puerto penasco.

Puerto Penasco, Mexico. It's where we spent a week of our summer vacation. It was everything and nothing I thought it would be. What can I say -- we loved it.

Highlights:



The sunsets.

Walks along the beach -- at night, in the morning -- couldn't get enough.



The food! By far one of the best parts of being there was eating the local cuisine. And the fresh tortillas -- yes please!



Getting to practice my Spanish. Soy no bueno!





Getting the much needed downtime. It's was nice to unplug and set my todo list aside. We all needed this break.







Cornrows. Girls loved having their salty hair out of their face for the week. I did too!



Megan got stung by a jelly fish. She said it hurt like crazy, but Adam used his urine, as per the locals advice, to alleviate the pain and she was fine after that. She may need therapy in the future!



Tess caught a fish. Not her first fish, but I believe the first one she caught in the ocean.





Mangoes on the beach with spicy red peppers made especially for you -- to die for. Seriously! I'm going to be recreating these for sure.



To say it was crazy hot would be an understatement -- it was sweltering. I don't think the thermostat said it was ever above the 90 degrees, but with the 90% humidity it must have been well into the 100s. We were sticky & sandy the entire week. Good times!





Hitting the beach every morning when the tide was out looking for crabs, starfish, clams and the kids even spotted an octopus.



Hour and hours and hours on the beach playing and reading a book. I read The Rosie Project and laughed the whole way through.





I received a most delightful massage.





I thoroughly enjoyed just how different the landscape, the streets, the buildings were from home. There was something so captivating about the rawness of Mexico.





At first I thought it would be strange, you know, to be celebrating the fourth of July in a different country, but being there made me appreciate home and so grateful to be an American. I love the USA.

stories from the past

I was privileged to spend the weekend at my dad’s family reunion. You see I wasn’t technically invited, it wasn’t for my generation, I was only there to document the event, but as I witnessed my dad, my aunts & uncle gather together with long lost cousins, (some of them meeting for the very first time) I knew this was exactly where I needed to be surrounded by their laughter and tears and what seemed like endless hours of storytelling about generations past. I felt like I found a little bit of myself as I witnessed this gathering I didn’t know was lost.



I have always had this extreme fondness for my Grandma Gretchen, whom I never had the privilege of meeting in this life. I guess you could say my affection for her came from the fact that I was named after her, and for the longest time I wanted to be like her. Growing up my parents had this picture of my grandma and grandpa in Hawaii sipping a drink out of a coconut. I remember telling myself I would get to Hawaii one day and drink from a coconut too. When I was in my late teens I taught myself to knit and discovered knitting came naturally. “Of course it did” I would tell myself. “I’m just like my Grandmother”.

So naturally being at this family reunion and hearing stories about my grandma with her eight sisters and three bothers I was intrigued, fascinated about their life in Montana back in the 1930s. Made me wonder what my life would be like if they had never left Great Falls in 1955. Perhaps that is why I sometimes craved small town living and romanticize life on the prairie — am I a Montanan at heart?

There were several stories that really struck me, but none more than this made me long for my Grandma more than I had before. She had two brothers who passed away. Her oldest brother Willis, died before she was born, she never knew him. Her next oldest brother Ellsworth died when he was about 20 in a work accident, which would have made my grandma a teenager. I couldn’t help, but recognize the similarities in our life story (brothers dying by accident at the prime of their life) and wished, so deeply wished, my grandma had been alive for me when my brother passed away and had been able to shed some light, given me some words of wisdom that would have helped my younger, inexperienced self heal.

Her generation is gone now, the last of her siblings, Doris, died in 2009. I met my great aunt Doris a few times in Montana as I recall, but I was too young, too immature to understand what a treasure I had in her. Why didn't I sit and talk with her about my grandma? Why didn’t I ask her about life in Montana? How could I have been so careless? How could I just watch my grandparents generation die (both my  mothers&fathers) without really trying to understand their world?

I didn’t see. I didn’t understand, but I do now.

