So check out the hardwoods! Before sanding the main floor, the hardwoods were the dark color of our dining room chairs!

I can’t tell you how much BRIGHTER the whole main floor feels! I love it! And you know we need all the light we can get in the Northwest.

Quick reminder, today is the last day of the sale on all our products and the discount for the Atlanta Workshop!

Sale ends at midnight tonight PST! For details, click here!

Again, if your having issues with using your coupon code, email Brian at brian@merakoh.com.

And check this out!!

My publicist just emailed me and said the Sacramento Bee ran an article on our photo tips called “Take Perfect Pictures of a Newborn”. What a treat! I had to share it with you! To read it, click on the title!

But I almost forgot! Here is that promised peak of what I did with those 8 ft branches! I can’t show you a wide frame shot because I want to surprise my family this Christmas. But this gives you a small idea. We mounted the branches on the walls and hung photos underneath with glass balls hung by Christmas ribbon from the branches. The glass balls have candles inside, and at night the room glows. I love it! And the best part, Brian isn’t giving me any more grief about those branches. He’s a believer now too!

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The ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY Sale is happening on all our products and the Atlanta Workshop!

It ends Wednesday at midnight PST!!! To see the details, click here!

We were up till 2:30am wiping down all the walls and cupboards throughout the house. Did you know you have to vacuum out all your vents too? It’s just a “fun, little project!” Lots of dust and clean up, but wow, the hardwoods are BEAUTIFUL!!! Just jaw dropping! Your going to hate me, but no photo yet. We need to finish cleaning the layers of dust and emptying the Uhaul before we have company for dinner tonight. Yep, tonight!

FYI, If you emailed Brian because your coupon code for our One Year Anniversary discounts wasn’t working (or posted the problem on our blog (LAUREN! :)), he will get back to you soon. We were a little swamped with clean up here so Brian didn’t have a chance to get to your emails yesterday. We’ll be sure to honor the coupon code if by chance he doesn’t get back to you until after Wed. If you haven’t emailed Brian and ran into problems with using the coupon codes, email him at brian@merakoh.com so he can help you too! Oh boy, was that too repetitive? Lack of sleep here.

But good news is that LOTS and LOTS and LOTS of you had no issues with the coupon offers and got your orders in! Yeah! We’re so happy to do this for our One Year Anniversary! And thanks for all the congrats yesterday!

I’m also loving all of the nominations for the Running on Empty Contest. Since the workshop is this weekend, the cut off for submitting nominees needs to be tonight at midnight PST so people can have time to vote for the winner. Get your nominations in today by midnight!

Photos of the hardwoods will come soon, and I can’t wait to show you what I did with these eight foot branches my friend found! Oh, the suspense!

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The ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY Sale is happening on all our products and the Atlanta Workshop!

It ends Wednesday at midnight PST!!! To see the details, click here!

To celebrate, we are offering these CRAZY!!

We’ll run these discounts until this Wed., December 3rd, midnight PST. If you’re planning on getting any of our products as gifts for Christmas, the next three days are the days to do it!

The Crazy Discounts are…drum roll….

DVDs (hard copies shipped to you) are 30% off! Coupon Code: thirty

DVDs that are the downloadable version are also 30% off! Coupon Code: download

All 101 Kits are 40% off! Coupon Code: forty

The upcoming Atlanta Workshop in January is 20% off! (We’re going to continue the Early Bird Registration Price until Wed, no coupon code needed!)

Enjoy! And thank you for making our first year of having the Refuse site so AWESOME!

Now, here’s some catching up we must do! You won’t believe our last seven days.

If you follow me on Facebook (MeRa Koh) or Twitter (merakoh), you’ve heard me mention our hardwood floors project this last week. Brian and I are home for five weeks straight! (YEAH!) We thought, ‘Hey, let’s get our hardwoods refinished on the whole main floor of our house! Why not! That will be a fun little project before the holidays start!’ Are we stupid or are we just STUPID putting “fun little project” with “refinishing hardwood floors” in the same thought?! Yes, the answer is we are STUPID!

We had no idea until 2-3 nights prior of all this starting that we would have to move every thing out of the main floor of the house. I mean that makes total sense, but for some reason it never occurred to us. The common sense of it all wasn’t there at ALL! We rented a Uhaul and moved everything into the Uhaul. Then we find out that we can’t stay at the house because of our dog and cat. We need to relocate for 7-8 days. I was totally stumped. But then my friend, Karen, says she is off to Cabo with her family the morning we have to move out. Talk about a total gift to us! We get to move into her place as they leave for Cabo, and in turn they have a house sitter for their dog.

