Lessons Learned

Today it was a beautiful gloomy day outside. I truly enjoy gray skies and a bit of chill in the air. We don’t get very many days like this in Arizona, so this afternoon I took a break from my computer screen, stepped outside and took some photos. I thought about my life. My family, my friends, my business, my words, my actions, my journey, my blessings. It was a good day. It’s a good life. There’s always so much to learn.

For a while, I felt like I had to keep working hard to get to one specific place. A place I could stop and say, I’ve arrived.  In some sense, I felt like I was starting out late and had to catch up. Something similar to a marathon with a finish line. And then it hit me that I don’t want to ever be finished, I don’t want to cross that line. Not only because that would mean it’s over, but also because I’ve finally realized that place doesn’t exist. Instead, I decided to thoroughly enjoy my run, to keep a steady pace, and maybe even slow down some times to really take it all in.  And a few sprints are fun too. I’m just looking forward to it all, and this does not mean I don’t have a direction in mind. I do. But instead of focusing on a final destination, I am now happy to know this will be a multi-destination journey. Kinda liberating, isn’t it?I had a lovely lunch with an amazing photographer and dear friend today. While catching up on what’s going on in our lives, naturally work came up. I shared with Melissa Jill the lessons I’ve been learning and how blessed I feel to realize that God has been guiding me all along to the place where I’m at now. I have also been given some big lessons that I just need to have trust in Him and faith in Him. I’m embarrassed to admit it, but I have at times worried. Worried that things might not work out. Shame on me!Don’t get me wrong. Hard-work and determination are super important, but I can’t forget to have faith. Faith is quite possibly the best cure for stress and anxiety

Recently someone asked me on formspring “How did you muster up the courage to quit your job and follow your dream? What advice do you have to someone in overcoming that fear?” I answered the question, but I don’t think I was able to convey what I was really thinking. However, during our conversation today, Melissa pretty much summed it all up and I think this would have been a much better answer to that question: “Weather you are working for somebody else, a big corporation or for yourself, the one providing for you is always God”. She is much more eloquent than I am. Anyways, the truth is I never really stopped being afraid, I just took a leap of faith. And yes, I did receive a few nudges from those around me who love me.

Thinking about framing the next two and hanging them side by side:One of the main reasons why I cherish my clients so much? Because I know they are hand-picked for me. The first time I met with a client who didn’t book me, I was sad. I liked them. Why didn’t it work out? I analyzed everything I said, everything I did. I was determined to learn from this. I wanted every client I liked to like me back.  I now know, I certainly cannot be the right photographer for every client, so I just have to be myself, do my best, let it go and be happy that it’s really not up to me. It’s great knowing that what’s meant to be will be!Success. Do you have your own definition? How do you know you’ve succeeded? Can it be measured by the number of comments on your blog? By how much money you make? By how others perceive you? Do you have to be famous to be successful?

To me success is synonym with happiness. My number one marker of success is how happy my clients are. The happier they are, the happier I am. And that’s what I work for. What would make you happy? Define it, achieve it and be the happiest version of yourself Any journey is more fun when the people I love are with me. Enjoying my own journey is great, but I can’t forget to share in my friends’ journeys as well, sacrifices included . The more I give, the more gratifying it is.

The more I do what I love, the more in love with it I am. I give it my all each and every time and I hope it shows. I know not everyone may see it, but I’m grateful for those who do. Thank you for the encouragement and the much needed “nudges”.This post in itself is a leap of faith. A “nudge-less” leap. Maybe I’m learning.

FEED 100

If you could provide 100 meals for children for $10, would you do it? I certainly hope that everyone reading this answered with an emphatic yes!

Today while at Whole Foods I bought their FEED 100 bag. It’s only $10 and every bag you purchase will provide 100 nutritious school meals for hungry children through the UN World Food Program.

Huge bonus? The bag is super cute and made with 100% organic cotton and sustainable burlap. I’ve been using reusable grocery bags for a while, but I’ve been looking for one I could leave in my purse so I can use it at the mall instead of using their shopping bags and this one is just absolutely perfect for that.  Besides being able to zip it up, which makes it really easy to keep it in my purse at all times, it’s also really soft, has internal pockets and it fits a lot of stuff in there.

I hope I’ve talked you into going to get (at least) one too!