Being a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints I’ve always been taught the importance of family history and genealogy work, but I didn’t understand until now the blessings that come from connecting the family tree. I was always so wrapped up in my immediate family to seek among the branches for answers, for connections, but oh I see how wrong I was. There is something very special about being surrounded by individuals who share the same blood, the same family history, the same scandals (yes there are several), the same heartaches, the same smile, the same laughter.

This past weekend the genealogy bug stirred deep in me. Getting to know those who have gone before, who are part of me, seeing them through their stories, and understanding their world is now inching it's way to the top of my list.

I'd say I can't wait to get started -- but I already have.


Have you done any genealogy work?
I'm a bit intimidated, should I be?

HEALTH | FITBIT

About a month ago I took the plunge and bought myself a fitbit flex.

Yep I jumped on the fitbit bandwagon. I was feeling sort of sluggish -- well, let's be honest. I've been feeling sort of sluggish for years. It's the kind of tired I can move through because I have to, but if I had the chance to take sporadic naps throughout the day I would. I've lived with it for years so it feels very much apart of my daily rhythm. There are times I will myself not to think about it and the tired seems less pronounced, but sadly it is always there weighing me down. Yes I've sought help. I've had numerous tests done and the conclusion is my body's chemistry seems to be a-ok.

With the medical world giving me zero answers I am left to my own devices.

Maybe being tired was coming from not being active enough? I know it’s sounds counter intuitive, but have you ever noticed the days you do nothing, like traveling or an all day movie marathon, when you’re sitting constantly, how tired you feel? Adam and I have talked about this phenomenon several times, how strange it is the less you do the more tired you feel and the more active you are the more energized you feel. It seems lazy begets lazy and active begets active.

So I wanted to figure it out — was I tired because I wasn't active enough or am I just tired?

That's where the fitbit comes in. I remember my friend Tory telling me about her fitbit when she visited in February. We were on a hike (we should have been snowshoeing but there was no snow — crazy) and she called out with enthusiasm, “I reached my goal!” Of course, having absolutely no idea what she was talking about, I made her explain. She told me all about her bracelet and how it tracks her movement throughout the day. I thought it was a great idea. If I could track my activity it would give me a more accurate indication of how active I am during my day. (I have always been one to exercised in the morning, but I was curious how active I was the rest of the day.)

I thought about just buying a pedometer, I mean it’s much cheaper, but I liked the idea of being able to track other things, like my sleep which I thought could be crucial when trying to understand my tiredness, so I went with fitbit and have been tracking my movement ever since.



My observation after using it a month:

01) I noticed how much it helped motivate me to stay moving. Just knowing it was on and tracking my steps was enough for me to want to stay on my toes. Instead of taking an elevator or parking as close to a store as possible, I opted to pick the option that would allow me to get more steps.

02) I realized it wasn't hard to get 8000 steps in a day. On the days I run, which is about 3 times a week, I get about 10,000 steps right off the bat. At first I loved it because I would reach my goal so early in the morning, but then it was defeating the purpose for the rest of the day — I wasn't as motivated. So I decided I would change my goal each day depending on what I was doing. When I ran I would make my goal somewhere between 15,000-18,000 steps a day. On a slow day, a day I’m traveling or a Sunday, I would adjust my goal lower to about 5000. On an average day my goal is set to about 8000 - 10,000 steps.

03) I’m actually a lot more active than I thought. Even the days I’m home taking care of my duties there I found I’m constantly moving. And on the days I’m more sedentary, the ones where I’m on the computer or working on a project, I make sure to take little breaks and go for a walk or do something active.

My fitbit experiment has been successful. It has helped me to be more aware and motivate me to stay on my feet, but sadly it didn’t help me understand more why I am so tired all the time. It’s definitely not because I’m not active enough. I feel really good about how much I move on any given day, even though some days are better than others.

I’m back to the drawing board and will share with you soon what experiment I did next to get to the bottom of being tired 24/7.

