When it rains... it sprinkles

After going what seems like an eternity with no photo inquiries, I got two calls yesterday. One was a referral from someone who picked up one of my business cards and she wants portraits of herself & her 1 month old girl. And the other is someone who found one of my online listings for wedding photography.

I'm meeting with the bride next Wednesday. Her wedding is October 27th (just one week after our 7 year anniversary!) and is at 6 pm followed by a reception. I just got a new sample proof book and used Julie & Joe's pics in it. So, I'll have quite a bit to show her since I also have the new album along with another set of proofs. She also works downtown not far from where I am so we're meeting over our lunch hour.

So, I wouldn't call it "pouring" necessarily, but 2 in one day, when I've been getting a fat zilch for forever, is very okay with me. I keep telling myself to hang on for Spring! It's just right around the corner and will definitely bring more business... and all those Fall weddings!

In keeping with the good news... Chris has a job interview tomorrow for a cable installer position. It's not in his field because there are absolutely NO jobs right now in anything that he's done in the past. We looked & found the job listing in Sunday's paper since just going around to restaurants & hotels, putting in his resume, has been fruitless as none of them are hiring anybody. So, he put in his resume Monday with the cable place & got a call this morning for an interview tomorrow morning. Yay! They start out at almost what I make, so nearly doubling our income would be super duper! He's also checking into a new daycare today so if he does get an offer we'll be ready.

We are feeling a bit of a crunch lately because we're trying to save for a house as well as pay off debt. We're making good progress but I'd like to save quite a bit more still. Our apartment lease is up at the end of June so if we time it right & get our stuff together in time we could possibly be moving into a house instead of renewing our lease. So, we're on a bit of a short timeline. The market right now is great for buyers but they've also tightened up the lending recently because of so many sub-prime loans going into default. So, if our credit is good enough we can qualify for a loan, but if not, we'd have to come up with 30% down (yeah right) because of new government regulations cracking down on the previous lenient lending that was going on during the "bubble." And to help us reach our goal we're taking donations! ... Just kidding! :o) Just seeing if you're still paying attention.

Here's a few pics of a house we looked at a couple weeks ago, that yes, unfortunately we already have our hopes up about... ::sigh:: (4 bed, 1.5 ba, 6 fireplaces, c. 1860, 2433 sq ft, 1.6 acres, Lexington MO):