Be Our Guest - Kelly Kardos

It is my pleasure today to introduce our guest blogger, Kelly Kardos. Many of you know Kelly as I do, from Instagram where she comes across not only as a great photographer but a fun person, someone I’d love to meet up with ‘for real’ sometime.

Kelly’s style philosophy begins and ends, “where the little things make up the big picture.” This helps her slow down and pay attention to the little things that might otherwise be overlooked. Whether it’s behind her DSLR or her iPhone, Kelly likes her photos to tell a story, as if we didn’t have a written language. You can find her on Instagram  @kellykardos or on her personal blog.

What's In A Word?

[wurd] n. Simply put; one or more spoken sounds or written representations.

But nowhere in the definition does it mention to empower or enlighten. This is my third year choosing a word. Before that it just felt like making a New Years resolution. I was never good at those either, pretty much failing miserably before February.  I believe fate stepped in three years ago.

Before I chose the word “LIVE”, I questioned, researched and read -- a lot -- to try and understand what exactly it was I was trying to do. What I found was choosing a word is more of a philosophy and that seemed much easier to grasp than a bunch of restrictions I had always placed on myself. Then, unknowingly, I set myself up for failure.

I started by writing random words that seemed inspiring. It was like shopping and, hey -- I was good at that! I opened my heart and read each word one by one. Quietly to myself and awkwardly out loud letting each one dance and swirl on each breath I took. I mulled the words over through out my day. I was in a photography rut:  full of self-doubt, hesitant to try new things and forgetting to have fun -- THAT was a biggie. So my word had to have meaning and purpose.

One word kept leaping off the page at me -- LIVE. It felt good and I was excited. So, LIVE it was. I was going to climb out of that box I had put myself into. I hand stamped my new word onto a washer, attached a band and made a bracelet so every time I looked at it I’d be gently reminded to stay the course.

 But Fate was already intervening.

Soon after, tragedy struck … over and over again, the horrible, gut wrenching, life altering kind of tragedy. I learned what I was made of that year. I lived through more than any one person should ever have to in one lifetime, much less in 365 days. But I lived and fate knew I would need to rise above it all.

Last year my chosen word was “Breathe” -- a no brainer really. I needed to mourn my losses and heal my broken heart and soul. My husband, Frankie, ordered a beautiful necklace with my word and I wore it religiously every day. It was something tangible, touchable and oh, so relevant.

My word for 2015 is “Balance” and it seems to marry "Live"and "Breathe" together hand in hand -- especially coming out of a year of no self imposed demands. I will be practicing time management so I can enjoy the day as it’s meant to be enjoyed and still do what is necessary. Jewelry seemed only appropriate to guide me on my new path and failure is not in this year’s vocabulary. 

“Women need real moments of solitude and self-reflection to balance out how much of ourselves we give away.

                                                                                                                     ~ Barbara de Angelis

Dotti, and all the beauties here at Focusing on Life, thank you for allowing me to share from my heart in this beautiful and sacred space for women to come and just be … in community and spirit.

                                                                                                                                                            Kelly

Be Our Guest - Patricia Turner

In this our month of gratitude here at Focusing on Life, I'm pleased to introduce our guest for this month, Patricia Turner. Carol Albers recently met Patricia at a photography workshop and suggested her for a guest blogger. I think you'll be glad she did when you've read Patricia's lovely post and viewed her wonderful photography. Since Patricia is new to our pages, I think a short introduction would be helpful.

Patricia majored in photography and filmmaking in the mid-1970’s.  After receiving her master’s in Fine Arts Education from Harvard University in 1979, she spent the next 30 years teaching in a suburban Boston school system.  In 2005, she received a grant from The Philanthropic Initiative to return to her photographic work with a trip to the Outer Hebrides of Scotland.  This has led to 9 years of world travel.   Since her retirement in 2010, Turner has devoted her time to contemplative photography and travel with her home-base in Porter, Maine.  Her latest project, The Poetry of Place, Reflections from the Edge of the Pond, finds her much nearer to home, at Little Clemons Pond in Hiram, Maine.  Her passion for the writings of Henry David Thoreau has led her to make the pond her personal Walden.   This photograph represents the inaugural print of the series she hopes to create over the next year at the pond.  Turner writes a blog, A Photographic Sage, that approaches contemplative photography from a Taoist perspective.  You can see folios of her work on the site.

