I hope that everyone had a beautiful holiday season and continues to enjoy the rest of what is left of 2008! I know I’ve been slacking on the blog, but fear not… I have LOTS of surprises to post in the next couple weeks.

One new fun little interactive feature is my new FACEBOOK group. If you are not familiar with facebook…be forewarned…it’s ADDICTIVE!! ha! Since I grew up in many states (military brat), I have lots of friends all over and I’ve found TONS of them on facebook. I’ve also realized that it’s a great and fun way to stay connected with my clients too. If you’d like to join my professional group, you can sign up here:  Alycia Alvarez Photography FACEBOOK group If you aren’t a member, you may need to sign up for facebook…but I’ll be offering some specials and freebies there, so it will be worth your while!

There are several great studio specials that will be going on in January, so stay tuned and check in!  In the meantime, here’s a “2008 in REVIEW”… I always enjoy going back over all my sessions from the past year and remembering all the great moments and memories captured! Thank you to all of my clients who have entrusted me with creating your family art and heirlooms… I look forward to creating more in 2009 and to meeting some new *faces*! I’ve put together a slideshow of my year in review, including a few personal shots here and there…Enjoy!

***I was having email issues today. I apologize if your email got kicked back. I think it’s up and running fine now. If you don’t hear back from me, please try again!***

First of all, a HUGE thanks from all the photographers I’ve met in the past few days… It’s been a whirlwind schedule, speaking in Texas, landing back in Tampa and speaking a couple hours later! A huge thanks to all the photographers who also helped me “setup and strike” all the *stuff*… (once “Mister P” sends me some pics, I can post ‘em….he’s knows who he is! hahaha!)

For any of you who attended, please feel free to send me any questions you might have and/or CC  (woah! how Southern can I sound over that microphone tonight? YES! I’m sure it was the MICROPHONE! LOL!)

Also, a huge thanks to my sponsors! The giveaways were a HIT! I love how dependable and generous all my sponsors/vendors are!

Since I had so much interest, I didn’t want anyone to have to *dig* for these, so I’m bringing these to the top.

Again, here’s my templates and ….

*NEW*… 125+ formatted QUOTES- PSD and JPG. GREAT for adding to albums, cards, collages, portraits… I have taken some of my FAVORITE quotes and formatted them for my clients to be able to choose/select for their albums, and decided that photographers might like them too (yes, it took a LONG time to format them all!) For my studio, I have them printed and spiral bound to make it easier to select. There are four different styles: “bella baby”, “everyday”, “love quotes”, and “holiday”. These are $99, but on special for $75 also. To purchase, send paypal to: alycia@alyciaalvarezphotography.com

I am super excited… about two things.

1. you can get free admission to Disney World on your birthday!

2. my long time client, *little man C* landed THE marketing campaign shot!

I’m so proud of him! I really never do much with modeling, but he is such a doll baby and SO easy to work with. (I have even used him before as a model at my in studio workshops)…you may recognize him as the “big brother” here:  Big Brother C

and actually… 3. It was a headshot that *I* took that got him the casting call! how cool is that!

::such a proud photographer mama:: hahaha!

here’s the image and the link! get your free ticket!

Okay, this is just too funny…I HAD to share! Baby’s first high heels! Does it get much better than this? I think not! Whoever shows up to their next session with a pair of these bad boys gets a free 8×10! Love it! Makes me wish I had a baby of my own to sport some of these! haha!

You can find them here: Baby High Heels

I am really excited to announce some upcoming dates for “Beach Week ‘08″… I usually take a couple weeks off *shooting* to work on computer editing after the “Holiday Cutoff” (which is November 7th this year)… I decided this year to take my computer to the BEACH and am going to stay at a condo down in AnnaMaria Island and do my *hunker down*.  Since beach sessions need to happen at sunset, I can edit during the day and do one beach session per day. I only have FOUR sessions left- November 16, 17, 18 and 19. Even though these are after the *deadline*, these will be ready by the Christmas cutoff.

Because I will already be staying on the *island*, the session fee will be only $99 (reg $350) and the minimum will be the “Desk Portrait Collection” $895 (reg $1500), in addition to 20 free Holiday cards with any card order. Shoot me an email or give us a call to schedule one of these days. There are only FOUR left…so call fast )

First of all, the schedule is already getting crazy fast, as it always does starting in September. I am pretty sure that November is full (will have to check with Laura, my amazing ‘client coordinater’ :::smiles:::) and there are still still slots available in September and October. Be sure to get on the calendar soon, otherwise, I will have to work off a waiting list, and I never like to have to do that. As always, I try to keep a few slots open and available for maternity and newborn.

The deadline for the SESSION is NOVEMBER 7th and December 5th for ORDERS to be guaranteed by Christmas. Keep in mind that jewelry and bags take longer, so the sooner the better!

Be sure to check out all the new holiday cards too under the “extras” section on the website… type in the word “holidays” into the password section. Lots of new designs this year!

Also, as a surprise bonus, for every collection ordered from now until November 7th, you will receive a COMPLIMENTARY keepsake ornament. If you would like more to give as gifts (perfect for grandparents!) They are half off ($40–regularly $80).

ADDED LOTS of new HOLIDAY cards…

also, I think I have a pretty comprehensive gallery now of “the extras”… when you go to “the EXTRAS” section on the site, type in the “passwords” for the sections you are looking for…:

baby

holidays

seniors

bags

jewelry

and for albums…sell links below on “the extras section”

I know it’s August, but Halloween always seems to creep right up and costumes sell out fast! I have to say, Halloween is one of my favorite holidays. Not for any “spooky” reasons (I can’t stand being SCARED! just ask my boy who got himself PUSHED backwards over our vacuum cleaner after scaring the STUFF out of me!–he was fine, I was horrified, and the vacuum cleaner? BROKEN! ha!)… I live in a wonderful neighborhood that has tons of kiddos and Halloween is a HUGE todo!

Anyway, I got my current Chasing Fireflies catalog (LOVE LOVE LOVE it!)… they have all the new halloween costumes in there and can I just share how MUCH I loved “torturing” my children when they were younger and forced them to wear ridiculous crazy costumes (I even thought I could SEW one year and while having pneumonia, finished a PENGUIN costume… my favorite was when my boy was a pillsbury dough boy! so cute!…one year he was peter pan and I was tinkerbell! Gabs first costume was dorothy, complete with her ruby reds!) Anyway… here’s a few super adorable ideas…check out the site! If anyone gets any of these AMAZING costumes, lemme know…I may put together some “halloween mini” sessions just because I love these costumes so much!

and how CUTE is this for decorating pumpkins??

I’m working on some website updates and looking through lots of recent sessions and files… Here’s a few that I just really love (more to come!)

I’m really excited and proud to finally launch a new site, www.RingsToRattles.com! (special thanks once again to the amazing Photoidentities.com for creating such an easy and fun website! They are the bomb! Also a huge THANKS to TripleScoopMusic.com for providing me with a great fun “jumpin & jivin”–royalty free-diddy! ) As many of you know, I’ve been asked to do several speaking engagements around the country in the next year. Some are solo, however, for many, I’ll be offering a unique, hands-on workshop, together with Kevin Jairaj of kjimages.com, which will focus not only maternity and babies (:::my love:::), but also on the art wedding photography (I’ll leave that to Kevin! *S*). If you are a photographer interested in improving your skills and growing your business, then this is the perfect workshop! (oh and if you are not within 75 miles of my Riverview studio :::smiley face:::) Check it out!