Walking in a Winter Wonderland….Time with My Son and My Camera
I hadn’t really been out of the house for days, with being ill and not being able to kick it. Plus, the weather has been just downright nasty with either rain or freezing cold that makes my nerves stand on end. I actually prefer when it snows lightly. Now that I am able to better appreciate the beauty of snow, I really want to be out in it. The wonder of each snowflake, the icicles, the formations all leave me in awe. I have missed my Fall walks with my camera. I wanted to see what I was missing out there in nature. The sun was shining and so I resigned myself to bundle up well, don the boots and hit the sidewalk at least for a few minutes. My son wanted to go with me, and I really wanted his company. When he and I have time alone exploring as we do, I know it makes him as happy as it makes me. And we spent a lot more than a few minutes outside.
We wandered around and saw how beautiful the sun glinted off the snow piles. We looked for icicles and saw absolutely gorgeous formations of them all around us. If we were driving by or walking by fast, we never would have noticed them. We saw all the berries left from Fall, and it was like they were almost preserved from the cold, some even encased in ice.
I was in wonder of the beauty God creates all around us. I appreciated the moments spent with my son as we talked about life and nature and what he planned to do when he grows up (which is a list of about 100 things, but all very nice assets to humanity). He had some things he wanted to show me by our local Ashland County Courthouse. I knew the architecture would be great of course there and I wasn’t disappointed. The trimming of the building are delicious. He loves the old bell there, and the cannon, and he wiped the snow away from the plaque that told about the time capsule from 1976. He even plans to attend the opening of it, coming back to Ashland. I know it is driving him nuts what is inside it. He is such a treasure hunter. I watched as he wiped the cannon in various areas–brushing off the snow to find the manufacturer’s imprints, the years (1884), the little intricacies imbedded in it. He looked like a little museum curator. I stood and watched him, filled with love. His treasures are history, and though I too love history, I could relate even more as my treasures are finding the various photographic angles that are around us each day.
I know what it is like to be busy in life. I know what it is like to rush and work so hard that you never see your kids or go outside. Being on this side of that now, I certainly appreciate these moments even more. And I believe that my son, and my children, will certainly have better memories of their mom in their mind as well as in photos! I urge everyone that if you aren’t seeing these small things in life, appreciating the world around us, remembering history and appreciating it, that you stop what you are doing and figure out how to get it in your life without excuses. Nothing is more important than quality time with your children and the outdoors.
Here is a short slide show of some of the photos we took today, all which are available as prints for sale if you’d like a little piece of our adventure (please don’t steal my photos, they are copyrighted). Please leave comments and let me know what you think!
Finding the Missing Socks to Make Pairs of Socks in 2011
I know that everyone is writing the proverbial “what I plan to do in 2011” blog, but truly, it’s great to get goals down on paper. It holds you more accountable for trying to get them done. I have a few things on my mind, but I’m not going to take up this blog by listing 1-10 of New Year Resolutions. Only God knows the real plan right? I just want to get my life straight. I’m willing to be flexible and take it as it comes.
2010 was the first year of me being solely self-employed/full-time Mommy. It was a year of inconsistencies and struggles, but to my delight, many people found me “very put together” and “accomplished.” Not really, I’m just great at PR and try to stay up beat. I think 2010 was a happy year for us for many reasons, but also a very hard and emotional year. We have a lot of family issues, we have financial issues we are still trying to clean up from our divorces, my abusive marriage (abuse includes financial abuse) and Tim losing 3 jobs in 3 years. I quit my job because I became very ill even though many chose to not believe just how ill I was. We continued to raise 3 children the best we could, wiping many tears and potty training one. We tried to form and run 3 different businesses, and Tim started to write several novels. We made a lot of mistakes along the path of 2010. Mostly we were just trying to clean-up our life.
For 2011, I wish for God to truly lay on my heart, or continue to lay on my heart when I get sidetracked, just what I am supposed to be doing. If we need to stay in Ashland awhile longer, I wish for the ghosts of my past to go away. I hope for friends who truly are a part of your life and I wish for family to see what awesome kids I have and they are missing out on. I wish for small town small businesses to understand PR and the nature of what I do. I wish for clients that we could help without giving 24 hours of our day away to them to not be paid or for them to decide to do something else instead, or as in the case of many Tim met this year, to just disappear. I think in 2011, we’ll just focus on writing. Writing articles, novels, and an occasional press release. My goal for this year is to finally get my children’s book underway and maybe even completed! The rest of my time I’m going to devote to my Breathe Beauty Art and Photography business. I’m going to continue to take photos and make them beautiful. Find ways to sell more prints and notecards without being spammy and continue to love this as being what I can do to help my family. I want to keep painting more and doing art with my kids. And speaking of kids, I am going to continue to put my kids above all other work or functions. Everytime I start to step back into the rat race right now, God reminds me that He needs me here with them. He needs me focused on them, and time for the other will come. He reminds me of my burnout on social activities and ladders, functions, etc. I will continue to moderate my time in 2011 until I see where our life is going.
