Lately, I feel like all I've been doing is working. I just worked the last 6 days in a row and now I have the next two days off IN SUCCESSION!! That never happens.

My boss loves me. He's always complementing my lighting and posing, and says I'm a natural "people person." It's nice to feel valued. I think he also loves me because I'm the best at sales. My sales average is 1.5 times the studio average. Pretty much everyone else in the studio thinks I can walk on water... the irony is I hate sales, haha. I may be good at it, but the photography is what I love, not the sales.

The boss's son, who's somewhere around my age (maybe a little younger) is helping out in the studio for the holidays, so I passed him a note the other day that read, "Don't look now, but I think there's a spy among us." He looked up at me, and I made a "Shh!" and pointed at him and winked. He just about busted his gut laughing. I love working with people. I like this studio so much better than the one I managed in tri-cities because we have multiple people scheduled at the same time, so I feel like I'm part of a team, one person can answer the phone and deal with the front desk while the other person is shooting and/or doing sales, and then we switch off. It takes so much stress off to work in a team. I don't have to stop in the middle of my shoot or in the middle of my sales because the phone rings or someone comes in to pick up their portraits or whatever.

The difference in going from film to a digital studio has also been wonderful... I think you can really see the difference in my portraiture from the first set of work I put up when I worked in film, versus the second which is digital. I have a lot more versatility with what my camera can do, which means I can get more creative. At my old studio, the camera was also permanently mounted to a table, whereas at my new studio, the cameras we use are all hand held. This means I can get all kinds of different angles. I'm constantly getting up on ladders, moving all the lights (which are on sliding tracks) around, getting down on the floor, etc. It's much more fun because the creative possibilities are practically limitless, and it's also harder because my hands are now tied up holding the camera (rather than a trip cord which only required one hand instead of two) so it's harder to play with the toddlers and babies to get their attention/smiles.

Somewhat related, I just got my new camera today. It's my Christmas present to myself. I've been wanting it forever! It's a Canon EOS 40D AND I AM IN LOVE!! It goes wonderfully with my 24-105 mm L series lens. L stands for "Luxury," it's the highest quality lens that Canon makes and it cost me a month and a half's rent, but it is so worth it. My pictures are super sharp. I've been playing with my new camera all evening and I'm incredibly happy with it. I can't wait to go out tomorrow in the daylight and really put it to use.

It's funny, photography is something I fell into as a career, but I seem to have a natural talent for it and I am very proud of my work. It makes me feel good about myself to be able to be good at something, and I love that I have a job where I get to be creative. All in all, I'm really happy with my life right now. I wish I was making a bit more money, and I don't know if photography is what I want to be doing for the rest of my life, but it's fun for right now and I have Bear, who brings immeasurable peace and contentment into my life.

Maybe that sounds cheesy... no doubt this will sound even more so... I pack little love notes in Bear's lunches. Not all the time. Not everyday. Just every once in awhile. When he least expects it, so it is always special. Bear shows his love by making breakfast for us on the weekends. We drink coffee and read the New York Times online together. And he always gets my towel and wraps it around me when I get out of the shower. I walk down to his school at the end of the day on Mondays and Wednesdays so we can keep each other company on the mile walk back home. These things have become little rituals between us and I've come to rely on them, and look forward to them.