Thanks to....

I have found my inspiration! 

I am a photographer! I loooove my work! Can I really call it work when I love so dearly what I get to do!? Do people really pay me to spend time with them, enjoy their company, play with their kids and find artsy ways to capture who they are?!  How is that even possible?

Although I love my job, I have a huge desire to take images of things that call to me:  an old bicycle leaning up against the crumbled wall of an Italian villa next to a wrought iron window box spilling over with flowers, a timeless weathered gate opening to a narrow dirt path hemmed in by tall grasses and stubby bushes and canopied by ancient trees, a delicate pastry dappled with a dazzling, slightly out-of-focus sugar glaze that leads the eye to taste the bitty little crumb that has fallen to the plate.  Ahhhhhh... this is what thrills me!



And although they say "a picture is worth a 1,000 words", I apparently have more to say - or my photography just isn't good enough to express it all - b/c I still want to write! As I said in my earlier post (the first ever blog - EVER - of this foto foodie), I have this strange desire to write though I don't really have much to say.....  not a good combo, but there it is. 

And finally.... 


I loooove to travel! I feel so blessed that I have been able to travel through North and Central America, Europe and parts of Africa, and more so to have lived for a time in Spain and England!  My favorite part of traveling is to capture the flavor and essence of a place and the spirit of the locals through images spotlighting the details in the food, markets, streets, cafes, people, decor, etc...

All that said, I have long desired to take my photography, together with my love for travel and writing, and find a way to combine them! However, with my boys the ages they are now - 11, 8, 7 - the time for travel photojournalism is not the present.  It will have to wait til my boys are grown and out of the house b/c I want to be around for them while they are still... around! Thereby, causing my "loves" to sit separately on the shelf, isolated and alone, waiting to be united!

Enter my fourth love.....  Food 
  
I really enjoy food! No, not just "enjoy"... I'm pretty passionate about my food; healthy, wholesome, truly natural - not what the FDA deems "natural" - food! The exotic blend of flavors I haven't put together before, or the comforting flavors of the Old Standbys, or, let's just be really honest here, GUACAMOLE, on an empty stomach, can lead me to fits of ecstasy!  I say "empty stomach" b/c when I'm not that hungry and I eat such things, I think I miss out on all the flavors that are presented.  Somehow my taste buds aren't quite as sharp, they're a bit dull as though they are still languishing over the last meal and haven't quite gotten prepared for this new one!  But that's another blog for another day! (Yay!! I came up with a topic!)  The point here is that I am thoroughly delighted by food!  And though I KNEW this, I didn't really make any connection with food and my other already mentioned loves.

And so, to my inspiration....

Recently, I was allowed to borrow a book from my good friend Paula written by Heidi Swanson called Super Natural Cooking.  I say "allowed" b/c I can't believe Paula gave up a weekend without such a book!  One look at this book and I was obsessed! I read about Heidi - a photographer, traveler and lover of whole foods - and thought, "this woman is living my life".  I admit, I pouted about it for a few days! Well, wouldn't you if you found your life had been stolen by someone else who was making great success out of it?! And then I realized, she didn't steal my life! It's more like God suddenly gave me more of mine!! He presented me with her life to inspire me!!  Ahhh.... God is good and his timing is perfect!!  

This is the result - the birth of my blog! It costs me nothing but time and allows me to indulge in all of my "loves".  Though the travel may be a bit sparse for now, I hope the photography, food and words will flow; sometimes in a blend of exotic flavors and at other times in the comfort of what is familiar, but ever, always, with a little dollop of guacamole!


(Thank you Paula and thank you Heidi - and thank you Marcy for the intro to Shabby Blogs!!)