Day 188

Day 188

"It doesn't make sense to call ourselves ugly, because we don't really see ourselves. We don't watch ourselves sleeping in bed, curled up and silent with chests rising and falling with our own rhythm. We don't see ourselves reading a book, eyes fluttering and glowing. You don't see yourself looking at someone with love and care inside your heart. There's no mirror in your way when you're laughing and smiling and happiness is leaking out of you. You would know exactly how bright and beautiful you are if you saw yourself in the moments where you are truly yourself."

Day 187

Day 187

“Once we believe in ourselves, we can risk curiosity, wonder, spontaneous delight, or any experience that reveals the human spirit” 
~ E.E. Cummings

Day 186

Day 186

"I was always looking outside myself for strength and confidence, but it comes from within. It is there all the time."

~Anna Freud

Day 185

Day 185

"Believe in yourself! Have faith in your abilities! Without a humble but reasonable confidence in your own powers you cannot be successful or happy"

~Norman Vincent Peale

Day 184

Day 184

"Why should we worry about what others think of us, do we have more confidence in their opinions than we do our own?"

~Brigham Young

Day 183

Day 183

I am convinced all of humanity is born with more gifts than we know. Most are born geniuses and just get de-geniused rapidly

~Buckminster Fuller

Day 182

Day 182

"It's surprising how many persons go through life without ever recognizing that their feelings toward other people are largely determined by their feelings toward themselves, and if you're not comfortable within yourself, you can't be comfortable with others."
~Sidney J. Harris

Day 181

Day 181

“All the external adoration, respect and adulation in the word, can't drown out the internal voices that tell us, we are not good enough and unworthy of; happiness, love and an abundant life. When we need others to tell us were amazing, worthy and lovable, in order to feel good about ourselves, it is never enough. It goes into the bottomless pit where our inherent self-worth should be. It may feel like we are reaching out to receive love, but in actuality, we are seeking external noise to help drown out our negative core beliefs.

Love blossoms from the inside out. That is why it is so important to do the work necessary to heal our emotional wounds, to love ourselves and stand strong in who we are. Only then, are we truly free to give and receive love, unconditionally and in abundance.” 
― Jaeda DeWalt

Day 180

Day 180

“There's something AMAZING about you. You owe it to yourself to fulfill your destiny. You were put on earth for a reason. Don't betray yourself because of other people opinions of who you should be. God has already implanted within you who you MEANT to be. Trust your gut instincts.” 
~ Yvonne Pierre, The Day My Soul Cried: A Memoir

Day 179

Day 179

“Try giving up all the thoughts that make you feel bad, or even just some of them, and see how doing that changes your life. You don't need negative thoughts. All they have ever given you was a false self that suffers. They are all lies.” 
― Gina Lake, What about Now?: Reminders for Being in the Moment

Day 178

Day 178

"Don't start your day with the broken pieces of yesterday. Every morning we wake up is the first day of the rest of our life"

Day 177

Day 177

"Accept everything about yourself, I mean everything. You are you and that is the beginning and the end, no apologies, no regrets."
~Clark Moustakas

Day 176

Day 176

"When you're different, sometimes you don't see the millions of people who accept you for what you are. All you notice is the person who doesn't"

~ Jodi Picoult, Change of Heart

Day 175

Day 175

"Never be bullied into silence. Never allow yourself to be made a victim. Accept no one's definition of your life, but define yourself"

~Harvey Fierstein

Day 174

Day 174

"There is no magic cure, no making it all go away forever. There are only small steps upward: an easier day, an unexpected laugh, a mirror that doesn't matter anymore"

~Laurie Halse Anderson, Wintergirls

Day 173

Day 173

"That's what real love amounts to - letting a person be what he really is. Most people love you for who you pretend to be. To keep their love, you keep pretending - performing. You get to love your pretense. It's true, we're locked in an image, an act - and the sad thing is, people get so used to their image, they grow attached to their masks. They love their chains. They forget all about who they really are. And if you try to remind them, they hate you for it, they feel like you're trying to steal their most precious possession"
~Jim Morrison

Day 172

Day 172

"Everything that happens to you is a reflection of what you believe about yourself. We cannot outperform our level of self-esteem. We cannot draw to ourselves more than we think we are worth"

~Iyanla Vanzant

Day 171

Day 171

"You can search throughout the entire universe for someone who is more deserving of your love and affection than you are yourself, and that person is not to be found anywhere. You, yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection"

~Gautama Buddha

I'm so excited that I got my hair done today. I love the color and the cut. Its so much fun. 

Day 170

Day 170

"How would your life be different if...you stopped allowing other people to dilute or poison your day with their words or opinion? Let today be the day...You stand strong in the truth of your beauty and journey through your day without attachment to the validation of others"

~Steve Maraboli "Life, the Truth, and Being Free"

Day 169

Day 169

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It is not just in some of us; it is in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others. "

- Marianne Williamson, 

A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of "A Course in Miracles," 1992

Day 168

Day 168

I didn't really have any ideas for this one but I had this mask in my closet from last Halloween. I love this mask. I love the colors of it and how it just pops against the black background. 

Day 167

Day 167

Some days I put so much effort into doing this project. At 9:45 tonight I decided I was going get all done up. So I curled my hair and did my makeup lol. Knowing I would be going to bed soon. But that's ok it was worth it :)

Normally I hate spot color and think it looks horribly cheesy. (No offense to those who like it. It's just not my style at all) But I like how it turned out in this picture. 

