While I do a lot of weddings for work, and I do enjoy them cuz let's face it, I'm such a romantic, My portrait work is what gets me excited, what really fills me with drive and passion. It's the work that I can so easily put my whole heart into and be proud of CUZ I LOVE IT! <3

A few weeks ago I decided to create a separate website and social media platform strictly for my portrait work, and I'm really happy I did. It's nice to get a little separation and feel like I can give myself so much more freedom to do creative portraiture without diluting my wedding brand with unrelated content. And again - to have FREEDOM to run with my creative ideas, let loose the flow of ideas that I've been dying to execute. So if you'd like to see a little bit more from the artistic side of my work and join me on this journey, you can find us at:

www.AmandaWellsVenegas.com

Facebook.com/AmandaWellsVenegas

and Instagram at: @AmandaWellsVenegas

Thanks everyone for your support and helping me make this a reality. Without you this would not have been possible. I'm so grateful from the bottom of my heart to be able to create <3

It's those nights when you wake up at 4am and can't get back to sleep... Those days when everything just seems to have crept up on you... I'm very thankful for my life, but everyone gets overwhelmed sometimes and just loses their shit, haha. But it always seems that those are the times that God really speaks to you and the culmination of all the shittiness at last makes sense in one creative idea that seems to have floated down onto your vacant pillow sent by the gods. A project that gives you joy to work on, that invigorates you to think about. I haven't had as much time as I've liked nor the inspiration to do creative photography projects. ...Or just any idea that I really was passionate to make happen.... But last night it happened. In the wee hours of the morning as I fretted over my lack of sleep. I can only credit God, or the universe, or random inspiration cuz these things certainly aren't predictable.. Well I guess that's just an artists' plight. haha. Anyway, I'm excited to announce a new series I'll be working on to hopefully release by late 2015/early 2016. I'm hesitant to share it because the ideas are still taking shape, but I've sent out my model calls and I'm eager to get the ball rolling on this one! I'm going to be needing nearly 100 volunteers of ALL AGES (Female only this time) and I'm so excited to see this all take shape!

I know I'm kind of being bipolar on facebook this morning.. "Ah! I love autumn!..Ahhh eff blogspot, my life!! D:" ...and back to "OMG I love life" But I just wanted to take a moment to say how thankful I am for life. Life isn't perfect, and there will always be little bumps here and there but despite that I'm really loving where I'm at right now. As I stated earlier, I'm super excited for autumn, i don't know why I have such an intense passion for that season, lol, but nonetheless, I'm pretty stoked about it. haha I'm finally at a point in life where my career is getting off the ground and I'm starting to see the fruit of my several years struggle to do a job in the creative field. THAT, to me anyway, is AMAZING. I know I'm not some big hot shot, but just the fact that I can do something that I'm passionate about for hours a day. It just is great. Now that's not to say that I don't work my ass off and work a whole lot to keep this a possibility and keep growing, but I've always tried to be a hard worker and many times it's been working hard at things I don't really care too much about or that I'm not personally going to reap the benefits from. I guess what I'm saying is, if you have a dream, please DO keep chasing it. It's so much more rewarding to work your ass off trying to make something you love work than work your ass off for something that you're neutral about. Another thing I'm thankful for is my family. I'm really thankful to have so many of them in San Antonio, and that I see a good portion of them at least once a week. You guys are great. I'm thankful that we've had a "Family Night" every tuesday for years now and that I get to be a part of your lives. Your consistent company, spirits, and memories are priceless and I want you all to know how much you mean to me.heart emoticon heart emoticonAnother thing I'm thankful for is Manuel!! My awesome husband who is always there for me, who looks out for me, who laughs with me and is just an awesome friend and I'm so thankful to get to do life with such an awesome person! heart emoticon heart emoticon heart emoticon I'm thankful for my pets Benny the cat and Tucker our dog. They're funny and weird. Having pets is a trip. And they're really sweet too, hehe. Ok, this post is getting really long so I'm just gonna end on gardening. I'm really thankful for gardening and how amazing the earth is that it can grow all these amazing things out of a single seed (I'm getting my Master Gardener Cert in February too btw! Super excited about that! If anyone wants to take the class with me!! Let me know!). Oh wait, oh wait..I'm thankful for Yoga, Meditation, and Minimalism because they brought so much inner peace into my life at a time when I was too busy to find any. I'm also thankful for my friends. Though several of you are not in my current city, thank you for the conversations, the messages, the memories. I love you all for being who you are and chasing your dreams all over the globe. heart emoticon heart emoticon Ok ok, that's enough for now, I'll quit being sappy. Anyway, love you guys! Hope everyone has a wonderful day!

