Who you gonna kiss at midnight? As for me, I’ll be making out with @rbdeguilio , the love of my life. ❤️🔐❤️ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ 2018 has been sooooo full of both blessings & lessons—but this year, the scales are tilting hard core on the blessings side. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ After making some really tough decisions and after going through some really tough shit...taking tons of time to get centered, to focus on me, to stop & be quiet & introspective, to meditate, to release old shit and to create the space I need so that I could grow and heal and elevate has been the absolutely best thing I could have done for myself ever. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ By doing so, I became ready on all levels to be with the most amazing partner that I could ever imagine. I truly didn't believe that this type of partnership could even be a real thing. This type pf partnership does not come from us being perfect--or from an unrealistic romantic fantasy of what love is. We are far from perfect. We fuck up sometimes. We accidentally hurt each other. But then we stop, listen, we open our hearts, we look at ourselves and how we can do better and most importantly, we believe in each other. We've both been through it and we want to be better. We work hard to make this work for us--as individuals, as partners and as parents...as a family. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ And this...this relationship/the love of my life/my perfect-to-me partner, is the BTS of why the scales are tilting hard core to the blessings this year. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ I fucking love you, Richard DeGuilio. Here's to 2019 and to kissing you at all the midnights. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ #NYE #NYEkiss #LOML #losangeles #vsco #sonyA9 #bealpha #alphafemale PS before we met IRL and were doing that online dating message-y thing, he asked me if I could see myself listening and dancing to music while cooking with a partner. That, in my mind, is basically everything I could ever want. And that, basically, is our every day...one of the secrets to our partnership broken down into a simple, beautiful ritual. Cook, dance, love, sing...sometimes it all comes down to that. So there’s that too ❤️
As we near the end of 2018, we are blessed with three passages, both earthly & of the higher power: the upcoming new year, the winter solstice and one day later, a full moon. I believe all of these earthly transitional days provide a space on the spiritual level to support how we choose to let go, to look to the future and to clear the way so that the new new can come in. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ On the first day of the days that will slowly growing with light, reflections for 2018 and thoughts about the upcoming calendar year plus a full moon to light our path, I choose to take a moment to reflect back and to look forward to what is to come. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ What shall you choose to leave behind...what do you wish to carry forward and what do you wish to grow and manifest for the upcoming days? ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ In the craziness of the holidays, I encourage you to take a quiet moment , take a breath, and write down what you wish to release and what you wish to call in. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Happy end of 2018, happy solstice a s happy new moon. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ @redrosamond shot for @thekitvintage ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ #solstice #fullmoon #losangeles #vintage #vintageclothing #femalephotographer #beauty #bealpha #alphafemale #sony #alpha9
do the earth a favor, ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ don’t hide your magic ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ -yung pueblo ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ I remember the first time I read the Marianne Williamson quote about shining your own light. It struck such a strong chord in me. I had an epiphany that I’d been holding back who i am in order for some people around me to feel more comfortable. Some people are afraid of your light because they believe that it exposes their own inadequacies. But we can’t live our lives dimmed down because others feel uncomfortable with us. As I’d been living dimmed down for a very long time, it took me quite a while to embrace this. I’ve found that the more I embrace this and act upon it, the richer and more beautiful my life becomes. It’s a work in progress. But baby girl, please don’t hide your magic. The more you embrace it and shine your light, the richer the world becomes. ✨✨✨ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ The magical @redrosamond shot for @thekitvintage check out her gorgeous and inspiring new music on Spotify! ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ #losangeles #vintage #vintagefashion #marymcfaddon #beauty #redhead #vsco #presets #lightroompresets
"As if you could kill time without injuring eternity." - Henry David Thoreau . . . How do you interpret this quote? I always thought of this as a cautionary tale if you will---as in: be mindful of the present moment. Everything you do has impact not only on your own life, but on everyone around you, and in turn, on all of life itself. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ every. second. counts. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ How do you chose to spend your precious moments? . . . The beautiful and talented (and also my current muse) @redrosamond for @thekitvintage . . . #vintage #femalephotographer #vintagefashion #winterfashion #sony #alpha9 #bealpha #sonyalpha #alphafemale #lightroom #lightroompresets #vsco #portrait #losangeles
Quick quick! Grab my Lightroom presets today only at 50% off! Use code CYBER50 ✨Link in bio✨ #cybermonday #lightroompresets #presets #presetsale #sony #bealpha #alphafemale #canva
"A magician's greatest trick is to believe in his own magic. He believes in the story he is telling his audience, he believes in himself. You're going to do great magic...but you have to know it too. You have to really believe. That's the most important thing, the best secret of all magic tricks." ~James R. Doty, "Into the Magic Shop" ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ The quote above is from one of my favorite books and one which I read when I was deep in my healing cocoon after some incredibly deep personal challenges. Many, many times, I wondered how I would make it through. I wanted to believe this quote with all of my soul, but in all honesty, I definitely had many doubts about my own magic. But as I am stepping to the other side, three years later, I KNOW this quote to be true. Even if it's just the tiniest, teeniest, faintest voice in the back of your head that tells you, "Yes, you are a bad ass bitch. You are magical. You will do great things,” listen to it. That voice may be faint, but it is there and it is real. Believe it. Whether the voice is faint or strong, I do my best to listen to it and to shut out all the other asshole voices of doubt—the ones that try to upstage the REAL voice—I try to focus on the true voice that asks me to know and believe in my own magic. I also believe that our own personal magic comes not just from ourselves, but from a collaboration with a greater source. I believe that the REAL voice, the one that knows I’m magic is not just inside of me, but one which is interconnected with the universe/god/energy/source/the simulation/quantum physics, et all. