled to be writing this post. Around the time that I wrote a blog post about my desire to care more about what God cares about, to be more bold, my hubs, Weston, was invited by our church, the Flood, to accompany the Pastors of our church to Haiti. There they were going to work with Children of the Nations in locating a great spot for a new, much needed clinic. The task was to get to know the different communities and figure out where the clinic would serve the best. The biggest challenge was generating the $100,000 that was needed to build/start the clinic. Weston was asked to do photo and video during the trip so that they could show our church the communities they wanted to help and motivate them to donate. He went with them and had the trip of a lifetime.

When they returned I was amazed by our Pastors boldness when they announced to our church that they felt God’s urging that we as a congregation could earn $100,000. I was even more amazed when he said he thought we could do it in 3 weeks! He said come Easter Sunday they would announce to the church if we made our goal. While we were working towards our goal, the only person who would know our progress would be the financial dude. Our church is about 1500 people, most college age. That is maybe big or small depending what your experience with churches are,or the city you are in,  to me it’s somewhat small. I was a little nervous that we might not be able to pull it off.

Every week leading up to the “big reveal” we saw more of Weston’s footage and heard another powerful story either from video or our Pastor Matt. On Easter Sunday we all watched a new “reveal” video in big anticipation to see if we reached our goal. There wasn’t a dry eye in the room. Even our friends who came to Easter Sunday with us and really have no emotional connection to  our church cried like babies next to us. To say God moved in a huge way is an understatement. I would be honored if you watched the video below. And if you do please watch it to the very end. -M

Hope For Haiti – Celebration from FloodSanDiego on Vimeo.

Video and photos by Weston Boucher. Editing by Tim Eagerton and Matt Forray. Narrated by Charianne Fife.

This afternoon I was going through my emails and I came across a newsletter my Dad was sweet enough to forward me today. He must know me well or something :) I’d like to think that I am usually an optimist, but I have some serious whiny days. Only a Dad would be able to sense today was one of those days. Hee hee. Here’s the rejuvinating info that I think I already knew, but almost wish I could tattoo it on my forearm! Someone give me an aaaaammmmeeennn to this reminder! xo- M

Look on the Bright Side
By Brian Tracy

The most important application of the law of cause and effect in your life is this: thoughts are causes, and conditions are effects. What this means is that your thought is creative. You create your world by the way you think. Nothing in your world has any meaning except for the meaning you give by how you think about it and talk about it. If you don’t care about something, it has no effect on your emotions and actions.

How to be Happy
Many thousands of people have been interviewed over the years to find out what they think about most of the time. Can you guess what the most successful and happy people think about all day long? The answer is simple. Happy healthy people think about what they want, and how to get it, most of the time. When you think and talk about what you want, and how to get it, you feel happier and in greater control of your life.

How to be Unhappy
What do unhappy people think and talk about most of the time? Unfortunately, they think and talk about things they don’t want. They think and talk about their problems and pains, and the people they don’t like. Sometimes, their whole lives revolve around their complaints and criticisms. And the more they think and talk about what they don’t want, the unhappier they become.

The Most Important Quality
Based on many psychological tests, the happiest people seem to have a special quality that enables them to live a better life than average. Can you guess what it is? It is the quality of optimism! The best news about optimism is that it is a learnable quality. You can learn to be a more positive, confident, and optimistic person by thinking the way optimists do—most of the time.

Look for the Good
Optimists seem to have different ways of dealing with the world that set them apart from the average. First, as we mentioned, they keep their minds on what they want, and keep looking for ways to get it. They are clear about their goals and they are confident that they will accomplish them, sooner or later. Second, optimists look for the good in every problem or difficulty. When things go wrong, as they often do, they say, “That’s good!” and then set about finding something positive about the situation.

Seek the Valuable Lesson
The third quality of optimists is that they seek the valuable lesson in every setback or reversal. Rather than getting upset and blaming someone else for what has happened, they take control over their emotions by saying, “What can I learn from this experience?” Fully 95% of everything you do is determined by your habits, good or bad. When you repeatedly look for the good and seek the valuable lesson in every obstacle or disappointment, you very soon develop the habit of thinking like an optimist. As a result, you feel happier, healthier, and more in control of your world.

