mnb h v vg drcvvv txcv eeeeeeeee nncxvccccccccccccc eeeeeeeeeeeeeee  – Love, Gracie

I love her.  More than I could possibly explain.  I told my life story to 30 new friends yesterday and when I got to the part about having a baby, I was speechless.  All I could say was, “everything changed.”   I am so grateful to have friends like Gina who capture Grace the way I see her.  Oh, this melts my heart!  Last night at the Casey-Isaacson house…

Now, you can see why it is going to be sooooo hard to leave this afternoon for the next week for the Making Things Happen Tour.   Emily, Gina and I kicked off the 2012 Tour yesterday here in Chapel Hill and are headed to Atlanta, DC, New York and Boston now.  I haven’t been away from Grace overnight ever, so y’all give me extra hugs when you see me on the road!  But, I have to say that I wouldn’t even dream of leaving her for this long if I didn’t know with all of my heart that the work we do is important.  It’s that important.  I can’t wait to see everyone and watch your journey’s begin!  The 2012 May Tour is completely SOLD OUT, but there are a few seats left for the fall.

And, to kick things off, we launched a NEW Making Things Happen website yesterday!!!  Yahoo!!!

Fast forward an hour now and Grace is happily napping while I finish work and pack.  She’s so cute when she sleeps!  A little peek into what’s been goin’ on around these parts:

Grace is nearing 6 months old and grows faster than kudzu!  I write daily letters to her here.

Oh, my heart!

She is my favorite.

My family came to visit last month, too.  This is my 94 year old Grandma Bunny!

Emily Ley and I have been hard at work with Making Brands Happen, our new Power Sessions…

…and doing branding webinars.  We only have 4 client spots left for the year, by the way.  Read all about it here and win a seat to our Summer Branding Series!

We’re in the beautiful thick of print prep for our fifth issue of Southern Weddings, aka V5.  Emily Ayer and the SW ladies and I are SO excited about the editorial content we have cookin’!  Our calendars are packed with exciting shoots this summer.  It’s going to be our best issue yet!

I finally buckled down and wrote my first digital book, The Challenge!  I took the very popular Challenge series and put it into an active workbook format. I’m just releasing it for clients right now and am so excited to have it complete!

Aaaaaand…. I’m working on my own new site, blog and brand!  You can get a behind-the-scenes peek into my inspiration for the brand on my Pinterest.  It’s been a long time coming and I can’t wait to share the goodness ahead! On my front porch yesterday with Em.

Phew!  OK, time to pack.  God is good.  Really really good, friends.  Thank you for all the encouragement you give me to just be me and follow the narrow path.  I’m so grateful and can’t wait to hug many of you this week on tour!

photos top to bottom: Nancy Ray, Gina, Gina, Nancy, Emily March, my iPhone, Emily March, my iPhone via my new favorite app, VSCO Cam.

If I was going to do this post right, I’d have fireworks and a confetti shower to accompany it.  No really.  I would.  My life’s work is to help people make big things happen.  In business.  In life.  In every moment.  When I started the Making Things Happen Intensive three years ago, I never imagined just how much of a 180 my life would take.  Just read my blog from three years ago.  You will SEE the change.  Some of you have been readers and friends since I first got into weddings almost a decade ago.  What a remarkable decade it has been.  I’m 32 and I can honestly say I have done everything I ever wanted to do.  All I want now is to know God more and more every day.  I want to give my all and share my experiences to help others until I have nothing left.  That’s it.  I want to give my all without fear.  CUE THE FIREWORKS!!!

During the last 32 cities that we’ve visited, I’ve met some pretty incredible people who have gone on to do some pretty remarkable things.  From leaving full-time desk jobs to pursue their passions to finding balance in their lives, witnessing transformation sets my heart on fire!  Mind you, the MTH alum have made big things happen because they did the hard work on their own.  Nothing magical happens in the workshop.  MTH is just the spark that lights the fire.  They showed up, dove in and made. life. happen.  CUE CONFETTI SHOWER!!!

You know how important my family is to me.  Time with Grace is my number one priority.  So, setting out on a 10 city tour this year was a huge decision. And one I have zero regrets or fear about. Oh, yes, I will cry when I leave.  For sure.  But, I’ll survive because this is the work I am supposed to be doing.  It is worth the sacrifice of being away.  For me to say that is huge.  I hope it shows you just how important this work is to me.  This work opens doors, challenges self-imposed limits and makes people make things happen.   It brings people together.  It makes collaboration happen.  It makes creativity happen.  It makes balance, peace, friendship, marriage, and life happen.  It makes happy happen.  And it makes me take big scary life-changing action, too.  Emily, Gina, Natalie and I get just as much out of giving the Making Things Happen Intensive as the attendees do.

Double bonus? So many of the MTH alum are now my closest friends. Making things happen isn’t just about coming to a workshop one day.   That doesn’t do anyone any good.  It’s about accountability for a lifetime.  It’s about community.  It’s about being supported AND supporting others just as much. It’s about being surrounded by like-minded passionate creatives who want to take things to the next level.   It’s about doing the hard work. If you want to make things happen, you have to decide to do the work, but there will be a huge community of people doing the same things right along side you. They will cheer you on. They will lift you up. They will remind you why you do what you do when you forget. And you will forget. I do sometimes and there are always friends there to lift me back up.  They will text you just to tell you you CAN do it. They will shower you with high fives. They will also offer to shower you with confetti when you do a scary speaking engagement (thank you, Michelle Edgemont! HA!). The MTH alum are the best encouragers around, hands down! I’m so grateful to be a recipient of such awesome encouragement on a daily basis.  Hi friends! I love you!!!

The intensive itself is pretty simple. We spend a day talking in a small group. We talk about our fears, our dreams and how we are going to make them happen. We spend a good 8-10 hours together, so we really get to know each other. When you spend a day talking about your fears and dreams with someone, it challenges you to take the leap.   Whatever that big leap is for you.  We hold each other accountable.  And the incredible thing for me is that, as I grow, so does the power of the intensive.   I know the same is true for Emily, Gina and Natalie as well.  Oh, what incredible progress we’ve made in our lives since this all started!  We are so grateful!  I’ve been through it in the last year.  My heart is more focused than ever. My companies are on the most grounded clear path they’ve ever been on. Things are at a whole new level. I can’t wait to share all I’ve learned and all I’m doing to simplify my life and make what matters happen.

People ask me all the time if we can do an online version of Making Things Happen. It’s like picking out a wedding dress from a catalog.  You could do it, but there is nothing like feeling the magic of slipping into that gown in person. OK, for the guys (or gals, too!) out there… it’s like fantasy football. Awesome, but not at all the same as being there on the sidelines. You can’t phone Making Things Happen in. You have to sit in the seat and look in the eyes of the person next to you.  You have to take a risk and be present.  You have to sit in the seat to really harness the change you want in your life.  Quite simply, you have to show up.  As you are.  Fears and all.  Everyone else is in the exact same boat. We tell people to come in comfy clothes.  No heels.  Leave the decked-out duds at home.  MTH is a place to come and just be yourself.  It’s the greatest feeling to just let go with people that get you.

As usual, we’ve chosen cities for the 2012 Tour that are easy to travel to.   Registration is now open for ALL 2012 CITIES! The Spring Tour: Chapel Hill, Atlanta, DC, NY and Boston! The Fall Tour: Austin, Phoenix, LA, Chicago and one last city yet to be determined.Every intensive (except NYC) will be by the airport, too, for convenience. About 60%-80% of attendees fly or drive in from another state to attend. Lucky you, if you happen to live in one of these cities!  By the way, people are always looking for roommates if you want to share.  You might make a friend for life, as I know so many alum have done!