Bur for now, if you are looking for something to help motivate you to move this summer go get a fitbit or look for another like minded device that will help you track it and give you an idea of where you’re at so you can decide where you want to go.

xo amy gretchen

12of12 | June

[enlarge]

01. Tess making pancakes.
02. Adam finally getting out of bed for the first time in weeks and me joining him outside after my workout.
03. Megan cuddling with the puppy before heading off to dance.
04. Tess doing her 30 minutes of practice a day.
05. Bella finally made it home from California. They were suppose to arrive at 10am, but didn't show up till 1pm, which made her extremely late for chamber days with the Fry Street Quartet. :/
06. ...Which she went right to after I grabbed her.
07. Did a bit of shopping with Megan after getting her from dance. I'm not sure why I didn't take a picture of the swim toys we purchased.
08. She tried on all the glasses and hats in the place.
09. Afternoon swim.
10. The hose means someone is vacuuming the kitchen. Hallelujah! Why do I feel like it needs to be done every 30 mins??
11. Spend sometime outside enjoying the view/yard while dinner was cooking.
12. Last thing I did tonight was drop Tess off at her friends house. She is going on a camping trip with them in the morning. Good times!

I hope you all had a better go at it than me. It was an off day for me today, honestly I've been a little off since I got back from Squam. Can't really pin point it, but the fact that Adam has been sick since I walked in the door and I'm trying not to eat dairy, gluten, or sugar is not helping matters (more on that later). Unfortunately, I hardly took any pictures, but luckily when I finally sorted through my photos I had 12 to use. Seriously, around 5pm I really thought I wouldn't even have 9.

Anyway, you win some and lose some I suppose, but the fact that I actually did it is a win for me :)

Summer is full swing over here so I hope it's the same for you. Looking forward to seeing some of your lazy summer days. Makes sure to head on over to our Facebook group and share your day.

Have a lovely weekend!!

tales of the city

I have been dying to share the latest Squam Art Worshops offering. They're hitting the streets of Providence for their first ever Squam in the CITY!

I am beyond thrilled to be apart of it. One of my absolute favorite things is to get lost in the city with my camera. There’s something so unique about shooting in a city that you can’t find anywhere else. It’s the collision between people and architecture that gives the urban environment it’s unique ability to awaken the senses.

My workshop is called Tales of the City. During our time together we'll be going on a photo walk throughout Providence in search of the unique bits and elements that will help you capture a complete story of your experience of this ever moving, ever changing city and bring it to life.

Please come! It would be so much fun to get lost in the city together.

Check out Squam Art Workshops for more information about this retreat and the other classes being offered. I must admit, as delighted as I am to be teaching, I would love just as much to participate. This event is going to be amazing!

happy day. xo

captive island | flipagram

I completely forgot to bring my Canon camera with me on our latest trip to Captiva Island, FL. I know shocking, right? I was dumb founded as I walked into the airport and realized the heaviness from my camera that's usually wrapped around my body was missing.

It was shocking at first, I stood in the terminal a good minute before I could speak and tell Adam what was wrong, but must say I rose above. I saw it as a challenge to make the most of my iPhone and simultaneously get a break from carrying around my heavy camera in paradise.

In fact instead of taking so many photos I took a lot more video. I have plans to make a small film of our time there, not sure when they will happen, but for now I put together this flipagram of the photos I took.



Hope your having a delightful weekend.
xo

12of12 | May

01. First person I saw this morning was Bella. Up, showered, and eating breakfast.
02. Waking up Tess, and it turns out, the puppy as well.
03. Gathering together for prayers and scriptures before going our separate ways.
04. Megan on her way out the door to school.
05. Making breakfast
06. Eggs with tomato, feta, and avocado -- a favorite.
07. One of my favorite pieces in our home -- metal cubby.
08. Bella greeting the puppy as she comes home from school.
09. Megan and Tess doing the dinner dishes.
10. It rained/hailed this afternoon.
11. For FHE we worked on paper-mache for our Stake Primary float. It was extremely messy. I think it took as much time to clean up as it did to make.
12. Watching the sun fall behind the house from the top of the hill in our backyard. I love it here.

