I don’t know if it’s the fresh warm air, all the sunshine, or the extra hour of beautiful light……but I feel happy. I feel like singing out loud, spinning till I”m dizzy, and jumping till my legs won’t let me anymore. I feel grateful for the little gifts I get to receive on a daily [...]
Sometimes I think oh how I just need to get through this week!! My schedule varies, and many times I find myself working through most weekends, however, I think Friday just represents something – A relaxed state of mind. It’s a beautiful thing. Hope this dreary Friday has you feeling okay, I’ve had to hit my restart quite a few extra times today…but that’s okay, it’s all good. I am the feature over at Mortal Muses this weekend, if you are interested in reading click the link below please. Thanks!! It’s a musing about Water, and the healing power of water in our lives.
Have a Lovely Weekend Friends.
xoxo
My family and I had a great time this weekend in the city, at the big Philly Flickr meet up. 60+ photographers met to make friends, swap stories, and shoot it out of course. It was cool to be surrounded by folks who all had the same passion- all ages, all walks of life, all with different gear- but each and every one just loved doing what they do. Taking pictures. It was so awesome to meet so many new friends . Thanks!!
Here are some of my favorite shots of the day.Happy Tuesday.
Here in my hands I hold a bath bomb from Lush. It’s called the Phoenix Rising, and it smells of cinnamon, and spices and other delicious lovely things. It costs 6.95 and tonight after I put my kids in bed I will have a soak. A loooooong soak….and I will not regret it for a moment. I almost didn’t buy it, but I decided to treat me. Because sometimes we need a treat. Whether it’s a Bath Bomb, or a hairband, or a bottle of wine, or something else we don’t need. ( Well maybe the wine we need.) For an hour ( getting my money’s worth) I will unplug, and bliss out as the cinnamon and gold dust work their magic to help me relax. I hope you all take some time to do it too!! As working gals and moms we all need a break, a treat, a little token that says , ” you rock, and you deserve this.”
Take the time to care for you too.
So one thing that I’m working on this year along with many other things is acceptance that a bad day can be turned around. How many nights I’ve laid my head on my pillow and said “Wow, what a bad day.” Roll over, go to sleep, tomorrow is another day. So many nights. Now to be fair, some of those days…..legitimately bad. No amount of positivity would turn those days around. But some days, the days when little things go wrong, I fly off the handle for a moment, I make a bad decision, why can’t they be turned around? Why can’t I press the Restart Button on my day ? Start from that moment again? And why can’t I do it again later that day? Or even again?Why should I let my whole day be ruined because of one moment?
So I like to say it out loud. Very Loud sometimes.
RESTART!!!
I imagine a big red button. ( Ya know like those staples easy buttons.) And I hit it. And if things don’t resolve, I do it again. Because why not? Shouldn’t we try to make our days go the best they possibly can? Last week I went in to full on panic mode when I had a morning that started off wrong. I had to head to work and I did not want to take my bad morning with me. I got in my car, and yelled RESTART!! as loud as I could. By the time I got to work, the day was new. And the rest of my day was great. I know there will be days when I will absolutely just look forward to the next day more. It happens. But visualizing a restart has helped me. It works.
There is nothing wrong if you have to restart. It’s acknowledging the bad , and saying ” Hit the road.” “I’m not gonna let you get to me”. RESTART.
Try it. Kick that bad day to the curb.
Have an awesome rest of your day.
xo
Are you doing what you love, even it’s only for a few short minutes every day? Per week? Per month?
I know what makes me happy. That’s when I have my camera in my hands. The feel of it, the weight of it , it’s cathartic for me. I don’t even have to snap a picture yet, to feel the wave of happiness begin to wash over me. When I look through the viewfinder, it’s therapy. I love the process of focusing, composing, finding light. When I go a few days without my camera therapy, I get a little grumpy. And I know that it’s what I need. Me and my camera need a few minutes together. I respect this need of mine, I take the time to practice what it is that I love. How about you? What do you love? Maybe it’s a curl up with a great book, or a run, or cooking a new dish. Do you take the time to do what you love? I have the lovely advantage of getting to do what I love for work, but I make sure that I pick up the camera just for me, a few times a week. It’s important to me, and it’s what I adore.
I hope you all get to do what you love this weekend.What’s everyone up to?
Have a very happy Friday, and gorgeous weekend. xo
Oh, and I love this quote!!! Work at what you love!!!
“Do what you love. Know your own bone; gnaw at it, bury it, unearth it, and gnaw at it still.”
