Format Blog moving home.

well, since last time i posted, i have moved to orange county. i've said goodbye to the pink house, and hello to my parent's house for a season. there have been so many losses this year, so many things that have felt uncertain, and when my roommates told me they were moving out a while ago, moving home was actually the only thing that gave me peace. so i did it. i sold most of my furniture, gave away tons of stuff, had a moving party, and moved. and now i'm here, in rancho santa margarita california, an hour away from my old house, my friends, my church, SPACE, the YMCA, my favorite walk, my favorite trader joes, my favorite coffee shop, those big windows.........and all that independence. at the beginning it felt like this would be death: track homes & lots of starbucks & no cute unique little shops........... it was hard to imagine living in the guest bedroom of my parents house instead of the vintage 20's pink house that has fueled my art for the past three years.home is where the heart is. home is where the love is. home is where you are, if you let it be there.it was weird though: i felt so strongly that home was where my pink house was. home was where my friends lived 5 minutes away. home was where i had my own dishes and my custom couch that i had picked out. home was where i paid my own rent.but nope, i'm being taught that home is where i am, wherever that might be. home is inside me. home isn't based on a place.its taken humility & courage to move in with my parents at 25 years old. probably when i'm 50 i'll think its cute that i thought i was old at 25. but it feels old to be here. it also feels right. hard, but right. this is where i need to be for a season.so what is this season?another piece of news: i'm going to be teaching high school photography! i'll be a long-term sub. at a high school in whittier, taking over for amber fox who is on maternity leave. i'll be there for about a semester. school starts on august 29th and i'm currently in prep-mode. everything from reading books on being an educator, to finding inspiring images & videos to show them, to buying new dresses. it probably wouldn't be a good idea to wear yoga clothes to be a teacher. and somehow in the move, i got rid of all my clothes, leaving me with a hilariously small amount of things to wear. and then what's next?we'll see.............................. but, i'm researching grad schools to go get my MFA in photography next year. that's my plan, but we'll see what happens to the plan. who knows. i'm open. i'm excited to see what life looks like in a few years, because everything as i know it has been pulled out from under me.shine is still happening, it still exists, and i have at least 7 sessions to show you. we'll see when i have time to do that, since i now have a full-time job for a while.its been both inspiring and draining to take photos lately. i find that it feels like my camera is this big heavy weight: it takes effort to pick it up. i want to get to the place where its effortless again.but even when its hard i dont want to quit.so i took these.honestly thank you for waiting, for being patient, for caring, and for seeing my journey.enjoy,ps: cosmo's doing pretty well, he now lives in my new office, which is an upstairs bedroom, and he gets really happy every morning when i open the blinds and he can see out. my mom's been feeding him most days, bless her heart, because i often tend to forget to uncover his cage in the morning since my room is downstairs. we're adjusting. change isn't easy, even for a little bird.peace to you,shannon