My New Job(s)!!

Introducing:: Tiffany Hines - 

Photographer, Travel Agent, & Sign Salesperson

So most of my friends know that I've recently quit a great job at a local church to pursue more of the passions God has placed on my heart.   

I had another BHAP (big hairy audacious prayer) that I could:: do something that I loved, be creative, help people, make more money than I did before in less hours, be able to pursue volunteer opportunities, be able to pick Nate up every day so he didn't have to goto an afterschool program, and be able to invest in people! 

At first, this was really scary! I didn't know what I'd be doing or where I'd make my money - but HE IS FAITHFUL!! 

So - what am I doing now?

Well - a LOT of things!!  I'm juggling all sorts of hats these days and I LOVE it! I'm going to fill you in!

Tiffany Dawn Photography - Photographer

First, I'm working on growing my photography skills and clientele - as well as my portfolio/web presence.  This one is going to be a slow process as I have felt like its something I will enjoy doing (hopefully as a job & ministry to families) for years to come!   I've talked to a few people that have really encouraged me to pursue all that God has for me in this area and I'm excited to see what he wants to do w that!  If you know anyone in the DFW area that would like to do either Fall Pictures w their families or Christmas Card pictures, I'm booking now!!

Send Me Out Travel - Travel Agent

Second, I'm now getting to work in one of the coolest industries - TRAVEL!  So far I've booked trips to Mexico, Iraq, China and can't wait to book many many more! I'm going to be blogging about why you would use a travel agent in the future - just so you know more abut what I do and why, because I had many questions before I got started of why anyone in my generation would want/need a travel agent!  Obviously, I saw the "why" and joined up w my good friend David Gladney as an agent in his company.  And now from honeymoons to weekend getaways;  hotel stays to flights to car rentals;  to cruises and all-inclusive resorts - I can help you with your next trip!

Amplify Designs - Banners/Signs Sales

Third, I am working with another good friend, Kenten Waldrum, doing sales for his sign company.  He specializes in Church Banners & Signs and does great work!  I used this company all the time when I was at Shiloh and now get to help other churches get banners and things for their congregation.  So if you know any churches or ministries that are looking to do some banners, let me know - or have them go online to see some of our stock banners.  We customize all our banners (sizing, adding logos, changing text or background, etc) at no extra charge to the customer and I've been surprised at how fast our turnaround time is!

So as you can see, I'm staying busy - and if you know me, you know I LOVE that!!  I'm also picking up Nate from school every day at 3:15 from Kindergarten which is something I was LONGING to do but did not see any way that would EVER be possible as a Single Working Mom!  BUT my God is bigger than my circumstances! God made a way for me to do this and to have that sweet time w Nate after school as we play on the playground or go get a treat & I get to hear about his day, help with his homework (yes Kinder has homework!?), and play w my little man!  God is SO good!  I am so thankful!

After a month of this, I am LOVING this change.  I feel like I'm exactly where the Lord wants me and its so fun and freeing! AND on top of that - last month I made $45 more than I would have at my old job!  Its just $45, but still- I felt like it was God's assurance that His hand is in this and HE is my provider! 

1 Chronicles 29:11-12 says:    for everything in heaven and earth is yours. Yours, LORD, is the kingdom;    you are exalted as head over all. ¹² Wealth and honor come from you;    you are the ruler of all things. In your hands are strength and power    to exalt and give strength to all. 

IF you would keep me in mind as you hear about people planning trips, needing pictures, or displays for their ministries - I'd appreciate referrals!

BHAPS & Mac's!

Remember how I said I was gonna start praying that someone would give me a mac???

Well... guess what? I got one last night... it needs a replacement battery bc it won't work w out being plugged in- but its an iBook G4!

I'm SO excited!! I dont know taht I really BELIEVED I'd ACTUALLY be GIVEN a MAC Laptop!!

SO now- i just need the software and to get used to the differences of a Mac vs Pc and I'm on my way! :)
 Isn't God Cool??? i just wanted to share w you guys!

Photo Blog

I've decided to start posting some of my work on a tumblr site.  I"d LOVE comments from you guys as I get started on what you like, what could be better, etc!!

Check it out by clicking the link below:

Tiffs photog blog - thats: obutiger.tumblr.com

Let me know what you think!!  I'm just getting started!

On Becoming a Photographer

I just got (another) camera!!

This one is the BEST yet!

I am now the proud owner of a DSLR camera!!! (after wanting one since a college class in 03!)  Its a Canon Rebel XT - so an older one - prob from '05ish... but hey- it looks like its in decent condition, and it works!! :) AND it was free!!!!!!!!

