Amor Propio

Happy Monday.

It's Holy Week.  For most, this week is very special in terms of religion or the relationship with God.  Others seem to be on vacation mode this week over any other meaning, which I understand because for some this week represents no work, no school, and thus family time.  I guess God is happy if you are with your family after a whole year working and with busy routine.

I don't always go to church, and I am very used of working the whole week as usual, except Friday.  I work in a industry that doesn't believe in most holidays, because we provide service to those who can be off on special days.  But I don't think of this week as vacation either.  I guess I am in the middle.  Not going to be at church once a year because it's Holy Week, but won't be on vacation precisely this week...  Just me... very personal thought.

But it's free time if we count on a long weekend coming up with Good Friday, and this means some rest, maybe creating a little to relieve stress, and just be with family, friends, and myself.

I also think this week is special because people feel that they are looking for meaning, understanding, resolution, new beginnings (Easter), etc.

So I made this layout and it wasn't thinking of Holy Week whatsoever but it kind of relates a bit.  I like this saying or quote that I really don't know who said it, but it goes like this:

"Y empecé a liberarme de todo lo que no era saludable:  situaciones, personas, gustos y cosas.  Lo llamaron egoísmo, yo lo llamé amor propio..."

An English adaptation would be like something like:  "And I started to get free from everything that wasn't healthy (or good):  situations, people, preferences and things.  They called it selfishness, I called it self love..."

I had these pictures taken with new "portrait" feature from iPhone and I loved how they captured different angles and feelings, plus the fact they are black and white (symbol of being transparent... what you see is what you get).  I had this layout on my mind using that phrase.

I wanted this page to be very simple and believe me it was difficult not to stamp something somewhere in the page... LOL...  I used a black cardstock for the background, with pink cardstock and patterned paper.   

I love this collection from Simple Stores, called "I am".  I actually don't have the real size version, just the 6"x6" notebook, but I used two small pages with the little hearts to frame the photos, and fussy cut flowers from other paper to be carefully placed in the page to provide movement and flow.  The gold heart is also from one of the small papers.  Also cut some black and blue circles, used sequins, and the title was made using Thickers.

If you look close, you can see I hand wrote the phrase just above the photos.

This represents new beginnings...  it's me in black and white... This is just who I am.  

Hope you have a great week... at church or not... just be the best person you can be... and have some self love...  God is watching.