Showing posts with label photography. Show all posts
Showing posts with label photography. Show all posts

Thursday, June 13, 2013

March Digi Scrapping & Therapy?

After losing my sister back in October I've been trying to keep myself super busy.  The kids keep me plenty busy, but I've been looking for new hobbies (which is why I've been away from my blog for some long) in which to throw myself.  My photography hobby (hopefully turned business soon) is one of them.  It has kept me SUPER busy, and therefore I don't think about missing Ashlee as much.  I should add that I still miss her terribly and think about her every single day, I just don't think about how much I miss her as often since I'm so busy.  Make sense? lol  Anyway, digital scrapbooking has been my other hobby I've recently taken up and it has kind of consumed all my free time (which isn't much).

As I mentioned above, I've FINALLY learned how to use the Photoshop program I've had installed on my computer for the past THREE years.  How sad is that, that it took me that long to figure it out?? Well, thanks to quite a few You Tube videos, I finally saw what my friend, Erin, had been talking about ... "layers, layers, layers".  And, again, thanks to Erin, I joined an amazing digital scrapbooking forum called Scrap Takeout where I've been learning things here and there, and getting some amazing inspiration from other creative minds!

Here is what I was up to in March (when I learned how to scrap) ... you will notice as I start posting more and more layouts here that they are improving, but ya know ... Rome wasn't built in a day people.  :)


 photo AubreeLeigh_wm_zps2a6bb8a2.jpg  photo babyboys_wm_zpsbc62a884.jpg  photo beyourself_wm_zpsf76c9474.jpg  photo Brothers1_wm_zpsb25db4a4.jpg  photo Easter1copy_wm_zps6364f529.jpg  photo firstsignsofspring_wm_zpsee1645a8.jpg  photo GrandIllumination_wm_zps1e61b369.jpg  photo Henrys1stYear_wm_zps07a5ba5f.jpg  photo Henry-Spring1_wm_zps84f4b031.jpg  photo Kitty1_wm_zpsaaf437f5.jpg  photo SpringMini_wm_zpsde118217.jpg  photo Spring1_wm_zps9a2f6777.jpg  photo Stpattysday_wm_zps0799e709.jpg  photo ValentinesDay2013-1_wm_zpsff21814d.jpg  photo ValentinesDay2013-2_wm_zpsbf5c3492.jpg  photo ValentinesDay2013-3_wm_zps0b883de8.jpg  photo Williamsburg-1_wm_zps8352269f.jpg

Thanks for looking!  I'll be posting April's layouts soon! :)

Tuesday, June 11, 2013

Quick update ...

I have been SO busy lately with other commitments and ventures that I have totally been slacking on the blog front!  Maybe no one noticed, but I need to get back in to it if for nothing more than to continue documenting our life as a family.  It's only been a two month hiatus, but a lot has happened.  I'll make separate posts for each, but real quickly here is an overview of what we've been up to.

Heather (me) has joined a super fun digital scrapbooking forum called Scrap Takeout.  I absolutely love it there!  I've also joined the praise team there and one of the creative teams, so this alone keeps me pretty busy.  I'll be making separate posts to show off the pages I've made lately.  I will say that in the past two months I've finally managed to get Jacob's first scrapbook made and ordered, so I'm pretty excited about that!  I've also, and this is the biggie, started putting together a photography portfolio in hopes of starting my business this fall once Jacob is in school full-time.  Here is a link to my Facebook page: Photos by Heather Z.  I also recently bought the URL for my website and started working on that, but that's going to be a huge work in progress ... it's not published yet or anything, but once it is I will post a link here for that as well.  :)  Anyway, I've been doing complimentary sessions as kind of a training program for me to learn more about the right lighting, poses and how I want to actually RUN my business.  There are a lot of logistics I didn't really think about before hand.  haha  Plus, I don't want to take anyone's money until a) I feel confident with my work and b) I am a legal company that will pay taxes at the end of the year.  The last thing I need is to get a hefty fine for taking money and not paying taxes on it!  So, before I start charging I also need to go get a tax id number.

