My Visioning Board

The idea behind creating a visioning board is to begin manifesting your dreams into reality.  Now that I'm really starting to dig my heels into growing my company and enjoying life, I thought it was a good time to revisit that visioning board. 

A visioning board is essentially a collection of things that you want to have, become, or accomplish in your life.  Things can include: career, where you want to live, family, hobbies, etc.

Here is my virutal visioning board in progress:

photos from Porsche, Blue Escapes Diving, Flickr, Atlas

1. Porsche Carrera: my dream car.
2. Scuba Diving: Paul and I need to complete our open water certification. I can't wait to start scuba diving to see sea turtles and through ship wrecks.
3. Ballroom Dancing: I really need to get myself back into some ballroom classes. I can't wait to start competiting in some Pro-Am competitions
4. House in Chastain Park area: I plan on moving back closer to the Buckhead area of Atlanta in 4 to 5 years. My dream area to live in is the Chastain Park area.
5. Visit Antarctica
6. Start a NonProfit Organization: start a nonprofit benefiting a cause that I'm passionate about. Not sure what that is yet... arts & music, animal rescue, ....

Rodriguez Wedding

Paul and I had the privilege of attending the wedding of two of our good friends yesterday - Nisha and Ernesto.  We met this awesome couple just over a year ago when Nisha and I both started going through RCIA (class at church to become Catholic) last September. 

The four of us have become great friends and their wedding was beautiful!  It was one of the most emotional weddings I've been to, I guess crying runs in their family (and friends)!

Beautiful ceremony in a beautiful church, Immaculate Heart of Mary. The two of them were just glowing in love. 

These are the programs that Nisha and I worked and crafted for two weekends. I must say... they turned out quite lovely :)

Wasn't their cake cute?! It was orange creamsicle - YUM!

Beautiful floral decor by Anik Designs

The reception was at Capozzi's in Decatur. The inside of the restaurant was adorable! I loved the warehouse, exposed ceiling look.
 

The first dance, they were so cute!

Here I am with the lovely bride, Nisha!

The newlywed shoe game!

They were havin' a ball!

Nurturing Then Letting Go

I've been an entrepreneur for almost two years now and what a journey it has been.  I can't say that it was a complete accident that I became a business owner, I always knew that it was bound to happen. I just didn't know it was going to happen so quickly.

Two years ago, after I left a job that I wasn't happy at, I did some soul-searching - with the support of my then boyfriend (now husband).  My mind was filled with thoughts of... "you're too young to start a company, you need more work experience... and on and on"  I just couldn't bear the thought of returning to a corporate environment, or working for someone else.

By some luck, I stumbled upon my first client, now known as Under Stella's Umbrella.

Slowly my client base started to grow through referrals and word of mouth.  At the beginning of 2009, I started networking in local business organizations and my client base seemed to explode overnight.

Now, I'm in a position where I have more work than I can possibly handle.  So what's next?  I've started working with interns.  At first, it was difficult for me to let go of control and let someone else do the work... but let me tell you, it's been fantastic and I am even more excited about the future of my company.

I'm hoping that my next intern hire will be someone who is able to stick around for a longer period of time, with potential of full time hire in a year or so. *fingers crossed*

** Note: Marketing/Social Media Intern job description will also be up on dotdot studios' blog in the next few days

Things I'm Loving Right Now

It seems like I've been going full speed non-stop ever since we got back from the honeymoon - which was almost two months ago.  How do I keep my sanity?  Cute things that I find online help some :)

1. Wicked Witch cupcake! (by simplysweeter.blogspot.com) I must try making some of these in anticipation of the upcoming holiday!
2. Little piggy dog costume by Trixie and Peanut. Adorable costume and love this company, I always buy my dog's collars from them - Roxie's a few sizes too big for cute little costumes.
3. Bowler bag by Spartina 449.  Love their bag fabric designs!
4. Coffee mug by Crate & Barrel.  Due to massive workload, I've been drinking lots and lots of coffee.  Thank goodness for my new espresso/coffee maker!

Roxie Marie Crane

Let me introduce you to Roxie, our beloved dog and family member.  She's my loyal and not-so-hardworking co-worker during the workweek, and our goofy companion on the weekends.   I did a mini-photo shoot with her this afternoon while I was taking a much needed break away from work.

First slow cooker meal

Paul and I bought our first crock-pot last weekend (on sale for $19.99 at Macy's - sweet deal!), and I finally tested it out tonight.

