The Power of The Volunteer + Antics

When I mentioned the many volunteers I've interacted with the past two weekends, I thought I could be more specific and provide some laughter along the way. Two weekends ago, I photographed a lot of kiddos for our church's Upwards Sports League. Right now, it's basketball and cheerleading season and the league has, thankfully, grown to a point where we need two locations to pull off all the team photos in one weekend. Justin had the DownTown Church as his assignment and I was stationed at "The Heights", or our church's main building.

One of my goals for this year was to grow more comfortable with in-studio lighting. Be it for receptions or wedding family photos that needed to be held indoors. This was my opportunity, though it was for neither of those reasons! Justin gave me the run-down two days before The Big Day and I just kept praying that things would run smoothly.

This was one of our test shots:

For some humor, I thought I'd share some of my volunteers helping me test my lighting and rid the area of shadows...While I was working with Cindy & Gerard (among many other wonderful helpers!):

Gerard was channeling his inner "tough guy" a la high school soccer shots...

Justin was working with Shaly, Kyle, and Adam (and I'm sure many more wonderful helpers!):

At a certain point in any given day, your brain checks out. Quite literally, nothing is comprehensible and you can barely create a cohesive sentence. This is where my volunteers had more power than perhaps they realized. I have to describe the many I had helping me and their duties because then you will see just how brain dead I was by the end of 14+ hours of photographing these Little Ones.

Here, Gerard & Faith are mimicking what my brain is feeling:

1. The "Ready-er"- answered parental questions in The Staging Room, ensured forms were filled out correctly and helped the teams decide which color jersey they would wear.

2. The Line(Wo)Man-lined the kiddos up when the whole team was ready for their photos at their scheduled time and handed the order forms to my next volunteers....

3. Money (Wo)Man-took order forms and made sure payment was correct.

4. The Poser-lined the athletes up and directed them to their groupings for the team shot. For individual photos, they handed the child their bball or helped arrange their pom-poms appropriately. (Faith & Gerard alternated this job because they needed to elongate their brain power (& patience) to stretch the entire day.)

5. My CallGirl-the other person at the table with Money (Wo)Man whom I told the image number for each child so that we can collate the orders with the correct image.

Do you see that all I really needed to do was zoom in appropriately and push the trigger? I will say I made it into a squatting exercise and my hamstrings greatly appreciated the workout throughout the day. AND I got to practice with the tri-pod lighting equipment::GOOOOOAAAAALLLLL! *oops, wrong season, I mean SCCCOOOOORRRRRRE!

I think this is the beginning of a great partnership with our church and I'm excited for the coming sports seasons as an opportunity to serve them in this way while also getting my name out to roughly 200-300 families in the DSM Metro Area. This also satisfied another goal of dropping business cards like they're H.O.T. Done.

Staring Contests + Spiders

Folks, we are 18 days away from The Challenge. I had been calling it "My D-Day" but then realized that's totally disrespectful to those who actually participated in the real D-Day. This isn't anything remotely close to that, but my body definitely feels the stress of Solo Contest where I sit at the piano for about 6 hours, accompanying roughly 75 students for a judge's score on the first Saturday of March. The Challenge has been accomplished the past 4 years and now, in my 5th year of teaching, you'd think it'd be a cake walk. It's getting more smooth, but the stress is still there, because thankfully, we are growing:
Year 1: 17 students
Year 2: 50 students
Year 3: 55 students
Year 4: 65 students
Year 5: 75-80ish students

So, what do you do to relieve some of that stress, you ask? Well, for any other Stress Sufferers out there, I thought I'd lend some ideas to The Internet.

1. Read a Psalm (or TEN!)

2. Do stretches while focusing on inhaling deeply.

3. Shovel the driveway. (Which, by the way, wasn't all that tough this time because I've been working out. Bob Harper would be proud.)

4. Lay stomach-down on the floor and play itsy-bitsy-spider with your pup by crawling two fingers on the floor in front of her. It's sure to entice a game of play.

