love. LIFE.

Hello Friends!

Over to the left you'll see all of the categories that you can check out.

If you're a photographer make sure to check out the For Photographers page.  I just launched the new Family GTKY kit and the NEW Insight Kits Blogsite!!!  Click here to see the new site!

    LOVE. LIFE. TIPS.  These posts will help anyone who is trying to keep or get back all of the things that they love in their life and/or business. The tips are packed with ways to manage a hectic life, kids, business, meaning, love...and more. Also, make sure you check out the new Women and Business series! (Click here)  Also, see how Day with Davina can come to you. (Click here)

My favorite pricing guide (that I wish I had when I started my business over 8 years ago).  You need this guide!

 

Easy as Pie.  Click here to visit Served Up Fresh. (affiliate link)

Thanks for stopping by...and don't forget to leave a comment...or two...I want to hear from YOU!

And make sure to TELL A FRIEND!

 

Entries from May 1, 2011 - May 31, 2011

Family GTKY kit: Official Launch!

Posted on Monday, May 23, 2011 at 08:50AM by Registered CommenterDavina in | CommentsPost a Comment | References2 References

 

Official Launch Day!

I'm so excited to announce that the Family GTKY kit is here! 

Today is also the official launch day of my new Insight kits site.  To check it out: Click here. 


Made especially for all of you family and portrait photographers who have been wanting a questionnaire that fits a family instead of a couple.

Since the GTKY kit for couples has been such a hit and still going strong I decided it was time for a family specific kit.

After years of playing with my family questionnaire, tweaking, changing, fixing, etc...you get to have a template questionnaire and some ideas to go with it. You can either use it as it is or customize it to your own studio. The best part is that you don't have to start from scratch.

I'm really excited about this particular kit! In the past couple of years my focus has switched to families and as I look around I see (and hear from photographers) that they wish they had a way to make working with families feel more real and relaxed.

The best part is that the questionnaire has all of the pertinent info you need to keep tabs on your clients and serve them better and it also has all of the questions you want answered about how to bring out the fun and personality of your subjects. This kit has some similarities to the original GTKY kit but with a family spin. You're going to love it!

Now available!

 

Special Launch Code:  LAUNCH25 (for 25% of launch pricing)


To purchase:  CLICK HERE.

 

fun. LIFE.

Rain Gauge.

Posted on Thursday, May 19, 2011 at 10:21AM by Registered CommenterDavina | Comments1 Comment | References10 References

 

I love my deck...oh wait...

Have I mentioned that I love my deck?  I do.  If you follow me on twitter I talk about it too much.

My kids would probably say, "If you love it so much why don't you marry it?" (If they had been me and my cousins when I was little).  I might.  That's how much I love it.

 

But that's not what I'm writing about.  I'm writing about a Very Fancy Rain Gauge (that sits out on my super awesome deck). See picture above.  Upper right.  Yes,  I said Fancy.  It's Very Fancy.

 

We've had a lot of rain.  Emma decided it was time to stop talking about how much rain and measure it.  As you can see from our Very Fancy Rain Gauge we've had 2 1/2 inches since Sunday...or was it Monday?

 

Want to make  your own Very Fancy Rain Gauge?

1. Find a used up water bottle.

2. Cut off the top.

3. Use a ruler and make one inch tick marks starting from the bottom.  Mark 1", 2", etc.  (As you can see we thought we were in for at least 8 more inches overnight...that's how much rain we've been having.)

4. Put it on your awesome deck (or another fave place) and let it rain.

smooshy. LIFE.

 

Family GTKY kit: Coming Soon

Posted on Monday, May 16, 2011 at 08:08PM by Registered CommenterDavina in | CommentsPost a Comment

 

coming soon!

To sign up to be the first to know click here:





Super Dog.

Posted on Friday, May 13, 2011 at 08:11AM by Registered CommenterDavina in | Comments4 Comments | References10 References

 

Top 10 reasons your dog may be Super Dog (like Cocoa).


Take the following test to find out if your dog is a super dog.  For each super power answer this way:

0=my dog doesn't do this

1=my dog does this sometimes

2=my dog does this all of the time

 

Is your dog a Super Dog?  

 

#10-Super-sonic Ears:  

Too caught up in working on the computer?  She can hear the school bus pull into the neighborhood a 1/2 mile away at exactly 2:18pm.

#9-Super-tricks:  

Need her to be friendly? She can shake your hand AND high five you.

#8-Super-smeller:  

A hamburger that got left under the van seat 2 days ago? Got it.

#7-Super-sleuth:

Was that a bee?  With precision and stealth-like skills she can snatch a bee out of the air and eat it.

#6-Super-tail:

Need your table cleaned off in the blink of an eye?  She will wag her tail so that all things within a 2 foot radius will be knocked from the table, whip someone in the face, or maim the nearest passerby.

#5-Super-fast:  

Wish you had someone that would chase the squirrels from your yard?  Never fear!  Cocoa is here!  She'll bolt after them quick as lightning.

#4-Super-Stretch:  

Wish that someone would worship you?  Just stand near Super Dog and every time she gets up from a nap she will stretch her front legs. At which point you can loudly proclaim, "Bow to your Master!"

#3-Super-Sleeper:  

Running during the day is not enough.  While sleeping the Super Dog can run in her sleep, bark in her sleep, and wag her tail ferociously in her sleep.