I love Mondays, and today was no different. Unfortunately I don't feel I adequately showed the productivity that Mondays usually hold. I find it's so easy to get caught up in the activity I'm doing that I forget to document. Does that ever happen to you? Oh well, I am happy with what I did capture and the bits I'm sharing. Feels good to put such a full day behind me and head to bed.

Hope it was a delightful day and that you enjoyed documenting your Monday. Don't forget to head on over to the facebook group to share your day with all of us.

Remember it is never too late to join or start participating 12of12.

Have a good one! xo

my people

Sitting ocean side feeling the sun at my back listening to nothing but the waves crashing over and over against the shore. 

This is heaven -- except I'm alone (adam's in his meetings). 

As much as I believe I'm an introvert I don't love being alone. I need people, no, I need my people.

I want to hear the girls racing up along the beach, splashing in the water, they would love it here. I want to lean over and rest my head on Adam's shoulder, feel him around my waist. It's not conversation I'm craving or just not being lonely, no, it's closeness. It's sharing a delightful heavenly moment with those I love -- and I must say, I missed sharing that with them this morning. 

a typewriter

I remember when my friend Maya Stein told me about the typewriter she had while growing up. It sat  on a table always available and ready to get used.

That tradition she had in her childhood home, stayed with me and inspired me to do the same. It seemed liked such a novel idea, especially now as old typewriters have started to resurface, to not just have the typewriter as decoration, but a constant invitation for our daily words.

Determined to make this happen from day one at The Ledge I found a typewriter on ebay while at the rental. I did my best to find the right ribbon, which turned out is discontinued, so I had to wind it myself. I then placed it on the table in our living room with a fresh piece of white paper and nothing but the date and waited to see what happened.



It wasn't long before I started to hear the clacking of the keys. The first few pages were full of the girls just messing around getting to know this new machine that didn't have (or so it seemed) a number one or an apostrophe. They spelled their names and typed individual letters over and over -- some light, some so hard the letters pierced a hole in the paper. They hit the return key to watch the carriage move back and forth.

Once they had settled in, understood the ins and outs, the words started to come. They write about their day, what's going on at the moment, what they like/dislike, their friends have even given it a go. Lately they even go a little deeper and share what's in their heart -- I love their willingness to be vulnerable with our family. I have really come to love the clacking of the keys. You never know what goodness you're going to find there, what stories they're going to share.

What I didn't understand when Maya first told me about her typewriter, but am beginning to see, is just how much life it holds. It has become this delightful spot in our home where our thoughts are coming together to create this magical memoir of our life here at The Ledge.

PL update

Hello.

I just realized last week that I never shared the video I made updating you on my 2014 project life. I started working on it the week we moved and got it finished, but with everything going on completely forgot to share it on my blog.

Of course its outdated now, well, sort of. What I mean is we are on week 18 so I should be working on at least week 16, but the truth is, I haven't done my project life since I've moved. GASP! It actually does stress me out because I have more then two months to sort through. I'm trying not to let it overwhelm me or I think I will just completely give it up.

Sigh.

Definitely giving myself permission to be way way behind and catch up as I can. I'm heading out of town this weekend and hope to do a lot of PL work on the go.

So what you see in the video is all I've completed so far for 2014, but just so you're aware I filmed it back on week 9.


PL | 2014 update from Amy gretchen on Vimeo.

Are you doing Project Life? If so are you up to date?

city library

Have I told you lately how in love I am with creating little films?

It all started back in 2012 when I made this film of my experience at Squam. I put it together on a whim because I wanted to do something different with my photos and since I had taken some video I thought I would give it a go. I loved it. I absolutely loved the whole process of finding the photos/footage, to choosing the music to set the mood, and compiling it all to tell a story in a whole new way.

After that experience I was hooked. I had felt stagnant for far too long and it was helping to push me forward and get me out of my comfort zone. It challenged me creatively and was exactly what I was craving.

It was probably good I was too excited to actually think about all that was involved in learning this new skill. I mean, I knew nothing about film except how to hit record (who am I kidding, I still don't know much) so I didn't really think about the massive learning curve, but I was determined.