5. Write thank you notes to people you see working hard and serving others. It cultivates an attitude of gratitude. (And after my last two weekends where I wholeheartedly depended on rock-star volunteers, who could neglect to say THANK YOU!?)

6. Have a staring contest with aforementioned pup. This especially works if you need a self-confidence boost because you will invariably WIN.

7. Lastly, watch Downton Abby Series 1 on the DVD set your awesome husband gave to you for Valentine's Day. Oh yes, ladies. Gerard has upped the ante for other husbands out there and has succombed to actually enjoying the show himself. This is one lucky girl.

Featured: EverAfterBluePrint.Com

We will be the first to admit that we don't have it all together. We make lots of mistakes, and are most definitely not perfect. But, when Andrea of Everafterblueprint.com asked me to detail some things about our marriage, I tried to put our best foot forward and still be honest.

This is my second time being featured on their blog and I'm so glad they invited me again. When I say "They", I'm also referring to Andrea's other Blogger-half, Laura (who's currently on complete bed rest....pray for her please!). She would be the first to admit that this pregnancy isn't quite what they expected it to be...often life isn't what we expect....and ka-blam! I just wrapped up some loose ends:

So, while Valentine's Day should be lovey-dovey, smelling like roses, and marriage sometimes can be that way, here's a dose of what life after the wedding looks like from time to time. . . Check out some insight into our lives post-wedding day HERE. (photos courtesy of Justin Meyer.)

Happy Valentine's Day!

Life is Not...

Life is not about how many people follow your blog or how many comments you get per post.
It is not about how many people "like" your Facebook page. (Though I thoroughly appreciate my 100.)
It is not about getting booked for every wedding that I know of this year.

It is not about your husband's show choir getting to perform for the First Lady of the United States. (Though that is definitely cool and gives them bragging rights for, like, EVER.)
It is most definitely not about the money.

Life is doing what's right even when it's not popular.
It is taking 10 minutes to de-stress on the couch with your spouse after a rough day.
It is praying on your way to work.
It is taking a moment to snuggle with the Pup because she is starting to feel sorely neglected.
It is knowing you nailed the photo session and are producing beautiful art for your client.
It is serving those around you to the best of your ability.
It is inhaling deeply when you feel a flutter of stress on your heart, giving it to God as you exhale.
It is investing in young people's lives, so that if just one life is changed for the better, I will know the sacrifice is worth it.

It is taking risks, avoiding a sense of comfort, so that we can sit back in 10 years and say, "That was all GOD."


We will make it through February. We will. We will. We will! (but if you notice fewer posts this month, rest assured that we are alive and kicking. I'm just kicking a piano pedal down a lot and Gerard is performing show choir moves that I'm sure are involving kicks somehow too....)

2012 + Predictions + Happiness

2012 has already morphed so much for me already. From New Year's Eve feeling foggy and nebulous, to cementing my plans and making them into goals & desires, I'm getting more of a grip on what this year is going to look like. (At least from my vantage point.) So much so, that I need to go out tonight and buy a planner that continues through the whole year. (As a teacher, I revolve around the school calender. So right now, my life "ends" at the beginning of June.)

Here are a few things that I'm happy AND content about this year:
1. the families who are booking their 2nd, 3rd, or even 4th sessions with me. Biggest. Compliment. Ever.

2. the potential, and already booked, brides I get to meet and become friends with. I'm so thankful for their amount of trust in me.

3. spreading my wings a bit and gaining new piano students, just from a simple Facebook pitch to parents for the summer and perhaps beyond. God really does provide what I can handle, when I can handle it.

4. 32 days until I get a full night's rest post Solo Contest. We are half way there! Hallelujah.

5. Though it sounds like I'm all over the place and stretched in about 6 different directions, it doesn't feel that way and I'm actually going to be consolidating this summer by not returning to one particular job post I've held for the last 7 years. Sianara! The Krupke household will be solely music and photography. Period.

6. And who could not LOVE the weather we are having?!? My prediction stands: not a single snow day this school year. Finito, that's it-we'll be out of school on May 31st.

