It was my first bridal expo show ever. I was so nervous. I had no idea how to price our wedding packages. They ranged from $1285-$3000. I had no idea how to build a photography booth at an expo. My parents let me borrow a bunch of antique furniture, and Brian I tried to create a classic space in a 10 x 10 square booth. Oh, the stress. But you have to start somewhere.
I remember unloading the car, and this beautiful woman was unloading a couple cars down. Her little girl was with her. She had to be around Pascaline’s age at the time. Somehow we started talking. It was her first show too. We were both wedding photographers, both moms, both excited and scared as all get out. From that moment on we were friends.
Sharlane Chase is the beautiful woman I’m talking about.
She has been a support to me over the years as we’ve both tried to grow our businesses and figure out mothering at the same time. She went from being at this little no name expo with me, to organizing the classiest wedding event in the Northwest! She is the mastermind behind Seattle’s amazing Urban Unveiled event. And Sharlane is a fighter. She is a single mom and does it all with grace and a smile that can heal anyone’s broken heart.
So today, I’m asking you to join me in helping Sharlane. Over the holiday her fiancé proposed, and then she got the news of having cancer. This woman has been through so much. And as you can imagine, the medical costs are insane.
The Seattle and surrounding wedding industry are raising money to help Sharlane pay for her medical bills and fight this battle. There is going to be an amazing auction next week on February 4th in Seattle. If you can, you must come! If you can’t, see the website for more ideas on how to give. CLICK HERE for all the details! The website is www.weheartsharlane.com.
Erin Wheeler, a local photographer, is offering up a wedding photography package for the auction. Check our her website and read her amazing story. CLICK HERE for details!
And more than anything, thank you for lifting Sharlane up in your prayers. She is so dear to so many. She never stops giving. She never stops smiling. She and her little Anna have been through so much. Thank you for helping this strong, beautiful woman, Sharlane Chase.
(I love you Sharlane. I’ll never forget the photo shoot we did of each other and the kids in your little kitchen. How has time gone so fast. Love you and Anna so much.)
You may not like me when I say it, but there is no way around it. One of the main ingredients to a Successful Business is Exercise!
Have you made a New Year’s Resolution to be in better shape? It’s never to late! I’m not talking about Barbie Doll shape or those Size 6’s that are really the new Size 10’s—ugh! I’m talking about feeling good about your body/fitness and raising your CONFIDENCE (there’s that word again!).
When we started shooting weddings more consistently, I would wake up Sunday morning and be WORTHLESS for the rest of the day. It was insane! I’d nap on the couch and feel like a train hit me. This was not okay for my family.
Shooting weddings is such an endurance based activity, standing on your feet for up to 12 hours. I knew I needed to get in shape for the job. So I started swimming to build up my back muscles and endurance level. Eventually, I met this scary guy, Troy Nesby.
He’s not that scary. But he is a darn good trainer. AND guess what ladies, he is putting Cross Fit and Cardio exercises/workouts on his new blog. It’s called the Homework Fitness blog, and it’s pretty great.
I LOVE it because one of my biggest battles is keeping consistency in a life that is made up of consistent travel. I feel like I do so good with exercise at home, but then we hit the road and my diet and exercise routine struggle. But if my dad can do it, I sure as heck can.
My dad has travelled abroad for almost forty years. He is sometimes out of the country two or three times a month. And guess what, when he flies from Seattle to Korea, he checks himself in at the hotel (in KOREA) and does cardio after a THIRTEEN hour flight! He’s in his late sixties and has no body fat! He made a decision on his 40th birthday to stay in shape, regardless of how crazy his schedule was, and he has done it. If I think my schedule gets crazy, I don’t have anything on him.
So last year I bought resistance bands that I can take anywhere. If you don’t have a gym membership, you totally need these bands. They cost maybe $15 at Target. And when I’m on the road, I pull up Troy’s blog and find a workout that I can do from anywhere in the world.