How did I get it free you ask?? Well, I got a little bit of money for my bday and decided I was going to put it towards a used DSLR.  So I posted on FB asking ppl what models they liked, etc and this guy from High School who I was in band with (he was a Sr when I was a freshman and I was friends with his sister) saw my facebook post asking for advice on what used DSLR to look for, etc.  So he messages me and says- you can just have mine!

He lives in AZ and even paid to ship the camera.  It was a CANON REBEL XT camera body with battery in it & strap... no lens, no battery charger/cords/memory card/case/manual/etc...

In college I took a photography class and had to buy and SLR camera.  I got the Canon Rebel film version bc digital was just getting more popular and it was super expensive.  I also had a Camera bag already for this camera in college!  The bag will work PERFECTLY for all my new stuff- cool huh!?

AND luckily my old FILM Rebel kit zoom lens fit on it - so all i needed to start shooting was a memory card!!  I knew I would need a battery charger soon too!  So I checked out the battery and started researching what charger I'd need to order, etc.  Even thought about getting an extra battery at some point... chargers were about $70, batteries $35 ish.  

HOWEVER an extra bonus- the camera a friend gave me that stopped working - the Canon G9 - it had a chargeable battery (with the charger) in it... well the battery is the SAME exact one that this new camera uses meaning - I have 2 batteries and a charger already!! :) Praise the LORD! :)

Oh AND did I mention I already owned a CF card reader from my very first Digital camera (that i haven't used in years!!) and i knew where it was?!  Cool huh!? :)

I quickly bought a new lens to play with also- its the 50mm 1.8 that most of my friends use to get the awesome portaits with a "blurry" bg!  I found it locally at Competitive Camera in dallas for 99.95+ tax!

AND i realized I didn't have a cord to hook the camera to the TV - so I found one of those online.  I also found a Memory card converter that will convert a regular SD card (I have like 4 of these already) to CF format in your camera.  I felt like I would rather invest a little in a converter and be able to use the small, easy to find SD cards in my camera instead of the older, more rare CF cards.  I take LOTS of pics and now that I'll be shooting in RAW, I'll need more space!!

So this is what I've spent for my camera so far:

Memory Card: $26

50mm f/1.8 lens: $108.00

A/V video cable: $10

CF to SD card converter: $16

Grand total: $160.00

Can you believe it?!! I've spent $160 and I now have everything that follows for my camera:

Canon Rebel XT 8.1 mp complete with Camera bag, Kit Lens, 50mm Lens, 2 batteries, a charger, a video cord, a 4gb CF memory card, a card reader, SD to CF converter, numerous SD cards.

I'm so excited!!! God is SOOO good to me!!  Can't wait to start bettering my photography skills!!

I think I'm gonna start praying for a MAC Laptop with Adobe CS5!!  Bring on the BHAP! :) (big hairy audacious prayers) and lets see what God wants to do!

Week 1, Day 5

Well, Lisa and Emily were gone today but Judy, Cynthia and Misty (and baby Carley) decided to work out w me today!!

WE did it during lunch again- in the nursery rooms while Carley (10 mo old) played in an exersaucer!  IT was fun! 

In other news- we girls decided to go ahead and weigh in today and measure just cuz we wanted to know where we stand after just 5 days (aren't we impatient!?!?! hehe)... So the good news is EVERYONE has lost at least 1 lb and EVERYONE has lost inches too!! 

Personally- i only lost 1 lb... BUT i lost 5.25 inches- after just 4 workouts!!  It definitely gives me the motivation to want to keep this up!  And I'm sure I"m building muscle right now- since I'm doing stuff I havne't done in FOREVER and that will weigh more- but ultimately cause me to lose MORE fat!! So I kinda expect to see more inches than lbs and feel better in my clothes... which is actually what I am most concerned about!  I also ALREADY feel stronger- just KNOWING i'm doing something GOOD!!  It makes me want to jog to the car instead of walk or take the stairs instead of the elevator!  LIttle things my friends, little things!

So the girls (em&Lisa) were talking about moving up to RAMP IT UP next week.  If we REALLY want to be "Slim in 6" I guess we need to pick up the pace a bit. I gotta admit- i'm a little apprehensive.  Its almost 20 min LONGER (thats nearly double) and supposed to be "harder" (and I def am not thinking Slim in 6 is super EASY yet!!)... It will be good for us - i just might be WORN OUT WAY faster!

I have one more START IT UP workout this week (I'm going for 6x a wk for the next 8 wks!) that I'm hoping to get in first thing Sat when I get up. 

