Secret Italy 2013: Creative Photography Workshop with Kevin & Clare Kubota

Secret Italy 2013: Where to begin??  I have had a very full and  busy year with lots of ups and downs, the roller-coaster of my life…  I am grateful for all of the business I have had this year and I truly love my clients and my business.  You (my beautiful clients) and it (my business) are a part of who I am at the depths of my core and I would never trade you/it for any other existence.  But, at the same time,  it’s hard to stay in tune with myself, with my creativity, with my desires for my own life, and with the things that bring me joy when I focus so much of my energy outwards. I have been accused of being too much of a “giver” and that is probably not far off the mark.  It’s how I was raised.  It’s how I have evolved through love and loss, loss and love.  But sometimes things happen that remind me to stay true to myself and to my own heart.

This opportunity came to me at the perfect time, and it has been something that I have wanted to do for years.  It was a little scary to take a journey like this… right near the end of my 2013 wedding season with so much work to do not only leading up to, but also directly following the time I would be away.  But, I decided to take a leap of faith and go anyway.  It has been a long time coming, and it was just TIME.  I packed my bags and ventured out to meet a group of almost all total strangers to journey around the northern region of Italy in an attempt to recapture the foundation of my love for photography.  I became a photographer for a reason-because I LOVE photography!  And it’s not that I don’t anymore (obviously), but I haven’t picked up a camera for myself just to “play” in far too long.  I needed to find a new lens though which to see life & the beauty that surrounds us all on a daily basis.  I needed to find that little piece of myself that has been vacant (in hiding).

The truth of the matter is that there are angels everywhere.  They appear at just the right time, and in just the right way.  I can happily say that I now have a whole new family of people that I will be forever grateful for…for the love, for the honesty, for the friendship, for the soul-matedness (is that a word? It is now!) that can come in when your heart is open.  I fell in love with Italy in a way that I cannot describe.  I fell in love with new friends on a level that helps me understand what we are here to do… LIVE! LOVE! LAUGH! SMILE! And, to take whatever it is that the universe hands us on a day to day basis with an open mind, an open heart, and with an attitude of gratitude.  Life doesn’t always work out like we think it will.  But there is a reason for everything.  While patience isn’t necessarily my strongest suite, I am continually learning to accept what is and am willing to wait for the answers to come.  In time, they always do.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart to Kevin and Clare Kubota, to Max Brunelli and Crisitana Chiacchierini, and to all of the people in our perfectly crazy group.  Here’s to you my new friends, & my new soul-sisters (you know who you are!).  My life will be forever richer because of you all. Grazie!  And finally, to Italy: Ciao bella Italia! il mio cuore è pieno fino all’orlo di strati e strati di gioia e amore che sono stati intessuti profondamente nel tessuto della mia anima.[oqeygallery id=340]