I feel guilty.  I feel so overwhelmed that I am sitting here, at my kitchen counter, drinking cold brew coffee, not too hot and not too cold, my son playing with his toys in his organic cotton pjs, the dogs sleeping quietly.  My possessions are all in tact.  My photography clients are still coming, and I’m still making money so that I can continue living.  

We don’t have internet.  That’s about it… in a way it’s almost nice.

A 30 minute’s drive to the east it’s a different story. 

I constantly read about the negative impacts caused by social media, and I have a feeling you do, too.  It causes depression.  It's fake.  People are buying their followers.  There's an ongoing movement for people to give social media the finger.

But I'm not riding that train, and this blog post is not about that.  Today I am focusing on why I love Instagram, and how I credit the platform for being one of the most profound and beneficial influencers of my life.

Long ago, I was sitting in a cold dark office (literally it had no windows, and would blow cold air from the vent). 

Hello!

I wrote this post up a couple weeks ago, but never got to editing and publishing it.  Mom life kind of happened, as it always does, and then Hurricane Irma was looming in the distance.  We had a few days of preparation, worry, and sugar binging from stress.  Luckily, Northwest Florida escaped Irma's wrath with just tropical storm conditions, and a strong northern wind. While we were super fortunate, parts of Florida were not.  I am researching how I can best contribute to helping those who were hit hard by Irma (and Harvey!), and will soon share more details.  Thank you for all the love and prayers.  We are so grateful to have all of you.

And now for the post I've been meaning to post...

Why not minimalism?  Just kidding.

As my personal and professional life have drifted towards minimalism I often get weird perplexing looks from people, as well as the frequent, "why on earth would you want to live that way?" questions about my lifestyle choices.

Let me take you back.  Years ago, I had a lot of stuff.  If you don't believe me, you can ask my husband.  

Happy Saturday everyone!

What are you up to this weekend?  We went out for pizza and pineapple cider (so good!) at Whole Foods last night.  We tend to go there a lot because little Bodie is a really picky eater, and I know there are some things he will eat there.  Nothing worse than going out to dinner with a toddler who refuses to eat and is bored.  I won't even go there!

Anyhoo.... This is a follow up to the last blog post that I wrote about stressful times.  Pour yourself a cup of coffee and read along

Well, I certainly bit off more than I can chew...

Last week, I shared all about the flamingo experience I had here as well as on Instagram + Facebook.  I mentioned that prints were available, thinking maybe a few people would want to buy some.  I received over 100 inquiries within the first two days, and they keep coming in.

Hello!

I am SO beyond excited to share my photos and recent experience.  Flamingos are here in NW Florida!!!  Let me rewind...

Last week we had tropical storm Cindy come through the area.  It rained for days.  I was scrolling on Facebook, and happened to come across this story.  How cool that a pair of flamingos were so close to where I live!?  If only they had come a little further east and they'd be in my neighborhood.  No one seems to know where they came from...

I'm an animal person. If you are, too, you get what I mean by this. I LOVE animals.

I've seen manatees at Disney World, and have longed to see one on the wild for years. Little did I know when I moved to the Emerald Coast that they'd be in my backyard! For some reason I thought I'd need to be further south to really see them.