I know, I know…I have been a slacker. Five on Fridays bit the dust during May when crazy wedding/traveling happened. But its back today! And I’m committing to it being back but we will be moving it to biweekly…so fun five on fridays every other week! That will give me time to post other sessions and make the fives extra fun for you!

For those that are just stopping by, Five on Fridays are just that, five random things on Fridays. Sometimes with a theme, sometimes just random things going on in the life of me. Just a way to have some fun and share info on the blogosphere:)

1. Along with my slacking on the fives, I have been slacking on the newsletter starting about the same time. I’m putting together my next one with lots of fun info so go sign up if you aren’t on the list already:)

2. So, you know how there are times in your life where you just have this weird need to redecorate, paint, make life pretty? (probably more of a girl thing…) I’m so having that right now (perhaps because of #3). I seriously want to conquer the to do list of house maintenance and redecorating. Problem is that I am so not one of those people that just can throw things together and make it look all pretty and coordinated. So I’m trying my hand at an inspiration board and saving things that I like…in hopes that it will help me when we actually decide to paint. Anyone good at decorating…I could probably use some help:)

3. With all the recent crap going on…busyness, miscarriage, anesthesia and meds for the surgery, general not eating as well as I should have….my body was revolting and I was feeling it. Really tired, non motivated, a mess! So I decided to start taking some vitamins, eat healthy, and do a little detoxing to try to get back to at least normal. And let me tell you its definitely working. Not that I am all honky dory now but I can definitely tell a huge change in just my energy level! So, lesson learned, take your vitamins!

4. So, remember American Idol and the vet that sang his own song, pants on the ground. This is what Lena busted out with the other day (ahemmm..pretty sure dada had something to do with it!) and I got her to agree for me to tape it as long as nana saw it:) she even threw in her signature booty shake.

5. If you are a Knoxville photographer, be sure to go here to join us on facebook and keep up with all the fun things going on. This is such a fun time in Knoxville for photographers and there are so many great things to help grow your business! An AMAZING workshop is coming in November and our monthly SMUG meetings are rocking, with our next one being on 7/29 with the amazing Julie Roberts speaking!

So, I love me some deals. and coupons. and coupon codes. and free things. they just make life a little happier, don’t you think. So I thought I’d do a post on a few fun deals that I know of recently so that hopefully your Friday can be a little happier too:)

1. Couponing 101 workshop!!! Southern Savers is my fave website to get my coupons organized and keep up with all the fun deals. AND, thanks to Becky who pointed this out to me, they are coming to Knoxville for a workshop!!! Yay! I’m all set up and registered to go, want to join me? The registration is free but its $10 at the door…the wording was a little confusing so I thought I’d throw that out there for ya!

2. I have a coupon code that Pro Photo was kind enough to give us for the studio members at Studio 317 and I get to share with you guys!! So if you want an awesome photo blog that is completely customizable, this is definitely the one to get! Coupon code for $10 is SHAKEL783.

3. I mentioned greek yogurt the other day on my facebook page and got a few fun responses so I thought I’d share a little deal here for you. If you haven’t tried greek yogurt it is super yummy. I even substitute the plain kind for sour cream too ! So the new Yoplait kind is 10/$10 at Krogers through tomorrow and there is a $1 off coupon from last weeks newspaper. So if you have the newspaper you can go score free greek yogurt through tomorrow!

4. Have you seen this facebook page? A fun way to find free things going on in Knoxville:)

5. This weekend its going to be rainy around here and what a great way to spend it away with a little indoor shopping!? Old Navy is having their Wholey Moley Sale and the whole store is 30% off! Woohoo!

Well, for some reason the last week just blew up on me. I have worked 8 straight days which means Brad has been cooking alot of macaroni and cheese:) But, I’m not complaining, I am REJOICING in the fact that I love my job, that God has given me amazing clients, and that I’m busy. I’m hopeful, thankful, and blessed. Even in the hard and busy times.

Ok, end of the sap:) So, after missing last week because of the craziness, we are back to our five on fridays! This week I wanted to pay homage to my Lenabean, who is growing up right in front of me. Just to document the fun stories so that later in life we can remember these busy crazy simple fun days.