Having never owned a slow cooker before, I was a tad nervous... was I going to burn the house down?  I had a client meeting in the afternoon so I wouldn't be able to stay at home and supervise.  So, I selected an Italian Chicken with Vegetables recipe off of McCormick's website and crossed my fingers.  I wasn't able to find the packaged seasoning in the store so I made up my own with a little bit of fresh garlic, parsley and basil.

Eight hours later, here was the result:

Served with some green beans and freshly baked French bread with garlic butter. 

I will have to use the crock pot more often!  The food turned out quite nicely and I didn't have to spend too much time cooking.  Great for a busy gal :)

~Chef Melissa

Reusable Bags are getting cuter!

I just returned from a quick run to Target (had to get my beloved chocolate raspberry coffee creamer) and I got to use my flippin' amazing flip & tumble reusable bags - I love them more and more everytime I use them so I had to share.  I've been using reusable bags for a few years now, but these are my favorite thus far.

image from flipandtumble.com

I love how you can just roll them up into a handy little ball and then keep them in your purse/messenger bag and never have to go to the store and then realize that you forgot your bags again.  Or at least reduce the amount of times anyways :)

Don't these remind you of the Popples?  I was an 80s baby so of course I had a Popple, mine was the white one, Puffball.   Even more reason to love these little bags.

Searching for a Portrait Artist

Today is our one month anniversary in our new house!  Yay for us!

We're still working on renovations though - these popcorn ceilings just seem endless.  Paul's been diligently scraping the plaster off of the ceiling and repainting.  The ceilings do look much better so it'll all be worth it!

My office is 92% complete (just need to add curtains and some artwork on the walls).  So I thought I'd share a before and after view of one side of the room.

before - how the previous owners had this room set up

after - now, my room's a sunny happy yellow, with client products as temporary decor :)

Now, on to the topic of this post... we have a formal living/sitting room on the first floor of our house.  Right now, there's no real good use for it so we have decided to have that room be Roxie's (our dog) play room.  She's a big girl and needs some space to play when it's raining and when it gets colder in the winter.

I've been wanting a painted portrait of our dog for a while, and now we have the perfect spot for one - in Roxie's Room!  I'm looking for something that's not so much of a realistic feel.  Here are some examples that I've found online that I think are fabulous:

from artpaw.com

from apartment therapy

So, if you are or know of any (preferably local-Atlanta) artists who we can commission to do this sort of project for a reasonable price please let me know!!

Laughter is the Best Medicine

Sometimes all you need is a night out on the town with the girls - at a comedy club!  With all of the stresses of the new house and being overworked lately, it seems like what I needed was a good laugh.  Laughing till I started crying.

Tonight, we went out on the town for the bachelorette party of one of my good friends.  These kinds of parties are usually exceptionally fun.  This is the one night that a bride-to-be can do, say, ask pretty much anything of any guy - and get it.  We started the night out at Eclipse di Luna, a fabulous tapas restaurant in north Atlanta.  If you haven't been there before, you must!  It's a great place for groups to go, just order a bunch of tapas and share them around the table.

The highlight of the evening for me was the comedy show at Punchline Comedy Club.  It had been a few years since my last visit to that club, and tonight's headliner was Kevin Pollak.  This was by far one of the best comedy shows I've been to.  Kevin Pollack - what an incredible entertainer.  During the show, it felt like I was laughing all my stress away.  What a great way to de-stress!

And the frosting on the cake: I won a $20 gift certificate to use at Punchline!  My business card got picked out of the fishbowl - another great reason to keep plenty of those around :)  Paul and I will be making a trip over to Punchline for date night soon!  Can't wait!!

Networking Effectively

It can be very intimidating to walk into an event or meeting if you don't know anyone.  It's even more intimidating to walk up to someone and introduce yourself.  However, networking is vital to growing a business, a non-profit organization or even promoting your career. With some networking basics and some practice, networking events can soon become fun!

Dress the part.  How you present yourself is how people are going to treat you.  I have been blessed with younger-than-my-age looks and it's amazing how differently people speak to me depending on how I'm dressed.  When I'm out running errands, dressed in a t-shirt and shorts, people assume that I'm in high school - or college if I'm lucky.  When I'm dressed in my business attire, people call me "Mamn."

Smile!  A smile goes a long way in how people perceive and remember you.  Would you rather speak with someone who's smiling or who has a serious look on their face.  Plus, a smile will help relax your nerves when approaching a stranger.

Have a 30 second elevator pitch ready.  Know what you're going to say when someone asks, "So, what do you do?"

Have plenty of business cards ready.  But, don't pass them out to everyone.  Only hand someone a card if you have a rapport with them.  I can't count how many times I've gone to a networking event and come home with a handful of business cards from people that I didn't even speak to.  Guess where those cards ended up...

