My Bright Idea Secret

One of the best ideas I ever had was to start this blog.  It has introduced me to so many amazing wonderful people and it has been a true joy to share part of my life with so many of you!

I often get asked where I come up with so many different ideas.  Well, today I am going to share my secret with you….

This secret is the reason I started Homebased Portland, Homebased Scrapbooker  and yes, I have a few other fun exciting ideas up my sleeve that I hope to share with you soon!

The secret is Idea Coaching.

My good friend Sherra and I have been Idea Coaching with each other for a long time.  We use each other as a sounding board and bounce ideas off each other all the time.

We have discovered that many times our great ideas are right in front of us and we just can’t see them. We need someone else to point them out, to help give us the confidence to boldly march in and do whatever it is we have always wanted to do!

We very quickly learned women need other women to encourage and support them.  iLashGirls, the blog we run together was one of those ideas to help encourage and support other women.

We are now ready to take it a step further.  Because we have had so much fun turning our ideas into reality we are now ready to help other women with tools, resources and services so that they can turn their idea into a reality!

Do you have an idea that’s been floating around in your head for a while, something you’ve always wanted to do but not had the courage to try? Maybe you’ve wanted to start a blog in a niche market you feel strongly about or maybe it’s a product or service you’ve been wanting to develop.

That’s what Idea Coaching is all about.

Using our years of  entrepreneurial business experience helping women start their own business we want to help you “Find Your Sock Yarn”  For more explanation on what I mean by “Find Your Sock Yarn” click on over to iLashGirls and check out our Moments & Memories post this week and a great chance to win some free Idea Coaching!!

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Week of the Family Photo Revisted

Today we are going to revisit one of my very first posts – in fact it was my second post on this blog.

The post is entitled “The Week of the Family Photo”.  You see we just recently had another “Week of the Family Photo” (I will share those photos with you on Monday along with an AMAZING giveaway opportunity) and I thought it would be fun for you to reread this post.

If you have ever had a family photo taken I am sure you will be able to relate to my story and it might even make you laugh!

I can’t wait to share with you our latest family photo and a giveaway worth $250.0!!!!  Be sure and come back on Monday!

The Week of the Family Photo
August 2007

This past week was “the week” – the ” week of the family photo”.

Once again it was time for the biannual family photo. If you’ve been in my home you may have had the privilege of viewing the Wilkes Family Photo Gallery (aka the dining room). Lining the walls of our dining room is quite an extensive collection of family portraits, beginning with our first official “family photo” when Logan was only 18 months old. They continue through to the last official “family photo” which was taken two years ago.

Our son Clark is now home from his two year mission in Chile and it was time for an updated “family photo”.  I forgot how much work the official “family photo” can be.

First – you need to find a time that everyone is available. Now when the children were younger this was a much easier thing to accomplish. You just had to work around nap times to make sure they weren’t tired and cranky.

We have one darling picture of the two boys when they were about 4 and 2 years old. All dressed up in their pale yellow and navy matching linen Easter suits that I had made for them. Logan was in a great mood and smiling happily for the photographer but we didn’t time it so well with Clark – he was cranky and not in the mood to sit still. In fact, the only way we could get him to hold still was to give him my car keys – so we have a darling photo of the two boys in their Easter suits with Clark holding the car keys. This is the same child who in another family Christmas picture is being hung upside down by his feet because he would not cooperate!

 Now that the children are older and working, finding a time when everyone was home was also a challenge – I was running out of time too. Summer was almost over and the boys are heading back to school next week. So this weekend, Saturday was our window of opportunity. A friend from church who is just starting a photography business agreed to take the picture in our backyard – yeah!

The next and biggest challenge was figuring out what everyone was going to wear. If you look over our gallery of family photos you can see the painstaking care that was taken with each portrait to make sure that everyone coordinated, blended and looked good together. There is the white and denim picture, the khaki and black one, the green and black color scheme and just about every other possible combination of colors. Now this is no small task to make sure everyone is appropriately outfitted and coordinated with each other – especially when there are six of you. In fact it’s a full time job!

The first step is deciding on the color scheme. This year, we (I guess it was really just me) decided to go with denim and jewel tones for everyone. Of course we always pick mother’s outfit first! So off I went to the mall to find the perfect “jewel tone” sweater for myself. After several stores I found the perfect foundation piece for the photo. Next were the two girls – they were easy. Jim had a shirt in his closet that worked great– so now only the boys were left.

They boys are always the challenge, especially Clark (the 21 year old). Clark’s fashion sense isn’t as highly developed as his mother would like. In fact, his standard wardrobe in high school was a t-shirt and a pair of gym shorts. If he had to wear a pair of long pants the gym shorts were worn underneath the pants and the pants were immediately dropped to the ground upon entering the house and of course left right where they were dropped! As a small boy Clark refused to wear any type of pants other than “soft pants” (aka. sweat pants) and I don’t think it was until he went to middle school that he finally wore a pair of jeans (aka hard pants)

It took two more days of shopping, and many stores later until I finally found two shirts that I thought would be acceptable to the boys and that worked with our “jewel tone” color scheme – actually I bought 4 shirts in the hopes that at least two of them would work. Of course Clark wasn’t crazy about his shirt, in fact he left the tags on it during the photo shoot and threatened to return it after the picture (probably for a t-shirt!).

