"Ninety-Nine Blog Posts Later" or "I Can't Believe I'm Still Writing ...."

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Right from the very first blog post I ever wrote, I knew I'd fallen in love with it  - hard. I had finally found a creative little hub of my very own, a quiet little corner of cyberspace that I could stretch out in and give my "dreamer" side a chance to grow a little.  

That was back in November of 2010, a very hard month, year, time for me, and I found sharing my heart amidst my pain with the hope of reaching others who were hurting to encourage them would somehow help to heal not only other's pain but somehow my own as well. Time of course is necessary for healing but I felt truly blessed at the opportunity to encourage others with my words, and I felt the healing process already beginning. The dawn of a new day.

Well, 99 blog posts later I find myself staring at the screen in awe, wondering how on earth so much could have changed in only 2 years? It feels like a lifetime ago, and I think it's because my life now hardly even resembles anything close to what it looked like back then. So many big changes!

The first change was that I began an online course through the New York Institute of Photography, which was a promise I had made to myself and I finally made myself take the time to make this investment. As a single mama who already worked a full time job I had my reservations but I made myself step out and accept the challenge and I'm so glad that I did. While I am still slowly plugging away at it ( life always seems to get in the way, haha) I have to say that the course material and textbooks have proved to be invaluable tools and I have already learned a lot!
The second change being that I met my friends Kendall and Neil. Kendall got hired at my office to do the bookkeeping/accounting and we became friends quickly. When we discovered a shared passion for martial arts ( we both did taekwondo and she was already a 2nd degree black belt)  I offered to help her open her own martial arts school and therein became her business partner and co-owner of our town's very first Taekwondo gym, and corporation Outlast Taekwondo Ltd. (you can check out our  taekwondo blog HERE) . 

However I'm writing this post at 12:34 a.m. and I've nearly fallen asleep 98 times so based on my current narcoleptic progress rate  this blog is already taking too long.  

There have been a great many smaller changes as well, which have all added up and snowballed into these two "hum-dingers" as I like to call them, and all of these combined have made for a significant change in my life. As always, all credit goes to my Lord God and true Savior, without Whom I would be SERIOUSLY lost and undoubtedly headed down a very destructive path.  He saved me from myself, to be sure and brought me instead to a place of healing.
In only 2 short years, my life has radically changed so much. There have been so many ups and downs and twists and turns to get me to this place I'm at now and I thank God for every good thing in it ;)
Thank you for letting me share, thank you for letting me encourage you.  I hope this next year will allow me even more opportunities to encourage and inspire you all. I hope to fill each and every one of your hearts with words of love and plant a seed of hope that will grow strong
love, -J


P.S. Just to leave you with a smile on your face and a sweet dream in your heart ;)

 

Busy week = BIG UPDATE!

Get ready for a major overhaul - the photo below of my tools doesn't even begin to cover the extent of the "building" that this blog  (not to mention my whole career) is going to undergo! 

I'm amazed at how FAST the time has gone by -  I can barely keep up with all the new stuff going on these days.(in a good way)  The good news is I have LOTS to share with you all in the next few weeks!  I've been steadily moving in a new direction over the past few years, and I'm so excited to share all the new changes this direction is taking me, I could almost  burst!
 I'm beginning a new business adventure again, ( to read about my last one, click here ) this time for my own online art store!  My love of photography has led me in a new direction, one that is way less client-centered and more art-inspired. I WILL still be doing photography, but my store will be more than just photo prints, I am also going to be selling my own paintings ( I do acrylic, and oil ) as well as my other handmade unique items, made not only by me by also my featured artist friends who are wonderfully talented.  I hope each of these will add a bit of happiness and inspiration to the lives of those who receive them! A tiny seed for this was planted in my heart a couple years ago, and since then that seed has grown in a dream that had rooted itself so deeply in my heart that it is now a part of me, and I am so excited to see it grow and slowly become a reality!   I will share more details over the following days and weeks as I can. Lots of fine-tuning to be done and many business details to be worked out, (I'm well-aware of the crazy time-consuming hours of hard work from when I started my first business with my friend Kendall)  but now that it's FINALLY happening I couldn't be more excited  - I'm ready to move forward!

I haven't had this much inspiration pumping creativity through my veins in YEARS!  I carry around THIS with me everywhere these days:

so that I can be sure not to lose any of the dozens of ideas floating around in my head at any given time, haha. It's already filling up with pages of ideas, notes, sketches, quotes and random inspirations that I don't want to let slip by. Oh, and my new favorite addiction these days is chai frappuccino's  - I'm going through them as quickly as I'm going through my art journal! haha

I spent last month cleaning out my mudroom to make way for my in-home art studio, so that I could have everything in one place, and I can make a big creative mess to my heart's content and not have to worry about cleaning it up when someone comes over, I can just close the door! haha ;)
Still have alot to do ( painting the walls, decorating, put up shelving, hanging canvas etc) but it's a start:

I already have a few things made and ready to hang, I'm super excited to post photos of them soon!
Once I get the online store ready, and I'm ready to list, I'll be sure to post photos of the finished studio and all the art projects as I finish them, including some fun DIY posts of stuff I've made to customize my studio! (custom fabric chandelier, anyone?)

In other news, I fell in love this week . ..  with these camera bags from epiphanie bags!

Saving up to get one, so I can haul my poor camera around with me EVERYWHERE while keeping it from gettting battered ( it still hasn't entirely forgiven me for dragging it around Mexico, haha)
you can see more here

I'll leave you with some random shots of pretties for your eyeballs to enjoy ;)  Remember to always look for the rainbow after each storm . . .

And stop to smell the flowers!

Hope your day is full of beauty and inspiration!

I'm off to go kick some butt in my taekowndo class ( www.outlasttkd.com)  and then home to continue customizing my new studio!  -J