Orange County Event Photography, Corporate Branding Photos, Portraits and Weddings

Labor Day weekend. A weekend I look forward to every year.

Not because I take Monday off. Because honestly, for as long as I can remember, I’ve worked it.

I look forward to this weekend because it wraps up the summer with a seedless watermelon colored bow. It cools the sweat stained afternoons like a cold glass of tart lemonade. It fills the belly like a burger from my backyard grill. It’s stars and stripes. Bikinis and boots. Laughter and lounging. It’s a time to celebrate family and friends and all the goodness we work so hard to support. It’s a time to kick up your feet and appreciate life for a moment.

Most of us are just happy to get an extra day off work or school. But do me a favor, and take a moment this weekend to stop and count a few blessings. Most of us are so richly blessed we don’t take enough time to stop and appreciate it all. Our lives are so full of goodness. Take a moment this weekend to reflect on all the fruits of your labor…and enjoy it.

PINME

sneak peek from my portrait session this week with Hannah in Santa Cruz

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Sometimes we find ourselves caught in a slump. Halted. Idling. Wondering why we are where we are…unmotivated to move forward.

Sometimes we find ourselves at a crossroads. Unsure. Unknowing. Confused about where we should go…lacking confidence to make a move.

We’ve all been there. We all know how this feels. But how many of us have had the clarity and courage to actually take a step and make something happen?

I’m sure many, but today I have to highlight one: Miss Hannah Patzke.

I met Hannah last year at London’s Heathrow airport. We were both a bit quiet at first. Weary from hours of travel. Musing on the many hours ahead. We spent two weeks together on the other side of the world, helping others in a way we never knew could, pushing ourselves to physical and emotional levels we never knew we had. In that other world, it was easy to look back over here to California and see the sloth of our slumps, our continuing crossroads and all the stuff we knew we should change.

So coming home, Hannah’s personal and professional life were seeking stimulation. The old way just wasn’t working anymore. As the year wore on, she realized this more and more. She sought more and more. And after countless conversations and hours and hours of thorough thinking, Hannah decided she needed to make a move.

So in ten days Hannah will move to Honduras to utilize her nursing skills working in a clinic. She’ll live there for the next year helping people in ways she couldn’t have done here in the States. She’ll push herself to new physical and emotional levels she’s yet to discover.

I’m so proud of her. Proud because she’s thinking beyond herself. Proud because she’s pushing herself. Proud because she’s taking a step towards change that’s bigger and better than most of us could even consider.

As she leaves behind the life she knew, we’re going to celebrate the shedding of her skin, so to speak, with a styled portrait session in Santa Cruz on Tuesday. Stay tuned for images of turbulence, transformation and good times to come…

PINME

Hannah pictured in Nicaragua, Mar 22, 2011

If you liked what you just saw here, sign up for The Picture of the Every Couple of Days. It’s an email I send out every couple of days with one image and a few words. It’s a nice refresher for your inbox, aiming only to keep your interest enthused and your inspiration engaged. Check out the most recent Picture of the Every Couple of Days here.