A Little Slice of Heaven

This time last week I was hanging out lakeside with a great bunch of folks from the CT PUG, or Pictage User Group. A bunch of photographers coming together to talk shop and just relax and have some fun.

We were hosted by the lovely and gracious Amanda Harris Herzberger of Orchard Cove Photography. Her family's lovely lakehouse:



The "backyard"



Amanda gets pensive by the water:



Nikki Nicole from Nikki Nicole Photography chills with Strider:



Strider. Seriously the best dog I've ever met! What a good boy!



This next photo is the epitome of what I wish for in life. To wake up every morning and glide around the lake in a kayak...Serenity.



Exhibit A:



That's Mr. Justin Marantz, one half of the amazing husband and wife team of Justin Marantz Photography showing us how it's done.

This is how photographers "relax" by the water:



Here's what they're shooting:



That's Jo from Allegro Photography reenacting an Australian commercial.

My girl, Julia, from Salty Grapes. She lights up a room with that smile:



Joy Moody shares her shot of Justin with Jacob Bergmeier of NoDo Photography:



Last but not least:



I thought I'd take many more pictures over the course of 2 days than I did but that's because I was so busy working on our Retreat "Assignment." On the first day we came together to do some serious thinking and soul-searching. Mary Marantz led this portion of the workshop and boy is she good at making you think!

We started off by writing the following categories on a page in our notebooks: Personal, Family, Financial, Spiritual and Business. Then we identified the things in each area of our lives that we felt were obstacles or struggles. On the next page we wrote these same categories and listed our goals for each. We followed up by writing at the top of a page "The Good Life for Me..." And then we just wrote--sort of stream of consciousness--whatever that means to us. The Good Life.

It was very moving for me. And a lot of it boils down to finding time. Feeling like I "owe" every minute of my life to someone or some task. I recognized how very important it is for me to have time to be by myself and not feel guilty or pulled in a million directions by my ever-growing "To-Do" list. And, of course, time to be with my family and forget about email and editing and washing the kitchen floor!

Then we had one more task. 101 in 1001. And while it sounds kind of cute and perky, it was damn hard to do in those 2 days! We made a list of 101 things we want to accomplish in the next 1001 days. That works out to be just over 2 1/2 years, I think. I couldn't believe how hard this was! I had to escape the group and head down to the dock to get started since I cannot concentrate around other people. There ended up being a few of us down there and every 15 minutes or so someone would break the silence to ask for ideas or share their own.

Here are a few things on my 101 List:

Have someone else photograph me with my son, Finn. I am in almost no photos with Finn since he was born! Partly because I am always the one with camera and partly because I hate myself in pictures. But I know that someday Finn will appreciate having photos of himself with his Mommy so I just have to suck it up and get it done!

Learn to play the mandolin.

Take a pottery class. (One of my oldest dreams was to live in Vermont and have an artist's studio where I would do pottery and have a darkroom. This is pre-digital, of course.)

Take Finn to the movies.

Hang a chin up bar in the basement! (Weird, I know. But I love doing pull ups. At least I used to. I am afraid I might only be able to lift myself an inch right now, but I could work myself up to a handful or more. At least I hope I could!)

Of course there are many more. We are supposed to complete and blog about at least one thing on our list by today. I did do something on my list and am going to see if I can figure how to blog this the way I want to. Stay tuned...