We have are so passionate about this work that we have given a lot of partial scholarships in the past. We want people to be able to make things happen, no matter their financial situation. So, to give EVERYONE the chance to get a partial scholarship, if you enter the contest below, you will automatically get 50% OFF until the regular rate, just for telling us what you want to make happen! (West Coast cities have till July 4 for early-bird registration at the same 50% OFF rate.)  We also have very flexible payment plans.  Just email Marissa to get set up with one. 

We want to make this easy for you.  Y’all, I’m going to push you on this because I believe in this work so very much. If you think this is right for you, do yourself a huge favor and apply so you can either win a scholarship or get the half-off rate. Save the other half to invest in your business or your family or whatever sets your heart on fire. You will thank yourself. And register before your city sells out. I’ve been doing this for three years and it sells out every time. I want you to make things happen with us. I want to get to know you. Really, I do. Because your story will teach me something and I hope mine does the same for you.

Want to know more? Read the post that started it all and take The Challenge and read and this and this and this or any of these posts from alum.  Ask an alum about their experience.  I can’t wait for you to be inspired to make big things happen!

We have had some very generous alumni step forward and donate to a full scholarship fund yet again. Year after year, the generosity of so many amazes all of us!  So, we’ve decided to match that and give two full scholarships this year.

Two ways to enter:

The Alum Scholarship: Leave a comment here an tell us what you want to make happen.  Also, please tell us the city you would like to attend. Anyone who applies for a scholarship will be given the ability to register at 50% OFF if they are not chosen. So, you have nothing to lose and EVERYTHING to gain by entering.

The MTH Match Scholarship: Leave a comment here telling us what you want to make happen AND spread the word! Tell your friends about Making Things Happen, too! Tweet, Facebook, Blog, Pin this, send smoke signals… whatever you want to do to tell people about Making Things Happen and just link to this post.  Leave a separate comment here telling us you did so. We will pick a random winner for this second scholarship, so the more entries you submit, the better!

Deadline: You have until midnight on April 1st to apply. Again, if you enter to win a scholarship, you’ll still be given the chance to register at 50% OFF the regular rate if you aren’t chosen.  We want you to be able to make this happen no matter what!

It’s a remarkable coincidence that I’m posting this on Leap Day. Today is your day to take the leap, my friend. I have goosebumps typing finishing this post because I am genuinely so excited to read your entries.   We all are!  I never cease to be inspired by what makes people really come alive.  So, what do YOU want to make happen?  Join us!

P.S. We’re working hard behind-the-scenes on a brand new Making Things Happen website as we speak! So, the main site is currently offline for a major overhaul.  Yeah!!!  Get ready.  It’s packed with phenomenal inspiration and incredible alum stories!  Your story could be next.

P.P.S. THANK YOU for the outpouring of support and encouragement I received from my last post.  WOW.  So many notes and messages and letters and open hearts.  I am sincerely grateful.  Your kind words helped me and so many others.  You just never know how much even a blog comment will encourage someone else.

UPDATED:

If you want to be inspired, just reading the scholarship entries below will do it. This was such a hard decision for us to make. There is so much fire and determination in every single entry! No matter what, all of you are destined for great things, regardless of if you attend MTH or not. Just your words alone, and your ability to share so much of your true selves, shows your passion and your drive. Thank you all for sharing your hearts! Amazing!

Making Things Happen started in the spirit of paying it forward and, after 30 cities, we are just overjoyed to continue on this track! So, if you are not the main scholarship winner, don’t fear. You may be getting a phone call from us in the next day or so. Check your email and check that voicemail over the next few days!

CONGRATS to everyone who entered! If you applied for the scholarship below, you get 50% off registration! Email Marissa@laracaseyreps.com for your special registration code. The tour is almost sold out now, so let Marissa know ASAP if you need a payment plan as well.

Congrats to scholarship winners, April Foster and Emily-Claire! (email Marissa to get your registration set up) We CANNOT WAIT to see everyone in a few short weeks! Time to make big things happen, friends!

I am technically 4 days past my estimated due date, but I am ignoring this fact for now.  50% of babies are born after their estimated due date anyway.  I’m grateful and happy and feeling wonderful today!  And what better way to keep my mind occupied while I wait on baby Grace than to launch two gigantic projects today!?  I’m convinced that God is waiting until these beauties are launched to let me go into labor, so here’s hoping…

I am sad to be missing engage!11 Cayman this week (this would have been my seventh engage!), but so happy to reveal what Emily Ley and I been working on with the incredible Rebecca Grinnals and team.  Congratulations on an exciting week ahead and…. drum roll…. the launch of the new Engaging Concepts!  We had such a wonderful time working with Rebecca and Kathryn, who have long been two of my mentors and dear friends.  It truly was an honor!  I miss you all and, while I wish I had my toes in the Cayman sand with you, I really hope that as I hit publish on this post, Grace decides to get this party started.

I couldn’t be more thrilled about this next reveal! Emily and I are over-the-moon excited to finally show you what we’ve been up to the past 12 months in our new Making Brands Happen site!  This site is packed full of goodness and showcases a year of adventures, joy and work that truly makes our hearts SING!  Read all the details on our launch here.

Enjoy the new sites and – hopefully – the next post you see here will be Grace’s birth announcement from Aunt Marissa!

The last nine months of carrying my first baby have been blessed beyond measure.   They’ve been the most challenging and rewarding months of my life so far and I know it’s just the beginning. From two pink lines to a closet packed full of tiny booties and onesies, this time has been a gift that a blog post could never quite capture fully. God has changed Ari and I in profound ways with every little baby kick, fear we’ve conquered and every “first” we’ve experienced together on this adventure. In honor of our amazing Grace, due sometime in the next 20 days, here is a quick peek into the last nine months.  Photo above by my dear friend Nancy Ray.

February: The “decision” to have a baby wasn’t an easy one.  It wasn’t like we woke up one day and everything was magically in place and the timing was perfect.  Ari started talking about wanting to have a baby and all I can say is that God did a lot of things to warm me up to it very quickly.  For one, my best friend was pregnant at the time and, the first time I felt the little baby kicks in her belly, my heart exploded!  We had always thought it would be a few more years before we’d even think about kids, but God had other plans.  Despite all the logistics ahead of us and possible changes and unknowns (and yes, there were a lot of fearful tears!), we both thought, life is too short. Sometime around Valentine’s Day, our little miracle started to grow.  It was close to my mom’s birthday and, coincidentally, I had written this to her that week.  I was in Las Vegas at the time for WPPI.  Even that early, I just had a feeling I was pregnant. An instinct. I was taking my prenatal vitamins, taking great care of myself and just felt like God was making me ready for this.  Sure enough, during a visit home to Florida on February 28th, a craving for Chiclets led me to the drugstore for a pregnancy test.  I cried tears of joy as those two pink lines appeared!!!

March: We only told my parents and my best friends at first.  There was so much excitement coupled with thoughts of a whole new life ahead of us… translation = suddenly overwhelming.  My body changed quickly and the morning sickness soon set in.  Heavens to Betsy, this was no fun at all.   From week 3 to week 16, I was miserable – in bed, nauseated, no appetite, exhausted.  I actually prayed for those crazy pregnancy cravings you always hear about to happen so I could get my appetite back!  I had to keep at my same work pace and wasn’t able to tell anyone yet why I fell off the radar for a few weeks.   I’m so grateful for my friends who prayed me through that time, Ari for holding my hand through all of it and trying everything under the sun to make me feel better and to my parents for taking care of me for a few weeks and trying to feed me all sorts of goodness. At the height of all of this nausea, we had a trip to Grand Cayman planned to celebrate our 5 year wedding anniversary.  I spent most of the trip, once again, in bed.  At least it was from a bed with an ocean view, though!  At the end of March, knowing that we would soon need a lot more space for baby, we also started hunting for a bigger house.   Photo below by Nancy Ray.

