L'Shana Tova! Tonight is the Jewish New Year -- and I was invited by a dear friend and fellow photographer to celebrate with his family. I met Bill Aron about 2 years ago and have had the opportunity to assist him and become his friend. He is an amazing photographer with several books to his credit. My favorite one is called Shalom Y'all and is about Jews in the South. His pictures are astounding. Wow. Tracy and I have both had the opportunity to work with him and are waiting anxiously for his newest book to come out. We were invited to work with him while he documented 100 holocaust survivors here in Los Angeles. It was an amazing experience for us both, hearing the stories and meeting the surviors.

Life is funny. I was introduced to Bill by an old boyfriend's mother. And I remember at the time thinking -- I can't imagine anything worse than having dinner with a "really famous" photographer and having someone say -- Oh -- by the way, Keats is a photographer too. (Somebody shoot me now!) Well, that's pretty much exactly how it happened... and despite my red face, I'm so grateful that it did -- Bill and I have been friends ever since.

Tonight was warm and wonderful and about family, and faith and sharing and it felt so special to be included.

I've been taking a series of really cool classes about UNDERSTANDING MEN... (Not just because I'm single either - but because they represent over 1/2 the population:) They are my dad, my guy friends, my exes, my neighbors, my bosses etc - so frankly I was curious. My friend Marisa turned me on to this series and it has been really life changing. One of my favorite revelations was earned in the first 5 minutes of the first class -- After a bit of discussion it was revealed to me that just like most women, I do actually view MEN as if they were "hairy mis-behaving women" -- which as you can imagine is the root of most of my misconceptions, hurt feelings and insatiable desire to make them behave ... you know... the way "the ideal woman" would.

I have learned so much and gained so much respect for the men in my life from taking these classes. And already this new perspective has helped me see past relationships in a totally new and more empowering light. Wow -- it's amazing what "new" information can add to the scale of possiblities.

I'll post more on this later -- but for now... remember the simple concept -- men are NOT just hairy-mis-behaving women -- and -- begin to be very curious about this concept of "THE IDEAL WOMAN" -- these two ideas alone could shed light on every person on the planet. WOW! We are really awesome, well designed and meant to complement each other. It's amazing. Let me say it again... amazing.

Trade Shows -

What a ton of work! - but also...what a great way to meet new friends.

Pictage's Partnercon just wrapped up tonight and thankfully, I had a tremenduous team of people to help me for the past 2 days. Even though we didn't get enough sleep and were on our feet all day, we really did have a great time and do a great job selling GARYFONG.COM.

Today is my one year anniversary with my new job and it's been a wild year. Almost everyone I've met this year at work has been new and I've had so many NEW experiences with these people that it's been an amazing learning experience for me both personally and professionally. It's like that old song -- make new friends, but keep the old - one is silver and the other gold. I am incredibly grateful for the staying power of my gold friends. Hard to imagine where I'd be without them.