Yesterday turned out to be a deliciously lazy west coast day and it was exactly what I needed. Breakfast followed by some lounging, then we drove up to a lookout point and slowly walked up to see what we could see. This clearly tired us out completely and required more lounging back at the cabin to recuperate, which pretty summed up the evening. A few beers, more visiting, Dave & Amelia came by again, and then sleep. Ahhhhhh.

This morning I’m enjoying the waves crashing on the rocks outside from my view in bed, thinking about getting up to have a shower and pack things up. We have a late ferry out of Nanaimo and will be taking our time on the trip there

Tomorrow is back to craziness as we catch up with clients after our 4 1/2 day absence and do a bunch of running around in advance of our (OMG crazy large and growing) photographer party on Thursday. This weekend has been oh so super relaxing though and I’m ready for anything.

Cheers!

Sunday started with some delicious fruit salad and quickly transitioned into a drive to the beach. We were excited for sun - a rare sight in Tofino - and the gang did a hike from Schooner Cove over to Long Beach while I hung out at the later enjoying the beach and watching the surfers. Good times!

After we hit up Wild Side Grill for some outdoor fresh oysters & fish and chips - ultra delish. We rounded out the afternoon with some 4×4′ing before heading back to the cabin.

Dave & Amelia joined us once again this time with some pizza and we hung out and watched a couple movies we’d rented and generally had a great time.

The moon last night was nearly full and our view over the water with the moon casting light over everything was spectacular! There’s a photo somewhere to be dug out when we are home.

Today the Kiwis headed over and we made a huge breakfast complete with bacon, eggs, toast, fried eggs and mushrooms, and beans. Delish.

It’s a lazy morning and with another sunny day we’re planning the adventures. We contemplated chartering a boat for whale watching/hot springs, but have decided it gets dark too early to make it worthwhile. Instead it sounds likes some of us will go kayaking and others for a walk, and we’ll meet up and gather the bbq and fireworks and head out to the back roads for dinner later on.

Will follow up again tomorrow! We are on a later ferry so will be home around 9pm. Not entirely looking forward to re-joining the real world yet, but happy this trip has been such a relaxing time.

Cheers!

Last night they were shooting flares over the water… made for some great photos….

Woke up at Chez Pierce - enjoyed hanging with Mike and Julie in their new pad

Jumped in the truck and hit the road - quick breakfast on the road and provisions acquired

Headed to Nanaimo to meet up with the gang - met them at noon when they rolled off the ferry

Took a back way past parksville to some caves… passed through what turned out to be a wildlife conservation area on the way. Stopped when we saw many bald eagles on every tree for a couple miles… pulled over to look at them (probably saw 60+ eagles in a few miles… one of the most incredible things I’ve seen…. Reilly has photos). When we stopped we were by a large tree which we quickly found out had 3 raccoons hanging about half way up peeking out at us! Were enjoying those when a deer walked out into the pasture about 20 yards away. We explained to the kiwis that this is *not* a normal Canadian wildlife experience… but were glad they got to experience it!

Hit the road… the back way forestry road we’d planned to take was gated so turned around there. Found a trail to meander along 4×4 style and almost couldn’t pass… Josh had to back down the hill after encountering our ruts. Good times all around. Gillian a little freaked out about the 4×4′ing.

Headed into Alberni for liquor store and groceries…. and hit Tofino around 8:15

Sitting now in our cabin right on the water… waves crashing right outside… Reilly playing guitar, Naked Dave & Amelia came to visit and the kiwis from their hostel so enjoying the waves and rythym with our party of 9

Life is good

It’s true - now I’m just posting to say that I’m posting, while not actually saying anything. Hrm. Not sure that’s the point, but I’m not giving in yet

We worked our asses off all week with work past midnight every day to get everything urgent taken care of. We even got out of the house on time today, and are currently lounging at chez pierce in Victoria. Tomorrow we leave for Tofino, meeting up with the gang when they arrive off the ferry in Nanaimo to caravan. Good times!

We’ll be in Tofino until Tuesday when we head back to reality, but until then, will be oh so relaxin’.

This is me blogging on thursday

Up again late into the night editing

Working to get all of our albums in tonight, before we leave tomorrow

for Tofino!

Real post

Maybe tomorrow

On the ferry perhaps

Once all that is going to get done here

is done

Waking up today is both exciting - Obama won! - and extremely disheartening - roughly half of California voted for Proposition 8. It’s hard to be elated when you’re sick to your stomach.

