birthday wishes, a cupcake and a TWO for ONE special!

Vegan Birthday Cupcake, on my favorite plate. Yum....

First off - a treat for YOU!
I'm giving a TWO FOR ONE special for anyone who wants to take the Soul*Full eCourse. Just for today - my Birthday. So hop on over and register! Space is limited - don't miss it.
Grab a friend and split the cost of one. What a dealio!

Here is the link.
http://www.soulfullphoto.com

In the Paypal notes just write the name and email address of the friend you want to take the course with you. done.

Go register - then eat a cupcake - then hop back over here and read the rest of this post. k?

Did you register? ok good

Yes - today is my birthday. How am I spending it? I'm here in the house alone while the fellas head out all day so I can just "BE". I must say it's REALLY nice. I needed it. I have my favorite candle lit and my incense burning,  I spent a long time talking to my favorite friend Amy on the phone. I'm editing the interview with Miguel Ruiz today for my Soul*Full eCourse, and working on the text for the Aqua Nicaragua Soul*Full Women's retreat .
What else?

I wrote out 43 things I'd like to accomplish in my 43rd year:
ready?

1. take photos of Max swinging in the backyard as many days as possible. ( it's his favorite thing to do right now. he signs " swing swing swing please " all day long.
2. take Max on more mini adventures - Zoo, Red Butte Gardens, Thanksgiving Point, etc.
3. Plant Black Eyed Susan in my yard
4. Visit Amy in Minneapolis ( I get to do this in September HOORAY!!!! )
5. Lay in the hammock in the backyard and read for hours and sip my favorite iced tea.
6. Video and Audio interview 43 inspiring life leaders and post them on my blog
7. Update / Revamp my blog ( getting started in about a month )
8. Paint the walls in our bedroom a rich gray color to compliment the intense turquoise wall behind our bed.
9. Visit Chings Animal Sanctuary
10. Strip the paint off the kitchen table 
11. Wear a dress.
12. Get a reading with Cindy Dale
13. Lose those last 5 points and keep them OFF
14. Learn Wet Plate Collodion Process
15. Print and Frame "Nap" series and have a show.
16. Meet more artists in SLC ( take art classes here, get involved in art scene here )
17. Visit Zion,
18. Visit Moab
19. Teach Soul*Full eCourse and Soul*Full Women's retreats
20. Team up with Flora Bowley ( in the works! )
21. Meet Susannah Conway ( in NYC in June?)
22. Meet Andrea Scher ( In San Fran in Sept? )
23. Meet Beth Nicholls ( in Sept in Mpls? )
24. Create the "year 24" project - complete it by 8-18-12
25. Get up earlier and take a walk in the morning
26. Learn Encaustic Painting
27. Go see a movie.... or two. 
28. Make my favorite green tea more often
29. Go on more dates with my husband
30. finger paint with Max
31. Grill outside and eat meals out back with the family
32. Take more naps with Max
33. Visit Park City often
34. Be barefoot in the grass more often.
35. Go on a picnic with my family
36. Go to more outdoor concerts
37. Visit the Wheeler Farm Farmer's Market on Sunday mornings
38. Go to Alt design summit 
39. How about a little family vacation....to Hawaii? Napili Bay, Sea Turtles, perfection
40. Focus my attention on my spiritual practice in the every day moments. Shift.
41. Get help with Max so that I can dedicate more time to my business and artwork
42. Less judgement and more love all around - inside and out.
43. Be true, authentic and real. Speak from the heart. 

Can I do all of this??

Y.E.S!!

Why? Because I want to!

I'm excited to get started on this years adventures. So much is already going on and so many things to be grateful for.

So I'm off to GET TO IT..

Tonight - we are grilling dinner outback and hanging in the hammock and pushing Max in the swing. I say it's a perfect way to celebrate. I used to try to have big parties but felt overwhelmed and stressed out - didn't really get to connect with anyone at the party and felt exhausted after wards. I'm learning to be true to who I am and do things that fill me up rather than make me feel dizzy.

Do you remember a favorite birthday?? Share it with me here. I would love to hear what made it special.

xo
*c


 

A Summer Afternoon...

 here he is - Over joyed by the flower toy thing he is holding.

 Last day of Summer Break for these Neighborhood gals. They came over to hang with Max on the hammock and push him on the swing. Fun to see everyone hanging in our backyard.

 Took a walk close to sunset. There's a trail a few blocks from our house.

 Max LOVED picking up rocks and sharing them with Papa.

 These flowers are everywhere in SLC right now. LOVE THEM.