Finding Walden

I am grateful for so many things. Retirement has offered me the gift of time to pursue my passion for contemplative photography. My love of the writings of Concord contemplative and transcendentalist Henry David Thoreau has given me the desire to find and photograph my own Walden close to home. I'm thankful that I found it within a mile of my home in Maine and I've made it my goal since June 29, 2014, to visit and photograph the pond for one year.

What has evolved since June is The Poetry of Place: reflections from the edge of the pond. Not merely documentary, I have tried to wade into the soul of this unique little pond. Unspoiled by development along its shore, Little Clemons Pond has touched me in ways no other landscape has. It has opened my eyes to a whole new way of seeing and for that I am truly thankful.

It's not what you look at that matters,

it's what you see.

                                                                 - Henry David Thoreau

What I've seen has surprised even me.

I've begun to see the pond in terms of gentle and sometimes subtle abstractions. Tentative at first because I was a bit afraid of letting go of imagery.

Early on I made photographs that attempted to reflect the lyrical nature I found at the pond. I called these images Intimacies. I began to experiment with processing the photographs in a more painterly way. Something I'd never tried before.

But as I became more and more immersed in the poetic elements of this place, I took a giant leap.

Once I began to see the reflections in the mirror-like surface of the water I had to acknowledge the masterful hand of Nature that creates these amazing abstract expressionist renderings. I simply chose a particular part of Her composition to translate into my photography detaching it from any reference to what caused the reflections.

The world is but a canvas to our imagination.

                                                                                                            - Henry David Thoreau

Every visit to the pond has brought me to a new and different place with my camera work. I felt completely liberated to explore new ways to depict what I found there. A friend took me out in his canoe so I could look at the pond from the inside out rather than my usual outside in. That too changed my relationship with the pond.

That is yet another thing I am thankful for ... this new co-conspiracy with the landscape. I rarely see myself as a silent witness but as an active participant with the pond. We are a team. Some days I just go and sit by the pond and work on a haiku, another new adventure for me, but the pond has inspired so many. She, and I do see the feminime quality of this place, invites me to watch the seasons slowly change along her shores; watching the ever revolving wheel of the year turn. The dazzling fall season is slowly but inextricably fading as the trees rust on the hillsides. 

This has been a warm and lengthy interval between the heat of summer and the frosts of late autumn.

It seems to me the landscape is having a final and furious fling before it gives itself up to the starkness of a Maine winter. The calendar page drops away and I know the time has come to embrace a new reality. I've watched summer melt into fall and now fall fades into that in-between place that some call November. The leaves and the pine needles engage the pond in an intimate embrace smothering the shore as they let go of the trees that held them tightly in their grasp all summer.

A chill may pervade the air but I find the slowly disappearing color a relief. I am looking forward to cold and snow and ice in a way I never have before when I only saw it as a nuisance to be dealt with. Now it will transform my pond in new and magical ways and I know that it will transform my camera work as well.

November is that time of transition and I feel my photographs becoming more and more experimental as I struggle to transcribe the pond's metamorphosis in visual terms. I find the need to visit more frequently now and often only with pen and paper and not camera, in hand. Then, when I do return with the camera, I find my response to the pond more intuitive and authentic.

November Night

Silent in the black woods wait

'round a sleeping,

moonlit pond

Owls keep watch with me.

Haiku #10

The pond is turning inwards and I seem to be also. I find myself returning, from time to time, to the monochrome image. As the color leaves the landscape, so it is with my photographs of it. Again, I find my camera work responding to the whispers of the pond.

I have nearly seven more months left in this project but already it feels as if I have been visiting and recording the pond's spiritual essence for a lifetime. I doubt that the strong bond that I've forged with this place will end just because the calendar says the year is over. One simply doesn't turn one's back on a cherished friend and I am forever thankful for Her friendship and the photographs She has gifted me.

I have a room all to myself; it is nature.

                                                                                                     - Henry David Thoreau

Please visit Patricia's blog by following this link:

http://aphotographicsage.blogspot.com/

You can also access the Poetry of Place posts so far by following this link:

http://aphotographicsage.blogspot.com/search/label/The%20Poetry%20of%20Place

Be Our Guest - Cathy Hubmann

Our guest blogger today is Cathy Hubmann who hails from Arkansas. I feel like I've known Cathy for a very long time when in reality it's been maybe 4 or 5 years. Cathy and I met in Tracey Clark's 'Picture' classes, then Cathy continued with us as a follower on our private Flickr group, Prompt Addicts, where she is now a facilitator. She's been a faithful reader and commentor here at FOL since our first day so she is really a member of our family. I've watched Cathy grow by leaps and bounds as a photographer and I feel like she is truly a friend. Let's turn it over to Cathy, I think you'll enjoy her visit today.

