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For the past 4 years, we've had the best scary house on the block. It takes Ingrid and I two days to set up and one day to tear down. This year, we decided to take a break. There's just too much going on. You can bet that next year will be better than ever. I'll still dress up tonight in my costume....and do my best to make at least one kid cry.
Yesterday, I photographed a wonderful couple from Texas. They had their wedding at The Montage Resort & Spa. Jeannie and Brooke from Details Details coordinated this wonderful Monday wedding. We had such a great team. Square Root did the flowers, Linda Goldsheft from The Cake Studio made the cake, Peter from Vive provided the music, and Elysium rocked the video with another killer same day edit. Enjoy!
Tony Robbins is a great self awareness coach. He uses easy to understand analogies and illustrations to make his points and he has wonderful energy and enthusiasm. You can learn many life changing perspectives from his books, but you have to read (or listen) to learn. Enjoy:)
"Awaken the Giant Within" - How to Take Immediate Control of Your Mental, Emotional, Physical and Financial Destiny! was written by Anthony Robbins back in 1992. It is 544 pages of the man's motivational techniques and self help tips. Awaken the Giant Within covers a wide range of topics, from goal setting, to Neuro-linguistic programming (NLP), personal finance, and relationships.The book comes across as fast paced and entertaining, just like he is on his many infomercials. It covers a lot of material, with much of it requiring you to make positive changes and work on yourself. So it is probably best skimmed, before going back to chapters that relate most to your life.
Robbins uses a lot of techniques that are either influenced by or are taken from the pseudoscientific principles of Neuro-linguistic programming (NLP). But Awaken the Giant Within is more than a book derived from NLP, it is a manual for life. If one technique or chapter does not work for you, there are plenty more in the book that can.
Anthony Robbins has copped plenty of criticisms for his infomercials, his personal life, and his high priced seminars, but Awaken the Giant Within is a self help classic.
Awaken the Giant Within Book Quotes
"After making a true decision, even a tough one, most of us feel a tremendous amount of relief. We've finally gotten off the fence! And we all know how great it feels to have a clear, unquestionable objective." Tony Robbins
"The truth is that we can learn to condition our minds, bodies, and emotions to link pain or pleasure to whatever we choose. By changing what we link pain and pleasure to, we instantly change our behaviors." Tony Robbins
"The past doesn't equal the future. All great leaders, all people who have achieved in any area of life, know the power of continuously pursuing their vision, even if all the details of how to achieve it aren't yet available." Tony Robbins
Here's another great story for overcoming adversity. Have a blessed day:)
A parable is told of a farmer who owned an old mule. The mule fell into the farmer's well. The farmer heard the mule 'braying' - or - whatever mules do when they fall into wells. After carefully assessing the situation, the farmer sympathized with the mule, but decided that neither the mule nor the well was worth the trouble of saving. Instead, he called his neighbors together and told them what had happened...and enlisted them to help haul dirt to bury the old mule in the well and put him out of his misery. Initially, the old mule was hysterical! But as the farmer and his neighbors continued shoveling and the dirt hit his back...a thought struck him. It suddenly dawned on him that every time a shovel load of dirt landed on his back...HE SHOULD SHAKE IT OFF AND STEP UP! This he did, blow after blow. "Shake it off and step up...shake it off and step up...shake it off and step up!" he repeated to encourage himself. No matter how painful the blows, or distressing the situation seemed the old mule fought "panic" and just kept right on SHAKING IT OFF AND STEPPING UP! You're right! It wasn't long before the old mule, battered and exhausted, STEPPED TRIUMPHANTLY OVER THE WALL OF THAT WELL! What seemed like it would bury him, actually blessed him...all because of the manner in which he handled his adversity. THAT'S LIFE! If we face our problems and respond to them positively, and refuse to give in to panic, bitterness, or self-pity...THE ADVERSITIES THAT COME ALONG TO BURY US USUALLY HAVE WITHIN THEM THE POTENTIAL TO BENEFIT AND BLESS US! Remember that FORGIVENESS--FAITH--PRAYER-- PRAISE and HOPE...all are excellent ways to "SHAKE IT OFF AND STEP UP" out of the wells in which we find ourselves! - Author Unknown
One cold November morning I noticed a sunflower coming into bloom on my patio. It was growing up from a crack between the house and the paving stones underneath the birdfeeder.The little flower stood straight up. It had a thin stem with mottled green leaves and a small, round burst of bright yellow on top. It would never have made it into any flower shows, that's for sure. It was stunted, its bloom a crush of petals squashed together around its centre. They stuck up and out like a spikey hair-do, the biggest one no more than three-quarters of an inch long. It was a scrawny, misshapen little flower, and to me it was beautiful.