April: On April 5th, we finally let the cat out of the bag! What an exciting day! And such a relief. I hated keeping our big news a secret for so long! Work-wise, it was an insanely busy month. With all the morning sickness, I had no idea how I was going to get through it, but by the grace of God – and with lots of help – I did.

2011 has been the year of making a lot of things happen, including some brilliant brands.  Photo above (with me covering quite the baby bump at the time) by Gina Zeidler. By the time our little one is born in just a few days, Emily and I will have launched 35 powerful brands this year for some incredible people that we are so blessed to call friends.  What started as one of those crazy ideas (sketched on a paper bag on an airplane somewhere over the Pacific on the way to Maui last November!), turned into my favorite work ever.  It turned into a mission that Emily and I have to help creatives take wing and live life to the full.  Life is too short to play small. In a few days, Emily and I (or just Emily, if I go into labor!) will be launching our new Making Brands Happen site where you can take a peek into all we have been up to.   I am so grateful for the last year of rewarding work – that truly doesn’t feel like “work”  because I love it so much – with the magazine and our inspiring branding clients. What a gift of a journey this has been!   It’s hard to believe that just a year ago none of this existed, nor did I have any idea it would:  a baby, a new blossoming business that sets my heart on fire and a magazine and blog that have had their biggest year yet! Back to April, though.  I digress. Prego brain. In April, I completed my last wedding with my event planning company – a gorgeous Indian wedding in downtown DC. For those of you in weddings, you know this was no small feat.  It turned out beautifully and I am so grateful for over a decade of wedding planning that turned into so much more.  I’m happy to finally put my very first company, Bliss Event Group, to rest after this exciting decade.  It was hard to let go at first, but there’s so much more on the horizon! Saying “no” to one thing in our lives means saying “yes” to something else.

May: A week after our DC wedding adventure, at 13 weeks pregnant, we had a fun Southern Weddings team photo session with Millie (where I delicately tried to cover my baby bump) and then three days after that, we moved! A new house and new office!  This was a whirlwind – as anyone knows who has moved ever – and such a huge blessing for us.  More space made room for all sorts of new growth in our lives, both personally and professionally.   And then… the day I hit 16 weeks pregnant, it was like the morning sickness cloud magically lifted.  Suddenly, the nausea disappeared and I started to feel like a human being again.  Oh my goodness, I was so grateful!   I even got some high-fives from the little one growing in my belly.   Thankfully, I started to feel better just in time to speak at Engage!11 at the end of May.  Just before I headed to California, I did my first maternity shopping and even posted the first baby bump pics for all to see. I got myself on a plane, spent a couple days with my 94 year-old Grandma Bunny (who was so excited!) and then headed to San Diego for Engage!11.  Between moving and maternity clothes and business booming as usual, it was an eventful time making all sorts of things happen.

June: Coming back from Engage!11, I was so fired up.  We had an epic team meeting when I returned that became the springboard for us to have our best year to date.  It’s remarkable to type all of this out and see that all of this happened in such a short time frame.  God is so good.  We saw over 200% company growth since that meeting in early June.  That fire I felt has just gotten stronger since and my team has sprouted some pretty remarkable wings.  Thanks to the return of my appetite, I also started to sprout quite the baby belly.  I gained a good 16 pounds that month!  Go baby, go!  Photo below by Gina Zeidler.

Let’s just say it was a month of growth in more ways than one.   I ran The Challenge again. I worked hard to rid myself of excuses for not being my best.  I knew that, if I was going to have a baby and be 100% committed to this baby when he or she arrived, I wanted to know I worked my hardest up to that day to get things in place.  That meant taking my company, staff, work, life and everything with it to the next level.   Ari and I traveled to DC together for a conference where he was speaking, I had a TON of branding work that month and – after much anticipation – we found out we were having a GIRL!  Yahooo!!!!

The moment we found out that she was a she, the fun really began!   Picking names, registering, decorating, oh my!  Do not – I repeat – do not attempt to be an overachiever and do all of these in one day, though.  I got a little overwhelmed while registering.  Understatement. Registering caused my first real prego meltdown. Despite said meltdown, all became well in registry land thanks to the help of my pregnancy angel, Emily, guiding me through it.  I could write a novel about how she has truly been sent from Heaven above as I’ve navigated pregnancy.  I love you, Emily Ley!  Ari and I finished June at my parent’s home in Florida and celebrated with my sister Kathy and my whole family.  Here is my June maternity session with Ms. Nancy.

July: How did I do July!?  Looking back on it, this month was appropriately packed full of fireworks!  On the heels of that fire that started to burn inside me in June, July was my month of taking big rewarding risks. I was determined to take action and give as much as possible.  We started layout on our fourth annual issue – V4, I did the Making Things Happen July Tour (Pensacola, Atlanta and New York) and then went straight to Charleston for a big V4 shoot. Pictured below during our model fitting at Maddison Row in Charleston.

Amidst all of this travel and hard work, God was really working hard on my heart.  I started to feel a sea change come over me as pregnancy began to settle into my soul.  There is a lot of fear when you first carry a child.  There are endless unknowns and uncertainties and all of these have forced me to truly learn to trust God more than I ever have… and in ways I never thought possible.  My faith started to grow, I started to get more involved in my church, studied the Bible more and I decided to take a scary risk and write to our sweet baby girl. That was a big hurdle for me.  I had so much fear that somehow I would lose her.  Writing to her – and taking Emily, Gina and Natalie‘s advice and starting to talk to her – opened my heart to trust.  Ari and I took a tour of the labor and delivery wing at Ari’s hospital where she would be born.  It all started to become very real.  The work I did during the MTH tour in July with Emily and Gina really cracked my heart open.  What a blessing that was and such perfect timing!  I came home from the Tour fired up and so ready to surrender to the changes happening in my heart.  My July maternity session with Nancy.

August: I declared war on the month of August, as I knew it was time to start getting things in place for this little dancing baby in my belly.  I started the month by flying back to Florida to speak at the Stationery Academy.   That was supposed to be my last speaking engagement for the year (I ended up doing another branding presentation here in Chapel Hill in September) since I was about to be barred from traveling.  It taught me so many wonderful things.

On August 15th, I wrote one of my favorite posts ever where we announced our little girl’s name. I’m printing this out for Grace’s baby album because I feel so connected to every single word.  God is so good!  Grace Austin Isaacson. Oh, how I love that name!   My mom threw a wonderful shower for Grace .  August brought so much growth and gratitude in my heart, which – looking back – prepared me for a difficult personal transition in our family that we didn’t expect.  It just made me more and more grateful to God, Ari and my dear friends for so much prayer and support.  I love you Emily, Gina, Natalie and the whole MTH family! At the end of August, my parents came to visit us here in Chapel Hill.  This was a very special visit that I will never forget. My mom brought so many goodies for Grace, including many of my baby clothes, books, photographs and precious family heirlooms.   My August session with Mrs. Ray and my parents.

September: This month was marked by magazine layout, final shoots, long days at my desk and a whole lot of exciting baby kicks!

Grace started growing like a weed and, as I neared 30 weeks pregnant, new things started to consume my thoughts.  New questions.  New fears about labor, delivery and being a mom.  I started reading every book in sight.  For those of you that know me, you know this is not like me.  I readily admit that, besides reading the Bible, I’m not a big reader in general and I don’t like reading instruction manuals.  I’d rather just figure it out myself.  I like being hands-on.  But, it started to dawn on me that a baby wasn’t something I wanted to just figure out. For me, the changes in my heart have come in profound waves.  God really does have perfect timing. At first, you think nine months sounds like forever.  Turns out, it’s just right.  I’m so grateful for this time that God has used to flip my heart inside out.  I felt such deeper clarity and confidence as each day passed. The weather started to grow cooler and, seamlessly with the change in season, I started to see more what was most important in life. For me, it has been – and continues to be – a remarkable season of letting go of what I thought mattered to make room for real love and joy.  A peace that passes all understanding.  What a gift – no matter how challenging – that has been!  Ari and I both experienced this change and started to feel closer than ever. I started to set new boundaries to plan for my maternity leave and we sent V4 off to the printer at the end of the month.  Hallelujah!  My September session with Nancy.

