Quote

Posted on October 29, 2013 by Gigi in Quotes Comments Off

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The short story-control your stress it will wreck havoc on your face. Meditate, get adequate sleep, eat a clean diet , exercise, hydrate and make sure your inner circle is filled with like minded souls who uplift you. Slowly eliminate negative thoughts, it is not easy and you cannot control everything, but start with the little things and slowly begin to “shut it down” and replace it with positive thoughts. I’m not a medical professional, but I know stress is related to disease and does not help existing conditions. So my friends if you are already there and “happy” is your middle name carry on, if not do something today to change your situation-go outside side and walk for a few minutes, take a moment and stretch, read some prose to lift your spirits, basically take time to tap into your inner self and block out all the interference you may be dealing with.

Happy Wednesday!

XOXO,

GIGI

Quote BE HAPPY!

Posted on October 23, 2013 by Gigi in Quotes, Thoughts, Well-Being Comments Off

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In my 54 years on the planet, I have let happiness guide me for the most part. Going over my life, the times when I have not let happiness guide me-those were my darkest moments. It is not the “grand” things that bring me joy, it is those little ones, the ones that we take for granted. Last week I adopted 2 adult siamese cats, I was not looking to adopt at all. It all began a about a month ago I met a woman named Jill who was in Paper Source (yes I have a paper fetish) with her lovely Roswell who was on a leash, I had never seen a cat on a leash that was as happy as this one. So of course I started chatting with Roswell’s mom Jill and she told me about an organization called Siamese Rescue that she was a member of, and how they are always looking for families to adopt and the rest is history. These two kitties bring me so much joy, I can’t even describe how these two fur balls along with my resident cat Tiny make me so happy.

Roswell

My Babies…

I am passionate about my photography. I was always the point and shoot camera person, always giving friends pictures in the “old” days, always documenting events. I started taking classes with my departed brother 14 years ago, but did not finish the course- it was not my time, my brother however finished the program and worked as a professional photographer until his untimely death. I knew I needed to pick up the baton and continue his legacy and pursue something that I always dreamed of doing. I have become a hunter of light, always noticing how light is landing on an object, wondering what that light would look illuminating someones hair or the curve of a body forming a pretty silhouette. Being “happy” doing my craft keeps me in a state of perfecting my work, always trying to be better each session, learning everything I can and shooting every day.

Gigi

When I go over my long life and I reflect on the moments when I was not happy, times when I was trying to be something I was not…trying to be what I thought others wanted me to be…those were dark moments. Moments not wasted necessarily, but times that contributed to the woman I am today. I remember feeling bad for dropping out of college, dating guys who would say crazy things like “If only you had a degree, you seem so smart” or “I really like you, but I envision myself being with a college graduate”. It took me a long time to realize that those same guys who were putting me down had their own insecurities and putting me down somehow made them feel better. Of course years later I returned to school and finished my degree, I realized I was still the same person, that the degree was just a piece a paper and it did not represent happiness or success.

Gigi’s Graduation 2006

Another key to happiness is finding some source of joy in life no matter what is going on, something that brings a smile on your face. Don’t focus on the negativity, shut it down, align yourself with positivity, it may be something as simple as escaping in a good book, or taking a walk, practicing yoga- just do something. Be true to yourself and learn to LOVE who you are and all your idiosyncrasies. Remember those you judge you based on your “truth” have their own demons. You can’t change where you come from, the color of your skin, choices you have made-but none of those things have to define you, the world is out there waiting for you to make your mark to make a difference. So start today or continue-to get your HAPPY on…Enjoy your Wednesday!

My Current (yes it changes) Top 10 HAPPY THINGS

1. Photography-speicifically shooting women 35+ and making them feel beautiful-like an A-lister

2. good gourmet vegan food-either at a restaurant or something I prepared & entertaining whether a friend for tea or a club meeting…

3. cut fragrant roses from my garden- have you noticed that store bought roses have no scent…

4. international fashion magazines & foreign films

5. korean spas-something about a strong lady wearing a black bra and panty scrubbing me until my skin is like a newborn baby

6. deeply discounted beautiful designer shoes- that can makes my heart skip a beat

7. my natural kinky curly hair – i have embraced it and all its wild ways and have never looked back to my creamy crack days

8. my 3 kitty children-their love is divine

9. travel- whether it is around the world, or to a new neighborhood

10. Friends-old and new-past and current- what would I do without my village?

YES!

Xoxo,

Gigi

RANDOM

Posted on October 1, 2013 by Gigi in Inspiration, Quotes, Well-Being 7 Comments

I feel as though I am playing catch up, from the weekend, the late nights are catching up with me, and it is times like this that I feel all my 54 years. Fall is here, Scandal will be back on Thursday, and there are not enough hours in the day to do all the tasks I need to do before the year ends. I have a little bit of traveling in the next few months: DC, New Orleans, NYC and Italy. I have learned to pace myself and do what I can do each day and always make time for simple pleasures, such as taking a long bath with fragrant oils, having tea ie. brewing loose tea leaves, teapot, china tea cup etc., a little piece of chocolate basically finding pleasure in something every day. Came across this quote and really like what it says, our environment and the things we choose to surround ourselves with is so important and contributes to our well being.