The Gift of Curiosity

There are a variety of reasons why we as photographers feel the need to pick up our cameras and take pictures.  It might be a need to document daily life or to capture images of family. It might be the desire to create beautiful works of art or the challenge of learning the technical side of photography. Maybe we like the way it makes us look at the world, people, or architecture in a different way. Maybe we use photography to help us heal or provide therapy.  Maybe it's how we show gratitude. The reasons are many and varied.

At first I thought it was a love of nature that motivated me. I do love nature, but my photography includes other things as well. After studying some of my favorite images I discovered that I am fascinated by shapes and details, but that still wasn't quite right. It wasn't until recently that I realized what is probably my strongest motivator. It is CURIOSITY. Plain and simple curiosity and not the kind that killed the cat or got into other people's business. Genuine curiosity is quite different. It drives me to know more and to explore more. That's where my camera comes into play. I use it to explore an object from different points of view or get up close with a macro lens. My curiosity doesn't usually stop there. After I've taken the picture I have to know more. What is it called? Why is it there? What is it good for? That's where books and Google come in handy!

Almost every day without fail, my camera and I are outside. The only thing that keeps me in is a thunderstorm. I don't mess with lightening. At least once every couple of weeks I try to go on a photo excursion, but most days you'll find me in my own yard. We have about three acres of cleared land that I wander around. What keeps me covering the same ground over and over? What could possibly be new today? Let me tell you, many things! Each day I look through different eyes and see new things. New things aren't always easy to spot either. Well, some are, like fallen limbs covered in lichen or colorful fall leaves, but most aren't. I have to turn things over or get down on the ground and look underneath. Otherwise my eyes just scan over the whole scene not seeing the details. Only when I slow down and look closely, do I discover the amazing, fascinating beauty of nature.

One of the most common ways that curiosity is crushed is through fear. I deal with the fear of going to new or crowded places. When I give in to fear I seek the familiar, stay in my comfort zone, and I'm unwilling to explore. My photography begins to become stagnant and honestly, gets a little boring! I have to push myself to overcome fear, so I can keep learning and exploring. Sometimes I do this on my own. Sometimes by taking classes. Either way it is not easy overcoming fear, but it can be amazingly rewarding.

My motivators are nature, shapes, and details, but mostly the gift of curiosity. Have you thought about what motivates you? Whatever it is, I hope you'll throw in a little curiosity, too!

"I think, at a child's birth, if a mother could ask a fairy godmother to endow it with the most useful gift, that gift would be curiosity.”

                                                               ~ Eleanor Roosevelt

Thank you so much for letting me share some thoughts and photos with you today. I am honored!

Be Our Guest ... Claudia Wrightson

Today it is with great pleasure that I announce our guest poster today, Claudia Wrightson. I couldn’t say ‘introduce’ to you because many of you already know Claudia. She, along with Terri and me, was one of the founders here at Focusing on Life. As with so many of you, I first met Claudia in Tracey Clark’s ‘Picture’ classes, following which she and I, then ultimately, Terri, collaborated in a Flickr prompt group. From that collaboration came FOL. Sadly, Claudia had to leave the team late in 2012. But we’re delighted to have her back on our pages today. I know you’ll love her post and give her a warm FOL ‘welcome home’.

~ Dotti

N O W H E R E

Have you ever had a moment in your life that seemed to be showing up over and over?

Some call it Déjà vu...

Long before I was diagnosed with dyslexia, I was in 3rd grade with Mrs. Gold; I knew I was one of the worst readers in my class. Even though I was in the blue group, I knew red and yellow were much smarter than the blue. (Isn't it amazing how smart kids are early on?) I hated "reading circle!" Each one of us took our turn reading a page. I tried sitting in what I thought was the middle of the circle so that when the first reader began, I could quickly count ahead to determine which was my page. I would frantically practice it enough to hopefully not embarrass myself; to no avail.