I don't know why I'm so obsessed with pumkin patches right now. Seriously every fall I get a bit crazy about all this kiddy stuff but I freakin love AUTUMN!! Guys! It's already AUGUST!!! grin emoticon
http://www.pumpkinpatchesandmore.org/TXpsanantonio.php

I'm so proud of myself right now, haha. Over the past month or two I've donated about 20 trash bags full of stuff that was hiding around our little apartment! And it feels awesome! After hearing about that book "the Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up" by Marie Kondo on NPR one day, and coming across a few links online that talk about her concept, I was really intrigued, and just kept thinking, "Man, that sounds so interesting, I really want to read that book." Well I was out browsing at Barnes and Noble on a book binge and I just stumbled across it. (Well not really stumbled, it's in the best seller or hot new arrivals section or whatever) Anyway, her one principal for whether you decide to keep items in your house or not is by asking one simple question: "Does this spark joy?". You either have to have a resounding "Hell Yes" to keep it, Hell Nos are a no brainer, and Maybes automatically fall into the Hell No category. By this one simple method, you're not only getting rid of things you don't need that are taking up mental space, but you're making your home a kind of sanctuary. Imagine living in a world where you were constantly bombarded by things that spark joy in you, that's a pretty happy place to be. Anyway, a couple months into that journey and it's going great, and has even sparked a greater curiosity in me about minimalism and having just what you need and love. I've always been facinated with minimalism, especially for traveling, but coming across this little path has really freed up a lot of things in my life. I spend less time managing all the stuff cuz now I don't have the option to let dishes pile up, cuz I only have a few; I don't have to do a ton of laundry on laundry day, cuz I don't have as many clothes. Cleaning and dusting is way easier just because there are more empty spaces and things are finding homes to go back to into the house. It may have been a bigger initial effort, but it's sure is simplifying my life in the long run. I've always been the messy creative type and embraced that, but it's pretty awesome to feel like I have way more free time and mental space to BE CREATIVE now that running a house isn't so burdensome, but actually quite joyful. If you're one of those people who find you hate doing house chores, you should check out this book! You might end up beating the system, haha.

Man, what a crazy week! The nearly past week and a half has been eating, breathing, sleeping the production of the drifter film. After several 10-15hour days, nights of very little sleep or even time for food sometimes, filming all over San Antonio and San Marcos, TX and coordinating with our actors from Dallas, Austin, and SA I am officially pooped out! haha. Oh and we finally wrapped filming all the scene but 1 last night! Yay! So for now, I'm just gonna slink around my house for half the day and read and recover. Then tonight I've got to get back on my Venegas Studios work that has taken the back seat for the week, AND THEN I'm gonna plan myself a fricken VACATION! haha! I'm so grateful to have my hand in all these different little creative projects. It's what I live for! But I'm so ready to wine and dine myself for a week, and sit somewhere in a semi-tropical location with my feet in the sand.

Striving to live a more minimalist lifestyle is incredibly freeing. With every new empty space I create, I also send away just one more piece of clutter that had occupied my mind.. Like little weights lifting off me...they float away like a balloon that's been freed. It's not just about having less, it's about having the perfect amount, what you need. It's also about surrounding yourself only with the things that you love and bring inspiration to you... And your house begins to become a kind of sanctuary for inspiration for you. Also with less things, that means less items to manage, less to take care of and all that time cleaning, organizing, etc. can now be spent doing things I want to be doing, not just chores and maintaining shit I don't really care about. Lol I've become addicted to this game of paring down my life and I'm loving every minute of it!

I know I may be a bit cheesy, but I love me a good inspiration quote, and this concept is one I've been trying to pound into my head lately. All those little hobbies, all the things in life that light that spark within us, that make us come alive a little more..We've got to pay attention to those things. For me, those little sparks have ended up being my only compass for the direction of my life at times. And it's not always easy to quiet yourself and pay attention to those things when they happen. But on my path to personal renewal, this quote really resonated with me... to be a little bit more quiet a little bit more often and don't underestimate the power of passion. Essentially.. Like the same old drum I always beat.. Follow your dreams! Or as I read from an awesome fortune cookie a couple weeks ago, "Never be less than your #dreams" ...I like it phrased better that way :) oh and as a disclaimer, I don't like posting quotes like this to be preachy, I just personally find them encouraging and it to be good for me to dwell on the positive side of things. I don't know all of you or what personally inspires you, but I figure that even if just one other person might be encouraged from this word, then why not share it. 😘