Not Gonna Rain On My Parade.

The clouds are rolling in, as I take the last few items from the apartment to the car, but it won't rain on my parade-I'm almost out of here!

I've had my time with this apartment. Time to reminisce, time get get emotional and time to say good-bye. I'm ready for this to be over and to move on. I feel as if the next chapter has already begun, while this one hasn't even closed yet. Wednesday cannot come fast enough.

For the last few weeks I have been focused on packing and moving, and have not thought about New York much, until now. I was speaking to a friend about her possibly moving there and looking at the pictures from another. I cannot wait to focus on editing my photographs from the last few years and then moving on to future endeavors. New York is my goal and I need to make a plan to get there.

But first, I have to get my life in order.

So here's to the next few days, weeks, months, years...here's to the life I dream of...

The Past, the Present and the Future.

And so it has begun...

I started the moving process today. Took over all my clothes and everything from my closet, as well as a few other items. As I pack up the place, I am reminded of when I first moved in. I was excited, nervous, scared that I wouldn't be able to make it on my own, but these last three years have taught me a lot about myself. Now I know just how strong I really am and how much effort I am willing to put forth to make something work. I've learned how to work as a team and how to stand on my own two feet when that team falls apart. I've learned that life is what we make of it and we can sit back and wait for things to come to us, or we can get up and fight for what we want. I've said hello and good-bye in this apartment more times than I care to recall, but would not trade them for anything, as they have allowed me to spend time with wonderful people that I love and will never forget. My Mom always tells me if I can assess a situation and the good outweighs the bad, everything is alright. Well, everything is alright, I guess... =]

I've been thinking a lot about where to go from here, what to pursue, what to let go of, and what to do to leave behind not just a body when I die, but a legacy, something that made the world a better place. I have a list of items to purchase within the next few months that will allow me to get organized, edit photos and put my life on the track that I want it to be on. But after that, then what? What kind of photography do I wish to pursue? One thing is for sure, I don't want to do photography to just get paid. I want my photography to help humanity. I am interested in going to another country, and poverty and hunger are the two issues that I want to tackle. Now that I will have the financial means, I hope to research different non-profit organizations and see what they have to offer. I want to help people and make them smile. That is, the ones who deserve it and have little to nothing else going for them. I feel like I can learn a lot about life from someone that doesn't even speak my language =]

Hellllloooo Seattle.

So quite a bit has happened since my last post, but one major thing. I have made the decision not to move out of Florida just yet. I did a lot of deliberating and came to the conclusion that it would be a mistake to up and leave this amazing job that I have currently. So instead, I'm packing up and moving to Jeremy's at the end of the month and doing lots of traveling. As we speak, I am in Oak Harbor, Washington! My boss told me that I wasn't needed on Wednesday, giving me a five day weekend and I made a spontaneous choice to come over here to visit Ali and Kellilynn! Yesterday I traveled from Orlando to Denver, Colorado and then on to Seattle. We walked around downtown and did some shopping and ate at Red Robin by the waterfront. Afterwards we went up in the Space Needle and I got plenty of pictures. Then we came home to Ali's house and Kellilynn came over and we ate Oreos and talked for a bit. Today we are watching the kids and we just ate a really big breakfast complete with eggs, bacon, sausage and toast.

Last week I went down to Fort Lauderdale to spend time with my friends from the Bahamas, Mark and Ahamard. We went down to Miami during Memorial Day weekend and had lots of fun. I miss them already!

So I am anxious to see where I will travel to next. I plan on building up my portfolio and getting my website and business cards done soon. I'm excited for the future!

Until next time...