Week 5: Busy Bee

     This past week consisted of a full work load. On Monday, I made another concept board for my boss, so she could see the possible houses to choose from for an upcoming story. I also spent a great amount of time researching wallpapers. This was much harder than it sounds. I had to find a specific design, size, price range, and color that my boss had specified. It also couldn't come from a wholesale company, which made it more difficult. But I was able to come up with a few options for her to choose from. I also made another binder for her filled with "Kitchen Chronicles" articles from all of the issues. I know it sounds like I didn't do too much, but these tasks took up my entire day!

I just had to take a picture of this!

     On Tuesday, I spent some time on Spoonflower in the morning to research some patterns to be featured in an upcoming story. I love getting to look on that website, because there are so many unique patterns on the site and no two look the same. I also put pictures into the computer for future "Curb Appeal" stories. I once again made another binder for my boss. This one consisted of "Curb Appeal"stories from each issue. My last task of the day was to look at the pictures of the houses we found in New Jersey and make a list of things that caught my attention that they could point out when they write the story. I was excited to do this, because I can say that "I helped with that" when the story is finally featured in an issue.

     On Wednesday, I was asked to spend more time on the Spoonflower website. This time, instead of looking for patterns, I looked for wallpapers again. I also loaded more pictures onto our server. I also looked on Pinterest for some different things as well.

      On Thursday,  I added address, names, and contact information to pictures of the houses that were possibilities for "Curb Appeal" locations. This information is provided to us by the homeowners. When we went to their houses, we dropped off a packet which basically stated that if they would like their house to be considered for being featured in the magazine, to contact us.  I also had to type out the notes I had written earlier in the week for items that caught my eye on the houses. My boss was out for a photo shoot in Savannah, and since it's my hometown, she asked me to make dinner reservations for her, so I did that. Lastly, I went to a store called Halloween Adventure to buy some hats for an upcoming story. There were so many hats to choose from and I just wanted to try them all on. I somehow managed to stay focused though, and was able to find exactly what was needed.

My dock

     I flew home Thursday night and on Friday, went to the photo shoot in Savannah. It was really interesting seeing how everything was done and how the process works. Later in the day, I had the crew over on my dock for lunch. My boss let me have the afternoon off so that I could enjoy being home with my family. It was nice being home, even if it was only for two days.

     As far as our magazine goes, we don't sell products to the readers. However, we do provide the information of the company/manufacturer and price of the items featured in the magazine. In ever issue, we also have some "freebies" that are given to readers who enter their names into the sweepstakes for them. I have really been learning a great amount about how the magazine is put together and the time that goes into every page of every issue. My favorite thing so far was definitely the photo shoot. I really enjoy seeing the steps that go into the stories and being their and getting a hands-on experience has been wonderful. My favorite section of the magazine is "Don't Buy It, DIY It" because I love getting to see the cute things they make and get ideas for things to make for my apartment. I'm looking forward to next week because I get to go on a vacation for half of the week!

Example of how we show our readers where
to buy items used in the magazine