There are three groups of people I know of when it comes to the Super Bowl.

1. Die hard football fans. (Cody)
2. Those who like to watch the commercials. (Me)
3. Those who could care less and hey! Who ate the last of the chips and dip? (Addie)

To say I have been deeply entrenched in Super Bowl festivities would be an understatement.

Indianapolis wanted this year’s Super Bowl to be the most socially connected game in history, and I think we’ve been doing a pretty good job.

Social media has changed the way we do things, read things, buy things, learn things and see things.

Downy sent me a container of their new Unstopables last year after BlogHer and it’s changed laundry for me. I’m a sucker for fresh tasty smelling laundry and thanks to these little pearls of scent I can now have delicious smelling laundry that lasts. Getting into sheets that have been washed in Unstopables? Dude. Jeans washed with Unstopables? They still smell good after wearing them a couple of times. Sweatshirts washed in Unstopables? I wish I could hug myself.

Back to the Super Bowl, social media and what Downy has to do with all of this…

Downy Unstopables will star in their own commercial with Amy Sedaris and Mean Joe Green inspired by an old Coke Super Bowl commercial. I showed it to Cody last night and he laughed. (Maybe it’s because he’s been softened by Unstopables as well. He always smells really good.) During the actual game Downy will be giving away samples and gift certificates to their twitter followers when they tweet @Downy with the hashtag #TouchDowny after a touchdown by either team.

Don’t care about the game but like good smelling laundry? May as well win some Unstopables for yourself.

Only like the commercials? Listen for the cheers or jeers from the other room during the game so you know when to tweet @Downy with the hashtag #TouchDowny

Love the game AND good smelling laundry? Who’s the winner now? (YOU.)

Check out the commercial before it airs on Sunday, follow Downy and get ready to win with every touchdown (#touchdowny.)

DISCLOSURE: A special thanks to Downy for sponsoring this post and providing me with Downy product. Seriously, come smell my laundry sometime. As always, all opinions are my own.

 

 

I don’t sing unless it’s in front of a room full of very drunk people at a karaoke bar, a room full of children that I’ve birthed, or for my city and no one else is around to sing for me.

I love it here.

Here’s to hoping this is the best Super Bowl ever. (Aside from the fact that Tebow isn’t in it.)

(For those of you who are not from Indy, could care less about social media and/or the Super Bowl, please bear with me, I plan to get very philosophical towards the end.)

Through a very convoluted process, 46 people in Indiana were invited to be a part of a group to help promote the Super Bowl in Indianapolis.

I didn’t think much of it, I saw one passive aggressive tweet here, one snarky response there…then I started to look into it. I’ll admit, when I found out the group was selected using Klout, I was a little confused. While Klout may be considered a bit of a joke in the social media community, my Klout is pretty darn high (70/100) so that I didn’t make it into a “Klout thing” with such a high Klout score? It felt like getting a 34 on my ACT and not making it into the college of my choice.

There was a lot more involved in selecting the 46, however the explanation of the entire process left many social media people in Indy reeling. One of my most favorite things about Indianapolis is how tight our social media community is. Everyone watches out for everyone else and very rarely is there contention.  The Indianapolis Social Media community helped me win $5K from Quaker for Gleaner’s Food Bank. We have an entire group of girls that gets together on occasion to do various dorky and amazing things. No one is excluded, if you can make it? Great! If you can’t? Maybe next time! Didn’t know about it? We want you to join us!

Back to this 46 thing.

I infiltrated.

Instead of stewing, I found out who it was that I needed to talk to. I composed an email with links to posts on my blog about events I’ve photographed and attended in Indianapolis.

I know what I’m good at.

I’m good at taking pictures of things and I’m good at telling a story with them.

Apparently it worked. (Or as one of my friends commented “I guess all that stuff you speak about at conferences about selling yourself actually works.“)

If you think you’re perfect for something but were overlooked? Don’t get mad, get active. Find out who’s in charge…tell them about your interest. You may not be included right away, but you’ll be on their radar.

In 1989 my dad said I should work for Hallmark and I truly believed him.

In 2007 I wrote a post about how fantastic Hallmark is, at the end I suggested that one day they should hire me and that they wouldn’t regret it. I emailed a link to my post to Hallmark Customer Service.

In 2009 I got an email inviting me to Hallmark world headquarters.

In 2011 I worked with them on six month campaign.

In 2012 I signed a contract to work with them for another year.

If there’s something you really want? Grab it by the (proverbial) balls and (nicely) tell it why you’re the best choice for the job.

Believe in yourself.

Because I believe in you.

The Super Bowl in Indy is going to be amazing because the people here are amazing. All 781,870 of them.

I hope you can make it here one day, because this city is amazing.

(Now if someone knows someone who could get me a real! live! media! pass! to the Super Bowl? THAT would be my ultimate success next to tricking Cody into marrying me.)

((One more request, there’s a local all girl rock band I really dig called Neon Love Life that has a chance to get into the Super Bowl/Rolling Stone concert line up but they need our help with votes. Even if you’re not local...could you spare a vote for them? They help with a girls rock summer camp in Indy that Addie will hopefully attend next year.))

