The first big thing to announce is that I’m now jumping on board with PASS.  PASS is this great new technology that allows me to share your images with you in a custom gallery!  This gallery is amazing and allows you to share right to facebook, pinterest etc right from the gallery and if you’ve ordered the digital files you can download them right there in the gallery- no more waiting for DVD or thumb drives to arrive in the mail- when you see your images you have access to them right away!

This gallery system is a cloud-based viewing, sharing & storage application.  Through the program you can share, mark favorites and download the images.  You can view the gallery on an ipad, iphone, or on your computer- it’s so easy to use and very soon will have the ability to order prints right from the gallery.  You can be sitting at the coffee shop- get your pass gallery link and be viewing your images and order prints right from your iphone- talk about cool!

Here is a little video to give you a hands on feel of how awesome this new program is!

PASS – A new way to share your photos from Showit on Vimeo.

XOXO
Spring

Now that Silas and I are married the next step is kids.  We both want kids.  We both are thinking sooner rather then later on the grand scale as we don’t really want to be 60 when they graduate.  The question is when?  When has it been long enough since the wedding? When are we ready? When will we feel financially ready? Well, the rumors that I hear are you will never really be ready for kids.  Which is fine- I know that pretty much no matter what it’s scary and it’s rare that people wake up saying “OK, today I’m ready to have kids”.  I would say a few months ago I did have a minor one of those wake up and feel differently kind of days.  I realized that for the first time I was more excited about the idea of having kids then I was afraid of it. Thats a big change for me.  Yeah I babysat when I was in middle school for the kids next door but I was never a super ‘kid person’.  Don’t get me wrong I do love kids but I have never been the one who walks into a room and gravitated right to the baby.  I wonder how much of that was fear?  Fear, once again, that someone would read into it and think I wanted kids now, or would see that maybe I’m not great with kids.  It’s sad that I actually let that fear affect me as much as I have.  I worried that ,just after we were married, when we spent time with friends who had kids that if I was too excited to hold the baby or play with the baby that people would think I was ready to have kids, or that I shouldn’t be ready or whatever they might think.  I cared more about what other people thought and often held back my excitement to avoid getting that “you’re next” look or even worse having the conversation that goes along with it.  Having children is such a huge step, and something that is so personal to the couple that talking about if I was or wasn’t ready was a conversation I wanted to have in the privacy of my own home with my husband before being asked in a room full of people cooing over the newest baby.  I wanted to sit and talk to Silas about our ideas, our fears, our hopes and the planning of our family.

I am not what anyone would consider a private person.  I wear my heart on my sleeve and I’m happy to talk to a stranger for hours about anything and everything.  I don’t really hold much back at all so this fear I have struggled with over the past few years is so foreign to me.  I’ve been afraid to let anyone know how I really feel about marriage and family when it comes to MY life.  Well I think that’s changed- I think I’m finally in a place where I feel comfortable and confident in what I want – enough so that I can say, out loud, on my blog that I’m excited to have kids.  That Silas and I are talking about it more and more.  And although we are not trying yet, we are talking about when we might and thinking about all the things that will change and how we want to plan and deal with those things.  We want to have a family and I think the first step to celebrating it is to say it out loud.  We want to have kids and we are excited about it.  There is no set time line and no actual plans but the fact that I’m really excited about growing our family and confident enough to say it out loud is a huge step.

Next step- health insurance.

And since every post is better with a photo I thought I’d share one of my favorite photos from last summer’s family session with one of my favorite baby girls of all time- she is one of those babies that has made me more excited about kids because she is just that awesome!

XOXO
Spring

Everyone else who entered- I am so happy that you put those goals out there and to try to keep the momentum up-  I’ve decided that any of you that would like to do a mentoring session I’m going to offer 1 hour mentoring session in person or via Skype for $100 (normally $250).  This includes a full hour of live chatting as well as an email back and forth before hand to get your brain kicking on the ideas and things you want to discuss as well as a follow up via phone or email that will hopefully keep your feet to the flames and get your goals rolling!!!

