Brushing off the dust...

2009 was a long time ago!  That was the last time I posted here.  Yet, I still remain convicted that a simple life of gratitude is key, and as I continue forward on my journey, I'm compelled to share some of what I am grateful for!  I seem to have more and more each day to add to my list!

One year ago, I was blessed to join Origami Owl.  In fact, I traveled to Nashville for the SOAR event, and Darlene Santore, their Chief Performance Officer gave a truly inspiring talk that has stuck with me to this day differentiating between setting goals and living with intention. She explained that setting a goal is to lose weight.  The intention is to be healthy.  Setting a goal is to have O2 parties.  Intention is to bring joy to others.

One year ago, I set my intention for 2013 as bringing and sharing joy with others.  Some days I was successful.  Others, not so much.  But, I kept my eye on that intention as I worked my way through the year!  And now I find myself in 2014, and thinking about how to continue to carry that intention forward but build on it at the same time!

This past year I have been extremely fortunate to find Young Living Essential Oils and Drops of Hope, and have now found a way to marry the intention of sharing joy with my love of health, wellness, nature, and learning.  I am truly at the beginning of this journey, but I am so excited to know that there is an entire disciple to learn and I can truly make a difference!

It is my hope to share my bits and pieces here of all things that bring joy...all of which I am incredibly grateful for!

Finally, the Final

The final is finally here. I say that with a bit of duality to my intent...because I usually enroll in quarters, a full semester seems like forever! At the same time, I've enjoyed this class and am sad that I am back to the business grind in January. In fact, my first accounting assignment is due January 4th. I'd rather be taking Photoshop!!!!

Well, in any case, here it is. This is my son and our family. Its a little corny, but it really is one of those reminders about how much I have to be grateful for in my life!

My first try at You Tube! I didn't want to try to tackle my longer video for my first attempt, so I tried this one instead...sorry for the repeat.

YouTube Video

Long Exposures / Painting with Light

This assignment was fun. I don't think my pictures are all that special, but I had a ton of fun experimenting and trying different things. I probably could have played with this for hours if I'd had a willing model.

A first run at a video...

I liked my idea, but not the results so much. I used a straight 50mm lens and the depth of field was too shallow so part of my images are focused and part aren't. Of course, I was done with most of the shooting (132 pics) before I figured out that I needed to redo it. It was too late then!

Black and Whites

I don't think I really had to go take new pictures for this assignment, but the trees were so pretty this weekend, I couldn't resist. Of course, I had to wait until Sunday to have time. John and I went for a drive up highway 79...and it was a beautiful drive in spite of the rain!

I also converted some of my previous pics to b & w for fun...and this turned out to be a time sucker, but lots of fun! I couldn't put it down. So, even though I only have a few pictures posted, I spent hours figuring out more about PS and how to do masking. I managed to do some in a couple of my landscape pictures so I could exaggerate the sky without losing the detail in the rest of the image. Whaddya think? Click here for a couple more...

Macro Photo Assignment

I spent the weekend in a Chicago suburb and the weather was beautiful. I was surprised to see how many flowers and leaves were still around to photograph...I thought everything would be drier and colorless.

This garden was at"Catigny" which was the home of Col. Robert McCormick, former owner of the Chicago Tribune. His home is now a museum and the grounds are a fabulous park-like garden...there were wedding parties moving about and we spent about four hours there overall.