For anyone who doesn’t know what I’m talking about, despite California’s supreme court ruling that denying gay marriage is unconstitutional earlier this year, propositon 8 was added to yesterday’s ballot to change the constitution, making it once again illegal for two people of the same sex to marry. As of this morning, it’s looking very close, but that those in favour of the ban won. I feel like I’ve been punched in the stomach.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Proposition_8_(2008)

I want to cover the topic of approaching someone you don’t know for a meeting/interview/lunch/information/internship or to just introduce yourself. Rather than breaking this out specifically for tips to get an internship or interview for example, I’m going to cover it together as most of the points are fairly universal and I trust all of you to connect those dots. This is part one, which has to do with the first part of your letter or email (which should be the first step, which I’ll cover later as well).

Also - especially in this first part, everything I’m saying probably sounds *really* elementary. The problem is, between the hiring I did in my corporate life and the inquiries we get now for all sorts of things, I’ve received and read literally hundreds of these types of inquiries the past few years and 90% of them fail on one of these points. SO! Even if you think this stuff is obvious, refer back before you hit send.

First! Whether you are hoping to gain audience with a high powered business person (not me) or the owner of a small business you have interest in (me), there are a few overarching principles that most of the individual tips will fit into. If you read nothing else, read these.

1 - This person is busy, they have their own stuff going on. If you want their attention, it absolutely must be just as easy for the person you are contacting to say YES than for them to say NO. You have to do all of the legwork here.

2 - There has to be something in it for them. This can be tangible or intangible - maybe you are also someone that they would like to know, maybe they need an intern, maybe they really enjoy mentoring new business owners, or maybe it’s lunch. There has to be an upside for them.

3 - Show a little respect. This ties into doing all the legwork in point 1, but it’s one of the most common reasons I will hit delete rather than reply on an email or voice mail. Respect their work/position/whatever is compelling you to get in touch, respect their intelligence, and respect their time.

4 - After all of that, you still have to break out and get their attention. When you get to this stage presumably you haven’t annoyed or offended them, but why should they notice you?

With me? OK. Here are a few points for the first half of your letter. Check back later this week for subsequent sections!

i - Take a few minutes and do your research - know who to address. Sending an email with the words Sir or Madam anywhere will land you in the trash quicker than, well I don’t know what. Take the time to figure out who you are writing to.

With larger companies this can take some more research, with smaller ones like ours where our names are plastered everywhere it’s downright rude when someone can’t take the time to figure out who to address, and yet wants us to take the time to meet with them. If you are a sir/madam person and unsure why you never get a response, this is why!

ii - Let your contact set the tone. This is more or less applicable depending on who you are contacting, but if you send someone who is decidedly not formal a very formal letter, you sound stuffy and boring and will not get a response.

On our site in the about section under the heading Reilly + Miranda we mention interests ranging from snowboards to polaroids to jujubes. We have fun, I think we sound fun, so make yourself sound fun too! For us, this would mean *not* addressing us as “Mr. and Ms. Lievers” and writing like you are addressing a law society. Take a queue from your contact and write like you would speak to them.

iii - More research - don’t send a form letter. Simply put, if you are emailing many people rather than just one contact (ie: job hunting), customize your email or cover letter to show that you’ve at least read through the website.

For a large company open up google and read their latest press release to at least have a clue what is new and exciting for them. For a small company, look through their website and reference something you saw. Even if you are sending 30 letters, take a few minutes to show you put a little time into each one.

********************************

At this point if you are sending some sort of letter it should be addressed and be partially written. This could be long, or for an email to us, it could be as simple as this:

Hey!

I saw your website and loved your blog. The Cuba photos in particular are awesome - I was there last year!

…

The key, however, is at this point you don’t want to have done anything that will get your inquiry tossed. Haven’t fully gained my attention just yet, but haven’t lost it, so we’re doing OK.

In Parts 2 & 3 I’m going to talk about how to ask for what you want (and figuring out what you want in the first place), how to make it just as easy to say yes as to say no, how and when to follow up, and a few things to avoid in the process.

Cheers!

Project File: 11.02.08:1
Object: White office table, 4′ round.

Problem: While only a couple of years old, our office table was covered in scratches and dinged up. The legs are good, the table is solid, but as a focal point in our office space it was not working. And, until we get our client room fully set up next year, it is also doubling as client meeting space - making it that much more urgent that this piece fits into our space properly.

Budget: As we already had a functional table, purchasing a new one as we’d been too hard on the old one was not an option. Therefore, little to no budget.

Project History:

Recently when Reilly and I were at one of the Croatian Cultural Centre Retro Fairs I came across an oversized book of old movie posters. While slightly water damaged, flipping through confirmed many gorgeous images from the 20s - 60s, all on nice big sheets of paper! Perfect! I knew immediately what I’d do with it. We’d talked about possibly decoupaging the table, but this confirmed this would be its fate.