1. Dora has alot of rank in the Kelley house. But we let Dora get by with it because when Lena busted out numbers 1-9 in spanish the other day I figured it may be a good thing. Sometimes Lena will mumble something off and my 2 year old translating doesn’t get me anywhere and finally after 10 minutes of guessing I realize that Lena is speaking some spanish word I don’t know. She even busted out “Donde esta” the other day:)

2. Speaking of Dora, Lena calls unicorn’s “unicornio’s”. She loves her unicorn from her playset that her mimi got her. So the other day she spent a morning having fun with nana and came home as proud as a peacock with this painted on her face.

3. Funny little story that I don’t want to forget: If you are my facebook friend or if you were driving by lowe’s looking at the fools standing in the parking lot laughing, you may remember where we went to Lowe’s on one of the first pretty Spring days and bought a bunch of plywood for some projects and then realized we didn’t bring the truck. Well, in the midst of trying to figure out what to do I put Lena in her carseat and I must have sighed or something at our little predicament. Lena looked at me and said “mommy, don’t be ustrated, it has blue sky today”. And with that I realized yes, we have blue sky today, no need to be “ustrated”. So, we returned the wood and just laughed about it. What else can you do?

4. Lena LOVES school buses. I have no idea why really. Every time we see one she screams “A BUS!!!!!!!!!” at the top of her lungs. True story.

5. Some other fun things to remember: Every night before bed Lena asks “maybe we go to the park in the morning”. Every.single.night. She lives on grapes, yogurt, toast and “leabs” (lettuce…she calls leaves), mac and cheese, applesauce and strawberries. She isn’t up for exploring more options usually. She is ticklish. She says “big hugs guys” when she wants us to have a group family hug. She loves her window down in the car and yells hi to anyone who is outside when we stop (the construction zone the other day was hilarious).

because this week has been full or awesome things to be thankful for.

and then I remembered.

its Friday, but Sunday is coming.

isn’t that the greatest thing to be thankful for today?

this video is amazing.  amazing.  please watch it:)

my friend Melanie has been proposing some super fun questions as she reads the Artist’s Way and I thought we would use that as inspiration for our five on friday this week. I love questions that get you thinking in a fun way.

So the question is “If you had 5 imaginary lives to live, what would they be? What would you do?”

Here are my 5 answers…

-full time missionary
-writer
-Travel Channel host…like Samantha Brown
-a farmer’s wife
-a cool surfer girl that ran a little beach restaurant

Now its your turn! What 5 imaginary lives would you have!?

So, studio317 was born out of our desire to have community in our local industry and help one another along. So we get an awesome spaced, set it up to help with all your business needs, and now you get to enjoy!

We’ll be having classes there to help you out, holding some support meetings (think AA for photogs but not in a weird way…more in a lets hold each others hand and support each other in this journey!), and opening it up for you to use for client meetings and such!

So, 5 awesome ways to get involved…

1. We are the main sponsor for the Knoxville Photog Shootout! This is a monthly fun shootout for local (well, and non locals if you want to drive in for it!) photographers to get together, have fun, build your portfolio, and get inspired! March’s is 3/28 and this months theme is seniors (and the location is a junkyard…fun times!) Go be a fan of their facebook page to keep up with the details!

2. Use the space! We have a meeting space with a flat screen for you to meet with clients or do viewing sessions. We also have a studio and a meeting room for those that may want to host a class. NOTE: You do not have to be a photographer to use the space…we are opening this up to small business owners and small parties as well!

3. Take a class! Every month we are having a Photog Focus class where we’ll have a discussion on a focus topic. We will have guest speakers and also open it up for discussion. This meets the first Thursday of every month and April’s topic is blogging: the how why and when! These classes are an AWESOME way to grow your business and learn from other photographers! Space is limited so contact me to get on the list!

4. Be a VIP member! If you are wanting a more committed time to use the studio and priority to schedule ongoing time slots…plus lots of freebies and funness, then we are accepting a small amount of VIP members that pay a discounted monthly fee. Awesome opportunity! If interested, give me a call or shoot me an email:)

5. Come be for each other! This is our monthly group meeting for photographers wanting to just be part of a group that is for each other. Support each other in this awesome industry! This is a meeting that will be held at the studio and I highly recommend being part of it if you are a local Knoxville photographer. Again, call me or shoot me an email for the details! I’d love for you to be part of it!

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