Now “hiring” Senior Ambassadors to represent CLG Photography in exchange for credit toward the cost of prints chosen from their own senior portrait session. Must be available to start at once!

Here’s how it works:
As an ambassador, you receive a free Mini Me photo session (ideally to be held before school starts) from which I will print custom photo cards of you that you may hand out to your friends and classmates. The cards include a discount for your friends. When your friends book and hold their own senior portrait session with me, a $15 print or CD credit is applied to your account for each. This referral credit is directed toward the cost of your own regular session prints (or CD if you choose).

Let’s break it down: Suppose you refer five friends to CLG Photography. They each have their own session. You receive a $15 credit for each friend, for a total of $75 in credit toward your own prints (or the CD).

“But, Carrie…” you’re thinking, “that’s minimalist thinking. I’ve got WAY more friends than that! I bet I could get at least 8 or 9 classmates to have their portraits done.” Well, there you go. You just earned your CD of high res proofs for free, and you have enough pocket change left over to order some prints for your Uncle Ralph or Aunt Connie. Bottom line, the more people you refer, the more credits you get for your own pictures.

As an ambassador, you may also take $50 off the cost of your regular portrait session if completed before September 30, 2012. All I ask is that you help promote my studio to your friends and classmates by handing out your cards to everyone that needs their picture taken.

In lieu of an interview, contact me and share why you believe you would be the best person for this role. “Hiring” 2-3 individuals (or more, depending on your school district). Guys and gals welcome to apply. First come, first serve.

My fair adventure has come to an end. The tractors, trailers, tents, and cattle trucks are packed up and vendors were pulling out of the fairgrounds this morning. I hope everyone had as much fun as I did this past week. Here are a bunch of mini pics, Instagram-style, that sum up the fun (and feasting) enjoyed this past week.

I cannot wait to see all my winners again and look forward to some great sessions.

You may recall there is one more BIG winner who doesn't know who she (*hint*) is yet. I've saved the best news for last and I hope she is as excited and overJOYed (*hint*) as I am to announce it.

The winner of the grand prize from my fair adventure (a free session with all the works), a fantastic Facebook fan and a terrific Tweeter, is... JOY MACK!

Congratulations Joy! I think I foresee a fabulous senior session in the near future. Am I right?

My friends have been waiting for this precious gift for many years. Just over a month ago they received notice they had been chosen to be the parents of this perfect girl. Within 24 hours they were on a plane and heading south to pick her up from the hospital.

Adoption is a wonderful gift and I think she was definitely worth the wait!

Wahoo, a happy face! And would you look at that card? I totally forgot to sign it before I gave it away. Doh! I promise the prize is still yours!

Your chance to win could be tomorrow! Don't be shy if you see me. Step right up and ask for your prize!

If you didn't "hear" the tweet, here's another identifying clue... This bag is packed with giveaways for tonight!

I'm thinking you might want to see what's happening around the Lower Meadow, say... 7ish ???

It's first come, first prize winner. There will be 3 coupons each night. If there happens to be a tie, be prepared to answer some CLG trivia. You might want to skim some older blog posts for answers!

I cannot wait to see everyone!

If you don't know my face, maybe you can locate me by identifying one of my camera straps.

Before anyone ever thought to look for a nearsighted man wearing over-sized glasses and a red and white striped shirt, young readers in my generation flipped page after page, seeking out a cute little cricket named Goldbug. Nearly everyday my brothers and I followed the adventure of Ma, Pa, Pickles, and Penny Pig as they navigated their way to the beach for a picnic in this fun book. My mom would occasionally try to move the story along and flip more than one page at a time, but we always caught her.

I’m sure you’re wondering where this little journey down memory lane is going, or how I even got here in the first place. Sometimes it’s best not to try and figure out how my brain works. I’ll spare you the convoluted details, but here’s the skinny:
I’m setting up a little fair adventure for everyone next week. You’re all going, right? If not, you should! I’ll be there and I’ll be handing out awesome prizes for those that want them. The key is, you have to find me at the right time (that means you can’t stake out the gates and pounce on me when I arrive) and right place (more details later this week...) and ask!

What am I giving away? This is so exciting peeps!
Each night I’m there I’ll be handing out three prizes to three lucky winners:
1. a coupon for half off any* session you choose (*weddings are excluded, everything else is fair game)
2. a coupon for a free CD ($99 value) of your images from your regularly-scheduled session
3. a coupon for $137 in print credit (why 137? It’s the 137th annual Troy Fair!)
This is good stuff!

Now, some of you know my face but some of you might not, so how will you track me down? I’ll be posting little clues here and there all week and if you follow me on Twitter, there will be real-time hints and status updates on my location every night. P.S. I’ll tell you right now, I won’t be there Thursday.

The only way this is going to be any fun is with PARTICIPATION! So, to make sure we get a good buzz for this adventure, I have a big grand prize that you can earn by helping me spread the word. Here’s how it’s going to work:
1. earn a point when you “like” CLG on facebook (already like me? Great! You have a point already… just leave a comment below to let me know)

2. earn 5 points for sharing a link to this post on your facebook wall (share the link where you did so in the comments below)

3. earn a point every time you “like” a status update on the contest posted on my timeline

4. earn 5 points when you start following @CLGPhotos on Twitter, and then

5. earn a point every time you retweet a #myfairadventure update

The person with the most points at the end of fair week wins. It's that simple.

So, what do you get for being all “social”? What’s the grand prize? A session* of your choice (again: *weddings are excluded, everything else is fair game), totally FREE! Who doesn’t love free? Let’s spread the word and have FUN!

This is my friend, Uma.

Beautiful, right?

The best part is, she's beautiful inside too. And smart. Did I mention she recently graduated with her nursing degree?

Uma lets me practice my "mad skillz" on her if I promise to Photoshop everything to make her look good. What she doesn't know is, I never do! She's just that gorgeous.

I'm going to miss her when she leaves in a few short weeks. Uma has accepted a position with a hospital in Virginia. I'm so proud of her.

And excited too. Her new place isn't far from the beach. Road trip, anyone?

It was a two-Monday week at work but, despite that, jam-packed with fun from the first to the last. With the holiday smack-dab in the middle, we've been celebrating all week long.

I'll just let the snapshots do the talking.

From my family to yours... Happy Independence Day (and Happy Thursday, Friday, and Saturday too!)

Remember to thank a veteran for our freedom. God Bless the USA!