“There are only two styles of portrait painting, the serious and the smirk”

-Charles Dickens

“If you want to be the most popular person in your class, whenever the professor pauses in his lecture, just let out a big snort and say, ‘How do you figger that!’ real loud. Then lean back and sort of smirk.”

-Jack Handy

Theme Song-Ain’t Nothing Like The Real Thing by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell

Theme Song #2-Even Better than the Real Thing by U2

This is my tween in all her unabashed I’m-cute-and-sassy-and-proud-of-it glory.  This image popped in my head instantly when I saw the word “smirk” for this week’s challenge.  This was real, spontaneous, undirected, unrehearsed, uncalled for.  yeah. She’s that good.  I’ll take this smirk over the one’s the world has been throwing at me lately.  gah.  What is it with some people?  Especially Mr. Scott Baio Trans Am Man at middle school carpool.  SHEESH!  He takes the cake.  If there were a poster child for the not so nice kind of smirk, he would be it.  If only I had a picture of him with his SMIRK and his head sticking out the window with his Scott Baio hair blowing in the wind, you would all roll on the floor laughing (ROTFL).  But then that wouldn’t be so nice would it.  Or quite as cute to look at.  So we go with my sassy tween who loves to throw a quirky-smirky one my way every once in awhile with the ‘tude that goes along with it… a little too well these days.  Me thinks it takes talent to still look this cute with an attitude like that.  She even smirks with her eyes.

i heart her.

Go see more fun “Smirk” entries at http://www.iheartfaces.com/2010/09/week-38-•-smirk-photo-challenge/

pee.ess.  One thing I love about i heart faces, is that they can give me a weekly boost to get off my keester and give me a reason to shoot something every week whether I feel like it or not.  What I also love about it, are those moments where a challenge brings an existing image immediately to the forefront of my mind because it expresses it so clearly.  There is nothing greater than an a “real” image that wasn’t set-up or forced, as in this case.  Sure, I could have grabbed my daughter and instructed her to smirk for me, but it just wouldn’t have been the same.  A’int nothing like the real thing, baby.  There’s something to be said for catching real moments.

“Sometimes the smallest things take up the most room in your heart.”

Theme song #1: “Secret Heart” by Feist

Theme song #1: “Two Hearts Are Better Than One” by Katie Herzig

I imagine our hearts with millions of itty bitty pockets full of soft whispers, secrets, dreams, loves, feel goods, affirmations, lessons learned, and inspiration… Every time something touches your heart it gets tucked away.  It is retrievable. Each time I feel so inclined, I can reach in and grab onto the feeling and rub it on my cheek like a silky blanket.

I was so glad when my beautiful inside and out friend, Marcel Walker, with more heart pockets than I can imagine, came to me awhile back and asked me to do a guest post on her blog.  This was my first time being asked to do this, and on top of that, I hadn’t even entered the scary blog world myself.     {Still riding with my training wheels on here people!} She asked me to share my thoughts on the beauty of life.  I cracked my rusty knuckles and whipped some quick thoughts out for a quickie deadline.

It went a little something like this…

“the images in our photography help slap us in the face or give us a little tap on the shoulder to awaken all sorts of wonderful feelings and emotions, good or bad tucked in the pockets of our hearts.  I honestly can say I embrace every aspect of life… the smile and the tears, the sun and the rain, including all of the  funky and whackadoodle times I’ve endured-it’s all good.  I love it all and wouldn’t change a moment of it.  In my awkward years, I thought I was so clever for saying, “I have a love for life and life loves me”, but truly that’s how I’ve always felt.  As cheesy as it sounds, I love life and it is so beautiful!

It became even more beautiful “A.K.” (after kiddos).

