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Welcome, please grab a drink and enjoy!

Knowing that we wake up every day to new adventures, new possibilities, new challenges, and pure love is a blessing for us all. 

I love life and plan on living it to the fullest. Every bump in the road just makes me stronger trying to figure out how to get around it. 

If I can offer you any advice, live your life! Your life. Nobody can live it for you, and you cannot live it for anyone else. Be your best, shine like a star, have the confidence that you deserve, and don't forget to smile. 

tax season…yay?

Usually I hate this time of year, and to be quite honest it’s still not my favorite part of the year. Finances are not my thing. As a small business owner I am completely lost when it comes to everything.

This year I have found accountants that are fantastic! They specialize in small business so they know exactly what to look for and what to do to help you figure out how to get more money back. Sweet, right? The bonus is that they are less expensive than places like H&R block and they actually care about you and your business.

If you would like to find out more they actually do free over the phone consultations to get you started. You can call 801.294.4650. They are located in Utah but do taxes throughout the US. So give them a call, give them my name, and you might save some money. ;)

Sorry for the slacking in posts. The kids and myself have finally found a place of our own so I have been moving in, organizing, and slicing my thumb open doing stupid things with scissors. I will be writing more as soon as I have some free time.

Hope you are all doing well, having fun, and taking lots of awesome photos!

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photo session scheduling site…so cool!

My session scheduler is in the process as of now, but I cannot wait for it to be up and running. Now I will have all the info that I need for my clients in one spot. No more sending out expensive fluff, I’ll have everything a client needs right there, including letting them pay online for their session fee and sending out monthly newsletters. This will save me a lot of time!

If you would like to see a demo of what the site is like take a look at the photographer session scheduler.

I’m excited! Once mine is done I will post a link so you all can see what it will include. I feel like I’ll have my own secretary, and when I think of all the money I hand over to WHCC for my press printed products for clients…eek! Oh, and they come SEO optimized. I think I will have that as my main site and my flash site as my ‘portfolio’ site. Much better for the search engines.

I hope you are all having a fabulous day!

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Photo templates for only $9???

Seriously? Kdub Designs is going out of business. Get your $9 templates while you can! This includes gorgeous album templates, card templates and business templates! I don’t think you can beat that price so I wanted to share with all you wonderful people.

Or you can buy all the designs for only $40!!!! Super cool!! Thank you miss Kimberly Whipps for such a great deal!

"Kdub Designs going out of business sale"

"Kdub Designs going out of business sale"

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Angels and Airwaves * Hallucinations, released for our Christmas joy!

I cannot tell you how excited I am to have the new Angels and Airwaves single, Hallucinations, on my hot little orange ipod as of last night. This band has literally helped to shape my life and my way of thinking. If you would like to download the single you can find it here, on Modlife, home of Angels and Airwaves. It’s free! You can also find them on facebook.

Just their band name in itself is a true statement. They are Angels on airwaves. Their music is captivating, epic, inspiring, and full of love. I think everyone should listen to it. If this kind of music isn’t your cup of tea, first let me say, “I’m sorry!” because truly I am. Nothing gets me going or out of a funk like their music, second, if you don’t like this type of music I highly suggest that you read through their lyrics. If you depend on your creativity and imagination to get you through this world, they will inspire you. If you are going through a rough time in your life, they will inspire you. If you find that you have a gut feeling that this world is not right but you don’t know what to do about it, they will inspire you. If you feel so low, as though you have no hope anymore, they will inspire you. Are you getting my point?

Life is for living, and if I could give everyone of you a gift for Christmas it is the knowledge of positive self thinking. In the great words of Mike Dooley, “Thoughts become things”, from his beyond awesome book “Infinite Possibilities“. So reach for those stars, if you fall,  keep trying. No one got anywhere by being afraid to try something new. Your imagination is your greatest gift so put it to use and get creative with your thoughts. Creativity can help you solve problems, live your life to your fullest, and of course help you with your creative outlet, which for myself is photography.

Just knowing that you will be successful is putting your mind in motion, and putting the world around you in motion for your success. Success is not about money, it is about loving life. Do you love yours?

Merry Christmas everyone! I do hope you have the best Christmas of your lives tomorrow. You deserve it!

I am currently visiting family in South Carolina. It has been fun. We went on the Polar Express in North Carolina, wow, what a beautiful place! I could spend a year there taking photos of the country side, beautiful old homes, and small villages.

Much love

*Jessica

p.s. to start your positive thoughts sign up for notes from the universe.

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South Carolina…is where I am.

I’m currently in the beautiful state of South Carolina enjoying the holidays with family, relaxing, and eating yogurt. The night time sky is amazing out here. Hoping to catch it with a little fisheye action one of these nights.
Tonight we are going to the North Pole on the Polar Express. The kids are stoked. Should make for an exciting evening.

I hope you are all enjoying your holidays!