Too soon it was my turn. Slowly I began to read. The word nowhere showed up on the page numerous times. The first time I came upon it I read, "The boy was NOW here to be found." There were a few giggles, but no correction from my teacher. Then the second time I read NOW HERE more began to giggle. I quickly looked at the sentence and was certain I was reading it correctly... I continued on. By the time the word showed up a third time, even my teacher began to laugh. I looked to her as tears began to well up in my eyes and she said, "Claudia the word is noWHERE... not Now HERE."

To this very day... every single time I see that word, it stops me in my tracks and reminds me of the embarrassment. I am no longer embarrassed and actually can smile when this special word pops up for me. 

It's funny how the Universe tries to help us along the way. Like many, my life was full of family and work and other things keeping me completely busy. Yet it wasn't until I realized that my word, NOW here, though spelled "special" for me, was my reminder to stop ... pay attention and see and look and live in the moment. NOW.

Focusing on my photography has helped me to start that process deliberately. Intentionally living has helped me to realize that I was missing the details that I so love. I had a necklace made with the words NOW Here engraved as a reminder.

I have enjoyed my relationship with "my friends on FOL" and I'm grateful for this opportunity to visit you with a guest post. This community has helped me to be present and appreciate detailed moments and remember to be NOW HERE.

Be Our Guest - Sarah Huizenga

by Dotti

This month I'm delighted to welcome long-time FOL follower, Sarah Huizenga to our pages. Sarah resides in western Michigan with her husband {who was also her high school sweetheart}, their college-aged daughter and two Golden Retrievers. An avid photographer, blogger and writer, Sarah quit work in fall 2011 to focus on her interests. You can find her blog at Paisley Rain Boots and I promise you won't be disappointed when you visit.

We challenged Sarah to take an inspiration photograph and create her own photo. Let’s see what happened.

A Still Life Leads to a Memory

I don't consider myself a still life photographer. Oh don't get me wrong I think I am good enough at it. Ideally though I would rather be out exploring back roads and abandoned buildings, shooting decay in its full rusty, peeling paint and moldy glory. This winter has had other plans for me though, more than a hundred inches of snow, polar vortexes with single digit temperatures and below zero wind chills. These conditions have forced me to stay inside and get creative with my photography.

I am half way through my first 365 project, after many failed attempts in years past, this time it stuck. The trick is to start in July or September, not in January. I was not going to let winter keep me from being successful on this project. So I have been stalking Pinterest and building my Still Life Photography board, which you can find here, to fill my homebound world with creative ideas.

I ran across this pin a few months ago and something about the simplicity of it really called to me.

I love to print out pins that really appeal to me and put them on the bulletin board that is in my art room. The more I looked at that photo, the more it reminded me of a similar basket of clothespins that my grandmother had had on her 1950's vintage Westinghouse clothes dryer. Of course when I was little we would have just called it old, not vintage. Her washer and dryer were squeezed into her half bathroom with the beautiful patterned frosted glass window that was located off of the kitchen in her two story white clapboard house. Since that bathroom was located off the kitchen and the frosted window fascinated me, I used that bathroom a lot when I was at her house.

So inspired by the Pinterest Pin and memories of my grandmother's house I set out to recreate the basket and clothespins.

First of all, do you know how hard it is to find peg style clothespins these days? The grocery store doesn't sell them, Target doesn't sell them, and Lowe's doesn't sell them, so I moved on the craft stores. I found two packages of these at JoAnn's Fabric and thought I had won the lottery.

But when you open the package and look at them, they are missing a key ingredient, the beautiful tapered end of the originals and also the staining of weather and time.

Fortunately I found a jar of vintage peg style clothespins at the Antique store located in our downtown. I didn't really need the jar, but I did need the clothespins, so I got another glass jar as a bonus.

Part of the thrill of Still Life Photography for me, is the thrill of the hunt. I had found the perfect clothespins, now on to the basket.

I have had this basket since the last house we lived in where I used it in the main bathroom to hold extra  washcloths. I would roll them up and stand them on end in the basket. This basket has been living in our storage room for the past ten years but every time I clean things out I can never bear to part with it.  See, there was a reason why, it now has a purpose.

I found this baby blanket at my local Antique Mall for $4. It seems slightly wrong to pay $4 for a baby blanket with stains on it, but in reality it was perfect.

With all the parts and pieces gathered it was time to set the scene. This is my still life photography area, our bedroom, it has great north window light and the bed works great to drape a piece of flannel over the end to create a backdrop for my photographs.

