Six Peeps

December 24, 2007

MERRY CHRISTMAS, HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Some Christmas thoughts! I dare you to read this whole post! (long!)

I am having such a great Christmas Week! It feels so good to just forget about work for a week and be with my family, including my new fiance! I just want to encourage all of my peeps to just say no to work this week. Take this week and live it the way God (”whatever you believe Him to be” — Max Ehrmann 1855) has intended. We all need to work, but we don’t live to work we work to LIVE and not just LIVE (like sit around and watch TV, to me that’s not really living.), I mean LIVE like go out and be with the important people of your life! Get some fresh air, and some color in your cheeks!

Some people (like DAN Esquire) have accused me of being too preachy on my blog. Hey it’s my blog and you don’t have to come here. I never put a gun to your head and said, “GO TO SIXPEEPS.COM!”) So I feel I have the right to express my opinions. This is my “safe” place, right?

So here I go… I just really feel that this year I want to really make LIVING my priority. To me that means automating my work (I have hired a GREAT studio manager) and am spending lots of $$ on building a team of Cafiero Photographers people who are doing amazing things. My studio this year is going to be speedy, efficient, and with better quality of products and services than ever. It was hard for me to give up some control but I am already seeing that really I can’t run this business alone anymore.

I’ll post a “New Year’s Goal” post here in a week, but I am so excited about 2008. It’s my year of lateral thinking, workflow automation, and customer service. I don’t feel last year any of those were my strengths.

Yesterday I ran with the Incline Club. I felt like I was doing the “running man”, drudging up a mountain with 5 inches of snow or hardpack, it was like trying to go up a descending escalator… for 3 and a half hours! Holy crap I was spent! I can’t wait to run with them again, it was so awesome. I forgot how freakin far those guys like running!

But it was quiet, beautiful, and peaceful. I have always loved the wilderness for those exact reasons. It’s earth in it’s most raw form. No iPhones, no newspapers plastering fear in front of our faces, no traffic, no exact sense of time. In my mind, Heaven on Earth can be found in the Colorado Rocky Mountains.

I’m excited about the new life ahead of me with Jenny! We have talked about travelling. I think it’s so incredibly important to take ourselves out of our comfort zones and see the world. Too many people become hermits in their comfortable little bubbles. I look forward to travels to Italy (for a wedding), but even more for less touristy places; I’d love to see Vietnam, Thailand, Germany, who knows! The sky is the limit. We’ll do our research to make sure we don’t get into any sketchy messes. I have recently been inspired by my good friend Jim Kennedy, who just up and took his family out to Egypt of all places for a few weeks. They saw (of course) the pyramids and rode on camels, but Jim says his most memorable moments were visiting the 3rd world parts of Egypt. People literally living in their own garbage. He took photos of the kids and had prints made for them. It sounds like his experience was totally eye-opening for him. You can see his photos in his blog, mayhave to scroll down a bit to get to them at www.jkpblog.com

Anyway, this week has been great. We had a hayride the other night and cruised through the neighborhoods and looked at the decorated homes, got some great exersize, ate some great food. Tonight my dad is making LOBSTER FRA DIAVOLO, my FAVORITE!!! And tonight I am joining Jenny and her family at Catholic Mass. I’m not Catholic but my dad comes from a Catholic family so I have been to a few Mass’. That doesn’t mean I know what to do when everyone gets up for communion! I’ll choose to stay put and just enjoy being in a holy place on Christmas Eve. Then we are going to some sort of after-party to booze it up a little.

I was getting a little stressed about having to change traditions. All my life I have opened gifts on Christmas Day. Jenny’s family opens their gifts on Christmas Eve. I am surprised at myself about how this silly little tradition has affected me! Who even cares right? Well I just got an email from my Uncle Sal and one thing mentioned is that Chrismas is a time to celebrate traditions and welcome new ones. That totally changed my mindset. Thanks, Uncle Sal!

In conclusion to this huge blog post… This has been my best Christmas Ever!!! Mostly because I am celebrating it with my FIANCE! I still can’t believe I am going to get married. It’s the happiest time of my life. I can’t imagine a more perfect life partner than Jenny and I am totally lucky to have her in my life! And our families, despite different traditions and beliefs, are full of love and celebration this week and I am just having the time of my life.

And the prospect for 2008, whatever life throws my way, I have committed myself to always seek for the good, the lesson learned and my new committment to living live and the year of lateral thinking!

Happy Holidays!!!

December 24, 2007 |