When I look at this photo it makes my heart get all “meltedy” as the girls say. There is nothing more beautiful and perfect when I look at my husband being daddy to my 3 little ladies.  {SIGH}  Can you say Daddy’s girls?  ALL three of them.  There’s nothing like that sparkle in their eye when he walks through the door, watching him at a tea party with his girls as they proudly place a princess crown atop his head and he doesn’t even flinch, or tickle fights until their stomachs hurt, baking cookies together and letting them eat the dough right from the bowl, or the kisses on their boo-boos. The quiet, soft, and tender moments of holding his girls in his arms, reading them a book, tucking them in, or all tuckered out falling asleep on his shoulder while sitting on a white sanded beach, are priceless.  The bond of a daddy and his daughter is beautiful.  If my heart could shed tears, it would. I plan on stuffing my pockets full of these “meltedy” moments through photography by stopping and inhaling those simple, yet vital times.  Life is perfect in all its imperfections.  It’s the simple things in life that make it so beautiful.   It’s the light and dark and contrasts that make life beautiful.  It’s a daddy holding his sleeping beauty in his arms.”

My heart pockets were born and my sleepy writer’s brain had a cold glass of water thrown on it.  I thank her for that little splash I needed to awaken my desire to start sifting through my heart pockets and rediscover things I’ve forgotten, like how much I love to write!  I love every new pocket that has been sewn and filled since I have picked up my camera and kicked up my typing fingers a bit.

The thing about the beauty of life, is that it is full of moments that would be seemingly unbeautiful, but that’s what makes life so beautiful, right… are you with me?!?  haha The unexpected is beautiful.  Well, same goes for photography.  I love finding the beauty in the seemingly unbeautiful and ordinary everyday things.

{Like messy faces.}

{Or old objects.} 

{Or seeing a tree differently than every other person that passes by it each day.}

My camera has made me stop and really SEE more.  write more.  engage more. play more.  And it has most definitely helped me tuck way more in those pockets than if I were empty-handed.  Like on Easter when I was feeling ill.  It was my camera that got me off the couch and filled my memory card and heart pockets with hunts and giggles and golden hair.  Ahhhhhh  Life lesson 101.  Take it all in. The good, the beautiful and the seemingly bad and ugly… it’s not.

What are you filling your heart pockets with?

My heart to yours,

Dana

xo

p.s.  Please go fill your pockets with more goodness over at Marcel’s new and improved and amazing blog here.  She is overflowing with wisdom, tips & tricks, humor, eye candy and friendship!

***THIS IS A REPOST FROM APRIL 1st, BECAUSE I COULDN’T BELIEVE HOW PERFECTLY IT FIT THIS  WEEKS “YELLOW” THEME AT IHEARTFACES AND BECAUSE NOT ONE PERSON READ IT BESIDES ME, SO THER YA GO!!!!  ;)

“Far away there in the sunshine are my highest aspirations. I may not reach them, but I can look up and see their beauty, believe in them, and try to follow where they lead.”

- Louisa May Alcott

Theme song#1: “It’s A Sunshine Day” the Brady Bunch

Theme song#2: “Sunshine On My Shoulder” John Denver

Today was the yummiest of days, according to the sun.

It was yellow. it was warming. it was sunny-side-up and good enough to eat.

I love it when the air is so saturated with yellowy sunshine, that I feel like I can take a bite out of its golden goodness.

Mmmmm.

Glorious.

My heart has felt like this lately:

“His heart was like a sensitive plant, that opens for a moment in the sunshine, but curls up and shrinks into itself at the slightest touch of the finger, or the lightest breath of wind. – Anne Bronte

I open up to the choice of happiness, then recoil when change seems too much.

Today the sun gave me solace.

Each time I stepped out the door, I was greeted with open arms by my old, jolly friend.

Meet Miss Allison.

she and Mr. Sun have a lot in common.

doesn’t it just look like all of its’ finger-like rays are tickling her so?

go see lots more fun yellow entries at iheartfaces!

I was hugged, when its arms enveloped me so tightly after a dragging-of-feet kind of morning.