What do you say ladies? What about setting some fitness goals. My goal is to exercise 5-6 times a week. I do pretty good with 3 times, but I’d like to bump it up because honestly, I just feel better on the days I workout. What’s a realistic goal that you can set for yourself? If you do any of Troy’s workouts from his blog, post a comment on how it went. I’ve started doing it, and for some reason it helps me feel more accountable.
Why is exercise a main ingredient for a successful business? There are many things in the life of your business that you can’t control or predict. Choosing to get up in the morning and hit the gym before the kids wake up is something you can control. And it’s amazing how this keeps you grounded while building your business. Jeff Jochum and I talk about this off and on. Give it a try. You’ll see what I mean!
CLICK HERE for Troy’s Homework Fitness Blog! And leave a comment after you do a workout! I won’t feel so alone!
I had some time over the weekend to look through our images from last weekend’s Seattle CONFIDENCE Workshop. What a wonderful, beautiful group of women! We had the best time together. What could be better than a weekend with girlfriends (and Brian ) full of laughing, little bit of cleansing crying, understanding your camera, discovering yourself as an artist, and meeting friends that you will have for a life time! Thank you Seattle Confidence ladies!
(I’m trying to figure out what Brian is doing in our group photo. I think he said “Let’s all wave at the camera!” But then he didn’t wave. Figures!)
I love doing the CONFIDENCE workshop local because the Hotel Murano’s private gallery is the BEST place for this type of weekend. It’s so beautiful and inspiring. But the most beautiful subjects were all the models! On Saturday, we had four sweet babies come with their mamas—and even one grandma!
I especially love the one-on-one time we get to answer questions. Sometimes you just need a moment to have someone walk through your camera with you, and I know that for myself, this has made such a difference so many times!
Three (beautiful) generations!
Ladies, remember when I set up the shot of mom on her side, to accentuate a soft curve of her hips? This is one of the shots that I got from that set up. I thought it would help for you to see what I was seeing.
And remember these two boys? Hilarious! It’s freezing cold outside, but they took off their shirts and showed us their muscles!
If you are local to Seattle and want a wonderful group of mom photographers to connect with, you must contact Mary! She started this fantastic group of women, Mamas with Cameras, because of her own desire to understand her camera so she could capture her son. She was in the last CONFIDENCE Workshop, and we were lucky to have her family as a model last weekend!
And then there was another former CONFIDENCE Jamaican sister, Phillipa. Oh my goodness, her babies are the sweetest. This is my favorite one—singing on the railroad tracks without a care in the world.
Brian and I want to thank all the Seattle CONFIDENCE ladies. You opened your hearts up to us and your dreams, and what an powerful weekend it was. We are so excited to see what you captured over the weekend.
And for all of you who haven’t been able to get into a Seattle CONFIDENCE Wkshp, we have decided to offer one in the Spring! We will be flying the three SOAR! Recipients to this workshop too! So stay tuned! We are hammering out the exact dates and will let you know soon!
xoxo, Me Ra
**See Linda Baylis, SOAR! Recipient’s, blog post today on her Self Portrait!
Brian and I never made an “official” announcement that we had kept the Early Bird Registration Price up for all those that were following the SOAR! Announcement. We are glad that a number of you have had the opportunity to take advantage of this.
We are going to keep the $799, Early Bird Registration price, up until this Friday, January 29th @ Midnight PST. And then we will shift back to the normal CONFIDENCE price of $999.
If you live in or around NY, we still have FIVE spots left! CLICK HERE for more NY CONFIDENCE Spring Workshop details!
If you are in Southern CA, we’ve got FOUR spots left! CLICK HERE for more CA CONFIDENCE Spring Workshop details!
AND, if you live in the Seattle, or greater Pacific Northwest area, we will be announcing a Spring CONFIDENCE Workshop weekend soon. So stay tuned!
Tomorrow I’m going to do a fun recap on last weekend’s Seattle CONFIDENCE Workshop!
The 3 SOAR! Recipients had a powerful workshop weekend at Ignite the Flame with Karen and Fay! For the first time, our SOAR! Recipients, Linda, Jennifer and Lindsay were all together! Our AMAZING, wise business coaches are in this too! Karen is on the right and Fay is on the left in orange!