October: October began my official transition into maternity leave. With all the hats I wear around here, I knew it would take me several weeks to get things in order for our company to essentially function without me.  It was not easy at first to think of letting go.  As with every month, new fears and questions surfaced.  From crafting my birth plan to strong realizations about my priorities to unexpected tears to the gift of Sundays and seeing the big picture to more tears and remarkable love from my husband to seeing Grace’s beautiful face for the first time (oh my stars!!!) …

… to realizing this is really happening soon, God has been stretching me to truly TRUST and let go.  I’m getting there.  And I’m so grateful for the women I work with.  Words just can’t express how they have all blessed me during these months and especially now during this transition.  Emily, Emily, Marissa, Whitney, Sierra and Nicole have truly made me – the slightly OCD control-lover – feel like I can genuinely let go soon and turn over the reins to them with confidence and calm.  It’s a gift I know Grace will thank them for someday, too.   This week, V4 is on shelves nationwide (YEEHAW!!!!!) and very soon I will be turning my email over to Marissa and the ladies here as I move into the last days of my pregnancy.   I plan to take three months of leave, so I won’t be taking on new clients, meetings or projects until likely March 2012.  I know I’ll never get this time back, so the months ahead are just for Grace.

So much has happened and I couldn’t possibly include it in one blog post.  Writing all of this out makes me see so clearly how radical change in our lives is so possible.  You just never know what God will have in store for you, but you will only know if you listen, welcome all the “failures” and mistakes along the way as lessons and just. let. go.   There have been tears and so much fear and – all the while – a new joy.  I’ve laughed more in these nine months than I ever have. Pregnancy has genuinely been nothing like what I thought it would be.  When this all began, I was scared that a part of my life that was ending.  Well, it certainly was.  I just had no idea that one chapter had to close in order for a much better chapter to open!

November: yet to be written.  Most likely to be awesome.  God is truly good and I owe all of these blessings to Christ.  From that blessed day in February to now, I have been changed.  I pray for more and more change every day.  Thank you, Jesus, for nine months of your amazing amazing grace.

I can’t believe we have less than 20 or so days before we meet Grace!  The days are flying by now and I’m so excited to be a mom!  A HUGE thank you to so many friends who have cheered me on through these nine months.  Words just can’t begin to express my gratitude.  Ari and I feel so blessed to have such a supportive community of loved ones and can’t wait for this little dancing babe in my belly to meet you all very soon!   You can follow my journey daily, as Grace’s arrival grows closer, here on my Tumblr.

Love,

Between making babies happen, making brands happen, making things happen, making a magazine, a new house, new staff, shoots, consulting, travel and everything in between, there has been a whole lot happening since I last wrote here!  Hello, friends.  Hello, blog.  Nice to see you.  Sit a spell with me and I’ll quickly get you updated.

I was so honored (OK, really… I squealed and did some form of a really hilarious happy dance in getting the invite from R+ K!) and grateful to get the opportunity to speak on a branding panel at Engage!11 in San Diego recently.  Alongside my incredibly inspiring roomies Harmony Walton and Jasmine Star, I was so fired up to get to speak on a subject that fuels me beyond words… and to a group of professionals who inspires me to no end!  Full recap coming soon in my Engage!11 MegaPost, but I just had to say thank you again to the two women (and team) who gave me the remarkable gift to teach and learn and spend a week getting my heart and mind cracked wide open: Rebecca Grinnals and Kathyrn Arce.  If you know these two phenomenal women, you know what I mean!  There aren’t words large enough to express my gratitude.  This was my 6th Engage! and it just keeps getting better.  From the moment I got there, my mind started buzzing with new ideas that resulted in powerful changes taking place in our office since I’ve been back.  Big changes.  Remarkable advances.  And it’s just the beginning.  Thank you, Rebecca, Kathryn and all of the incredible professionals we shared that magical week with!  I wish I was going to be in Cayman for the next Engage!, but I will likely be in labor.  Literally, labor is the ONLY reason I would ever miss an Engage!  This video from Cloud Nine Creative says it all really…

Engage 11: Grand Del Mar // Wrap Film from Cloud Nine Creative on Vimeo.

Making Brands Happen makes my days light up!  Emily and I talk about 20 times a day and exchange an average of 80 emails every afternoon, making people’s authentic powerful creative brands come to life.  What started as an idea sketched out on a Delta barfbag somewhere over the Pacific on the way to Maui (really) to merge our two loves – design and branding -  turned into something we never dreamed possible!  We had no idea this would take off like it has with clients we adore more than words, but it just further confirms what I’ve always believed:  when you harness your core – your driving passion – nothing is impossible. 

The golden question in the SW office: How do we connect great vendors to the right brides to give them the experience of a lifetime on their big day?  My gut reaction answer is always: educate brides and build better businesses!  Great matchmaking and powerful experiences start at the core.  My mission is to change the wedding industry for the better from the inside out.  Building authentic, flourishing businesses gets me fired up! When a brand message is crystal clear, you attract the ideal clients who understand your true value.  When a company has built a remarkable client experience and brand culture based on that core brand message, fireworks happen!  That’s what I want for brides.  Fireworks!  The kind that are so brilliant and big that your parents didn’t want you to light them on your own when you were a kid.  Life-long memories and unforgettable experiences.  True authentic love to the power of infinity!   Oh, Heavens, don’t get me started!  I. love. this. work.  We’re now completely sold out for 2011 brand launches and have a waiting list for 2012 when I get back from maternity leave.  Get on the 2012 List.

I’ll be launching my own new branding soon that I can’t wait to share.  A little low-res iPhone peek at my new cards below.  Much more to come…

Well, butter my butt and call me a biscuit, V4 aka Volume Four of Southern Weddings Magazine is set to be our biggest and best issue yet!  Heavens to Betsy, is it ever! We’re still accepting PRINT SUBMISSIONS for this issue, so jump on it and send us your best! Shoot season is in full swing for us and our office is abuzz with deliveries, prop styling, brainstorming sessions, sketches and swatches.  Our Art Director, Emily Ayer, and our divine team are making all sorts of Southern wedding goodness happen.  I’m so grateful for the women I work with.  Photo below from our Southern Weddings charity yard sale by Nancy Ray.

Y’all need to come visit our office one day to fully understand their awesomeness.   Come on over!  Seriously.  We have a full fridge of sweet tea and Cheerwine ready for you.  A little sneak peek at our new team shoot from Millie Holloman below.  Love you, ladies!

I know you want baby updates.  UPDATED: We’re having a GIRL!!! SO grateful to have my first maternity session with the lovely Nancy Ray this week.  More to come…

Travel time! I’ll be back to my hometown to speak at The Stationery Academy in August.  Very excited about this… except it’s the last speaking engagement I’m letting myself do for the year before this baby arrives.  I love to speak more than anything and have had to – sadly – turn down 14 wonderful opportunities this fall all over the world, including two in Ireland!  My dream!  I know God has designed this plan for a perfect reason, though.  Said reason is currently kicking my bellybutton : )

Aaaaand my favorite news besides baby…  Emily, Gina and I are headed out on the road for a very short Making Things Happen tour!  All of the past 27 cities have SOLD OUT, so we expect this to as well.  We purposely chose places that are easy to travel to so you can make it happen.  With le bebe on the way, this is the last tour I’ll be able to do for likely a good year or so.  We’re headed to Pensacola, Atlanta and New York in just a few short weeks.   We’re also hosting a big alum event in Florida!   I couldn’t be more excited. I love this work more than I currently love black cherry popsicles (that’s a lot of love, people!) and can’t wait to see everyone soon to make some big things happen.  Seats are already filling fast.  Register before July 1 for the early-bird rate while you still can.

