Internet Botox

It was difficult to gauge his reaction.

Vlad woke up this morning to encounter the second snowstorm of his young life.

Almost a full foot fell while we slept curled up together. 

Delighted as he was by the snowfall 3 weeks ago, today his look seems to convey something along the lines of….

“Are you kidding me?”

It’s also possible that at 6 am Vlad felt he was being hounded by the paparazzi.

Indeed, he may just have simply become weary of being photographed. 

You see, we began the week on Monday with our first official photoshoot together.

This shoot was inspired via a web guy I hired to solve a persistent and mysterious tech glitchearlier in the winter.

The web guy then proposed a redesign of my website I really liked but it was immediately obvious from the specs he sent that something needed to shift on my end.

Specifically, many of the pages he redesigned still featured Belle.

He’d even uncovered some new images of her I wasn’t using that he really liked.

It was beautiful and eerie and sad but I had to temporarily veto his plans.

In the past year since her transition, I’ve not revised current pages with Belle’s picture on them and have generally felt OK about that.

Yet launching a refreshed site with stagnant images felt more than a little off.

In other words, it was time.

I’ve shared this story before but it’s a favorite, probably because it’s funny and true.

Several years ago in LA, walking with Belle outside the Pacific Design Center, we stumbled upon an adorable Siberian Husky puppy.

He was super-friendly and strikingly beautiful with ice-blue eyes.

Belle took an immediate dog shine to him.

It actually took me more than a few minutes to even notice his owner.

When I looked away from the husky it was rather startling.

The cute puppy’s owner turned out to be a pretty famous French TV and film star.

And it’s very clear that probably before crate-training or housebreaking, he taught his dog how to take a great picture.

“Here, I show you…look at the camera just like this.”

Side Note: that actor is now starring on France’s longest running soap opera, “Plus Belle La Vie.” 

I love that “Belle” is part of the show’s title.

And in English, it translates to “The good life” or “This is the life.”

Indeed, with dogs like these, maybe it is.

Rather than just injecting a little botox into my website, I’ve decided to roll up my sleeves and refocus.

I’m asking myself what really needs to be there…what’s out of date, or worse, distracting, and maybe even irrelevant?

According to Hook Point, the average person is exposed to between 4,000 and 10,000 ads a day.

That means we have less than 3 seconds to capture someone’s attention.

Unfortunately, the reason people (like me) often become writers and teachers is because we have A LOT we want to communicate.

Basically, Introverts Desperate to Chat.

Anyway, one of my favorite yoga teachers ALWAYS went over the allotted time for class.

This is not because she was unfocused and without a plan.

Instead, it was because she was so inspired to be generous, becausethere was just SO MUCH she wanted and needed to share.

That was who she was at her best.

That’s why I kept showing up for what she had to offer.

And it was amazing.

Conversely, there is something very helpful about crafting an elevator pitch.

It necessary to be able to summarize what you’re doing without launching into an endless monologue.

As a branding expert once told me, you’ve got to think of these marketing moments as early conversations on a first date.

You’re just trying to figure out if you even like each other.

If you do, then the full bio-pic can come later.

Editing is a fine and brutal art, perhaps most especially when it comes to self-presentation.

Please Note: website revamp aside, I’m not lacking Belle imagery in my day-to-day life.

In my office I have an amazing oil painting of her that a generous friend commissioned from a prominent animal portrait artist.

It’s incredibly accomplished and beautiful and completely captures her spirit.

I also have a sketch from a Williamsburg hipster artist and a jubilant painting by a children’s book illustrator I collaborated with once.

Finally, I have five watercolors from an incredibly talented friend Jennifer Grims that are pictures of Belle and the artist’s cat Whale.

They were given over several years to commemorate various holidays.

Belle and Whale have both gone to their heavenly rewards.

I find it particularly charming that––unlike in these watercolors––Belle and Whale never actually met in real life.

Perhaps, however, now they have.

Unlike the French TV star, I have already crate-trained and house-broken Vlad, and when it came time for his photoshoot he turned out to be a natural.

In fact, let’s be honest, he was pretty much born camera-ready.

I’m very excited about the images we got with my photographer friend Karen.

The new site will be launched in a week or two and I can’t wait to share.

More than just a marketing tool, for me this represents a new era, almost a redefinition of self.

I love the Tom Waits song, but it’s much more than a “New Coat of Paint.”

Sometimes a photoshoot is a true beginning.

Stay tuned…More will be revealed…

Namaste for Now,