Happy Friday

Resolutions, Goals, and Dreams

As the beginning of a new year approaches I know we all start planning, dreaming, and resolving. Resolving to be better, to do things better and to take the necessary steps to achieve all of our biggest dreams. I am definitely a dreamer. I not only dream from December – January, but year-round and on a daily basis. And what most people would call goals or resolutions, I prefer to call them dreams.
Every year of my life from the time I could write, I’ve made a list of my dreams. Some dreams would go unattained and I would just roll them over to the next year’s list and some would get dropped (like make Leonardo di Caprio fall in love with me). Yes, that made the list the year after I watched Titanic. Don’t worry, it got crossed off soon after.
Anyways, I am definitely still making a list yet again this year, and I still have some “roll over” dreams from years past, but I thought it would be fun (and a good motivator for me) to share with you the dreams that I have actually been able to achieve in the past few years instead of the ones I am still working to achieve. It makes my heart so full and happy to realize that dreams really do come true and I’ve truly cherished every moment I’ve gotten to live out my dreams.

1. To live near my sister again.

My sister and I are very close but when I turned 15 she moved to Colorado (and I stayed in Brazil). It wasn’t until I was almost 20 years old that we got to live together again in Arizona. We were roommates all of my years attending ASU and now we only live about 20 miles from each other. I love it and we make sure to see each other at least once a week. This picture was taken 2 weeks after I moved in with her. New Year’s Eve 1999 – 2000.

2. To swim with dolphins

I started dreaming about it when I was 7 years old and we visited Sea World in Florida. It made my list every year until I was 27! That’s when Curt and I were in Puerto Vallarta for his cousin’s wedding with our best friends, Tom & Trisha. Trisha, Curt’s cousin and his aunt all came with me and it was seriously one of the coolest experiences of my life!

3. To be able to understand, read and speak English.

I am not sure when exactly this one made it on the list but I was really young. My dad bought me a book about penguins that was in English and it drove me crazy that I couldn’t read it. I’m guessing I was 6 or 7. I think I finally accomplished this one about 4 or 5 years ago and I am thankful for it every single day. This dictionary was my best friend for a loooong time.

4. To visit the Sistine Chapel.

I was in 7th grade and learning about art history. I can still see the pictures on my text book. I fell in love. I ran home and added it to my list of dreams. This one came true just this past summer. I even got a little teary-eyed when we were there and I remembered my art history teacher and the pictures on my text book. It was incredible.

5. To visit Venice.

I remember being pretty young and I was in an art gallery with my mom and there were a lot of paintings of Venice. My mom explained to me that the roads were rivers and instead of cars people owned boats. It seemed so surreal to me. It made the list and of course we visited it this last summer while in Italy. It was just like I imagined it to be as a child. And because God is so good, Curt was there to experience it with me. It was better than my dreams.

6. To ride a camel.

In my dream I would be in Egypt and then get to ride a camel in the desert. I got to ride a camel at the zoo, but I still crossed it off my list. Hey, sometimes you just have to make do with what you have. Visiting Egypt is a separate dream now

7. To live in a house.

I grew up living in hotel suites due to my dad’s job. I know, pretty sweet, if you are not a child. I had to learn to make friends pretty quickly as most of my friends would leave after only 1 or 2 weeks of staying at the hotel. If someone pretty famous was staying there, no one could come in that wasn’t a guest. Therefore my friends from school couldn’t come over. Room service is great, but it gets old fast. Trust me. Plus when you are late for school and all you really want is a glass of milk and a piece of bread… not possible. We finally moved out of the hotel, but since I grew up in the 3rd biggest city in the world, houses are not very common and usually not very convenient as far as location for my parent’s jobs so we moved into a high-rise apartment building. It was like winning the lottery for me but I had a few friends that lived in houses and I dreamed about it. How great would it be to come home and not have to wait for the elevator? I now have my very own house and I LOVE every square inch of it.

8. To graduate college with a 4.0 GPA

It’s silly to think about it now, however it was important to me at the time and I was really really happy on graduation day. And although it’s embarrassing to admit it, it’s a pretty great feeling to know people are proud of  you and I could actually see how proud my parents were.

9. To work in the hospital as a dietitian in the intensive care unit

Maybe because I put so much time, effort and money into this one, and then decided to quit my job, I often get asked if I regret it. And my answer is absolutely not. I never gave up on my dream. I worked hard for it and then enjoyed it for a full 3 years. I loved it and will always keep up my credentials, but for now I am just choosing to live out a different dream.

10. To become a wedding photographer.

Seemingly the most impossible dream of all. The one that scared me the most. Probably because I wanted it the most. I still wake up every morning and feel like I am still dreaming.