Hi, my name is Liana Lehman. Thanks for visiting my personal photo news blog that we fondly refer to as 'liana's bananas' thanks to my childhood nickname and tendency to post about crazy, fun happenings.

I'm extremely blessed to be doing what God has called me to do - helping others achieve the impossible and experience the beauty about them always!

I hope to share my adventures through this blog -- including my more recent 101 in 1001 challenge!

liana_lehman

This is a place for me to post all the latest happenings in my world - whether it be recent images from destination weddings and lifestyle portrait shoots, something silly that's going on, and even some personal stuff.

If you're an entrepreneur or professional photographer, the BananasEDU blog is full of biz topics. Check out the links above and below for access to all our sites.

It puts a smile on my face to hear your thoughts so comment away and leave your links!

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Thursday, May 22, 2008

Red Hot and Chocolate

It's been a crazy few weeks... lots and lots going on behind the scenes. I feel like it's all going to be ready at once!! LOL.

My weekend holiday trip got extended a few days and I'm actually leaving in the morning, but wanted to post one of my Absolute FAVORITES from Devon and Jonathan's wedding first....

They've moved to Texas and Devon made sure she had the boots to represent! The red doors worked perfect as a backdrop for a bunch of our pics too...

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We can't forget Jonathan working it like a CK model...

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Here's a few more moody-chocolate ones I love of Devon too that are a totally different mood than the Red Hot ones...

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We'll be back in the office rockin' and a rollin' on TUESDAY. Happy Memorial Day weekend just incase my blogging-from-the-road is limited ;)

Sunday, May 11, 2008

Sneak Peak: Devon and Jonathan Married!!

Congratulations!!


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Friday, May 9, 2008

Sneak Peak of #67

I'm not sure where the day went... I was plowing through emails and work and looked up and it's 5:45PM and I need to be out the door in less than an hour...

Needless to say, I don't have time to gather ALL my proof of accomplishing #67 of my 101... but here's a teaser...

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...Of course these are all ones in my Living Room (which has mostly been done for a while)... but there IS one that is new as of yesterday. Can you guess which one?

Thursday, May 8, 2008

Productive!

Well, the meowsers must have know that waking me up at 5:40am this morning would make for a very very productive day... because that's exactly what they did...and today was extremely productive! LOL

I actually was able to cross of the FIRST of my 101 in 1001 today.... can you guess which one it is??

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Proof coming tomorrow...

Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Live the Question


I happened upon this quote for the first time sometime last year and thought of it today for some reason...

...I would like to beg you dear Sir, as well as I can, to have patience with everything unresolved in your heart and to try to love the questions themselves as if they were locked rooms or books written in a very foreign language. Don't search for the answers, which could not be given to you now, because you would not be able to live them. And the point is to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps then, someday far in the future, you will gradually, without even noticing it, live your way into the answer.

Rainer Maria Rilke, 1903
in Letters to a Young Poet


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Cadiz, Spain - March 2008

Tuesday, May 6, 2008

101 in 1001

One of the most tragic things I know about human nature is that all of us tend to put off living. - Dale Carnegie


My question for you today: When was the last time you felt COMPLETELY ALIVE?


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I was reading Dale Carnegie last night and came across what is quoted above and also another quote he had in the book that says 'Every day is a new life to a wise man' and it really got me thinking about things...

One of my favorite challenges is to "do something every day that scares you!" I teach this to other small business owners because if we become complacent and comfortable it means we're not changing, evolving, becoming better versions of what is current. Over the past few years God has been teaching me slowly about how we are so deceived into thinking that COMFORT is the key to success in life... when really it's comfort the world preaches that holds us back in so many ways to become and do what we're really intended. I guess it's difficult to understand until you've given so much up to live the better life... the free life... and I'm not sure I know of too many people who really live this nor will be able to fully accomplish this in their lifetime...myself included!

Well... what all the babbling thoughts lead me to ...is to write down all the things that either:

1. Make me feel alive and at my best,
2. Scare/Challenge me out of comfort, and/or
3. Will help me break bad habits and create good ones

Now a LOT of what I'd have put on this list four years ago has already been marked off... see this post for a small glimpse of what I've been up to. Then earlier this year I had this overwhelming need for margin and to stop being so "go, go, go, goals, goals, goals" all the time. I'm happy to report the margin is here now and I've been basking in it. So now it's finally okay for me to go back to the dreaming and goals...