Now let me ask you this. Who do you think had the best week of all? Us, the cat, or the dogs?

And who do you think had the worst week of all? If you guessed Prince Philip, the cat, you are right!!!

All in all, it’s been wonderful to be at Karen’s house. Aside from their dog having OCD and licking every inch of this house only to throw it up, and our dog having a bacterial infection in her colon that causes her to @#$% everywhere, it’s been so awesome (emphasis on “so”). I can’t imagine all this happening inside a hotel room. Wow, that would have been insane!

But today, today we get to start moving back in. I’ll try to post a photo of the NEW floors so you can get a peak of them! I can’t wait to slide across them in my socks!!!

How was your Thanksgiving week?

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Upcoming Blog Posts for This Week!

Do you know a Running on Empty Mom who lives in Seattle area? We’ve had such a crazy schedule that I forgot to post this nomination. If you have someone you know, that is local, we have saved a spot for her this coming weekend. Go ahead and nominate her in today’s comments.

If you attended the Chicago workshop, I’ll try and get that post up this week so you can see your shots and shooting conditions! And then everyone can sing your praises b/c of how amazing you all did!

We need to run a new Photo Contest. And yes, we need to post the Five Finalists for the Inspirational Object Contest. You are all so good to me for being patient. What do you think our new Photo Contest Theme should be?

This wonderful couple was married in Cape Cod this Fall. You’ve seen sneak peaks of their photos on the blog, but I’m so excited for you to see Christine and Patrick’s Slideshow!

Here are a handful of my favorite wedding images!

Christine’s personality is electric! She lights up the whole room. And her laugh, her beautiful laugh is completely contagious! I love this shot of her laughing as the ladies all toasted her.

Christine headed out to make her way to the ceremony site. As the door opened below bright sunshine flooded in with such intensity that you couldn’t see the people waiting below.

The extreme expressions of sunlight throughout their wedding day are one of our favorite elements about this wedding!

Dad and daughter walking down the aisle. Their faces say it all.

As you heard, Brian and I flew in to Cape Cod a couple days early. We rented bikes and rode all over looking for the perfect spot for wedding photos.

Brian found this quiet spot off the beaten path.

Look at the sun flare in this image. I love how the soft, red circles add to the beautiful, embracing story of their relationship.

The light changed and a quietness settled.

Resting place.

I also love this shot of Christine adoring Patrick.

Aside from the beautiful couple and the amazing light, Christine and Patrick did an incredible job planning every detail to their wedding. This was an especially big thing to do because Christine and Patrick were planning their wedding from their home in NY. Their event planner, Tasha Bracken from The Simple Details, seemed to be the secret weapon that helped every last piece come together. Tasha, you are amazing!

The menus were wrapped in satin.

The bouquet was gorgeous!

Even the ground was magical!

Chatham Bars Inn, the wedding location, crushes seashells and covers the ground with them.

But my absolute favorite image of the day is this one. You can only attempt an image like this, and then hope that the sun gave you a gift in return. The design of the sun flare at the bottom is more than I could ask for!

But don’t stop here! Check out Christine and Patrick’s Wedding Slideshow! Just click on their name!

The song they sent me is called Hoppipolla by Sigur Ros. This is an Icelandic post rock band. (Brian and I just love the diversity of songs that our couples pick to express their wedding day.) I love the translation I found for Hoppipolla online. Here is a short piece of the lyrics in English;

smiling

spinning in circles

holding hands

the world is a blur

except when you’re standing

Many congrats to Christine and Patrick!

Brian and I had the most wonderful experience working with you both. Thank you for also introducing us to the stunning beauty of Cape Cod. We’re hooked for sure!

We love you both! Me Ra and Brian

p.s. Your slideshow is only a preview of all the hundreds of images to come!

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Upcoming Photography Workshops UPDATE!

SEATTLE-I thought we had one space left before, but we had two and someone grabbed it, so now we really do have ONE spot left for the Seattle December Workshop!! Who is the lucky lady that is going to get the last spot?! Register for the workshop and give yourself the perfect Christmas gift! Click HERE to register!

ATLANTA-Start 2009 with a weekend of inspiration! If you live on the East Coast and want an inspiring type of Christmas gift for your loved one, send her to Atlanta! The dates are January 16th and 17th! Register here !!

For fun photo exercises, check out our popular Instructional DVDs Refuse to Say Cheese (see the downloadable version that is now available if you live outside the US!), our 101 Kits for starting or expanding a business in photography, click on the words of your choice! To read a great review done on our DVDs, click here!

Give you a hint…

There are three things total! And if you hit refresh, you can see each one!

It’s been a work in progress for a couple months.

