Feature in The Knot Southern California

Michael and I had the privilege of shooting Lisa + Jerry's wedding at The Bacara Resort and Spa last year, and The Knot Southern California just published it in this quarters issue! Lisa + Jerry's wedding is also going to be featured in The Knot's national publication coming up soon as well! We are super excited!

The E-Myth (By Anna)

I'm starting to get a bit annoyed at myself because we have an over abundance of great pictures to put up. As I write this I'm watching Michael edit through a wedding that we'll be submitting to magazines and I'm excited to get these dang photo's up on the blog! Goodness.


Anyway, in the meantime I thought I'd post a book I just finished reading this morning. Its a book many of you have already read and can attest to its greatness! "The E-Myth Revisited" is an extremely eye opening book. It brings up a few points:

1. Your business should be built with the idea that it can eventually be sold. If your business can't survive without YOU then you need to rethink things

2. Your business should be built with as a Franchise Prototype and with a Turn Key Mentality. Meaning, create a system that is so seamless that it could be a franchise all over the country/world. Think McDonalds!

3. This book, in the end, brought up many deep and thought provoking points about how our business is also a training ground for our life. It was great!

My new goals is to go through the last few business related books I've read (I'll NOT be including "The Da Vinci Code" or "Twilight") and really apply what I've learned to our business. I feel that I caught a bug for reading this year. But I should be spending more time implementing what I've learned - rather than rushing off to another book. (Which is my tendency! I'm aching to reading, "Think and Grow Rich" now!)

Whose read "The E-Myth?" What did you get out of?

Photo Booth Fun!

(Michelle and I hamming it up for the camera!)


(I have no idea what I was doing in this shot...)


(Me with my "handsome" darling!)



(Ahhhh...My favorite thing!)


The very last wedding of the year was very special for a few reasons.

1. Mary & Aaron Owen were married. They are such a unique and sweet couple and we really enjoyed photographing their wedding. They are so fun to photograph! We did a photo shoot with them awhile back where she was dressed up in a traditional Japanese Kimono. SO cool!

2. Michelle of Mint Julep Inc was chosen to be featured on an episode of, "Whose Wedding is it Anyways?" It was really fun to have the camera crews following her around! She is so uber talented - its no wonder that they chose her for this exclusive opportunity!

3. Michelle hired Sean Azul to set up a photo booth at the wedding! It was super fun and these pictures are a few of the shots that we took together. Thanks Sean!

Who Moved My Cheese?

I can't believe I never posted about this book! I read it in September and thought that I posted about it but I guess I never did.

Okay, this book is awesome! Here are the two things I love about it:

1. I read the entire thing in the bath tub. It took like a half an hour!
2. It has a great message that is super life changing. (Change being the key word!)

Anyway, if you haven't read it - READ IT! The only down side is that even though its super short they don't give you a discount on the lack of paper used. Its still the same price as a normal hardback book. :)

This book spoke to me simply because things in life CHANGE - and to be ready for it and accepting of it is important to learn.

What has changed in you life that you had to adapt to quickly or perish?

Grateful..

I've been thinking a lot lately about how many things we (I) take for granted everyday. They are mostly simple things that in the not so far distant past these things were considered high luxuries.

1. Running hot water. This seems simple, but how many centuries have past with out this simple luxury? I love taking baths at night and this was something that required heating water in pots and carrying to a bath tub only a hundred years ago

2. Abundance of food. This is also something that we take for granted in America - but there is a ton of food here! So much so, that our problem is not eating to little, but eating too much! But I'm soooo grateful that I've never known hunger or starvation in my life.

3. Warm home. Having heat and being able to keep warm at all times - even while traveling is awesome. I used to read "The Little House on the Prairie" books when I was little and they lived in non insulated log cabins and "dug-outs" which are basically a man made cave dug out of a hill. Sounds fun, right?

4. Modern medicine and science. The fact that humans are living as long as we are and avoiding a lot of pain and suffering is really nice. I haven't had too much experience with this first hand. Well, I take that back - I recently had 2 root canals and my wisdom teeth taken out so that would have been murder without Novocaine! When Michael and I were on the east coast and seeing many historical sites it came to our attention that many of our forefathers had serious ailments that they just suffered through on a day to day basis. Uggh!

