It's An Illuuuuusion

A few posts back, I shocked my family and friends when I mentioned I drive a **mini-van**!!! Ha ha, I was surprised it was so surprising! Then another comment from an old friend about how my life 'looked so much more glamorous' than hers got me thinking.

It got me a-thinkin' about this ol' blog and how I portray myself, because if it is one thing I'm not, it is glamorous. If you knock on my door unexpectedly, it will be a mess. Hayden will be down to a diaper, most likely dancing on the table. My face breaks out, I can't shower as often as I'd like to, if you see me around six in the p.m., I'm likely on the verge of tears or a tantrum. That's life. That's my life. Trust me, you don't want to see it. But I wouldn't want to, and don't mean to, pretend it is something else. Last night some friends were in the backyard and mentioned they'd never seen the inside of my house. I chuckled and said "Not today!". A few seconds later I realized that was silly, so fake, and insincere. As we walked inside my kitchen covered in the remnants of lunch and realized it was a LOT worse than the house I remembered walking out of an hour earlier, one of them said "We'd be concerned if it DID look perfect."

The little group of blogs in my reader has made me acutely aware that the hard things in my life now are oh.so.small (but not to me!). I think I would feel petty posting those things on here amidst people's life changing problems. So I don't. And I'm not sure how to reconcile the desire to present myself sincerely and keep the mundane private. But you wanna know why I love this blog? Among a few reasons, it gives me motivation to find those bits and pieces of beauty in my life. And who doesn't love to wake up to a comment or two in their inbox? I love that I can crop and blur the mess and focus my lens on something (or usually someone) pretty.

So I do declare Mondays as my 'something pretty' day. To find something beautiful along the routine. You want in?!? I want you in on this, my friends. Find it, find what makes you tick this week and email it to me for next Monday. I would love to see and post your something pretty! Something you read, something you did, something you saw, something you made. If you don't know me, all the better, I'd love to meet you.

ashpace@gmail dot com

happy hunting