What will you be?

Be…

Be creative.

Be kind.

Be liked.

Be fine.

Be alive.

Be calm.

Be here.

Be mine.

Be still.

Be strong.

Be right.

Be wrong.

Be...

Shift.

Squatting down on the patio this morning I was obsessed with capturing this image.  I took at least 25 shots of this cup on this mat tilting the angle ever so slightly.  It was the bubbles in the cup that delighted me.  But then this happened:

The sun touched this plant ever so delicately.  I put my coffee cup next to it and grabbed this one shot.  I didn't intend for the focus to shift away from my coffee.  It just did.  And I wouldn't want it any other way.

I have this thing with eyes.

I have this thing with eyes.  I see them in trees

And I'm surprised when they appear in my coffee shots

I'm obsessed with eyes because I have a lazy eye.  Which means I look like this:

Things that suck about having a lazy eye:

• silent speed ball (Rainy day favorite for elementary school teachers. My own private hell.)
• walking through a crowd of people at school pick-up
• meeting someone for the first time (Do I tell you I have a crazy eye or do I just keep you guessing if I'm looking at you?)

Things that are awesome about having a lazy eye:

• staring at a boy crush while he thinks you are staring at someone to his left
• warding off sneak attacks with my awesome peripheral vision
• always winning in a staring contest as my opponent is compelled to look over their shoulder (what's she looking at?)

And the best one of all is when a child asks me what is wrong with my eye.  I love the opportunity to talk about this part of me that makes me different, that makes people slightly uncomfortable when they talk to me, and what ultimately matters so very little.

So I will keep seeing eyes and grateful for one's that are just a little off center

Morning shift.

Sometimes I take a bazillion photos of the same shot with minuscule alternations.  Handle of the cup turned slightly to the right. No to the left. Maybe if I tilt the camera up or sideways or down.  Tiny alterations that are barely perceptible.  While I was taking the multitude of photos for this shot, I noticed the light changing. The sun landing first on the herbs and next on the bottom of the cup and then to the rim. It felt glorious as my spirit became lighter and lighter with each shift.

Imagine.

The next time your thinking about politics
Listen to this
The next time your thinking about money
and what it means to you
Listen to this
It's your soul calling
The Earth is a living being
and she is music
She is light and fire
Water and stone
Flesh and bone
She writes story's and sings songs
She paints pictures and climbs ladders
She drives fast and shoots guns
We are her children and as such
We are one.
She is water
She is wind
She is storm clouds
and pretend
She is magic
We are too
She is the sunrise
She is you..
                      by Shawn Smith

Awake.

These flowers grow wild on bushes in my backyard.  After 11 years you would think I would have grown accustomed to seeing them bloom each June.  But, without fail, I'm taken by surprise to find the bushes outside my kitchen window all lit up in white and yellow.  Yesterday, I plucked an untamed stem and took this picture while the center was this beautiful orangey-yellow.  This morning I selected my cup with thoughts of that yolky color and how it would look against the blue of the bird.  Ah, but look how fast this flower fades.

Overnight, the yellow changed to brown.  Not quite as vibrant as I had imagined.  But in it's place, the most heavenly scent. So subtle and sweet.

Nothing is ordinary.

My favorite hashtag on Instagram is #nothingisordinary_.  Check it out sometime.  It makes me fall in love with humankind over and over again.  When seeking out the beauty in the most common of things, something special happens to the human spirit.   A stirring. A release.  A knowing. 

My favorite coffee shots to create are the one’s that transform an everyday object into a piece of art.   Each time I seek the extraordinary in the ordinary, I'm transformed.