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My tribute to The Cure

Oh how I love them. One of the best bands of all time, in my opinion. Check out this clip. I use to watch this on VHS every damn day, if not more. Those were the days when I would hook up the aux to my tape player so that I could listen to it on my walkman as well. Before the days I could drive! Robert Smith was my main man. I adored his shy little attitude on stage, is little hops and hand gestures, and his big old funky high tops.

The" />The" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="360" > Cure * Boys Don’t Cry

So I go into a ‘Cure Kick’ every holiday season. They remind me of Christmas during my 13, 14, 15, and 16 years of life. Actually, I’m pretty sure that you could take up my entire teens listening to The Cure. Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me and all albums below remind me of Christmas. I absolutely love Disintegration and Wish, but after that I kind of lost touch with them.

I have an awesome bootleg that they all signed for me when I they came to Salt Lake in the very early 90’s. They all had a good laugh that I had the nerve to ask for an autograph on a bootleg vinyl. Mmm vinyl…I still love vinyl. It smells like childhood. I’ve always been a music lover.

Another great song that hit me hard today. Love it.

The" />The" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="360" > Cure * Doing the Unstuck

Wow! Recorded the year before I graduated from High School.

If you don’t have ‘Join the Dots’ from The Cure I highly recommend it. It’s 4 albums of b sides and mixes. AWESOME!!!! I so want to go through all my Cure vinyl but it’s in Oklahoma. Hopefully soon. :) I’m getting on a vinyl kick again.

What are some of your favorite Cure songs? What are some of your favs from your teenage years? I’ve been listening to so many oldies lately. DK, Circle Jerks, NOFX, Echo and the Bunnymen. Makes me feel like I’m 16 again.

Much love,

*Jess

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Why Flight of the Conchords make me laugh

Watch these videos and you’ll see. I wish season 3 would start sooner than later. Crazy guys!

Hiphopopotomus" />Hiphopopotomus" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="360" > vs Ryhmenocorus

Bret," />Bret," type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="360" > you’ve got it going on

Muther" />Muther" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="360" > ‘Uckers

Jenny" />Jenny" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="360" >

So yeah, you’re welcome for the afternoon smile. If you like them let me know! What do I have to do to make you guys comment?


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Song of the day…and treat yourself to some Macbeths this Christmas!

Song of the day is Boxcar" />Boxcar" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="360" > Racer * There is Live. Love this band and am currently listening to them on my pod as I make Christmas ornaments.

Okay, so as a girl, I have to say, I hate shoes. I walk in the door, first thing I do is take my shoes off. Nothing else can happen until those shoes are off, until I tried some Macbeths. I do not lie when I say they are like walking on memory foam. Really. So damn comfy. My daughter, another non shoe lover, is hooked as well. It’s all I will shoot in, seriously, besides those days when I have outdoor shoots in the snow, then I take the removable insoles out and put them in my snow boots.

They are kind of hard to find. I buy mine on loserkids.com or at the mall at Journeys. So to you all, and especially to all you photogs that spend hours on your feet shooting, treat yourself to some of the best, most comfortable shoes out there. Take it from someone who usually walks barefoot all summer, even on the hot concrete.

Macbeth Eliot

I love the Eliots and…

Macbeth * Newman

And the Newmans, which are by far my favs.

Go get some, just in time for Christmas because you know you’re going to be on your feet all day!

The

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Olga…Olga who just purchased my jewelry/ornament instructions…

I need your correct email, can you use the contact form on my blog to email me? I’ve tried sending them to you twice but both times the paypal address that was used was returned.
Thank you,
Jessica Hughes

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Random thoughts of the afternoon

1. If you’re driving really slow, it’s okay, really, I won’t get mad, as long as you move over to the slow lane. You never know when someone is in a rush to the hospital, trying to get to the mall before it closes, or driving with pink eye. If you don’t know the meaning of merge, then we may have a problem. Look it up, practice with a friend in a parking lot, then I will allow you to drive again.

2. Target is awesome. Really, after living in a town without a Target for 5 years, I am now spoiled. a) rarely do I see customers in their pj’s. b) the pharmacy rocks, they have cool little round colored markers for each member of the family. They are never busy and the pharmacist is a cutie and knows about my mentholatum addiction.

3. The stress of getting ready to go on vacation during the holidays is quite stressful.

4. Mint hot chocolate is yummy, and this is from a non sugar lover.

5. It’s really bugging me how I can’t figure out how to shut off the random shuffling on my 5th gen ipod. Anyone? I’ll be listening to a really rad song, then it skips to a chapter in an audio book. NOT COOL.

6. Pictures, pictures, pictures. I’m going to take some when I’m making ornaments today so you can see part of the process.

7. Kids are almost home from school….crap!!! Still so much to do.

8. I’m SO excited to start my job on Jan. 4th helping small business start their online business and be successful. To find out more visit where I’ll be working. Besides running my own business, this is my first job in 10 years. I’m stoked! My kids are finally at the age where they can be in school, I can now focus on the artistic, commercial side of photography that I love so much and not worry about where the income will come. The passion is back!!

9. Did I mention the kids are almost home and I have lots to do?

*Jess

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