Realities & Blessings {& Ranunculus}...

Oh my how I have grown to love this little Friday post! I feel so much like it allows me to look back a my week and leave my emotional baggage at the proverbial doorstep before entering the weekend. It's refreshing and it really puts me in a good place as far as perspective and direction.

So, here we go again...because even when things aren't wonderful, they still kind of are...and I thought I'd share some pictures of these beautiful yellow Ranunculus that I was lucky enough to find at the grocery store yesterday!

Reality: I recently invested some of my shop liquidation money into a new macro lens for my camera. For those of you not familiar with photography terms, a macro lens allows you to get very close to your subject and take those extremely close-up detailed shots. As I am a student, self-teaching and guiding my way through this big and vast world of photography, this new lens presented this whole new world of things to learn. I felt like a total newbie all over again with this new lens, fumbling my way through shots and settings...to say that this period was uncomfortable would be a dramatic understatement. I felt frustrated and multiple times I quit on myself and threw my old lens back on my camera just to feel at home again.
Blessing: This experience with the new lens, along with all its uncomfortable growth, forced me to throw myself into photography textbooks and online learning tools...something which I had wanting to be doing anyway but hadn't taken the time to do. I moved past my comfort zone, learned more about the technical aspects of photography, and am finding my groove with my new lens. This experience, that was so hard and frustrating at first, has taken me to the next level and helped me to become better. Amen to that!

Reality: Maya is cutting three teeth simultaneously; one of her top front ones and her two top eye teeth. Anyone who has kiddos knows that those eye teeth are buggers! She is not sleeping well, totally clingy, fussy at all times, and using me as a teether sometimes as she's nursing {ouch!}. I am tired and worn out and I've gotten nothing done this week as a result.
Blessing: I'm typically a big broken record when it comes to talking about how fast time goes by and how quickly the babies grow up. I'll be darned if I'm going to sit here and not find it to be a blessing that Maya has wanted some extra cuddles and love this week. Very soon, this whole teething business will be a vague memory and Maya will know that I am here for her in good times and bad.

Reality: I want a day off. Like bad. Like a whole day; not a couple hours or an evening...A WHOLE DAY. I have a ton of personal stuff to get done like some orders to get out, some emails to answer, some creative work I've been dying to do, some non-kid music to listen to, some bubble baths to take and legs to shave...you know, the stuff that isn't absolutely necessary so it gets shoved aside. Mostly, I would just like some time to think...to actually complete a mental thought or two. To get things sorted and situated and thought out in my own mind. And the real reality here is that it's not going to happen. Not a couple hours, not an evening, and most certainly not a whole day.
Blessing: {I had to work at this one, friends...really. Because I want this so bad I could literally cry} There was a time in my life, a very lonely time, when I had loads of time and not a lot of people in my life to spend it with. I would not trade my crazy life and my fuzzy head for that any day...even if it meant a whole day off!

Reality: I'd like to take some 4 year portraits of Layla {her birthday is coming up in a couple of weeks}. However, portraits make me all kinds of nervous. They are not my strong suit and I end up getting nervous and edgy and sometimes they go really badly with my kids. Also, as of late, Layla hasn't been the most willing of subjects.
Blessing: Practice makes perfect. In fact, the best way to get better at something is to do it often. And what better way to practice than on my own beautiful children. {easy to say, but I will seriously have to keep repeating this thought in my own head...} Plus, this little session will give me some time to fuss over Layla and help me to be patient and work with her, together utilizing our strengths and working around our weaknesses...skills that will help us not only to get good portraits, but to build a good foundation for our future relationship.

So, there you have it, another week's worth of Realities & Blessings. I am super excited that so many of you have decided to join in! Please link back here and feel free to leave your link in the comments of this post!

Happy Friday, dear friends!

ps...You have until midnight tonight to enter to win one of Barb's beautiful photographic prints or necklace...

Oh, and just because I hate to leave these out...

"And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom." ~Anais Nin