I got to chat with them at the beginning and the end, and I can’t wait for them to share their time with you! One little funny story, they all showed up at the Meet and Greet with shiny, red shoes! Totally not planned! But I heard that they were clicking their heels saying “There’s no place like SOAR!”
I’ve asked them to spend some time processing their weekend, so much deep work was done. And in a couple weeks, they will do a blog post that sheds more light on what happened. But for now…
We have taken a deep breath and are exhaling, expanding, stretching ourselves into new, beautiful territory! Today is the official opening day for the SOAR! blog! Hooray!!
Get over there and sink your teeth into the first SOAR! Photography Exercise! But be warned. This is a photo exercise you will love and hate me for. Our three SOAR! Recipients are leading the way and will be sharing their results and experience on the SOAR! blog this week. I loved hearing how powerful this was for them. I know it will be for you too.
We are also close to the SOARORITY Forum being ready! So get ready ladies, you are going to have a home to post all your exercise results too! Keep your ears open for the upcoming news!
(Can you believe this? We now have TWO blogs and a soon to be live Forum going all at once?! This is amazing! Hold on to your seats. I know I am!)
Wow! W-O-W! There is a lot to tell you today! And it’s all such fun stuff!!!
First, we had a wonderful speaking engagement Wednesday night. I can’t tell you how great it was to be doing a Sony Style store presentation in my home town. I loved it! The staff at the Seattle store were so good to us. They were so excited for the event, had posters up everywhere. For the last week, they’d been handing out fliers. Thank you so much Seattle store! Let’s do it again soon!
Since we were local, my mom and aunt had the opportunity to come. That was super fun. My beautiful mom is to the right, and my beautiful Korean aunt is to the left.
The manager had secured 25 chairs. But we had 51 people show! Isn’t that awesome!
There were even women who had been in our CONFIDENCE workshop all weekend! I looked at Carmen, one of our workshop attendees, and said “Your not tired of listening to me talk all weekend!” What a huge compliment to see a number of our CONFIDENCE ladies in the audience from our most recent workshop to several ones past.
It’s been a BIG week for all of us. There is so much happening at once, I’m trying to not to go cross eyed.
But I have some great news! The SOARORITY! Forum is underway! Chopping Block, our amazing web/blog designers, are donating their time, talent and services to the SOAR! Community! They are amazing! They are building us an awesome forum to call our own. SOARORITY! will be going live very, very soon so stay tuned!
The SOAR! Blog is also going “officially” live on Monday morning! Have you noticed that new “blog” tab on the SOAR! website? I just spent the last hour hammering out the SOAR! blog schedule for the YEAR with Karen, my business coach. I’ve got exciting news ladies! The SOAR! Blog schedule is going to be beautiful! Every week of the month, it will have it’s own enriching, yummy exercise for you! By the end of the year, the Archives on the SOAR! blog are going to kick booty resource for anyone wanting to SOAR! with their business dreams!
We will kick off the SOAR! Blog this Monday morning with an important photo exercise. This will be our first photo exercise of the year! And the nature of this exercise is grounding you for the upcoming year. You’ll get to see the SOAR! Recipients results throughout the week next week, as they’ve been working on this exercise since I met them. And then you will have the opportunity to post your results on the SOARORITY! Forum!
When February 1st comes, the first Monday of the month, Karen and Fay will be posting the first business coaching exercise. And get this…they will continue this rhythm throughout the year. You will get to read and try the business coaching exercises that the SOAR! Recipients are doing, every first Monday of the month! Isn’t that awesome! So much more to share about what will happen next, but I’ll let you savor that yummy news first.
One last thing, as we transition the SOAR! blogging to it’s new home on the SOAR! website, I’m excited to return to the blogging topics I did before SOAR! For all of you who are dying about the Comfort Photo Contest, yes, the Five Finalists are coming! The voting will start soon! I haven’t forgot. Just got a little sidetracked—you could say. And I’ve also got a handful of new photo recipes for you to try! Thank you for supporting this wild ride we’ve all been on. I still can’t believe what has been birthed!
