There's One In Every Crowd . . .

. . isn't there?

What does it mean to be that 'one' in the crowd? Why are you that 'one'? Are you getting good attention or bad attention? How do you feel when you are that 'one'? Do you stand proud or shrink down?

Ultimately there are only four possibilities: good attention/stand proud, good attention/shrink down, bad attention/stand proud, and bad attention/shrink down.

I think it is a wonderful thing to stand out in a crowd - so long as it is for the right reasons. Furthermore, if you can stand proud while doing so, more power to you.

Here's to doing the right thing, standing out because of it, and standing proud the whole time. So there!

A Time to Reflect

We all have times in our lives when we reflect on who we are. An inquiry into what our belief system looks like; what our core values are; how we define success.

I am very much at one of those times in my life right now so it seems ironically fitting that I have recently taken these two photos. They are both photographs of reflections but that is where the similarity ends. One was taken in nature; the other in downtown. One was taken with a Canon G10; the other with a phone. One was taken while sharing time with someone I love very much; the other while alone with myself.

This goes to show that reflecting on your life can happen anytime, anywhere, with anyone. It's up to you whether or not you choose see the reflection or choose to ignore it. At the moment I am choosing to see it and make important decisions in my life that are more in line with who I am at my center and less in line with the unimportant distractions that oftentimes distract from what is truly important in life.

I Cook . . . A Lot

My mom taught me how to cook when I was a teenager (thanks Mom) and I also took Home Ec in junior high - I took Shop class too before you get any smart ideas! ;-)

However I have really stepped up my cooking largely in part due to Nature's Garden Delivered which offers home delivery service of organic fruits and vegetables. The crazy/fun part is I only have a small degree of control of what I get - this results in receiving vegetables I didn't even know what they were let alone how to cook 'em!

In steps 101 Cookbooks and voila, cooking cooking and some more cooking. It feels great to eat so much organic whole food and thus the inspiration for the photo above.

A behind the scenes video of the lighting setup can be seen here.