5. Weather in California. Since I grew up here I take this for granted in a major way. A big wake up call to that was last year in December when we shot a wedding in Canada! It was FREEZING!! It was 20 degrees and they said that it was a heat wave. Yikes! It was fun to see snow though...

6. Indoor plumbing. My grandma grew up in Utah and during the winter they would have to use the restroom outdoors in an outhouse. They also used the Sears Catalog for toilet paper. Need I say more...

Well, here are just a few things. They are simple but without those things our lives would be a lot more tedious, complicated and painful. Most people in our country enjoy these conveniences (besides living in California that is) and it is truly wonderful. I am actually thinking of more things right now like modern travel, telephone, internet etc. but I think y'all get the point. Tis the season to have gratitude!

What are you grateful for?

Cleanse - Day 3

So I decided to hold off on the cleanse until I get better. I woke up yesterday with a nasty cold and has a full day of work ahead of me. So I felt it was better to not push it. I was in a meeting last night and kept blowing my nose and sneezing for about 3 hours - it wasn't pretty.

BUT, one really awesome and wonderful thing came from doing this cleanse. I quit Diet Coke! Yay! Since I knew I wasn't going to be able to drink it while on the cleanse I decided that this was a perfect excuse to kick the habit. This has been a vice of mine for quite a long time. I'd say since I was 18. Michael used to call Diet Coke "Chemical Nightmare" or a "Brown Death." I liked the authors of "Skinny B@#$%&" name which was "Liquid Satan." LOL

Anyway, I'm excited to return to the cleanse once I'm feeling better. It wasn't that hard. When I woke up the second day and realized I had to drink the Lemon Juice, Maple Syrup concoction I wasn't mad. I wasn't that hungry. BUT, a few things I will remember:
1. Don't stay up too late
2. Choose a week where I'm not that busy & don't have to travel
3. Obviously not being sick is good too

Thanks everyone for your comments before. Anyone else have a Diet Coke habit that needs to be kicked?

Cleanse - Day 2

So last night wasn't too bad. We ended up staying up a little later than I wanted to which made it harder. Its always easier to just go to sleep! I was starting to have visions of burridos and pizza dancing in my head.... :)

I was also starting night to get the sniffles last night and this morning I woke up with a full on cold. So now I'm debating whether or not to try and push through the cold while not eating any food! Michael basically forced me to drink some Monavie this morning. We've been drinking Monavie since August and the only two times that I've gotten sick within that time period is when I wasn't drinking Monavie. The first time was while we were on the east coast I didn't bring any with us. And I got really sick for a week. And then now, while I was doing the cleanse and not drinking it....

Since your not suppose to eat/drink anything else I already went off the cleanse technically, but I wonder if its really going to hurt it that much. Michael wants me to start the cleanse in January after the holidays and after I get better. We'll see if I listen to him... :)

OH! And last night, we had just arrived at our meeting in LA and I got out of the car and smelled someone BBQing a steak and I felt like Edward from Twilight after he smells Bella's scent! (For those of you who didn't see the movie yet, you won't know what I'm talking about!) And since I'm a vegetarian I usually don't like the smell of meat. But after not even one day of the cleanse it really hit me hard!

Cleanse

Okay, I'm doing a cleanse. Its that Lemon Juice Maple Syrup cleanse. (Stop Laughing!)
But it is suppose to be extremely good for you on a variety of levels. I have two friends that recently did the cleanse and they look and feel amazing! Has anyone out there done a cleanse before? Any suggestions? Its for 10 days, so we'll see how it goes.
This morning I ate some food but then made a batch of juice and am drinking only the juice for the rest of the day (and for 9 more days). You are suppose to stop having cravings after two or three days. Here is a clip of what I found a master cleanse is good for:


"Cleansing is necessary to keep our bodies functioning at their best. Pollution from the environment, oxidative stress, and additives (pesticides, chemical colors and flavorings) in our water and food are stored in organs and fatty tissue and build up in our bodies over time. Cleansing this toxic load can help to boost the immune system, improve vitality, get rid of headaches, allergies, fatigue, pain, arthritis and other symptoms, and can result in substantial weight loss."

I would put up "Before" and "After" pictures but that's way too embarrassing! So you'll just have to take my word for it. I'll be posting daily about how I feel and how its going. Should be interesting....