If you’d like to book a session please email me at: spring@springsmithstudios.com  Happy Hump Day!!!

XOXO
Spring

Happy Valentines Day!!!  To celebrate this wonderful day of love I’m giving away a free 90 min mentoring session!  Not that a mentoring session is romantic per-say but who cares!  The idea of this session is to have a sounding board, someone to push you to answer the hard questions, someone to hold you accountable for your goals and dreams, someone to be your cheerleader.  I’ve been lucky to have some of the best mentors in my life and it’s about time I start giving back.

This session will be 90 mins and can be held in my studio in North Conway or via Skype for those of you who doesn’t want an extra excuse for some tax free outlet shopping or skiing.  I’ll send out a list of questions a week or so before our scheduled session to get those brain juices flowing.  Asking the hard questions.  Then we’ll sit and chat for 90 mins about your goals, your strengths, your weaknesses and your dreams. The idea is to give you a chance to ask questions, push yourself to a new level and have someone there in your corner cheering you on and pushing you to take those next steps.

So the details:  to enter you just have to leave a comment below with one of your goals for 2013.  It’s that easy… so what are you waiting for???  The winner will be announced next week!

XOXO
Spring

Don’t get me wrong, I’m actually a fan of winter.  The cold doesn’t drive me crazy and the snow is very pretty.  It’s the cleaning up that drives me bananas!  Today we have 2-4 inches falling then turning to freezing rain and eventually just rain so I’m trying to time it just right to get the clean up in before the rain but once most of the snow has fallen so that it is easy clean up and doesn’t turn our driveway into a frozen mess!

In the meantime, while waiting for this perfect clean up time to begin I’m enjoying playing catch up on last nights Grammys!  I’m a music lover and honestly can’t get enough of the live performances.  I didn’t watch last night as my husband would never let me change the channel when the Bruins game is on (which they won last night- GO B’s!!).  So, I’ve been playing catch up on youtube all morning!  I have to say that my favorite preformance was the Bob Marley tribute.  Incase you missed it:

Wish me luck as I sing “Could You be Loved” and think of warm summer days while cleaning up the never ending piles of snow!
XOXO
Spring

He makes me smile, he makes me laugh and he makes me feel loved and safe.  I keep him on his toes and won’t even let him claim to be bored.  When it comes down to it we want the same things.  We appreciate the others strengths and support their weaknesses.  We stand side by side, holding hands ready to take on anything as long as we are together.   We may not have a lot in common but we complement one another perfectly.  I didn’t know that you could love someone this much until he kissed me.  I didn’t know I was missing something until he was there.  I didn’t know I could be this happy until he made me smile.

He is my husband and I’m the luckiest girl in the world to call him mine.

XOXO
Spring

XOXO,
Spring

I grew up with cats and now I have a dog.  I was one of those kids who begged their parents for a dog year in and year out through most of my childhood.  Don’t get me wrong I loved my cats but I still wanted a dog.  My parents excuse was always “our family is just too busy to worry about taking care of a dog” or more directly from my mom “I don’t want my house to smell like a dog”.  So we’ve always had cats.  We have had quite the slew of cats in my life.  We started with Siamese, then on to two sister Abyssinian’s and then a string of good old domestic short hair mixes and most recently two long hair fuzz balls.  There are a lot of things I like about cats.  They have their own personalities, not to say that dogs don’t, but cats just seem to be more overt with theirs.  They don’t’ apologize for who they are and I think they even enjoy being a bit sassy.  My favorite thing about cats by far is their purr.  I think there is just something incredibly soothing about that sound, the soft vibration and the blissful look they have when you scratch their chin.  It seems like you have to earn their love and when you do it’s a pretty great feeling.

