Thursday, December 25, 2008

Passions....

Hope everyone had a good Christmas! Carlin, can you share some of your snow with us?? I was hoping for a white Christmas......bummer.
My first and biggest passion is traveling. I haven't been out of the country yet, (besides Mexico) but I am looking forward to someday traveling to Europe (too many specific places to list) and there are a few states I would really like to see that I haven't yet....New York, New Mexico, Illinois. However, I love traveling even to the next town, familiar places, places of sentiment, and places I have never been. I am always down for packing up, even at the last minute, and going wherever the road may lead.

My next passion is photography. I love taking pictures! Be it artistic, or simply a family photo, I love everything about photography. The expression, the memory, the feeling, looking in the subject's eyes and wondering what there life is/was like. I took a class in college, and loved it, but I could use some brush up on technique and modern technology. I have looked into taking classes, but unfortunately, since I have a college degree it would go towards Graduate credits and has some pretty hefty tuition! Maybe someday I will find a mentor and pick their brain. I think I would also need a new camera, since I only have a cheap digital purse size that I can't get too artistic with.....This is something that will definitely be pursued in the years to come!

The next one is really corny, but I love getting mail. Any kind of mail, text, email, cards, letters, photos, voicemail, calls. I guess I just love acknowledging and keeping in touch with the people I love. I love giving Thank You cards when someone thinks of me, remembering special occaisions, getting sappy cards from Kevin, homemade cards, or simply a note in the mail to say hi. It simply brightens my day! (Linda I love this about you!! The stickers too!)

And finally, my family. My family means the world to me. My life revolves around my beautiful daughter whom I could not live without. Nothing is greater than spending the day with Kevin and Alivia....driving, hiking, drinking coffee, watching kiddo movies, baking sweets, or just sitting around. I am so blessed with them. I have wanted to be a mom for as long as I can remember, and it is everything I imagined it to be and more. I love living life as a child again, seeing the awe in Alivia's face as she learns something new and teaching her to be a polite and kind little girl.

I think a lot of people also think of your career when you think of your passions. I have never known what I wanted 'to be' when I 'grew up.' So I guess as far as a money earning career I have failed, but I am doing what I love. Being a mom. I am so thankful to have Kevin as the so called 'bread winner' making just enough for us to live on....even though we don't have a lot of money to do some of the things we would like to, we have each other, and we have our daughter being raised at home and don't have to leave her at daycare everyday. I love my job working part time at an insurance office, where I am blessed to have an amazing boss that pretty much lets me make up my schedule each week, and two other employees whom I look forward to a little 'adult conversation' with each week. It gives my brain some stimulation, my body some exercise, and a little extra money to help out at the end of the month.
For all these things I am thankful. Great idea Linda to add this to the blog!

4 comments:

mikeandlinda said...

Annelle.... do you realize how well almost all of your passions go together?? Mail, cards, etc..... with photography.... with travel.... and with being with Alivia and Kevin. Put them all together somehow. You can find many classes for phtography that do not have any thing to do with college. In fact the art gallery here in Bandon is sponsering a digital photo class coming right up. Second Street Gallery.... call and ask about it. It might be next weekend. It is for all levels of photographers. There was a flyer on the door the last time I went by.

Our last trip to Provence, I sat on the plane by a woman who began to take "atmospheric photos" and then made them into cards. She now made enough money from the cards to do the traveling and pay for all expenses with the card sales. She had a bag with all these cool old props. She was going to the Paris cemeteries to take photos of gravestones with these beautiful turn of the century lace gloves. She was very passionate about her art. I bet they were really cool.

Pick something.... make a plan, and we can all help you put it together. What's a bookclub for??

You're not a bad writer either!! Linda

annelle said...

Thanks Linda, I love it that you are always so positive and supportive :) Yeah, they do all kinda go together....I love the cemetary idea...I bet that was cool!! The lady that did our wedding pictures does greeting cards also, maybe I could talk to her, and I will have to check into that Bandon class.....I would have a babysitter nearby if I took that one! :)

Kay said...

Annelle...check with your local community college too. Ours almost always offers 'community education' non-credit photography courses, and they are quite inexpensive.

Anonymous said...

I'm with you on the getting mail bit. Oh, and check Craigslist for used camera equipment. You might be surprised what treasures are on there. Professional photographers getting rid of equipment they don't use, or whatever. Worth taking a look every now and then. I'm always looking for used buoyancy compensaters for scuba. No luck yet, but I've seen them out there.