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Love this, after 25 years of living in the same place I have accumulated a lot of items, some which are not useful or beautiful and I am slowly editing or repurposing them. I no longer have the need to hold on to everything, freeing the clutter enables me to think clearly and focus, and speaking of focus I finally have a logo for my business and I am happy to have “it” debut here:

my logo…

Thanks to my friend Kim Jones owner of Kgrafix Creative Design, (949 500-0090) for her patience and understanding me, when I could not find the words to explain what I wanted the logo to look like.

October 1 is the perfect day to start a fall workout plan, I like to switch up what I do, to keep it interesting and challenging my body. I need to bump up my cardio so i’m looking for something fun to add to the mix, maybe revisit bootcamp. Do you like to change your workout? Or do you have a tried and true plan that you stick to?

Reinvent

So friends, do something pleasurable today and if needed start editing things that no longer serve you…

Xoxo,

Gigi

QUOTE

Posted on September 24, 2013 by Gigi in Inspiration, photography, Quotes Comments Off

Love this Quote …

YES!

You may get tired of this reoccurring theme in a lot of my posts, but it is so true, and once you embrace this concept you will see how life changing it can be. It does not have to be a different career, it could be something simple like going to a show by yourself, taking up a new hobby, a yoga class, going back to school, just as long as you are doing something that you have “always wanted to do”. The real beauty of this is that if you do something and realize that perhaps it “is not all that” at least you tried and you had that experience.

I always loved photography, and always had my little point and shoot camera with me, nothing sophisticated, just an inexpensive camera I kept in my purse and pulled it out daily to capture moments and observations of my day and the kids and all the “cute” things that they did, btw this is before digital, so I have boxes and boxes of snapshots for each year…another project I need to address one day.

When my brother was alive we took a photography class together about 13 years ago, I remember because Amani was 10 and Reggie was 4 and at the time I could not juggle everything and it was not my time, so I dropped out of the class, however my brother became a professional photographer and changed his life. He departed earth almost 4 years ago, so I know it was my time to pick up where he left off, I know he is smiling looking down on me saying something like “You got this Sis, you can do this”…

GiGi

So my friends, go do something YOU always wanted to do…let me know, I’d love to hear from you.

XOXO,

Gigi

Quote

Posted on September 10, 2013 by Gigi in My Life, Quotes 7 Comments

Came across this quote today and it really resonated inside of me, I read it a few times and thought about what these words meant to me…

Quote

We spend so much time trying to be what we think we need to be for others. At 54 years young I am finally living each day as the woman I am meant to be…This did not happen overnight, it was a long journey and the most difficult part was learning to say “NO” and accepting that everybody was not going to like me all the time. Many times being who you are meant to be sometimes means not following the group, being an independent thinker. It can be unsettling, especially if you have spent a lot of time “creating a facade” of yourself.

Sometimes it can be something simple like changing a hairstyle, I remember when I started wearing my hair natural many years ago, many well meaning friends and family had reactions, it was if I somehow let them down by changing my long relaxed tresses. I even had one person say to me “what about your husband?, is he OK with your hair like that?”. Now 10 years later the natural hair movement is booming.

I remember when I started dating my husband, after a few months he wanted to take me to his church, which unbeknownst to me was pretty uptight. On this particular morning he picked me up and I was dressed, but I had on no stockings and a pair of hoop earrings, so on the way to the church he stopped at the mall and told me he had to get something. So we go in the store and he finds stockings, a “little house on the prairie” dress and some little flat shoes and he asked me to put the outfit on, and take off the earrings. He explained that his church was really conservative and I would be more comfortable in that outfit, so I reluctantly changed into my costume and we went to church. I remember feeling really uncomfortable in my “new” outfit, and thinking this is not me, and I cannot transform into this person for him or anybody else, there had to be a happy medium. So of course we talked about it later and I told him that he was attracted to me the way I was and I can’t change into someone else and perhaps he could meet one of the ladies that already have the image he was trying to create. So my friends you know the rest of the story almost 25 years later …

So everyday I strive to be my true self, most days it is effortless and some days not so easy. I find that having transparency frees my mind to be creative, because I’m not fixated on keeping up an illusion, I’m just being me…plenty of flaws included.

Photographer Gigi

XOXO,

GIGI

Quote

Posted on August 6, 2013 by Gigi in Quotes 5 Comments

Crazy Busy Monday, worked all day and edited all evening-I’m exhausted. I wake up thinking about photography and rest my head to my pillow thinking about photography. I am fascinated with all kinds of pictures. and am constantly looking at print, and online images. It is truly a gift to have passion for something. I came across this quote and read it a few times, hope it hits a note with you as well.

Quote

Happy Tuesday!

