browse other stuff & things i love posts.

1. the revolution movement volunteers. these people are incredible. we have 40+ interns working madly all week long on final conference prep, not to mention all the pastors and youth staff plus all the other volunteers. i was helping out at the church a little bit yesterday afternoon. to give you an idea of the kind of commitment these folks have, one of our art projects is individually gluing pictures of coloured cellophane wrap onto 7000+ communion cups. yeah. 7000. i am excited to see everything come together this weekend for UNVEILED: Revolution Conference 2012. it’s going to be incredible.

2. the loft sessions from bethel music: i bought this CD the first day it was released on iTunes. haven’t regretted the purchase for a second. it’s been my new driving music, my new working music, my new running music, my new quiet time music, we even glued cellophane to these tunes. [see paragraph above] i love this video.

3. let’s get real, i am loving anything caffeinated. always. but particularly today, because yesterday i went 24 hours without coffee. not even tea. nothing. literally no caffeine. it was alright, but i was flat out asleep by 9:15pm — i’ll stick to my one americano a day. it’s a beautiful thing… especially when it’s from the woods coffee.

4. large bobby pins. leanne, i am making a list of favourite things this week on my blog… and i need to think of one more superficial stupid item to go on my list. why? well, because i have all these awesome resources and heartfelt choices and… then, jumbo bobby pins. don’t laugh! it feels out of place but i am serious. they are revolutionizing my hair life. she tried to help me think of another superficial item but we came up short… but then i added in “caffeine” so i feel like this now fits more. i have to thank leanne for the introduction to these babies. you can pick them up at any pharmacy and it makes messy buns for super long hair like mine a breeze!

5. the circle maker by mark batterson. i had to read this book after seeing the flurry of tweets from rich wilkerson about it. there have been a few books that stand out in my faith journey and this has become one of them. [i hope to do a blog post on all of 'em someday soon] — i was encouraged and challenged by pastor mark and am excited to continuing to dream and pray, with greater intensity. mark also has some sweet podcasts from national community church in DC that i’ve been enjoying. all around phenomenal read.

6. she’s kristen! and one of my closest friends who launched a new blog this week: i’m kristen’s photo blog, full of cute videos like this one and amazing photography like this. it’s a must-read.

ps. i was interviewed by “psychology for photographers” this week.
pps. i have two new blogs sponsors for february, amanda driver and vibella jewellery. i encourage you to check out vibella’s website, especially their “about us” section.

At the heart of our mission, Vi Bella impacts the lives of at-risk women within Haiti, Mexico and the United States. These women serve as our artists and inspiration. Utilizing plastic and glass bottles collected by local boys, women in Haiti and Mexico upcycle the material and transform a littered landscape into something beautiful. Back home, women in Sioux Center, IA prepare the jewelry as you see it. We then invest all of our profit back into the artists’ communities, which brings the transformation full-circle. Vi Bella jewelry spreads love and fellowship across culture by providing a sense of purpose that rejuvenates once-tattered lives. You’re not just collecting a piece of Vi Bella, you’re helping create a beautiful life.similar posts:

• four reasons why: stuff i love
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• do-it-yourself chic: love.

it would be awesome if i never failed. i’d never give up, i’d care for others more than myself, i’d be content with what i have, i wouldn’t boast, i wouldn’t insist on going first, i wouldn’t get angry, i wouldn’t keep track of other’s faults, i would delight in the truth, i would put up with anything because i could trust God with the outcome and always look for the best. [juuuust like it says in 1 corinthians 13. i stole those words.]

last year, i learned a lot about the big mistakes our love can make. i learned that those big mistakes can turn into bigger ones when left in my idiotic hands. i learned that, thank God, i am not alone in this — the love of others makes mistakes. i learned how important it is to forgive… but a thousand times more revolutionary, i experienced what it is to be forgiven.

every conversation between friends is secured by an [often unspoken] promise. i am telling you this [from my heart] because i trust you [and that you will hold this in your heart.] i stomped right on that promise last year. accidentally. whatever that even means. my head told me: run, bury it, work harder, you’ll forget the mistake you made soon. i tried that. it didn’t work. sin can’t be buried, turns out it needs to be forgiven. sin doesn’t fade, turns out it grows.

