twenty fifth, sixth and seventh.

Obviously we aren't too far into the year, but I'm noticing three main themes that are sticking out to me.

-storytelling, whether I'm telling stories or I'm hearing other stories being told
-finding beauty in simplicity
-loving life for what it is now and not worrying about the future

I want to dabble in each of those areas in this blog post, especially because I have three days of posting to catch up on.

First of all, this story. Grab tissues. But trust me, you won't regret watching this. This kind of story telling, this kind of art, this is what I want to do with my photography. This is just simply beautiful beyond words.

I guess all three themes could be wrapped up into this video. Jill's story really puts so much of what we might complain about into perspective. I love her ability to see past her own scars and see herself as beautiful. It's a lesson we could all learn for ourselves, both to look at our own bodies that way, and to look at others that way. How much more beautiful would the world be if we lived out loving and being judgment free to the fullest capability?

This just got me at my core and it just inspired me to seek out stories like this, people who have found the beauty of living regardless of their personal trials and tribulations, those are the stories that need to be told.

Today, I was cleaning house and had some incense burning and I stepped into the dining room, and hit the light just perfectly and saw the smoke just floating in the room. It was a split second I had to capture it, and it was tricky, but it was so beautiful. Sometimes we try to seek out beauty and sometimes it's just right in front of your nose.

And lastly, loving life for what it is...

Friday night I had a rough evening. I was bumming about life and feeling quite alone. I was in my pajamas and in bed my 9:30. I felt pretty pathetic.

Saturday morning I woke up and decided to push all that crappy crap aside and just push on with the day and enjoy it as much as possible, and it was a really wonderful day.

First I had the opportunity to have a second round of photographing one of the most beautiful babies I know. I met up with Gabe and Rachael and photographed little Aria and she is just a doll. I loved taking her pictures, but even more I enjoyed just loving on her and holding her while she slept. I look forward to the day that I get to snuggle my own, but getting to love on little Aria was pretty wonderful.

For more pictures go visit my photography blog. I'll be getting them up tonight.

Later in the day I went out and celebrated my friend Rachel's birthday with some margaritas and dancing. Two of my favorite things.

I have not laughed in so long. And today I hurt like no other. But boy was it worth it. I'm really enjoying soaking up these moments more and I'm looking forward to even more in the future. It's such good food for the soul to just let go and have as much fun as possible and these kids know how to have fun. Dance it out people. Just dance it out.