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With that, I'm jumping on the 101 in 1001 bandwagon and making it my goal - starting today - to start living each day as it's a new life and NOT put off living!! I want to do those things every day that challenge me to be uncomfortable. With help, I'm confident these can become reality! I broke them down into categories to make it easier to digest and organize. So here goes...




Liana's 101 in 1001:

Tuesday, May 6, 2008 to Tuesday, February 1, 2011



Reading, Writing, Learning
1 Find and join the local library -- checkout and read 4 books Summer 2009
2 Watch the news every day for 21 days
3 Re-learn enough Spanish so I can visit a Spanish-speaking country and not speak any English for an entire day.
4 Hand write and snail-mail a letter each work-day for two weeks straight
5 Contribute/post to the Spain blog at least six times for a year
6 Write an article and/or press release and get it published in a magazine or newspaper
7 Re-read a book from childhood
8 Blog every day for three months straight - COMPLETED 9/5/09 to 12/5/09
9 Learn a genre of dance I don't know already (The Shag or Clogging perhaps? LOL)
10 Read at least two books a month for six monthsMay 2009

Friends, Family, and Community
11 Help my family sell their house and relocate
12 Get in touch with and visit with a friend I haven't seen in years September 2008 - Jenni in Newport Beach California - she even got to come to my wedding
13 Visit friends in Santa Barbara and Cali
14 Host a rad neighborhood BBQ in our cul-de-sac
15 Host a holiday here at my place - Thanksgiving 2008 with my parents and Mikey's
16 Get my little sister to come visit me in Atlanta! - Feb/March 2009 for our Wedding Shower!
17 Consult and encourage someone through starting a total-money-makeover themselves
18 Keep a better prayer request / praise list and journal it for three months straight

Random Environments
19 Spend a day in bed for no reason
20 Stand in two states at the same time - COMPLETED 5/22/08 between Alabama and Florida on the way to Memorial Day Weekend
21 Work from a coffee-shop for a whole week
22 Wash my hair in the rain - May 2008. Brrr it was cold rain!
23 Be in a wedding instead of shooting it - My little sister's in Aug 2008 and Kimberly's in Nov 2008
24 Go an entire week with no email, text, internet or computer
25 House-sit and/or babysit for a week or weekend
26 Get a sweet hammock for under the porch and use it! - Bought a hammock, but it's not up yet!
27 Go somewhere public by myself and make new friends

Health, Fitness, and HABITS
28 Complete 20 sessions with personal trainer and practice what they teach!
29 Go to 15 dance classes in one month
30 Run 5k without stopping / walking
31 Take a level 4 class at Dance 101
32 Drink only water and wine for 1 month (mostly water!! LOL)
33 Go to bed by 11 PM on the weekdays for two weeks straight
34 Get up at 6 am for 6 days straight
35 Loose a few lbs to reach goal of 128
36 Prepare and eat five new healthy recipes
37 Learn to eat a vegetable I currently do not like
38 Eat a BIG breakfast, medium lunch, and small dinner for three weeks straight

Travel and Culture
39 Bellydance wearing shawl from Bahrain
40 Find a good Indian food restaurant in Atlanta area
41 Spend a night in a swanky hotel in NYC
42 Visit the southern part of Spain
43 Practice the tango in Argentina
44 Watch a "classic" in a theater or park
45 Go to Glacier National Park
46 Go swing dancing
47 See another show on Broadway
48 Go to a country I've never been to before - Australia and New Zealand in April 2009
49 Tour the California coast and the Wine Regions


The Most Important
50 Listen to the entire bible on CD
51 Memorize a verse from the bible every week for ten weeks
52 Journal more: every day for three months straight! - COMPLETED 8/05/08
53 Try for a week to live each day as if it were my last
54 Volunteer my photography services to my church and/or community in Atlanta
55 Round up and donate as much as possible from my basement and closets
56 Be a mentor to a female photographer or small business owner
57 Seek out and meet with a new mentor
58 Organize and/or participate in a retreat for my small group - 2008 at Kinz lake-house
59 Start a local entrepreneurs small group
60 Go through the Grace Ministries program for six weeks minimum - May 2008 thru March 2009. AWESOME!!!
61 Not buy anything new personally for 4 months (only used or borrowed besides food!)
62 Create an inspiration board and hang somewhere where I’ll see it often
63 Give an amount that makes me feel extremely uncomfortable
64 Write five letters of encouragement and thanks to people who have impacted my life in some way
65 In-depth study/reading of a book of the bible every month for a year


