creating...working...

I believe the best feeling is the big sigh I take at the end of the day knowing that I've filled it with everything I can to make myself happy. Today is definitely one of those days I will take that sigh. I've actually been having a lot of those days lately.

The festival is moving along rather smoothly. This past week Matt and I went up to Guntersville to get a perspective on what we need to do to raise the money to put it on and talk to the people involved in the planning and whatnot. As we drove around Guntersville doing the footwork to talk to all the necessary people, it was beautiful to see some of their faces light up when we told them what we were doing. The best face we saw all day though was the lady at Mountain Valley Arts Council, to whom we are donating the money. We walked into her office early in the morning, sat down, and told her what we were doing. Her first question was "who are you?" We both laughed and told her if she could keep a secret, we are two kids who just wanted to do it. But really, how hard is that to believe?

I feel more and more like a little kid every day. I feel like I'm shaving the years off of my life every day when I open my eyes and begin a new day. Maybe this is the secret to the fountain of youth...

learn something new every week...

One lesson that I feel I should add to the list below is to learn something new every week. It's more difficult than it seems when you get stuck in the routine of life. You wake up and go to the same job every day, cook the same things every week, hang out with the same people all the time, and drain your brain with television to help you sleep at night. I've even caught myself making the excuse "when would I have time to learn?" Sometimes the little things are those you learn and you won't catch them until you are looking. I learn new things about myself every day and the lesson I learned today is that I can get up at 6:30am to drive 3 hours to Atlanta, shoot a whole wedding, drive back, and still have the energy to do the things I would like to do tonight. I feel that's pretty substantial for how much energy I've put into the last week of my life. I should be exhausted by now but instead I am energized by the passions I have. Good thing to know.

To the more concrete things, I picked up a banjo this week. I've always wanted to learn how to play but have put it off due to excuses (I can't afford a banjo...I'm not musically inclined...What would I do if I did learn...) and honestly, I'm not that bad. Okay, so I've got a lot of work to do but it's nothing I can't handle especially since I'm planning a music festival, working towards touring next summer, and I have two jobs. If life wasn't so good, it'd be hard.

So if I can find the time to learn, so can you. Think about the things you always wanted to do but put off due to excuses. Change your mind and the circumstances will follow.