St. Paul's Greek Festival 2009

This past weekend (with the exception of Saturday when I shot a wedding with Huntington Images which was awesome), I spent hours and hours at my church's annual Greek Festival. It was so great!

St. Paul's (in Irvine) holds the Greek Festival every year and it's becoming more and more known throughout LA and Orange Counties (with the great work from Morgan Marketing and Public Relations). There are some people that actually keep tabs on all the Greek festivals going on throughout the year and visit them all. What a hobby! I just go to ours, at my home away from home, St. Paul's on Alton Pkwy. I just adore this massive and intense event. It's so great.

People come for the food, the dancing, the shopping, the fun games and rides for kids, the pastries but most importantly, the CULTURE. I am not Greek. But I am a Greek-wanna-be and happily so. I say 'Opa!' I dance in circles, I eat a ton of great food, and I make the sign of the cross. Therefore, I feel like I am a legitimate 'Greekie.' So while it may not be in my blood, it's in my head, my heart and my soul. I love it.

I really should have made this post LAST week to hopefully draw ya'll out to Irvine so you could enjoy the fun, food and fabulous-ness along with me. But it was a busy week last week and technically, I was working the entire weekend anyway. I did my first shift as a server at the bar (I really should be a server one day, I swear I'd be so good at that job), made salads for hours in the kitchen and helped with admissions. So I didn't have too much hang-out time, but so enjoyed every moment spent with my church family and am so excited for next year. Already, yes.

New dates next year! No longer in September: we're moving it up to June 25, 26 and 27...2010. Be there. And this Greekie will pour you some ouzo and we'll cheer, 'OPA!'



...eat some Greek lollipops (aka, lambchops) from our grill masters...mmm...


then chow down a gyro from the beautiful gyro makin' ladies...


and finish it off with some pastries from the fabulous Philoptochos ladies...


See you next year!

Rancho Chiquita - Trish and Tyson

Trish and Tyson got married a few weekends ago at the beautiful Rancho Chiquita estate in the Santa Monica mountains, overlooking Malibu. Beautiful.

Trish was stunning, and after a quick dip in the infinity pool, Tyson was calm, cool and collected. Really, they both were. I'll have to write another post about the couple...but this one's mainly for Rancho Chiquita.

What a magnificent location! The hacienda style estate is about 40 acres itself, but overlooks 250 acres of mountains and ocean views. Just breathtaking. It was a really hot day, but the owner and planner were very accommodating and made us all as comfortable as possible so we could enjoy the day. And I'm talking like a guest because that's how they made me feel. Geraldine and Annie. Lovely ladies. LOVELY property.

If you're planning a wedding, or in the event business, please check them out. They also offer cooking classes and animal rescue opportunities. Talk about awesome!

Here are a few shots that show the visual awesomeness of this fabulous estate.

Jackie on Marketing

My mom just called and said, 'have you done your marketing for tomorrow?' to which I responded with random questions and 100% confusion. How did she know I was working on marketing right now and how did she know what my plans were for tomorrow? I soon realized though, that she was talking about the thai dinner I'm planning on cooking tomorrow. Oh, THAT kind of marketing.

But it brought up an interesting thought for me: HAVE I DONE MY MARKETING? For today, for tomorrow, for next week and beyond...it's definitely a continual process and unfortunately, I'm not engaged in it as much as I should be.

So allow me to engage. In myself. In you.

Marketing is the ability to get and keep customers. Marketing happens IN THE MIND of the consumer. So who's your consumer/customer/client/target audience? That's the first question to answer. My target audience is YOU. Haha. Not. But anyway, what do you do? What do you want? What do you value? These are the types of questions to be asking a target audience.

Next, what benefits can I offer to further my appeal for my clients? Any ideas? A beneficial bonus additive is at the top of my list to provide more for my clients, so I'm brainstorming away...extra enlargements, canvas prints, a slideshow on dvd, props during the shoot, wine tasting before the shoot (I have done this before!), a ride on a yellow scooter after the shoot...

All of these benefits just aid in the value my clients hold for me and my work. And my value to you (or my clients) is extremely important to me. I don't want to this to get too much of a 'Jackie's Business Plan Outline Session,' but basically...I just needed to keep my gears turning on this subject. So thanks for indulging me.

Marketing should be taking up much more of my time. And I need to go about it in the right way. So perhaps another post or two on marketing may follow in the future as I learn and do and trial and edge my way up. I love to share with you.

Now share with me - which headshot is better?





Oh! AND - the thai cooking I'll be doing tomorrow was learned from a native - Kanchana Rubino from Sweet Basil Inc. who offers fabulous thai cooking lessons straight from her life experience in that lovely land. Call her and see (and learn!) for yourself!

Sebastian and Aneela - Just Maui'd

I suppose while updating a blog, one must, well, update it.

I have two explanations (not excuses, of course): one is, I am new at this. Love me anyway; two is, I was in Maui without a laptop. So obviously, I was a little distracted. So next on my list after this blog post? Apple store. Mhm.

So in the first week of August, Sebastian called me and asked if I was available to shoot a wedding on September 6, less than four weeks away...in the middle of the Pacific. I quickly obliged. So a very short couple of weeks later, I was on my way to my first 'paid' vacation.

Sebastian and Aneela are a charming couple. I've known Sebastian for awhile now, and have always appreciated his positive attitude and generous ways. And now that I've gotten to know Aneela a little more, it's safe to announce that I'm in love. She is SUCH a special person with SUCH an amazing spirit and I truly believe God has a solid plan for her life. She's just too great for great things to not happen with her. Except for a minor spell with some minor little jelly fish on my last morning on the island...but we won't get into that now...

The day of the wedding was C.L.O.U.D.Y! Aneela was worried it might rain and spoil her dream of a beautiful sunset wedding. But again, God had His plan. The clouds and the colors and the lights and the shadows and everything between came together to create the most spectacular sunset I've ever seen. He had fun with His paintbrush that evening, that's for sure. So Nee and Seb, myself, the minister and a friend with a video camera laughed and cried and danced and cheered as the couple exchanged vows and became husband and wife. It was so beautiful. So beautiful.