2013 Calendars

I was joking with a friend the other day that every time I do a project it turns into a  project. A doosy. A handful of complications and sleepless nights. And my goal with making a 2013 calendar was to avoid that. To avoid it turning into a typical "Hailey project." But of course what happened was all of the above and none of the latter.

I've spent the last several weeks toiling away like an elf in Santa's workshop to create a product I was happy with. I couldn't find the displays I wanted so of course I made my own. I didn't think sanding the wood was enough, so I put on cheesy Christmas movies and smoothed out every edge with natural beeswax. And even though last year's calendars were beautiful, I wanted this year's to be even better, so I researched eco friendly printing and a thicker, higher quality paper. The moral of this story is that sometimes it's exhausting to be a perfectionist, and sometimes it can be one of my greatest qualities. It is, after all, what drove me to create these:

This year's calendar is sold with a handmade birch wood "clipboard" and twelve individual pages for a year's worth of imagery by yours truly. When the month is over, clip the dates away and your left with a mini print. Shipping is included and can be shipped anywhere in the United States. Please place orders before December 18th to ensure arrival by Christmas Day. Orders made in Durango can be taken by phone, email, website, or Facebook. All other orders can be made

HERE.

wood displays: 6"x9"

calendar pages: 5"x8"

Website: www.haileyking.com

Email:  haileykingphotography@gmail.com

Facebook: HERE.

something new.

A year ago this month my dog, Daphnie, went through surgery to remove a few cancerous growths on her skin. We were in Florida preparing to get on the road to have Christmas in Georgia, New Years in Oklahoma, and a fresh start at living again in Colorado. Because the friends we had been house sitting for had returned home, we needed a place to stay while she recovered so that the stitches could be removed prior to getting on the open road and driving across the country. Luckily, a friend of a friend of a friend knew a sweet old woman who loved dogs and had an empty beach house apartment for rent. For a small penny Daphnie and I spent that week healing wounds, taking morning and evening walks on the beach, scouring the internet for jobs and places to live in Colorado, shipping and selling calendars, finishing up photo work, packing my tiny car, and mentally preparing for the weeks and months ahead. But this blog post isn't really about that stressful week and the nostalgia I've had lately for how well I handled it. It's about Daphnie, and how one year later she amazes and inspires me to keep pushing.

One of my best friends recently took care of her while I was on the east coast shooting a wedding. On my first day gone I called to check in and what I heard on the other end of the line took me by surprise, "Yeah, Daphnie's great! I took her on a run today with my dog. She loved it." Being the mom that I am, I was at first concerned. After all she is technically 91 years old now with a bad back and skin cancer. I have never gone on a run with my dog. I've chased her on trails and at the dog park, but never a strap-on-your-running-shoes-and-excersize type of run. So this week we decided to try something new. Since my Achilles tendon has finally healed from a three month long injury I'd been anxious to start running again. Knowing that I'd be starting small, I assumed she could handle it. We've gone three times this week and much to my surprise she outruns me every time. When I can tell she's tired and I stop she's the one who keeps pulling, pushing me to keep going. When we're running and her ears and tongue flap goofy-like in the wind I can see the life in her step, the smile in her eyes, and I get flash backs of her one year ago moping around in her E-Collar on the deck of a beach house in Florida. It's at these moments that I hope at 91, I am as full of life as Daphnie.