i wanted to hide but instead i confessed. i was forgiven… but then things got worse. freakinidiotjamiedelaine, i ended up caught in another lie in the middle of apologizing. bury it! i tried that again. [you think i would have learned.] fast forward twenty-four hours, i am weeping reading through the book of Romans. “I have discovered this principle of life—that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. I love God’s law with all my heart. But there is another power within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death?”

my soul had never felt such heaviness of its sin before. i picked up the phone, hitting “call” before i could change my mind. i could barely talk for crying, but after blubbering the same things over and over about my sinfulness, the voice on the other end interrupted. in one simple moment, i was forgiven. for the second time in a weekend, for a second mistake far worse than the first. not reamed out and shamed and half-heartedly forgiven but completely forgiven. that “unnatural” ability to offer grace was the supernatural love of Christ at work in my friend’s life.

Romans 5: 6-9 says that “while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.”

God took my sin and through His love shown in my friend’s life turned it into an opportunity for growth. in a tangible way, i was given a fresh understanding of what it is to be forgiven. sin’s burden lifted and the overwhelming relief of forgiveness–too good to be true!–continues to shape how i see the love of God. in light of God’s forgiveness for all of my sins, i will serve Him. this life of service is not because “God forgave me so i am obligated to do this,” but it is a life of service motivated by grace. God’s grace [full of love, kindness, mercy] has compelled me to serve [with my money, gifts/talents, time] because a forgiven soul knows no greater joy.similar posts:

• seeking
• note to self: what i know now
• there He is waiting
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the most common question i receive via email is “i’d love to be a photographer but don’t know how to start. how’d you do it?” i wrote a post two years ago about the beginning of my photography story but haven’t written much since — and two years is a long time. so i thought i would take us back to the very, very beginning and what i’ve learned in the four and a half years since launching my business in june of 2007.

in 2006, i started using my dad’s d-slr camera, a canon rebel XT. i had never used a camera before [that i really remember?] and we took it on a family vacation to the east coast and i had some fun. i used it in automatic mode the entire time and came home thinking, i wonder if i can find out what all these buttons do? i went to google and i read everything i could find about camera basics. i read my manual cover to cover. i bought a book i found on amazon about wedding photography. i practiced taking pictures of lamps and chairs and stuffed animals and my dog. in the winter of 2006, i found a photography forum called the opensourcephoto forum — i was googling for wedding photographers [i liked looking at their portfolios!] and OSP popped up. i signed up and started reading.

it was amazing. page after page of this forum was filled with full-time photographers making a living shooting weddings and/or portraits. there were threads about marketing, engagement sessions, wedding timelines, initial consultations, album predesign, album companies, camera gear and lenses, off-camera lighting, websites, blogs, literally every single part of the business side of photography. i read every forum. kid you not. after a few months i was convinced i could do this. at the same time, i practiced on a few friends — my youth leader had a cute little toddler and i took some photos of him one afternoon. i took one of my best friends out on her farm to photograph. i bought a bludomain website for $200, put up a bio and a few galleries and i was open for business. i booked my first paid portrait session in june 2007, the same month i launched my website.

at the same time i launched my website i started a blog. i knew from reading OSP that it was important to make yourself different, to show why a client would need to hire you to take their family portraits for $300 over another photographer for $100. similarly, i started a facebook page — started linking to my blog and website, uploading every shoot, tagging photos, inviting my friends, inviting my brother’s friends, inviting my mom’s friends. come one, come all. news spread fast. i started emailing other photographers in my area, asking them if they needed assistants, asking them if i could take them out for coffee or out for lunch. i was still involved heavily in OSP forum and i started making online friends all over north america. these photographers gave me some great advice and inspired me through their work and many are still my close friends today! i ended up second shooting two weddings in august 2007 and that started my wedding portfolio.

i put those two weddings up on my website and added a section to my website that said “wedding prices” and listed them for $1000. i got an email, a bride wanted to book me. i shared up front that i had not shot a wedding by myself, but had second shot two of them and was “very confident i could do a wonderful job.” she booked me and it was an incredible experience: love love love dean + tamara to this day. that was in may 2008 and that summer, the year i graduated high school, i photographed 10 more weddings — making it a total of 11 my first year. every 3-4 weddings i would book, i’d raise my prices a couple hundred dollars. at the end of 2008, i think i doubled them: my goal was never to be a $1500 photographer — i knew where i was headed and i knew what quality work was worth.

