Pinterest Life is not Real Life.
I’ve always wanted a place to put my little life thoughts and happenings outside of social media. Somewhere a little more permanent and a little more official and a place where I would be a little less worried about the likes and comments. So here we go. Episode 1.
Today was Easter. April 21, 2019.
Holidays around here have been a little weird. I find myself not getting into them as much as I think I should. And that belief comes, I’m sure, from how I grew up. Holidays were a big deal and we spent our time with family – eating, playing games and just being together. I fondly remember my mom decorating the house and dressing us up for each holiday. I know it’s important to show the importance of holidays to my children but I didn’t even decorate for Easter. Life has just been a bit overwhelming lately. There’s always an excuse, right?
We were very low key this weekend and I feel like as we come out of winter hibernation and mother nature is still being a little finicky, that is what our weekends have come to be. We are tackling house projects that have been nagging at us and really just taking deep breaths from the week (or at least momma is taking deep breaths).
House projects is exactly what has brought me to write this Easter post, actually. See… my house isn’t Pinterest ready (I purposely didn’t write WORTHY, BTW) and for the longest time I have refused to take pictures in it. The floors are this cherry wood color that radiate this red-yellow color everywhere. None of that situation matches my cabinets. My appliances are 4 different colors at the moment. There is shit everywhere because we’re busy. We have a three-season room that desperately needs a purpose. The backyard is on season 2 of the overhaul. The. List. Goes. On.
But it’s Easter. And the kids are pumped. Once I woke up from my 6:30a Hadley (4 year old) alarm clock after staying up till 1:30a, the girls did their inside routine. I wasn’t about to capture all of that so those memories will just have to reside in my mind. The Easter Bunny was modest this year and provided the girls with a seed planting kit, kneeling pads and gardening tools. A quick errand, food prepped and pictures uploaded from my day before session; I headed outdoors as my kids (and a neighborhood friend) stood anxiously awaiting my GO! I had decided to document the outside egg hunt.
My kids were not in their Sunday best. Hair was not combed. Backyard still in overhaul mode (Heeellloooo! Spring Garden!!). I followed them around and watched them get super excited about their outside hunt. It seriously made my day. At that point I decided that it didn’t matter. It didn’t matter that my flower garden wasn’t tilled, planted and blooming perfect blooms yet. It didn’t matter that Hadley’s dress was wrinkled like she just picked it up off the floor – she loves that dress (right now) and wanted to feel fancy. It didn’t matter that Josephine’s shirt and shorts didn’t match. She got a riding shirt this morning and wanted to wear it all day. They were happy. I was happy.
These memories are just like the ones I see in my photos of me as a little girl. I’m sure there were things my parents wanted to change about their house or about what I was wearing or how dirty my face was. Instead, they captured the moment they thought was important and moved on. Today I look at those pictures and remember how the house I grew up in and my parents still live in USED to look and I look for more clues that will spark a memory.
We’re so stuck on having perfect looking – everything – that the real emotion, the real moment, the real excitement is gone. It hit me, just now. This is why people are determined to get ‘real emotion’ in their photos today. I’m not saying I don’t do it. I really believe that helping you connect to those in your images tells the story of you now. It tells the story of your happiness and joy and that is sometimes hard to portray during a ‘session’ even when it comes so naturally during your daily life. I want you to look your best and love your photos. You can’t fake life and if you can, you’re not truly happy.
All these words to say, I’m sharing photos of our Easter. It’s not the perfectly clean house or the perfectly manicured backyard. We used paper plates and not some fancy seed sorter for our veggie starters (so much more on our garden coming soon!). Our house is a work in progress and some days that drives me to the edge. Other days, it’s the thrill of trying to decide our next move and next floor color that have me loving this little house; our first house.
Once all the eggs were collected, clearly, the next step was to stop on the patio and assess the candy situation.
And just in case you’re wondering, yes, this will go in all important slideshows in the future.
Between the egg hunt and eating, Uncle Jeremy stopped by and hand delivered Peace, Love & Little Donuts
Um. Have you had yet? If photographing them is any indication of how much they were loved. Well, I don’t know what you’re waiting for. MUST. GET. IMMEDIATELY.
They were this good, y’all.
The last task at hand today was the planting of the seeds. I’ve been overwhelmed by this idea for a while now. I think just trying to figure out what to plant and when to plant it caused a bunch of inaction. Thankfully, the Easter Bunny gave that project a swift kick and my parents were there to help guide the way.
Wish us luck!! I’ll post a garden update in one of my Life Thought blogs soon! I can’t wait to see what these bad boys do!
Parting Thoughts: Real life isn’t always perfectly pretty and that is ok! Your memories are still worth taking photographs of. They are worth printing and putting in an album. Don’t ever forget how important the mundane is.
Be sure to check out my newly renovated site at www.bluesagephoto.com
Also, some key links:
Josephine’s Bike Shirt: Dakine
