Small Wins, Big Results!

Have you ever wondered what it would be like if we all said and focused on the things, with child-like energy, that we are good at?

The other day, as I dropped off my kids at school, I heard a kid tell their dad that they were really good at jumping up on curbs. I didn’t see the kid’s face but I knew it was glowing from being so good at jumping up on the curb. It made me think about how honest and real this was for this kid. They are good at it and they were just letting their dad know that they should watch out for this goodness. Then I thought, if this kid, as with many wise kids, can recognize how good they are at something like this that I as well should be more childlike and embrace this as well!

So, this time in my birthday month I thought I would focus on my small wins and encourage you to also focus on the small things that you do that are as simple as being good at jumping on curbs!

I started running a year ago or so and at that time I was not running very far at all. I was running from power pole to power pole, then I would walk to the next one, then run again. I increased in distance and how long I was running the longer I kept with this new hobby. I would message Bryce, my husband, to tell him I was off to run and today I was running three five-minute runs or two eight-minute runs. Time kept adding up and I would see the next run would be longer and I would think to myself, how will I ever do two ten-minute runs? But, you know what, each time I attempted it, I achieved it!

I was just thinking how I could have NEVER run this far a year ago, but, by taking small steps, just a little bit at a time, I am now running over two miles without stopping or walking! This isn’t a small thing by any means but those small steps led up to something BIG!

So, here is my invitation to you. Take small steps and look back at those small steps and you will see that you have really accomplished a lot! Be like the kid who is good at jumping up on curbs! Celebrate yourself and all that you are doing! Leave a comment with what you are celebrating or what small steps you have taken that have added up to a big result!

Still Becoming

As we all have, I have spent my whole life becoming who I am, and I will continue to spend the rest of my life becoming who I am as I grow even more. I wanted to share with you how I became who I am as an artist.

I officially started to study photography in 2001 when I went to Arizona State University. I had finally picked a major, for my bachelor's degree, that I thought would really hold my interest. Photography was something that I had always been interested in and hoped to really hone in on skills that I had never learned before. I can still remember the shopping trip with my mom to pick out my first SLR film camera, which I still have, and then getting to learn all about how cameras worked, working with film and in the darkroom, and most of all how to be in control of the camera. Those early days were lots and lots of learning all about the camera and how I could use it to shape the art that I was creating.

I tested out many paths along the way in discovering what type of photographer I wanted to be. For a while, I wanted to be a newborn baby photographer, and with supplies and courses purchased, I have tried my hand at wedding photography, and family photography. Each and every idea has taken me one step closer to photographing the things that I enjoy most, flowers!

It was at the Academy of Art that I discovered my love of photographing flowers abstractly. This gave me permission, from myself mainly, to push photography in a different way than what I had always thought was the proper way or been taught. It allowed me to play and discover things about myself. I guess I always looked up to different masters of photography, like Imogen Cunningham, Ansel Adams, and Edward Weston, who always had everything in focus in their work.

Spending time creating, exploring, reading, and figuring out who you are and what you love. You may find that as you grow that one thing you once loved isn’t for you any longer or something you never saw beauty in before suddenly holds a great beauty for you! That is how it was for me with cacti, I never saw the beauty in many of them, and then last year and this year I have become obsessed with them and now have cacti growing in my backyard! This was a journey that I didn’t expect to be on, especially after living in Arizona for around 30 years!

What does this journey to becoming you look like? I write down my thoughts and ideas, sometimes multiple times, so that I have that idea someplace and then I can always come back to it again if right now is not the right time. I am excited that I get to be on the journey of becoming over and over for my whole life. Things change and things change us, rather than resisting this change I want to lean into it.

Tell me about your journey, was it a straight path, a winding path, or one with a lot of pit stops along the way?

Summer Magic

Summer Magic…or things that I Love About Summer

It’s only a short three works before school starts again for my kids. Summer break is such a short time and it had me thinking about the things that I love about summer!

