I just found a new cool blog called Pretty Chicky – which is this cute little gathering place for brides on budgets. Great “real weddings” with budget breakdowns and budget tips makes it an excellent resource for brides planning their big day (ah-hem, like myself!).

Anyways, I saw this super cute “real budget” posted from uber cute couple Ashley and Brandon (with photography by  Jaime Smith Photography & Allison Labine Photography) and in the brides tips, she gave this super important nugget of wisdom:

If you can splurge, do it here:  Photography!!!  I can’t emphasize that enough.  The photos are all you’ll have left after the wedding is over so don’t skimp in this area!  They’re a physical representation of your memories and something you’ll treasure for the rest of your lives.  I’ve heard/read so many horror stories from other brides who hired the cheapest person they could find only to end up with terrible pictures or, in some cases, none at all and it was devastating.  Don’t let that happen to you.

Great advice, even if I am a little biased!

Oooh. So excited when I get the little (ok, not so little) album box on my doorstep! Renee and Jon’s album just came in today, and Lauren and Jason’s albums aren’t far behind! Here’s some quick looks at their 10×10 Storybook Album before I pack the little guy up and ship him out to Connecticut!

Ok, ok… so they started sending the albums with white gloves – and it just cracked me up for some reason? So I’m sharing my approval of the final product with a classy “thumbs up”. (And the glove is a bit tight around the fingers, but waaaaay too long – which makes me wonder who the fit model was when they produced these things?)

Today, I was bumming around on Facebook when I got a chat from a family member of Ramsey’s. We spent a few minutes thanking each other for being so supportive and exchanging pleasantries – but we ended us sharing our own personal memories of Ramsey’s life and what he meant to us.

And something special came up.

You know, Ramsey was a beautiful person who was full of joy and laughter, hugs and sweetness. The kind of person who would lift you up and comfort you, make you feel safe and loved whenever you needed it. He didn’t have an ounce of ill-will towards anyone. I never knew him to be angry, or hurtful; vengeful or argumentative.

The stories his friends and family have shared at his memorial at FSC on Tuesday put a huge smile on my face: Lifting up his friend on his shoulders so she could see the lead singer of Incubus at a concert… singing to a 12 lb. ham “Baby, coooome to me”…driving a couch home in the pouring rain (against the common sense of others – and subsequently never getting to use the couch)…. TRUUUUEEEE… and “I feel ya”

The best way that we could figure, was to take these special parts of Ramsey’s personality, and share them with the rest of our friends and family. It’s the best way we could honor Ramsey’s life.

Lift your friends up. Love life, and food. Do your own thing. Be supportive.

It seems like such a simple thing.

So in turn, I’ve made a promise to reconnect with my friends I’ve lost touch with. I know life sneaks up on us, but it’s never too late, and I’m never too busy, to say hello once in awhile. I also promise to think of him whenever I feel like things are making me upset, or angry – and try to approach it with his stylish sense of good humor and easy-going-ness (is that a word?).

I also promise to give, and get, hugs with half the conviction he did. He committed to his hugs, and I remember exactly how good he could make me feel, no matter what was troubling me. I will always remember this one important detail of my times with him.

So those are my 3 things: Reconnect. Relax. Hug.

If every person who met Ramsey could take one part of his personality and carry it through their own lives, his spirit will always live here with each and every one of us. Ramsey’s life had purpose, and so does his death.

I’m not very open about my faith, but it gets me through every single day without him. I know there’s a purpose, a bigger meaning, and a reason for everything. I’m sure he’s causing a ruckus up there. I’ll talk to him about that tonight

I know he’s with me every single day, and I know that it’s selfish to want him back to ease my own pain. We think they needed a little humor up there, and called for him to join the party.

In conclusion (yes, this is my “paper” for the day):

I want to be more like him, because he was an awesome person that touched everyone’s lives in one way or another; and I hope that when the time comes for me to reflect back on my life, that I can say the same.

omg, seriously? Who really wants to know what I have to say Ok, but really, my full-time day job is a Regional Marketing Director for a homebuilder… that isn’t going to be in business much longer. It’s sad, I know, but the economy hits us all. That being said, I am looking for an opportunity to develop my photography in to a full time job. (I would LOVE to do my photography full time… it’s my love, my passion).

I had the privilege of being interviewed by the uber-fantastic Meredith Oliver for her new Internet Marketing Hotline website! This place is the bees-knees for anyone looking to jump into their own Marketing and just need a little help getting it going! Check out my interview below:

 Social Media Marketing Tips

Today I had the pleasure of interviewing Kristen Weaver,  a web marketing expert, on how she is using social media to market new homes in the Orlando, Florida market. Kristen has pioneered social media marketing at her company and is one of the most progressive social media marketers in the industry. She is also a professional photographer and all around marketing maven! Her blog is the  www.thenewhomesalesguru.com and it describes her journey as a first time homebuyer. Check out our video interview and enjoy learning what Kristen does and how she does it!

Kristen uses Wordpress, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Loopt as her main social media marketing tools. Blogging is Kristen’s favorite social media tool. She loves writing about her journey as a first time homebuyer. Kristen used a web marketing professional to design and set up her blog, but she maintains it herself. She uses Wordpress as her blogging platform and feels it is very user friendly and easy to learn.

I asked Kristen what tool has given her the best results and she indicated Twitter. That was surprising! So many web marketing professionals have already started to count Twitter out. Kristen has found it is a great way to communicate with realtors. She “follows” several prominent realtors in the Orlando market on Twitter. The realtor tweet their location as they take buyers out to look at homes. Kristen then tweets what she has available in that area. Because it is instant, the realtor can take their customer by the community while still in that part of town. Fantastic! Go Kristen!

Of course the big question on everyone’s mind is how does she keep up with all of this! Kristen said that her mind naturally thinks in “tweets”! When she has news or information to share, her brain goes into social media mode thinking of all the ways she can use that information to promote her real estate company. Maybe the rest of us need to have our brains rewired!

Enjoy the video. I hope hearing about web marketing in action gives you ideas on how to apply social media marketing to your small business. It is very do-it-yourself friendly. And if you need help, remember, here at the Internet Marketing Hotline we are standing by ready to help you. You can do web marketing (with our help of course)!

You can view the original blog post here.

My thank you cards for Tina and Evan finally arrived! These cards are 5×5 tri-fold with a linen finish and parchment envelopes. PS… sorry about the size, I know it’s all weird. It will all make sense when the new blog is up.