So as I share this latest film I shot in February and started working on just before we moved, I thought I would share just a little about what I've learned so far (still have a long long way to go) on my journey to creating films.



01) switching my brain
I think in terms of photographs. I always have. I walk around town or in my home and I picture life in still frames, attempting to capture that one perfect moment from the scene. I have found, at least for me, video to be quite a different beast, which is why I wanted to tackle it in the first place. So my first obstacle was to switch my brain from thinking in terms of photographs or still moments, to video footage or moments with movement. It was actually a lot more challenging than I thought. They are similar in nature, but they are quite different in execution.

02) remembering to take the video
Remembering to take the video was my second obstacle. You'd think it would be the easiest, but it was almost one of the hardest. Because I thought only in photographs, I'd simply get so caught up in what I was shooting that I would forget to capture video, which meant I didn't have the footage I needed so I ended up making more slide show type films (most of these never got finished), but I wanted to make them so I would learn about putting a story together.

03) stop motion
Xanthe Berkeley's Time Capsules taught me you can make a lovely film even without video footage. Instead of capturing video just shoot a ton of photos one right after another (rapidfire) and when you put them all together it almost looks like video, but with its own special flair. I love the way it looks. This is my first stop motion film. It's rough and has a lot of flaws, but it served it's purpose by teaching me a great deal.

04) storyboarding
When I shoot photographs I don't think about it. I just go out and shoot and take the pictures that stand out to me. It's not until I'm home looking through and editing my photos that the story emerges. I don't have to find it or think about it, it just comes on it's own in one shot. It wasn't always like that, but it is now. Well, unfortunately I don't find that to be the case with video. When I first started capturing videos I would choose random things I thought would be good, but often times when I got home I realized I didn't have the footage I wanted or needed to tell the story I found in my photographs. Realizing I had to put more work into this, I started approaching my project with a story already in mind, that way it would help me capture the footage I thought would be best to tell that particular story. Again, something I had to learn to do ahead of time, begin with the end in mind.

05) learning the software
I actually love learning new software. In fact, it's almost a hobby of mine. I don't watch TV any more, instead I spend that time, no kidding, watching online videos on how to learn software. I use the services from lynda.com so I have a plethora of options to choose from. Sometimes I even watch videos on software I don't even own just because. Yeah, I know I'm a dork. Anyway, back to my narrative. There are a lot of choices out there for editing video and I've tried a few except for the mac only ones, which by the way i would love to try. I decided on Premiere Pro and man what a beast it is when you first get started, but once you get the hang of it and understand a little how it's set up and how it works it's really not so bad. I picked it up pretty quickly just from my experiences with other Adobe software, although pretty quickly still put a wrench in my learning curve and has slowed down my process.

06) time
Anything worth anything takes time, right? And so it is with film. I think this is the biggest lesson I've learned so far because I totally underestimated the amount of time it would take to not only go through my photos and edit them, but scanning through hours of video footage to find just the right clip I was looking for. It's time consuming. Really time consuming, and then putting it all together takes even more time. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining. I actually love the process, however, this is my excuse for why I have far too much footage on my computer just waiting to get used. TIME. I need more of it. How about you?

Have you ever thought of making films with your photographs?

Happy Friday! Have an excellent weekend friends.
xo

12of12 | April

[click here to enlarge]

01. Bella welcoming in the morning light before heading out for bagel day.
02. Megan and Tess were making their cousin Lewis laugh by spinning on the barstools.

03. Megan filling up the page with thought. (More on this new tradition to come.)

04. At the soccer game Tess and her friend hung out with their most favorite school teacher. This woman was a God send for all my girls, but especially Tess.

05. Blossoms. They have started to emerge in our yard.

06. We watched my nephew Lewis today. This was him totally engaged in the soccer game. 

07. Megan had a soccer game and scored a goal. Go Megan go!

08. Little Lewis absolutely loves Adam. It's so sweet the way he calls him "uncle" and loves rough housing with him. All afternoon I kept hearing him say, "where's uncle?"