Don't work the room.  It's better to build a relationship with one or two people than to meet everyone in the entire room and not remember the name of the first person you spoke to.  You will more likely stay in touch with the one or two people that you build a relationship with.

Be ready to network anywhere at anytime.  Just because you're not at a business function doesn't mean that you won't meet the person who could be your next big break, your new best friend or just someone who might be able to help you out.

Networking has proven to be invaluable to growing my business.  What can it do for you? :)

25 Things To Do Before We Start A Family

As newlyweds who just moved into our new house in the suburbs of Atlanta, we can't help but think about the possibility of having children in the future.  Everywhere we go, the gym, supermarket, brunch... we are surrounded by families with children. Now, we aren't ready for kids - not even close - we enjoy the freedom of being a young married couple too much.

But with the prospect of starting a family on our distant horizon, we decided to come up with a sort of "bucket list" of things that we want to do before children arrive in our little family. We realize that a lot of these things are still possible after having kids, but it would just be easier to do before.  

1.  go back to Hawaii, specifically the island of Kauai 
2.  skydiving
3.  scuba dive to a large ship wreck
4.  own a house
5.  dog sledding in the Canadian Rockies
6.  go to Carnival in Rio de Janeiro
7.  swim with dolphins

8.  ride in a hot air balloon
9.  rent a sports car and drive the Autobahn
10.  go biking on the Great Wall of China
11.  go win tasting in Napa Valley
12.  volunteer abroad for a month
13.  kiss the Blarney Stone
14.  go on a safari in Africa
15.  go horseback riding on the beach

16.  hike the Grand Canyon
17.  go skiing in Colorado
18.  write a book - even if it's never published
19.  walk on a glacier
20.  compete in a Pro-Am ballroom competition
21.  learn to cook gourmet meals
22.  train and run in a marathon
23.  own a sports car
24.  go on a cross-country road trip
25.  grow the company to a point where neither one of us has to go to work

What's on your list?

Paradise in Hawai'i

We just got back yesterday from our fabulous honeymoon in Hawai'i. From Aug 14-24, we spent 10 days in Paradise! First half on Oahu and the second half on the Big Island. Our resort, Mauna Lani Bay, was fabulous on the Big Island - loved them!

Our fun filled vacation was packed full of ATV riding, kayaking, snorkeling, hiking, lava watching, horseback riding and zip lining. Sadly we were both sick at some point during the trip so we weren't able to go paragliding and get our scuba certification. That just means that we'll have to make another trip out to the beach to get certified :)

Here are some pictures from the honeymoon:

We can't wait to go back!! Next time: Kauai and either Lanai or Molokai!

Wonderful Wedding

08.08.09 - what a perfectly wonderful day!!

I don't think we could've asked for a more perfect day.  I started off the day watching the sunrise on the balcony of our hotel suite at the W Perimeter.  It was a perfectly beautiful morning.  It felt so serene and peaceful just standing outside and soaking it all in.  I told myself then to make sure to just sit back and try and take in as much of the day as possible.  

Taken with my iPhone :)

The ceremony was beautiful.  I later found out that Paul had gotten sick just before he was to walk down the aisle - we think it was his nerves.  Our priest did a great job at making the ceremony interesting and enjoyable for even our non-Catholic family and friends.  Even Roxie got a mention in his homily :) 

Our big surprise for everyone at the end of our ceremony was a bagpiper.  When he walked in playing the bagpipes, some of our friends and family were moved to tears!  Yes!  Mission accomplished (for us).

  

Photo by Eugene Buchko (with Esther Lee Photography)

The reception was gorgeous as well!  When I first walked into the reception room I almost teared up - it was so beautiful.  Check out the centerpiece at the head table. 

Photo by Eugene Buchko (with Esther Lee Photography)

Our DJ, Joel Rabe of Lethal Rhythms did a fantastic job of keeping the reception fun, unique and memorable - the three adjectives that we gave him at our initial meeting to describe our ideal wedding.  

I hope you enjoyed the teaser photos - more to come in the next week or so.  In the meantime, I must give some props to my wonderful vendors :)

Ceremony: Immaculate Heart of Mary Church

Reception venue: Villa Christina

Food & Bev: Villa Christina

Cake: Villa Christina

Photography: Esther Lee Photography

Videography: Wages Video

Florist: Anik Designs

DJ and Coordinator: Lethal Rhythms

Lighting: Party Over Here Productions

Vintage Car: Charisma Coach

Wedding Dress & Bridesmaids dresses: New Natalie's Bridals

Bridesmaids custom jewelry: Bosca Creative Jewelry

Custom handmade veil: Zoica Matei

Cake Topper: Ann Wood Handmade

Down to Single Digit Countdown...

