summer is getting away from me....

i am trying to get here,
really,
i am...
i plan on what i am going to write,
i take photos with my blog in mind...
i have things i want to post for inner excavation
and other things i want to take part in
but...

this has turned out to be the busiest summer
i
have
ever
had
as far as the photography business goes.

i have 17 weddings booked between June and October.
i have already done 5 of them
which means
i am working on editing 5 weddings and a family session
finished two engagement sessions
have another wedding this weekend

i currently have about ten thousand photos to be edited...
and so many more to come.

that gets a little
overwhelming.

but in a great way...a great, great way!

but still...i am not getting here.
not as much as i would like.

this moment::

at this moment,
i have made a conscious decision
to put away the housework,
place a hold on the editing,
forget about what my hair looks like
and that my stomach is far too flabby for a bathing suit.

i am going to get in my car
and drive to my favorite beach
and bury my toes in the sand
and maybe read a real book
(not taking the ipad).

i am not going to wear headphones,
i am going to listen to the water
and the seagulls
and the kids laughing and splashing
in the distance.

i will lay on a blanket
and inhale a little bit of a salt water summer day...

i might even dip my toes in the water.

friday i'm in love...

~  with a day spent with just my boy...and lunch with both my boys
    (the only sad thing was that my girl couldn't come)...

~  shopping at Micheal's where many wedding photo props were purchased
~  a red dress and bare feet

~  strawberries with just bit of sugar and a drop of milk
~  sitting on the deck and finding a bit of a breeze, talking with S

~  forecast of good weather for tomorrow's wedding

~  two brides happy with their engagement photos :)
~  seeing old friends today

inner excavation::4 questions

morning pages and 4 questions inspired by inner excavation:

who am i?
point blank.
dark haired

avid reader
happily married
wildly in love
mom of two
photographer-on-the-side

happy in my dream day job
diet coke addict

muppet loving
whimsical, amusing, loner
slightly anti-social
yet always smiling
at strangers
cartoon fanatic
oxymoron
weird and wordy...
and ok
with being weird
and wordy.

who or what inspires me?
stories.  scents.  memories.  music.  authors.  Margaret Atwood.  Leonard Cohen.  blogs.  pinterest.  color.  shapes.  lines.  architecture.   writing.  words.  writers.  non-conformists.  movies.  fonts.  advertising.  lyrics.  nature.  imaginative people.  people who are brave; who put themselves out there, who are ok with being themselves, who stand up for other people.  patterns.  artists.

how do you nurture yourself?
music
long drives
walks
yoga

reading
meditation
organization
list making
facials
daydreaming
allowing myself to just sit, to just be.

how did you find your creative voice?
through accidental blogging...
while looking for a mortgage and being frustrated with the system
only to find that there was a whole world of other people out there
that liked the same things that
i like.
a click and a rush...an opening....a gush of possibility
an awareness, an excitement.
bringing me to today.

want to play along...go here for a free read-a-long!

inner excavation::week one and a memory

a year ago this weekend,
my husband was in a motorcycle accident.

it was a friday night.

he has not been able to work since that night.
but things are getting better.
hopefully, he will be able to get back to work in the next 6-8 weeks.
it has been a long year
of fear and worry
recuperation
and small steps forward
of tears and giggles
and hospital beds and
surgeries.

but it could have been so much worse.

that summer, i had planned on doing inner excavation
with liz lamoreux as she was going to do a read-along
but, for obvious reasons,
that kind of fell by the way-side.

but
this summer,
it is being done again here with liz's blessing...
so i have signed up again
with the hopes that i will do the whole book this time.

so...
that said...
they are doing a bit of a show & tell over at the glitterhood...
and here is mine.

 this is the journal that i started last year when it began...

at that time, begin was my mantra,
was my starting point and seemed to also be my stopping point...
i could not seem to move past "beginning" even before the accident.
but this year,
i am hoping to push myself harder.
to let go of the feeling that things have to be perfect,
that i need the right materials, the right ingredients, the right time of day...
the reality is
i
just
need
to
begin.

so here i am again.

at the beginning.

i have decided that this year,
i will start a photo series but one that will encompass the whole summer for me.
the reason for this is two part....
i have the deep seated need to spend more time with my family this summer,
to really connect...and also, to embrace summer.
to not let it just pass me by
in the blink of an eye.

in that vein, here is a list of

summer photo ideas

• the deck as it progresses
• tomato plants
• berry picking
• bare feet
• grass
• bonfire
• summer skirts and bare legs
• beach
• flowers
• popsicles
• slushies, floats, ice cream
• dairy bars
• the kids
• fireworks
• a road trip
• parade
• sparklers
• bbq's
• corn on the cob
• berries

and this is how i will embrace summer.