The original inspiration…

And my interpretation...

I had to use some of the JoAnn's bought pegs in the bottom of the basket to help fill the basket up and I didn't have as many layers of old blankets. I put the musical stuffed Snoopy in the basket and chose his eyes to be my focus point. The Snoopy was my Grandmother's, I would wind him up at night when I slept over at her house and I would fall asleep listening to the tune he played.

So for me this still life photo was about more than just recreating the photo, it was about recreating a memory.

Be Our Guest - Sherry Galey

by Dotti

About the time I was thinking about whom to invite to be our February guest, I read on Sherry Galey’s blog, Still and All, that she and her husband were getting ready to leave their home in Canada for points south in Florida to spend the winter on their boat. I don’t know about you, but this is a dream that captivates my imagination and I wanted to hear more about it so I asked Sherry  to be our guest today. Sherry is a longtime member of our FOL family and I think you’ll enjoy her story and getting to know her a little better. Please join me in welcoming Sherry to our pages today. {In addition to her blog which I’ve linked above, you can see more of Sherry’s beautiful photography on her Flickr photostream.}

Lessons from a life afloat...

She must find a boat and sail in it. No guarantee of shore. Only a conviction that what she wanted could exist, if she dared to find it.

                                                                                                                                  Jeanette Winterson

Lesson 1: Find a way to do what makes you come alive

For the past three winters, I’ve been living a dream on a 36-foot sailboat called Windsong II – and sharing it with Bob and Charles, our Westie. We’re not fans of cold weather so we’ve chosen to spend our time away from the snow, ice, freezing temperatures of our Canadian winters. Lately, this has meant going to Florida but we hope to explore the Bahamas, too.

Our dream didn’t materialize overnight, and it didn’t come easily. We took risks, We made sacrifices. We climbed steep learning curves. But without a doubt, it has all been worth it.

Everything started with a wake up call some 11 years ago. 

One hot summer day, Bob, the love of my life, suffered a sudden heart attack while painting. Happily, he recovered well, but the scare made us both take stock. We resolved to stop taking our life and health for granted. Neither of us wanted to reach the end of the line only to realize that we had failed to honour the deepest longings of our hearts. 

Soon afterward, Bob retired and started pursuing his boyhood dream of learning to sail. I joined him in that and also began to seriously explore my lifelong fascination with photography. These were passions we had both put on hold until "later." We launched an ongoing conversation about how we could spend more time together doing more of what each of us loved best. 

Luckily, sailing and photography are a match made in heaven. But I was still on the treadmill of a demanding communications job, and it wasn't immediately obvious how I could get off and we could make our dreams come true. I knew deep inside, though, that if we were 100% committed, with a bit daring, creativity and hard work, we could find a way. 

So we kept brainstorming, researching and crunching numbers until a plan was hatched. It involved trading a house in the city for a house in a small town and a sailboat.  

Fast forward to January 2012. I had retired -- which, after 30 years in the workforce, felt a bit like jumping off a cliff without a parachute -- and after an intensive search, we found the right boat for us in southeast Florida. 

Adventure beckoned in our new floating home -- and I was ready with my camera to capture it.

Lesson 2: Your real home is where you feel most in touch with who you are

Martha Beck says that "Heading towards your inner home will take you places—both inside yourself and in the external world—which your heart will recognize as its native environment, even though you have never been there before."

I'd never lived on a boat before. And it's not for everyone, that's for sure. Some people just aren't cut out for fitting a whole life into less square footage than a two-car garage, with only a fraction of the clothes, furniture, appliances, books, gizmos, gadgets, decorations and keepsakes that ordinarily surround us. And I get that.

But living a simpler life with fewer possessions gives me energy and makes me feel free. And what makes me feel free is what makes me feel most at home. This is my heart's native environment.

On a sailboat I'm also closer to nature. I can't help being more attuned to the environment. I practically live outside. My days are longer and slower so I am more present to my experiences. I delight in more sunrises and more sunsets than ever before. When it rains I feel the drops trickle down my face. I stand in awe of the power of the sea. I notice the phases of the moon and the tides. I gaze up in wonder at the stars and feel humbled. I feel the water supporting me as the boat rocks me to sleep. 

And I'm always acutely aware of the strength and direction of the the wind. Or I should be.