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ For me, when I believe this voice that says that I am magic, I am able to call into my life the things that I have always dreamed about. I create some amazing tricks. It’s all connected after all; and sometimes it just takes a little reminder to know that we are our own greatest magicians if only we believe. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ @theashleyclem HMUA @roxanne_mcdanel ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ . . #intothemagicshop #createyourlife #manifest #jamesrdoty #losangelesphotographer #alphafemale #bealpha #sony #vsco #lightroompresets
“I have chosen to no longer be apologetic for my femaleness and my femininity. And I want to be respected in all of my femaleness because I deserve to be.” . . . I just wrote a whole post about how the tide is turning where as women, we are claiming back what has been seen as dichotomous in society: we can be tenacious, hard working, resourceful, confident, opinionated and still be feminine and dress how we want. It was an awesome post that I spent at least 1/2 hour crafting. When I went to post it, the whole thing disappeared. SO! Know that what I wanted to say is that I love how as women we are reclaiming our bodies, our strength and our all-around power. We are choosing to do it in a pencil skirt or in pants. WE are choosing. No more apologizing for the complex, beautiful, divinely feminine creatures that we are. We're here and we're rising. Let's go, ladies. . . . The gorgeous @theashleyclem
In honor of all the badass female energy that's been going on lately, I want to kick off your Friday with THIS BADASS! @theashleyclem is a force. She just released SONA, a sci-fi show that she conceived, wrote, directed and starred in THAT SHE SHOT MOSTLY IN HER APARTMENT! You can binge watch the whole thing on Alpha. The Lizzie Bennet Diaries, which Ashley starred in, won the very first ever Emmy for a web series ever. Ashley is whip-smart, resourceful, strong, super fun and all around rad. . . . Ashley approached me to shoot because she loved how I portray and shoot women: powerfully feminine and badass--of which Ashley clearly is! She hadn't had any photos reflecting that part of her, so it was an honor to showcase this side of her. I know that all women have this side to them, and I LOVE helping women see it in themselves and capturing it for them in photos. And I love that I'm recognized for doing so. It's amazing and I'm so grateful for it. . . . Happy friday, baddies! . . . #losangeles #femalephotographer #SONA #losangelesphotographer #sony #alpha9 #alphafemale #bealpha #vsco #lightroompresets #lizziebennetdiaries
Just one more lil pic of this cute corner...I am very grateful of how things have come and continue to come to me as I create my home: gifted, thrifted and lifted 😜. JK nothing was “lifted”, it just rhymes and I’m clearly tired as that’s cracking me up way more than it should. Haha! Anyway, stay tuned for more portfolio pics interweaved with some personal posts. Happy Wednesday to you all! ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Last week, I posted some photos of me and my man in costume for Halloween and Día de los Muertos. I’m seriously getting so tired of people getting so caught up in the Instagram game that they are forgetting the purpose of this forum in the first place (read my Morticia costume post for a longer point!) . I’ve decided that while I’ll still be using IG for portfolio, I’m also gonna use it to post up whatever the fuck I feel like posting. And right now, I’m feeling like I wanna let you guys in on my home. . . . I’m SUPER proud of my home. I had to work my ass off in ways that you can’t imagine in order to create this. Almost everything is thrifted or was given to me. Our little home was created and built on love, above all else (and good deals...you’ll see as I start to post home photos!). You don’t need alot to make things beautiful. My beautiful may not be your beautiful and that’s ok. Be resourceful. Be open. Be ready to receive. . . . Here’s one little vignette in my house: this rad gold mirrored 80s nightstand, found at St. Vincent de Paul for $25 (and it’s hard to see how rad it is because it’s so reflective—you’re mostly seeing the reflection of the floor); spider plant gifted from the homie @briseeley ; lamp from Ikea; all three books from various used bookstores; vintage stamp kit in wooden box from my ❤️ @heatherbejar . . . ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀#mylittlecorner #vintagefurniture #thrifting #thishouseisahome
It’s been a while since I’ve busted out my cards. I used to read for friends and would occasionally lay out a spread for myself, but it’s been a while. . . . Today I was reflecting on the political landscape that we’ve been in and then of course, of the election last night. It popped up in one of my feeds that tonight is also a new moon—which is all about planting seeds and setting your intentions and making new starts—so I thought today would be as good of a day as any to pull a card (plus I LOVE the cards/drawings/interpretations from @the_wild_unknown !). The card for today was the Nine of Cups, which in essence represents bliss and harmony. How fitting on so many levels. So whether you “believe” in tarot or not, let this message bring you some hope...in whatever you’re going through. On this new moon, plant seeds of harmony and bliss and new wishes. . . . From The Wild Unknown: Alas...the card of wishes come true. When the Nine of Cups appears, worries & fears will be cast away. A new phase of peace and harmony awaits. The world seems to be granting your every wish. Good health, happiness & material gains are heading your way. Enjoy. . . . #tarot #newmoon #bliss #harmony #wildunknown #wildunknowntarot #thisisme #mylittlecorner #mylittlecorneroftheworld
Soooooo, at the 2016 elections, I was all primed for someone else to win the presidency. I got all dressed up in my America clothes, including this rad vintage jacket from the 1988 Olympic games. By the time I got to the bar to watch the results, I couldn't believe my eyes as to what was happening. It felt surreal. I have never felt so embarrassed of my country and to be wearing a USA jacket at that time? I wanted to crawl under the table. And straight up, our political environment still feels incredibly surreal. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ BUT! Today, I am hopeful that we will have a shift. I hope that we have been riled up and woken up and shook up enough to change shit up. I'll be proudly wearing my USA jacket once again today as I pray for a change of pace for the US. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ #vote #ivoted

follow at suzanne_strong