but it didn’t come easy. every vendor i worked with, was about to work with and wanted to work with got a personal email. they all received images after the wedding on a disc with a handwritten note and a folder with my business cards. i would look up their facebook pages and post, i would comment on their blogs and post, i would email them after the weddings with a link to the blog post where i linked to their site.

behind the scenes, when i wasn’t shooting or editing, i was marketing. i was thinking about how to make my website better, how to increase the consistency and quality of my blog posts, i was improving packaging and scheming up client gift systems. i was making a list of vendors i’d love to meet with, i was emailing offering vendors complimentary sessions for whatever they needed. i read every business book i could get my hands on, including going through david jay’s [founder of OSP forum and Showit Sites] list of recommended reading — about 50 books total. i soon realized i couldn’t be the kind of marketer i wanted to be if i was doing my own editing and album design: so i outsourced both of them and suddenly had 12-15 more hours in my week to work on the things that mattered.

in the 2009 season, i managed to book 15 weddings by repeating all of the above paragraphs. i added in steps like creating sample albums for wedding venues, organizing styled shoots to create portfolios for dress designers, florists, etc., submitting to online blogs and magazines for increased exposure. in 2010, i booked 28 weddings and in 2011, i scaled it down to 21 weddings. there have been no secrets and no new strategies, there has been hard work and a lot of learning and above all, God’s incredible blessing on my business. i love a quote i heard once… that we are to pray like it depends on God but work like it depends on us. i have certainly done that. i am such a firm believer in God being the one who gives us the ability to create wealth [deut 8] and to this day, every wedding i book is a gift. this may seem crazy to a non-Christian, but literally every exciting email i receive, my heart thanks the Lord. always.

if what i’ve described above doesn’t sound like fun…. full-time photography probably isn’t for you. i’ve been asked before, how did you get motivated to work? sometimes i find it so hard to be self-employed with no one to keep me accountable. — that’s honestly not a question i’ve ever had to ask myself. i don’t need to get motivated because this is what i love to do. this is a decision i have made, to work for myself, so every morning i get up and i work because self-employment is a gift, not a free ride. if you struggle with motivation and self-discipline and “putting in the effort”… the reality is you may be better off in a job where you’re not your own boss. there is no shame in that — some people thrive in a career with more structure. i am not one of them, so i’ve done what i’ve had to do to make it work.

well, then, who is full-time photography for?! people who LOVE business, who also LOVE photos — if you don’t love the first one, chances are you’re going to be a starving artist. i get to enjoy and love taking photos [and making a living off of it] because i first and foremost love the creativity of the business side. if you are highly self-motivated, love setting a schedule for yourself that you will stick to, love the idea of being able to work where you want, when you want then boom, maybe you should look into this. however, if you’re asking questions like, “i want to learn my camera but don’t know how” i’m just not sure if it’s going to work out — because in the time it took to email and ask a few people, you could have watched five youtube tutorials and been on your way.

i hope this post was helpful — i can be a straight shooter and tend not to sugar-coat things especially when it comes to deciding to start a business. if you’re going to be a photographer, i want to see you succeed, i don’t want to see you frustrated with a massive headache in the end because you can’t seem to make it work. thoughts/comments/questions?

similar posts:

• FAQ: second shooter logistics
• FAQ: where to find great second shooters
• FAQ: why i love second shooters
• i can’t promise that’s all

with each passing year of being my own boss [over four] i learn more about how i work. the structure of my work day [including what hours i work and where i work] hugely determine the amount of work accomplished… and my mood while accomplishing that work. seasons are structured very differently as a wedding photographer. in the summer, i am around people a lot — shooting engagement sessions and weddings a couple times a week. in the summer, i rarely find time to brainstorm or dig deep into creative-business work: it’s all about shooting, managing workflow and delivering the final product. my winter months are “slow” season. i can go weeks without seeing a client face to face and i am usually knee-deep in my own evaluations on how to handle next summer’s season. this is when i am evaluating every kind of system: my inbox, wedding bookings, client gifts, product packaging, website, blog, networking.

this kind of brainstorming/restructuring does not happen in a spare hour. it also doesn’t happen in three spare hours throughout the day. at least not with my brain. any kind of problem-solving [really, any creative process or figuring out new ways to do things] requires numerous continuous uninterrupted hours. the uninterrupted part is important. this is something about my personality that used to stress me out or make me feel like a terrible person. don’t bite people who interrupt you. it’s gonna be okay. i have a tendency to get irritated with texts, phone calls, emails or even quick converastions with my family when i’m in the middle of a thought.