We’re so excited to have them live! What do you think!!

Misty and Jajuan, we LOVE YOU!!!

We will be team shooting their wedding with Yuriy and Julia today. I’m so excited because we rarely get to shoot together. Usually Brian and I are shooting in one place, and Yuriy and Julia are somewhere else. But not today! Today we get to work with our Amazing Associates! We’re going to shoot the Getting Ready Photos and the Bride and Groom shots all together. Then Brian and I will hand the rest of the day off to Yuriy and Julia so we can pick up the kids and guests at the wedding ceremony and reception. This is one celebration we want to party at!

Misty and I met ten years ago! My mom introduced us, and the rest is history. Misty has this amazing gift of encouragement. If you are ever feeling down on yourself, have coffee with Misty. She’ll bring your spirits back up in no time! Back in the book days, Misty would come with me to my speaking engagements/book tours and help run the book table and administration details for me. Her belief in me was and is an incredible gift.

Now she is running her own photography business. Check out her blog!

But Jajuan…I met Jajuan 20 years ago! He would come over and play with my little brothers. And my favorite story about Jajuan is that my mom would tell him he had to go home because it was dinner time. So Jajuan would say goodbye, and my mom would close the door. But then (sometimes a couple hours later), one of us would walk by the front door and notice someone standing outside through the stained glass window. It would be Jajuan! Just standing there this whole time, waiting for us to finish dinner so he could keep playing with my brothers. Hilarious!

Now he’s this 6′4 man who my kids often use as a point of reference when they’re trying to figure out how tall something is. “Is it taller than Mr. Jajuan?” they ask. If not, it must not be that tall. Shoot, Jajuan has to duck his head when he walks in the front door! (Yes, he has played semi pro basketball.)

Yuriy did a great job on these engagement photos. To see them all, check out Yuriy’s blog!

Misty and Jajuan, we will see you in a few hours! We love you so much! Yeah!! It’s YOUR wedding day today!!

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Upcoming Workshops UPDATE!

SEATTLE-I thought we had one space left before, but we had two and someone grabbed it, so now we really do have ONE spot left for the Seattle December Workshop!! Who is the lucky lady that is going to get the last spot?! Register for the workshop and give yourself the perfect Christmas gift! Click HERE to register!

ATLANTA-Start 2009 with a weekend of inspiration! If you live on the East Coast and want an inspiring type of Christmas gift for your loved one, send her to Atlanta! The dates are January 16th and 17th! Register here !!

For fun photo exercises, check out our popular Instructional DVDs Refuse to Say Cheese (see the downloadable version that is now available if you live outside the US!), our 101 Kits for starting or expanding a business in photography, click on the words of your choice! To read a great review done on our DVDs, click here!

For the last few years, Pascaline will wake up hearing her name called in the night. She answers but doesn’t hear anything in response. Brian and I think God is whispering her name. Her experience reminds us of Samuel in the bible. These occurrences come and go, and a couple months ago it started happening again. With Pascaline’s permission, I’ll share what happened next.

I asked Pascaline to do something for me. I told her how God often gives her mom pictures for people. Simple pictures. The kind that lets someone know God hasn’t forgot about their name. Maybe God wanted to give her a picture too. Maybe that is why she was hearing her name called. I wasn’t sure, but we could find out.

If she heard her name called again, I told her to assume the voice might be God and ask Him to give her a picture. “Let’s start with asking God to give you a picture for your mom,” I said. “I’m a safe person to learn with. Then we can talk about what it’s like when God gives us a picture for someone. How to know if it’s really God. How to know what to do with the picture.”

The next morning during breakfast, Pascaline said, “Mom, I got a picture for you last night. I heard the voice call my name again so I asked God to give me a picture for you. And He did!” As you can imagine, I was all ears!

“I had a picture of us swimming in the ocean together. We were playing in the waves and having so much fun. But then, four big sharks started to circle us, swimming around us. We were trapped. You got super scared and said we need to get out of the water and up on the beach where it’s safe. But I told you these are the sharks that only look scary but won’t hurt you. I told you that you didn’t need to be afraid of these sharks. We could keep playing. So we did.”

It is a beautiful, powerful picture. I have thought about this picture a number of times over the last few months. Different things have come up that have made me stressed and worried–caused me to feel threatened. And then I remember this picture and Pascaline saying “these are the sharks that only look scary but won’t hurt you…we could keep playing.”

This dream is an intimate gift that I know God gave to me through my little girl. What is even more amazing is being able to teach her that yes, God loves to speak to her. He loves to share things with her. He is only a whisper away.