Say a prayer for our SOAR! Recipients! They all flew to San Francisco today. They are meeting for the first time. We’ve put them in a private home—all to themselves. They have their first coaching session from 2pm-4pm today, and then they will be brought into the beautiful Wise Women Embrace. It’s going to be an intense weekend. And yes, we’ve got video support with them so you will get to see the highlights of their weekend!
Have a wonderful weekend ladies! See you back on Monday!
Much, much love, Me Ra
p.s, Thanks to all the volunteers that are getting the SOAR! Hall of Fame together! Email Christine Barker if you’d like to be involved! You can email Christine at soarsisters@gmail.com.
On Monday night, I opened a package that I found on my doorstep. It was a plain CD with a simple “thank you” written on the outside. What I watched has to be the most incredible thank you I’ve ever received. I’m speechless.
I’m in tears trying to find the words. I kept this video to myself since Monday night—treasuring this special gift. And yet I know this beautiful gift is meant to be shared. So with much honor, I share the video with all of you—a video that has given my wings more strength to keep soaring—more strength than these women will ever know.
Much love,
Me Ra (and Brian too! )
p.s. I also want to thank the SOAR! Partners, each one of you. You believed in me when I came to you with the SOAR! Vision, and look at all the women we’ve encouraged. Thank you for trusting me with your names and reputations.
p.s.s. See you all tonight at the Seattle Sony Style store! We start at 6pm! My parents and grandparents are even coming, and those are four people you MUST meet. See you soon!
I am so excited to say that one of your fellow SOAR! Sisters has graciously offered to organize the SOAR! Hall of Fame! Christine Barker, thank you so much! Can I get a huge applause for Christine Barker!
We are going to have the following Hall of Fame categories.
SOAR! 2009 Hall of Fame
1. Most Creative
2. Most Hilarious
3. Most Daring
4. Most Inspirational
5. Most Entertaining
6. Most Confident Video Presence
7. Most Heart Warming
8. Best Video Editing
9. Best Photography
10. All Around BEST SOAR! 2009 Video
If you’d like to see another category added, feel free to let Christine know. You can email Christine at soarsisters@gmail.com.
But here is the deal. There is no way Christine can do this on her own. Can you imagine? No. This is way to big of a project for one woman. So we’d like to enlist a panel of judges. We don’t want to open this contest up to the general public. Instead, it would be wonderful to have our fellow SOAR! Sisters be our panel of judges. SOAR! Sisters who either entered their video or followed along with support. SOAR! Sisters who have watched the videos and cherish them. A handful of you have already emailed with your interest to help, so we are going to forward your emails to Christine. Look for her email, or feel free to email her again! The first step is to create a panel, the second step is to assign categories to each panel. We’d love to have the top three videos of each category be in the SOAR! Hall of Fame. Christine will connect with those interested for further juicy details. (Thank you CHRISTINE! Did we say that yet?!!!)
I think the SOAR! 2009 Hall of Fame would be a wonderful, wonderful way to honor our applicants. When we are stretching our wings, we need continued affirmation that we are on the right path. I would love for us to give this to at least 30, maybe even more, SOAR! Sisters. Thank you so much for supporting this endeavor! If you’d like to help, we’d love it. Email Christine, our SOAR! Hall of Fame Leader, at soarsisters@gmail.com.
xoxo, Me Ra
p.s. For those of you expecting a blog post from Linda Baylis today, one of our SOAR! Recipients, I’ve decided to have all three recipients take the week to prepare for this weekend. There is so much that goes into leaving your family for a few days, especially as a mom. Believe me, if I know nothing else, I know that! We’ve got a full plate on the blog this week with much more to come, including a SOAR! Photography Exercises to get working on!
p.s.s. See you tomorrow night in Seattle at the Sony Style store!
The energy of this community was incredible last week. Thank you for giving so many WARM welcomes to the SOAR! Recipients! You have no idea how much your comments gave them. Karen and Fay, my coaches and the SOAR! Business Coaches, are working with me to hammer out blog topic schedules, so all of you can participate in their journey as much as possible! The forum building has been trickier than we expected, but we are still plugging away!
