Happy 4th of July! |keri jeanne – North Shore, MA photographer

Whew! I am finally coming up for air after a crazy two weeks — between sessions – summer vacation with the kids and deciding last minute at 3am that I should be in the Manchester by the Sea, MA 4th of July Parade, I am finally getting  a chance to sit in front of the computer to finally blog and at least attempt to catch up!  The last two weeks have been chaotic to say the least, but all the chaos has been exciting and happy!  Just a week ago I decided it would be a great idea to participate in my hometown 4th of July parade.  Growing up in Mayberry  aka Manchester by-the-Sea, it was always a tradition to watch or participate in the 4th of July Parade no matter what other plans you may have had for the day.  It was an understood thing that everyone would be watching the parade first and then you could go about whatever other plans you might have.

It occurred to me while watching the parade last year that I wanted to do something for my business for the next year. Unfortunately, I didn’t remember I wanted to do something until about 12 days before the actual parade this year! But, apparently I work great under pressure and I managed to pull it off 🙂 I printed 24 images and displayed two different sides – I was so excited to see so many familiar faces throughout the parade route!

After a lot of prayers and a lot of wishful thinking, the morning of the 4th ended up clearing up and the rain moved out just in time for me to put the display up and head out to the parade. It really would have been painful if it poured all over the images! Again, such a blessing – not something I was taking lightly at all! After the rain cleared it just turned into a sticky, muggey, hot day! But I was still thankful after all the worrying that happened the night before… It really did work out just fine.

I couldn’t have done it without the help of my amazing family and friends…  I’m so blessed to have you support me and my dreams. Thank you for believing in me. Thank you for your sweat and endless effort. Thank you for pulling this crazy thing off. I couldn’t have done it without such awesome vendors last minute as well.  Julie at Shirts Unlimited  in Salem, MA pulled off my last minute request for shirts. The shirts looked great and Julie made it happen like it was a piece of cake!  Lori from Footprint Signs located in Essex, MA absolutely rocked it out for me at such a last minute demand of the three signs — not to mention the crazy color issues we had! She has amazing customer service and her products are killer.  If you need anything promotional – she is your lady! Lori, Thank you – for all your help and advice – I can’t wait to work together on more things!

I have to say a very important thank you to Dave for supporting my crazy idea when I decided at the last minute that I wanted to make this happen this year! I absolutely could not have done it without you and all your help.  I am so lucky not only to have someone believe in this business as much as I do, but also who puts in just as much effort as I do to make it a success.  Thank you for your design help and all the time it took to actually build this, lay it out, listen to me change my mind, and try to talk me off the ledge when it was pouring rain an hour before the parade! I definitely couldn’t have done it without you!

I also had help from four of the best ladies around! One of my dear friends was so kind to help me, Dr. Sophia Martz volunteered to walk the route with me as well.  When she wasn’t stopped by all her fantastic patients from her own dental practice, she was often caught praising my work only to find out it was some of my current clients already! Soph -You are the best – I love you and I’m so blessed to have your love and support! The girls were so awesome to step up and help too — Thank you, thank you Anika, Alice and Emily!

To all of you who we may have seen on the parade route – It was so nice to hear such kind words – Thank you for all your encouragement and grace!  It was wonderful to see so many faces and I can’t wait to meet some of you soon!