Friday Letters

Another Friday down. What the heck is going on? I can’t believe it’s practically Halloween. It seems that the year just flew by, and I SWEAR it was just yesterday that I was buying Christmas Presents for 2011… I am not ready to do it all over again.

Dear Cleaning Lady thank you from the bottom of my heart for my sparkling house! It has not been this clean since the day we closed on it, and it was brand new. My stainless steal appliances are sparkling, my floors are spotless, my bathrooms are high end hotel quality and my shower stall looks like its been replaced. Thank you, thank you, thank you! You rock! AND it’s literally the best money I have every spent. Dear Lilly, thank you for sleeping through the night, and not getting me up at 3 am so you can go potty and growl at the wind. Dear Tina, thank you for listening and being so awesome. You make Arizona much nicer. Dear Dad congrats on the promotion and the raise, you totally deserve it. Dear Mom, I’m sorry I don’t call and Skype you every single day, it’s been really busy on this end. I still love you. LOTS. Oh and I’m sorry I got snappy with you yesterday. Dear Colorado, I MISS YOU. LOTS. Maybe, I think we should set up a date to meet soon. Dear husband, thank you for cleaning out the garage last week. Since today is your day off, can you work on the backyard and maybe clean up the patio? Yes? That would be fantastic. Thankya. Dear blog, I’m sorry I’ve kind of abandoned you. Seems like I’ve been a little busier then I thought. Don’t worry, I am not armed with a planner, todo lists, ShootQ and some other awesome organization tools. We’ll find time to be together. PROMISE. Dear March, I’m kind of very excited to meet with you this year. It’s going to be awesome. 

It’s Okay Thursday

 

It’s been a while since I’ve linked up with Neely for It’s Okay Thursday. So here I am, on this beautiful Thursday afternoon. Sitting in my unorganized office, while someone else cleans my house, writing about what I think is OKAY.

It’s completely and totally OKAY…

… that I am paying someone else to clean my floors, and bathrooms, and appliances and counters and so on. It’s totally worth me spending the money for someone else to make my house look pretty, so that I can spend more time doing things I love, and being productive.

… to crave a latte every morning, and totally okay to give into buying a latte every morning. That $4.00 a day is not going to make me rich.

… to have just ordered several items from Lulu and not feel guilty about it. Good quality and cute workout clothes are a must. And it’s also okay to justify the high price tag by the fact that these items will last me several years.

… to want to photograph women all day long, and to want to make them feel beautiful.

… that I have to get fully dressed, down to my shoes and put on make-up and do my hair to be productive. Even though I work from home.

… that I have 10 pairs of boots, and still want more. A girl can never have too many boots.

… to plan a girls trip to Country Jam.

… that I love country music and husband doesn’t, even though he’s from Texas and I’m not

… to travel alone. I plan on taking 48 hours every year, and going to a new city that I’ve never been to before, and just wondering around photographing all day long. Honestly, traveling alone is maybe one of the best medications anyone could take

… to choose to be happy, no matter what’s going on in our lives.

On Finding Passion

 

I finally found something I’m passionate about, and it makes all the difference in the world. When selecting a career path at the age of 17 and applying to colleges, having very limited experience in the world, I thought that psychology would be my calling, and not only would I love my job, but I would make lots of money. It turns out, psychology was not my calling. In fact, I hated it. I hated it so much that it didn’t matter how much money I could make.

So after $60k, two years of working for free and an awful lot of biology and chemistry, oh and a piece of paper that states I have a BS in Psychology. I decided that it really wasn’t for me. Instead I picked up a camera, and honestly it wasn’t love at first sight and I never thought I’d want to make a career of it.

Through the years, my camera became my best friend, and I grew to love the beauty that I could capture. I realized that when I look through a lens I see a different world, and I like it. However, I did not realize my passion for photography until I encountered Sue Bryce and feel completely in love with her beautiful images.

People are my passion. Specifically women.

While I love capturing the smile of a newborn, the glow of an expecting mother, the happiness of a family. What I love above and beyond this, with undying passion, is making women look and feel beautiful.

 

Every woman, no matter their age, size, and personal opinion about themselves, is beautiful. AND they DESERVE to have beautiful portraits of themselves. Not simply to feel beautiful for one day, but as a reminder that we are all absolutely perfect the way we are.

Finding your passion should be the first thing you do, before settling for a career. Without passion the days are just long and the weekends not long enough. I’ve found that since, I came to my revelation and discovered what I really love to do, my days have been much more exciting and productive. Not only while I work on my personal photography but also in my 9 to 5 job, my home, relationship and life in general.

Believing in and loving what we do is the only way to live. I find that while I’d like to make lots more money, and could find a job that would pay me twice as much as I currently make between Chimpsy and photography, I love where I am in life and wouldn’t trade it.

Where is home?

For the past six months I’ve been trying to adjust to the fact that I know call sunny and hot Arizona my home. And still refer to my beautiful Colorado as my true home. However, I caught myself calling Armenia home just the other day when a client asked how my trip was and I answered with “there’s no place like home.” This last conversation really made me wonder what a home is and how we define it.

The conclusion I came up with is that home isn’t really just one place, home can be anywhere and almost anything. A home can even be a car, a spouse, a child or a pet. Home is where we’ve left a part of our hearts and in return received a part of someone elses.

I have many homes, and I enjoy traveling between them, and knowing that I am always loved and welcomed there. I have a home in Armenia with my grandmothers, cousins, and aunts. I have a home in Colorado with my parents and brother and friends. I have a home here in Arizona with my husband and Lilly. These are just a few of the homes I have.

Everywhere we go, we leave a part of our hearts, we forever give a part of ourselves to that place, that person, that thing, and they forever give a part of themselves to us.

I find myself liking the idea that my home is truly anywhere where I choose to be happy and where I have loved. Sometimes, I find myself feeling the most at home on the road, in my car with Lilly. Sometimes, it’s sitting across a dinner table from husband. Other times its talking to my dad over the phone, or chatting with my mom over Skype. And yet other times it’s having lunch with my grandfather at our favorite Panera.

Home is where our heart is. Home is being with the people we love. Home is where we choose to be happy and create memories that last a lifetime.