Supplies:

movie posters, white glue, foam brush, shallow dish for water, scissors, brayer, acrylic sealer, fine sand paper - all items we had on hand

Method:

1 - Cut out each of the desired poster images (making some tough decisions over oposing sides of the page!)

2 - Scan in the cut pieces for later use in other projects. When you have material this good, don’t destroy it in the process!

3 - Working quickly and one sheet at a time, soak the pages in a dish of water for a few seconds to allow the image to relax. This eliminates potential wrinkles as everything dries.

4 - Once wet, I used a foam brush to brush both the back of the sheet of paper and the area of the table I would be positioning it on with diluted white glue (somewhere around 1 part water to 1-2 parts glue)

5 - Pieces in the middle of the table simply went down, pieces going over the corners were carefully creased to match the corner. The wet paper makes this part easier, too.

6 - Using the brayer I firmly flattened each image, squeezing any extra glue out the sides. I rolled the extra glue back over and around each image to ensure each page was fully soaked with adhesive.

7 - Wash, Rinse, Repeat. Let dry.

8 - When everything was finished and as I wanted it, I started to seal it. Working one coat at a time, I applied the acrylic topcoat with a brush, allowing 1-2 hours to dry between each coat. You can also sand with ultra fine sandpaper in between each for a smoother finish. So far I have 5 or 6 coats on my table, but will do more. 7-12 coats is likely the ideal number. We chose a glossy finish for ours and love that it is waterproof, looks great, will hide dings and scratches well, and easily repaired.

Here it is!

With the new studio we are enjoying just that much more work/life separation. There’s really only so much you can get in the first place when you love what you do, are self employed, and live at your studio, but we can try

Other than scheduled shoots and the occasional time-sensitive email or task, work ends at end of day Friday and resumes Monday morning. Weekends don’t otherwise mean a lot to us, but they do mark the regular availability of our friends who have jobs, so it only makes sense to try to organize our lives at least a little to match up. In the summer we don’t get them at all, so we have to take advantage when we can in the fewer-weddings-season!

This weekend has been blissfully office free as we’ve been tackling many of the projects we’ve been planning since taking over the new space. Sure, the office hasn’t even existed and the servers are all unplugged and in a corner to make way for painting and such - but it’s been nice regardless of the reason!

Friday started things off when Darren joined us for some independent theatre at Chapel Arts where we watched Here Be Monsters‘ performance of Jesus Christ: The Lost Years. Here Be Monsters produced our favourite fringe show this year, and as such we were quick to head back for more. After another uproariously hilarious performance we’ll definitely be keeping these folks on our radar and hitting more of their shows!

It was also the first time that we attended an event at Chapel Arts, and will also be subscribing to their mailing list. It’s a really great space here in the downtown east side and has recently been transformed into a venue/gallery for the arts. This weekend alone they had multiple plays, parties, and other things going on. Cool shmool.

Friday ended off at the Black Frog which is a regular hangout, but as it was halloween was a bit of an abnormal night. The highlight was definitely the drunk dude dressed up as iron man who figured out how to scale the building across from the pub to get up onto the rickety fire escape, which he quickly ran up and got onto the roof. It was all too fast for anyone to do anything but stand and watch, keeping one hand on the cell phone in case a quick call was required to either the authorities or an ambulance. He made it back down as quickly as he made it up, though, and celebrated with a backflip while back on solid ground. Huh.

Yesterday was a full work day for us with a visit to home depot and a number of projects started from painting to decoupage. We found ourselves hard at work until almost 4 am - which magically turned to 3 am thanks to daylight savings - before hitting the pillow to be ready for breakfast this am.

Reilly hit up the camera show first thing this morning and then we headed out to the Alibi room for brunch with Darren, Gillian, and Tamara. The Alibi is our newest favourite breakfast place - we had written it off some time ago as they stopped serving brunch at some point, but now that we know they are open for brunch again it’s the perfect spot. Close, delicious, and never a line. Excellent.

After that we hit Ikea and Home Depot for more things from the list and as of right now the place is still in a huge state of disarray with mass disorganization and painting all around. I like to post photos, but I flat out refuse to show anything until things are done! So, you’ll just have to wait. So many cool features, I can’t wait to start sharing the pics.

My evening from this point will consist of assembling Ikea storage solutions (aka boxes) and enjoying the pot roast that has been in the slow cooker smelling delicious and making us both hungry for hours.

Back at work tomorrow am with album deadlines looming and many books on the go, and the hopeful reassembly of our space. Pictures to follow once things are nearing completion!