A soon-to-be-attendee recently asked me if any of the MTH alum keep in touch.  I told her that I had to giggle a little at her question.  Why?  For a year and a half, we’ve been lucky enough to be a part of 29 private Facebook groups – one for each MTH class, one for a student class from UNC and one big group for all MTH alum that we just launched.  Oh my word, these groups buzz with activity – encouragement, collaboration, feedback, motivation, updates, etc., etc. – on a minute to minute basis.  I always wish I could give people a peek into these private groups.  They motivate me to no end!  Accountability and continuing guidance are a cornerstone to lasting success.  Many thanks to the powers of Facebook technology and to the 400+ alum who inspire all of us every single day.  We love y’all so very much!  Be sure to follow MTH2011 on Tumblr and Twitter for daily inspiration and read the post that started it all.

SCHOLARSHIP: So, in the continuing spirit of giving back through Making Things Happen, we are opening one scholarship for this final 2011 tour.  Leave a comment here telling us what you want to make happen in 2011 (and which city you would like to attend).  Why do you want this? What is your passion? Deadline to comment is JULY 4th at midnight. One scholarship seat will be announced that week!   Life is too short to play small.  So, spread the word and get on it.  We cannot wait to meet you soon!

OK, back to making all of this happen, friends. 

Blessings,

P.S. Happy 39th wedding anniversary, Mom and Dad! I love you!

P.P.S. Happy Father’s Day weekend, y’all! Join the Father of the Bride gushfest…

I’m excited to announce my partnership with Emily Ley Creative that marries effective, authentic, powerful visual branding with clear, purposeful, dynamic strategy: Making Brands Happen.  Emily and I saw a great need for creatives to be able to have a seamless, simple way to bring brilliant ideas and unique brands to life.  This partnership has been a long time coming and the second all the pieces aligned it was like fireworks. There are so many options out there, but none of them encompassed everything our clients needed …and got it done in an efficient time frame   …and for a fee that allows you to make it happen with confidence. Making Brands Happen is the answer.

We’re only taking 6 clients per month and we’re just about full for the next three months. So, jump on it if you want a new brand or a rebrand for 2011. Reserve your spot now before we are all booked.  The process is easy, fast and we’ve made it affordable with flexible payment plans because money is one of the biggest things that holds people back from making more of it!.  The results will blow you out of the water! 

The process begins with an in-depth review and strategy development sessions. Then, ELC comes in to develop and design a visual identity – including a new color palette, logo, fonts, patterns, graphic elements and collateral to tie your identity together. Just a few sessions – and four short weeks – later, you have a seriously strong, transformed brand and marketing strategy, as well as all of your design files and a Style Guide to carry your visual identity consistently across multiple platforms.

Some notes on branding: Your “brand” is the combination of your visual identity and your client experience. Most people think that having a great looking website, slick business cards and a few color-coordinated collateral items means you have a great brand. While those things are key, they are just your first impression. A great visual identity creates attraction, trust, and gets your foot in the door. An extraordinary client experience and brand culture create lasting powerful success. A great brand has a heart, integrity, purpose and consistency. A great brand anticipates desires and always OVERdelivers to the client. A great brand doesn’t sell you a product; it sells you a way of life. Would your ideal client want to live your current brand’s way of life? Is every aspect of your identity – website, business cards, social media, blog format, collateral, email correspondence, watermark, packaging, workflow, voicemail greeting – building up your brand, or are you just getting by? That’s what I’m here for – to help you evaluate where you are now and where you need to be to make big things happen in your business. Once we target the heart of your brand, what makes you tick and what will help your ideal client see your ultimate value, Emily steps in to create a visual identity that really sings. It’s pretty simple. Brand experience + brand image = powerful branding.

Whether you know exactly what you want or you are just in the first stages with a new idea… whether new to the business with loads of questions or a seasoned pro that needs a branding facelift… whether photographer, planner, writer, designer, stationer, or any creative professional… let us know what you are thinking and we will help you fill in the missing pieces.  Just remember – all big ideas start somewhere.  No matter what path you choose, you just have to start.  ‘A year from now you will wish you had started today.’ Life is too short to play small.  Your dreams are too powerful to just think about them.  Act!  You never know where that leap of faith will take you.  All you have to do now is take that baby step to BEGIN.

Remove the word trying from your vocabulary.  You’re either doing it or you aren’t. – Ralph Marston No more excuses.  You have a choice to be remarkable.  We look forward to making it happen for you.

LC

To kick off this new year ahead (only 37 days left in 2010 – wow!), we’re giving away a mini Making Brands Happen package.  One session with me to dig deep into where your brand needs to go and one session with Emily to develop your brand board.  Start 2011 with a bang!  Leave a comment here telling us why you want this and what you want to make happen in 2011. Ends January 7th.

UPDATED to add: Congratulations to our winner! Due to the success of Making Brands Happen for our clients, we now offer three different levels of service. All the details: Making Brands Happen.

I’m writing this on a plane. What’s new?  And yes, I did say I was leaving the laptop at home.  You caught me.  I won’t use it much, though.  I promise.  I’ll be too distracted by the beach and a very special traveler who, due to his rad schedule, never gets to go anywhere with me: my husband.  This is the first trip we’ve taken together since we went to Vegas last year before WPPI.  The last trip before that?  Hawaii four years ago.  So, it’s about time!  We’re headed to Kona for 6 days for his best friend’s wedding.  His BFF, Mike, was actually my… um… maid/man of honor?  Yes, at our Vegas wedding he was my MOH.  So excited to see all of our friends from LA and actually go to a gorgeous wedding.  Then, I’ll head to Oahu for a few individual MTH/branding intensives and several site tours for a destination weddings feature and a little something I’m cooking up for the blog.  I have one slot left for an individual intensive while I’m in Hawaii, so speak now or forever… wish you had?  OK, forgive my lack o’ witty wedding-reference humor.  4 hours of sleep and 14+ hours on planes today…

I am a firm believer in giving knowledge away freely.  I did two Twitter series’ entitled Get Branded and Get Published.  I plan on doing many more and working hard to use this blog to educate in as many ways as I can.  In my opinion, we’re supposed to build one another up in love and to encourage each other to grow, using all of our talents to do so.  It’s part of my personal mission.  I’ve said it before: I don’t believe in competition.  If we’re all helping each other to be our best selves, we raise the collective level of success in our industry. Yes, there are lots of things I won’t give up unless you pay me for a formal consult and lots of things I can’t give away because of the obvious: consulting is personal, tailored and specific to that brand’s needs.  Speaking of which, I have 4 consulting slots left for the next 6 weeks.  (My calendar would make your head explode.)  If you want one of the four, email me now.  Anyway, I re-posted both the Get Branded and Get Published series’ here on the blog.  Read them.  Tweet me more questions.  I’m happy to answer. pic below :: poser.

I just got back from speaking at Eventology on “Building Your Team,” and it was the most challenging speaking topic I’ve tackled thus far.  Yes, I have a great team. It may seem easy to run a team of people who are already great, but the biggest mistake you can make when leading is to think it’s just common sense and that you can “wing” team leadership. Leading is work. The hardest work I’ve ever done. Yes, harder than putting together a magazine and any combination of items on my plate. Why? It challenges you to be your best self, every day, no matter what.  Let me be very clear: it’s not about trying to be perfect so there is an appearance of strength; it’s about genuinely working to change so that you truly lead and grow by example… failures and all.  There’s no more powerful way to lead than that. If I slack, complain, forget, or, yes, fail, it affects us all.  Granted, there’s a great deal to be learned by a leader failing gracefully as opposed to someone who’s perfect all the time. pic below :: jen lynne.

