Day after Valentine's | Musings of a Family Photographer

Most of the people who know me personally know that I am a pretty pitiful housekeeper.  Don't get me wrong, I love a clean house.  It is just that I am too distracted to focus on keeping my house picked up.  I guess to prove that opposites attract, I tend to be drawn to super organized people.  They are these people who tell me about their physical inability to go to bed with dishes in the sink.  Hmmm...  Yah.  I don't get that.  I can sleep like a baby with dirty dishes in my sink.  Granted, I am a MUCH happier person in the morning if I wake up to a clean kitchen, but sometimes that isn't incentive enough for me to get the cleaning done beffore I go to bed.  I truly didn't get this.  I couldn't comprehend it.  I had nothing similar to relate to it.  ...then came Valentines Day.  You see, right now my life is pretty crazy.  I have 5 kids, a small business and a house that we are trying to get on the market in 2-3 weeks.  Valentines Day rolls around.  It would be so much easier to just go buy a pack of Valentines at the grocery store.  I passed them countless times.  I only had one to really worry about and she only needed 10 valentines.  She didn't have to address them, just write her name.  Easy Peasy...  Well, actually no.  Not easy.  Why?  Because I cringe at the thought of handing out store bought valentines.  It pains me to do something so...  so...  generic.  So I spent an hour in between helping put in a shower door and grouting a floor to cut out hearts and arrows...  AFTER I had spent a half hour looking online for inspiration...  AFTER I designed the hearts on photoshop...  AFTER  I had completely failed at our homemade, multicolor heart shaped crayon making.  I had probably lost hours when I could have just thrown a box of Valentines into the cart the last time I was at the store.  Then, I realized, I am like that across the board.   I HAVE to be original.   I strive to give unique gifts.  I can't fathom the idea of my kids wearing store bought Halloween costumes.  And I should appologize to my friends who had scrapbooking parties only to have me sit in the corner, ignore any instruction and come up with my own little wacky creations. 
 
That is when it hit me.  That is what the people are talking about when they say that they can't go to bed with dishes in the sink.  It is THAT feeling.  I do have a comparable quirk.  I get it now...  
 
What about you?  Is there some weird thing that you are physically inable to do?

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A Little Sliver of Peace | Maple Valley family photographer

I have 5 kids.  CRAZY!  ...but in a good way! 
We are trying to get our house ready to sell.  CRAZY!  ...but worth it to get closer to family!
I am trying to actually launch this photography gig and make a name for myself.  CRAZY!  ...but something I have wanted to do for at least 11 years now. 
 
I can define most aspects of my life with one word: crazy.  The good sort of crazy.  The trying to carry 3 bags of groceries into the house while balancing a kid on each hip sort of crazy.  Although I am often reminding myself that this craziness is an abundance of blessings, I am usually pretty content that this IS my life and, for the most part, peace and solitude are not a big part of my life at the moment.  But every once in a whie, when I am very lucky, I find those moments, hidden like the little jewels that they are.  Imagine my suprise when, with the oldest 3 off at school, I managed to get the 2 year old and the baby to nap at the same time.  I had 2 hours of peace and solitude.  Even better, it was a beautiful sunny day here in Western Washington.  As I am getting dinner started, the sun is streaming through our south facing windows.  There is something about the light coming in on days like today that make me LOVE my house.  It was so beautiful.  I tried to capture it.  I just thought I would share.  It would have been nice if I had picked up a bit.  In my artist brain, I was taking a picture of the LIGHT... not the stuff. 

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