Caden vs. Camden 2.0

Whilst trying to re-upload 2010 and 2011 photos to the blog and posting the family sessions we did, I neglected to highlight our nephew & niece and their flashy personas. They have most definitely stolen our hearts and Gerard & I couldn't be more eager to see them again. If only we lived closer...

So in the spirit of Show Choir season, we are doing a mash-up today. Call it the Battle of the Sexes, US v. Korea (Heaven forbid!), or War of the 'Dens' (both of their names are crazily similar...)I'm showing you the cutest kiddos in our lives right now and you can be the judge of who takes the prize.

We'll  compare and contrast these tykes in their natural habitats in similar situations so as to have as few variables in this contest as possible.

Eating at the table:

With family members:
I absolutely LOVE seeing my mom so happy!

(Caden wanted to take a bite out of Gerard's nose...but then wanted to cuddle and apologize...)

Playing:

All out Cuteness:

So there you have it! Camden has the red-head thing going for her, but Caden has the sweet Asian-Baby-ness going for him. I'll leave it up to you to leave a comment below with your vote. Regardless of the outcome, I do believe their respective mamas will think their own child is the most adorable. :)

The $23 Bathroom Makeover

Some people have Pinterest. They are then inevitably left pining for time, money or energy to do all these fun and cool ideas that they've pinned to their wall. And I don't begrudge them their indulgence in those cool and fun ideas. But, because I've heard of its overly addictive nature, I've avoided Pinterest at all costs and instead look to a few other places for ideas of inspiration for our home. And, just like those addicted to Pinterest, I was left pining for time to do just one new thing to our bathroom. A slight injection of botox, instead of a complete facelift, if you will...

This is the most hectic and chaotic time of the school year for both Gerard & me. Show Choir competitions, Large Group Band and Choir contests and my self-described "D-Day" of Solo contest where I accompany roughly 65 students in an 8 hour day of craziness, makes January through March absolutely insane in the Krupke household. (Can you tell I'm already sleep deprived just from the state of that run-on sentence?!)

So, in the midst of this season, our Wednesday Date Nights have succombed to our fatigue. At our least creative moments, we have built a fort in our basement out of our sofa sectional to cozy up and watch The Biggest Loser on Hulu.com. Last Wednesday, though, found me a little bit farther above water...

After receiving the same email on cool ideas for your home from two separate people, I finally decided it was time to organize the linen closet (yawn... I know!) and put each set of sheets in one of its respective pillow cases. That led to the discovery of some bathroom carpet mats that I had used in a past apartment when I was single. Our current bath mats were completely disheveled and falling apart, so those went in the trash and the old barely-been-used ones replaced them. (Thank Heaven they were the same color scheme!)



The next idea was inspired by a 20% off coupon I'd received via email from Bed Bath & Beyond. I quickly went to the clearance section on their website and found this simple beauty suggested to me by my subscription to Real Simple magazine. On clearance, it was listed as $29.99 but they also accepted my 20% coupon. So, we were at $23 (for the bathroom...don't get me started on what else we found in their clearance section! That place should have CAUTION tape wrapped around it!).

We brought her home and as I had already taken our old mirror down, Gerard went to work assembling and mounting the mirror/shelf combo to the wall while I pondered what to change with the other walls. I came to the conclusion that we had too little of a bathroom to have so much on said walls. More wall space makes a room look bigger and/or less cluttered in my experience. So, I took down a few things and placed just one framed art (instead of 4) above our towel rod. In a few years, if I want to update or change the look again, I have a few things to pull out of my linen closet that will still work with the overall scheme of things.

On our medicine cabinet, I used four sheets of scrapbook paper with a similar color as our shower curtain to negate the clutter of what's behind the glass of the door. Cleans things up pretty nicely eh? THAT idea came from THIS BLOG. Thanks, Laura & Andrea!

(And yes, the new mirror has been baptised in teeth brushing flecks already...such is life in our house right now!)

That's it. Rearrange some wall art. Find something in your home that's barely been used and use some coupons smartly and you too, can have a $23 Bathroom Botox Injection. Not a complete overhall facelift, and it can make a BIG difference!