We also finalized Linda, Jennifer and Lindsay’s flights for this coming weekend! They are all headed to San Francisco to meet in person and join the Ignite the Flame Conference with Fay and Karen! Our SOAR! Blog goes live tomorrow or Wednesday, and I’ll post the first photo exercise that they must bring this weekend.
From the beautiful energy of our SOAR! Recipients and your welcoming hearts, Brian and I kicked off our first CONFIDENCE Wkshp in Seattle this weekend! We had an AMAZING weekend with the Seattle CONFIDENCE ladies! So many wonderful memories.
But it doesn’t stop with this weekend! We are excited to say that I’ll be doing a mini-wkshp for FREE this Wednesday night in Seattle!
The event is going to be at the Sony Style Store from 6pm-7:30pm. See all the details in the flyer above! (Click on the flyer to make it bigger!) It’s so great to start 2010 with local events, feeling surrounded and supported by friends and family.
And “YES!”, all husbands are more than welcome to come!
See you soon! And Happy Monday!
xoxo, Me Ra
p.s. Post a comment if you think I might see you Wednesday!
Okay SOAR! Sisters and Supporters, we’ve got one more SOAR! Recipient to introduce you too! Meet Lindsay Baumgartner from Silverdale, Washington! Before I go on, can I just make a comment about the image below? Lindsay and I both live in the great Pacific Northwest, and if you compare the color of light in all three SOAR! Recipient photos…you can see the blue hues in our Northwest light. Isn’t it crazy how the color of light changes depending on where you are in this world?! I know…major tangent. Back to our focus…
Meet the beautiful Lindsay Baumgartner. She is a force to be reckoned with.
Lindsay’s video entry was #242. I sat down and watched Lindsay’s video, and I felt like I couldn’t breathe. Lindsay’s story took our breath away. How one family survives such trauma…wait…after meeting her family the word isn’t “survives” but better said this way…How one family becomes closer, stronger, and more intimate from such a traumatic experience…is a true testament to the resilience of Lindsay and her family. If you haven’t seen Lindsay’s SOAR! video entry, you must…but first grab a box of Kleenex and consider yourself warned. The very end gets me every time!
What I remember most about Lindsay is her sheer strength. This gal is not a wimp. She is a straight shooter—a tough cookie wrapped in beautiful femininity. She and Kyle told me how Lindsay would purposefully not baby or enable Kyle in his healing process. If he wanted something, he needed to figure out how to use the paralyzed right side of HIS BODY, and get it. And I just think to myself, “That is amazing. To not crumble under so much pain and unknowns and fight for your husband with tough love—this is a woman I want to know better. This is a woman who can teach me something…lots of things.” And so it is without question that I feel so incredibly honored to have her representing all of you as one of the SOAR! Recipients.
Lindsay’s blog posts will be Thursdays on the upcoming SOAR! blog. Here is her first post of the year!
Beginning Thoughts, by Lindsay Baumgartner
In this New Year I feel like I need to be 100% genuine and honest. So (deep breath)…. with that I must confess, this is my first ever Blog!! I have read many, and thought about writing one, but that is as far as it has gone. So here it goes!!
Who would have thought that this is what God had in store for me in 2010!! This week has been a test of Faith and an incredible show of Love from my Lord and Savior. I must tell you how proud I am of each and every one of you for taking this Leap of Faith and submitting a video. For putting yourself out there for all to see, and saying “I am worthy”. I have been inspired by all the love and support that has poured out from what Me Ra and Brian have created here!! How blessed are each one of us to have had the opportunity to cross paths and dream!!
Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. (Proverbs 3: 5-6)
Like many of you, last week began with anticipation and excitement. I was anxious to find out, and nervous all at the same time. I prayed that God would give me peace and take away the stress and anxiety. With that prayer he gave me an incredible sense of calmness. I realized that whatever the outcome might be, I would be okay! My Dad called to see if I had received any news. I told him “I think it’s a no Dad”. My Dad preceded to tell me, “You never know honey, Me Ra might show up on your doorstep tomorrow.” I laughed my tail off not realizing he was absolutely correct!!
