I’m making it a really easy one to win, since it’s my first: all you need to do is subscribe to Perfectly Natural Photography’s blog feed.

You can choose how you want to subscribe, too. I’ve made it easy for you to subscribe to blog updates by email… all you have to do is put your email address in the subscription box (fourth one down on the right), and click “subscribe”.

You can also use a feed reader to subscribe (I use Google’s myself).

After you subscribe to the feed, or if you already do so, leave a comment at the end of this post.

You can get extra entries, too! Tell your friend’s who subscribe to leave your name as a referral (in their comment) and you get another chance to win.

The deadline is October 12th, 2008.  I will use a random number generator to choose the winner.

But what will we win?, you wonder.

The winner will receive a Super Mini Session:

• one person (not limited to children)
• 30 minutes
• on location
• 3-5 portraits
• digital negatives on a CD, with a print release

This contest is open to anyone in Fort Collins and surrounding areas who is subscribed to our feed by October 12th, 2008. If you’ve already subscribed before this contest began, you are still eligible; just make sure you to leave a comment so you can be entered.

This contest is fast and free to enter, good luck!

If the winner is outside of Fort Collins, they must be willing to come to Fort Collins for their session. You must  still be subscribed by the deadline in order to win.

So what are you waiting for? Get subscribing!

Use the form on the contact page to schedule your session or to get more information.

I went to my host’s website to see if something I will need soon is available with my plan, and I saw some new information on their site: they’ve gone green!

This is good news, because I have been considering switching hosts so that I could have one that is in line with my ideals. The only thing that had kept me from doing so was that the companies I had seen so far didn’t offer everything I needed.

And now I don’t have to switch!

I was disappointed about one thing that HostGator is doing, though.

I saw that the prices had dropped, and as I know my payment is due in a few days, I contacted them to see if my bill would reflect the drop.

The customer service representative, Andrew, very kindly told me that the price I saw on the site was only available if I paid for 3 years at a time. So the price hadn’t changed.

I told him that I felt that this was a bit deceptive, and had I been a new customer and seen their trick, I would have passed on signing up with them.

They’ve been a perfectly wonderful and forgiving company (I’ve had to pay late a few times ) that I’ve used for years, so I hope that they change this soon!

Use the form on the contact page to schedule your session or to get more information.

The process of using baking soda and apple cider vinegar (ACV) to clean and condition my hair has been largely successful, and worked well for me right from the beginning.

I’ve had to make changes to my system (everybody has their own) several times over the years, and usually have to make it slightly different in the winter to accomodate for climate changes.

I’ve been pretty “pure” in my use of the system because of how sensitive my scalp is to product; I haven’t used anything for styling my hair all these years (er, except once which I’ll tell you about in a minute).

Not that I’ve had much interest in doing so.

However, about 6 months ago I realized that I actually have wavy hair (very soft waves), and I worked to enhance them. I started adding a coconut oil conditioner after washing (the ACV conditions my scalp, but doesn’t condition my hair as much as it needs in this dry climate).

That’s been great for conditioning, but not really for holding my waves in.

After a recent haircut at Trios, my favorite salon, I found myself wanting more body in my hair as well, and realized I need to add “product” to my hair to get the look I wanted.

No way was I letting store-bought product touch my head! I’d made the mistake of letting a stylist add a pomade to my hair (not touching my scalp) after being no-poo for a year and it made my scalp itch like crazy for days! And that was a brand that is considered “natural” and uses mostly plant-based ingredients.

A quick search on the ‘net (I use Eco-Search, powered by Google) and I found a couple basic recipes. I could either use gelatin (think Jello without the color, flavor and sugar) or flax seeds.

The flax seed recipe resonated with me, so I bought a bag from a local health food store. I love how easy it was to make and just had to share it with all of you who are naturally-inclined.

From Care2, in an article by Annie B. Bond

Flax seed gel can be used successfully to help set hair.

¾ cup water
1 tablespoon flax seed

Combine the water and flax seeds in a small pan, and bring to a boil. Simmer until the mixture is gelatinous (about 10 to 15 minutes). Strain out as many seeds as you can. Dip a comb into the gel, and comb through the hair before setting with curlers or pins.

I’ve made a few changes to the recipe:

• I added two drops of grapefruit seed extract (GSE), as a preservative, because I wanted to store this in my bathroom instead of the refrigerator, and because I use this only twice a week
• I added some essential oils for scent, including rosemary which has beneficial properties for hair
• I pour some into my hand instead of dipping in my comb. It stays together as a blob and is much like squeezing off a bit of egg white (in fact, the gel on its own can be used as a substitute for egg white in some recipes!)

I made my batch about a month ago and have used half (I have short hair, mind you). I’m actually looking forward to making more, but using too much has the same effect as using too much regular hair gel.

On a related note, I’ll be making up a huge batch around Halloween! Maybe even before.

Use the form on the contact page to schedule your session or to get more information.

My friend, and hopefully soon-to-be colleague (we’re dreaming up ways to work together), Shawn Walter, designed these for me.

She is very easy to work with, gave me exactly what I wanted and put a spin on the design I hadn’t anticipated, but which I love… the texture in the color. I highly recommend her for this kind of work for people who either can’t - or don’t want to - take the time to do it themselves; it is WAY worth the money.

My cards have an extra functionality, besides just giving prospective clients my contact information… there’s a back side to them.

I can never remember “The Dirty Dozen” when I’m shopping for produce, and always wanted to have a small card kept in my wallet to which I could refer.

Now I’ve got it, and I’m sharing!! Until you get one in your wallet, you can print out the Environmental Working Group’s wallet guide. (Darn, I just found that the order of my list is not in order of importance. Ah well… it’ll behoove me to hand out all 500 cards super fast so that I can get more printed. )

Speaking of getting business cards printed, I’m excited to tell you about where I got my cards printed!

I found Greener Printer after doing an online search for “green business cards”. It is extremely important to run my business as “green” (eco-friendly for those of you who are unfamiliar with the term… are there any of you out there? ) as possible; it’s how I live my life because doing what’s best for our Earth is important to me.

Sometimes I have to choose the not-so-green choice because of personal finances. But I had made the decision that I would do what is necessary to be green in my business practices, and wait until I had enough money for each thing as necessary.

Choosing to have my cards printed at Greener Printer cost me at least twice as much as getting them printed elsewhere, but it was an expenditure I truly enjoyed!

Besides being made from 100% recycled materials, they are 50% post-consumer waste and use soy inks. The company is green certified and 100% wind-powered. And the icing on the cake is that their shipping is certified carbon-free!

How could somebody not feel wonderful ordering business supplies from them? I only wish that one of their “recycled content taglines” would’ve worked with my design, so that everybody who holds one of my cards knows, because these cards are such a super quality that nobody would ever guess.

What do you think of my cards? Do you think I’m nuts to have The Dirty Dozen printed on the back?

You probably won’t have to ask me to give you a card when I see you, but do let me know if you’d like an extra to give an organically-minded friend.

Use the form on the contact page to schedule your session or to get more information.