Art and Photography
66 Make a coffee table book out of my travel photography
67 Finish filling the frames in my house and have them all on the walls - COMPLETED 5/14/08
68 Take a self portrait once a month for a full year
69 Have a picture published on the cover of a magazine or in a book that's sold in major bookstores - Fall 2008
70 Enter a national photo competition
71 Sell 21 of my framed or canvas prints from Greece
72 Go on a photo-safari in Atlanta just for the fun of it

Fun, Activity, and Adventure
73 Go camping and/or hiking
74 Live a work day in someone else's shoes!
75 Drive a boat
76 Ride horses on the beach
77 80’s night dancing with the girls!! - COMPLETED 5/16/08
78 Ride a bike on the Silver Comet trail from the start into Alabama
79 Take a random road trip without planning ahead of time
80 Go on a beach weekend trip and stay in a house with 15 or more people - COMPLETED 5/24/08 in Seagrove, FL for Memorial Day Weekend
81 Have an OSP-S/MC reunion
82 Spend a whole weekday in an Irish/English Pub with a small group of friends talking
83 Participate in a sport that’s new or unusual for me
84 Create a scavenger hunt or adventure for someone

Business and Finance

85 Launch new biz website
86 Finally get Liana.TV redone/finished
87 Buy gold, rare coins, and/or stock as an investment
88 Complete my physical and virtual office organization: be Completely organized!! - 5/27/09 - new wallpaper to boot in the office! spent a whole day sorting out the desktop computer!
89 Start or help start a non-photo related business Ugly Cakes in Nov 2008
90 Pay off 40k on mortgage
91 Start a new program for photographers that makes it easier to learn about finance and business - Complete Business Makeover debuted in July 2008
92 Attend 5 chamber of commerce events in three months
93 Throw a rad launch-party for new photo biz
94 Have me and Mike shoot an average of three sessions per week for 4 weeks straight
95 Teach an advanced sales and marketing class
96 Teach two additional BBCs on the West Coast - Norcal, CA and Vancouver, WA in January 2009
97 Teach a BBC out of the country - Melbourne and Newcastle Australia in April 2009!
98 Complete my rainy-day savings fund
99 Get completely caught up on emails!!! - 5/25/09 - Lasted about 5 minutes!

Last But Not Least
100 Encourage and help three others to start a 101 in 1001
101 Blog about each one as it’s completed!


Wow that's a lot!! I'll be sure to come back here and mark these off as I go along and also look in the comments for suggestions and ideas if anyone has them. Now the hard part... picking where to start.... LOL.

Saturday, May 3, 2008

From the Kingdom of Bahrain

A little note from the post office sat amongst the piles and stacks of papers I still had to go through. The pile was spilling over now because I'd been gone out of the country and it held a weeks worth of bills, invitations, notices, checks, and lots and lots of credit card offers and solicitations to buy my next car at this dealership versus the other.

With my mom's help, the pile was purged of the junk and everything sorted. The little note from the post office announced that they had a package for me and I'd have to go looking for my main-branch to retrieve it. I wondered if they'd tried and delivered it later, but couldn't think of what it would be. So I went... and the lady was unsure if they still had it after a month... but there it was... from the Kingdom of Bahrain.... all the way here from the Middle East.

To my delight, it was from Dana who'd last year visited here to attend one of my BBC classes. She and Amber and I had some fun on the last day goofing around right before they left for the airport. Dana put on her latest tunes on her laptop and Amber and I followed the bellydance moves ... swaying and shaking and shimming as she directed.

What was hidden within the round box was an absolutely perfect, beautiful, delicate piece of fabric and emblems that made up a bellydance shawl in my favorite color. Of course it makes a fabulous song when you shimmy with it on. Perhaps it is time for me to start visiting the Bellydance classes at Dance 101 when I go....


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Thank you Dana for the most beautiful gift! It was such a fun surprise... and especially amazing that it's sent from so far away!! I'm sure it will bring me much amusement and fun :)

Thursday, May 1, 2008

Email Down: Please RESEND from Past 24 Hrs...

It's been a crazy, jam-packed week... we had a Business Boot Camp here the past few days... and it wasn't until today that I realized I hadn't gotten any emails since yesterday morning. Eeeek!! (That is something that NEVER happens... it's generally hundreds a day.)

Indeed something went wrong with the server again but after hours working with Support, they have my web sites and email up and running again.

If you sent an email and/or inquiry in the past 24 hours (and likely got a bounce-back message)... please resend now :)


Thanks for your patience with this!!

 

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