09. Bella had her friends over for lunch and then they talked the rest of the day until they decided it was time to get out and enjoy the day.

10. Adam busied himself with small house projects like installing the screen doors. Perfect timing too. Couldn't have been a better day to have the doors open.

11. Megan rollerbladed and I borrowed Sidney's (Bella's friend) long board.

12. We saw these delicate flowers along the way -- oh and bunnies to.

It was a lovely day and although I can't say I was productive at all, I felt like I got stuff done. I think it was the time spent with others that made it feel full.

I hope you had a great day and I hope you will be willing to share with us your photos in the Facebook group. If you haven't joined yet, but would like to go here.

xo

Reminder

First off I just want to apologize for my absence. Like I said in my post yesterday not having my studio set up, my back injury, & my move have taken me offline completely. Can't say I'm all disappointed as it's nice to get a break every now and again, but I didn't anticipate it taking so long. 

But for what it's worth, I'm back. :)

I also want to remind those of you playing along that Saturday is the 12th. Remember it's never too late start. 

Looking forward to seeing this 12of12 through to the end.

Enjoy your day!

lately

I'm still unpacking. There are many reasons for this 1) I hurt my back and 2) I have everything I need already so why unload mor, right? I'm debating whether or not I should take the full boxes I have left and donate them -- something lovely about simplifying and only keeping what you need.

I'm healing. After injuring my back due to the move and shuffling around boxes I am still on the mend. I thought I was better for the most part, but I pushed myself this morning during my workout and have been feeling it all day. Once again I'm taking it easy.



I'm spring breaking. Last week the five of us left town. First we stopped in Las Vegas -- Adam had a conference and so the girls and I went along for the ride. Then we hit southern Utah. It was a great break and nice to get away from the boxes for awhile.

I'm sneezing. Sadly my allergies are hitting me hard this season. Not sure why some years are worse than others, but this appears to be a bad one.

I'm feeling daunted. My studio, while it's an amazing space, (I'm just now realizing I really haven't shown proper photos of my home remodel -- I will I promise) it doesn't have near the storage I had in Bernard's house (the endearing name adam has given our last home). So I'm giving lots away, and when I say lots I mean like 1/2, and trying to find creative places for the rest. The problems is there's supplies everywhere right now so my ability to work is, well, lacking. I wish for a moment I could be like Mary Poppins and snapping my fingers would move everything to it's proper place -- but then again I don't. One of the most exciting parts about moving into a new space is putting it all together.

I'm stressing about being behind on my project life. I try not to think in terms of behind, but I haven't work on or even looked at my photos since the beginning of March. No joke. Remember how I was suppose to post my 12of12 collage from March? Well I still haven't uploaded those photos onto my computer. So ya, the thought of going through a month worth of photos is very daunting and sadly I still do nothing. Does that ever happen to you? You have so much to do that you end up doing something else like reading? I hate when I procrastinate, especially something like this because I really want to work on it. I think it will be helpful if I clear off my desk and give PL space.

I'm mourning the lost of my canon 24-70L lens. :( It's falling apart, quite literally. I'm frustrated because this is the lens I spend hundreds of dollars getting fixed last April. So far pictureline won't do anything to help me -- I'm out money for the repair and the lens. Not sure what to do?

I'm exploring our new yard and it's surroundings. It's brought with it a lot more wildlife than we had before. I hope I never get use to seeing deer run up the hill or the squirrels running across the cables. The trees have not yet bloomed, but I look forward to their coming out party.

I've been playing the games monument valley and 2048 on my ipad. Check them out, but be forewarned, both games are very addicting.

Hope spring is treating you nicely. Would love to hear what is going on in your life lately. It's been far to long my friends.

xo

12of12 | coming soon

Hello friends. 

It's late and I finally stopped for the first time today. Feels amazing!

I'd love nothing more than to sit down and work on my 12of12 photos, but the truth is I've been up since 1:30 am and after my crazy moving day I just don't have it in me. So I'll be working on my post this weekend to share with you.

