Follow Your Bliss

I just had an epiphany of sorts. You know that saying, "Follow your bliss"? Well, I was reading an interview over at Shutter Sisters.com and the following quote from Joseph Campbell was mentioned:

If you follow your bliss, you put yourself on a kind of track that has been there all the while, waiting for you, and the life that you ought to be living is the one you are living. Wherever you are -- if you are following your bliss, you are enjoying that refreshment, that life within you, all the time.

I looked up Joseph Campbell, to find the whole quote and that's when I found the Joseph Campbell Foundation. Joseph Campbell sounds fascinating. Bill Moyers did a series of interviews with him and here's a short excerpt:

BILL MOYERS: Do you ever have the sense of... being helped by hidden hands?

JOSEPH CAMPBELL: All the time. It is miraculous. I even have a superstition that has grown on me as a result of invisible hands coming all the time - namely, that if you do follow your bliss you put yourself on a kind of track that has been there all the while, waiting for you, and the life that you ought to be living is the one you are living. When you can see that, you begin to meet people who are in your field of bliss, and they open doors to you. I say, follow your bliss and don't be afraid, and doors will open where you didn't know they were going to be.

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Holy cow!! The most blissful moments of my life have to do with my camera. I have felt so much fear and doubt in terms of what my limitations are - a general lack of talent and definitely knowledge (I know basically nothing), but I get so much joy from working with the camera and tinkering with the photos. I need to embrace the fear, just jump on in and get messy with it. This is my bliss. And heck yeah, I'm going to follow it.

It's Easier When the Kids Sleep In

I'm so drowsy today. I think I'm on a happiness hangover from all that Up, Up, Up, I was experiencing yesterday. I'm not complaining, I love a Good Day.

I've been working on getting photos up at my photography website and the Facebook page for the business. It takes awhile, because I have to go between two computers. If I bump my old computer, it goes all wonky, because a driver is broken. I sure wish I could get that system fixed at some point. I love that machine. My old computer holds almost 4 years of photos and there are a TON of them. I'd like to find some unedited versions of some of my favorites so that when I get my photoshop, I can edit them properly. For example, I always kind of liked this one.

And this one.  Neither look anything like the jpg that I started with.

Oh! Sounds like my kids are finally waking up. They've slept until after 11am, so I've got all my work done for the day. Max is home from Summer school today with the barfs. Poor kid.

I wish you a wonderful day!! 

Wanna Join My Group?

I'm watching The Bachelorette with my sister, Robin.  We watch and text. Some of the boys on the show are charming and cute, while others are rather odd and awkward. I worry that they don't really screen them well. One is bordering on stalker tonight. Is it an act?  Has he never dated a girl before?  Doesn't he recognize the look of discomfort on her face? 

I would never ever be on a reality show. I'm a big doof. People would sit at home and critique my awkwardness, while at home my kids would die of embarrassment, the kids at school never letting them hear the end of how dorky their mom is. Tonight Sarah asked if I'd like to go on the show. I said, "Oh, no. I would never want to be away from you kids." She said, "Oh well he'd probably send you home right away."  Ha! Funny kid.

I started a Facebook group for my photography business. If you'd like to check it out, it's here. 

I'm In Charge Here

I woke up feeling sort of blue this morning. Ugh. Enough of that.

I realize that my mood, my point of view, I'm in charge of it. If I don't want to feel sad, it's up to me to get my shit together and turn myself around.  It's that simple. Right?  Okay, not simple, but do-able.

I need to get my mind back to where I was a few years ago.  I had a good life and I was happy.  I was focused on my kids and my home. I was organized and on track. Then, I got a peek at something else and I went sort of nuts.

It's okay to dream, it's okay to work toward a goal, but it's also important to find peace and some sense of satisfaction in where you are.

It's the Mary Englebreit idea of  Bloom Where You Are Planted.

Here's how I plan to get back on track...

*Lay off the dating for awhile. Just put it on the shelf. If someone wonderful drops into my lap, okay, I'll go for it, but I'm not seeking it out for now.

