giving is awesome update

As I sit here tonight watching the lights on my tree twinkle and my babies tucked safely into bed, I come across the difficult task of deciding the winner. The nominations I received were heartwarming and humbling. As I started receiving the nominations the last week I realized how difficult it was going to be to decide. Every single one of the nominations deserved to be picked and how I wish I could chose everyone. Originally I was going to sit with my family and read the entries with my sister and mother in law to decide. But unfortunately because of the weather we don't get to spend it with them and alas I had to make the decision all on my own.

A few days ago I received an entry that brought tears to my eyes instantly. All the other entries were sad yes but this one was different because it was the story of me in high school. The nomination was sent in from a boyfriend for his girlfriend which is just too sweet on it's own. So with permission from Nick and Mackenzie, here is their entry:

Dear Jenifer,

My girlfriend, Mackenzie, is really in need this year. A few years ago her mom was having kidney failure and is a type one diabetic. She has a lot of other serious health complications and is constantly in and out of the hospital. She isn't going to make it much longer. This summer her parents went through a really ugly divorce and her mom ended up in the hospital for the whole summer. Her mom got out this fall and is now disabled. Her dad is now gone and her mom is too sick to take care of her or her sisters so her and her other three sisters live together without either parent. There are six of them all together crammed in a tiny three bedroom apt. Mackenzie is 16, she will be 17 this March. She has been working her butt off since her sophmore year to graduate one year early and is now graduating this June. She has to work full time and do all her senior year of high school online in order to support herself. She wants senior pictures soo bad but she knows she cant afford them (she has kind of given up hope) She works so hard and she deserves to have senior pictures like every other senior gets to have to remember all of her hard work. I have entered her into multiple photographers that are doing this and am hoping that someone will give her this Christmas gift. Me and Mackenzie have been together for over a year now and I know she really deserves this. I hope you consider her when you pick someone for your new years gift.

Thank you,

Nick

Thank you Nick and thank you Mackenzie for letting me do this for you. It is such a blessing for me to be able to donate something I love to such a deserving young lady.

I have found out the last few days that their entry was quite popular with my photographer friends so I am glad I snagged it early. It was just meant to be that I got to be the one to give them this christmas gift. Thank you all for the wonderful nominations. You are all so truly thoughtful and I can't thank you enough.

Merry Christmas to all of you. I hope your holiday is filled with wonderful moments and lots of love.
love,
jen

Only one day left to nominate......

I have a few entries so far so be sure to get your nomination in by Christmas Eve. Please forward the post below with all the details to any family and friends. They might know someone as well. Help me makes someones Christmas extra special.
Love,
Jen

Help me give away something special.........

Help me give away a $1000 custom photography package.

You know someone. You know someone who's experienced a tragedy, is struggling to stay afloat, is raising kids while holding down more than one job, or is volunteering selflessly despite extenuating personal circumstances. You know someone who can't afford custom photography, but who would cherish it this holiday season. You know someone who deserves a year-round reminder of their family's spirit, love, and beauty.

You know someone. I guarantee it.

I want to know who they are, and I want to give them the chance to experience complimentary custom photography -- $1000 worth, to be exact. They will receive a 1-2 hour session, a full resolution CD and printing rights, a set of 4x6 proofs as well as a $200 print credit to apply towards any wall display. A package worth $1000.

Oh, and the best part? The person who nominates the winner receives a $125 print credit. What better reason to show some love could there possibly be, people?

The rules:

* You cannot nominate yourself, and the person nominated must sincerely be incapable of purchasing my services. (Being unable to make mortgage payments for a two-million-dollar-vacation-home in Paris does not qualify as sincere financial need.)

* The nominee must reside in Washington or Oregon and be within my local area. Tell me who you know, what they're experiencing, and why they deserve my artwork. Please include a way to contact both your nominee and yourself as well.

* You must e-mail me the full story : jenifer@polkadotphotography.net by Christmas Eve at noon PST.

The winner will be announced on Christmas Eve -- get nominating! I can't wait to read all of your entries!

Open your heart to someone this holiday season -- and thanks for giving me the opportunity to open mine.

