When I was eight years old, I bought a Lisa Frank diary. Girls, you know you remember Lisa Frank. Bright rainbows. Neon dogs, pandas, unicorns and anything else that would make a boy want to throw up. Lisa Frank. I would insert the mini key into the heart shaped lock and open up to a blank page of rainbow colored paper. I didn’t know how to start a diary entry, so I decided to list all my favorite things instead:
Favorite Color: Purple
Dream Job: Artist
Favorite Band: Spice Girls
Dream Boyfriend: AJ from the Backstreet Boys
Favorite Candy: M&Ms
Now I am attempting my first ever blog post, and all off a sudden a list of my favorite things on neon colored paper sounds pretty good. This is what I would write:
Favorites: Carpooling to work with my best friend, who just happens to also be my husband. Ice cream. Deep cleaning the house to Glee music. Winter scarves. Holding my brand new niece. Taking good notes at church. Kettle corn. Laughing like a kid with my friends. Mystery shows. Pei Wei takeout. Game nights. Venturing into this passion I love.
I may be a little older and a little wiser than I was when I had that Lisa Frank diary, but one thing is for certain, I still don’t know what I am doing. I didn’t know how to write a diary entry then, and I don’t know how to write a blog entry now. What I do know is I love taking pictures. I love capturing memories. I don’t think I was too far off when the eight-year-old Amy wrote about how she wanted to be an artist. I’ve just been waiting for the right outlet. And I’ve found it.
Unbeknownst to me, a friend took this shot while I was shooting during a wedding ceremony, and even though I look pretty goofy, I just had to share it. That’s a face of someone who loves what she’s doing. I like to take the camera away from my face for just a second, and soak up the emotion of the moment. And he caught me. Soaking it in.
