2 Years Ago, I Left California for Wisconsin♥

I moved back to Wisconsin from California exactly 2 years ago today and I had no idea where my life was headed, I was ready to re-invent myself. 

If I would have looked through a glass ball and gazed at where I am now, I never would have believed it.

But I would never change a thing. I have more true, genuine peace & joy in my heart than I've ever had before. I love the people in my life, and the people I continue to meet.

I'm single and for once I am okay with being that.  This leaves room for the right guy instead of "Mister Right Now".  I am honestly excited that the opportunity of falling madly in love with someone new and wonderful and *healthy* for me in my future still lies before me. (Because that's the only kind of man I'll let in from this day forward). ♥

I may not be rich financially (yet..).. but I am rich with love from my family, and the friends I have met. Especially in the last year.

I'm about to move into a 2 story farmhouse. Just me! In the middle of the country. Shiny new bamboo floors not walked upon by my bare feet yet.  Two kitchens, sparkly breakfast at tiffany blue walls, and a hand-painted mural on the wall!  I'm about to share this place with people who want to eat my cupcake creations.  I'm ecstatic, proud, and scared to death! ♥ Story here.

(source of this art: betterforthechange)

So many people have their "backup". You know-the husband, the boyfriend, the second job perhaps?   I've got complete faith as my back-up.   Just like I had complete faith when I moved back home a few years ago.

I just think it's funny that two years ago I was making a huge leap, I was blinded by my next step.

Now I'm here again. ♥ I am so excited to meet my next two years. Not just my next two years of cupcakes..but the next two years of *my life*.

This is my vision of it all♥ It'd be great if it really happens this way:

I think I might try my best to paint my bedroom this way ♥

 

 when i believe this, he will find me and never let go♥

but I can't lie, seeing this laying on my couch would be a dream. (especially if it really were James Franco)!

 

 

dinner parties at my home with friends ☻

 

♥

 

somehow i want this to be me! sharing my cupcakes with ellen degeneres and nicki minaj. (I dream big).

 

 

 

Lucille Ball is my role model ♥

 

an amanda cupcake mobile ♥

(art by brian theis of madison, wi)

 

I will go on vacation♥

 

 I'll stay true to this woman♥

(the authentic me).

 

 

♥ this was a fortune I got a few months ago at a restaurant called Chef Chu's.  Sweet. 

A Camera Is a Fun Toy.........

I just found some old photos from the Amanda archives

from the California days I enjoyed photo shoots with aspiring photographers..

Just for the pure joy of living.

 I think everyone should enjoy a photo shoot day.

Even if you aren't a supermodel.

I most certainly am not.

I have curves all over my body in places that I can't even control.

A chicken pox scar above my eyebrow.

A bump on my nose that I inherited from my grandfather.

A crooked smile kinda like Drew Barrymore, but I am not Drew Barrymore!

That is because I am me!

The things that I have sometimes hated..

are the things that many have swooned over.

It is time to give up on the stereotypical beauty..

and embrace your every little labeled "flaw"
for that is what might just make you fabulous!

The camera smiles at imperfections.

Those imperfections suddenly express you.

And you have something beautiful within

that the camera lens refuses to ignore.



"Imperfection is beauty, madness is genius,
and it's better to be absolutely ridiculous than
absolutely boring."
~Marilyn Monroe.


I like to bring my friends because we are so vibrant and colorful together.
Any camera will do.
Even a cell phone camera.
People always laugh at me because my little digital cameras always get banged up.
I tell them it's because my camera has visited other countries, cities, states and met so many beautiful faces.

"I had never been on a date where I went to a movie with a girl and her apartment after to drink wine, dress up in crazy wigs, and take pictures.  That is what made me see that you were different than other girls.  You were fun, and I could tell you loved life.  I knew I could fall in love with you that very moment."

-a quote about my first date with my love, Dan Eberhardt.

The not-so-deep thing about pictures..
is that the more you take..
even if they are self photos..
they document a part of your life.

You can remember where you were,
what time of the year it was,
who you were with,
what you were feeling right then,
and maybe even what you did before .. or after.

"She glances at the photo, and the pilot light of memory flickers in her eyes."



One of those unexpected, "please don't take my photo"

moments might end up naturally pretty.

Don't fight your true beauty.

Even if it is the very next day,
it is so fun to find photographs..
To remember what your memory couldn't possibly envision without them.

"Photography is a way of feeling, of touching, of loving.
What you have caught on film is captured forever.
It remembers little things, long after you have forgotten everything."