I was loved when my 4-year-old invited me to sit at the kitchen table in its lovely rays; bursting through the window glass to have lunch with her. “Come sit in the sunny sunshine with me, mama!” she chimed, as she patted the seat next to her with her chubby little hand. And I smiled as I received warm and gooey kisses on my skin from the both of them.

That is my favorite kind of sun.

Giddy.

I, along with the earth, was bathed in its virtue as all around had new charm. new life. new beginnings.

I was healed when it curled its pointer finger at me, beckoning me to partake of the Vitamin D it so freely gives.

I was inspired when it whispered in my ear to grab my camera and capture something, anything. After all, the sun is my sidekick in this crazy passion of mine. Couldn’t do it without him.

I was a sunflower, turning my head to find it at every part of the passing day.

“Keep your face always toward the sunshine – and shadows will fall behind you.” – Walt Whitman

I was reminded of how I shall not keep it to myself, but give it away.

God is good.

Oh, sun. It’s been so long.

I needed you today.

and you listened like a good friend should.

Next time don’t stay away so long.

Ain’t no sunshine when you’re gone,

It’s not warm when you’re away,

Ain’t no sunshine when you’re gone,

And you’re always gone too long,

Anytime you go away.

Well, then it’s like, you know… dark.

What kind of sun is your favorite???

warm fuzzies,

Dana

:::So many fabulous sunshiney songs! Some other faves: “Pocketful of Sunshine” Natasha Bedingfield, “Sunshine” Matt Costa,

“Walking On Sunshine” Katrina and the Waves:::

“In art the hand can never execute anything higher than

the heart can inspire.”-Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Wheresoever you go, go with all your heart.” -Confucius

“Beauty is not in the face; beauty is a light in the heart” -Kahlil Gibran

Theme song #1: Fly to Your Heart by Selena Gomez

Theme song #2: Little Wonders by Rob Thomas

Theme song #3: Don’t Go Breakin’ My Heart by Kiki Dee

(because this song just makes me smile!)

Yesterday I had to finish a personal questionnaire for a photography workshop I will be attending in T-minus 14 days!!!

Wo-MAN alive I am beyond excited!!!

But don’t be fooled, my friend.  This is not yo’ mama’s ordinary photog workshop… oh, no.

This is the Heart Shop baby!!!

“A memory is a photograph taken by the heart to make a moment last forever.”

An ooey-gooey freaking Heart Shop with Becky Earl and Diana Palmer and an amazing and talented group of ladies that have already been pulling at my heartstrings as we get to know each other online pre shop.

Remember when I talked about 2010 being the year for change here and a little here (and my very first post ever about timing)… to get uncomfortable, go for it, and just D.O. it? Well, I am happy to say that I feel the time is right and this workshop was meant to be as part of my journey. Could I have picked a class that focuses just on technical stuff?  Yah.  But would that have served my purpose?  Nah.

I have already been stretched and hurt my already migrainefested head to think more about who I am  and where I am going as a person and as a photographer more than I have let myself in years.  Because I’m going there… all the way.  They promise to help me “discover what makes my heart beat fast, my goose bumps rise,  and my passion ignite”.

This is what I need and I’m grabbing my Heart by the horns… by the strings.

It’s on.

So, there was a question asking what inspires me.

A WHOLE LOT inspires me!

It can go a little something like this…

Today is the last day of school.  This morning it was solidified for me, that it is all the little moments, that may not look like much to others, that inspire my heart the most.  I watched my girls hand a simple gift and homemade card to the crossing guard lady they have waved to every single morning, and every single afternoon for the entire school year, from the car, rain or shine.  They have smiled, they have yelled lots of “have a happy, happy day”s, they have connected heart to heart without even knowing her name.

Her name is Miss Debbie. She hugged my girls and sincerely thanked them.  Tears filled her eyes as she told them how much their daily smiles and waves have meant to her and that she would surely miss them over the summer.  Her heart was touched… and so were ours. (Now if only I had taken a picture-duh!)

“What the heart gives away is never gone…It is kept in the hearts of others”  -Robin St. John

Hearts and little moments.

Inspiring.