Happy Monday, yous guys…ya’ll…you-ns…everyone…fellow human…or however you say “you guys”. I’ve decided to start a weekly blog update on Mondays called “Real-Talk Mondays”. I know what you’re thinking, the title is SO awesome and creative. I’m a really good word person, right?!? 😉

In this weekly blog segment, I’ll talk about anything from personal to family to things that inspire me to what happened over the weekend. It’s just a little way for you to get to know me a bit more…and me to get to know you (hopefully!). It’s like we are sitting down having coffee together on a Monday, because, really…Mondays are hard. And having a good chit-chat with a friend can make all the difference.

Ok, so on this first Real-Talk Monday, I wanted to talk about why you should do things that inspire you. This weekend, my mom and sister were here for a Spring Break get away. On Friday, it rained and rained all day long so there wasn’t much for us to do. My mom helped me purge things in our basement (another blog for another day…I LOVE to purge!) to get ready for our move at the end of the month. Later on that night, we decided to go see Beauty and the Beast. I had already seen it because I just couldn’t wait. I didn’t mind going again, plus, we took my three year old daughter to see it with us. (She did well. I had to cover her eyes during one of the previews and the wolf scenes…but other than that, she LOVED it!) I love taking her to see or do things that I love in hopes that she will one day come to love those things as well. I want to try to help build a love for the Arts. If you haven’t seen Beauty and the Beast already, go see it! Now! Go! Drop what you are doing and just go see it. It was so lovely and beautiful. The new songs in the movie were truly delightful. I’ve been listening to the soundtrack on Spotify over and over since the movie came out. (My favorite song is called Evermore…a solo for the Beast) This movie is inspiring me to push myself further in my creativity. Seeing movies or listening to music that I love or reading a book where my mind can truly see and feel the characters really sparks imagination in my mind’s eye. I truly believe it helps with my photography. I love to be surrounded by things that inspire me. As an artist in photography, I love that I can appreciate another artists creation whether it’s music, writing, painting, or something else. The work that the brain does to create amazing works of art is not something that you can teach. It’s just a God-given talent that some people are gift at bringing those creations to life on a canvas, piece of paper, keys on a piano, or through the lens of a camera. It’s amazing to see a reflection of the ultimate Creator in the creativity of humans and their drive to continue to do beautiful things.

I think my daughter and I might have the same love for the theater arts. My husband took her on a date to see The Nutcracker in December and she sat through the whole thing. The entire two hour ballet, she sat through. My husband said she loved it. I, myself, am on the edge of my seat wide eyed not wanting it to end whenever I get to go to the ballet. I absolutely love it. I love music, musicals, movies that are musicals, and ballet…really anything that has movement or feels like there is movement in it.  It inspires me. I believe there’s an inner ballerina in me trying to get out. Alas, I’m too old, not flexible, and too flat footed to try it out now, but hopefully my daughter will have more opportunities to explore that part of her soul. She took a class once and loved it. She’s constantly twirling and pretending she’s a ballerina.

What inspires you to be more creative? What do you surround yourself with? What kind of music moves your soul? If you’re not sure, go find out! You may surprise yourself with what you end up loving. Lately, classical or instrumental music has been moving my soul and I’m not mad about it. There’s just something that comes alive in the soul that is good when you explore your creativity a bit more.

Have fun exploring that part of yourself! And leave me a comment with what you will find.

Jenny B.