Category: Happy

  • when taking It easy is the hardest work

    I’m going to try to write more consistently.

    Today’s goal was basic: get a shower. Goal accomplished.

    Tuesday was a rough day; I wasn’t feeling physically great after having way-overdone it on Monday. I was pretty sure I was going to have to go back in, which now feels funny considering it’s Friday and I feel much better, if a little washed out.

    It is difficult to remember that I am recovering from major surgery. It’s hard to think of it as major surgery because all in all, pain was minimal and I don’t have crazy external incisions at all. Just three tiny little almost cute incisions.

    But Tuesday reminded me that I have to take it easy. I don’t like it and I am bored and it feels ridiculous. But it is what it is.

    I am considering selling my second camera and a few of my lenses. I sort of have this vision of being a one-camera, one-lens photographer. Kind of funny to circle back around to that after so many years of chasing better and more, photography-wise. But, here we are.

    And then there are the days like today where I am writing, where I only took a single photo of Bess our cat, where I just am sort of existing.

    It is difficult to be kind to myself sometimes.

    Fridays in the summer Jared is off, so we took Oliver to a bouncy house in town earlier in the day:

    It’s pretty funny that I got a photo of one of the little kid bouncy houses– Oliver was playing in a lot of others but not this one.

    It’s been raining a lot, and with my brief setback earlier in the week, Oliver didn’t make it to the pool. I feel bad about it, but we’re going to try to do more next week.

    Summertime is quick slipping by for sure.

    You can read more about why I write here.

  • life in these times



    My aunt and uncle and cousins sent me the beautiful flowers in the photos above, having had them delivered Friday. So beautiful!

    I didn’t feel up to trying to get out the camera to photograph them until this afternoon, and it is clear that carrying my camera in my purse for the next six weeks is simply not an option at all. 

    All in all though, recovery is going well even though I’m only 3 days out from surgery. Pain is already almost non-existent and I’m going to attempt to sleep through the night tonight without waking up for pain meds. And, I’ve avoided the strongest prescribed option for pain so far altogether, which I am much relieved about. 

    These photos were taken with the GFX 50sII and my prized Schneider-Kreuznach Cinelux Ultra 85mm f2 MC lens. I love that my favorite lens was made to be an IMAX lens. 

    Emily P Freeman always cites Barbara Brown Taylor when she talks about “Things that are saving my life right now,” and it seems fitting to talk about the things that are saving my life right now:

    1. My gratitude list is at the top of that list of things that are saving my life right now. For a while I was publishing my gratitude lists both here and on social media. But it’s true that most days I itemize 50 different things or people or situations that I am grateful for. Keeping up with cultivating that grateful attitude really does help my mental health.
    2. In the interest of complete honesty with regard to the hysterectomy: the best investment I made prior to the hysterectomy was purchasing the 7.98 yoga pants that I found at Walmart two nights before surgery. While pain is minimal, swelling is rough and finding pants that have a very, very forgiving waistline has made all the difference, for sure.
    3. Having the surgery just before a holiday weekend means that Jared has been available for longer than he otherwise would have been, which has been a relief.
    4. Google Gemini has been an interesting tool for several months now. I’ve used it to plot blog ideas, Gemini helped me redesign this very blog down to color schemes for the links. I considered moving domain names away from my own name and Gemini helped me lay out the pros and cons of each, leading me to keep my own name as the current domain name. And that’s just only two examples…..there have been endless examples since I started using Gemini probably last October or so.
    5. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy techniques are also saving my life right now. I’ve long known to tell myself that “I am not my illness,” but I recently started reading The Happiness Trap. The psychological flexibility that I hope will come from separating myself from my thoughts and feelings I do think may actually change my life forever.

    As always, I continue to work on processing past trauma and what I am finding through my meditation and gratitude practices along with the techniques like cognitive defusion that I am learning about….all of that is helping me to learn to live in the present. Which makes nights like tonight, when Jared and I went to sit at the Marina for a while, all the more precious.

    Thanks for reading! You can read more about me here. Later!

