Living & Experiencing

What it's really all about.

I can't believe it's almost February already, that means I've been working on my new year's goals for 20 days already. You may have read the blog post that talks about my goals for the year, but I want to tell you a little more about about why my word for the year is experience.

Experience can be both a noun and a verb, but either way it has to do with living in the moment, capturing emotion, and being present. I decided I needed more of this in my life.

It all started back in 2013 when I went to Bangalore for a co-worker's wedding. I wore an absolutely beautiful custom-designed lengha choli that was designed by my boss's cousin, my palms were covered in henna applied during an evening-long celebration outside on a balcony covered in strings of white lights, we danced until after midnight with hundreds of others to traditional and modern music in a crowded hall, and when it started raining we all rushed outside to continue the celebration in the rain causing the colors in our outfits to bleed. When I came home I had hundreds of pictures that I had taken throughout the course of the celebration. These were some of my favorites.

I love the colors in these pictures; they're so vibrant. I started to notice very quickly though that these pictures are not condusive to telling the story. They're pretty to look at, but they do not tell the story that you heard above.

That's when I first noticed things needed to change. It took a few months for me to figure out what that really meant, but what I realized in the end was that I need to start capturing experiences. Not only capturing the experiences, but also living the experiences. There are too many times that I have let my life become a pro and con list asking everybody I know for advice about what should come next. This results in a lot of talking about living and not actually living.

I started to make this change in 2014, but I really want this to be my focus of 2015. I've started by trying to listen to my gut instead of asking everybody I know for advice every step of the way (usually resulting in an outcome that didn't feel like my own). I've changed the way that I'm looking at things and even the way I capture pictures so that I can tell more of the story along the way. Here are some of my favorite captures of the past month.

This photograph really gives you a sense of just how big 30th Street Station feels when you're inside of it. It also captures the hustle and bustle of people rushing through to catch their trains.

This picture is one of my first attempts of capturing the feeling of being on a small street in Center City, Philadelphia.

Just this week I was able to capture pictures of brunch, game nights, and commutes that capture the same sort of emotion. I'm going to be creating a digital scrapbook page for each week in 2015 and I'm looking forward to sharing that on the blog starting in February. It's a work in progress, but I'm definitely happy with the direction it's heading so far. That's my wish for you for 2015, to experience life instead of letting it pass by.

In Other News

The 2015 Calendar
It's not too late to get a Chrystina Noel 2015 calendar, there's a few left in stock. For ideas about how to display the calendar, check out this post. You can learn more about the pictures chosen for the calendar here.

Valentine's Day Is Coming
If you're looking for a Valentine's Day card for someone special in your life, order a custom card today. You can choose the color, shape, size, style, and words. Or choose from one of the handmade Valentine's below.

Discount Code
Use the code HEARTS to get 20% off your order through the end of January.

New to the Chrystina Noel blog?
If you haven't read much of the Chrystina Noel blog yet and don't know where to start, check out the welcome page.

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