Ryan and I celebrated his 31st birthday today. We just came home from watching the musical Wicked and it was so awesome! Of all the musicals I've seen, this is by far the best and would highly recommend you see it if you haven't! I'm not going to elaborate on the story because I do not want to ruin it for the rest of you who haven't seen it... just trust me when I say, you need to see it!!!! Kudos to all the actors/actresses who performed this evening!
Afterwards, we went straight home. Ryan blew his candle and we ate the cake while recalling the events.. Happy Birthday Ryan! ILYVM!
So lately I've been reading a lot of materials about small businesses. There are soooo many things to figure out such as what to consider my family/friends who help me out during photo/video gigs. Are they considered employees? independent contractors? seasonal employees? I still have no idea but need to figure things out asap! I'm keeping track of everything until I do...
Today I applied to get the es-sense logo/trademark registered through http://www.uspto.gov/. I don't know about you, but for some reason, I enjoy reading government forms and instructions.. I know... I'm weird like that. But really i do! :P Anyways... I applied for the trademark registration and at the end it says it could take months to get it approved!?!! Hopefully I answered everything right and it'll get approved sooner rather than later...
Anyways, another thing that I'm looking into, is getting some sort of diploma/certificate of completion for photography. I'm also looking to taking some courses on photoshop for photography as well. There's just so much to learn but its so much fun! A friend of mine asked me how I could do this part time while I have a full time day job and church and family responsibilities too. I guess I just like that fact that I can help people capture special moments in their lives! Also I get to meet new people that I would never have met if I didn't do photography/videography part time.
I've met really awesome people who still keep in touch with me and continue to refer our services to their friends... For this reason, I really want to do my best in giving them the best. Learning new things as well as doing things right will help me achieve these goals... with God's help of course :D
I remember working for an accountant 5 years ago during tax season as a temp. He had a small office and worked for himself. The only time he would get someone to help him out was during tax season so yes, he had a really small business. He was very meticulous about everything! He was meticulous about how papers should be stapled, how the forms should be arranged, even about how center the type on the cover should be... I'm telling you... he would measure everything!
Then talking to him one day, he explained why he made sure things were done his way. He taught me something that I will never forget. He explained that his clients are the reason why he is still in business today. His clients could go to any other CPA but because they continue to go to him for his services, it was important that everything he does for them is presentable. His exact words were, "It's all about presentation, Joan".
Since then, I've kept that in my head... everything we do in life, people look/judge us at how we present ourselves. Yes, we shouldn't judge a book by it's cover, but no matter how much we hear this... and no matter how much we try not to judge people that way... we still tend to judge people by their "cover". I'm taking to heart what my former employer has taught me. I believe that God makes us meet people and makes us experience things for a reason... and His reason for introducing me to this CPA was to help me out one day with how I present es-sense!
Today I found a nice lady who was willing to help me get our es-sense logo embroidered on our black polo shirts. I love it!! Our shirts makes us look more professional and presentable to clients and that is what we want to portray. We are professionals and we intend to look like it in all our upcoming photography-videography jobs! Plus, it shows how we are UNITED as well!
Here are two shots of what it looks like:
Anyways... I'll post up a picture of the crew with our new embroidered uniforms!
Oh and if you're wondering who this CPA is... his name is Sean Jonas, CPA who has an office in Torrance, California. He's really cool! So if you're looking for a good CPA.. just tell him Joan Solitario sent you heheh.. hopefully he remembers me... cause I don't think I'll ever forget working for him!
After a busy Saturday morning going to Olvera Street for Jordan's GATE field trip and meeting with our client who just booked us to do photography and videography for their wedding, some of my cousins and close friends and my siblings decided to go with me and Ryan to Santa Monica, CA to walk around the pier and 3rd St. Promenade. We brought our cameras with us of course and decided to take photos of each other just for fun... Since Ryan's birthday is this tuesday (4/29), we celebrated by eating dinner at this Thai Restaurant on Santa Monica Blvd and Ocean. It was a fun afternoon/evening and the weather was perfect! Here are some photos from today.
Ryan and I woke up at 3:00 am this morning to drive to San Diego for an engagement shoot I scheduled at 6:30 am. We were really sleepy, but once we started shooting with Jane and Isaac, we forgot how tired we were! Isaac and Jane were sooo cute! They were the shyest clients I've ever had to photograph! It took awhile for them to get used to me and Ryan and they kept on laughing that we couldn't help but laugh a long with them!