i am a huge fan of the myers-briggs personality test [crazy accurate] and as an INTJ, i found this online: your Introverted nature needs peace to work most comfortably.  whatever the job, you spend time thinking before acting, tending to enjoy work which gives you ample time for contemplation.  you often prefer to work alone, not because you do not like people, but because most people cannot keep up and it takes too much time for you to explain it all.  in fact, you would be content if you never had to answer the phone, go to a meeting or be interrupted in your train of thought. so completely absorbed do you become in your work, that it is often painful to be roused from your thoughts or torn from your creative process by the interruptions of others.  you may even find it difficult during those times to gather your thoughts together well enough to talk fluently or quickly match names to faces.  your mind is going a thousand different directions, on the verge of your next realisation, and it is hard to snap back to reality sometimes.

to make my life a whole lot easier, i have learned to turn off my emails, put my phone on airplane mode and schedule five hours of thinking-work. this sounds so extreme, but sometimes i drive to a coffee shop forty-five minutes away simply because i know no one will interrupt me there. it saves me a lot of headache to “hide” from the world for twenty hours a week because i am able to focus all my attention on one thing… and doing that one thing well.

anybody else relate to these feelings?! am i the only crazy one?

recommended reading: be excellent at anything, zen habitssimilar posts:

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every year for the past five years, i have left a simple little note to myself on the huge tupperware we store christmas supplies in. hey jamie in december 2006: you’re sixteen now. congrats. hope you’re doing good & that you learned a lot this year. you’re fun. every christmas season i pull the container out of the storage room & without fail, the note catches me off guard. hey 21-year old jamie. i don’t know what this year held for you: but i pray that it was full of growth and joy and life. love, 20-year old jamie. i love silly little milestones. thinking back to who the girl that wrote december 2010′s note was… and who the girl reading them is now.

due to the unfortunate laws of time [he's always in a rush, won't slow down for anything] the only girl i can write for is next year’s jamie. but wouldn’t it be a gift to draft a letter to my sixteen year old self? oh, the things i could share with her over an americano. not tea. an americano, because she recently taught herself to like coffee & she’s on a roll.

dear sixteen-year-old-jamie,

merry christmas. you’re almost halfway through your grade eleven year — the year you swore you’d never make it through. staring at two more full years of high school in september seemed overwhelming — but you’ll be glad you persevered. your last couple years on that private school campus, with it’s impressive-looking brick buildings and the bustle of plaid kilts in the hallways will soon be a distant memory. you are starting to realize that you are different than the others… the thoughts that consume your brain aren’t on the minds of other teens. the launch of your photography business, longing to travel the world, wishing for the year where you could wake up and organize your time how you felt like it. it feels like a lonely road… and it is. some days will be harder than others. i understand why you count down every day of put on my uniform, grab my books, see how much class i can appropriately skip, wait until three o’ clock. desperately longing for your graduation date of june 2008.

life will start when i graduate. that was the thought you held onto — and although many well-meaning people will tell you these are the best days of your life! responsibility and hard work comes after graduation! enjoy the teen years! they were wrong. your best days did start after high school and surprise! responsibility & hard work are not to be shied away from… but as you envisioned, they are to be enjoyed, celebrated, as you steward your God-given gifts.

the photography business you will start six months from now, in june 2007, will flourish beyond what you could imagine. you have a small dream right now — i see you reading forums and books for hours a day, soaking up every bit of knowledge you can find. keep at it. you will enjoy the process of determining what success is to you — not what it is to your friend circle, within the photo industry, or even your parents — but what success means in the context of how you feel called to live your life.

for the first two years, you’ll work too much. graduating at seventeen, you’ll spend your first summer building your business full-force. you’ll breathe your business, the photography industry, the “next step.” but soon, some incredible photographers will become a part of your life — women like sarah barlow and kristen snyder — that inspire you, challenge you, balance you… in a way that you have never known before.

nineteen will be a year of change. you’ll make the difficult decision [but such an incredible one] to move churches — a big step, but one that will be confirmed in your spirit with every passing month. it will be a year of building true friendships… and you’ll learn to stop hiding your differences. yes, you’re type-A. yes, you can be a little intense, a little analytical — but these friends will love you and sharpen you and challenge you. no, they won’t be like you [praise the Lord for that, sometimes i feel like two of our personality would be too much] but they will accept you.

