Words of Wisdom

Quotes from my pastor:

"Do you believe in God or are you in relationship with him?"

"And God is a God of celebration, our christian life is meant to be a huge celebration!"

Henri Nouwen "I realize that I am not used to the image of God throwing a big party. It seems to contradict the solemnity and seriousness I have always attached to God. But when I think about the ways in which Jesus describes God's kingdom, a joyful banquet is often at its center. Jesus compares the Kingdom of Heaven with a wedding feast offered by the King to his son..."Look my banquet is all prepared my oxen and fattened cattle have been slaughtered, everything is ready. Come to the wedding."...This invitation to a meal is an invitation to intimacy with God."

My question for everyone....Are you living joyfully in the secure intimacy of a relationship God? Do you realize that each day is a celebration-God is a FUN God who loves LAUGHTER!!!!

And my favorite new artist Jon Foreman: http://www.myspace.com/jonforeman
(who I also got to see perform at an intimate concert thanks to my good friend Amy!)

"Your Love is Strong"
"Why should I worry, why do I freak out, God knows what I need, you know what I need. ...Two things you told me, that you are strong and you love me, yes you love me...your love is, your love is, strong, your love is your love is strong......your love is your love is your love is strong.....your love is your love is strong....Your kingdom come your will be done on earth as it is in heaven!"-jon foreman

And to add to that this was the last song he sang in his set to a group of film makers at the Tribeca film fest...what an inspiration!

Decorating

Ok so I love decorating my home more than I love dressing myself! I had this specific vision and for those of you who know me you know I am particular at times! So I wanted this blue shelf for my birds, knowing that the blue would really make them pop! And loving saving, I updated an old shelf of my moms, and stained it! And next to the birds I placed a little spring color, freshly picked cherry blossoms...cute right! Well I love it, its a nice addition to our simple bathroom.

Ok so here is a photo of myself, not that this is the best photo of me but I like it, I like that God gave me a "pointy nose" as my sister says and olive skin and brown hair. And I love flowers...to bad I am allergic to most! :) It's important to remember the that we are beautiful bc its easy to get lost in a world of comparisons.

I am a working woman!!!

I am back working at a coffee shop and soo LOVING IT!!!!

As many of you know I was so against working in a coffee shop again...I mean I worked my booty off in college and graduate with honors and then spent four years in coffee and doing internships...now I am in NYC and I was ready to spread my creative wings and dive into photography. God is a mysterious but great God...so I have had a few amazing photo jobs over the past year and a half, I was a Bronx highs school photographer-that was super fun, and I photographed Authors and Rock Stars at a recent conference...and of course a few portraits in between...but the majority of my time was waiting for the next job...sending out resumes, making calls, praying for what to do next, doing interviews where photographers are asking me to give them 3 months of my time at 50 hours a week for free!!! ahhhhh. So this was stressful and at times boring...I mean I am a social person and alot of my time was staring at the computer!

Truly the past year and a half of not working consistently has been a huge blessing, taking time to really focus on my career and passion was something I never really did before...the Lord totally gave me visions and has guided me in a very focused direction...well that could change but as of now I am very confident in pursuing humanitarian photography/documentary photography/photojournalism. Basically I want to tell real stories about real people and share those with others. I have a strong proposal for a photo documentary that I am excited to start whenever the Lord releases me...I need funding and my last application was beat out by a Pulitzer prize winner augh...but I am very confident in this vision. When I first moved here I thought I would take baby photos and then when possible some documentary work...but truly I do not want to do baby photos, well I will do them, but I want to work full time in documentary and so having a year and a half to navigate was great; I have been in touch with non profits pitching my story ideas (the bummer is alot of them don't have money but are on board with my ideas) I have been in contact with other photographers and working in studios getting tips for how to do this.

Also in this time of not working consistently ( I like to say that bc this whole time although I haven't had a regular pay check I have been working hard toward this end) I have had time for just me...to do things that are so truly me and so truly God. Like mentoring a teenager from Africa and visiting a few men at a hospital weekly...I mean that is life...that is me I would truly give up photography to be an advocate of some sort...well but I hope to be an advocate through photography, but only God knows.

Anyhow so I could go on and on but recently I realized that I wanted a part time job (I am just working part time still giving myself time and space to fully enjoy and commit to the other things that I love and to pursue my passion in photography) and that I had to get out of the house and around people; I am so happy with other people! God has made us all relational so it is a joy to be working with people. (dont get me wrong I love my alone time but all day every day was just too much for this chicky).

