Every couple has tiffs once in awhile and we are no exception. They are rare and we get over them very fast (totally new territory for me) but conflict management is essential in a relationship. Last night we had one such tiff which I felt was dealt with in a very healthy way.

Mr. New is one of the most caring people I know. In fact he can be so caring about me that sometimes we differ on how to deal with things. Last night we had a wonderful time going to Otis and Henry’s to sample the new menu they were debuting. The event was cutting it close to my bedtime but I figured I would be tired in the morning but vowed to leave the event no later than 6:30 to get to bed at a semi-normal time. The event was a total blast! In fact I was eating and chatting and having so much fun that I lost track of time a bit. 6:30 came and went and so did 7. Mr. New kept gently reminding me that I had to be up early in the morning and I needed to get to bed. I was having so much fun that I disregarded my original plan and kept on going. Of course he was right and I suffered for it all day today being so tired. He was certainly a little upset at me that I didn’t chose to leave at a reasonable time to get home. I know it’s only because he cares so deeply about my well being that he wants me to get enough sleep.

Regardless I wasn’t in the best mood either when I left knowing I was having so much fun and had to leave. We spoke little on the way home but Mr. New still made sure to pull into a gas station to get some gas for my car knowing I was low and had to drive to work in the morning. When we got back to my place he still made sure to set my coffee out for the morning and leave me a note on the door. He kissed me goodnight and said “I love you”

Even though we had a slight disagreement he did everything to show me how much he cared. This morning my daily note said the following

“My mouth may get me in trouble sometimes. I promise I will be better. But I will never apologize for how much I care about you. I love you”

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Photography is hard work. Daily I learn something new or stumble but each and every time –I find a solution one way or another. I am gaining confidence slowly and building this side business is a new exciting venture every step of the way. I am so excited to have another opportunity for a photo booth on Saturday, April 27th. This will give me some good practice for the wedding I am doing on August 10th. I am beyond blessed to have so many people giving me a chance to showcase what I can do.  I cannot wait to put on a real photo booth and start the process of buying props and making it the best it can be. Mr. New is actually building the frame of the photo booth and we will make it all come together and hopefully look amazing for the guests. My vision is to have a curtained area where I have tons of props for folks to take fun pictures with. I snap a few pictures and then my camera (attached to the photo printer) prints off two sets of pictures. One set goes to the guests while the other goes inside a book for the guests to sign. That book will be a fun memory for the bride and groom for years to come.

Meantime I have found a wonderful service with ACI printing in Waterloo. They cater to local photographers and can do almost anything with the picture you provide them. The color and tone of the pictures is second to none. That’s one more thing solved for me. A reliable place to print the photos I take.

Slowly and with patience my dream is coming to be a reality. Honestly I could not do it without Mr. New by my side. He has a solution for every problem I seem to come up with. He is always by my side suggesting something or doing research on his own. He is there to listen to me when I feel overwhelmed. We are a team and he is the perfect partner in this venture.

Meantime I am continuing to work on the latest project. My photo shoot with baby Brantley.

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If you happen to see a lively bunch tomorrow night on Main Street in Cedar Falls–well you will know who we are. Tomorrow night I am hosting a fun Bachlorette Bash for my friend Briana! I have fun stuff in store and cannot wait for a fun night with my co-workers. Briana was my first friend when I moved here and now that she is getting married I wanted to send her off in style. Her wedding is not for a few months but this was a weekend that worked for her so I thought-why not?

The bling is set and the night is young..cannot wait to have a blast and take some fun pictures of the night!

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A few months ago when I had my photography dream come to me–I figured it would be fairly easy to find a class or resources to teach me how to take gorgeous photos.

Not quite.

I spent a lot of time hunting down leads, calling photography studios and talking to various people trying to figure out a solid reliable class I could take to learn photography. Turns out it was not as easy as I thought. I poured through books, took online classes and got a basic understanding of things but still craved the expertise of a professional photographer who could take me in and really show me the craft.

Today I feel so blessed.

A few weeks ago Danielle Wagner handed me a business card from a local photographer and told me to contact him. When I emailed David some basic questions-I got a long detailed email back telling me he would be happy to show me what he knows and guide me in the right direction. In fact David and his wife had a successful photography studio in the area for more than 20 years.

I was anxious after work today when I went and met with him for the first time. I wasn’t sure what to expect and it was beyond my wildest dreams. David had everything set up for me with his laptop, camera, professional magazines and samples of his own work. For the next hour I sat mesmerized as he taught me about lighting, showed me what I could improve on and more. He even had taken my pictures from my Esha Imagery site and downloaded them on his computer to show me what I could improve on and what I did right. I couldn’t believe this kind man who took the time to really show me what I needed to know. In fact he has offered to come on some of my photo shoots and help me! We are going to meet again weekly and next week we are actually going to take our cameras out and start shooting.

I am so blessed.

It’s like a prayer has been answered. I was so frustrated trying to find a way to learn and here comes this completely selfless man willing to teach me everything he knows. I cannot wait till next week when I can learn more.  He even took a flash drive of some of the images I took last week and is going to review them for me and make suggestions. When I got up to leave almost two hours later-I didn’t even quite know how to thank him. It restores my faith in humanity that someone would want to see me succeed and volunteer his time to teach me.  Thank you David. Thank you so very, very much!

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I have such wonderful viewers. I cannot express it enough. Even though I am just starting out on my photography journey-so many of you are willing to let me into your homes and lives to take pictures of your kids and family. I know I have a ways to go but the practice is helping me tremendously. Tomorrow I am meeting with a wonderful man named David Marvitz. He owned a photography business in the area with his wife and has offered to teach me a thing or two.

