I've been in a rut lately.  

As much as I love my new role as a mom - somewhere along the way I feel like I lost a part of myself. 

My camera used to go with me everywhere & the world looked different because of it. Now, it adds weight to our already stuffed diaper bag & so I end up leaving it behind. I used to work 14 hour days, traveling all over Washington & Oregon, & was never too far from a sunrise or sunset or just a new location with amazing lighting.  Now, my world revolves around my family so my radius has gotten much smaller. Even when I have photographed this summer, I haven't posted or shared anything with anyone... anywhere!  Why?  No seriously... anyone know?

A wise woman recently told me "Don't live in fear" & then that thought echoed in my head for days. There is so much I fear! Sometimes I think that the things I love the most can be the scariest. And then there's the fear of losing those things that I love! That's even scarier & it's not even a for-sure thing!! I am literally scared of something that doesn't exist. So what do you do when fear is stopping you from doing something you love?

Well - if you're like this guy, you hang on tight to those you love & then you walk through it.

This boy is obsessed with trains recently. He giggles & talks & waves to them daily but today as we talked about actually getting on one, it suddenly seemed like a very big, loud, & scary thing... He shook his little head & said "no" in his cute little voice a couple times & then papa whispered in his ear "Everything is alright, I won't let anything hurt you" & that was it. He may have been afraid & hung on tight for most of the trip but he also got to wave to people outside of the station, meet a little boy & his family in the seats behind us, check out a waterfall, & when it was all done & we were walking away, he clapped his little hands & then said & signed "more"(I'm not exaggerating here - this guy is that cute).

So - now it's my turn.  

Here comes my scary.  

I'm going to pick up my camera & do what I love to do.  

I'm going to chase beauty & share what I find so that others can see how amazing this world is.  

I'm going to use this medium to raise money for charities & small businesses & find other ways to help those around me.  

And I am going to do this daily. 

As of now, I'm not sure what I will take a picture of tomorrow... pretty sure I'm spending most of the day cleaning so it should be something amazing! lol  I'm sure most of them will end up being of my boys & that there will be days when it's the last thing I want to do but that's ok. I'm going to keep it fun & forget the rules starting out so you may see a few phone pics sneak in there as well.

I started thinking last night that I needed to have a good start date for this daily adventure - maybe New Years?  Too far away... Our Anniversary?  Then I remembered that someone AMAZING had a birthday the next day & I couldn't think of a better way to start...  This lady is so inspiring to me!  Having her in my life gives me the energy, strength & confidence to board this train.

Happy Birthday Aunt Zack