XOXO,

GIGI

QUOTE

Posted on August 1, 2013 by Gigi in Quotes 5 Comments

Came across this quote today, and it really resonated with me, so of course I had to share it with all of you…

Quote

It is so easy to give up on dreams, especially when there is someone whispering in your ear discouraging words, of why you can’t do that. Usually it is someone that means well, a close friend or family member. When I graduated high school I wanted to go to the Fashion Institute of Design and become a buyer for a fabulous store and travel all around the world shopping. My mom of course had another dream for me, and it did not include FIDM, her theory was that I would end up working for The Broadway for minimum wage and that I would be better served going to the university to pursue a traditional career. So fast forward 30 plus years since high school graduation and I am still working on that day dream, never was successful at the “traditional” career piece. I am totally jazzed about photography and perhaps I will travel the world taking images and maybe publish one of those beautiful coffee table books filled with my view of the world…or maybe a book filled with incredible 50 plus year old women that are making a difference in this world.

What are your dreams? Are you living your daydreams? What is stopping you?

Xoxo,

GIGI

http://youtu.be/4mLrm1cuhWM

LOVE WHAT YOU DO_

Posted on June 18, 2013 by Gigi in Quotes, Well-Being Comments Off

LOVE WHAT YOU DO_OR FIGURE OUT A WAY TO DO WHAT YOU LOVE…

Photographer Gigi

It is easy to let an array of external forces get in your way. You know the typical culprits, like wanting everything to be just so…so much that you end up spending a lot of time in the “preparation phase” that you never do anything. Sometimes we spend time planning and perfecting instead of “doing” for fear of failing. We have blocks, especially if we typically follow traditional conventional ways of doing things.

Personally embarking on my new passion is scary at times, I think, “will anyone really hire me?”. hmmmmmm I don’t have a nice website, or a clever business card, it would be easy to say, let me work on those things and then I will move forward. At my age it is now or never, I just have to trust my gut and go forward now, and see what happens, the worse that can happen is I would join the ranks of struggling artists, and as long as I am happy, that is what matters.

True, we all want to present the best image of ourselves as possible, but trust me things have a way of working out. I shot four events for my family this past weekend, my cousin “John” and I were presented with a host of obstacles, but I just let my instinct guide me and I kept moving around and shooting from different angles with a smile of my face, delighted to finally be doing something that I LOVE!

If you are not doing something that you LOVE keep exploring, until you do, and remember some of us are late bloomers and that is perfectly OK.

Orchids

Xoxo,

GIGI

http://youtu.be/4mLrm1cuhWM

QUOTE

Posted on June 11, 2013 by Gigi in Quotes Comments Off

The Help

This is my favorite line from the movie, The Help, it is another reminder we are our children’s # 1 cheerleader.

Self-affirmation is important for our children. Even though my daughter is 22, I remind her that she can do anything she sets her mind too. It is easy as parents to get into a micro management role, controlling and making every decision for our children for fear they may make a mistake or God forbid fail. We have to be strong and let them try things and experience the consequences first hand. We have to let them problem solve, instead of doing everything for them.

young Amani

I remember when my daughter was in the first grade, and this child could not spell to save her life. On this particular day she came home with a spelling test in which she spelled about 3 words out of 10 correctly. She was so proud of her accomplishment and went on to tell me that she got a “D” and wanted to call her grandmother and share the news. I will never forget I dialed my mom and she said “Grandmother I got a “D”! ” , and my mother said oh “You got a “B”?”, and she repeated proudly “No, a “D” I got 3 right”.

Now I could have went into the mode of, OK you are going to sit down and memorize all these words, or I could do what I did which was celebrate that “D” and and tell her “I bet next time you can get 5 right” and in the back of my mind I knew there was spell check and the “confidence” of believing in herself was more important than being able to memorize words. So I proudly stuck the “D” paper up on the refrigerator.

This video that went viral a few years back, makes me smile every time I watch it. The affirmations of this little one…

So those of you with little ones, and I’m including aunties, uncles, God parents, mentors, guardians, grandparents, etc., uplift these little people and the big ones, let them know you believe in them and support them. Tell them “You is kind, You is Smart, You is Important”

Xoxo,

Gigi

QUOTE

Posted on June 4, 2013 by Gigi in Quotes, Uncategorized 7 Comments

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QUOTE

Came across this quote today and I thought to myself, why not leave a little sparkle wherever you go? I’m a sparkly, glittery sort of girl, always have been as far back as I can remember. I love baubles, glitz , beads, sequins and shine, I’m happy when I’m glowing like a Christmas Tree. So when I read this quote, knowing how happy sparkly things make me–I figured I needed to make sure I leave a trail of sparkle dust wherever I go.

My Sparkle Plan:

Smile-means a lot and does so much more than a frown, the same in all languages.

Embrace– touch is so powerful- give hugs.

Listen– We are always in a rush or connected to our devices (me included) take the time to really listen and look into some ones eyes and actively listen.

Care-let some one know you really care about them and are concerned.

Love…unconditionally don’t judge.

So my friends go out today and sprinkle you sparkle dust…

Xoxo,

Gigi

Moi

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