That leads me to Lesson 3: Pay attention to the details

Weather is everything on a boat. A few years ago we forgot that.

After a couple of beautiful days at anchor on the way to the Florida Keys we became complacent and failed to check the the weather forecast. The east wind was clocking to the south and increasing to gale force. I huddled in terror in the aft cabin, afraid that our anchor would let go and we would be blown God knows where in the pitch blackness, while Bob watched the GPS like a hawk to see if we were moving. Neither of us got a wink of sleep. I made peace with death that night. We stayed put, thank heavens, but needless to say we didn't make that mistake again.

Paying greater attention to details has helped my photography too. I used to think that it was enough to vaguely aim my camera at an interesting subject and just click. I'm embarrassed to admit I didn't even notice where the shadows were falling or what was going on in the background. I didn't look closely enough. I didn't see clearly enough. My senses weren't sharp enough.

That has changed some after much study, practice and experience. I'm definitely more aware of how details affect an image -- like the time of day, the direction of the light, the temperature of the light, the angle of a face, the tilt of a head, the softness of the background, the juxtaposition of the tones, the precise point of focus…

I understand better now that the overall feeling, mood, message, and story of an image are really the sum total of all the little details that make it up. And that my open, loving awareness can encompass it all.

These are only a few of the many lessons I've learned from my life afloat. I've also discovered the joys of self-sufficiency and community and letting go, but those are stories for another day... 

Joy Begins…from within.

by Susan

Before turning this post over to Susan, I have some news I want to share with you. As you may know, Susan was one of the original Focusing on  Life sisters and did a guest post for us last month. She has agreed to come back into the fold and today's post will be her last as a guest. Beginning January 1st, Susan will be regularly posting every other Wednesday. All of us here at FOL are thrilled to have her back and I know you have a treat in store with her thought-provoking posts and wonderful photography.  I'm sure you will all give her a warm welcome! ~ Terri

Joy Begins...from within.

'I am joy.' It's as simple as that.  Joy begins...from within. You, me...your next door neighbor and on and on. Joy begins from something inside of us, a happiness...a feeling...that makes us smile, laugh and long to pass it on...to share with others.

It's the gift of giving...and receiving. It's who we are. It's universal.

Spread 'joy' where you go. Do nice things for others…drop a few dollars in those bright red Salvation Army buckets…donate food, clothes and gifts to your local charities…kiss your kids goodnight…always say 'i love you'…hug-hug-hug…spread joy to those you care for…and those that you have yet to know.

Please remember to share some of this 'joy' with us in the flickr pool! We love seeing your images!  

As always, it's wonderful to be a guest here again on FOL. Thank you so much for having me! 

Happy holidays and joyful wishes to you all…xoxo.

Sisterhood

by Susan

 SISTERHOOD  {sis·ter·hood}:

- the close relationship among women based on shared experiences, concerns, etc.
- a community or society of women

When I was asked to do a guest post for this wonderful group of women, the first thing that came to mind was...oh my...what do I write about?  Gratitude is this month's theme...so many things I'm grateful for.  So, so many.  With that said, which one to focus on, to put out there...to share with this wonderful community.  Think Susan...think, think, think.  And just like that...there it was, right in front of me...the blog...the Focusing On Life blog...the women who contribute to this blog and the women who follow it...the common link...the thread that binds us to one another...our love for sharing the little windows, the images, of our lives...through photography.  Ding, ding, ding....the silent bell in my head goes off...and of course...it all comes together now.  Sisterhood...I'm grateful for sisterhood. 

"Sisterhood is not a destination, but a journey." - author unknown

  

 We are all connected in one way or another...whether it's through family, friendships, hobbies and passions...we long for that connection with others who validate, give reason, to our life here on earth.  It's who we are.  It is who I am.

Susan & Terri sharing a 'sisterhood' moment.

Focusing on Life...it is a 'sisterhood'... a community of women brought together because of our love for photography...and for friendship.  I am so grateful to be on this journey, this sisterhood, with you.

The FOL flickr pool is open...so dive, jump...take a running canon-ball leap into this heartfelt journey of sisterhood and share your life, your visions...YOU!  xoxo

Just a gentle reminder to post your GRATITUDE photos to our Flickr page and mention in your description what you're thankful for. We have some gorgeous all-purpose photos but only Gratitude photos will be considered for Focus on You. We'd love to have you play along!