*Pare down some of my writing projects. I'm going to focus on a few key blogs and step away from the rest. I've been freaking out about money since the end of Splendicity. It's been fairly terrifying. Time to stop scrambling. I will focus on marketing what I enjoy most.

*I'm going to get back to work on my book.

*I'm going to spend more time with my camera in my hand.

*I'm going to stop thinking about moving and instead make the place where I live, my home for 6 years now, feel like the place where I want to stay.

Okay, there are my goals. Do-able. All of them.  Happy days, here I come!!   Happy Mother's Day to you, if you are a mom. :)

My Project

Max and I are still sick, so we missed my nephew's 2nd birthday. I am so sad about it. Sarah got to go with her Grandma and I took the picture (above) of her goodie sack stuff. I needed something to use for my 365 Project photo and I liked all the bright colors and the texture of the pink ball.

I'm really interested in the photos that are being posted to the project. Many of them seem family in theme. I see a lot of babies, kitties, meals, and coffee breaks. Sometimes people do really interesting self portraits. I love those. It's hard sometimes (most of the time) to be in front of the camera, much more comfortable behind it. My favorite self portrait was a shoulder and a bright bra strap. It sounds racy, but it was very pretty.

It's so much fun to get this peek into other people's lives. They are sharing a piece of themselves. A gift. I tell my friends about it and try to get them involved. It will be so much fun to see how our photography improves throughout the course of the year.

I think I've got Bay talked into it, too. She took some photos of her boyfriend PJ today. One of them was so sweet, it made me do this sort of breath-catch thing when she showed it to me. He has these big brown eyes and he's looking at her with so much love. So many times I try to catch something special with the camera. I think maybe I've got it, maybe this will be exactly what I'm trying to show, but then I look at what I've got and it's just not what I was trying to capture. I don't know what she was trying to show with this photo, but it's really something special. I hope she sees that.

I have some exciting news. Robin, my sister, and I are going to run a 10K together on the 13th of February,down in her hometown. This means that I get to see her whole family AND I get to have a fun adventure with one of my favorite people. We decided to do it last night, while we watched Philosophy on QVC, while texting. We've texted through a few shows. I was also eating dinner at this time. I was pretty proud of my multi-tasking abilities. I did it all, but I can't say that I did it well. :)

Here's a picture of Robin and I that used during retro week at Facebook. I'm the bigger little hippie kid.

I Want To Give Basketball A Hug

Today was the first day of the Winter basketball season for CARD. The kids got to watch the CSUC Men's and Women's team practice and do a dunking contest. Later, the kid's teams met and each played 2 practice games.

Sarah is my youngest and the smallest person in our family. When she's on the basketball court, she looks huge to me. She blocks and runs and waves her arms around. Her little face gets so red and if I were her, I'd probably barf from all the exercise. I am so proud of her and the effort she puts into her game.

The kids have a break until the second weekend in January. They practice but no official games until that weekend.

I'm really going to try to perfect my sports photography. I want to try to convey how exciting the girls are when they play. They put their whole heart into it, they don't care how they look, they don't worry about boys, or mean girls.

A girl's life goes like this - first they feel no limitations, they feel like they are beautiful, smart, strong, capable, then life starts to chip away at their confidence. Someone calls them ugly or fat or in some way makes them feel less or diminished. They deflate a bit. When girls play sports or sing or play an instrument, when they find something that they feel good about, it helps to inflate them again. They grow bigger, stronger, they work harder, they enjoy some success. It's a wonderful thing.

I love what basketball does for Sarah. I wish I could give basketball a big hug of gratitude.

How You Like 'dem Apples?

Apples. The only photo I took today. I needed it for work.

I took a hike this morning, then went by the Salvation Army store to see what they had. I'm looking for something to hang my necklaces on and I wanted to find a white men's dress shirt. No white shirt, but I found a couple of others. Plus a light brown jacket and a navy blazer.