With love,

Jenifer

Deadline and an adorable share.....Vancouver, WA baby/kid/family Photographer

First just a note to let any of you know that are still deciding on getting Christmas cards. The deadline to order them will be the end of November to ensure they get back in plenty of time for you to mail them out to family and friends. I am designing them up like crazy so if you had a session from me this year please get ahold if me if you are interested in ordering some.

Also the end of November is also the deadline for ordering any prints. There is a rush order fee applied to any orders not placed by the deadline so make sure to get them to me on time. All galleries will be purged from the system in December as well.

There no longer is a waiting list for those of you that were unable to get appointments with me. I am booked solid plus some and have been for months. There is no way to get anybody else on the schedule until after the first of the year so if you are need of photographer still please, please let me know and I have some fabulous friends that I can refer you to.

My blog and site are going to be getting a revamp over the holidays and the new and improved Polka Dot Photography will launch Jan 1st (maybe sooner). I am NOT booking sessions for 2009 as of yet but will hopefully start mid December to release dates.

Last a fun share since I have severely neglected all my loyal blog readers. Thanks for all the emails hounding me about posting something. har har. You don't realize how many people actually read until you don't post. Love you all, it is just crazy around here but I am loving every minute of it.

I sware these kids could be models. I have another shoot with the whole gorgeous family tomorrow and am very much looking forward to meeting the rest of the kiddos.


and I have been told that my basket has been nicknamed the pineapple basket by blog readers. I love it and am so referring to it as such now. (0;




Peek a book


The FABulous hats by miss Nuxie made. What a fab christmas present these would make. I rock the adult one everywhere I go and get so many compliments. The little boys ones are adorable too. Go check out her site and tell her I sent ya! Click HERE for the link.








and last but surely not least. I scored this killer high chair on my way to pick z man up from school a few months ago. I am love with it. This was his first food. How cool is it that I got to take pictures of his very first food. I love my job.

A quick share.................Vancouver, WA baby photographer

Just one quick photo that I had to share........ see look, I am getting on a roll aren't I? heee heee. (0:

yes christmas already

So I had to go to Fred Meyers today to buy some more fill for my bean bag (for newborn photos) and they had already replaced the halloween stuff with Christmas stuff. Most people get annoyed by this but I love it. Christmas is my favorite and I am just grinning thinking about it. Anyways, it reminded me that I haven't posted any samples yet of Christmas cards. I am working with a fab designer for this years cards and thought I better show off a few samples since everyone is ordering them now. Any of the cards can be made into flat, bifold or trifold and come with envelopes. If you had a session with me this year or have one coming up get ahold of me now so I can get working on them for you. I have more samples to show but this will at least tie you over for now. (0: OH and if you are a photographer reading this, shoot me an email and I will hook you up with the designer so you can get your hands on them too. enjoy

Happy Halloween from the cutest fat baby....

This wasn't fat baby's official costume but the one big brother wore when he was his age. I am so glad I saved it because he is just too cute as the baby gap teddy bear. The two were actually vampires for halloween and were looking scary cute but I couldn't resist sharing this one. And what does me posting mean? You guess it. The new computer got here this week and I have been cranking out the sessions like a mad woman. So excited. Lots and lots to share just as soon as I get caught up on everything. Hope everyone had a wonderful Halloween.

waiting, waiting, impatiently waiting

I am MIA while I wait for my new computer to get here. It was a lengthy shopping experience that had to be rushed as my current one decided it really had enough of me and my abuse. I can't really blame it but it is still frustrating nonetheless. Those of you on my email list should have received an email from me about getting a new phone number too. I updated it on my site for those of you that didn't get it. I switched providers and got a new iphone and now I can check my email and the internet while on my phone (which is how I am posting this). Sooooo excited about the new phone and the new Mac on its way. Life will be perfect in the next few days and you will be seeing lots of new posts that never made it to the blog soon. I promise I have been so busy and with no computer, it just stinks. Although it does mean I get to bed before three am which is actually pretty nice, but don't worry, I won't get used to sleep. (0: Anyways just wanted to let you know why there is not posts and thanks to those of you that are patiently waiting to see your photos. (0: