And so it begins...



 Hello, and welcome to my blog!

I'm very new to the blogging world...(can you tell?) Over the last few years, I have watched many of my friends and family pick up on the trend of blogging, and even as I attempted to start my own blog...or two...I just couldn't really get into it, and I didn't know why. Each of the blogs that I make a point of following are manned by dedicated authors who also run busy, beautiful lives that they are determined to document, and do so in a seemingly effortless way. Now, even though I often find myself envying others in some way or another, I try very hard to keep myself focused on the blessings I have in my own life. But I have to say...I have been jealous! Jealous of these amazing women and their ability to keep up with their full lives and still make the time and effort to keep the world up to date on their activities. I mean, here I am, a stay-at-home Mom with a wild and adorable 2 year old boy. My husband works a lot of hours and I'm responsible for keeping our busy lives running, nice and smooth, in the cleanest way possible. I am much like many of my blogging pals and yet I just haven't been able to get with the program! It's a new world, and I've been trying desperately to find a way that I fit into it. 

And then, as one of my friends (who has recently started her own blog) was telling me about her blog and about how excited and passionate she is about where it is going and the future she has in store for her new blog baby, I realized...she is obsessed with what she is doing! She is obsessed with fashion, with her life. She is obsessed with writing and that makes her passionate about what she is doing. Well, that got me thinking...but then I got distracted and the subject faded into the depths of my cluttered mind.

But as the days passed and I continued to spend my son's naps browsing blogs and the many pages of Pinterest, I started to think about what I am passionate about...


...my son, Aden. I am passionate about him and his little life! I am one of the proudest Mommies around. I even look forward to telling anyone and everyone of all of his crazy, toddler boy antics.

...my husband, Harold. I am passionate about our marriage, our friendship and our life that we have made together. We have a long history together and an exciting future ahead of us. I couldn't be happier with the man God made especially for me.

...memories. I am passionate about memories! 

Now, this is where something clicked. This is where I am at now, and this is why I have again decided to take another shot at this blogging thing. 2 strikes is disappointing, but it's the 3rd strike that really counts...right? I can't quite pinpoint the exact moment when it happened, but somewhere along the way in my 23 years of life, I became obsessed with memories...OBSESSED, I tell you...

   I am a compulsive, overly emotional memory hoarder.

Because of my...condition...I have become very involved in the world of photography. Much like every other twenty-something out there, I am constantly taking pictures. I am whipping out my phone or my camera to snap special moments each and every day. For as long as I can remember, I have been a photography addict. But as I have recently ventured into the professional side of photography, something about running a photography business just doesn't feel right for me. I LOVE doing photo shoots for my friends and family. I love to spend that time with these special people, capturing their moments and saving their memories in a unique way for years to come. 

I have done a handful of photo sessions for people who have been referred to me by friends, but I have yet to feel comfortable reaching out into the public, extending my services to people I don't know. At first, this seemed like it was going to be a good way for me to stay busy and bring in a little extra cash for our family. But, even though I have made a few friends through my photography thus far, I haven't found that passion that I find with photo sessions I do especially for loved ones...and I think I know the reason why.

When I started my photography business, I poured over name options. I originally planned on something very simply and easy...AP Photography...but wouldn't that make me just like all of the other Mommy Photographers I saw around me? So I kept looking, and eventually decided on a name that held a deep meaning for me. 

aThousandwords | Photography - By Allison



A picture is worth a thousand words...as I'm sure everyone has heard many, many times in their lives. So even though it wasn't as original as I would have hoped, the meaning behind that sentence is exactly what inspired my photography to begin with. When I started my business, I made a vow that every photo I would publish with my photography would have a story behind it. I didn't want to just take pictures. I didn't want to do photos just to do photos, or just because someone paid me to do them. I wanted to capture memories. I wanted to save these moments for people who cherished them.

The other day I came across a blog that was dedicated to a photography project, where they made a promise to take a photo every single day of the year. It was so inspiring to me, because this person had made an effort to document a special memory each day, something that had originally given me the desire to start a blog in the first place. But she did it in a way that spoke to me, because she chose to use what she was passionate about: photography. Her purpose wasn't to get on there every day to tell about her life, it was to force herself to find and photograph a special moment, no matter what.

As I browsed her blog and read her stories and viewed her photos, all of a sudden there was no question in my mind of what I was going to do. Today, I was going to start a blog. I was going to challenge myself to take on the same project as this photographer did...a photograph a day, 365 days, no matter what.

And so this blog baby was born...

I've decided that this inspiration couldn't have come at a better time, considering we are less than 2 weeks away from the start of the New Year! January 1, 2013 seems the perfect day to begin this project that requires participation every day of the year. So until then, I'm going to take each of these days leading up to my fresh blogging start to introduce myself, my family and my life....and also to practice my blogging skills...which are practically non-existent. 

Here's to memories, and all the beauty to be found in a photograph. Here's to family, and the stories that bring us all together. And here's to you, and your lack of anything better to do than to join me on my journey through this exciting new year of endless possibilities.



This entry was posted on Thursday, December 20, 2012. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response.

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