As I flew home from Chicago Monday night, I thought of this picture. I thought of all the women who attended the workshop and the sharks that some of them face each day. I also thought of you–our wonderful blog readers. There are thousands of you that read this blog daily. Some of you I have met, and many of you I have yet to meet. But Monday night, I had a picture of your faces. My heart was stirred, and I felt like Pascaline’s picture might encourage you too.

There are so many sharks these days. Whether it’s the financial state of our country, health threats, marital stress, loss, fear, insecurity…the list goes on and on. And yet, I believe God wants to encourage you today. He wants you to know that even though those sharks are big and scary… even though you are encircled and trapped. Even though you feel like your life is at risk. “These are the sharks that only look scary but won’t hurt you.” You can rest. You can breathe deep. You can keep playing.

Whatever you are facing today. Whatever the sharks are that encircle you…I am praying you will feel that unreasonable freedom that allows the sharks to circle you, and yet doesn’t keep you from the freedom to keep playing.

Will you swim with me and Pascaline, as we swim with sharks?

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Upcoming Workshops UPDATE!

SEATTLE–I thought we had one space left before, but we had two and someone grabbed it, so now we really do have ONE spot left for the Seattle December Workshop!! Who is the lucky lady that is going to get the last spot?! Register for the workshop and give yourself the perfect Christmas gift! Click HERE to register!

ATLANTA–Start 2009 with a weekend of inspiration! If you live on the East Coast and want an inspiring type of Christmas gift for your loved one, send her to Atlanta! The dates are January 16th and 17th! Register here !!

For fun photo exercises, check out our popular Instructional DVDs Refuse to Say Cheese (see the downloadable version that is now available if you live outside the US!), our 101 Kits for starting or expanding a business in photography, click on the words of your choice! To read a great review done on our DVDs, click here!

Twenty-one beautiful, talented, creative women came together in Chicago this weekend. Some drove over seven hours, others flew out from the West Coast. The group was as dynamic as ever. Some of the women were total beginners with their cameras, some advanced, but Brian and I were proud of how they all went for it–jumping in with both feet! We even had two different sets of moms come with their daughters. One mom and daughter flew in from CA and her other daughter flew in from DC. What a bonding experience. We had Nicky join us as the Running on Empty winner. (Nicky, your life and story is and will continue to change lives. This weekend was just the beginning.) We had two pregnant moms, one expecting twins! We had single women, married women, grandmas and every other combination. And we had one freaking, amazing, awesome hostess names Gretchen!

And most of all, we had a WONDERFUL TIME!

This is the group showing you our famous Fake Laugh Photo Coaching technique.

Aren’t these women beautiful!

And let’s not forget our fearless MAN of the group, Mr. Brian himself! Can’t you just hear him teaching the workshop? As eloquent as ever. Wait, is eloquent a masculine word?

To all the Chicago Workshop ladies,

Thank you, thank you, thank you. Thank you for not only letting us teach you about photography, but also opening your hearts to us. That Saturday night dinner and conversation with all of you will always be cherished by us. All the moments in between when we got to learn more about each of you, Brian and I will never forget. I read all the beautiful comments in the book you made for us when I got on the plane. Your gift was so thoughtful and unexpected. I couldn’t help but get emotional. It’s always amazing to me that in only 48 hrs, we have become a part of each other’s lives and unfolding stories. For this, we are forever grateful. We will always cherish our time with you.

Much love, Me Ra and Brian

p.s. For all our blog readers. We did a super challenging photo shoot with these women during the workshop. In a couple days I’ll post photos of the scenario and challenge we gave them. Wait till you see the photos they captured!! They all did AMAZING!

For those of you who don’t know his name, you are so glad you read the blog today. Matthew is one of the best photographers in the fashion industry. Many of the fashion magazine images you see have been taken by Matthew. Check out his website, and you’ll be surprised at how many images you recognize. Yep, he took those.

Matthew is not only a photographer, but an author, speaker and sometimes seen on America’s Next Top Model.

But why am I showing you his photos and blogging about Matthew today?

I read his new blog last night and thought you would all go BANANAS reading it too!

Matthew has posted images and stories of him working behind the scenes. Whether he’s setting up a shoot for Queen Latifah or Oprah–you get to read about it. And believe me, you will be inspired because he shares from his heart.

Brian and I first met Matthew last January when Sony asked us to speak for them at PMA in Vegas. Matthew is a complete icon in the industry, but he didn’t act like it at all. Brian and I were blessed by how kind and generous he was–completely unassuming. When we all spoke for Sony again in March at WPPI, we took Matthew to a bunch of wedding photography parties, and every time I looked at him he was smiling ear to ear just having the best time with everyone. Seriously, Matthew has a heart of gold. That’s why I’m so excited to see that he’s doing a blog–and not just any blog, but he’s transferring his approachable self onto his blog and letting you into his world. What a gift to us!