get your bible & journal ready; be prepared to soul search. in 2010, God will start breaking your heart for the things that break His — and you will never be the same. your years of businessbusinessbusiness thinking will quickly turn to ministryministryministry, as you grasp that He is the only thing worth living for. it will be a giant pile of paradoxes: beautiful & ugly, enjoyable & frustrating, difficult & effortless — as God shapes your heart from the ages of nineteen to twenty-one.

growth is not achieved through comfortable situations. how could God point us to Him and Him only if everything was turning out exactly the way we always imagined? we wouldn’t need Him. look upon hard situations & unideal outcomes in light of His plan: His plan that is beautiful beyond our dreams. in His incredible goodness, He will allow trials into your life: criticism of your character, unforeseen challenges in your business, relationships conflicts, big life changes.

face these trials with the wisdom spoken of in James 1: when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. for you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. so let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing. you’ll learn that you can have great joy regardless of your circumstances. as you cling to joy, you’ll learn that God delights in ordaining peace for you [Isaiah 26:12] — and peace is the greatest gift.

sitting at starbucks with a coffee, thinking about the boxing day wedding i am about to photograph this afternoon… i suppose it’s time for me to wrap this letter up. [and yes, isn't that great that we get to drive alone and make decisions like showing up at starbucks at 8am on a holiday before the world is awake just because we feel like it? your day is coming.]

my final piece of advice: don’t rush your teenage years — i won’t claim being sixteen is better than being twenty-one — because it wasn’t. but i will promise you that God is good, His timing is perfect and where He has you right now is where He desire you to be. as you walk through the walls of your high school, look outside yourself. i know it’s hard — you have your own plans — and compassion is not your strong suit, but get your face into the Bible and ask God to transform your mind with His Word. pray for the people around you that don’t “get it,” even if many of them are Christians in claim — but they don’t understand the life and joy and love and peace and salvation we have in Jesus.

God has some beautiful things ahead of you, sixteen-year-old girl.
and some beautiful things ahead of me, twenty-one-year old woman.

choose joy. He is soooo faithful.similar posts:

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a few months ago, i got the chance to work with the talented jaclyn helle from 6pence wedding & event design. she created the beautiful “softly rustic” styled shoot and all the details were impeccable. so impeccable, in fact, that it was featured on la belle bride! so fun. jaclyn would love to offer my blog readers a chance to win a $225 voucher towards any of her services. [which equals to about three free hours of her time!]

how i do i enter? “Like” 6Pence on Facebook & write “I want to win the 6pence giveaway & my wedding is on [your wedding date]!” on the 6pence facebook fan page wall.
then what? you’re entered for a chance to win a $225 voucher for 6pence services!
contest ends on january 31st & the winner will be announced through the 6pence facebook page.
* note: entries must be in the vancouver [lower mainland] area. 

From helping create DIY (do-it-yourself’s) to the technicalities of vendor & venue selection, 6Pence is your full service planner and designer. We will plan your wedding based on your personality and vision. 6Pence can create weddings of any size and style; from elegant church weddings to a rustic chic garden celebration. 6Pence prides itself on its “everything” and “anything” approach; from full wedding planning to design for your big day, 6Pence understands that each couple has specific needs and visions, and we love nothing more than to make all their wedding day dreams come true. Below are details of specific packages offered!

Ultimate Wedding Package
- The Principal wedding planner will work with you from start to finish to create a unique celebration formed around your personality and tastes; wedding style and decor concept design and creation; working with the great vendors and our artistic background.

Finishing Touch
Our Finishing touch co-ordination is for the organized couple who needs a helping hand on the day of. We will oversee the day and ensure the flawless execution of what the couple has planned. Includes a 90 minute meeting before the day of to discuss your plans, visions, needs, and a follow-up with all your selected vendors.
-  A personalized timeline for your wedding day.
- Assistance with decor, setup and tear down.
- Ability to make final payments to vendors on the day.
- Principal wedding planner for a Maximum of 15 hours on the day .

Wedding Exclusive
- a seminar geared towards brides who want to plan their weddings like a professional; it is the only one of its type in the Lower Mainland. just bring yourself, and the rest is supplied. it’s one day, five hours, and includes lunch, stationary, and notebook. we’ll discuss current wedding trends, DIY ideas, the do’s and don’ts of wedding planning and we’ll provide you with a list of our favourite vendors/venues.

