Acid & Confidence...Random Much?!

Hello friends! I’m sure some of you have lost faith and jumped ship, but I'm still here! I haven’t exactly been in the “share my stories cuz my life is so awesome” zone lately. It’s been more of a “what am I gonna do?” kind of zone lately. Sometimes my mental attitude reverts to that old adage we’ve all been told, “if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.”


BUT maybe you can help me out. I’ve been BIG TIME suffering from the likes of acid reflux lately, and it sucks. Fruit and veggies are too hard on my system, and it makes it worse. I’m pretty much been forced to revert to bread and pasta to sop up the acid. And trust me THAT doesn’t make me feel the greatest. This is how it usually goes...I stop paying attention to my eating for a few days...I eat a little more dairy, fat and spicy foods than I’m used to. Some wine usually gets thrown in, and before I know it, I’m up night after night, unable to lie flat because of the acid. THEN I can’t eat fruits and veggies because they hurt too bad, so I can’t get back onto my healthy-eating track, reverting me to heavy substances to settle the...dust. IT SUCKS!

So...any suggestions??

Another reason I have been MIA is that Gareth and I have been focusing big-time on our photography. I’ve been doing a lot of reading, and a lot of practicing. I’ve always been 100% confident in Gareth’s ability, but much less so in mine. It was only recently that a friend took the time to come with me and let me practice on her, without Gareth, that I got a jolt of reality. She said to me, “Shauna, YOU took these pictures. Not Gareth, no one else, YOU. And they’re great!” This really struck me, because I get the feeling that most people assume that Gareth’s photos are the only ones we use from photo shoots. The reality is that we usually use 50/50, or close to it. But knowing that people assume I’m not very good has hindered my confidence. We both have different styles, and while he’s much more informed and knowledgeable than I am, I have learned enough to finally call myself a photographer.

It’s so nice to have that person in your life who if your total and complete cheerleader. My friend has been interested and supportive since we’ve began this journey. She comments, she asks questions, she tells me what she likes and what she doesn't...and she has helped me learn that that's ok! Constructive criticism is so helpful, if it's delivered properly. There are people in my life who I would have expected the same from who haven’t pulled through, but having that one person who is sincere and honest (because she is DEF sometimes brutally honest!) has meant more than having 10 fake cheerleaders.

So here’s to friends, to honesty, and to confidence!

Have a wonderful weekend,
Shauna

A Bit About Me

Hi all! Are you wondering where I've been? Well, check this out! Mine & Gareth's new photography blog: http://www.roughleyoriginals.com/

We've been working on it for a while, so my blogging time has been focused on that. It's finally finished, and up and ready! Please follow along with us as we document our work, and any fun photos we may take.

Just a quick rundown on our photography. Gareth has been a photographer his whole life. He's owned an SLR since he was 10 I think, when he was so short he used to cut everyone's heads off since his line of vision wasnt that high.

Fast forward to him moving to Canada and settling in. All of our friends knew he was an amazing photographer. When some of our friends were getting married, they asked him to do their wedding photos. Gareth agreed, and we soon thought, hey, you're going to need a second photographer! That's where I came in! Gareth gave me some speedy lessons, and I was learning SLRs...and loving it! Learning on a digital SLR makes your learning curve extremely steep, and I learned pretty quickly. Just the basics, sure, but I discovered something I had always thought about myself...I had an eye for photography!

The wedding photos turned out great...and the rest is history! Since then we've got into photographing couples, kids, babies, moms-to-be, and of course, the wonders around us that Gareth started with. I LOVE photographing people. When I see an amazing landscape, I think about what it would look like with someone in it. I think Gareth still has a first-love-affair with landscape photography, but he loves the challenge of people-pictures as well. All in all, it's a love for both of us. And one day we'd love to do this full time. With some hard work, I think it will happen!

That's all for now, I'm sure you're sick of hearing about me! I'll be back soon to tell you how training & clean eating has been going.

Have a GREAT weekend!
Shauna