I am catching up to all the “Freedom” prompts so you will see three in a
row. Here’s the one from Monday: Share an old photo of yourself and
a current photo of yourself with your blog readers. Tell them a little
something that has changed and a little that has stayed the same.

Here’s the first photo that came to my mind. One from a long time
ago:

And One from May of this year:

Let’s talk about what’s changed:
Hair Color. Hair Length. Weight (Free food is great but not for your
weight.) New York vs Palo Alto. Goldman vs Google. Coding vs Not So
Much. Single vs Married. Not a Mom vs a Mom. Back then I didn’t have a
fancy camera and wasn’t nearly as into photography as an art. I hadn’t
begun scrapping. I was writing novels. I had never gone camping. I
didn’t really know how to drive. Creative Therapy.

Let’s talk about what hasn’t changed:
Working. Trying to balance it all out. Trying to figure things out.
Taking photos. Reading. Blogging. Jake. Many of my friends. Pursuit of
Happiness and Peace.

Friday’s Freedom prompt: How do you prefer the pace of life? Do you
wish things would speed up or slow down? Illustrate with something
that has been on your mind or on your calendar or share your
preference between working slowly or quickly on a crafting
project.

This one is interesting to me because I’ve been thinking about it a lot
lately. When I decided to move to San Diego from New York, everyone told
me I’d hate it. They said the ultra-type-A me would go insane with the
relaxed Southern California pace. Honestly, I was a bit worried, too.

There were many reasons why I missed NYC when I was in San Diego but the
pace wasn’t one of them. I loved being relaxed. I love walking on the
beach and taking my time to let the nature soak in. When we moved to
Palo Alto and I went back to the crazy busy life style, I missed San
Diego immediately. I still do.

Yet when I scrap or paint, I still have the fast pace. It’s like I must
finish. I can’t imagine how some people leave stuff to simmer overnight.
I could never ever imagine doing that. I think this attitude hurts my
art. Doesn’t give me time to slow down and think things through. As I
told myself at the beginning of this year: it’s not about the end goal;
it’s about the journey.

Since life is all about the journey, why not savor each moment?