I am sitting on my porch in seventy five degree weather wrapped in a blanket.  My kids are playing in the park with the neighborhood kids.  The only negative of this moment is the lingering germs in my throat...which will hopefully be on their way to a quick death by tomorrow :)

I've mentioned before that I'm a spaz.

And I am.

I simply get flooded with thoughts sometimes.

And rather than keep them in and forget about them, I'm trying to be disciplined and write them down.  or in this case...type them down. :)

So my Monday Musings...

*design.

I love to.  I joined a super cool communited called Minted this last week.  And a lot of you voted for my design...Thank you SO much!

Minted's contest left me with a few observations...about myself and about others in this field.

My observation about myself was that I am horribly insecure in this area of my life.  Don't get me wrong, I LOVE it.  But it's so, so easy to compare yourself to those around you...I suppose that that's true of everything in my life that I choose to make myself the focus.  Art is SO varied and colorful that it's easy to lose the simple enjoyment of creating.  When I get so busy looking at everyone else around me, my own creativity gets choked because I let me insecurities dictate me in those moments.

Does that make any sense?

No?  Well, I already claimed to be a spaz, so let's just categorize that last paragraph of simply more spazziness to the jen list. :)

My other observation was about others.  I don't think I will ever understand unpurposeful criticism.  I was talking with my sister/friend about our observations of other contestants in the Minted contest and on the Pioneer Woman's photography contests.  Both of us were struck with some of the contestants unhealthy and unhelpful comments towards other entrants.  And I guess my only question is:

Why?

Is it because of insecurity?

Or insane competiveness?

I may never know, but I am beginning to think that there are some that I will never understand.

I still am a believer of what my mother would repeatedly say to us growing up

"...if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all..."

That's not to say that constuctive criticism doesn't need to be there...far from it!  I feel like I'm in a constant state of growth and need the sharpening from others in this area!  But, I still hold to the fact that I think the constructive part needs to be there.

*photography

I love it.  Really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, love it :)

I'm slowly finding my own style and am being challenge by the clients I get to shoot.  I've had to opportunity to shoot newborns all the way to dipping my feet in commercial architectual photography!

Crazy!  I know.

Yes, this is me...on a shoot...in a hard hat. :)

More to come on this...but for now, I am simply loving the new dimension of architecture in photography.

*marketing.

It's important.  In business it's your first impression.  I'm trying to figure out what's important for kreatid and what the next step is.  I'm so thankful for the network of people that I have been privelaged to "meet" (online anyways) who are more than helpful in this area as far as suggestions + direction.  I guess this subject is still a bit of a Muse right now...but it'll have feet soon enough.

*fitness/health

I'm going to admit something.

I'm not healthy. :)

Big shocker considering that I'm wrapped in a blanket reveling in the after effects of percocet and antibiotics.  But I've got to go somewhere with this category.  I've started the 30 day shred with Jillian from the Biggest Loser and all I have to say about that is that Jillian is a beast.  Two weeks into this and I can honestly say I'm starting to enjoy working out again.

This is more of a Muse too, I guess...but it'll get legs soon...or rather I'll get nice looking legs in the process.  hopefully. :)

I guess all this to say is that I'm a work in progress and needed to get some of my "musings" out of my head.