The Temperature Wars.

At our place located halfway down the main hall is a little square box that has great powers.   Powers strong enough to control my mood.  Powers strong enough to cause a small war to commence between my husband and I.  This little power box is the thermostat.

I've always had the curse of being hot-natured.  The one who begs for just one car air vent to blow my direction.  The one who searches for the nearest water fountain so I can splash some cold water on my face to cool down.  My argument against cold-natured people has and will always be: you can always put clothes ON, but when you are hot...you can only take so many clothes off.

The little cold-natured minions seem to haunt me wherever I go.  At my house growing up my dad used to tape "threatening" notes like "IF you touch this one more time you shall breath your last breath." But when you are the last person to go to sleep at night, you have the last touch on the thermostat. [cue evil laugh]  Message to the "cold hands warm heart" crowd: grab a blanket unless you want to see me running around like a loony in my skibbies.

The Tree.

If the heart is the root,

then actions are the branches

and words are the leaves.

One of my pet peeves has always been when people say "well, that's just the way I am" in regard to a negative quality they portray.  I think I feel that it's not a good enough excuse.  So usually the first thing I do is try to change it about them...or find a way to help them see what a problem it is.  When they don't care to change it, it drives me crazy and continues to gnaw at me. 

Then God told me something that completely contradicts what I've been doing all this time:  I dont have to love them FOR it, I have to love them in spite of it.  Perhaps the lesson through all this is to show me how to love those who make it hard.  If everyone morphed into the way I wanted them, it would be altered love.  I know there are many things God wishes I would change about my lifestyle and attitude, yet He loves me in spite of it.  And the irony is that my tendency to find flaws in others only reveals the very flaw in myself.

Our hearts are the center of who we are- but they are only revealed to others through actions & words.  That's why I have the compelling feeling that if I work on getting my heart matter strong and rooted, from it will bloom kind words, a gentle spirit, & the desire to extend a loving hand to those who need it.

*I took these shots to try to challenge perspective and think "outside the box".  This week I'll be out of town doing some [human] shoots and will be back to post photos.  Sorry for my absense, this poor blog is starving for words!

Injection of Inspiration

Blog world, i cannot tell a lie.  The past month I have been completely and utterly UNinspired.  I even started a painting and left it.  That never happens.  Usually the artists in me clicks on over into hyperfocus.  Growing up, I remember painting in our bathroom, I would crouch over paintings for hours upon end.  And yeah, the smells of turpentine & oils starts to make you feel a bit loopy.  Perhaps that had to do with the hyperfocus?  I digress.

I wouldn't say a sudden light has flipped on to make me suddenly inspired...but I can feel traces of the rays dancing into my heart.  They are creeping back in the crevices.  I welcome them freely.  Because a creative heart is a happy heart.  Life can so quickly become mundane if we aren't careful.  And I've been finding that it's vital to make sure and try to find more beauty than bitterness. 

On a podcast, I heard this analogy of Blue Ocean-Red Ocean ideas.  Red Ocean ideas are competitive, lots of sharks in the water.  Blue Ocean ideas are about putting yourself in a place where you can get out of the ordinary way of doing things.  A new, fresh, clean idea.  And it's interesting, because even though we are all basically working with similar key parts, what we produce can be so unique and relevant to who we are.

BOOKS::  I have a tendency to read sociology-type books and so it has been so nice to take a step back and read a couple of Rachael Hauck's fiction novels!  It had me laughing on one page and crying on the next.  The art of characters is a beautiful thing.  And authors truly have to possess a gift to be able to create likeable and relatable characters...ones that we feel connected to because we find small pieces of ourselves in them.

BRUNETTES::  Fascinating, alluring, exotic.  I have always secretly wanted to be a brunette.  I tried being one for a day & I'm not sure it was a good fit, but there may be a day when I try out some chestnut locks again.

MINERAL MAKEUP::  What an awesome invention!  I love The Perfect Face mineral makeup bc it has spf 30 and its light as a feather.  I'm happy to see cosmetic companies really working to try to use the earth's minerals and even adding ways to protect our skin.

MUSIC::  Some days my thoughts feel suspended mid-air and the right music can bring them right back down to earth.  Lately on that list has been Peter Bradley Adams.  And an owl on the album cover?  Please.  Sold!

ART::  Banksy is boss.  He is certainly part of the Blue Ocean group and I admire him for it.

What has been inspiring you?

In Front of the Lens...

...i become nervous.  Ok, sweaty even.  I pass no judgment when clients tell me how nervous they are and make sure I understand they're "not photogenic at all."  I get it.  Although most of them are incredibly photogenic once they relax and have fun and shake the gitters.  Unless you are Tyra Banks or Kate Moss, I would say most people feel the same unneasiness.  It's much easier to hide behind the lens.  We get controlling in front of the lens because we fear that the camera will translate a version of us that we didn't quite see in our minds (or the mirror). 

My dear friend & sista-from-another-motha, Ashley, came into town this last weekend and was wanting to get an updated picture of us since the last one was over 2 years ago.  When Matthew had us sitting on a high rock I felt we were doomed.  The infamous up-shot.  Ladies, you've got to know what I mean!  The poor guy.  It's no easy to feat to try to take a picture of women without them picking it apart.  However, we managed to dig through and find a decent one of both of us.  I'm also wearing my latest Etsy purchase, from Handmade Lovelies (who also owns Open Field Photography).  It's the perfect summer accessory & in yellow, my favorite color!

The Contagious Collector's Condition

It has happened.  I've been cursed with the triple C's.  The very thing I've always made fun of my brother for is the very thing I have began doing: collecting.  Growing up he went through pogs, paint guns, designer jeans, knives, beanie babies [as i'm certain he will hate me for releasing that] and so on.  I remember that one of his most offbeat collector's items was a Michael Jordan jersey that he proceeded to wear for 45 days in a row.  Gross. 

Yet I've found that if I find one lipstick I like, I usually want to stick on the bandwagon and collect all of them.  And scrapbooking papers and magazines, oh don't even get me started.  I always feel sorry for people who have to help me move from one house to the next, because I sit on the floor for hours, carefully sorting through my stuff.  I'm like a rat with a good piece of cheese.  Except my cheese is in the form of old magazines and notes I've collected.  Maybe some more brutal ways of putting it would be a hoarder or perhaps just green with greed? But for the sake of needing to put it in a small pretty box, we will call it Collector's Condition.  Anyone got a cure?