as a young girl, I considered my most precious treasure to be my heart. it was a secret garden of my joys, triumphs, failures, my pain, experiences….my journey. the place where I was the me that no one knew. much different than what i perceived everyone around me could see. i gathered the fragile content and stored it away. as i walked toward womanhood, i found that those treasures contained in the abundance of my heart, formed the woman i was becoming. sometimes, i was proud of that woman. sometimes, not. i learned to trust my heart and let it challenge me to be better, stronger, wiser, kinder. it was a journey of ups and downs. a journey perhaps much like the one you travel.

hundreds of cars drive past these old buildings everyday. it used to be a thriving business, generating big revenue for this little town. now, as people drive by, the building looks old, worthless, broken, empty and useless. however, on the occasion that someone takes the time to stop and come inside, the reaction is startling. inside, beyond this rough exterior are several thriving businesses producing iconic NZ seafood well known to the world. “Who would have thought this was going on in this old building”, we often hear.

i love these shots. i think they are beautiful. they are weeds. an annoyance most of the time. through the lens of my new a camera, beauty.

have you longed for someone to take the time to look inside and see the real you? or maybe a closer look and see your special beauty?

i find that, no matter the outer package, we as women long to be seen in a deeper way.

my bff and i share everything. we love heart to heart talks. we laugh. we cry. we are silly (especially late at night). we trust. we share. sometimes we fight. when we can’t put words to what is in our heart, we say, “Look inside your heart”. we have found that so many times when words are not there to express what we feel, if we just take a look inside our own heart immediately we can see and know what the other is attempting to convey. it’s because we are alike. we have a common bond…the heart of a woman.

the older i become, the more i see a common thread among the women i meet. we hope. we dream. we worry. we long. we fear. we celebrate. we guard. we nurture. we disappoint. we surprise. we search. we find. we teach. we influence. complex and unique creatures, seldom confident in what makes us so beautiful. real beauty comes from within…so, i challenge you to join me on this journey and look inside your heart as I share what is in mine.

i request your patience as i learn about this world of blogging. i love technology but am learning. so this too is a journey like my life is so if i get it wrong…look inside your heart and see that i will get there and need your patience.

D