Florabella Actions!! :)

I'm a little embarrassed to admit this, but greater than my embarrassment is my excitement so here it goes.   My husband is my best friend, a great Hubby and an even better Daddy.  However, he's not the best gift giver in the world.  I hate to say this out loud but there were a few special events and holidays that I didn't receive a gift because he had no idea what to get me.  After much frustration, he now either has me write a list of wants or has me simply tell him what I want.  It's not as exciting but after almost four years of marriage I've gotten more used to it.  He's lucky my love language isn't gift giving lol!  All that to say for Mother's Day Gary got me a set of Florabella Actions.  I was incredibly excited.  My excitement was short lived.  Most people selling actions or writing instructions on installing and how to use actions are PC users.  I am a new Mac user and I was C-L-U-E-L-E-S-S!  One thing I run a little short on at times is patience (ask those that know me best if you dare).  After working with it for two days straight, searching for a helpful Mac user I finally put it aside.  It has sat until today.  I found within myself the patience to do more searching and to try over and over again.  I FINALLY FIGURED IT OUT!!!  It was like Christmas in the Middleton house when I got it to work ha ha!  I'm trying to decide if I want to unveil the new look now on an older shoot or wait for the shoot coming up with a very special little girl (GiGi).  The idea of the shoot itself has been a long time coming, perhaps waiting for the perfect person.  I've been searching and digging deep.  I feel over the last photography season I wasn't always remaining true to who I wanted to be as a photographer.  I have been harboring frustrations for months.  I felt stuck in a rut that I never wanted to be in.  My surgery and recovery time made me slow down in every way possible.  Turns out it was a giant blessing!  I started noticing a lot of things personally and professionally I wanted to change.  As silly as it may sound I was spending so much time with my beloved Mac that I was stunting my thoughts and ideas.  The internet is a wonderful invention but it has it's downfalls too.  Anything and everything is as your fingertips.  Click and it's instantly there.  I got trapped in a click and WHAM world.  It sure didn't help that lack of patience I mentioned before.  I stopped taking time outs to let my imagination run wild.  When I wasn't sleeping on the couch while recouping I was thinking, writing and drawing.  Why settled for good when you can be great?  At first I was afraid my thoughts were induced by pain killers so I made sure my sketches and ideas were written clearly so when the fog lifted I knew exactly where I was going and could know if they needed to be scrapped or kept.  Much to my excitement the ideas weren't the effects of Demerol haze.  I think what I came up with will reinvent Foxtree.  Foxtree has always been my brain baby.  It was my love of photography and the need to express myself that Foxtree was born.  Beyond the love and support of my wonderful husband, family and friends, it was just me and my creativity.  With that being said why would I want to sell myself and Foxtree short by going the directions others sought and not my own?  I want to be the absolute greatest I can be.  I want to fly off the trail of the most trodden way and blaze my own trail.  The next few shoots I have scheduled will come from this place I was just explaining.  A place where I couldn't sleep because I was drawn to a fantasy world with amazing shots and perfect propped out sets.  This past week I've gradually started working on creating some of my own props that I'll use in these upcoming shoots.  I can't wait to make these visions and hastily drawn stick figures (because that's the extent of my drawing "skills") reality.  Secondly, I can't wait to share these with you.  I'm a little anxious as this is all new territory for me but I'm ready.  I've been searching and pushing myself to this point since the birth of Foxtree in what is a few days shy of two years old.  I hope you stay tuned for the results.  I'm afraid I went off on a bit of a tangent.  This post was only to be the sharing of my Florabella experience ;).  I decided somewhere in those lines that I will wait to share my Florabella experience until those shoots I kept mentioning.  I can't think of a better way to launch the new Foxtree than with a few Florabella actions.  Oh, and if you see Gary my wooonderful husband *wink wink* pass along that I would be a very happy lady if he kept those Florabella actions coming.  Until we meet again, take care and let the light inside of you shine to all those that come in contact with you!
Much love,
Amber