Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Donate Hair!

Today is the one year anniversary of my mom's death. I got tons of cards after she passed with people giving me advice like "time will heal" and "it will get easier with time". I don't think I agree with that because I still reach for the phone when something interesting happens in my life.


I miss my mom every day, so instead of making a big deal out of today, I decided to be proactive. Do something good, but something that took sacrifice on my part. My mom was so darned tough when she was sick, so I knew I had to do something brave to honor her memory.


So today I chopped 10 full inches off my hair for Pantene Beautiful Lengths. I've been growing my hair out for this purpose since my mom got sick, but every time I went in for a cut, I chickened out. Today it was now or never!

(yes, I am crying like a baby in this picture. baby! it's hair! it grows back!)

I picked Beautiful Lengths for two reasons: 1) they make wigs for women with cancer and 2) I only needed to cut 8 inches off. But of course, my trusted stylist convinced me to give just a bit more. :-) I decided not to go with Locks of Love not because I don't think it's a worthy charity, but because I really felt strongly that I wanted to help someone with cancer. Cancer is impossible, the treatment is horrible, I think it is so important that these women have one, good thing given to them: the chance to look like themselves. I watched my mom lose her hair twice and as a woman, I could see that even though she felt horrible and was sick constantly, losing her hair was still the worst part.

So if you have at least 8 inches, I can tell you now from experience that you will feel SO good when you put your pony tail in an envelope and ship it off so someone else can have the dignity of a beautiful head of hair.


Added bonus: turns out my salon does cuts for FREE if you're donating it. Oh, and I adore my new hair cut and I can't wait to do it all over again.

**Note: all pics were taken by my assistant/second shooter.... my hubby Ryan! He's getting good, eh?

Monday, September 28, 2009

Me, Before

Tomorrow you'll have the after. But here's a picture Ryan took of me yesterday.

Saturday, September 26, 2009

Trade Off

Ryan and I are very careful with our money. And by 'careful' I mean we try not to spend to much.... so we can take amazing vacations every year. We go out to eat maybe twice a week, we refuse to spend $20 to go to the movies unless the movie HAS to be seen in the theatre, we use coupons when we can, in general we just try to keep it under control without depriving ourselves of some fun.

But lately I've realized that I really need to upgrade my camera. My main camera is a Nikon D200, which is just fine, and when I got it I was THRILLED to have the upgrade, but now I've outgrown it. I need higher ISO capability. I need a full frame. I need higher ISO capability. The D200 is ok for my outside portraits, but oh boy, it is so noisy at high ISO for indoor stuff. And since I prefer to do as much as possible with available light, the D200 just isn't cutting it.

Soooo.... after much hand-wringing and over thinking, Ryan and I have decided it's time to make the big jump. So in two weeks I'm hoping to have this baby in my hands:

The D700. Yum. I am so excited to get my hands on this little guy. We're going to be dangerous together.

But, fair's fair. If I get a new toy, then doesn't Ryan deserve one too? Well of course! So for the first time ever, Ryan has himself a brand new, not handed-down, mountain bike:


Nice, huh? It's a Gary Fisher 29er. So, now the other trade off for me getting that camera is that I'm going to have to start being brave again on my mountain bike. Ugh. Do you have any idea how many sharp, pokey things there are in the desert just waiting for me to fall?

Monday, September 21, 2009

I'll ShowIt to Ya!

I am positively giddy over my BRAND NEW, shiny fancy website. Will you check it out? Here it is:


Pretty, huh? I have been wanting a new website for years for my business. I made my original site all by myself and it was fine, but boring. I spend a lot of time visiting other photographers' sites to see what everyone is up to, and I'm always so jealous of their gorgeous sites with things flying in and out. I really wanted a nice site, but I couldn't justify a pretty new site over buying camera equipment.