I've been reading a lot of style blogs lately and the ladies purchase good quality basic pieces and mix them in with newer pieces. I'm pretty excited about my finds -I got 5 items for under $15. The other thing I picked up was a slip. I'm going to use it as a slip or nightgown. Very pretty.

While I was on my hike I spent a lot of time trying to think of what I want to do in terms of my photography business. I'd really like to take a variety of photos - families, babies, wedding (someday), and I think it would be fun to do pin-up style photos. Mom and I talked about this before.

I talked to Bay and she agreed to let me fix her hair and makeup in a pin-up style for photos. I think it will be fun. I'm going to see if I can talk my girlfriends into this, too.

I've got to get off line now. My back is really bothering me. That's why I've been hiking and walking instead of running. I just can't run. I'm trying to yoga my way out of it.

Ruby Tuesday - Christmas in November

Here are some more photos from my portrait session with the Yorks. Ruby Tuesday is hosted by Mary, The Teach at her blog, Work of the Poet .

This first one, well it's not red, but it is pretty impressive. Today, I was showing the photos to Mom and she told me that her parents told her, "Don't wiggle it," because they were afraid it would fall out before the photos. That cracks me up!

Shawna had some Christmas decorations for us to use as props. The kids loved them, although Hayden was not a fan of laying down here. Crying baby photos are so cute.

I got this one, the only one without him crying in the lay down position, just in time. They are so darn pretty. I love these kids. I hope that Shawna and Brad like the photos.

The boys liked tasting these balls. Don't worry, they are not glass. We watched them very close.

I got to start Veggie Chic today. WooHoo!! Only a "hello" and some background on my previous writing, but.....well, it will get better.

Happy Ruby Tuesday!!!

Saturday

I'm finding it hard to get to all of my blogs lately. I know that eventually it will all be easy, but for now, I'm still in the learning stage, still figuring out how to budget my time. I end up doing the work-blogs and don't have time for the personal stuff.

I put some new photos in my etsy store at Chase Your Bliss Photography . They were taken either this Summer or in the case of the Lake Almanor photos, in September.

Oh, forgot, I took this one is October, after the sprinklers ran, in the morning. I'm not sure anyone else will enjoy the photos that I've taken, but I like the reflection photos.

Tomorrow is Mom's birthday. I'm going to make her dinner and instead of cake, we are having homemade chocolate chip ice cream sandwiches. Yum. She came over for a visit today and talked about how worried she is about my Grandma. Then, Grandma called and talked about how worried she is about her relationship with my mom.

There's something about that mother/daughter thing that can be really tricky. I know that they both want to be able to have someone to talk to, but like I explained to my grandma, there are going to be some subjects that they cannot share with each other.

Well, it's time to get Buddy into bed. And I have to make a pathway to my bed, in my room. Right now, Bay's queen sized bed is blocking my doorway. My friend, Leah, and her husband, Kelly, brought her a futon today. We got as far as putting the futon up in her room and pulling the queen out, then her boyfriend arrived. Tomorrow, my brother is going to help me move the queen over to Mom's house, then I'm going to set up my bed on my old tall wooden bed frame.

Darn, sure wish I was in that bed right now. Oh, something exciting.......... tomorrow I am taking family portraits of my brother Brad's family. My first photography job!!!

Opened My Etsy Shop

I just opened my Etsy shop with one item. WooHoo! I'm very excited, but also very nervous. I do not want to suck. It is available here Chase Your Bliss Photography. I will update as I add items. I need to find out where I can get those TTVs printed up. They are a funny size - square 5x5s.

Short Post Saturday Morning

It's raining here in Chico, California. First rain in a long time. We are really enjoying it. I don't have the photos from the carnival ready, there's a lot to go through, I was a bit click-happy. I've been working on things for Dating Dames and I made my first post Chase Your Bliss Photography last night. That's the name I want to use when I open my local photography business. I don't think I'll ever feel that I'm really ready, so I'm going to just jump in and see where it goes.

I'll post more later. I'm feeling a bit on the blue side right now. I'm feeling off-balance with my boyfriend and that's never a good feeling. I'm going to go hang out with Max and Sarah right now. More later.