This was the view on our walk. I'd say it's pretty gorgeous. Happy Happy Summer. xo *c

Soul*Full eCourse Giveaway Winner!

Thank you so much to everyone that entered the Soul*Full Giveaway. I was moved by all of your comments and all that you so openly shared. And thank you for the feedback on my life. It means a lot to me to have all of your love and support. 

The lucky winner is Heidi!!!

"I am so grateful to be inspired by you Catherine! By your creativity, your journey, your parenting, your positivity, your consistent effort to be a better you. I am immensely grateful you reached out to me on my blog a while back and that you have become a friend and real source of support for me. I constantly struggle with my demons of 'not being good enough' and I am thankful to have been given the gift of you to show me that self belief, creativity and the willingness to try can heal the soul and allow you to thrive! I am deeply thankful that you so honestly and beautifully share of yourself! With much love and appreciation, heidi"

Yes - YOU and a friend of yours will be joining us on the Soul*Full eCourse!

For those of you who didn't win - don't fret! There's still room for you to sign up.
Here is the link.

http://www.soulfullphoto.com

I wish for you all a rich, joyful, creative, loving and soul*full life!
xo
*c

Gratitude and a GIVEAWAY!!!!

24 years ago today - I checked into a treatment center for my drug and alcohol problem. I feel a bit in awe that now I look back and have somehow made it this far without ever having to take a drink or drug again. I didn't do this alone - that's for sure. Life happens and it can get hard.  

The universe always provided me with tools, support and the knowing in my being that I was here for a higher purpose then to drown myself in that mess of drugs, alcohol and self hatred.

Today I'm in a completely different place in my life and in my being. One of unlimited potential, of freedom from the active addiction, one of regular sleep, healthy nutrition, loving family, great friends, creativity oozing out of my pores, and a drive to keep searching, seeking, growing, learning, settling in to my own being and helping others. A life that lacks chaos, and has a lot less drama. Is it lacking in fun? um.. no. I actually learned how to laugh, how to trust, how to be a friend, how to play, how to cook, how to lighten up, how to be goofy, and how to love. Of course that starts with me. Loving myself. The biggest art project of all. It's a daily process. Progress rather than perfection.  

Now - moving forward - I'd love to share with you all a little gift of gratitude. Gratitude for being there for me, of your support and kindness, of your love and acceptance, of your examples of what it means to live a full and rich life.

It's a GIVEAWAY !!

I'm giving away one spot in my Soul*full eCourse and the winner gets to bring a friend of hers for free as well.

HOW?? 

Just comment on today's post - share with me what it is you are grateful for today.

This giveaway ends at midnight August 18th Mountain Time.

The lucky winner will be announced August 19th.

Good luck everyone!  

xoxoxooxox

*c 

Beth Nicholls* Do What You Love For Life!

Oregon Coast - photo created with a 4x5 pinhole camera - hand held - with Polaroid film.

Today I'm so excited to share that my story is featured on Beth Nicholls blog today. I LOVE what Beth does - her Do What You Love eCourse is so wonderful - I just finished it up a few weeks ago and it was life changing. Go check it out. You will not be disappointed. And while you are at it - read that post about me and let me know what you think! xo *c

 

Soul*Full eCourse is LAUNCHED!

 

Yes! I'm so excited to share with you that the Soul*Full eCourse is now up and launched! Go check it out! 

Soul*Full

It's a 6 week online course designed to help you deepen your connection with your body*mind*spirit.

How? 

Each day we focus on an area in our lives that can lift us to a new level of awareness, growth and joy!

This course is for women only - sorry guys! -  I've created a safe private online class for us to explore, share and grow in a supportive community of like minded women.

Topics:

Spirituality

Photography

Writing

Physical Well Being

Who else is involved?

Every Wednesday I will post a video interview with amazing leaders in each of the topics we are covering. 

*don Miguel Ruiz - Toltec Teacher and Author of the Four Agreements and so many other transformational books.

*Doug Beasley - photographer and facilitator of Vision Quest Photography Workshops

*Beth Nicholls - Do what you Love eCourse and Retreat

*Sheri Rosenthal - Spiritual Teacher and Owner of Journeys of the Spirit

*Aline Smithson - Photographer, educator, community builder, and on and on!

*Andrea Scher - Superhero Journal, Superhero Photo, Mondo Beyondo, Expressive Photography

*Mee Tracy - Princess know it all, Noble Food Makeover

and MORE!!!!

The course starts October 10th and space is limited.
Click on the Soul*Full eCourse link right HERE to learn more and to sign up!