For now I'd like to share a couple pictures I took using my iphone. I hope you had a great day and I so look forward to seeing how you captured your day. 

After being up all night Adam made me get back in bed and took the girls to violin. What a blessing!

One thing I loved about today is watching how the light changes in our new home. It's magical. 

First, of what I know will be many sunsets, from this view.

xo

12of12 | reminder

Sorry for my absence. I've been actively getting ready for our move this week. I can't believe its already here. It seems so surreal to have been working on this house for months, seen it from it's ugly stage to where it is now, and finally get to enjoy it.

If you can imagine I have a mountain of boxes to go through once we're in, full of things I haven't needed for the past 5 months so I have a lot of weeding out to do, which is strange because we got rid of so much when we moved originally. Simplify is the key here for me. Despite the fact that it's probably going to take a month to be completely done, I actually look forward to going through the boxes and seeing what treasures I can uncover. It's my favorite part about moving into a new space -- putting it all together.



Anyway, my purpose for blogging today was to remind you tomorrow is the 12th and here I am blabbering on about my move. I suppose it is only fitting seeing how the last time we moved it was the 12th as well. Hoping this time will be different (see 12 October post), and I'll have pictures at the end of the day to show for it.

I can't be sure what my 12of12 post will look liked. As I type my studio has been completely broken down and am unsure I'll have a computer to work with, but regardless I will have something to share, although it may not be in my traditional 12of12 collage.

Enjoy your day and the process!
xo

moving toward 38 | what i learned

During church last week the speaker talked about a birthday tradition his family has. At family dinner the person celebrating their birthday shares what they learned from that year. I thought it was such a great idea I'm going to implement it in my family this year and since my birthdays first I'll get us started.



Always trust Adam. He's almost always right, operative word being almost.

When a trip presents itself, go, especially to an exotic location.

London and Paris are at the top of my list for favorite cities. I am happy to go back anytime.

Do not move, go on vacation, buy and house and begin a renovation project all at the same time. The aftermath is disastrous.

Home is where your loved ones are.

I can get by with a lot less sugar, but not less chocolate.

I love my dishwasher.

I have way too much stuff. I need to simplify.

Light brings peace and warmth.

Serving together as a family not only strengthens the family, but helps you become closer.

An animal adds so much to our family life. Our puppy has brought us together.

Photos and art help bring life to home.

Creativity and making things fills my soul.

It's ok to say no.

I enjoy online classes.

When dark days come don't loose hope -- lean on friends & family, delve into the scriptures, and pray.

Write down the inspiration you receive and reread it often to remember you've already got your answer.


Thank you for sticking with me this year through my blogging drought. It's good to reflect on the year, learn from it and move on. Thirty-eight has all the makings of a wonderful year. I cannot wait to get started.

it's the little things

You know those times when you run across something that makes you smile big and you can't stop smiling no matter how hard you try, and why would you any way?

Yeah this is one of those times.

I spent sometime this morning going through my photos for project life and came across this.



It's part of a large volume of pictures I'm using for a time lapse film so it's not something I even remember taking. It took me completely by surprise because it wasn't even on my radar.

I love this. Absolutely love this in every way.

I feel like I've somehow stolen a piece of time to hide away for my time capsule. As the weeks, months, and years roll past I will always have this spontaneous moment to look back on and remember the time in the rental just as spring was emerging when we still had pre-teens in the house. Honestly, I have a bit of heartache as I write that knowing one day in the future this moment will be long past.

But back to the present where I belong so I can enjoy these moments as they happen. I'm just so happy to have captured it and I walk away remembering why documenting our life is such a priority.

Life doesn't get much better than this, does it?

g list

Monday I woke up to a sound I hadn't heard in months -- birds chirping excitedly outside my window. My heart jumped. I knew it was February, but a part of me felt like I was going to look out the window and see lush green grass, a tree full of blossoms, and the scent of earth in the air.

