Let your little light shine!

Hi, friends! I have made it my goal to finally start posting consistently on here, and seeing as this is my second one this week, I'd say I'm doing pretty well. Pretty darn well considering my first post was in October and it took me a whole, uh, SIX MONTHS to blog again!

Anyhow, the reason I have neglected to blog for so long is because A. My life is crazy, insanely busy and I don't have time/am too tired to write anything more than a quick FB status update. And, B. I am always unsure what to write about. Of course, the majority of anything on here will be about Scarlett because she is pretty much the center of our universe right now (anyone with a baby understands this all too well). Still, I have always felt like I needed something else to add a little, ahem, sheen to my blog.

Well, the other day I was blog-stalking and came across a new one that totally caught my eye. It's called The Shine Project and is written by this adorable, teeny tiny girl named Ashley. She has come up with this awesome plan to get other ladies to, in her words, SHINE. Meaning, actually go after our dreams, seek out new goals, step out of our comfort zones, serve others, and make a change in the world (even if it's just a small one). She posts a weekly challenge every Monday and we're supposed to work on it throughout the week then post about it on Friday. Past challenges have been things like meet your neighbor and make someone feel loved.

I felt myself getting so excited while browsing around her blog and knew I just had to jump on board! This week's challenge was a fun one to start with. We were challenged to choose a subject we have been wanting to learn about and study it. It took me all of five minutes to figure out what I have been wanting to learn a little about.

I have been seriously slacking in photographically documenting Scarlett's first year and half of existence, mainly because I have no clue how to take a pretty picture. If I ever have taken one, it's been sheer dumb luck. I've been wanting to know how to take some quality pictures so that I can someday (in the very distant future) make some fancy scrapbooks and albums to pull out when Scar's first boyfriend comes-a-calling. Also, my parents have this really nice Nikon DSLR camera but nobody in my family knows how to use it except on the AUTO setting. Of course, it takes good pictures on AUTO, but I just feel like this camera's potential is being wasted.

So, I decided to do a little research online. I even went so far as to order the book, How To Photograph Your Life , which I discovered is sort of known as the "go-to book" for someone who has no professional photography aspirations but wants to take nice family photographs. Lastly, I picked the fabulous brain of my friend Mary who in a year's time has become quite the established photographer around these parts (If you haven't seen her work already, you have to check out her blog. She is ah-mazing. And, yes, that is my little cutie up there!).

Well, as it turns out, a week was not enough to learn as much as one probably needs to know to be able to take the beautiful pictures I imagined I'd be taking by Friday. But, I did learn a lot and the best part is, I am driven to learn even more now that I have a slight understanding of what terms like 'ISO' and 'aperture' mean. And, although I only got one photo that I am actually really proud of, that was enough for me. Take a look for yourself, is she not a beautiful little girl?


To wrap things up, I want to encourage my friends to jump on The Shine Project bandwagon. It really was a lot of fun, and I find myself very anxious to see what this Monday's challenge will be. Click the link below if you're interested. Thanks to any of my friends and family who took the time to read this. Enjoy your Friday and have a blessed weekend!



P.S. The title of this post is very dear to me as the Addison Road version of "This Little Light of Mine" is the class song of the preschool that I work at. They sing it so sweetly! They performed it in church last Sunday, and I can't wait to hear it again at graduation this Monday! Here it is if you'd like to listen to it: