Journeys are Hard

With the winter coming i think i am feeling the affects of winter depression. It happens this time of year to me. I start to feel claustrophobic and cold. Two things i sincerely despise. I have the RV itch really bad too. I have put so much energy into trying to figure out how we are going to do this. Its still quite some time away but i am just wishing so hard. I have been visiting some on Craigslist and other places but i feel like i am just torturing myself. On a more positive note i have been doing so well at saving my pennies for this. I just want so bad to be out on the road teaching my children about real things. Having real rich experiences that cost next to nothing. I know the right one will come along at the right time. I just wish the right time was now. I have never been a patient person. I wont pretend that i am.

On another topic we have been doing pretty well at changing out food thinking. I have totally given in and eaten some really nasty stuff. Only to feel guilty and yucky sick moments later. BUT we are learning and getting there.

I feel like i am taking so many new journeys that may be overwhelming me. So i have tried to just focus on a couple of things at a time. Honestly, its not working HAHA. I cannot help it. I long to know new things. I am an over analyzer. I need to learn the begeezus out of everything i learn. And well it works for me.

Its late and i should be sleeping. But all i can do is sit here and think and wish.

I always feel weird taking pictures of myself. But i felt an updated photo was seriously necessary

Learning, Journeys + Rants

Oh life how fast you go!


I have been feeling so overwhelmed these days. I have started so many Journeys at once. I am assuming this is where the problem stems from. Not to mention the fact that i think i took on WAY too much work for my first year. Am i regretting that? Absolutely not!! I am just disappointed with my turn around time. Mostly with Weddings. I have learned so much this year though. I am making big changes for next year.

I am so thankful for the wonderful clients i was so blessed to learn on this year. They have all been so patient and understanding. I guess i miss judged the amount of time that goes into weddings. I have also been learning some ways to streamline my work flow which has helped tremendously.

Work has slowed down with the colder days that have been arriving. I was a little nervous for that to happen in the beginning. But now i am basking in it,  as i am getting caught up on so many edits.

These past couple months have been hard on my body. My body has not liked me. I had some heart issues last month and took a decent fall this month. The heart scared me. Scared me so bad all i wanted to do was hold my children. I was too afraid to do anything else. I drove myself crazy with thoughts of what if... I then ran straight to my insurance agent and did the responsible life insurance thing. It didn't make me feel any better.

As for the leg.  It still hurts, a lot. But its been a blessing. I have tackled so many edits in my comfy chair. It feels good.

The new life Journey we are on will come in many blogs. We are aching for change. Jeremy and i are no straight line thinkers. We have always been different. Even before we met each other. We long to just be ourselves. But we find  that mainstream society is trying to hide us in the cube if its thoughts and ways. We just see life a bit differently. A bit more sacred and on a timer. I don't believe in status quo. I don't believe that "Things" make the person. We are conditioned to believe bigger is better and more means more important. I wont lie i myself have been caught up in those thoughts before. But it always leaves me feeling yucky. Every designer must have bag i purchased, i just felt dirty and fake. The sad thing. Most of THEM were fake. I don't need to make up for a poor childhood with bags and shoes. And by "poor childhood" i am referring to money, not memories. I have great memories but my mother was a single mother for a long time. Therefore that meant we didn't get everything we wanted.

I have found a number of blogs that have been so awesome in helping me head in the direction i want to go. I would love for you to experience them and support them as well. Check them out! Who knows maybe you might find a new way of thinking too. And the list goes like this HappyJanssens, The Organic Sister, and RowdyKittens. There are a few more but my eyes are closing on their own right now. Time to sleep. Thanks for reading my rant.

Working on Our Plan

I have been preparing and researching for our Dream Trip. I know it may seem excessive to start preparing now, but i think its really important. I started a binder with folders. I have a list started for many things like, Places to visit, Places to do Photo Sessions, Ways to make and save Money, Free Parks and Parks referred to and just any other helpful tips. The Making money part is one area i have been focusing on. The main sources will be from our skills. Jer = Construction stuff and Me = Photography stuff. I am working on some other ways too. 

*I started an Etsy account to sell prints and other crafty items. It should be up in the next few weeks with items. i will post a link here then. 

*Another way is affiliate accounts. I signed up with Amazon as an affiliate account. See image below. I could not figure out how to move it. Also at Zulily  has some pretty awesome kids stuff and deals on it. So if you feel like showing me some love. Zulily is a great place to get gifts.


*I signed up as an Ambassador for Barefoot Books. 
These are awesome books and gifts for kids. You probably already know about barefoot books but didn't realize it. Check them out!!
*Our Donation Button. I am not one to beg for money but i felt this could be a great way for our family and friends to send gifts in the future. We will be limited on space so sending material things will be hard. And also i love to visit random blogs of people doing cool stuff and sending them a couple bucks to their dream or cause. I think everyone should have a donation button. I see so many cool blogs by people i feel like i know and would love to send a gift to.
So this is where we are so far on the monetary part of the trip. This has been a repeat question by so many. I thought this might help explain our plan a little. Also keep in mind that it doesn't cost nearly as much a month to live on the road as it does to live in our home.

If you have a suggestions or ideas on this please please leave a comment below. I am all about other cool ways to raise funds to keep us going.

Under Construction

If you have been anywhere near my Blog the last week, then you have seen the changes. There are many more changes to come. I have decided to take this blog in a different direction. I love to write and share my life with everyone. Not just my pictures. I want this to be one place family, friends, Photogs ,and just readers can come to read about what we have been up to and see the images i love to share. 

The Lipsey's are taking some new paths in their life. Big changes! One i can share is our change to our four year old sons diet. Which also affects us. We have decided to take out red dyes from his diet. He has had some wild behavior and we feel it has already made a change. We are changing out diets in other ways too. But slowly. I don't want to send the kids into shock. But we will be cutting out all processed foods and yucky yucky stuff. Slowly but surely.

Jer and i had some good conversation(on date night!) about the RV trip and he is definitely on board. Now to get that RV. Saving starts now. I am so excited, its actually ridiculous how much. I sleep, eat and think RV RV RV. How can we do this. SIMPLE SIMPLE SIMPLE living. I am so ready.

We have a lot to do before we get there. And when i say a lot i mean AAAAAAA LOT! AHH! 

I just know we were meant for this. Now its just letting things fall into place and getting our ducks in a row. So keep checking back to see what we are up to. It is about to get really interesting and highly entertaining i am sure.

Of course i cannot leave you without a picture so here is one of my beautiful child. She turned 12 this summer.

Getting our Minimal on!

They Lipseys are getting swallowed up by things. Ugh! Clutter is everywhere and it is driving me batty. Jer and I both have the tendencies of a Hoarder and it is scary. Today i have decided to update my Blog and write my Column and that is it for digital work. Today is PURGE day!! I am so nervous. I am so excited. I need some more coffee i think.

Jer and i took a weekend sabbatical. No computer, barely used the phone and lots of campfire. It was so amazing. We needed it. Bad. I feel rejuvenated. I think he does too. I am trying to get him ready for Life on the road byt giving it to him in small doses. HAHA. He told me "You are really making me like this camping thing".  I was beaming with joy from that statement.


I feel like there are steps to getting to the day we pull out of here in out rig. The first step is to slowly teach the children (and the husband) that less is more. We do not need 175 dvds. We do not need 12 pairs of shoes and 14 pairs of jeans. We really don't NEED much. Its all about looking at things in a different way. I think this concept will be harder for Sidney (our Oldest) and Jer (the oldest HAHA).

I was reading a Blog last night and it really put things in perspective. Ok well actually there were two blogs the other is here. They both really explain the Less is More idea. We are all just trained to thing we need more and more and more. We need the best and the most. But we lose sight of the most important. Do i want my kids to look back and say "WOW mom and dad were so cool they bought us everything we ever wanted" UMMM NO! I want them to look back and say "Wow mom and dad taught us so much" Or look back and just remember special times and cool experiences. Not remember things. I want them to remember moments. So small steps start today with big purging!

Happy Monday to you!!!

I don't have an iPhone so this is my version of like Hipstamatic

Our Minimal Campsite. That is it. Where did we sleep? In the Van of course. Nomads we are.