  • a return to my roots: blogging


    The baby factory in these parts is officially out of business! I’m two days out from my complete hysterectomy. Mostly feeling good, mostly bored already and want to be able to do what I could do before instead of having to be a couch potato for the next six weeks.

    2025 has been hard for a variety of reasons. I don’t even know what to say.

    It has been announced on my personal Facebook page, but Caroline Price Photography is shutting down in August after the remainder of my current client galleries expire.

    I have photographed 48 weddings, one quinceañera, and countless portrait sessions. My heart is full. Thank you to each of you who have trusted me with capturing your memories.

    So, what’s next?

    The truth is, I’m not really sure. I intend to write here more often. Content will likely be stream-of-consciousness musings.

    And, I will continue to be into photography as a hobby– I will still take photos of flowers I come across, I will still take my camera everywhere for serendipitous photos. The hydrangeas in the photo above are on one of the bushes next to my house.

    Ultimately, I will be a whole lot more focused on self-care and tending to my family.

    And in the process, I am likely to reflect on the solid life lessons and growth that I’ve found helpful in the last several months.

    Stay tuned!

    You can read more about me here.

  • lock swing

    Close to our house there is a lake, and by the lake there is a log cabin. And next to the log cabin there is a swing that people have brought locks to put on. Most of them are couples type locks.

    I’m exploring personal and documentary type photography again, so when my husband and I went to the lock swing last Friday night, I pulled the camera out of my purse and got busy. It was a fun and stress-free way to engage with the photography I love. I’ve missed my documentary style photography.

    Below are a few more shots from that night.

    You can read more about me here.

  • grateful december 31, 2024

    grateful december 31, 2024

    Us, January 3, 2004
    1. I am grateful for 2024.
    2. I am grateful for forgiveness.
    3. I am grateful to have a real piano in the house again.
    4. I am grateful Wicked is out for rent and purchase now.
    5. I am grateful for shifts in perspective.
    6. I am grateful for my gratitude practice.
    7. I am grateful for my meditation practice.
    8. I am grateful that my lungs work.
    9. I am grateful for working appliances.
    10. I am grateful for clean water.
    11. I am grateful to have a hot water heater.
    12. I am grateful for a reliable electric grid.
    13. I am grateful for Jared.
    14. I am grateful for my marriage to Jared.
    15. I am grateful for Porter.
    16. I am grateful for Liam.
    17. I am grateful for Oliver.
    18. I am grateful for the NICU at the University of Iowa.
    19. I am grateful for the NICU at Emory Midtown.
    20. I am grateful for modern medicine.
    21. I am grateful for Ronald McDonald House Charities.
    22. I am grateful for Habitat for Humanity.
    23. I am grateful to have been born when Jimmy Carter was President of the United States.
    24. I am grateful for love.
    25. I am grateful for compassion.
    26. I am grateful for critical thinking skills.
    27. I am grateful for my family.
    28. I am grateful for Jared’s family.
    29. I am grateful for music.
    30. I am grateful for art.
    31. I am grateful for good teachers and mentors.
    32. I am grateful for a pretty day today.
    33. I am grateful Jared got to ride his scooter on I-20, I-285, and I-85 today and came home alive. He is excited that he knows he can safely ride into Atlanta now.
    34. I am grateful HOPE and Zell Miller scholarships.
    35. I am grateful for Steve Ross yoga.
    36. I am grateful for the internet.
    37. I am grateful to know how to read.
    38. I am grateful to like to read.
    39. I am grateful my children like to read.
    40. I am grateful that I like to write.
    41. I am grateful to know how to type.
    42. i am grateful to be able to exercise.
    43. I am grateful for holidays with the boys and Jared.
    44. I am grateful that we have a roof over our heads.
    45. I am grateful for good friends.
    46. I am grateful we have enough to eat.
    47. I am grateful for musical theater.
    48. I am grateful to be refreshing my French on Duolingo.
    49. I am grateful for my memories.
    50. I am grateful for the way photography re-trains my brain to see the beauty in the world.