Day 166

Day 166

Today I had a hard time trying to come up with something new and different. So I played around in photoshop. I know this is just plain weird but it makes me laugh. 

Day 165

Day 165

I've been wanting to do a pop art photo for awhile now so I decided to just go for it today.

I really like how it turned out!

P.S. Face painting on yourself is hard. Especially when you normally wear glasses. 

Day 164

Day 164

I am trying to keep each picture looking different so I decided to go with something completely new. Kind of a Brady Bunch theme for my face. LOL

Day 163

Day 163

This one didn't turn out quite like I expected but I like it anyway

Day 162

Day 162

It's 12:30am and I'm tired.

Day 161

Day 161

I got a beauty dish the a couple weeks ago (A beauty dish is a light modifier that goes over the flash to diffuse the light) I was so excited when I got it until I realized I needed an adapter to make it work with my flash. I ordered one and it came in today.

This was the real test of it's "beauty" powers. I have no makeup on. I've been cleaning all day and I haven't showered. I'm super happy with how it turned out. This is with a little bit of softening and I took out a blemish (or two LOL) But even straight out of the camera I was pretty happy with the results.

This one is edited

This is straight out of the camera with no edits at all. 

Day 160

Day 160

I love this fabric. It is so soft and cuddly. I use it for lots of newborn shoots. I like the "snow bunny" feel to this especially since it is 80 degrees in Southern California right now

Day 159

Day 159

I love playing with the eyes in this one. 

I'm glad I started this project up again. 

Day 158

Day 158

This one was super fun. I love doing face paint and I've always loved the Dia De Los Muertos look. 

Now I have to go take a shower so I can pick my kids up and not scare the kindergartners lol

Day 157

Day 157

I'm tired of my pictures all looking alike so I decided to do something different. Surprisingly this only took about 20 minutes. The part that has taken the longest is trying to get my internet to work again.UGH

Day 156

Today is day 156

I almost skipped today because I pinched a nerve in my pointer finger on my right hand. Its been killing me off and on all day. I decided I was going to do my picture anyway. Once I got it all done I went to upload it and my internet decided to play hide and seek. 

Now that we have everything figured out. Here is my self portrait for day 156

 

Day 155

Today I had two photo sessions so I am exhausted but I wanted to get my picture done. I left most of my stuff in my car and I realized I left the receiver for my flash (so I can use it off camera) in the car as well. Being super lazy I decided not to go get it and just use my continuous lighting with an umbrella. I'm pretty happy with the results even if my hair is crazy lol.

Day 154

Day 153

Today I had a hard day. I woke up with a pounding headache that wouldn't go away no matter what I took for it. Its finally subsided but it was awful for most of the day.
I didn't fix my makeup for this picture or do really much of anything except pull my hair out of the ponytail and brush it. 

Now I'm heading to bed. I'm super excited I have two sessions tomorrow so I need my sleep!

Day 153

Happy Halloween!!!!

I don't love this picture. But it has been a long day and I'm tired. 

Day 152

Day 152

I had this idea a couple of days ago but decided to go another way for that one. Today I decided to just go for it. I took a picture of the bark of a tree and combined it with my photo from today. I love the texture in this picture. 

Day 151

Day 151 

I love this picture. I was originally doing a picture with the flash but it kept not working so I decided to adjust the other light and not rely on the flash. This ended up being the last picture I took and it was my favorite. It's funny because I ended up liking all the pictures without the flash way better than the ones with. 

Day 150

Today is day 150. It is cold and rainy outside today. I really would like to curl up under my blanket and go to sleep. But I made sure to get my picture done first! :)

Day 149

Day 149

I decided that I wanted it a little different this time and chose to smile for the picture :)

I recently bought a new backdrop as well so I used it and I love how it warms up the picture. 

Day 148

Day 148

So I'm just going to continue with the old numbers just like I never stopped blogging. :)

I'm on a roll now  - 2 days in a row. 

This one was just fun to do. 

Supposed to be day 227

If you haven't noticed I dropped the ball. It has been 81 days since I last posted here. I've thought a lot about this project and I regret dropping the ball but I just haven't been able to pick it up again. I've been struggling with being overwhelmed and suffering from depression lately.
I finally went to the doctor and got on some medication a couple weeks ago. I can't say it miraculously solved the problem but I am starting to feel better.

Today I decided I had to just do it. I had to just start it up again. So here is day either 1B lol, 147 or 227 whichever you'd like :)

This one was just fun to do. 

Day 146

Day 145

Day 145

Day 145

I love this picture. I love the serenity and peacefulness of it.

Day 144

Day 144

I'm working on getting back into taking pictures everyday. I hate missing day and not being inspired. 

Day 143

Day 143

I decided to do something a little bit different today. I wasn't really in the mood to do my picture but knew I needed to so I decided to flex my creative muscles. 

I really like the results. 

Day 142

I know I am a couple days behind. I've been dealing with computer issues and we went camping again so I couldn't post yesterday.

Here is today's post - Day 142

Day 141

Day 141

It's getting harder and harder to make a new picture everyday. Mainly because I really don't want them to look alike. I want every one of them to be unique and creative. That is a lot harder than I thought. 365 days is a long time. But I really am enjoying it. I am enjoying pushing myself and my creativity to the next level. I love learning new techniques and learning how to make each picture work.
I am so grateful I took on this challenge