So 9 a.m. Saturday morning arrived – now I knew I was pushing it to schedule a family photo for that time on a Saturday morning but everyone got up and ready while being fairly cooperative although Logan did ask if he “had” to shave and I had forced Clark to get a haircut the night before!

It was perfect picture taking weather, warm but overcast – no bright sun. The “new” photographer hadn’t taken any large group (family) photos yet – we were her guinea pig but I assured her that since our kids were older we were a great family to practice on – the kids would be cooperative– well I guess some things never change.

As the photographer arranged us and positioned us there was the same old “ouch he’s pinching me”, “this is uncomfortable”, “I can’t sit like this”, “are we done yet?”, “how many more of these pictures do we have to take?” that we’ve always heard. There were the goofy faces, the rabbit ears behind a siblings head and even my sweet husband asking,”has she taken any pictures yet?” (after she’d been snapping away for several minutes).

In the past I would bribe the kids with Happy Meals if they smiled good and behaved for the photographer – that doesn’t work any more. It takes bigger bribes these days – a day of boating on the river! About an hour and some 200 photos later we were finished and I was tired! Hopefully we didn’t’ scare her away from taking family photos again and hopefully we got some good ones – I’ll let you know!

Even though it’s a lot of work, I love my gallery of family photos. I love going into my dining room and seeing an overview of our family from the last 23 years beginning with our first family photo in 1984 with my tightly permed hair, my homemade dress with the lace collar and our first baby . We had no money at the time but having an official “family photo” was important.

 My family is now grown up – four children who are all taller than I am. My gallery of family photos is the most valuable art work in my home. Whether your pictures hang on your walls or decorate the pages of a scrapbook they are memories and a reminder of who we were and who we’ve become. Hopefully soon there will be a new official “family photo” – the jewel tone one – to add to the gallery.

The Jewel Tone One –

photo by Smiling Eyes Photography

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Blog Book

I love it when someone takes an idea and makes it better whether it be a recipe or some other creative project.

In August I shared with you  a cute paper covered notebook  I made for my team members before our annual convention.

A few weeks ago I was in one of our neighborhood shops.  The owner, Renee,  is a friend and a reader of this blog.  She shared with me a darling notebook she put together after seeing my paper covered notebook post.

She took the idea and made it better.

She is not a blogger but she calls her notebook her Blog Book.  She uses it like some people use a blog.  A place to record ideas and goals, make plans, design projects and collect things she loves.

The first improvement she made to the notebook was to add this cute little ribbon bookmark with a darling charm!

Not only did she cover her notebook with some pretty paper but she also made a cute flower pen to write in her blog book!

Oh her front cover she used a fun little metal frame to display her motto.  I love her motto – I tell my kids this all the time!!

She added a pocket on the inside and backside cover to collect loose papers.

On the inside she writes down her goals and ideas.  She adds photos of things she would like to do, like canning.

Renee is a talented quilter and uses her blog book to design her latest creations too!

Thanks Renee for showing me and inspiring me with your blog book!

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Keep Calm and Carry On

I love this print that is in my office.

It became my motto a few years ago when within one year Jim lost his job twice.

Well, it has become my motto once again.

Last Thursday my husband, Jim, was let go from his job.

As you can imagine, with two children in college, this is not good timing.  Is it ever good timing to lose a job??

This is not an easy post to write.

In fact I considered not saying anything at all but if there is one thing I have learned in the 19 years of running a direct sales business, it is to Open Your Mouth and Just Ask!

The first time Jim lost his job we didn’t tell anyone for a long time.  Jim was embarrassed.  After 25 years of straight employment he didn’t have a job.  This kind of thing didn’t happen to us – it only happened to other people.

We learned a lot during those two periods of unemployment – some of which I will share with you in the next few weeks or so – but the most important thing we learned is to “put it out there”.  Let people know!

You may not be able to help Jim find a job but your positive thoughts and prayers can and do help!

Jim has been involved in some type of sales since he was in college when he went door to door in the summers selling religious books – and he was one of their top salesmen!

Since we have been married Jim has been involved in the financial industry which as you know has been very unstable and volatile the past few years.  Jim loves sales and hopes to find another great opportunity in sales, not necessarily in the financial industry.

So, the purpose of this post, is to ask for your positive thoughts, your prayers and if you happen to know of someone looking for a great salesmen – let us know!

I so appreciate all of you who read my blog, who comment and who email me privately.  Your love and support means so much to me.  Thank you!

Leigh Anne – who is keeping calm and carrying on!!

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College Cookbook

I am still in recovery mode from our 26 hour round trip road trip to deliver kids to college this week.  Other than a tire blowout while going over 80MPH in the middle of nowhere – somewhere between Idaho and Utah –  all went well. (Cali was driving and she did a great job maintaining control and pulling over!)

Clark is starting his senior year of college – yeah!  He took little sister Tessa to class with him one day.

Logan felt a little strange because he didn’t have a first day of school – instead he has a first day of work.  Here he is all dressed up by his new car ready to start his first day on the job!  So proud of you Logan!!

Cali moved into her first apartment with three friends from her freshman year.  She is now a college sophomore!  We have her kitchen well stocked and now we are just hoping she can figure out how to cook all the food!

To help her along a little I put together Cali’s College Cookbook.  It is a compilation of some of our easier family favorites.  It is a little heavy in the sweet treat section but I remember baking treats was a favorite college activity – especially when there were cute boys involved!

The cookbook says “Lovingly put together by your mother – Eat Well Cali!”

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