Holiday Session Information

Thank you to everyone who has given me so much positive feedback on my recently released Fall 2008 Newsletter! I have received numerous emails and phone calls about our Operation Smile Fundraiser, which you are all helping to make a huge success again this year!

For those of you who are not yet on my email list, the newsletter contains information on my outdoor and indoor Fall/Holiday portrait sessions, which are now filling very quickly. Click on the title of this post, above, to view the newsletter and get the scoop! And be sure to call or email me right away to reserve your session!

Operation Smile Fall Charity Event

Part of the reason that I love being a photographer is that my job introduces me to many opportunities to help people in need.



Last fall, I participated in the Professional Photographers of America's "Operation Smile" charity event, through which I donated a portion of each session fee in September and October to an organizaion of volunteer doctors and other medical personnel who perform life changing surgeries on children around the world. Through this organization, children with cleft palates and other facial malformations can receive corrective surgery which would otherwise be financially impossible. Each surgery costs Operation Smile only $250 to perform, but allows a child to eat, speak, and smile - activities which many of us take for granted every day.



I received so much positive feedback during the event last year, and thanks to those of you who scheduled sessions I was able to donate hundreds of dollars to Operation Smile. This September and October I am once again donating 25% of all session fees to Operation Smile, and I hope to make an even more substantial donation.



Please click the link below to see a video about this great organization (when your screen goes black, click on the arrow button to play the video):



http://www.weedonphoto.com/PPACharities2008/iframe.html

Nature's Newest Additions

My daughter received a "Butterfly Garden" this year for her birthday, and we have eagerly awaited the metamorphosis of our "pet caterpillars" into butterflies for the past several weeks. Fortunately, all 5 of them became beautiful Painted Lady butterflies which we let go in our back yard today. Most of them flew away immediately, but one stuck around for a photo op:

So, did everyone have a great Labor Day weekend? We are avid Rutgers fans and spent yesterday at the stadium. Fun until RU lost! But the weather was fantastic (all of August in fact) - let's hope it stays great in September and October for our outdoor sessions!

As summer comes screeching to a halt, I thought I'd share with you some Earth Friendly changes that our family has made over the past few months:

Recycling more - even things that aren't recycled through our town - like plastic bottle caps. Aveda stores take them and reuse them for cosmetic containers. Along those lines, I bought almost no individually packaged water bottles this summer. We have switched out all of our sports bottles for BPA free sports bottles ( http://www.rei.com/ ) in sizes for sports and lunchboxes. Also, I have been checking the products I buy to make sure that they are in containers that I can recycle.

Replacing harsh chemicals - I have purchased earth-friendly high efficiency laundry detergent, kids' body wash and shampoo and household cleaning products and so far I find the ones that I am using to be as good as my old brands.

Growing a Garden - We had a great time planting, watering and "harvesting" our vegetable garden this year. We grew organic peppers, tomatoes, eggplant, basil, dill and mint...a small start but a start nonetheless. It has been a nice feeling to grow and eat our own produce, and to know that it is pesticide-free. Next year we hope to add more selection.

Well, school starts tomorrow for us - here's to a great school year!