Beside it stood its much larger, and at one time, much grander sibling. A big, broad, perfectly formed flower once adorned the main stem. Five perfectly formed miniature versions of itself branched out below like accessories accentuating its beauty. But now, its leaves were crinkled and brown, the stalk yellowed like hay, the dry wilted flowers hanging down in petrified stillness. It had a different beauty now.
I sat and looked at these two flowers, and I wondered why I enjoyed them so much. I asked myself what they meant to me. The answer was very clear. They were a reminder to me of the mighty, unstoppable power of the life force. I looked at the little flower standing so proud and thought about will and determination, the carriers of that force. I remembered that struggles can be won and great things can be achieved against all odds... summer sunflowers do grow outside in the cold, dark days of early winter.
Looking at the splendor of each flower, I saw the glory of life past and the promise of life now, and I was reminded that renewal is a necessary part of life. It is what keeps life on this planet vibrant and alive. I was reminded renewal is a constant. Life never stops. And as I watched the bright splash of yellow dancing with abandon against the gray, windy skies, I remembered that renewal carries with it the seeds of hope and great joy.
In this world there is strife. There is hardship, and there is suffering. There is inequity. There is injustice. There is also abundant beauty amidst it all. And within that beauty there are reminders tucked away everywhere, encouraging us to persist, to strive, and to bring our dreams for a better world to life. We have only to open our hearts and look, and we will see them.
--- Copyright © 2001 Sally Scott
I had a blast talking to Cypress College students Wednesday night who are aspiring wedding photographers. My friend Greg Bumatay is teaching the class and asked if I would share some insight with the students. "The Actual Joey Himself" is one of the students and had the following to say on his blog yesterday.
Joe Photo spoke at photo class.
He came by last night for the wedding photography class that I am in this semester. Needless to say, the class did not expect an overly animated and extremely passionate metro sexual dude to be speaking. Usually the class asks a lot of questions, but they were pretty entertained and shocked to just listen to Joe explain all of his styles from getting clients to sign retainers, to how he handles the mother-in-laws, and his post wedding rituals with wine and quesadillas (which I was able to witness first hand last saturday).
Greg sent me the following images. I plan to post some of the students work next week. It was great to be back in school. Have a beautiful weekend:)
Consider the following idea and have a blessed day. You make a difference.
" There is no such thing as a self-made man. We are made up of thousands of others. Everyone who has ever done a kind deed for us, or spoken one word of encouragement to us, has entered into the make-up of our character and of our thoughts, as well as our success." --- George Matthew Adams
This post is coming to you late. My internet was down for the 1st time in years. I'm guessing it was fire related.
I was in LA yesterday until late. All day I had been so grateful that through all these fires, things were safe for my family and everything was still pretty normal. I was driving home last night at 11 pm and saw fire from the hills beyond our house. It was hard to tell how far it was until I got closer. It turns out that it was probably 4 or 5 miles away. But there's mostly just ground cover (which is dry) between our house on the ridge and the fire. The grounds behind us are part of the huge Marine Base - Camp Pendleton. They have tens of thousands of acres, just below San Clemente.
The high winds have been incredible. I've never seen our area so covered with debris. As our back yard pictures from Monday morning illustrate, we've had plenty of ash blowing our way.
Please keep the firefighters and rescue workers in your prayers. They're stretched really thin.
Last weekend I had the great pleasure of photographing Andrea and Ben's wedding at The St. Regis hotel in Monarch Beach. It was a beautiful day on Saturday. I'm so happy that they missed the crazy, windy weather he had here in So Cal on Sunday and yesterday. Stephanie Lairson (who I got to work with for the first time) organized the event and Square Root did the gorgeous flowers. Enjoy!
This book totally has me hooked. I'm reading fiction and loving it. I'm still not all the way through (I read slow) but I wanted to recommend this book for sure (and fiction in general) as a way to relax. The book is very different from the Broadway show. Both are equally engaging. Enjoy.
Thank you for the books a few of you recommended last week. It's nice to hear from you:)
When Dorothy triumphed over the Wicked Witch of the West in L. Frank Baum's classic tale, we heard only her side of the story. But what about her arch-nemesis, the mysterious Witch? Where did she come from? How did she become so wicked? And what is the true nature of evil?Gregory Maguire creates a fantasy world so rich and vivid that we will never look at Oz the same way again. Wicked is about a land where animals talk and strive to be treated like first-class citizens, Munchkinlanders seek the comfort of middle-class stability, and the Tin Man becomes a victim of domestic violence. And then there is the little green-skinned girl named Elphaba, who will grow up to become the infamous Wicked Witch of the West, a smart, prickly, and misunderstood creature who challenges all our preconceived notions about the nature of good and evil.
