For the Love of Travel

Loved
Originally uploaded by Kjers..

D and I are thinking about heading somewhere overseas this spring or summer. Probably to Greece. I keep thinking about how fun it is to travel and how many great photo opportunities there will be! Oh joy!

A Sure Sign of Spring

Spring is, well....only a few months off. fPOE is getting a head start with it's recent alphabet post, P is for PAPAVERACEAE. If you like poppies as much as I do, head on over! I'm so happy to be featured too :)

Here's a sneak peak:

ISIS By Sixth and Main

Beautiful, ay?

Zen Morning

A little inspiration to start your day...


Click the image to go to the treasury.

Help me with my looks

I'm trying to figure out a new and improved look for my blog. I think this might be too busy. What do you think? Should I make the header less busy? Should I change the background? Or do you like this? I'd love your input!

Blog Appearance

Yippe Skippie...I've been sighted at Joyfolie. Thank you for sharing my work on your beautiful blog, Jessica!

2011: Doing things better...

I'm trying not to do this too hastily. Afterall, the new year is about doing things better, right? Well, there's no need for full out resolution surgeries here, but I know I'm in need of a little life nip and tuck. What better time to don my scalpel than during the start of a new year? Here's a list of some of the things I would like to improve upon during this upcoming year. I'm going to divide it into three sections: personal, work, relationships.

art by Marie-Chantale Turgeon

Personal

• Be more gentle with myself and give myself more freedom for mistakes. Afterall, life is an exploration.


• Be more bold.


• Eat less sugar. I'm usually pretty good at this, but the holiday season really got to me. It's not that I eat that much sugar compared to most Americans, but I can feel it making my brain foggy and it's just not that good for me!

• Drink more water.
  

• Take more time for activities that bring presence and stability into my life.


• Focus more on one thing at a time. I'm the queen of multi-tasking and it's starting to take a toll on my productivity in a negative way.


• Become more postive and attract more of what I want in my life.


• Appreciate everything more!

Work

• Get more business minded. Take care of all the business aspects that I hate dealing with. Time logs, licensing, accounting, taxes, marketing (although I like this).


• Make business cards and fliers. Drop them off at local places.


• Add more products to both my Etsy shops. I have some exciting ideas in mind!


• Communicate more with other bloggers. I think this one is really important for two reasons. First, it's important that we support each other and I want to let others know how much I appreciate them. Second, I'd love to get my work more publicity and it would be great to be published on a well known blog someday.


• Be more consistent with my blog posts and more deliberate about producing posts that get people inspired!


• I'd like to submit some of my work to magazines in the hopes of being published. If anyone has suggestions for this I would love to hear them.


• Become more involved in fPOE (Female Photographers of Etsy).


• Talk to more people. Be more outgoing. This is huge for me because I am very shy around new people and I hate starting conversation. It's so hard but I know I need to push myself and create some real and meaningful relationships.


• Get my work into a gallery, shop, or cafe.

Relationships

• Get out from behind the computer and spend more time with friends, face to face.

• Be more present in my relationships, expecially during conversations. I have wandering-mind-syndrome.


• Be more focused on helping others. Give more. Love more.


• Listen better.


• Communicate better. Make less assumptions. Be more upfront.


• Send more hand written notes to distant friends.


• Inject more fun into my relationships.

I may just have to add more as I think of them, but for now these are the big ones. Do you have a list of your resolutions? I'd love to hear them. Feel free to post them in the comments or provide a link to them.

Thanks friends, for all your support!

2010 Recap: 12 Months of Mostly Good...

2010

This year has been an amazing one! Full of ups and downs, but mostly ups. And while it hasn't been all roses, I'll take this moment to share the most important events which happily revolve around mostly positive moments. So here goes nothing:

January started out rather uneventful yet a little rough. I continued to work my engineering job, run my etsy shops, create, and rock-climb. I worked on mending my heart from a couple of past relationships.

In February I started talking with a wonderful man (let's call him D) who, little did I know, would become the love of my life.

March came around and I met D on Saint Patrick's Day for a little rock-climbing and food. After that our relationship began to blossom.

April begins a gorgeous spring in the desert. Rock-climbing and my first "Beanfest" at Cochise Stronghold in Southern Arizona. D was the "Beanmaster." For all of you who have never heard of it, it's a big party of rock-climbers who get together for great food (including lots of beans), tons of climbing, unfortunate amounts of tequila as well as the ritualistic beaning of each participant. Go to your tent with beans on your head or risk retribution! :)

May brought a trip to San Diego: cold dips in the Pacific, fish tacos, artsy towns, Balboa Park, old friends, and camping by the ocean. The best trip to San Diego ever.

In June we took a trip to New Orleans to visit D's family. I loved that city!

More climbing in July, along with a visit from my mom.

Big changes in August with a move to the rural parts of southern Arizona (although still working in Tucson part-time). Adjusting to living 30 minutes from everything has been a little hard, but a great experience. I love the amazing mountain views, incredible 360 degree sunsets, proximity to my favorite Arizona town - Bisbee, lots of land for gardening, the incredible stars, and the peace and quiet. We also took another trip in August to Michigan, where I took D to my most favorite place in the world, Leland.

September brings cooler weather and a little trip to Sedona.

In October my mom moved to Phoenix, yay! We also got a puppy from the pound.

Lazy days in November. More rock-climbing and another Beanfest. We also started a lifestyle photography business, Twin Satori Photography.

December came so quickly and is already over! We had a great holiday season with a trip from D's parents and a few lovely visits from my mom. D and I had our first Christmas together and a magical end to the year.

Happy 2011 everyone. May it be safe and full of good!

Happy New Year!

I feel so blessed to have woken up to this view from my back window on New Year's Eve morning. Here's to a magical and beautiful 2011 to all of you!