I laugh this morning as bits of snow are still left over from the storm the day before. Winter is still here. I wasn't fooled by our crazy 60 degree weekend to think winter wouldn't come back with a vengeance or stick around well into spring, but I will say I enjoyed it while it lasted, was grateful for the break, and welcome it whenever it wants to come back.



Other things I'm grateful for right now ...

a loving compliment from a husband

limbo coming to an end -- our house renovation is about 2 weeks from being finished :)

cadbury eggs

how smooth everything has gone in our rental

that no one has been even a little bit sick this winter (yes i just knocked on wood)

laughter

skype -- how it can connect us even though we're far away

clean kitchen

making deadlines

not letting someone else's negativity rub off on me


What are you grateful for?

perspective

The other day I walked into our living room and saw my girls like this.



I quickly left to grab my camera so I could capture the moment. I was thrilled to see them doing something that didn't involve a device, and better yet, something they were doing together without arguing.

As I got closer and changed my perspective this is what I saw.



After taking a moment to laugh, this is just so funny to me, it got me thinking. Perspective changes everything, doesn't it? We feel/think one way and with just a little more information our perspective changes and we can feel/think something completely different.

Too often I feel like I'm coming at life from one perspective, sadly that perspective is usually negative. I'm a pessimist. I've never been ok with this facet of my personality. I've never liked how quick I am to see what's wrong. I don't enjoy coming at life half empty, but it's what I've always done.

In years past I've tried to combat this with my gratitude journal, taking photos of things I love, prayer, reading my scriptures, intentionally seeing the good, and serving other. All of those things really help and make a huge difference to how I see the world, but without consistent attention, if I get lazy and stop doing, the negativity starts to creep in. I get frustrated at times, I just want to be done with it already instead of having a daily battle with myself, but I know it takes time and a lot of patience to change habits that have formed over a lifetime.

This year I've chosen to shift my paradigm and come at life from a different perspective. It's what I need and it's what I'm craving physically, emotionally, and spiritually.

To make this possible I am not only doing those things I mentioned earlier, but I'm making a conscious decision each day as to how I'm going to look at the world. If I put my attitude in check at the beginning of the day, right when I wake up, it's much easier to keep the negative thoughts at bay. I also have a spiral notebook and pen that I go to when negative thoughts arise so I can quickly get them out of my head and not give them time to fester. I then rip the words from my notebook, crumble it up, and throw it away. It's very cathartic really. It's as if I'm literally purging those thoughts from my mind. If I had a fireplace right now I think I might burn them just to sent a deeper message to myself that these thoughts are not worth holding onto.

It's helping. I feel light. I'm happier. No longer do I feel the darkness of depression and I have my spark again to be creative and to try new things -- and all it took was a shift in my perspective, oh and a lot of deliberate thought and work. :)

Do you struggle with negativity? If so what do you do to beat it?

xo

the gap

I have heard Ira Glass' words before and fell in love with them then. He has a very powerful message that could be apply to anyone, but particularly for the creative soul. His words spoke to me on a deep level -- they penetrated my inner core and made a huge impact on the way I work.

The other day when I saw this recent creative work using Ira's words I was again reminded to be ok with the ugly and to continue to work through it. As Adam would say, on the other side is greatness.

I hope his words have the chance to do the same for you.

year one

I have to keep reminding myself that it's not only Valentine's Day, but a celebration of the puppy's first year with us. It's hard to believe it was only a year ago that we drove back from Vegas picked up the girls and headed straight to the breeders to pick her up. She was so adorable and with a face like this




there was no way she wasn't coming home with us -- which was definitely a bonus because this furry friend almost did me in as a puppy. Seriously can you even believe how adorable she was? I miss her nose dots.



And she's not only adorable, she is the best companion. Sure she doesn't like to go on long walks, but she loves to get out, to sleep in the sun, she never barks, she loves on anyone in sight (ok maybe a little too much), she sleeps all day -- literally, and ask politely for food. We all feel like we lucked out with this little one and her sweet personality. We are all still smitten with her, even now, a year later.

Happy 1st year puppy!