Fun of a lensbaby persuasion

One of the things I asked Santa for was a lensbaby. Lensbabies are fun little lenses that are designed to have a “sweet spot” of sharp focus and the rest of the picture can be a bit blurry and out of focus. Santa (aka Mom and Dad) heard my request, and delivered the goods.

Let me tell you, I am loving this little lens! I love the effects you get, and the feel of the photos. I can’t wait to try it on a portrait session. I still need to play around with it more. It makes you learn your camera better, and you have to play around to get the effect you are looking for, but it is totally worth it. So much fun.

Here are some of my first few lensbaby Muse pictures. 🙂 And no, you can’t play with mine, get your own! 🙂

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Mondo Beyondo for 2010 and BEYOND-o

Have you heard about Mondo Beyondo? It’s all about dreaming big, really big, letting yourself say the big, wild, crazy dreams that are in your soul, the ones the gremlins shout the loudest at, the ones that scare the beejesus out of you because they are what you really want to pursue.

I  made a mondo beyondo list a while ago (pictured above), but I didn’t do anything with it. Because, well, it’s scary to announce your biggest, wildest dreams. But it’s not very Mondo or Beyondo if you don’t share them. If you don’t really release them out into the world. So, I finally feel ready to shout to the world, Hey world, these are my dreams. This is what I want in my life. I am going to make it happen, I’m ready! It seems like the right time to release these out into the universe. Especially since I have chosen Joy as my word of the year, and told the Universe in no uncertain terms on Dec. 31 that I intended to focus on creativity, fun and photography this year.

Here is my Mondo Beyondo list.

It reads:

I, Kelly Ann Shaw, do solemnly vow to make this come true.

Dear Universe,

I welcome your assistance and signs.

A photo show of my work in a gallery.

A successful photography business, both my portraits and my art photos

Time to really travel in Italy, Greece, Ireland, Spain

Publish a photo book of people I meet with their stories(this one surprised me a bit)

Have an awesome, life long love adventure with Brian

Publish several of my book stories

Not needing to work an office desk job because my photography and writing pays the bills

Support Brian emotionally as he grows his dreams

Run and finish a marathon

Get and stay in awesome shape

Spend time living on an island with B

Have a story published in a magazine with photos that I took

Pay off all our debt

Make enough to help my parents financially

The little details around the collage include:

Dream, hope, believe, Dream Big, reach for the stars, bloom, way to go, There are many wonderful things that will never be done if you do not do them.

Come on Universe, let’s get busy!

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Hello Joy, my word for 2010

Hello, Joy!

Many bloggers have been choosing a word of the year for a few years, a word that they want to focus on for the upcoming year. Maybe it is something they want to invite more into their lives, or a reminder of goals. But whatever the reason for choosing the word, it is a very powerful way of stating intentions to the Universe. And the Universe has a way of responding.

There was some big joy in my life in 2009. I bought a house – a big, beautiful house, with enough space for me to have an art studio, and a library. I got married to the love of my life in a perfect, magic mermaid beach wedding. We honeymooned in Belize, relaxing, swimming, diving, and spending time together after an incredibly hectic start of the year. I cut off my mermaid curls and went back to really short hair, and totally love it. I started Flying Mermaid Photography and fell more and more in love with photography.We spent Thanksgiving in Seattle with my awesome brother-in-law, and had an amazing time.

Lots of big joy.

But, the last half of the year has been very challenging with my health. The struggles, the frustrations, the pain, the tears, the emergency room visit, the urgent care visit…they have defined the last half of this year. I have felt trapped and attacked by my body. I have lost some of my joy.

No more, I say.

For the first time, I decided to participate in choosing a word of the year. And for 2010, it is Joy.

I am welcoming and inviting joy into my life. And I know that sometimes, I will have to look for it. But I’m hoping that by choosing this as my word, it will remind me to always stop and find out where Joy might be, even when it seems like Joy is nowhere to be found. It’s there somewhere.

Like the photo of the Joy wreath at the top of this post.

I was out of my steroid skin cream. My skin was broken out. We were going to go out and buy our Christmas tree. I had been given a new prescription for a different skin cream, one I had used in Portland, and I remembered it didn’t work very well. But I put it on, figuring it would help at least a little. Right after I put the cream on, we left to go Christmas tree shopping. And once we were at Home Depot, my skin started to explode. I was insanely itchy. I started to get really hot. I was having a severe allergic reaction to the cream I had put on. But I found this wreath when we were there, maybe an hour or so after I had announced that I was choosing Joy for my word of the year for 2010. A Joy wreath to hang on my front door, and invite joy into my home. I took it as a sign from the Universe that joy can be there even in the worst pain. It might be small, but it is still there.

Since declaring Joy my word of the year, I have started seeing Joy pop up everywhere.

And every time it does, I pause, even just for a second, to say to myself, yes, Joy is here.

I even painted a little joy painting for myself – the bottom reads, joy was small but faced life unafraid.

Welcome Joy, I look forward to finding you and celebrating you, big and small, in 2010.

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