My best takeaway from years of learning everything the hard way and finally coming out on top? Lead by example. Lead well. Fail well. Thank you so much to Katasha, the whole Eventology crew, my fellow speakers Sasha Souza, Terrica Skaggs, Saundra Hadley, Harmony Walton, and all of the amazing professionals we met.  Behind the scenes tidbit: my Eventology presentation was the very first PowerPoint I ever made.  Yes, I’ve laid out three magazines and never made a PowerPoint.  They didn’t exactly teach us that at Carnegie Mellon.  #educationfail  I spent a good 30 hours on it.  Note to self: next time just make a PowerPoint, not a mini magazine.

I also had the pleasure of speaking at the Indy ISES meeting on branding while I was there.  Such a great group!  There were some minor internet issues, so I used my new-found PowerPoint skills and created a 48 page presentation in 9 minutes.  No joke. Thanks to Melissa from Royal Events for hosting us and to all the attendees for a great afternoon.  It was a fun few days in Indy!

I’m honored to be speaking at Engage 10 :: Breakers this year.  I’ll be attending on the media panel for Engage Cayman, too, so come say hello! I’ve been to three Engage conferences so far and I don’t plan on missing a single one in the future.

Past recaps: Engage08 :: Celebration, Engage09 :: Cayman MegaPost!, Engage09 :: Encore Las Vegas.  Rebecca and Kathryn always raise the bar with these luxury wedding business summits and this year is just beyond incredible.

Cayman’s lineup:



In October at the Breaker’s I’ll be joined by:



Hello!  Someone pinch me!!!! If you have any questions about my past experiences at Engage, please email me.  I’d be happy to share and answer any questions.

We’re hard at work on the next issue. I finally opened the massive (and I mean massive) folder of cover submissions in my inbox.   Oh my goodness, we received some very creative creatives.  Thank you, thank you!

Lots of people have asked for critiques, so I will be writing a post on how to put together creatives and how to best market yourself to editors. I’ll be choosing the top cover submissions this week and will announce them when I get back.  That is why I brought my computer.  Time to get these killer cover shoots rolling!  P.S. We have a brand new media kit.  Want a copy?  Email Katharine. She won’t bite.  Unless, of course, you withhold her daily dose of Smarties.

I got a very encouraging letter in the mail yesterday from our magazine distributor. Our sales are 40% above the national average. In today’s magazine economy, you may not think that that is saying much, but it’s a pretty significant statistic. I also got word today that Barnes and Noble wants to push more copies through of our current issue to Southeastern stores.  OK, first of all, that does not happen.  Our issue dropped in November.  Needless to say, we’re thrilled.  I have 3 tons of magazines in my garage.  I’m so glad they’re about to get new homes!  We’ve been featuring a lot of behind-the-scenes images on the blog lately, so be sure to check these never-before-seen images out and get yourself a copy.

Some favorites: Watercolor with Fred Egan (as shown above), Watercolor with Jory Cordy, Watercolor with Kyle Barnes, Watercolor with Jeff Holt, our Serenbe Cover Shoot with Jeremy Cowart.  Sidenote:  I readily admit that I have asked a lot of dumb questions since I started publishing Southern Weddings.  Adriel, my distribution agent, has been so patient and kind explaining things in layman’s terms and walking me through the perils of publishing.  I’ve had to make a lot of hard choices, holding firm to our core values in content: real, personal, relatable. More often than I’d like, that means making choices that err on the side of long-term vision and brand integrity vs. short-term cash.  We turn down advertisers who just don’t fit us, weddings that are too luxurious for our brides to relate to and sponsors that want to run the show.  I’m not complaining.  From someone who has no formal background in publishing or marketing (or business, for that matter!), I’m very happy with where this path has taken us.

Little-known fact: I plan and design weddings.  I know I know… you’re thinking, how in the world do you have time?  How do you do it? Please refer to said amazing team in point number 3.  I have, however, progressively limited the amount I take as my schedule intensifies each year.  This year I took 3 weddings and I have two left: both gorgeous; both incredible brides (hi Sara and Nameeta!).

Why do it still?  I love it.  It’s in my blood and it’s how I got started in this industry almost seven years ago.  Here’s a recent favorite that we did last May with Our Labor of Love.  Weddings are the ultimate creative challenge.

I went to school for music, theatre, dance and design.  Production is what I know and what fuels me. pics above :: my iphone.

Weddings are essentially a production – lighting, sound, a script, design, music, and surprises all wrapped into one big beautiful day.   It also serves to keep me grounded and aware of the challenges that planners and photographers face.  I’m not an editor who went to school for journalism and just happens to like weddings because they’re pretty.  I’m in the trenches too.  “The trenches” are hard work, but fun.  Sometimes I kick myself and wonder why I take on so much.  Then, I send a bride down the aisle and see the look on her face when she walks into her reception.  I’m grateful for the opportunity to create and I love the brides I get the honor of working with.  They’ve all become dear life-long friends.  Pic above :: Kyle Barnes

OK, fast forward to sitting in our room at the gorgeous Mauna Lani, looking out at the volcano in the distance.  Minus the 6 hour time difference that had me up at 4am, it’s so good to be here with Ari.

Check out these welcome bags that greeted us!  So, this update is rather random because I have a backlog of info to share.  I want to start blogging at least 3x a week, shorter posts, more on the fly.  Emily always gets on me about my epic posts.  But, I censor myself, I craft, I perfect, and I tend to get really nervous before putting a post out.  I have several people read it.  I nitpick.  I’m afraid that if I write like I think, it will come out too vulnerable, emotional, real.  That’s me.  So, what do y’all want me to write about?  I want to hear from you.  Leave me a comment with any thoughts on what you want more of on the blog.

Life in general has been a turn from burnout to a serious search for clarity and balance to finding quite a bit of it lately.  I got to go home a couple weeks ago and discovered some pictures that made me think about child-like unabashed joy. I want that in my life. I love this picture of a childhood friend and I having a picnic. I’m not sure who made who laugh first, but this makes my heart smile. I posted a bunch more on facebook.

In all the craziness of my life – the schedule, the travel, the team to manage, the busy businesses, and the constant surprises, I need God.  I am fallible, I make selfish mistakes, and I have so much to learn and mature into.  I talk about my relationship with God here on the blog because my whole point in starting this thing was to take you on this authentic journey with me.  It’s a journey to find joy and discover my best self.  My goal has been to be as honest as possible about how I really make things happen.  As a rather emotional, sensitive INFP, my relationship with God is what keeps me together.  It’s a daily challenge and a practice.  I have recently made the choice to not work on Sundays… at all.  It has taken me far too long to get to this point.  I love my work.  I get really easily bored when I’m not working.  Hello, I mean I’m writing this in Hawaii when I could be on the beach, but doing this right now satisfies me more.  I’ve come to look forward to Sunday all week long.  I get up early, workout, go to church and sing my heart out, then come home to do Bible study for a few hours.  It’s been life-changing to make that time.  I’ve also been reading The 4 Hour Workweek in my travels and it is seriously blowing my mind.  Tim Ferriss is my soul mate.  I’m taking my time to read it and digest, but I’ve already applied so much of the book successfully to my life and our work days.  Key points: work smarter, less hours, more efficiently.  I will be writing an extended post on balance soon with a full post on how I’ve tackled what my studies are teaching me.

Since I couldn’t fit all of you in my suitcase, I want to bring a little Aloha spirit to you!

Leave a comment telling me about your dream vacation and enter to win either a strand of Hawaiian freshwater pearls, Kona coffee, or a collection of macadamia nut and coconut goodies.

Three winners, your choice on the prize!  You have till the day I leave here (next Thursday, the 6th of May) to enter.

