You Still Remember Me, Right?

Is is sad that this is the most revent photo of me? Taken back in the summertime? ACK! 

 

Ahhh, the joys of being a photographer, you spend all your time behind the  lens taking pics of everyone and everything else so much that ya kinda forget about actually being in any photos yourself!

 

Quick photo update then of the past few months ..

 

 

A backyard bonfire party with friends, that resulted in a housefull of hyped-up, happy children with sticky-marshmallow faces and exhausted parents, and a slightly scorched patch of grass in the backyard, hahaha ( it;s all mostlygrown back now, thankfully)

Ridiculously delicious pizzas made primarily by yours truly.

 

 

 

Helping this lovely lady prep for her successful craft fairs. She had such beautiful gifts to sell, all original, handmade lovelies that were so thoughtful. I especially loved her paper "Mistletoe-to-Go" crafts. For you married folks I recommend hanging it from the headboard of your bed.

 Not exactly subtle, I know, but definitely effective, hahaha!

 

 

We're getting all ready for Christmas, here is my son Zach with his Operation Christmas Child Shoebox gift that he put together himself (he spent his own saved money to fill it) before sending it out. Proud Mama moment here. (Though not proud of the pic quality, sorry folks!)

 

 

My next challenge is to try to snap a pic of myself at the gym. I love to workout so I love that they have a good sturdy heavy bag there for me to work my marital arts on.

I'm also working on some homemade gift ideas in the coming weeks so I will be posting those as DIY's so y'all can get 'er done like we are, hahaha!

 

Homemade Everything This Christmas,

-J

 

 

 

 

 

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

source

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 ;)

 

PLEASE TAKE THIS QUICK SURVEY!

Ok everyone,  I spent this afternoon working on this survey, so I'm hoping praying, pleading and asking that you will all take this SUPER SHORT SURVEY to help us out with our market research for our new business!
 Just click on the link here http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/SCXRWBQ
and fill it out, then pass it along to your friends.  I would appreciate it so very much!  If you see me around this week, make sure tell me that you've taken my survey and I'll give you a bear hug, hahaha!
  We are in the beginning stages of our market research , and anything you guys have to say is important to us,  we want to offer the very best Taekwondo instruction available for our students , and make ours the best martial arts school ever! Thanks so much everyone for all your continued support, we couldnt do it without you!

Anxiously anticipating results,
J

PROJECT 52!!! "Now here's the Kicker . . . "

There was alot of self-imposed pressure to end Project 52 with a bang - so much so that I began to get nervous and the expectations built up in my head and there was almost no way to reach them! So to counter that,  I needed something with quite a kick to it, and consequently, that's exactly what inspired me for this final project -  that's the kicker, hahaha!

Allow me to introduce to you my good friend Kendall, my soon-to-be-business-partner and a second-degree black belt in Taekwondo.  Kendall has a dream. Her dream is to open a Taekwondo martial arts school in our town, and teach students of all ages this wonderful combination of self-defense, a respect fo self and others, and just boost others' self confidence in general. Children and adults of all ages are welcome - specialized self-defense classes for women, and also for seniors, are also in the works. This girl is one of the most motivated, hard-working, inspirational people I know! My heart is just so proud of this girl for going after her dream, I am so incredibly happy to be able to see that dream come into existence! To watch as she teaches her students not just practical life-skills like self-discipline, but of all the lives that will be nurtured and challenged and forever changed under her instruction and guidance.  You only have to meet this lady once for her passionate excitement for this sport to rub off on you, her enthusiasm is contagious and her bright smile makes you feel right at home!


So Project 52 is wrapped up, and new projects for this new year are unfolding in the form of a new business venture  - yes I am Kendall's business partner in the opening of this Taekwondo school. I am just so excited for this new project, so very happy for my friend and what she will accomplish this next year and so very honored to be a part of it in any way I can be of help to her in this.!

There will be new photo posts in the new year in a differemt style than this year's "Project 52" format.  For one thing, I am going to be starting school in February ( via distance education online) to get my diploma in Psychology and Counselling, so that will take up alot of my time, therefore I wont be able to put a time frame on projects like I did this past year. Alot of good that did me anyway, hahaha!  No, this year I will be doing random photo challenges with my dear friend and beloved mentor Barb ( the sweet soul I introduced not long ago who makes those lovely cards). She and I talked about agreeing on a specific subject to photograph, and then the two of us would post our finished image on our two blogs, with a link to the each others blogs, so that people can compare images. I'm calling these new occasional posts " Challenge Accepted" photo posts,  and I'm excited to see the different ways the same subject can be captured, its one of the things I love about photograph the most. I love how millions of people can take a picture of the same subject  -say, for instance, the Eiffel Tower - and every single photo will look different, because every photographer has a unique way in which we express the world as we see it.  I hope through these Challenge Accepted posts you all see how many different ways there are to see the beauty and uniqueness in everything around us, and I really hope it will encourage your to grab your camera ( even if it;s your cell phone camera! haha) and take your own photos of the challenge subjects!

I want to thank everyone who has read my blog posts over the past year ( yes all 3 or 4 of you, hahaha!) and  for being so faithful to comment on my project posts and for your kind words and encouragement. This past year has been at times challenging and honestly quite difficult, personally speaking, and I  know I didn't have alot of my projects done for you all in the time frames I would have liked to. You've all seen alot of the time stamps on my posts reading 2 and 3 a.m., hahaha!  But hey, another year is behind me with alot of lessons learned along the way, so I have alot to be thankful for even just in that itself. Im also thankful to my family and friends for all of their love and patience and understanding this past year, and for their continued love and support heading into this new year. This new year has already started out radically different from any other year already ( more on that later) and I already know this next year is going to be a really great one - full of all sorts of challenges, opportunities, and awesome surprises!  BRING IT ON!

Fancy flying kicks in the air,
-J