Here is a photo from today's shoot! To view more, please click on the picture!
Okay... I know I posted earlier... and it's about 12:45 a.m. but I'm excited to share our new video jingle! Here it is... low quality.. but it looks better as high res... just imagine it heheh :)
Tomorrow I'll be attending a special occasion of a dear friend, a sister in faith, Erika!! Not just attending but I've been entrusted to photograph her 18th birthday celebration! I'm so honored to have this opportunity and I pray I do an awesome job for her!
ES-Sense will also be unveiling the new video introduction clip that we show before every photo montage we create or video we edit. Ryan is actually still working on it and hopefully it'll be done soon so we can insert it on Erika's photo montage presentation for tomorrow night! He's done with the logo animation... now he tells me he's going to do some sort of remix with the old jingle... ??? hmm.... we'll see how it sounds.. but I have full trust in his ability to make it awesome!
Ryan is soooo talented! I'm not just saying that because he's my husband... but seriously.. he really is talented! He was the one who composed the song for our es-sense jingle... arranged the music... and now creating a new video intro to sync with the song... I'm sooo proud of him for learning all these things on his own! I'm really blessed to have him in my life...
Okay enough of the mushy stuff... I get carried away every time I think of him and start talking/writing about him....
This weekend is going to be quite busy... after Erika's 18th birthday celebration on Friday night, we'll be waking up early to do an engagement photo shoot in San Diego for our clients, Jane and Isaac who is getting married in June! Afterwards, we'll try drive back to Long Beach to make it to our cousin's new business office grand opening and take some photos of their celebration there. Afterwards, we both have a dentist appointment!! How fun!!!!! :D
Hopefully everything we'll go smoothly this weekend and we get all our tasks accomplished with God's help!
We finally have a new-hip-modern logo for es-sense! Ryan and I designed it last night at 1130pm-1230am and we love it! We were going for a simple look and I think we accomplished it! From now on, we're going to put this on all our marketing materials and more importantly it'll be on all our work! Here it is!
Ryan and I finally got our taxes done! Just need to pick it up and send it off! We pretty much broke even... kinda... We're getting something back from the federal portion, but also having to give it back to the govt cause we owed at the state portion of the return - all thanks to the bonus I got from work last year... =P. Oh well... Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s, and unto God the things that are God’s”.
We had Ate Sherry do our taxes this year and she did our last year too! She's fast! :) Here is her information in case you need help with your taxes :). She works with her dad at his office at SC Pangan Tax Service: 2529 Santa Fe Avenue, Long Beach, CA 90810. Their phone number is: (562) 989-4334. Her dad has been doing this for years!!!
Thank you ate Sherry for all your help!!!! I appreciate it a lot especially since I kept lagging in getting all the papers in to you.
Ryan and I photographed a 50th birthday celebration today. Sis. Debbie asked us to take photos of her party at Hokkaido Seafood Buffet. She's such a nice person and her family helped us out during our very first CFO Night!
Today, I remembered a song that I've been wanting! It's from the movie, "Music & Lyrics" with Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore. I'll put a sample of the movie on this post for you to check out.
This movie definitely reminds me of Ryan and myself! It reminds me how Ryan would arrange music and when we finally have to record our voices, Ryan always tells me to "sing a little louder". I started laughing when Drew started to sing and it was really soft... that's what I do! Seriously, I don't like wearing those earphones! I can't hear myself sing.. and when I hear myself sing, it's so loud, so I don't want to sing loud...
Usually I write the lyrics to the songs and Ryan adds the music. Even though he says he's not a lyricist, I think he creates beautiful music without my help! If you check out how Hugh starts to arrange the music, that's what Ryan does too! He uses all these different instrumental sounds with his computer program and his old keyboard to create a wonderful arrangement! It makes me proud to be the wife of a very talented musician! Ryan is a blessing from God to me and I always pray that we can spend more years writing beautiful music together for God's glory!
Well, here's a clip of the movie that I found on YouTube. If you haven't seen it and want to see a chick flick, this is a good one to rent and watch with your better half or on your own :-D.
On Sunday, March 30th, Ryan and I met up with Tallulah and Farrell for their engagement shoot. They are perfect for one another and so easy to take photos of too!! We met at Playa Del Rey to shoot some beach shots and at a park nearby. Then we headed off to the Central Library in Los Angeles and decided to take more shots there!
Here are some photos we took of the couple. We'll be photographing their wedding on Saturday, May 10th!
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