Nate was asking to wokrout w me yesterday- so I think he'll help my motivation!  He was sad I didn't bring it home last night! :) So cute!  What a positive thing this has to be for him! I need to keep remembering that!  Its for him, about him and his lifestyle WILL be different than mine was growing up & has been lately!  He will WANT to be active and make healthy choices! I WILL model that for him over the coming years! I WILL! (I'm talking myself into believing it!!!) :)

Ok- till next week!!  Happy FRIDAY!


 

Advice on Getting Started

So I emailed a friend from church who has a rather inspiring story (in my opinion). She IS a runner but wasn't always... She's now a size 0/2 but always saw herself as a 12... so I asked for tips. Here's what she had to say! Thanks V! Check out her blog for more from V. http://rantreturned.blogspot.com/


"First, I want to say: You have control over your weight. But no one can make the decision to lose weight for you. You have to decide for yourself that you’re going to do it. And once you do that, you can and will lose weight. So, you've already gotten over the first and worst hurdle!

Some things that help with exercise:
• Having a workout partner. More than likely, there will be days that you don’t feel like exercising, but hopefully, on those days, your partner will encourage you to go ahead and go…and vice versa. It’s a good motivator on those tiring days.
• Find an exercise you enjoy…or at least don’t hate. If you can work some variety in there (taking classes, workout tapes, walking, biking, swimming, inside, outside etc) that will also help stave of boredom and the lack of motivation.
• Start slowly, especially with running. A mistake lots of people make is to try to push too hard and too far too early, then get injured and/or burned out and quit. I recommend starting by combining walking and jogging. It’s good to challenge yourself and increase speed and distance, but slowly! You shouldn’t add both going faster and going further in the same week. Otherwise, you will get runner’s knee…painful, and it will make you have to stop running temporarily.
• You need a good pair of shoes. Be willing to pay $100. It’s worth it.
• Warming up and cooling down is also a good way to avoid injury.
• And give yourself rest days. Absolutely required. You want to enjoy exercise, so you will keep doing it…not hate it and quit. Now, during the actual workout, it might be hard, but the accomplishment you feel at the end is worth it. Plus, endorphins from exercise relieve stress! (I can really testify…a good workout can totally improve your mood).

• For a specific beginner’s running plan, see the Runner’s World website: http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7120,s6-380-381--9397-2-1X5-3,00.html It’s a great website for runners.

Some things that help with losing weight/eating better:
• You do not need to exercise to lose weight, and exercising alone will not cause you to lose weight. The only way is to burn more calories than you take in. That’s it. Burn more calories than you take in. Exercise does help you burn more calories though…but you have to be careful not to “reward” yourself for working out with lots of calories.
• So, what Casey and I did was count calories. We used a software program called Fitday to log all our food and exercise, aiming to burn 500 extra calories a day. It’s cheap, easy to use and you can download it. But Weight watchers, etc. probably does the same thing. We bought a digital kitchen scale, weighted, measured and entered our food. That way, weight loss really just comes down to the math. I can say there were definitely days that I would work out a few more minutes so I could eat a little more. I faithfully counted everything I ate for more than a year. Once you do it for a while, it's really quick to do.
• You should not drastically reduce your calories…that just cause your metabolism to slow down and prevent weight loss! 500 calories a day is plenty.
• How to cut those 500 calories? The easiest way is Volumetrics. There’s a book…which I didn’t read…but basically: eat the same amount of food, so you don’t get hungry. But the food that you do eat should be higher in water, fiber and protein to help you feel full. Oatmeal, whole grains—lots of fiber. Soup, fruit, vegetables—lots of water. Lean meat and dairy (in reasonable portions)—are high protein and help stave off hunger. (Google for more info!)
• Absolutely still eat your favorite things…but less often and in smaller portions. Like the kid’s meal of fast food instead of the combo. You get enough to satisfy the craving…then get a salad with light dressing to fill up. I recommend reading Mindless Eating (I checked it out from the library). It’s a short, interesting book with lots of tips to stop overeating and how to easily cut calories. Good stuff. For example: eat off small plates, so when you fill up your little plate, you feel like you get a lot more. It works. Casey and I barely use our dinner plates.

Yeah...so, does that answer your question?

So basically, start slow, have a partner, cut calories slowly and keep going! You shouldn't lose more that 1-2lbs a week to be healthy...some weeks more will come off, some none at all. But keep trying...every step towards being healthier has benefits.

Anyway...good for you! You've already made the decision, which is the hardest part. Now the rest is details! Let me know how it goes. :-)
V"