• Exploring new places with family.

• Iced coffee in the afternoon for a pick-me-up!

• The kids getting to add color to their hair!

• A new book that keeps me turning the pages.

• Learning new things, then seeing that in real life. I just learned about Century Plants, an agave plant that flowers once (at about 10-25 years) and dies, and now I see them EVERYWHERE!

• Tending to my garden. Smelling and tasting the fantastic things that are growing.

• The sound of my kids laughing and them enjoying each other’s company.

• Splashing in the water, at the lake, watching the sunset, and making memories.

• Fireworks on the 4th of July and watching the amazement in my children’s eyes.

• The colorful Arizona summer flowers lining the road that I live on - bring a smile to my face!

Random facts about me…round two

It is birthday time again! Happy 42 years of living to me!

I did the random facts about myself back in 2020, which was hard, and here I go again challenging myself to tell you 42 random facts about me.

1. I love the smell of the rain in the desert.
2. I have lived in four states - Minnesota, California, Arizona, and Colorado.
3. When I was a teenager I jumped off of a 50-60 foot cliff, at Havasupai, without hesitation, shocking everyone (including myself!)
4. Bryce and I have seen The Midnight, an amazing synth band, three times in concert.
5. I love hanging out with my kids.
6. My cat will be 19 years old this year.
7. My favorite type of ice cream is Thrifty ice cream. My favorite is a double cone with chocolate chip and mint chip. We used to get this after school when I was a kid. The taste brings me back!
8. I dream about someday owning a house on a lake. I can imagine the long list of fun times we could have there.
9. I got to study Spanish in Costa Rica, living with a great family, for five weeks.
10. I like to treat myself to coffee as a cure-all!
11. I love flowers!
12. I have three raised gardens in my yard and we are growing strawberries this year
13. Most often I end up watching the same shows over and over.
14. This last weekend I got to see Michael Bolton and Reba McEntire sing at a charity event.
15. I love to garden - both flowers and tasty foods!
16. My kitchen is a rainbow of different colors of Fiestaware.
17. I have three above-ground gardens and am trying to grow strawberries in Arizona, we shall see if it works…the first few have been AMAZING!!
18. I love cloudy and overcast days!
19. Visiting all of the National Parks is part of my bucket list.
20. If I could go anywhere today I would go to Greece.
21. I have lived in Arizona most of my life.

22. If I could go anywhere today I would go to Greece!
23. I have lived in Arizona most of my life.
24. I love taking walks with my dog. She starts jumping around and talking as soon as she sees me getting my shoes or going near her leash.
25. I get really excited to go flower shopping.
26. One of the things I love to do for myself, and everyone in my family, treat myself to wonderful-smelling lotions.
27. I like to listen to affirmations to remind myself to be kind to myself and others.
28. I lived in constant pain, from TMJ, for around 20 years. Almost four years ago my husband helped push me to the right doctor to get it fixed, and I had jaw surgery on both sides of my jaw. I can now, eat, talk, and breathe without pain.
29. The day that Bryce and I got married there were suddenly strong winds. We keep finding that happens whenever we have guests over, or when we have lunch at one of the National Parks.
30. I am a fine art photographer.
31. I love to talk in song quotes and movie quotes. It MIGHT drive some people crazy but secretly they really enjoy it!
32. I like to dye parts of my hair with fun and bright colors!
33. When I was in graduate school one of my images was selected to be on the cover of the photography auction magazine that year. I was, and still am, super proud of that.
34. I love when my kids are on break from school and we get to hang out and spend time together.
35. As a family we love to get to play board games on the weekend.
36. When I am in the car by myself I love to listen to podcasts. One of my favorites is The Art Curious where I get to learn about things in art history.
37. I tend to watch the same TV shows over and over. I am always looking for new suggestions though!
38. I have two sisters and I am lucky that they live close by!
39. When I am was a kid I wanted to be a librarian. My love for books has ALWAYS been there!
40. I have seen The Chicks in concert at least four times and I can't wait to see them on their next tour!
41. When I was in Costa Rica I got to see volcanos, jungles (where I went zip-lining), fantastic sunsets on the beach, and life in the city.
42. My favorite adventures are always the adventures that I get to take with my family. I love taking the kids to new places that fill them with wonder.