The day that Silas and I got Coby defiantly changed my life.  I hadn’t had a pet that relied on me every day, day in, day out.  Cats you can leave for a day or two no worries, clean litter box, food and water and you are good to go.  Dogs you can’t leave for more then a few hours without coordinating someone to take them out so to say that I was a little overwhelmed and freaking out a little those first few days with a dog would be an understatement.  Now I dont mind it and honestly don’t think twice about the change in my life.  I’m lucky enough to have a set of family and friends close enough by to cover for us if we leave town for a day or a week.  And as much as my mom would hate to admit it she love Coby (her grand-puppy).  I think it’s mostly because he is lap size and also being a poodle mix has hair instead of fir which keeps him smelling less dog like then most K9′s.  Coby is my puppy-child.  Silas and I don’t have kids so Coby is for all intents and purposes our kid for now.  I spoil him with treats and toys and sometimes carry him around and talk in a baby voice to him (i know it’s a little strange- but i’d be willing to bet a few of your doggie moms out there do the same thing even if you are not willing to admit it out loud).

So for my first this vs. that: cat or dog?  which do you have? which do you prefer? and why?  Personally I’d vote for both (yes that’s aloud) but currently we just have Coby as Silas is defiantly team dog.

XOXO
Spring

I was frustrated that it wasn’t easier because honestly they can be a great way to keep track of ideas.  Be it designs for a house remodel, ideas for re-branding your business or just a group of beautiful images that inspire you.  When I first heard about Pinteret.com I honestly had no idea what it was.  When someone described it as a “visual inspiration board creator” I got excited and once I realized you could pin things from websites and the pin would link back to that website I was REALLY excited!  This was the combination of visual and practical that I was looking for.  Now if only I’d come up with this idea on my own- but anyway I’m just thrilled to have access to it and to be able to use it to keep track of all my inspiration and ideas.

I know that Pinterest isn’t a new thing, it’s been a round for a while now.  But I’m still enjoying it and am finding new ways to use it all the time.  I know that one of the most popular things to do with Pinterest is recipes sharing.  Now I can defiantly get on board with this.  Who doesn’t need some new ideas for dinner?  Be it picky kids, a picky husband, specific dietary needs or just a need for something other then pasta and burgers.  I often search for new recipes on sites like foodnetwork.com or epicurious.com but after I’ve made them it’s hard to remember where I found the recipe when I want to make it again- with Pinterest I can always find that pin on my “yumm” board and get right back to that recipe anytime.

One of my new favorite past times is looking at houses.  Ok who am I kidding this is not a new thing for me but using Pinterest is a new way I’ve found to keep track of all the awesome ideas out there for your home.  Things as practical as cleaning tips and ideas for organization to ideas for built in book cases and the kitchen I’ve always dreamed of!  I could, and often do, spend hours looking at houses online and now I’ve added a way to keep track of all the best parts of all the houses that I see and refer to them someday when I can build the house of my dreams.

I think the way I’ve personally used Pinterest the most was for my own wedding planning.  Weddings are full of so many details and keeping track of ideas you find on blogs and other wedding websites can be totally overwhelming, as if wedding planning isn’t overwhelming enough on it’s own.  When I started planing my wedding all the fun details I wanted to include were easily stored on my “Wedding” board and I could pull them up on my phone or lap top to show my friends, bridesmaids, parents and vendors anytime.  I can’t tell you how many times I sat at my florists going over ideas with her flipping through pinterest.

There are a million ways to use Pinterest and if you are not already a pinner then you defiantly should be.  And either way we should be following each other so that we can see all the awesome stuff that we both post.  So if you are a member please leave your link below and I’ll be sure to follow you and if you have any interest in some dream home goodies, wedding ideas, photography posing ideas and of course some yummy food ideas please follow me as well!

XOXO
Spring

I’ve been over to the shelter a few times now over the last few months and every time I find at least five animals that I want to bring home.  I know that Coby and Silas would not be thrilled with that idea so I have yet to come home with anything but a little extra fur on my clothes and some great shots of some of the sweetest dogs and cats out there.  There are small dogs, big dogs, puppies and even a few FAT cats (my personal favorite).  I thought these guys are just so stinking cute I had to share a few of my favorite from the past few weeks.  Some of these guys are still up for adoption so if you are looking for a little animal love in your life… CLICK HERE!

XOXO
Spring