I hope and pray that in 2011 Tim can finally decide or have his life take a turn to where it needs to go for our family. He’s searching for a full time job where he can get out of the house every day and I hope that he finally lands one, while still finding time for his part time business writing job, writing his novel to completion this year, and finding time to help me out at home and spend time with us. I know there are big changes coming for him, and this is another major reason why I need to be focused at home until we know where our life is headed or how our schedule will be.
Have I quit dreaming? No. Coming up with idea after idea? No. Less enthusiastic about making a difference in the world? No. It just means that my kids need me and I’m diligently doing what God has asked me. It also means I am balancing my time so that I can keep feeling healthy and not struggle again to the point of debilitating myself. I am excited to spend time with the kids and continue to work with photos. And more than that, I am excited to make time to start writing again! I’m excited for time to be creative!
Wish me luck. Tim has done a lot of the laundry for the last few years as I struggled with my health but it is time to finally find all the mates for all the single socks floating around the house. I feel they’ve been away from their partners for much too long of a time.
Happy 2011, and don’t stop following your dreams….but listen to God and listen to your soul. Sometimes it knows best!
Don’t Shop on Black Friday? Do your Christmas Cards!
November is one of my favorite months. It’s a special time to remember our blessings and focus on what matters most to us before all the hustle of the holiday season descends upon us. Unfortunately, it is the middle of November and many people already have their Christmas decorations up. I won’t do that. I like to observe the changing tones of Autumn and think of squirrels, acorns, and colored leaves on the ground. I want to smell like cloves and cinnamon a little while longer.
Thanksgiving vacation is a great time to get up your Christmas tree though and get a head start on the month. How many of you also spend time addressing your Christmas cards? Doing some shopping and signing your greeting cards are great tasks to check off your to-do lists so you can enjoy all the many holiday events packed into December.
My online art and photography store, Breathe Beauty Art and Photography, offers several choices of quality heavy stock Christmas cards featuring my fine art photography. Most feature something in nature or something architecturally vintage. I hope you enjoy the cards as I put them up. Check back often. I also can do the flat photo cards with either one of my photos, or your family candid, and set-up your greeting and signature for you even for free. This is a very lovely keepsake that won’t cost you a ton either.
Please e-mail me at breathebeautyartandphotography@hotmail.com or go to my www.facebook.com/breathebeautyartandphotography (must like my page) for my “Deal-a-Day” promotions. Or go ahead to my store and view my cards and prints and choose to pay on the site by paypal or contact me for specific ideas or ordering through the e-mail above.
I am extremely thankful to God for giving me my creative gifts and I hope that you’ll put your continued trust in me for all your very special fine art photo desires. Thank you for your support!
Greeting Card Delight
It’s just about the time everyone orders Holiday cards, right? So I’ve started to create and post my Greeting Cards at my
Zazzle store with Holiday themed fine art photos! Check out this fine art photograph perfect for your Holiday card and keep checking back for more Holiday ideas! I also can do holiday photoscards for you, with one of my photos or one of your own!
http://www.zazzle.com/happy_holidays_card-137971425340818886
Apple Notecards!
Here is a set of my notecards for sale from the photos taken during apple picking yesterday! These would make great thinking of you and thank you cards (blank inside) and some with envelopes! Buy a set of 10 (4 different photos), you’ll love the colors on these great photo cards. Enjoy!
http://www.artfire.com/modules.php?name=Shop&op=listing&product_id=2177856
Photography Rights/Copyright
I am very happy to allow you to view my photos on my blog; however, I do try to make a living with the sale of my fine art photographs. From the moment I created this photo, it became mine and I own the copyright to any photos I post on this site or any other site. I want you to view the photos for your enjoyment and if you really fall in love with one, please contact me for a print, don’t just try to pull it from my site. Please respect that my work is my own and make sure you are treating my photography with the utmost integrity. I appreciate your comments and your support, as well as your business. If you would like to order a print, please contact me at breathebeautyartandphotography@hotmail.com or go to my online store at http://breathebeautyartandphotographybyerin.artfire.com
Thank you so very much in advance for your honesty.
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