Henry David Thoreau
The stack on my desk is high. Bills. Work. Applications for various things. I need a shower. My child is calling my name. Phone is ringing.
Feeling rather busy at the moment.
However. I am grateful for this busy.
I am grateful for my clients. I’m busier this year this month than last year this month.
I am grateful for my kids, and their ever growing list of wants and needs. It shows they are growing and changing , and becoming their own self. And truly, I always always hope they need me for something.
I’ve been busy at the Gym working hard to get stronger and healthier which makes me sweaty, hence why I”m grateful for the shower I need.
I’m not so grateful for the bills, but I’m working hard to pay them, so that’s got to count for something.
A friend of mine once posted a photo of her Laundry, and said she was so grateful for her pile of laundry because it meant she had beautiful family to do laundry for.
It’s so easy to look at the negative side of chores and work, but there is always a happy spin on all that work.
What are you grateful for this Tuesday?
This morning I made pancakes for the girls, and with a sinkful of dishes to do, I couldn’t find a glass to put her milk in. But I did have…..
A jelly jar. Here’s to cute jelly jars when you can’t find a glass….my heart is feeling thankful.
Happy Tuesday!!
I’m very excited to share someone very wonderful with all of you today. Her name is Angela Hendrix- Petry, and I was first introduced to her close to two years ago via Flickr. I added her as a contact because I admired her photography. Her light filled images always had a way of cheering me on the dullest of days. We began commenting on each other’s photos, and I would say we became fast Flickr friends. The more I got to know her, I fell in love with more than her photographs. I fell in love with her attitude, her positive outlook on life. She always has a way of making the most simple of things, beautiful. We’ve never met face to face, but she is a close friend. I know that the day we do meet, there will be tears and lots and lots of hugs. She has been a motivational person in my life, and I am so happy to share a part of her with you. She happily answered some questions for me this week, and sent over some of her gorgeous photos.
Interview and photos courtesy of Angela. <3
Me- Hi Angela!! Thank you so much for doing this, I am so happy to have you as a the first inspiring woman here on my blog. Thank you for your continuing inspiration through your words and photos.Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?
Angela:
I am a woman who lives to savor the
beauty in the ordinary. I spent the 1st five years of my childhood
living in the country with my grandparents who lived so simply, I
spent whole days just wandering outside among the trees and the birds
in the sunlight, and was shaped by those early experiences in a very
profound way…I watch and listen closely, always drinking in my
surroundings, always ready to notice the beauty often overlooked by
others. Nowadays, as a mama to four (!) it’s rare to have a day when
I’m not pulled in many directions (usually all at once!), but my
heart’s compass is still set to seek comfort in moments of unhurried
grace. Looking through the lens of my camera for the divine in the
mundane has become a tool to help bring me deeper into connection with
the child I was, and the woman/mother that I long to be.
Me: Have you always been an artist?
Angela:
Yes. I have always been an artist,
but it took seeing myself through the lens of photography to
acknowledge that and to truly feel it…I’ve always written in journals,
painted, collaged, etc. I have always lived to create beauty, to
express emotions, to tell a story, and my camera has helped me to find
a way to bring the artist out of the shadows, and into the light. I
think we all have a whole heck of a lot of art inside us, just waiting
to be brought to the surface and shared…
Me: Tell us about your photography.
Angela:
I am in love with the way photography
has gifted my life with a way to express the deep feelings I feel, the
beauty I bear witness too, the divinity I find in light, the emotion
in shadow…the way it helps me to focus my attention on what is right
in front of me, begging for notice. The morning light on my son’s
bedhead, the tenderness in a handful of bird feathers, utter
awesomeness in the ordinary. I have never taken a photography course,
I can barely find my way around LR, I shoot by feel, I edit by
instinct. I think in a lot of ways this is one of my greatest assets.
I have no photography rules to crowd out my vision; I bring beginner’s
mind and my own intuition to every single image I capture.
Me: When did you pick up your camera and know it was love?
Angela:
I was gifted my
first camera after a rough few years, years in which my family and I
were struggling with letting go of some big dreams… My husband gave me
a camera for Christmas two years ago, and it quickly became a healing
therapy for me to seek out moments of stillness and grace in our day
to day lives, it quickly became apparent to me how much capturing
these moments fed my gratitude, and nourished my creative spirit. It’s
really been love at first click!
Me: What Inspires you?
Angela:
Light! Sunlight and the inner light inside of us
all… I am inspired by so many, and so much, but light is my muse…
Me: I think one of the keys to enjoying life to the full is savoring the
simple things. Your photos speak volumes on the subject, and your name
even on Flickr is Journeys with a simple girl.
