hey all, 

soooo last week was not a great week for me if we're being honest. i got a bunch of rejection e-mails from competitions and a few things happened that were just not entirely positive. i ended the weekend feeling exhausted due to the fact that i met a whole bunch of new people from my sister's synchro team on the weekend (i get really stressed out and anxious meeting new people) as well as really low in confidence. all in all, not a great week/weekend. it happens to everyone. i know i'm not the only one. 

well, as it happens, today was the beginning of a new week. it started out pretty well. my sister and i headed out at 9am and went on a marathon Christmas shopping spree (which, if you know me, is no small feat - i only ever shop out of necessity, never for fun). we got home around one and that's when things started to unravel a little bit. my cat decided to use my face as a scratching post (I made the mistake of picking her up to cuddle) and I got another rejection e-mail (before y'all think I suck at life, rejection is part of building a business. for ever competition i photograph, i've probably received 5 or 6 "no, we already have some one" or "no, we're not looking for a photographer" e-mails for every competition I do photograph, it's just that I'm just not used to receiving so many at once haha) oh, and i read the saddest blog post ever (if you click the link, have a box of tissues ready, I'm serious). and that was the blog post that completely turned around my mindset for the week. 

why was i feeling sad and sorry for myself? i just spent a great day with my sister. i laughed harder than i have in a long time while we were picking out our Christmas tree. I have three solid months of job booked for the new year and i just started to branch out in a new direction for my business so that it is more secure all year round and not just in the skating season....i should be happy, or at least satisfied. Eventually it got me thinking, is happiness a choice? 

as i get older, i'm starting to believe more and more that yes, you can choose to be happy or you can choose to be miserable. you can choose to be a glass half full kinda person or a glass half empty. the neat thing is you don't have to stick to one. last week i was definitely feeling a bit "glass three quarters empty", not this week though. I'm telling you right now, this week is going to be a "glass three quarters full" kind of week. i'm going to be productive and get everything i need to get done, done. on saturday i'm going to have a great day at the rink photographing a freeskate festival and then catch up with my old skating friends, many of whom i haven't seen in a long while. this week is definitely going to be a glass full week. 

how about you? is your week going to be glass half empty or glass full? (or if we're talking in holiday spirit measurements, are you going to be a Ebenezer Scrooge or a Tiny Tim?) I'd love to know your thoughts! 

In the mean time have an amazing Holiday Season! I will be on vacation (not answering e-mails) from December 23d - January 3d.  (I'll be posting a 2013 in Review post in that time though so stay tuned!)   

xoxo Danielle