 

Don’t try to figure out what other people want to hear from you; figure out what you have to say. It’s the one and only thing you have to offer. ~ Barbara Kingsolver

I looked out at the class I taught in church today, a room filled with about 20 women of different ages and backgrounds. I doubt many of them are familiar with what I do, let alone do it themselves. I told them there is validity in all of their stories and that they need to tell them. To each other, to themselves, to their children, to strangers…they never know when their story will touch someone or bring someone back from the edge. You may think you have nothing to add, nothing to say, but you do…you have you to add.

The role of a writer is not to say what we all can say, but what we are unable to say. ~ Anaïs Nin

I have dark hairs that grow from strange places. Unmentionable things happen to me on treadmills. I sweat far more than should be considered ladylike. I think Tom Selleck is outrageously handsome and yet I would want him to be my dad all at the same time. Up until yesterday I hadn’t cleaned my shower for months. I hate tampons. I spell things wrong on purpose to make sure spell check is actually working. Maybe that’s not what Anaïs had in mind when she wrote that, but C.S. knows what I’m talking about:

“Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another, ‘What! You too? I thought I was the only one” ~ C.S. Lewis

Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart. ~ William Wordsworth

OH YOU GUYS. The breathings of your heart? That is just lovely and wonderful and I hope one day to do just such a thing, it sounds wonderful.

When words become unclear, I shall focus with photographs.  When images become inadequate, I shall be content with silence.  ~Ansel Adams

Photography has carried me few the past few weeks in a way it never has before. I don’t see it as a chore, I see it as a privilege. I was given a gift to be able to see things differently than the other people around me, but I know there are moments that cannot be captured by a camera, or moments I cannot do justice to, so I just enjoy them. If I have to interrupt a moment to get a photo? I’m not doing my job right.

If I could tell the story in words, I wouldn’t need to lug around a camera.  ~Lewis Hine

There was one particularly intense moment of Emily’s labor last week where I’m not sure anyone knew what to do, especially me. It was moments before Paul was born and I didn’t know where I should be or what I should be doing, she was in so much pain. “Do I take a picture of this?” I wondered to myself. “It’s not like she invited you here to do her nails.” my brain replied.

So I took the photo.

I could tell you how hard Emily’s contractions were, or I could show you this photo.

Even *I* could feel that contraction.

Try different ways to tell your stories. More words, less words, more photos, no photos, all photos. Every story can be told in a hundred different ways but only your story can be told by you.

So do it.

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I’m excited to be a part of Blissdom this year as a photography community leader, I’m also excited that Hallmark will be back at Blissdom for the third year in a row to help you tell your own story and focus on the little moments that make everyday life a special occasion. It’s a literal dream come true to partner with Hallmark in 2012 on their “Life is a Special Occasion” campaign again and I thank them tremendously for believing in me and for sponsoring this post.

I had a conference call with my beloved Hallmark today, and as we talked of special occasions and making the mundane magical, I sat with a nit comb in hand picking through every golden curl on Addie’s head. Lice and life sound a lot like each other, and right now? Lice are my life.

Sorry about that Hallmark.

I’m going to be honest, the last 24 hours have kicked my butt. MY BUTT. I’m exhausted both emotionally and mentally and it’s just over a pile of bugs CRAWLING THROUGH MY DAUGHTER’S HAIR. But really, it’s cool. This too shall pass.

You want to be grossed out by society? Have your kid get lice and then go out in public. Suddenly everyone is crawling with little invisible bloodsucking bugs that are ready to destroy any hope you had at happiness.

(Did I mention I’m *minorly* overwhelmed with life right now and may be erring a bit on the dramatic side?)

It’s just bugs. It’s no big deal that I fell asleep last night resisting the urge to tear off my skin at every tickle.

*sigh*

I have that emotional build up where I know I JUST KNOW I’m going to lose it at some point, all out messy snotty cry with heavy sobbing followed by hiccups and burning cry eyes for  24 hours. I can feel it brewing and festering. Woe be unto whoever is around when it all comes crashing down. (What? Why yes, PMS may be involved, why do you ask?)

I kind of wish I could just get it over with. I’ve even sat here trying to make sad faces in an attempt to get it jump started, but so far no luck. It’s like that one whisker hair you can ALMOST pluck with your fingernails but not quite and you don’t have tweezers but you know it’s there and it has to go and WHY CAN’T I JUST GET IT OUT ALREADY.

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In other news.

A bunch of ladies (including Addie and I) went on a lady date to Disney on Ice thanks to some tickets provided by Feld Entertainment (thanks Feld!) Dude, you guys? Disney on Ice is spectacular (aside from them remaking the songs from Cinderella, don’t remake songs from classic Disney movies, just don’t do it.)

I took more pictures of the actual show which you can see here, but more importantly (and a far better selling point) are these faces right here…(It will be in Indy until Sunday before moving on. Go. Seriously.)

Soooo….how’s lice life for you?

(Disclosure: My family was given complimentary tickets to attend this event. I was not compensated for my attendance. Opinions are purely my own, especially the Cinderella songs. All facial expressions are also genuine.)