So when I received a strange phone call from my husband on the morning I received the news, I thought little of it. My husband called me at home and asked the brilliant question, “Where are you?” To which I answered, “I will give you one guess, HOME!!” I laughed at how silly a question it was. Little did I know he was playing detective for one Me Ra Koh.
I was drying my hair, getting ready to pick up my kids from school, when the phone rang again. I strongly contemplated not answering but something urged me to pick up the phone. I picked up the phone, and to my utter shock it was Me Ra!!! To say I was in shock was an understatement, I was floored. I quickly sat down and told Me Ra everything I had planned on doing that day, how goofy!! I am sure I sounded like a blundering fool. Me Ra explained a video guy would be coming by the house in roughly two hours. Panic struck, you are all thinking it, was my house video ready!! Nope, but who cared at this point I was SOARING!!
I got off the phone, took a deep breath and called my husband. The call to my husband was full of mostly unintelligible comments and tons of screaming. I began making calls and arranging for my husband, parents, nephew, in-laws, and grandparent in-laws to be there to support me when the video guy came. I picked up my kids, and started the task of readying my house. What a great distraction!! To say that I was bursting with excitement was an understatement. I am sure there was a Cheshire like smile eerily plastered on my face.
My family arrived, and we waited for the video guy to arrive. Sitting in the living room, I heard from someone in the group that there was a group of people walking up the street. I got up and looked out the window in utter disbelief at what I saw. A beautiful little girl was walking up my driveway carrying a pink package with a brown ribbon. I recognized instantly that the beauty was none other than Pascaline with Blaze, Brian, and of course Me Ra in tow. I was so worried about how I needed to act. Ok, confession number 2 of the New Year. I am not an actress or even close to it. I was terrified I would not look surprised enough, and would thus disappoint all of you that saw the video. I can honestly say that seeing Me Ra, Brian, and the kid’s walk up to my house was a complete shock and thrill. The next 2 hours were something I will cherish all the days of my life.
My time since that extraordinary call has been a blur. It has been a surreal experience – one that I never anticipated. I spent my time waiting for the announcement following all of your threads and comments. Your hope and support for one another was inspiring. I was anxious and nervous for all of you, as if I was still waiting. I too was where you were, I dreamt the same dream. I told every person that saw my video and told me how much I deserved this that there were 262 other women that deserved it just as much.
I spent my Friday reading comments, and waiting for the announcement. I prayed for Me Ra and Brian on such a hectic day, and I prayed for each and every one of you. We took our kids out to dinner and a movie and returned home eager to see the video. We kept our kids up later then usual and finally decided to put them to bed – they had waited long enough!
Together, just my husband and I, watched the journey Me Ra and Brian took just like the rest of you. We watched and discovered who the other winners were, and I cried out of happiness for them. Then with one eye open and volume turned down, we saw the arrival and start of my journey. With humble hearts we read the comments that poured in, and I felt proud to have been able to stand with you and say “I Can Soar”!!
I hope and pray that Me Ra, Brian, and the kids have been able to take a deep breath and relax, they so deserve it!! For anyone that has not had the pleasure of meeting Me Ra, Brian, Pascaline, and Blaze…. you are missing out. They were some of the most charming and genuine people I have ever met. You could not help but feel at ease within moments of meeting them. If I had received nothing else, the blessing of meeting these amazing people would have been worth its weight in gold!! Thank you Me Ra and Brian for being the amazing people God has intended you to be, I am both humbled and inspired!!
Lindsay, thank you so much for everything you wrote. If you were nervous to meet us, you must not have known how nervous we were to meet YOU! We watched your video a dozen times and cried EVERY time. Your husband’s perseverance and your unending commitment and love to him makes you heroes in our home. As the kids said, “Mama, they are real life heroes!” With great excitement, I welcome you to a year of focusing on you, your spirit, your heart, your desires and dreams, and your story.
Will you all help me welcome Lindsay Baumgartner from Silverdale, WA!
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But he is a darn good trainer. AND guess what ladies, he is putting Cross Fit and Cardio exercises/workouts on his new blog. It’s called the 
