Thursday, April 4, 2013

Challenge! Aren't you lovely?

I have a thing for taking pictures of my family members sleeping. There's something so sweet and perfect about it. What's better though is that she will see this picture someday and see my face beaming while she sleeps. She will feel that love so strongly from one picture. 

Are you addicted to The Huffington Post like I am? Specifically, Huff Post Parents? It's amazing. You're missing out if not. If you are, chances are good you've read the article called "The Mom Stays in the Picture". As I've mentioned, I have lots of ideas for this blog. That article brought about my latest idea and challenge for you!

I read the article and found myself becoming really aware of how often I was not in photographs with my children or at events. I started making an effort to take pictures and be in them at the same time. Being that I usually do this at home during the day they aren't always the best quality. But, I'm there. Lila gets a huge kick out of it these days. I plan to get her a camera (suggestions welcome) for her birthday so that she can take them more often too. Long story short, I started to realize how lovely it can be to feel so present even on the most mundane of days. Being a SAHM can sort of make you feel washed up and lost in the shuffle. Then I scroll through my pictures and there I am. I may look really put together or like I need an extreme makeover mommy edition. Surprisingly, it doesn't really matter to me. I remember the exact moment I took that black and white picture (to the right) with Lila. It was such a perfect moment and ended up being such a perfect picture. Why wouldn't I want to do that as much as possible? We photograph our children (or pets or homes or whatever your thing of the moment is) at an astounding rate. It's silly to leave ourselves out.

Now, some of you have totally mastered the selfie picture. I've seen you rocking the solo pic all over FB, and I applaud you. At first it was odd to me, but now I see things differently. We should all be seeing things differently. Praise thy neighbor. That's what we're doing here. BUT, I am suggesting you see the lovely in you too as much as possible. It's the same as saying you can't love others if you don't love yourself. You can't praise everyone else and not throw yourself a bone once in a while. Other people reading this may think that taking pictures of yourself is absurd. I've been you. I understand. I haven't actually done a great solo picture yet. I have one of me drinking coffee in NYC that my sister took and an older one of me picking my nose at a wedding. It was a joke. Don't judge. However, I now have quite a few pictures of just day to day life with my girls and I am in them. My goal is to work harder on taking more pictures of just Seth and I too.

SO, I challenge you to take pictures and BE IN THEM. And then send them to me to be posted here!!! Every Friday, assuming people step up and do this, I will post the pictures I have received from that week. There may not be many at first, but I don't care. I want you to acknowledge how awesome you are by taking a picture of yourself so that we can then say, "Isn't she lovely!". Mind you, I don't care if you are dressed for a date with your man/woman or washing the dog. To me, some of the best pictures are the ones where the person is just living their life. I know I will say you look amazing if it's the date picture and you are so on top of your life if you have time to wash the dog. Either way, you will get props from me.

Email me your pictures and look for yourself next Friday or any Friday after that depending on how this goes. In fact, I have a gift for the first person to send me a picture!

Feel free to add a comment or not. It doesn't matter.

Disclaimer - Do not send me a picture if you have an issue with your kids/dogs/husband/friends etc. being on the internet. Your email to me is permission for me to post it on this blog. K thanks!


6 comments:

  1. Love love love this idea and I'm going to try to participate and give you LOTS of pictures to work with. Get ready for an overload of Kimmie in your life. :) Can't say it enough --- I'm so glad you are back to writing again!

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  2. Cool idea- I emailed you a photo...I'm actually proud of how it turned out! And like you, it's one of the few photos I'm in. Need to work on that too. :)

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  3. Just sent you one! This is such a cute idea!

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  4. Jana!! I love this idea! I have a couple to send your way. Happy Friday!

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  5. While pulling pictures from FB I realized that I take a lot of pictures of myself. Don't ever take a scroll through my phone. At one point I was sending Ben a daily duck face...so silly.

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  6. Great idea! I have a million pics of cole and realized a few weeks ago that there are hardly any of cole with skip and/or me. Great challenge! And I agree with Kim, I LOVE that you are back to writing!

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