On Saturday I had the complete pleasure of taking newborn pictures of baby Brantley. I felt so honored that the lovely family wanted to give me a unique chance to take pictures and get some practice. I only hope the pictures will be ones they will enjoy. Thank you so much to Kristy Tegtmeier Fisher and her lovely daughters for allowing me to take some pictures of the new baby! Now I will work on editing them and printing them.

Again I have to say it–so many of you despite knowing that I am still learning have offered to help me reach my goals and it really touches my heart. Today a wonderful viewer offered me the chance to take photos and operate a photo booth at her son’s wedding! I almost jumped out of my seat because that is something I cannot wait to do! Thank you..Thank you..Thank you to Kristy Berghuis for getting in contact with me about that. I want my business to be known for beyond excellent customer service and I could not do it without all the wonderful people who have reached out to me. Thank you more than words can express.

Thank you for allowing me to capture the moments of Baby Brantley and lovely mommy!

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I love watching sports and really got into it when I was in Oregon. I become a huge Oregon Ducks fan and really enjoyed going to the games and tailgating beforehand! I am trying to show more of an interest than ever before because Mr. New is a HUGE sports junkie. So when he mentioned he was doing a bracket for March Madness I decided to sign right up with him.

I really didn’t have much idea what I was doing but I knew I wanted Oregon to go far and had a rough idea of what a “seed” was and rankings. Amazingly the second day in..I am in 11th place among his friends and he is dead last! I can’t believe it. Of course we have a lot of the bracket to go but it’s certainly exciting.

We also have our own bracket going where we are promising each other dinner and pampering depending on who wins. It’s actually really exciting and I never thought I could get this into basketball.

I will keep you all posted on the outcome of the results. For now I am off to tonight’s Mingle and Merlot and tomorrow I am taking my first EVER set of newborn pictures. I am nervous but also so excited to capture those memories for mommy and baby!

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I’m not sure how an innocent comment can somehow get so lost in translation by a viewer but that is what happened today.

We ran a fun story about a news anchor who got proposed to on-air by her long time boyfriend. It was a fun story and very sweet and obviously everyone was surprised by the fact that the teleprompter professed a marriage proposal instead of an actual script. When we came out after the story to a shot of Jason and I- I couldn’t help but say that while it was very sweet but  ”I wasn’t sure I would want to be proposed to on television”

Jason laughed and agreed and we went on with the show.

A few hours later I saw a comment from a viewer on our KWWL facebook page:

“Wow..just because nobody wants to propose to Natasha doesn’t mean she has to make a comment about someone else getting proposed to. She is so rude and must be super jealous”

After reading it a few times to make sure I wasn’t seeing things..I had to honestly chuckle a little bit. A simple comment apparently got so blown out of proportion by someone that they felt I was being cruel which of course I would never do. It’s amazing what some people will take out of context. As many of my colleagues and trusted managers have said..you just cannot please everyone no matter how good your intentions

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Talk about amazing customer service.

After talking to the kind man on the phone yesterday at the Pump Haus the General Manager called me today to tell me they would gladly accomodate our party of seven and she assured me the table would be ready when we arrived. She took the time to make sure to call me and was kind and professional the entire time. I now have no worries about my get together for Briana in a few weeks.

I believe her name was Tanya and I wish I would have asked for it again so I could personally write about her. If you know the General Manager of the Pump Haus please do tell her that she turned me into a believer in good customer service again. People like her turn me into a repeat customer and also turn me into someone who will gladly tell all my friends about it.

Word of mouth is the best form of customer service and you better believe I will be telling everyone I know about this!

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Good Versus Bad Customer Service:

I am planning a get together for my friend and noon producer Briana to celebrate her upcoming wedding in a few months. We are planning a fun night with friends in about two weeks for her.

I really want to make it special for her and get all her friends together so we can make it a night to remember.

I know that it’s hard to find a table at any of the places on Main Street in Cedar Falls on Friday night but I figured I would try.

RESTAURANT/BAR ONE (Very, very popular place on Main Street/Usually packed)

Natasha: Hello I am wondering if you do reservations. I have a get together in two weeks and would love to have a table for seven. Any chance we….

Person on other end: (snotty voice) I’m just going to stop you right there. No we don’t and we can’t. We are too busy to do that for anyone.

Natasha: Oh. Well what do you suggest?

Person on other end: Not sure

RESTAURANT/BAR TWO  (Another popular place on Main Street/Also very packed)

Natasha:  Hello I am wondering if you do reservations. I have a get together in two weeks and would love to have a table for seven. Any chance we could figure something out?

Man on other end:  We normally don’t do that but you know..I am going to see if we can. I will talk to a manager and see if we can work something out.

Natasha: Oh that is wonderful! I know it’s not your policy and I don’t want to make it an issue

Man on other end: No problem. It’s worth asking right?

I want to identify and recognize the good customer service going to the Pump Haus. The man on the other end was kind, warm and helped me with my problem. Even if he would have told me he couldn’t make it work I would have understood just fine because it’s policy. The different is HOW he treated me and the way he acted.

Thank you to the kind man at the Pump Haus just now!

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Mingle and Merlot is this Friday and you are all invited!

What is Mingle and Merlot? It’s a networking event that I started in the Cedar Valley to get people together. It’a a fun way to meet new friends, network for your business or just come out and see what could happen. I have met so many friends through this and it’s a great chance to explore your future.

When?  March 22nd @ 6:30pm

Where? Luna Wine Bar in Downtown Cedar Falls

What if I don’t like wine? No problem. Luna offers a huge selection of beers, soft drinks etc. It’s not about the wine as much as it is about the event itself!

AND IT’S FREE TO ATTEND!

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