Refocusing

Life is moving fast for me. My life has become busier, activities, ministries and hobbies are taking up more of my time. I want to be everything and do everything that comes my way. I have a thousand things that I want to do this summer. I have a lot of dreams that I want to pursue, but I can't do it all at once. I'm learning that sometimes you have to take a step back, and refocus.

   I love photography, and I love blogging. I love the idea of meeting people online that have the same dreams and interests that I do, but sometimes in the desire to meet people online, I neglect the ones that I already know. Which is something that I really don't want to do. I want to be able to enjoy blogging and photography, but not have blogging be my life. As Kimberly so wisely said, I want to build blog around my life, and not my life around my blog. My life has a decreasing amount of time for extra things, and I've had to do some sorting. What to keep, what toss out, and what I can change so they will fit in somewhere. So, somewhere in that process, blogging came up. And after some thought and prayer, I really feel like I need to step away from this for a while. As much as I love it, it has been eating up time that I could be using for things that I really need to do. I'm gonna keep taking pictures, so don't worry about that. I'll mostly be using my flickr, though, for sharing my photos. It takes about half the time blogging does, but I still can enjoy the fun of sharing my love for photography with others. If you want to join flickr, to stay in touch with me or for other reasons, I'd be really happy. I'd love too see you on there. I won't be deleting the blog, and I'm hoping that I'll come back sometimes, and start filling these pages with memories once again. Maybe in a couple of weeks, maybe in a couple of months; I'm not sure. I sad to leave, but I really feel like it's a step that I need to take.

So I want to say a big thank you to all of you guys who've helped me so much on this blogging journey. I'm so grateful for all the comments and suggestions, they always make my day. :) I really appreciate all my followers, you guys are so awesome. I really never thought I get this far with blogging, and you guys have really encouraged me to keep trying to improve. A special thanks to Mary Ann, whose been really sweet to me all along, and has helped me tons with design etc. Thanks so much!!

If you want to stay in touch with me, either check out my flickr, or email me at reflectionsphotographyblog@gmail.com. I love to hear from you.

So it's goodbye for now,

--Carli

May flowers

  

white flower bush/brick pathway at the botanical gardens.

a fiery orange flower in my yard. 

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little white blossoms at our house.

a multicolored flower by the tree. 

the first pea blossoms.

flowers at the botanical gardens. 

flowers in my yard, right after a rainstorm.

sunrise flower shot. 

a red daisy.

a flower in a puddle taken right after a rainstorm.

the first rose from our rosebush. 

 

blossoming tree branch, taken at 7:00.

apple blossoms. 

handwritten letter+roses

raindrops on white

a wild rose bush.

 

apple tree branch.

one of the many colors of lilacs in our yard. 

a flowering tree in our yard. 

 

the last daffodil.

the lavender lilac bush.

the purple lilacs.

the maroon lilacs.

 the little white flowers in b&w.

the pink lilacs. 

After my April Showers post, I thought I gather some of my favorite May flower photos. So this is it. There have been so many beautiful flowers this month that I really had a hard time choosing. As you can see, I really love our lilacs, they come in about four different colors, and they smell amazing. When we moved to this house, I was so excited because there so many beautiful flowers. If you haven't already noticed, I adore flowers. Whenever I go outside, I stop to smell the flowers, and they always makes me feel happy. When I was little, I always used to dream of living in a stone cottage on an island surrounded by a rose garden, so I could have all the flowers I could ever want. It still sounds pretty good. :)

Have a favorite?

--Carli

up the alley, down the street

{linking up: growing in him photo contest}

I would like to introduce you to some of my neighborhood friends. Lucky the beagle, Puggy the...(yep, you guessed it.) pug, and sol the live wire. I think she must be at least part russel terrier, because she never stops moving. Yep, these are the neighbor's dogs. We've watched them a couple of times, and become great pals. Unfortunately our dog doesn't agree.

 

 

 

Recently I've gotten into the habit of taking an evening walk around the neighborhood with my family. Actually it's kind of a tradition. I remember taking family walks in the evenings years ago. Then it was my dad that carried the camera, and an eight-year-old me that ran ahead, picked wildflowers and climbed trees along the way. We've moved several times since then, but we've carried on the tradition wherever we go. Now I carry the same camera that we used back then, but I haven't changed much. Sunsets still leave me breathless, and I still pick wildflowers to take home. It's really great to think that wherever I am, I can still go and watch the sunset every evening and be reminded of all the memories that go along with it. 

Do you have any family traditions that you love?

--Carli

6 o'clock adventure

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It was that lovely time of day right between afternoon and night. The golden sun colors everything in a tint of pure gold. It had already been a full day–including school, friends at the house, and a graduation party–but that didn't stop us. Being the spontaneous, crazy people we are, me and my three siblings headed downtown to go to the botanical gardens without a second thought. Even though it was six o'clock, and the drive was about 45 minutes. "Who cares?" we said.  We piled into the car with some music cds and the old guitar. The ride went really fast, 'cause people, my siblings are some of the greatest people everr. After a lot of laughing, singing loudly, and waving at random cars along the highway, we arrived at the gardens. It was amazing. There were people with shiny black cameras all over the place so I didn't feel a bit out of place. There were flowers in every color, iron gates, stone buildings, and gazebos. I think we were all a bit spellbound. "This is the place to propose to a girl." Rob said. (Yeah, I know, he has amazing tastes. ) It really was magical. We walked around and around the gardens, and more often than not, I was lagging behind snapping pictures. When we were worn out from walking around, the camera battery had died, and most of the people had left, we sat down and talked. It was getting dark when we left. On the way home we left the windows open, and let the evening air blow through the windows. We stopped half way home, topping off our six o'clock adventure with a few ice cream cones. Wanna come along next time?

         --Carli