Go check out Matthew’s blog. It’s fairly new. I promise you’ll spend at least an hour reading his posts. Even if you never aspire to fashion photography, the behind the scenes look at what he does is fascinating. Right now he has posts about how his team works together to pull off a shoot, or the inspiration behind a shoot he did of Gregory Hines, or the story of how he even got started in photography.

Leave him some blog love too! I noticed he has five or so comments on his posts. If you are inspired by his stuff, leave him a comment and let him know you are out there, and “Yes, you love that he is blogging and letting us into his world.” Seriously, comments mean the world to bloggers. It let’s us know we aren’t just writing to ourselves but people are actually connecting with us. And tell him you found us from here.

Thanks friends! I promise, you won’t be disappointed!

Have a great weekend! Love you Matthew!

xoxoxo, Me Ra

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To learn about aperture, shutter speed and ISO, check out our popular Instructional DVDs Refuse to Say Cheese (see the downloadable version that is now available if you live outside the US!), our 101 Kits for starting or expanding a business in photography, click on the words of your choice! To read a great review done on our DVDs, click here!

If you want to attend one of our workshops sooner than later, Atlanta/Jan 09 is your best bet! We won’t be back for another Beginner workshop until Spring or Summer 09, so check out the Atlanta details and take advantage of the Early Bird Registration price before it sells out!

Katie and Fred, I am so excited for you to see your slideshow and images! Your wedding was one of the most memorable, beautiful and absolutely enchanting weddings.

Every detail in Katie and Fred’s wedding was magical.

From Katie’s super sweet bows

to the magical lighting and decor of the reception.

Cherry Hills Country Club was closed for the weekend due to construction. And their staff graciously let us take the golf carts out for photos. (They must go on record as one of the nicest staffs we have ever worked with!)

The autumn leaves and the lush rolling, green hills, with the incredible color and 24.6 mega pixel camera we used made this experience AMAZING!

While I shot the full frames of Katie and Fred dancing, Brian worked his magic with the 70-200mm lens. I love the way Katie adores Fred. She loves him with every part of her being, and to capture this dynamic is an incredible honor.

We have photographed countless ceremonies, but Brian and I witnessed something at Katie and Fred’s wedding that we have never seen before. Katie, one of the sweetest women

who wears her heart on her sleeve,

got super emotional during the ceremony.

And without thinking, Fred gave her a kiss in the middle of the sermon!

I don’t think either of them realized what they had just done, or the audience for that matter. And then everyone started laughing. It happened so fast, Brian and I were in shock and laughing ourselves! The pastor even said that he had never seen a couple skip to the end. It was the BEST!

There are so many favorite images from this wedding! I went crazy trying to narrow them down for their slideshow. The Director of Low Strung, from Yale University gave Katie permission to use their song for the wedding slideshow. Katie had emailed me and was worried the song might be to long for the slideshow, but she loved the music. (You’ll understand why when you hear it. This group is made up of twelve cellists!)

Katie, if anything, the song was to short! There are so many beautiful wedding images to choose from! You are going to freak!

But, if I had to pick one of my favorite moments, it was when Katie saw her dad for the first time after putting her wedding dress on. Her face just lit up. One of my other favorite moments is when Katie’s dad hugged her right after the ceremony. You have to watch the slideshow to see that one.

One of Brian’s favorite moments was when the sun started to set. I love, love, love this shot below that Brian captured.

Cheers to Katie and Fred! One of the sweetest couples we have ever had the pleasure of working with.

Want to see their wedding slideshow?!!!

To see Katie and Fred’s Wedding Slideshow, click here!

We can’t wait to hear what you think!!! We are so excited with how the images and music turned out!!

Congratulations Katie and Fred! We love you two!

xoxoxo, Me Ra and Brian

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Stay tuned to see Christine and Patrick’s beautiful Cape Cod wedding, also shot with the Sony A900!

For 2009 wedding booking availability, email our wonderful Touchpoint, Genie. (genie@merakoh.com)

To learn about aperture, shutter speed and ISO, check out our popular Instructional DVDs Refuse to Say Cheese (see the downloadable version that is now available if you live outside the US!), our 101 Kits for starting or expanding a business in photography, click on the words of your choice! To read a great review done on our DVDs, click here!

If you want to attend one of our workshops sooner than later, Atlanta/Jan 09 is your best bet! We won’t be back for another Beginner workshop until Spring or Summer 09, so check out the Atlanta details and take advantage of the Early Bird Registration price before it sells out!