Starting Fresh

I can hardly believe that a week from today

I will be starting my NEW job teaching

Art and Photography.

I am so thrilled... but a tad stressed

trying to get everything around here finished.

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I am almost finished with my

"Throw out 50 Things" book.

I can not say enough about how wonderful it is.

Without a doubt.. it is the most life changing book

I've read in a long long time.
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I waited until the end to do Brady's stuff..

What a mess of toys he had in his little room.

So many, and in such chaos that he hardly

even played with them.

Soooooo.. we dumped ALL of them out

and started separating into sections.
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You can see on his face just how

NOT excited he was about this project.

But... we went through every single toy..

and found a whole bunch we'd forgotten about
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HE had so many (of his older sister's) beanie babies

that he could almost bury himself in them.
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I went to Wal-Mart and bought
see through tubs.
(this I have found is a wonderful secret for kids)
Now he can see exactly what toys he has.
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We organized every thing we were keeping,
and put them all into SECTIONS.
He is quite picky about making sure
the cars do NOT get into the animal section. haha
I just LOVE how it all turned out...
and Brady has played more with his toys
in the last few days than he has
in the last 3 months put together.
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While on my "GET rid of stuff" tour
through my house. I decided that I didn't
really like anything at all in my living room.
SO... I cleared almost ALL of it out
and I am starting over.
I found some of my MILLIONS of frames
in the garage and painted them all
various shades of turquoise.
I have pictures to go in almost all of them
and will show you the finished wall
as soon as I get them all in and the wall painted.
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I also found this HUGE canvas
on the side of the road
and brought it home.
I know exactly the painting I am going to do
on it... but just haven't gotten around to that
yet either.
So for now everything is just
a random shade of uncluttered blue....
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May we all... (MOSTLY me)
remember that everything does NOT
HAVE to be done TODAY!
Sometimes it's the SLOW rides that are the most enjoyable.

Exactly What I Wanted

Here are a few more of my Favorite shots

my precious friend and photographer pal Sherry

took of Brady and I while

we were in Waco last week.

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We found this garage wall by accident

while driving down the middle of the alley.
The colors were the most fun I could have ever wished for .

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I am just so incredibly excited about all of these pictures.

Now all I've got to do is figure out which walls

I'm gonna put them on...

and how big I'm gonna make them.
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Man how this little fellow has changed my life !

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What a fabulous day we had together.

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paceMaking memories I will NEVER forget.

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May we all have at least one incredible photo

that shows exactly how we feel about our children...

and best of all a great friend who can do it!

My Greatest Gift

I just got home from Waco

where I met one of my dearest friends.

I only see her once or, at best, twice a year

because she moved half way across the world.

I try my best to wait patiently each year

for our fun filled, full of giggles... Summer Visits.

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She is also a photographer nerd....

(the term we have affectionately given ourselves)

We can sit for hours and talk about lighting, photoshop,

and our new favorite techniques....

I can say without a doubt that she

is the ONLY person in the entire world

who truly understands my philosophy

of what a photograph should be.

The #1 goal was to capture emotion...

and everything else is a far off second place

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So... this year I asked her to please take

my yearly photograph with Brady.

I knew the exact look I wanted and knew

that she was the gal who could capture it.

This was the RESULT...

No amount of money can ever buy or replace this moment.

She knew my heart so very well

and knew just what I wanted...

and man oh man did she ever catch it.

I will have more of our shoot to share later in the week.

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May we always understand that most anyone

can take a photograph....

but only a few can capture a memory.

Thank you Sherry !

Wedding Wishes

My mother has been here this week

to help watch Brady

so that I could finish a Wedding Album.

As I worked on their album pages

I traveled many times to my little

FAIRYTALE world of romance and happily ever afters.

I am always touched by the uniqueness

of each couple's LOVE STORY.

And out of all the Weddings I have photographed

over the years........ NO two have ever been the same.

I enjoy so very much getting to know

each of my couples and hearing

their LOVE stories.

It is always inspiring and somewhat magical

to be in the presence of LOVE....

and what better place to find that

than in the middle of a Wedding.

So... as I worked on the pages of this book

and relived a few sparks of their magic....

I thought I'd share some of my favorites.

The best part about seeing a Wedding photograph

(and not being a part of the wedding)....

is that you get to make up your own story.

Some of my favorite pictures

are ones where I had NO clue what

was REALLY going on... soooooooooo

I made it up!!

I hope that everyone out there

in BLOG world today is sprinkled

with a little magic...

I hope next time you're at a Wedding...

you will STOP and watch for the sparkles..

and... I hope none of us EVER stop wishing for

a Fairytale in our own lives..

Sometimes all it takes is a sprinkle

for one to begin!!

Bliss and Blessings your way today..

May you find LOVE looking just around the corner.

Art and Soul

First let me just say that

I promise I am going to do better blogging this month.

Time seems to be flying around here,

and I have been enjoying playing with my family,

not being especially creative, however

making BIG changes within myself.

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The timing in my life could NOT have been better

for the mixture of fabulous happening around here.

First.... let me just start off by saying that

I was hired last week to be the new

Art/Photography teacher

at a private Christian High School minutes from my house.

There are honestly No words to express

how incredibly excited that I am to begin

this amazing new journey in my life.

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So... for the last week I have been writing lesson plans

of all of my favorite artists for us to study.

Tarkay is my VERY VERY all time most fabulous artist of all.

I adore his shapes, his composition, and most of all his color.

I can hardly believe I am going to get paid to teach and paint about him.
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Let me back up a little bit and tell you how all of this came to be.

This has been a summer so far of pure personal GROWTH for me.

It is a culminating effect of the 13 week Dave Ramsey class
I am taking, the 7 week study of James we are doing at our church,

and the wonderful book THROW OUT 50 THINGS.

Mix all of those together... and if you don't do some changing

then you must be dead.
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The 2nd Sunday of our James (Life 101) sermon at church

I came home almost moved to tears.

I felt like our Pastor was speaking right to me.

He talked about people who can't make up their minds,

and float about this world double-minded.

Your mind is never settled in one direction

and in James it says You are tossed about ...

anyway... I realized that was totally me.

I toss to and fro all the time from opening a store,

or going back to teaching (which I dearly missed)

Then I began to pray and think deeper and realized

that I had LOST MY FOCUS !!!
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The very next day I looked on line,

and found the most PERFECT job in the world for me.

It was a part-time Art Teacher

(they are on block schedule and I only have to go during my block)

at a Christian school.

It was the one place I could combine 3 of the things

I LOVE most in the world....

1. making things

2. the Lord

3. motivating and making a difference
IT was just too Perfect....

now I just had to apply and pray
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anyway... to make a LONG story SHORT...

I got the job and couldn't be more thrilled.

It is the perfect ending to my

Throwing out the Old ( junk in my house & in my mind)

and IN with a brand NEW Beginning .

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So.. as my summer continues

I will be studying, painting, and keeping track

of all the changes in my life.

I have made a vow NEVER to think I'm too old

to start over, and given up thinking that

I'm not quite good enough.

AND... most of all I have throw out the idea that

I've made too many mistakes to have a happy ending.

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May you all experience the JOY from throwing out the JUNK

we pack up and carry around in our minds.