See you there! Hooray!!!!

** p.s. you don't have to be a pro photographer to join us. All you need is a camera you are comfortable using and a computer to upload your images.

Lucky Me!!

 August 3rd nap, 5:26pm

 August 4th, 12:58pm

 August 5th, 1:40pm

 August 8th, 12:37pm

August 9th 1:57pm



Yep - still happily taking these iphone photos of our nap time together. Someone asked me if I was mounting a camera above us to take these - and the answer is no - not that complicated. I have my iphone shoved under my leg until Max falls asleep. When he is snoozing - I pull the phone out - and hold the camera up above us and close my eyes and take the photo. that's it. Then I go to my handy dandy instragram app. and turn them into old fashion looking photos and sometimes do a little tilt shift action on them.

In other news - we went to Lagoon this weekend for the first time. It's an amusement park. And you know how much I Love those! It was for Jerry's work so I left my " I don't wanna go " face in the car and decided that I'd make the best of it. The best part for me was taking Max on his first Merry-Go-Round ride. And on a train ride...( here we are on the train )

where we saw sleeping tigers, jaguars, and other sleeping caged animals. The cages just made me sad actually. And Max didn't see the animals. He doesn't see them unless they are moving...so - zonked out tigers just look like part of the landscape to him.

here's the one photo I took from the train.

It's a keeper. I'm going to post it over at the Superhero Photo eCourse right now. Did I tell you I'm taking that class right now? Andrea Scher is leading the eCourse and since I ADORE her I just HAD to sign up.

wanna see Max enjoying a little time in his swing?




And one more thing.....My Soul*Full eCourse is just about ready to LAUNCH! The website is almost finished and I am SO EXCITED to share it with all of you! If you'd like to get the details you can sign up for my newsletter which is coming out on Thursday.
Click HERE to sign up.

xo
*c

 Nap August 2nd 11:59

yes he is literally pushing his foot into my face. Actually he was doing this over and over again. After I took this photo I moved him, I'm not that into torture. But you will see over the span of the nap photos that this happens to be one of his favorite positions,,,,foot on my face.

Yesterday was a rough one. He wasn't feeling well. I'd go into it but you might be sorry I explained in detail. So we will just leave it at that.

He is feeling much better today but still not eating much if anything at all. We have him on a diet of Pedialite and anything else he will eat.

No fever so we are just letting this thing / bug work itself out. Poor fella.

 Nap August 1st 4:16pm

My parents came to visit us over the weekend. We did so much in 3 days it made all of our heads spin.
I think I might need a mini vacation in our hammock to just chill for a bit and get refreshed! I hope they come back soon! I'll post photos in the next day or two.

Right now I'm thinking about my upcoming 43rd birthday. After reading Andrea Scher's post yesterday ( her August 1st post ) I started to think about how I would want to celebrate that day and to really consider who I really am instead of doing what I think I should be doing.

I know I'm not as into having big parties as I wish I was. I much prefer taking mini travel dates - even if it's just to a part of town I've never been to, a picnic, finding a photobooth for the three of us to cram into, taking a new self portrait, going to a restaurant I've wanted to try out, or do some favorite things that remind me of my favorite people - like sip a decaf soy latte ( Amy ), Visit Manzanita, Oregon ( Amanda, Lori, Dara, and the other friends I made on my photo retreat ) or travel to Paris, France ( although I am in LOVE with the idea of actually living there for a year with my family like this girl is doing now ), a trip to Napili Bay, Maui, Hawaii to swim with the turtles, or just hang out in the backyard with my son and husband and sip lemonade and swing in the swingset with my son.......or go visit Minneapolis so I can play with my friend Amy, sip decaf latte's with her, watch sex in the city DVD's, power lounge and find a vegan cupcake and stick a candle in it.

I also like the idea of rituals, Like going to have a reading done with a psychic, or creating a wish jar and putting all of my wishes for my 43rd year on strips of decerative paper and putting them in the jar and seeing what the universe brings, or get a tattoo ( I've wanted a particular design on my arm for the past 15 years )

Do you have favorite ways you like to celebrate your birthday?

I'd love to hear your rituals - celebrations - favorite birthday memories - or what you'd like to do for your next birthday.

Sunday afternoon

nap 1:15pm
just finished up a big brunch with Grandma and Grandpa and a lot of swinging time out on the backyard swing set. Lots of laughing out loud. And passed out in 20 minutes when we went up for nap time. He always has a way of sucking me into taking a nap myself! This one lasted about 30 minutes for me - but 3 hours for him. Lucky fella!