Mahalo, y’all!

xo

lc

Oh, hello blog.  It’s been a while.  I’ve been a little afraid of you, to be honest.  Too much on my calendar?  check.  Not enough sleep?  check.  Overextending myself as usual.  check.  A ridiculous period of severe burnout after returning from WPPI?  Yes, ma’am! (Yes, my blog is apparently a chick.)  I’m actively working on the burnout.  By “actively” I mean working my tush off to change my quality of life and ability to step. away. from. my. Mac.  Post to follow.

So, amidst my recent travels from Vegas to Denver to Los Angeles to Raleigh to New York to DC and back to NC again this past Sunday, I’ve been working diligently with my lovely team to produce Southern Weddings Volume 3… aka awesomesauce.  It has not been easy.  The more I grow and learn, the pickier I get and the harder it is to please my eye.  I’ve said “no” much more than usual on this issue.  I think Emily has started to fear showing me submissions.  Kidding.  She’s incredible and refining her eye as well.  I want great imagery, moving love stories, epic details, the best products, a ton of surprises and inspiring submissions that make me dream big. I’ve filled my desk with clippings, covers that make me swoon, and loads of inspiration.  (recent contents of my carry-on seen here)

In an effort to help you help me (hello, Jerry McGuire), I started a Twitter series last week called #GetPublished.  I want you to do well and “wow” me.  In my opinion, the more we all teach each other, the more we raise our collective level of success as an industry.  I don’t believe in competition.  I’ll tell you if a great wedding is better for another magazine or if I think you should advertise with them instead of me.  I do it all the time because I’d want the same.  So, I’m vowing to try to give as much knowledge and help away as possible in the months to come.  Anyway, I digress.

I’ve been wracking my brain over our next cover.  The stakes are set pretty high considering our last two stellar cover photographers.  (Thank you, Jose and Jeremy)

The photographer I had in mind doesn’t shoot bridal anything anymore, according to her agents.  Swoon…

Soooo… I asked a magical question that opened up the floodgates: who wants to shoot our next cover? Seconds after I asked the question and my phone buzzed and beeped so much that I had to turn it off.  It died within 30 minutes from all the activity!

So, you want to shoot our cover? The following is part exercise for you (it’s imperative that you learn to present shoot ideas with a clear vision and direction to editors/commercial clients) and a lot of help for me to get to know you as an artist.  Even if you don’t end up shooting my next cover, I’ll get to know your passion and vision for future projects.

To be considered, show me what you’ve got!

1. Put together a very short “creative”: 1 part story that you want to tell through the image, 1 part what fashion and accessories you would use, 2 parts location, and 5 parts visual storyboard for what you envision.  Pull images from various sources that paint the visual picture for me of the fashion, styling, location and atmosphere.  Wrap it all up in a nice little low-res pdf and send it on over. (Please put “V3 COVER” in the subject of your email) Nothing fancy.  If you have a vision, this should take you all of 20 minutes.  Keep the text minimal.  This is all about imagery and my gut reaction to your vision.

2. Here’s what I want out of this cover and I’m going to be vague on purpose: summer, blonde model, aqua/teal, hints of orange and gold, very fresh.  (If another magazine steals my scheme, you can see the time stamp on this post, y’all!)

3. This issue drops at the end of July.  You have to have time to do this shoot.  I prefer it is shot in the South, but that’s not necessarily a requirement.

UPDATED: We’ve decided to take the top submissions and help each photographer/stylist produce each shoot.  We’ll give you all the inside secrets on exactly what we want so you can execute the vision.  More details to come, but essentially you are guaranteed publication in either print or online if we pick you for production… and no matter what you’ll have great new material for your portfolio. So, team up with stylists, makeup artists and bridal salons to bring this cover shoot vision to life!  Please include your list of preferred vendors in your creative. If we choose you, we’ll help you get pull-letters for models if needed, guide the styling so it’s exactly what we are looking for, and help you blow it out of the water.

And just so you know, I don’t need a huge name for this cover.  That’s why I’m opening this opportunity to anyone.  I just need an epic image.  Anyone can apply.  Deadline to send me your creative brief is Monday April 12th. Bring it, y’all!  A little reminder…

If you are applying to shoot the cover, leave a comment below letting me know you’ll be submitting (tell me a little bit about what you envision while you’re at it!)  Have a question?  Put it in the comment box below so everyone can benefit.

As a bonus, I’ll choose one random comment as the winner of one of my favorite new books: It’s Not How Good You Are, It’s How Good You Want to Be: The World’s Best-Selling Book (thank you, Jory, for the recommendation!) Winner will be chosen on April 15th.

Be sure to follow along with my How to #GetPublished series and stay tuned for my #GetBranded series coming next.

xo

lc

PS – Today is our 2 year blogaversary.  Thank you for two joyful years, friends.

My good friend Nick Onken continuously blows me away with his drive and brilliant ability to take a concept to reality.  This guy really makes things happen.  (read his great post on it here)  His images are remarkable, his work ethic is like no one I’ve ever known, and his innate sense of branding is spot on.  He just launched a brand new site and blog that has garnered rave reviews.  I remember sitting in his office seeing unfinished previews and having to pull my jaw off the floor.  It may look simple and sleek, but it’s a beast of a site!  My favorite feature (besides just the ridiculous images): click on any image and add it to a lightbox, tweet it or download a larger version.  Simple.  Perfect.

On a personal note, he inspires me to truly live with all five senses.  I share Nick’s love for experiencing new places, tastes and laughter with great friends.  When we get the rare chance to see each other and go out to dinner with friends, Nick does all the ordering.  This has been officially titled “Onken Family Dinners” or “OFD”.  If you get the chance to experience an OFD with Nick, run to get your seat.  My mother is a trained French chef, so I grew up with adventurous taste buds, but Nick blows mine out of the water.  Jeff, Nick, Sandi, Ari and I recently had what I have dubbed the best meal of my life thus far.  After eight courses at NY’s Graffiti, I was in foodie heaven.  This place was the size of my bedroom.  There was no walking room between the some 40 people that were packed into this little hole in the wall.  The food was expertly prepared and plated and, just like much of New York, you would never know this place existed or that one of the best chefs in the city was behind it.  Did I mention he also waited on us?  Best.  Meal.  Ever.

OK, my stomach digressed.

I’m excited to fly to NY in March for Nick’s book release party and I’ve asked him to be a featured speaker with Jeff and I at Making Things Happen New York that week.  His book, Photo Trekking, has been a labor of love for him and the result is incredible.  After seeing an advance copy on a recent visit, I asked Mr. Onken to shed some light on the creation of his first book and share a few favorite images…

What is Photo Trekking about? Photo Trekking is an educational travel photography book that gives insights to a range of audiences from the amateur looking to take better photos, to photographers wanting to learn a little more about the travel photography business. The book is written from my perspective of how I shoot travel work and what I see. It contains stories of images I’ve shot from around the world. The book is derived from my passion of travel and photography combined.

Why did you decide to undertake this project? I undertook this project in big part because it’s a lot of who I am and what I love. My biggest passions in life are travel and photography. Sharing what I’ve learned along the way is another part of who I am as a person and a brand. When someone threw the idea at me to write an educational book on travel photography it was everything combined.

What was the most difficult part about the process of making Photo Trekking, from beginning to end? The most difficult part of the process was not realizing how much of an undertaking this project actually was. Curating images, prepping them for press, and most of all sitting down to write the manuscript. All these things proved to be more time consuming than you could ever think. Isn’t that always the case for us artists though?

What was the best part about making Photo Trekking? The best part of making Photo Trekking was curating the images, because it conjured up all the memories around the images. Where I was, the people I was with, the smells, the sounds etc. That is the amazing thing about being a photographer and experiencing new places. The photographs take you back and paint vivid memories. In creating the book, I had to look at these images and remember the stories that took place around them. It became very reminiscent.