And there you are….42 random, and hopefully interesting, facts about me! What fact did you find most interesting? I would love to know!

Growing

Just like a plant we need to give ourselves time and water to grow. So I asked myself, what areas of life could use some watering?

Working at the computer can be rather sedentary so I decided that I would make a goal of walking 9000 steps a day, which is around 4 miles, just to get myself up and moving around. So far I have made it 18 days straight, and so even if it means walking up and down the hall right before bed, I do it because I have decided that I don’t want to mess that up. This is just one small way that I can “water” and give myself time to grow, both my mind and body. Because I decided to take myself on this journey I have gotten to take walks with friends, walked and raced with my kids, and gazed at the beautiful Arizona sunsets.

So I ask you, my friend, what areas of your life could use some watering? Remember, just one step at a time can lead us down a great path!

Getting her hands dirty!

Getting her hands dirty!

My little girl is the cutest little girl who loves pink, princesses, pink, mermaids, twirling as she walks, pink, and anything that can be considered girly. She is also the girl who will willingly covers her hands AND feet with paint to make art, makes mud pies, and can build and plant a garden with the best of them.

At the start of the pandemic, Violet decided that she wanted to build her own space for a garden. She picked out the place and cleared it on her own,  we then built the wall together and filled it up with fresh soil. She lovingly planted the seeds while each day she would go out to water, and check on her plants. Outside time was one of the things that kept us going at the beginning of the pandemic. That feeling of having your hands in the soil just really connects you with the earth and it gives a wonderful freeing feeling of not being on a computer all day.

These are her little hands, holding the delicate white flowers, covered in dirt while we explored the outdoors while we were camping. I love these extremes and that all of these different personalities are wrapped up in one feisty little girl! It is such a wonderful thing to know that she, and any of the rest of us, can love being more than one type of person!

No Place Like Home

Photo: Susan Garner Photography

No Place Like Home

Dorothy, from The Wizard of Oz, said it right, there truly is no place like home. I have been thinking a lot about home since the loss of my mom.

The other day I was listening to one of my favorite podcasts, Harry Potter and the Sacred Text, in each episode, I find something new that I learn or even just something that I truly enjoy and have that moment of, yes!  In one of the recent episodes, they were discussing the theme of Home. What is home, what makes us feel at home? Is it the physical location or is it something else? 

I’m sure that many of us know our answer to that question without having to really think about it. What the hosts of that podcast suggested for an answer to the question of what is home was that home is not a place but a moment. When I heard that I jotted a note down and just sat there really letting that sink in.

Honestly, that is how I feel and have felt but to hear someone else say it was amazing. I needed to hear that to process more of what we, my whole family, are going through. And, it’s the truth, right? Our physical homes are certainly a place where you can feel relaxed, it is where you have your things, where you can be yourself with nobody watching. But as I think about the times that I feel “at home” it isn’t the physical home that I think of. It is the people and the memories that are wrapped up in that feeling. For me, it is the moment of playing pirates up at the top of trees, the rich taste of your favorite childhood ice cream, the feeling of your child’s hand reaching up to be held, or being held by the ones that you love.

What I have found is that home is the feeling of the people you love and love you.

My Mom

My Mom

How do write a post about one of the most important people in your life? How do you say goodbye to someone who has always been there? My mom, one of my best friends, left us suddenly on July 30, 2020, and every day since has just been a series of figuring out life without her. I miss her so much and just wish I could talk to her. I wish I could tell her all of the little things that have been going on and talk to her about all of the big things, as well. My mom has always been there and always available for me to call. I can’t believe that she is gone and now we only have memories.