9 days to go!  Wow, time flies by doesn't it?

I finally finished the ceremony programs this morning - those little buggers took forever to assemble... cutting, scoring, ribbon tying, rubber stamping... whew!  So glad I had a fellow bride friend helping me out the other night :)

A sneak peak at the programs: 

The workstation...

Roxie watching over the programs, what a good little helper :)

So many things left to do before next Saturday:

- Plan bridesmaid's luncheon

- Plan Sunday brunch

- Make welcome baskets for out-of-town guests

- Finalize seating chart

- Finish escort cards and table numbers

- and much more...

DIY projects are fun!

My motto for the wedding has been... if I can't find it, then make it.  

Today I had my first spray painting experience.  It's true, I made it through design school without ever spray painting anything. 

I finally found a birdcage today for our card holder.  I was planning on ordering one online but then decided to run over to Michael's and Homegoods to see if they happened to have any.  Luckily for me, Homegoods had some!  Since the color of the birdcages in stock weren't in my color scheme... I decided to get a silver one and spray paint it!

I think the final product turned out quite nicely, I only wish I had taken a picture of it before the painting so that I could do a before and after photo post... :)

Peachtree Road Race

I'm a tad late with getting these pics up - but better late than never! :) 

Paul and I ran the Peachtree Road Race again this year.  I think it's become an annual tradition for us and hey - it's a fun race!

I think I did fairly well this year - but I'm going to try and train for speed for next July's race and see if I can be in one of the first time groups - wouldn't that be awesome for someone who isn't a "runner"? 

   

   

Flora

I had a wonderful bridal session yesterday with Esther at the Georgian Terrace.  It was so much fun!  Though I couldn't be a model by profession - ever.  Ha!  It's so much work!

The Georgian Terrace is absolutely beautiful!  I can't wait to see how the photos turn out - especially the ones that we took up on the rooftop.  If you haven't been up on the roof of the Georgian Terrace, you must check it out sometime.  You get to see a 360 degree view of the entire city of Atlanta - stunning at sunset.  

Here's a sneak peek to our upcoming wedding.  Some shots of the gorgeous bouquet that Anik made for the photo shoot.  So beautiful!  I can't wait to see the flowers on wedding day.

Wedding Inspiration

Not to give too much away, but I'm just so excited about the wedding!  I think it's going to be very beautiful and unique (in our own way).  We just had our phone conference with our DJ (Joel Rabe of Lethal Rhythms) yesterday and I'm looking forward to the fun time that will be had at the reception!  Y'all better come ready to dance ;)

There are a few surprises up our sleeves, and it's taking a lot of willpower on my end not to divulge any of that information.  So you guys will just have to wait and see on wedding day!  In the meantime, here's a wedding inspiration board that I've pulled from to design our perfect wedding.  

images courtesy of TheKnot.com and Ann Wood Handmade

45 days!

This week is simply filled with wedding planning fun.  Florist meeting on Monday and food tasting tomorrow!  And almost more exciting - two wedding related packages came in yesterday: 

1. materials for our escort cards

2. cake topper: below is the adorable packaging that the topper came in, I can't wait to post pics of the topper after the wedding!

RSVPs are slowly, but steadily coming in - we're at 55 "Yes" replies so far (hooray!).  I can't wait to see all of our family and friends in one place in 45 days.  

I'm really hoping that our wedding turns out beautifully, I love that so many elements of our wedding are custom handmade treasures including: 

- cake topper (Ann Wood Handmade)

- my veil (Zoica Matei)

- my garter (Garters By Kristi)

- bridesmaid jewelry (Bosca Creative Jewelry)

(DIY by me with Paul & bridesmaids)

- invitations

- escort cards/table numbers

- programs

- guest book

- website ;)

Looks like the next big "to do's"  on my list are...

- second wedding dress fitting

- bridal session on July 14

- put together escort cards and table name cards

- (finish) designing & then print wedding programs

Eat Cake

One of my favorite parts of a wedding, the cake.   I've secretly wanted to become a cake designer for a while, though I realize I could probably never do a great job since I'm simply horrible with making things with my hands (hence the career in web and graphic design...hehe). 

Since I am so bad at making beautiful things with my hands, I've always admired people who can.  Ace of Cakes is one of my favorite TV shows, it just looks oh so creative and so much fun!  I'm sure it's a lot of un-fun hard work, but the end results are stunning.  