John has been working a lot, as usual.  Thank goodness for him.  He supports our family financially, but also supports my dream of being a photographer.  He's been watching the kids every weekend while I go out on photo shoots and he's been supportive of me trying to balance my work for his company as well as editing photos during the week. It's been rough, but he's always been my rock and my number one fan.  He finally got his motorcycle back from the shop and while I'm not a huge fan of him riding it, I know it's his hobby and it's fun for him.  I don't want to take that away from him, so I just don't say much.  I just always say a silent prayer when he goes out for a ride.  Anyway, he's happy that warmer weather is finally here, so he can go out riding.  Now if the weathermen could just get it right as to whether it's going to rain or not!

Jacob turned five at the beginning of May!  Hard to believe my sweet little 4 lb-er is now a healthy, happy, thriving five year old!  I'll have another post about his birthday and all about him turning five at a later time. :) At the end of May he graduated from preschool!  Crazy!!  He'll be starting Kindergarten in the fall and I'm just not sure I'm ready for it, but he sure is.  It's all he talks about!

And, our little Henry is well .. still Henry!  lol  He's still my sweet little baby even though he's talking more.  He's talking in full sentences (but it's still hard to understand a lot of what he says) and really knows what he wants.  The terrible twos are in full swing now, but I still don't think he's as hard as Jacob was/is.  Either he's just NOT as hard or it's because he's my second child and I know better how to deal with the tantrums, etc., now because he has just seemed so much easier than his brother.  I'm looking forward to spending some one-on-one time with his this fall when Jacob's in school full-time, but I know the following year when he starts preschool is going to be SO hard on me.


Sunday, December 30, 2012

2013 Goals!

In the past few years I've decided that I don't believe in New Year's resolutions.  I believe in continually trying improve yourself, and setting goals to try to help you improve yourself/life style.  I've been trying to set these goals for myself at the beginning of each year and try to live up to them throughout the year.  Now that I'm using my blog a lot more than I was a year ago, I'm hoping to remember to reflect on these throughout the year, and make sure I'm following through.

Here are the goals I've set for myself for 2013:

1) Make more time for myself.  Even if it's just to run an errand alone, or take a bubble bath in peace and quiet while reading a book, I want to make sure I make more "me" time next year.  It helps recharge me, and I feel like I'm a better parent when I focus on myself too.

2) Read one book a month.  I tried this in 2012, and about half way through the year I started lagging and only ended up reading 9.5 books the whole year.  That's just insane to me.  I know so many people who read one book a week!  I need to step it up some because I DO love to read. 

3) Do 4 crafts a month with the kids.  One craft per week is not too much to ask.  They both enjoy doing them, and so do I, so I need to make more of an effort to come up with cute things for us to make.  That's where Pinterest comes in, of course!

4) Only use my computer during nap time or after the kids are in bed.  I notice they are more unruly when I'm online too much, so I'm really going to make myself stick to this one.  I can still hop on Facebook or other websites quickly on my phone if the website has a mobile app, so I might still do that from time to time, but I will not be pulling my laptop out unless it's nap/quiet time or after bed time.

5) Get more organized!  I'm already really OCD about the house and my organization, but I just feel like I could do more.  I came across this awesome website with an Organized Home Challenge that I plan to start on Tuesday of this week, January 1st. It's a 52 week challenge to help you get your home organized and KEEP it organized.  I'm pretty excited to get started on this one.

6) Take more photos/get more into my photography hobby.  I love taking pictures and the art that IS photography, so I'm really going to make an effort to take more photos, and more artistic ones at that.

And, finally 7) Make more of an effort with my friends and family.  If there is one thing 2012 has taught me, it's that life is short.  You never know what tomorrow brings, so make sure the people you love know it.

I hope everyone else has a fun and safe New Year's Eve tomorrow, and an amazing 2013.  Cheers!