#2-Super-helpful:

Wish your arms had more tone?  She'll pull you with her leash and her super-strength around the neighborhood so that you can be strong like her.

 

It's a bird.  It's a plane.  Able to leap over barricades in a single hurdle.  It's....SUPER DOG!

 

#1 reason your dog may be SUPER DOG:

She'll let you dress her in an 8 foot red blanket (that doubles as a cape) and a long sleeved blue shirt with a handmade 'SD' crest pinned to her chest.  Then she'll walk around with the cape trailing behind her acting like she's all that and it's no big deal.  Which will elicit laughter from children far and wide.

 

BONUS SUPER POWER:

**Super-loyal: This is a bonus 10 points for those dogs who have the extra power of sticking by you through thick and thin.  Cocoa is a puppy so she's workin' on this one. :)  If your dog has been with you for more than 5 years this 10 points is for her...or him.

 

Is your dog a SUPER DOG?

0-5: Not really.  But don't give up on your pooch...someday she too can be as cool as Cocoa.  Cocoa will let her come to her Super Dog workshop.

6-13: Getting there...with a couple more super powers she'll be a Super Dog like Cocoa. She may need a mentor.  Cocoa would be glad to help her out.

14-20:  Congratulations!  Your dog is a SUPER DOG like COCOA!!  Maybe we should have a doggie playdate.

 

How did your dog rate on the SUPER DOG test?

super. LIFE.

It went a little like this...

Posted on Thursday, May 12, 2011 at 11:23AM by Registered CommenterDavina in | Comments2 Comments

an earthquake and hurricane...almost.

*on the verge of sleep at 1am

*sudden noise outside, wind that sounds like it may blow the house over

*I leap out of bed:  Mike!!  We have to go put the umbrellas down or they are going to be like missles through our table (and windows)

*Mike has no idea what I'm talking about or that it's a hurricane outside but sleepily follows me downstairs anyway being the good husband that he is...even at 1am

*Me (running down the stairs): I hope light bulbs haven't started breaking

*We look out our back door onto our deck...or try to look at our deck through an onslaught of sheets of rain.  Monsoon.   I'm not kidding.  

*I go to open the door and Mike pushes it closed:  We need to get ready to go out there, Davina.  We can't just open this door.

*We were getting ready for a little war.

*We put on huge winter jackets to protect us against the drenching we are about to get.  I put a blanket over my head.  Ummm...that's going to help...sure...

*We open the door and it's like the Red Sea parted...and flooded into our house.  It's too late to look back and assess the damage a 5 second open door has done.  It feels like we're in a hurricane movie.

*The wind is howling.  I have no idea how many mph but it has to be 500mph...or at least 50mph.  The lightning is putting on a show that could rival a country singer's concert and the thunder is so loud that even when are yelling at each other we still have no idea what the other person is saying.  We work in silence.  

*Quickly we unplug our edison lights, put down the umbrellas, unscrew light bulbs (we've already lost 15 in storms this season) and put them in our pockets, we grab the cushions off the chairs (big mistake), look at each other, give the nod, and we rush back into the house. 

*We are outside for a grand total of about 90 seconds.

*Soaked to the bone; we are now standing in about an inch of water. Rain water gushes like Niagara Falls off the chair cushions we saved from the tidal wave outside. There's a river from our back door to our garage door from the dripping chair cushions that rushed to the garage.  

*We are still at yelling volume to each other even though our house is quiet and the kids are in bed.  We suddenly realize this and then in whispers wonder how in the world not one of our kids has woken up and come to see what is happening.

*I get a mop and try to get the lake of water now on our kitchen floor coaxed into one of our strawberry picking buckets.  Every time I squeeze out the mop it seems like the water on the floor multiplies.  The rain is playing tricks on me.

*Mike goes upstairs for some towels.

*We lay the towels on the ground and start skating around on them laughing, wondering if the power is going to go out...

*The power goes out.

*We light a candle.

*We find flashlights.  None of them work.  Thank you kids.

*There have to be batteries around here somewhere.  Yes! Ten batteries in the back of the drawer.  Jackpot!!

*Two batteries work.

*We make sure the doors are locked, hang up all of our sopping wet clothes on the kitchen chairs, and trek back to bed.

*We are warm, dry, and cozy in our blankets.  Thunder shakes the house for 20 seconds straight.  Maybe it was an earthquake.

*We laugh about how the kids have slept through the whole ordeal.

*We drift almost off to sleep.

*And then I hear it...

*"Mom, I'm scared"

Once again sleep has just taken a turn down a different road.  I scoot over to make room for Grace to climb in bed with me.  I wrap my arms around her shaking little body and I pull her close and whisper in her ear, "It's okay, the worst of the storm has already passed."  She relaxes a little bit.

Soon she is sleeping soundly.

 

...and before I know it Emmett is standing at the foot of my bed saying loudly: "Mom!! Wake up we're late for school!"  

Me in a very hushed whisper:  Shhh....school is cancelled.  

Emmett (loudly because he's mostly still asleep):  What did you say about school??!!

Me:  Shhh....there's no school.  (I'm hoping that his-I-don't-realize-I'm-practically-yelling-because-I'm-mostly-still-asleep-voice doesn't wake my still dreaming girls)

And on cue I hear Miriam: What?  There's no school?!

Within a few minutes everyone is awake, excited at the prospect of freedom from school...bye, bye, sleep. 

 

Super Dog coming tomorrow.

surprise. LIFE.

 

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