It is the little traditions that I have come to count on, without even knowing it, that tug on my heart. Walking into Costco and not being able to call and see if she needs me to pick anything up. Or like tonight, the night before Myles’ birthday, wanting to call and recount the story of Bryce and I calling my family, who had just arrived in Minnesota, to tell them my water broke, seven weeks early, and that I was on my way to the hospital. I can hear my mom getting choked up and telling me how nervous she was. I remember her telling me how the whole house was up all night worrying about the three of us. And now I have to create a new tradition and hold those memories of our old tradition close to my heart.

I have spent a lot of time, over the last couple of weeks, thinking about what a wreck this year has been. 2020 has been a struggle for all of us. I don’t like this year at all but I have managed to find a silver lining to it. First I’ll explain that for the last eight or so years the kids and I have gone to visit my parents on Fridays and when both the kids were in school I went to visit on my own. Now back to 2020, like many families we have been home since March. We made the choice to stay away from everyone so that we could continue to see and help my parents. (We didn’t want them going to stores or out in public where they would be around the coronavirus.) Because of this, it made it where the kids and I were going up to see them more often than just our weekly visits. My silver lining to the quarantine is that my kids got to spend three months’ worth of Fridays with their Gramma that they wouldn’t have if this year hadn’t turned out the way that it did. 

I love my mom and miss her so very much.

Random Facts About Me

As we all know, things have been weird this month. Because of all of the changes going on in the world, there are many changes going on around here as well. My kids’ school, and the rest of the schools in Arizona, have closed down at least until March 29. 

So two mornings ago I woke up a mom and a photographer. Yesterday morning I woke up to a new job of being a home-schooling mama, as well as mom, and photographer. The kids started the day off with begging for a school schedule and ready to learn. And then we come to this morning, my birthday, I woke up officially 40 years old.

There is so much seriousness going on all around us right now that I wanted to share as many random facts with you as how many times as I have been around the sun. 

So here we go...get ready to dive into all the random goodness of me and my life! (Finding 40 things about myself was a lot harder than I thought it would be!)

1. I am a fine art photographer

2. Wife of a wonderful husband for 11 years and counting

3. Mama of two awesome kids

4. Big fan of the Harry Potter books

5. I love to garden

6. My favorite movie is Princess Bride (The first day we saw this movie, on VHS, we watched it two times)

7. I enjoy adding fun color to my hair and pink is by far my favorite

8. My birthday is on St Patrick’s day

9. I went to Arizona State University for my BFA and studied photography

10. My favorite succulent is an echeveria 

11. I have lived in four different states, Minnesota, California, Arizona and Colorado

12. I love the beach

13. My favorite way to treat myself is with coffee or ice cream

14. I love books 

15. I have two sisters

16. My favorite tv show is Friends

17. I love to hike and camp

18. I had surgery on both sides of my jaw for TMJ

19. I went to the Academy of Art for my MFA and studied photography

20. Saturdays are for playing board games

21. My favorite colors are pink, green and purple

22. I photograph with a Canon 5D Mark ii

23. Fridays are spent hanging out with my parents

24. I’m a vegetarian and have been my whole life

25. We have two cats, one is 16 and the other is 12

26. I am a night owl and drag myself out of bed in the morning

27. As a kid, I wanted to be a vet

28. I love cool and cloudy weather

29. I don’t like to be in cold water

30. I love ice-cold water to drink

31. My favorite pajamas have cameras all over them

32. When I was a kid we would often stop at Thrifty’s to get ice cream

33. I hate to be late or be the last one to arrive

34. Daisies were my favorite flower growing up and now I can’t pick a favorite

35. I love to cuddle with my kids

36. I love bonfires in the backyard

37. My favorite holiday is Christmas because I get to see my kids happy faces

38. We have two dogs, one is 3 and the other 5

39. I love going to the gym and taking classes

40. Finally, I am super spoiled because my husband does the majority of the cooking, and I love it