It seems like the most popular tool photogs are using these days to create their sites is from a company called ShowIt. All the big name, young, hip portrait photographers have these sites, but at $35/month, I just couldn't bring myself to do it. Then those fantabulous folks at ShowIt decided to offer a FREE version. In just 45 minutes, and a little tinkering w/ their design to make it more my own, I created my very own hip website. It was super easy, and they give you 5 pages free. All that was left to be done was to set up www.nemecphotos.com to automatically redirect to the site (thank goodness I know SOME coding), and voila! Done!

If you are a small business owner looking for a new digital face for your business, I highly suggest ShowIt. I can see that as I expand my business, I can easily update this site, and eventually move to the Pro version with ease.

With that problem solved, I'm left with only one more problem to conquer today: which show (out of Heroes, How I Met Your Mother, or House) to sacrifice tonight because I can only DVR two!

Thursday, September 17, 2009

Suzy {Phoenix Tempe Child Photographer}

This past Monday I met 3 year-old Suzy and her parents at their house in Tempe. I was extra nervous about this session because Suzy is an amazing little girl, and I wanted more than anything to take pictures that really showed how sweet she is.

We drove to a nearby park that had a little lake at it because Suzy just LOVES water. And ducks, oh she loved the ducks. It was a little rough going to start, but when we figured out that nothing made Suzy happier then being up in a tree, we were golden.

Enjoy these pictures of sweet Suzy.





Suzy's daddy is a firefighter, so of COURSE we had to have her try on his gear. What do you think? Future firefighter?


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Wednesday, September 16, 2009

AZ Event Calendar and Free/Cheap Stuff!

Hey Foodies! Saturday is the start of Arizona Restaurant Week. Details below.
We've got lots of Free/Cheap stuff this week again too. Enjoy!
For our Jewish friends, "Shana Tova" on this Rosh Hashanah!
Events
AZ Fall Frenzy - huge all-weekend concert in Tempe
Pink - Sunday, Jobing.com Arena
Arizona Restaurant Week - starts Saturday. 3 course amazing meals for a cheaper price.
Foreigner - Thursday, Celebrity Theatre
Bone Thugs-N-Harmony - Friday, Celebrity Theatre
Skyline Rooftop Fall Fashion Show - Friday, 7:30, Hotel Valley Ho
Sunset Dog Hike - McDowell Mt Park, Friday
Battle of the Bone - chicken wing eating finals! Chandler Harley Davidson, Sat
Legally Blonde - The Musical starts next week at Gammage!
Free/Cheap
Buy 1 Get 1 at Jamba juice (print the coupon)
FREE ticket to see Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (with purchase of Spot Shot)
Great Express coupon
Borders buy 1 get 1 drink. AND, teachers get 25% off!
FREE thing (with purchase) at Bath & Body Works
Buy 1 get 1 Volcano Nachos at Taco Hell
FREE Jack Daniels Burger (don't click at work) when you become a Facebook fan of TGI Friday's
Buy 1 Get 1 FREE entree at Panda Express. Must print coupon.
FREE toppings on Papa Johns pizza. Every Monday after a Card's game. One free topping per touchdown.
The Zoo is FREE on Wednesdays in September!
The Passport to Adventure will save you $29 on 5 movies at the AZ Mills Imax. Comes with popcorn!
Don't forget your FREE Mars Chocolate on Fridays
Summer Sampler at Sauce. One of their yummy pizzas, a delicious salad, 2 glasses of wine. $20!

Restaurant of the Week
Since Restaurant Week starts Saturday, here's a list of the restaurants on the list that I'd like to try:
Los Sombreros
House of Tricks (one of my faves!)
Noca
Vincent
Atlas Bistro

Escape the Heat
Some events going on around the state:
Globe: Gila County Fair
Sonoita: Santa Cruz County Fair
Flagstaff: Bluegrass Festival
Tucson: Beer Festival
Bisbee: Blues Festival
Flagstaff: Open Art Studios
Heber-Overgaard: Oktoberfest

***As always, if you have an event or a new restaurant to try, let me know!***

about me

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    Location: Mesa, Arizona, United States

    I'm Amanda. I'm an engineer in an industry full of men, a professional wedding and family portrait photographer, a firefighter's wife, a traveler, and a dogMa.

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