Wedding Guide
some couples want to do it all by themselves, but need a helping hand pointing them in the right direction. This package includes:
- Meeting to organize your plans and visions.
- Planning checklist for all the big and small details.
- Personalized timeline for your wedding day.
- Brainstorming and professional advice.
(all on hourly basis)

Decor Guru
For the couples who want help turning the beautiful day of their dreams turned into a reality.
- Decor/theme creation.
- Vendor advice and selection.
- The little design details (stationary, car decoration, etc)
- Creating a cohesive appearance throughout the entire wedding (florals, gowns, etc)

best of luck! :)similar posts:

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“happy are those who fear the Lord… who delight in doing what He commands. their children will be successful everywhere; an entire generation of godly people will be blessed. they themselves will be wealthy, and their good deeds will never be forgotten.” [verses 1-3]

promises galore, right off the bat. a) joy. we have joy when we do what God commands b) our obedience will be passed down to the next generation & our children will desire to obey the Lord, as well. c) not only will our good works “outlive” us in younger generations, but we will be blessed in our generation because of our good works.

“when darkness overtakes the godly, light will come bursting in. they are generous, compassionate, and righteous. all goes well for those who are generous… such people will not be overcome by evil circumstances… they do not fear bad news; they confidently trust the Lord to take care for them. they are… fearless and can face their foes triumphantly.” [verses 4-8]

the first few verses of psalm 112 sound wonderful: happiness, blessing, success, wealth, going-down-in-history and then there’s a change. darkness, evil circumstances, bad news, foes. living in God’s favour [blessing, success, joy] doesn’t equal a complication-free life. interesting how verse 4 says “when darkness overtakes the godly,” not if darkness overtakes the godly, but when. it’s a bummer-sounding guarantee followed up with an exciting one… light will come bursting in. an explosion of light [a.k.a. God's goodness and deliverance] obliterating the darkness.

evil circumstances will fail to overcome the godly because of their generosity. isn’t it amazing that our generosity can help us a) overcome evil, b) fearlessly hear bad news, and c) face our foes triumphantly? i love this link between generosity and confidence. while we are growing and being stretched in our calling to give, we come to know God as our only source. we give abundantly, the Lord provides excessively. we empty ourselves of our resources [money, time, talent] and find He causes us to overflow. therefore, when evil/bad news comes, we know that our generosity has positioned us in a place of favour. it has given us a godly confidence: He will take care of us! 

in the last verse of psalm 112, the Word says the Godly “give generously to those in need” and because of this “they will have influence and honour.” [verse 9] — God loves a generous heart. He loves to increase the influence and honour of His children. isn’t that cool? i challenge you to give generously this month, let’s go above and beyond together… in the craziest ways we can think of. i am praying that we will experience all of the promises God has for our generation.similar posts:

• there He is waiting
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a crazy thought hit me thursday night. in the past week, i had flown from melbourne to sydney [friday] then sydney to vancouver [saturday] then to bellingham to seattle to salt lake city [wednesday] — that’s a lot of travel, a lot of airplanes & a lot of not being home. from october until now, almost end of january, i have simply been going. going all over the world in a literal sense and also “going” through a lot of thoughts. i was away almost every weekend in october, three weeks in november, two weeks in december and almost three weeks in january. i haven’t had a consistent home life since the end of september.

that is a long season.

travel is dear to my heart. the opportunities i have been given to see the world lately amaze me. however, i cannot lose sight of the truth that these three months were a season… and now it’s time to transition to another season. it’s a funny fact, but not once in the last 3 months have i missed home – homesickness? what’s that? – my heart was content to be away. give me a city, a coffee, my bible, let me wander, heck, take me back to quebec. but c’mon, jamie, that’s not all of you.

dang. you’re right. 

every trip [whether it be a weekend away on vancouver island or a two-week trek through australia] i have come home with God-thoughts. simple scriptures and whispers. if you were one of my best friends and asked me, how was your australia trip? you would probably receive an hour monologue about what God showed me about who i am, what personal struggles were revealed, etc., etc., & the very end… oh yeah, Sydney was pretty! beautiful. loved the harbour. and Melbourne, yes, great style, fun city. so fun. 

