new film! brad & andrea [engagement]

on saturday, chas and i filmed this little engagement video for our friends, brad and andrea. we've been wanting to do a video that's 100% stop motion and this was the perfect excuse to try something new. these guys were so much fun and up for anything and everything!

brad and andrea are having a spring wedding in LA and we can't wait to fly down there and film their big day in cali!

happy monday.

president's day at the cabin

after church on sunday, we drove up to my family's cabin for the long weekend. 

we ate a lot of treats, took naps, played games, snuggled babies, and had girl talk/hair braiding on the bed with my mom and sisters. 

before we left on monday night, my little family braved the c-c-c-c-cooold and had my little sister snap a few pics of the three of us together! as you can see, hero wasn't too pumped about the situation.

today my plan is to stay in jammies for a long time, do the mountain of laundry we have, and read books to hero. mmm...nothing like post-vacation coziness back at home :)

pink hair!

i first blogged about wanting to dye my hair pink waaaaay back in 2010. but i was working at the time and so a crazy fun hair color wasn't realistic. but now, it's just me and hero and she totally told me to go for it and finally take the plunge! and that hero baby, lemme tell ya, can be pretty convincing. ;)

so obviously this is a crappy instagram but i was so excited to show you all! hopefully i'll get some better quality pics soon!

ok, and this probably sounds dorky but this new change makes me feel really, really happy. it feels so fresh and special- something i've been needing to feel for a little while now! i seriously love how it turned out.

moral of the story: if there's something that you've been secretly wanting to do but have felt nervous for whatever reason, take a leap outside your comfort zone and do it! no fear! it's exhilarating and you'll be proud of yourself for being just a little wild :)

second time's the charm

(one of my all-time fave pics of us- at our wedding luncheon!)

sometimes i really can't believe that i managed to get out of such an unhappy marriage and then be able to, essentially, start all over with someone so wonderful, kind, loving, and humble i get choked up just thinking about how good he is to me. 

i love every stinkin' thing about you, chas kelly. so glad you're mine on this valentines.

new film! hansen family

these guys all deserve a gold medal for braving the cold for this shoot! when my cousin, emily, asked us to do a film for her family, we knew exactly what we wanted to do. emily's husband works at hill air force base on planes and with a family of two little boys...how could we resist including giant paper air planes?! :)

we're loving with how the final film turned out!

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kelly arts: films 
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2 months ad space for the price of 1!

hey, friends!

i stopped accepting new sponsors for a few months. just needed a little break, ya know? but now i'm feeling ready to get back on the bandwagon and promote some new blogs/shops! so i'm offering a special deal for anyone interested in purchasing ad space on the blog:

2 MONTHS AD SPACE FOR THE PRICE OF 1! 

feel free to check out the different ad options/rates here and shoot me an email at youngpeoplelove@gmail.com if you're interested!

*ad space must be purchased by friday, feb. 15 in order to receive discount.

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p.s. are we LOVING this hero snowgirl?! we're expecting a big snowstorm all weekend so i thought these pics were perfect for the occasion! (there are 13...or 15...or something grandkids on chas' side of the family. each one has worn this snowman suit! please notice how we had to squuuuueeeze her cheeks into it. the best!)

my ideal

i keep reading and re-reading through the comments so generously left on my last post. i even received some personal emails from readers all over the world. wow! i can't tell you how much your words of validation, wisdom, and encouragement meant to me. isn't it the best finding out that other people have/do feel like you feel? that you're not a lone weirdo?! thank you for allowing me some of that comfort this week.