The Body-Mind Connection
More and more doctors are coming to the conclusion that 80% or more of all diseases and ailments are psychosomatic in origin. This means that “psycho,” the mind, makes “soma,” the body, sick. You do not get sick from what you are eating, but from what is eating you.

Action Exercise
Resolve from now on to see your glass of life half full rather than half empty. Give thanks for your many blessings in life rather than worrying or complaining about the things you do not have. Assume the best of intentions on the part of everyone around you.

GET READY… this is a LONG one! :)

So, just in case you haven’t heard about this little project we’re taking on… we wanted to throw out this idea to all of our boudoir photographer friends out there! We have had this crazy dream – and a crazy goal – to raise money for women entrepreneurs in Malawi, Africa… and if this idea sparks excitement in your heart, then we want YOU to join with us! Why Malawi? Why this project? Why small business loans? Well… here’s just a little explanation, to share with you why it’s something we feel really passionate about. Marissa and I recently took a trip to Uganda, Africa, to document the stories of women and children living in poverty.

We had the amazing opportunity to talk with these resilient women, to hear their stories, and to see first-hand HOW they have been able to survive – and thrive – despite the horrible circumstances they’ve been faced with, being born into poverty. It was incredibly humbling to see these women, and to hear the HOPE in their voices, despite what they are facing on a daily basis. Most of them women we met have been able to change their situation, and get OUT of poverty… and it was really cool to consistently see that a small business loan had helped them do this. We saw women with tailoring businesses and little shops – they’ve been able to make a living for themselves, and all they needed was a little hand up, to help them get started.

We are so blessed… we have been born into a society and a country that gives us SO MUCH opportunity. Marissa and I run a successful business, and we have been blessed beyond our wildest dreams, knowing that we are able to live OUT this dream of ours with The Boudoir Divas! We just want to give back, even though this seems like a small way. But we want to give a few women the opportunity to start a small business in their hometown!

One man we spoke with in Uganda defined poverty as “helplessness plus hopelessness.” It’s not about material goods or wealth. It’s about having no hope… no possible way for you to change your life… because there is absolutely no way to pull yourself out of your current situation. This is how a majority of the world is living. So when a small opportunity is held out to someone who is helpless & hopeless… their situation is now given new meaning as they are given an opportunity to change. They are no longer in poverty because they DO have hope. They DO have an opportunity to change, to do something about their situation. They are no longer helpless.

HOW IT WORKS…
We would ask that you commit to giving $5 from each boudoir shoot that you do, put that money aside and then the first of every month (or a date you choose) you update our donation page http://www.optinnow.org/fundraisers/boudoir . We have been doing this same thing with our clients, and we have labels we have printed that we stick on their invoice so that our clients know that a small portion of what they have paid is going to an amazing cause. Here is an example of what the label could look like. You can adapt ours (right-click and save the image below), or just make your own!

MORE DETAILS…
*If you commit to the pledge email us at info@theboudoirdivas.com and we will add your link to the Opportunity International post. Note: You do not have to be a member or Boudoir International to participate, you don’t even have to be a boudoir photographer. You can just commit if you love the cause.
*There is no written contract saying that you are going to participate. If you even need to stop donating we will completely understand. If you are more comfortable making a one time donation we welcome that as well.
*Our studio (www.theboudoirdivas.com) has earned $3500 in the past for World Vision’s Girls in Crisis Fund and now we are ready to push with fellow boudoir photographers for a larger goal. We love to dream big and believe that God will meet us halfway if we humbly trust him and are in line with what he loves. So let’s do this together everyone! BOUDOIR PHOTOGRAPHERS UNITE!!!
*ALL of the details can be found here!

***ALSO…… If you’d like to see the finished product of one of the videos we worked on while we were in Uganda, click below!

Thank you so much for helping us move forward in our big dream. If you have any questions about this, or would like to know more about how to get involved, CLICK HERE and visit the Opportunity International page. Not sure what we are talking about when we say “Boudoir International“? It’s just a little referral website for photographers – click here for more info.