So I am super blessed to be working at the trendy West Village cafe, Joe.
And people have I met people, after only working a few very short shifts at Joe I have served Reese Witherspoon's high school sweet heart in the movie "Sweet Home Alabama," Josh Lucas and Julianna something from the old ER days...but even better than seeing the stars was seeing my friends on my first day of work. On my first day three of my good friends came in throughout my shift, I felt like a teenager at my first job when my parents and family all came to see me, it was soo sweet to be supported and loved so well! Oh and the funny thing was that I saw one of my regular customers from Reverie my cafe in SF, Craig Newmark of craigslist, he said Joe is his NY spot, funny huh! It was nice to see a familiar face, actually this is the photo he took of my on my first day of work! (Also how blessed am I by tips..yahhooooooo!!!!!!!) Thank You Lord

Cupcakes

Ok so I have totally gotten into baking...there is this baking supply store downtown and stepping foot in there would make anyone want to bake....so I had this inspiration for pretty cupcakes...pretty good huh...took about a dozen before I got to this nice swirl (it took a lot of sugar to make the frosting keep its shape...who knew?!)...yum!

Emily who is 3 yrs old took this
Mike whistling with a blade of grass, acting out what he would do in an emergency-which was funny bc the whistle a blade of grass makes is more like a bird song than an emergency sound!


So how I love sharing life with other people...as I don't have a normal work schedule I have a lot of alone time, which I do love, but to be honest it can get a little lonely and boring, so I was so blessed to have been asked to babysit my neighbor and friend's daughter for two days of her spring break! I was truly blessed, we had a blast...first we biked for over an hour...I love how kids love to explore and that the little things are so exciting, like trying to find the tiniest bloom on the tree or throwing wishes into the river. Then we had a picnic in Central Park-for those of you who don't live here in New York...come in the Spring-its so special and romantic and amazing and happy here in the city! So we packed up lunches and headed to the park where we sat amongst tons of other sun seekers under a nice tree (it was 78 degrees...and after a long long winter this was so exciting!! Finally warm weather) and we played go fish while a sax player played music down the hill from us and tons of happy and laughing people biked, walked, skated danced by...such a quintessential NY moment. Then the next day we watched a girl movie "Ella Enchanted" and I set up a "professional" nail salon, and did her nails, I did a sea salt scrub a hand massage and even put gems in her nails..just like a real salon-oh and we had popcorn for breakfast. Then another picnic. Thank You Lord for such beautiful weather and for little friends! Oh I forgot we made home made ice cream too...we put on our aprons and everything..she said "This was the best Day ever" so sweet huh!

Marriage...how I love it!!!

So Mike and I were both in the kitchen last night (and we don't work in the kitchen together....its just us...we have two different ways of doing things...and thats fine) so he was getting ready to cook and I just wanted to put something in the fridge and he was like "why are you in the kitchen" and I am like "I just want to put this away it will take 1/2 a mila second" and he was like, and so seriously too, "I don't have half of a mila second" He wasn't mad just serious...and with that I sat on the kitchen floor and started laughing and laughing...I mean what is half of a mila second...and why half...and how hilarous that that tiny amount of time was so serious!!! Ahhh I love being married! So we both just stopped and started laughing at how silly we were!!

Ahh how I love love...Mike and I had an amazing weekend, it started off with friends at the brooklyn botanical gardens..and then sunday moved to church and explorations...we happened upon two street fairs, which took us to four different countries...eating food from around the world, and one street fair was full of free stuff, and everyone knows I love a free bee...so we had free icecream got a free tomato plant and a free starbucks coffee and three coupons for more free coffees and a frisby! WE racked in in! Then how sweet is my hubby he knows I love craft fairs and he was so excited to take me to one in Brooklyn, so it was awesome lots of cool stuff and for me, bc I am crafty, I got a lot of cool ideas! So there we were me and Mike, one of three men there :), at the "Bust" craft fair...(Bust is a magazine for "women who want to get things off their chests" basically a womans magazine)...isn't he awesome!!

We had such a full day that I soaked in the bath with a good book for like an hour when we got home! Oh I didnt mention that me of all people motivated my hubby to get up early before church to go for a run in the rain!!! It was soo fun, and gorgeous to be out with no one else out and the views...so funny! A tip for marriage, keep doing activities together!!!