As I finalize our cake plans for our wedding, I leave you with these stunners  -  courtesy of Delish.com:

 

I love this cake! Isn't this sugar peacock magnificent? 

This was made for a yoga instructor's wedding in Hawaii. How appropriate!

Based off of the movie: "The Nightmare Before Christmas."

Perfect for a fairytale wedding. 

Floral decisions

I can't seem to make up my mind on the florals for the wedding.  More specifically... the centerpieces for the reception.  It shouldn't be this hard right?  Maybe I'm just really indecisive...

I've been looking around on The Knot.com and found a few that I thought were beautiful:

Motivation

What more motivation would you need? :)

From Wonderful Graffiti

It's getting closer to the wedding day and it's down to crunch time before the dress fitting... ah!  So I've bid farewell to my old friend, chocolate cake until August 8.  

Closing in on two months...

We are closing in on two months to the wedding!!  How exciting!   I think a good amount of planning is done, now it's just wrapping up projects and making things happen. 

Here is what is done/booked:

- Ceremony site
- Reception venue

- Food/Drink

- Cake

- My Dress

- Shoes: they're ordered and should be coming in tomorrow! yay for Zappos.com!

- Bridesmaid dresses

- Groomsmen suits

- Invitations:  just went out today!  Check out Inkspun if you're looking to get addresses printed on your invitation envelopes.  They did a fabulous job on ours!  Yes, I'm lazy (and cheap) and did not want handwritten calligraphy. 
- Photographer

- Videographer

- Transportation
- Flowers
- Music
- Hotel Block for guests

- Rehearsal dinner location: Just booked yesterday! We will be having our rehearsal dinner at Canton House on Buford Hwy.  It's sort of a tradition for us to go there when my family's in town visiting and it's a pretty nice venue, and their food is yummy!

- Honeymoon to Hawaii

Here are some big things that need to be done/booked:
- Wedding Bands

- Paul's wedding gift

- Attendant gifts

- Veil:  Zoica Matei is designing a custom veil for me :D

- Jewelry: For me and my girls.  I will be paying a visit to AmericasMart on a Friday this month to go shopping... Corporate Fridays, yes!

- Hotel for wedding night

- Bridal session/portait: July 8

- Marriage license

- Ceremony programs

Whew, so much more to do in not much time :)

(less than) 3 more months to go!!

Let me tell ya... running a small business, training for a marathon and planning a wedding all at the same time is no joke.  Since I have wedding on the brain, here's something cute that I found on theKnot.com.  I think they're reading my mind...  you just might see something similar at our wedding in August :)

Last weekend, Paul had his end of season (ultimate frisbee) tournament.  I dropped by for a little while - it was way too hot for me to stay the whole day... I managed to get this photo of Paul doing what he does best...

First post

It's been a while since I've had a personal blog.  I thought I'd start it up again and see how it goes :)  I guess my thought process is that this way I'll be able to organize my thoughts and share interesting/cool things that I happen to find. 

Recently, I've had more things to do than I can possibly seem to handle.  So I've decided to take a step back and re-evaluate my goals and try to streamline everything that I'm trying to accomplish.  Inspired by Esther, I'm making my rest of this year list and my 30 before 30 list --

This year: 

1. Get married... and stay sane through the process

2. Have a flash application almost ready to bring to market

3. Continue to grow dotdot studios

4. Run a marathon with Team In Training on Oct 18.  

5. Visit two new places/cities (Hawaii: Aug 14-23, San Francisco: Oct 16-21) 

6. Start taking ballroom dance classes

30 before 30: 

1. Get married

2. Have a product on the market

3. Swim with dolphins

4. Visit Taiwan

5. Learn the Viennese waltz

6. Explore Alaska and go dog-sledding

7. Learn to hula dance in Hawaii

8. Skydive

9. Drink wine in Napa Valley

10. Start my own company

11. Volunteer abroad for a month

12. Go to the Grand Canyon

13. See Rome

14. Roadtrip around New England

15. Go to Ireland

16. Be interviewed for a major publication

17. Get certified to scuba dive

18. Learn to paint well

19. Compete in a Pro-Am ballroom competition

20. Learn to cook gourmet meals

21. Run the Peachtree Road Race

22. Buy a house (with Paul, of course)

23. Go horseback riding on the beach

24. Go on a missions trip abroad

25. Learn how to garden

26. Have a kick-ass office (building) for my company

27. Have both Paul and I work at dotdot studios full-time

28. Tour China

29. Go on a safari in Africa

30. Hold a manufactured version of a product that I've designed 

Whew, that was a long list!  That was a nice break - back to work now :)