salt lake city was no exception. something clicked here. i was fine leaving home three days after australia: another trip, another city, one thing to the next to the next. utah was the last scheduled trip of my “travel season” & i wasn’t ready for it to be done. miraculously, 3 days later, i am. this chapter is closing. i am ready to start a new one at home. the feelings & emotions of a fresh beginning, a new year are finally hitting me. three weeks late. [better than never, i guess?] God has given me vision for 2012 and it’s as if i have been turning circles all winter and He’s reached out grabbed me mid-spin, let me gain my balance and then gently pushed me in a direction.

i am excited about this direction.
two simple things on my heart.
prayer and writing.
pray.
write.
repeat.

with ever increasing intensity.similar posts:

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• sydney, australia
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day two of alt design summit passed quickly; in similar fashion to day one. friday morning involved a discussion on “the importance of consistent branding,” a session on “growing your readership” [hosted by oh happy day & making it lovely among others] and a keynote speech delivered by the brilliant ben silberman, founder of pinterest. one year ago, ben attended alt design summit with a fairly new website that was relatively unknown. fast forward one year, he’s a headlining speaker — and pinterest was recently named one of the 10 best social network sites. i adored ben’s speaking style, he’s super charismatic, informative but very humble, light-hearted at the same time. i love that the pinterest office motto is move fast and break things. i am always teased in my friend circle for being the girl who doesn’t know how to do anything slowly. that quote made me feel like i had found a new friend.

friday evening there were mini parties in some of the hotel suites, all with individual themes, sponsored by awesome companies. themes like a night in paris, chinese new year, vintage wine & cheese tasting, night of magic, sparkly clean, handmade by you, a summer afternoon & a cozy lodge. almost every themed room had a photobooth — and of course, kristen insisted we do a “photobooth tour! every room!” hahaha. i love how stoked she gets about pretty things like this. [note how i avoid photobooth props if at all possible. i'll smile, i'll enjoy myself but i don't wanna wear a hat okay? let me be.]

looking back on the two days here, alt design summit was a valuable experience. honestly, conferences as an introvert are always challenging — give me a one on one conversation [in depth] and i love to talk. put me at a table with twenty women? i turn into a listener and my energy gets drained. fast. probably the highlight [isn't this shallow?] of the summit was people-watching. the attendee’s fashion was ridiculous: check it out for yourself on the official flickr. the other, legit, business highlight was walking away a clearer picture of what i want my blog to develop into. i am passionate about blogging, but i cannot tell you that i am passionate about crafts, do it yourself projects or browsing pinterest for hours. i wish i could be, but i’m not. [this realization makes me wonder why i came, haha!]

however, i am learning what a successful, thriving, growing blog that i love should look like. i want my blog to be a place that readers come to be inspired, to be encouraged, to learn what i am struggling with as a young-adult christian and how i am overcoming those struggles in the name of Jesus. i want my blog to be a place where young adults can come to find new music i am loving, maybe even a new outfit i think is kinda fun — because i do like new clothes; i rarely like the shopping process. and of course, all of the wedding and engagement photos i take every month!

it’s not that i don’t appreciate art, fashion, design, food like a lot of the bloggers here at alt design summit do… because i appreciate it! but i don’t have that drive to create it. i am driven to write, i am driven to travel, i am driven to good coffee, i am driven to a great new songwriter i found — and that’s what i want to blog about. i have been seeking other young christian bloggers who have awesomely designed blogs with unique content and quirky touches. i might be looking in the wrong places, but it’s a slow-go finding blogs that are thriving like this… let’s just be honest here. a lot of the online christian community is a walking cliche. haha!

i’m inspired to start building a community of non-traditional, quirky, anti-cliche, christian bloggers.
help me. what are your favourite faith-based art, fashion, design, lifestyle bloggers? i want to learn about them.similar posts:

• alt design summit 2012
• alt design summit: day one
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i am a huge fan of destination weddings; including mini-destination weddings! who says “destination” require a flight? often it’s only a long road trip or a ferry that you need. vanessa and craig had one at spirit ridge in osoyoos, alison and ryan had one on the sunshine coast, erika and malcolm had one on vancouver island & joanna and alex had one in tofino at middle beach lodge. i love the “feel” of a destination wedding — as a guest, you have to head out of town, leaving behind work and other responsibilities and because of that, you get to celebrate a marriage AND have a mini-vacation. even when i’m there to work [not exactly a vacation] i still love enjoy them a ton when they are in between local weddings.

crazy excited to share my most feature in destination weddings & honeymoons magazine with you! joanna + alex’s middle beach lodge wedding in tofino was chosen for their real weddings “i do” section.

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