Tell me a little bit about the name, and as a mom how are you instilling
this simple living in your children? I find it so hard in a world
that’s moving at a breakneck pace.
Angela:
I am a simple girl at heart. I am so easily overwhelmed with options,
choices, technology, and constant chatter. My photography is my life
raft through this world of too much and too many. There is a beautiful
synergy; I take photos of what I seek and then I share them, and often
times in the sharing the images gift others the comfort I long for
from them…it’s a really beautiful thing!
It’s a struggle for me to keep things simple with four children
ranging in age from almost sixteen to five! It’s important to me for
us all to have meals together, because I feel sitting around the table
at the end of the day helps us to remember where we come from and to
whom we belong, and I think it’s so good to feel held by your family
in this world of so much spinning. I also try really hard to encourage
my kiddos to create with their own two hands; whether that’s baking
from scratch, drawing with markers and paper, building things from
salvaged wood, or playing music. I think creating is a good way to
learn about yourself, and it’s so good to know your own heart when
faced with so much stimulation from the outside world. I also try to
get us all out into nature as often as possible; the natural world is
a great remedy for the over scheduled blues.
Me: You and the sun have a very special relationship. Your photos capturing the suns rays take my breath away. They amaze me every time. Tell me a little bit about your bond.
Angela:
My love affair with the sun started at a very young age. I can
remember being mesmerized by sunlight filtered through green leaves
when I was just a little girl, being moved to tears by winter sunsets
when I was in elementary school, and I remember laying out in the sun
on a silver reflective blanket in my teens trying to get a really dark
tan (seriously, who ever thought that was a good idea?!) and feeling
the deepest peace I’d ever known. I guess in a way I am always trying
to express the awe and wonder I feel about the sun’s amazingness
through my light drenched images.
Me: Do rainy days make you sad?
Angela: I love a good rainy day at home when the
tea kettle is whistling and there is a good book calling my name…rainy
days do hold their own charm, but I do feel my best on the days when
the light is sweet.
Me: I started this blog, to help me and others, women especially, be more
happy with themselves.
We are all deserving of that love.
How do you practice self-love in your life?
Angela: I have learned that when
my well is dry, the giving that is required of me in my family and
professional life leaves me feeling spent and resentful, which is not
how I want to live. I am so touched by you starting this blog with the
intention of encouraging yourself and others to take good care, and to
feel more contentment. Self-love is ever evolving for me. One day it
might mean gifting myself the time to bake bread on a day when my
schedule feels too full, just because I need to have the sensual
experience of kneading the dough to bring me back to center. Another
day it might mean turning off the computer and putting myself to bed
early when sleep is what I need to feel balanced. Self-care is about
listening to what my heart and body need, and doing my best to meet
those needs. I always feel better when I take the time to write out my
feelings in my journal, walk in the woods, or do some simple yoga
stretches. Listening to music is also restorative for me.
Me: Do you have any special goals you are working towards this year?
Angela: I am
on a journey of reclamation and integration. I have been in full on
mama mode for the better part of a decade and a half, my kiddos are
getting bigger, still needing me, but needing me in different ways…I
feel it’s time for me to work on areas of my life that have been
neglected and left dormant since becoming a mom. I really want to feel
whole, and completely and utterly at home in my life.
Me: And last but not least, have you chosen a word to inspire you as you go through 2012?
Angela; Yes, my
word for 2012 is Become. I love so much about the possibilities this
word offers…I want to become the woman I am meant to be…
I was so inspired by this, and I hope you were too. Life is so incredibly busy, there is so much going on at all times. But take a moment.
STOP.
Breathe in the air. Look around.Listen Feel. So many little moments are happening all the time.
Take the time to enjoy them.
Find your inspiration-
And Shine.
This one is dedicated to Angela. Thank you.
I just had to share this, the power of a single word. This is a collection of images from women from all over ,setting their intentions, and finding their words to guide them through the year.
So beautiful, thank you Chris Sneddon for putting this together, and thank you to Shutter Sisters for the prompt this year.
xo
Hope this inspires you like it did me!!
“Perhaps you can feel if you can’t hear,” was her fancy. “Perhaps kind thoughts reach people somehow, even through windows and doors and walls. Perhaps you feel a little warm and comforted, and don’t know why, when I am standing here in the cold and hoping you will get well and happy again.”
― Frances Hodgson Burnett, A Little Princess
Wishing you , sending you,warm and happy thoughts on this Tuesday morning.
xoxo