Who is Photo Trekking for? There are a range of audiences the book can appeal to, the amateur photographer looking to take better photos, avid travelers with that desire to learn to see travel in a different way, and prosumers who want a glimpse into the business of photography. Also, people who just enjoy looking at pretty travel photos from around the world.

Would you like to put together another book?  What about? I would love to put together another book. About what I haven’t quite decided yet. I’m still working on getting this one out the door which has proven to be a lot of hard work. My next book will probably be a more specific project in the travel realm. We’re looking at doing a book on the charity project I just shot in Laos.

Why Pencils of Promise? Pencils of Promise is the charity I just shot for in Laos. They build schools for kids in Laos, and are spreading to countries around the world. A big part of my philosophy which is talked about in the book is teaming up with NGO’s or non-profits to A: give back and B: to travel to places deeper in a country that you normally would. When I met with the founder of PoP we clicked right away. We both have similar outlooks on life as well as passions. After talking to him, I was pumped to be a part of the organization and work with him. We set up a time that he would be there to go travel and do the 6 day shoot. We went to the little villages where they have schools built and are building them. We went to document and build branding imagery for them. It was an amazing experience. See images from this shoot at: http://bit.ly/nickonken_PoP

What most excites you about the months ahead? I’m excited for more travels and more adventures to come. My commercial career is really taking off, and another passion of mine. I’m really loving the big productions for big brands and the energy that goes along with the shoots. I’m excited to experience more of the world, new foods, new cultures and the unknown to come. The beauty of my life and career is that I’ve designed it to be able to do what I want and love. I can choose to hop a plane to another country in the drop of a hat if I want to. It’s taken a crazy amount of hard work to get to this point in my life, but it’s been worth it. It will always be hard work, but if you choose a job you love you’ll never work a day in your life.

Favorite moment you’ve had on a shoot recently. One of my favorite moments was on the Pencils of Promise shoot. We rented motorcycles and drove to one of the villages about an hour from town. You don’t really feel like you’re traveling till you hop on a motorcycle and weave through the madness of a third world country’s roads.

Favorite moment shooting something other than work recently. One of my other passions is food. If eating was a sport I’d be a pro. We’ve created a little thing called Onken Family Dinners where we get a small group of people together and go to a great restaurant. Good food, good wine and good people create great memories. We’ve had a few great ones recently. Other moments that stand out are New York moments. It’s a great phenomenon where you stand beside yourself in this city and you feel like you’re in a movie. I’ve had many of those in the last 7 months of living here. Sometimes it’s the being on a train, walking down a classic ny street, or sitting in a quaint little ny restaurant with great friends as the snow is covering everything in white outside the window. I love experiencing life with the five senses.

You are close friends with some phenomenal photographers.  Tell us about how those relationships have affected you. I’m a big believer in surrounding yourself with people that push you to be a better person, and better at what you do. I enjoy having friends that are talented photographers because it pushes me to take better photos and be better at business. With all higher profile photographer friends Jeremy Cowart, Joey L, Stephanie Rausser, Chase Jarvis, Jeff Lipsky we all inspire each other by doing what we do and all in different ways. Mad respect to them for doing what they do, and doing it well.

Tell us a funny photography story. When Jeff Holt and I were traveling in Iceland, and deciding to forge rivers in our rented Ford Escape. I decide to video him driving through the river. He decided to floor it in the middle causing the front end to dive under water and almost submerge the vehicle. It almost killed the engine and we would have been stranded in the middle of nowhere.

Dream celeb client. Here’s four: Sienna Miller, Jessica Alba, Brad Pitt, Johnny Dep.

Describe your work in one word. Moments.

Finish the sentence: I’m dying to shoot Sienna Miller.

What you feel you’re good at: taking pictures and business development/branding.

What you feel you’re bad at: Administrative work.

What inspires you? New cultures, new experiences, great food, passionate, smart, motivated and driven people.

What is your most significant photography achievement thus far? I would have to say this book. It’s not every day you get a book published by a major publishing house like Random House.

What’s in your camera bag? Smart answer: Cameras.  Tech answer: Canon 1Ds MKIII, Canon 5DMKII, Canon 20mm f2.8, Canon 35mm f1.4L, Canon 50mm f1.2L, Canon 85mm f1.2L, Canon 70-200mm f2.8, Sekonic Light Meter, Sharpie Pens, Customs form, a couple of pocket hard drives, lens cloths, battery chargers, model release forms, flashlight, card reader, gum.

Tell us something we don’t know about you. I used to be a knife salesman.

Three most valuable things to you in business. Talent, Hard work, Branding

Best advice for photographers who want to learn. Keep shooting, work hard, and know you want it.

What’s next for you? More travels and more adventures. I don’t plan much more than 2 weeks in advance because the commercial world is so crazy like that. I could be in Brazil next week for all I know.

Lastly, Nick… this image is from me to you. Thank you for inspiring me daily and for always creating the best party in my tummy ever.

Win an exclusive autographed copy of of Nick’s new book before it even hits shelves! How to enter:

Requirement 1: leave a comment here with the link to your favorite image on Nick’s new site and why you love it.  I can’t wait to hear your thoughts!  I had such a hard time picking a favorite, but the header image in this post always makes me happy.

Get bonus entries by: Tweeting your favorite image (it’s easy- just click the image and click “tweet”), leaving a comment on Nick’s facebook fan page, following @NickOnken, or tweeting this post (that’s easy too… click the link below to tweet this!)

The winner will be chosen at random on March 3. Get inspired. Get on it!

xo

lc

I did a Twitter poll asking people which cities they most want the Making Things Happen™ Intensive tour to visit. Here’s what you told me, starting with cities that got the most votes. (I only included places that got more than one vote)

Los Angeles, New York City, Chicago, Atlanta, Nashville, Dallas, Las Vegas, Houston, Denver, Pittsburgh, Hawaii, Raleigh, San Francisco, Austin, Charlotte, Orlando, Cayman, Washington DC, Minneapolis, Portland, Orange County, Monterey Bay, San Diego, Tampa, Saratoga, Santa Cruz, Seattle, Charleston, Richmond, Australia, Costa Rica, Wilmington, Detroit, Grand Rapids, Baltimore, Traverse City, Telluride, Little Rock, Philadelphia, Miami, Memphis, Indianapolis, Berkley, Oakland, Puerto Rico, Jacksonville, Savannah, Eugene, Napa, and Jackson Hole.

I listened.  The top cities have been confirmed!  Until January 1st, I’m giving early bird registration pricing for the following cities.  After January 1st, pricing will increase.  Each city has a different size limit and some cities may be broken up into two days depending on demand (highly possible for LA and Atlanta).

Dallas :: January 14th *the entire Southern Weddings team will be there for this one!

Seattle :: January 16th *guest speakers: Blair and Christy from Junebug Weddings

Los Angeles :: January 18th *guest speaker: Jose Villa

Minneapolis :: January 20th

Chicago :: January 22nd

Atlanta :: February 8th *guest speaker: Stacie Francombe of Get Married

Nashville :: February 10th *guest speaker: Jeremy Cowart

Las Vegas :: March 7th during WPPI

Denver :: March 11th

New York City :: March 22nd *guest speaker: Nick Onken

Washington DC :: March 24th

Raleigh :: March 29th

Hawaii :: TBD

Pittsburgh (Go CMU!) :: TBD

This is your year and my goal is to make sure you harness it to its fullest potential.  Why am I doing this?  Because I’ve come to realize that life is just too short.  Every moment should be lived with a sense of adventure, excitement, and knowing that you are on the right path in your life’s work.  It’s time, ya’ll.  It’s time to make big things happen in your business.  You know where you want to go.  Let’s do this.

Want the inside scoop from someone who has experienced #MTH2010? Watch this and check out what people are saying.

I can’t wait to start this journey and meet everyone on the way!  Who’s coming with me?

xo lc

image credit :: kyle barnes shot at the Winter Shoot last week in Breckenridge, Colorado