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wanna know what my ideal situation would be?

i would love it if our little film business grew and grew to the point where it was self-sustainable. chas could work part-time and then, on the days he's home with hero, i could work part-time on kelly arts: films from our awesome home office (which will be in the dream house we find in salt lake city, of course). on my work days, i'll take breaks from answering emails, booking clients, and editing films to eat lunch with my family and maybe even have a few minutes here and there to munch on those soft hero cheeks.

yup. that would be fabulous. and who knows? it's not completely out of the realm of possibility, right? if we work hard now, maybe that really could be a future reality. just thinking about it makes me a little giddy.

thoughts on an identity crisis and learning about myself

i've been wanting to write this post for quite some time now but haven't been sure how to put into words all my thoughts and feelings. but this my attempt.

before hero, i had worked very hard for a very long time to build my life and my sense of self into something that i was proud of. i had earned a master's degree in a field i adored and was lucky enough to have a great job working in that field as an art therapist with adolescents. i also taught as an adjunct professor at a local university and found teaching to be incredibly rewarding. it sounds silly but i often felt impressed with and proud of myself when i was working and when i thought about all i had accomplished by my mid-twenties. 

then hero came into our lives and things changed. i felt a level of love, happiness, and excitement that i never knew before. my relationship with chas deepened and my appreciation for his love and goodness grew even stronger. we were a family of three now and my life suddenly felt so much more complete and meaningful than before. 

and then came the reality of being a stay-at-home mom: staying home all day. for the past two months, or so, i've really been struggling with this. being an art therapist and teaching a class full of college students during the day had suddenly been replaced with a trip to the grocery store and an occasional afternoon play date with mom friends (thank goodness for these friends!). i found myself in a whole new and different life and, to be honest, i'm still trying to figure it out. i often felt jealous of chas. it seemed like he got to the live the best of both worlds: going to work every day where he got to be creative, challenged, and interact with like-minded professionals and then come home and get to be a dad for the evening. 

of course i love being a mom and am so grateful for the chance i have to stay home all day with my daughter but that doesn't mean there aren't some challenges. in the process of stepping into this new world of stay-at-home mom-ness, i felt like i was losing myself. that person i had worked so hard to become had all but disappeared and i wasn't sure who i really was anymore outside of the title "mom."  i'm still not sure but i think i'm getting closer to finding out. 

then, last night, i stumbled upon a blog of a talented photographer named, rachel thurston. i started reading some of her recent posts and found that, in just a few short sentences, she said pretty much exactly how i have been feeling AND answered a lot of questions i had been grappling with as well!

in this post she says,

• Am I a bad mom because I want to spend time working?- Somedays it might feel like it but NO! That’s like asking if I am am a bad mom for being me? NO. If I try to be something I am not I will only hurt my family and myself. Working and neglecting my responsibilities as a parents are two different things. I work FOR my family. But I am learning how much I want and need to work. It’s a gut feeling I am learning to listen to and not ignore.
• What do I need to feel content?- Is a creative person ever content? I can be happy and positive but I have come to accept there will always be more that I want and need. It keeps me moving forward.

i felt so much validation and clarity after reading this. 

first, i LOVE the idea that spending time working and being a great mom are NOT mutually exclusive. instead, for me, being able to work- and thus, being able to be more of who i am- can make me a better mom because i'm being true to my whole self. i just really love that truth. 

secondly, for years and years i've struggled with feeling content. i've written plenty of blog posts about wanting to be better at being content with life and more grateful. at the same time, however, i DO feel like i'm a grateful person and that i DO see and appreciate all the blessings i have. so it's always felt a little confusing to me as to why i feel grateful but then continue to struggle with grabbing hold of that ever-elusive "contentedness." 

maybe i'm a total dummy but i had never thought of a creative person never feeling content- simply because they're creative. it was like a breath of fresh air in being allowed to accept that part of myself and even acknowledge my discontent as being a good thing! after all, it was my discontent and creative drive that started our little film production company, kelly arts: films. in fact, i can probably trace almost any creative accomplishment in my life to this same struggle with feeling fully content. only, now i don't see it as a struggle, but as...a talent? yes. a talent. 

i have great hopes that, in time, i will find a balance between being the great mom that i am and being the great creative, working woman that i am as well.

here's to constantly moving forward! 

i (phone) spy

instagramming @samajama

xoxo