Don’t let the expectations and opinions of other people affect your decisions. It’s your life, not theirs. Do what matters most to you; do what makes you feel alive and happy. Don’t let the expectations and ideas of others limit who you are. If you let others tell you who you are, you are living their reality — not yours. There is more to life than pleasing people. There is much more to life than following others’ prescribed path. There is so much more to life than what you experience right now. You need to decide who you are for yourself. Become a whole being. Adventure.
― Roy T. Bennett

 

 

 

 

Below is the original photo used to create this image. I visited a local-ish winery, Saude Creek, located in Lanexa, VA. Their late-summer landscaping was in full bloom and I probably took way too many photos of the lush foliage and flowers including these Black-eyed-Susans. Oh, and the wine was good too… No special lighting or retouching, just a snap from my smart phone.

  

If someone isn’t what others want them to be, the others become angry. Everyone seems to have a clear idea of how other people should lead their lives, but none about his or her own.
― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist

 

 

 

 

 

 

Below is the original photo used to create this image. I stumbled across these bizarre flowers while taking a walk around my hotel on a July trip to Shawsville, VA to visit family. No special lighting or retouching, just a snap from my smart phone.

You get ideas from daydreaming. You get ideas from being bored. You get ideas all the time. The only difference between writers and other people is we notice when we’re doing it.
― Neil Gaiman

 

 

 

 

 

Below is the original photo used to create this image. I saw this beauty of a sunset on my way home from work and actually pulled over, got out, walked two blocks and crossed a bridge to take this pic. Ah, the sacrifices I make for my art… No special lighting or retouching, just a snap from my smart phone.

Libraries were full of ideas—perhaps the most dangerous and powerful of all weapons.
― Sarah J. Maas, Throne of Glass

 

 

 

 

 

 

Below is the original photo used to create this image. It turns out my front yard is the perfect breeding ground for mushrooms… No special lighting or retouching, just a snap from my smart phone.

   People laugh at me because I use big words. But if you have big ideas, you have to use big words to express them, haven’t you?
― Lucy Maud Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables

 

 

 

 

Below is the original photo used to create this image. I visited a local-ish winery, Saude Creek, located in Lanexa, VA. Their late-summer landscaping was in full bloom and I probably took way too many photos of the lush foliage and flowers including these Black-eyed-Susans. Oh, and the wine was good too… No special lighting or retouching, just a snap from my smart phone.

  

There’s zero correlation between being the best talker and having the best ideas.
― Susan Cain, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking

 

 

 

 

 

 

Below is the original photo used to create this image. It turns out my front yard is the perfect breeding ground for mushrooms… No special lighting or retouching, just a snap from my smart phone.

 

 

It is not the brains that matter most, but that which guides them — the character, the heart, generous qualities, progressive ideas.
― Fyodor Dostoevsky

 

 

 

 

 

Below is the original photo used to create this image. I saw this beauty of a sunset on my way home from work and actually pulled over, got out, walked two blocks and crossed a bridge to take this pic. Ah, the sacrifices I make for my art… No special lighting or retouching, just a snap from my smart phone.

Ideas are like rabbits. You get a couple and learn how to handle them, and pretty soon you have a dozen.
― John Steinbeck

 

 

 

 

 

Below is the original photo used to create this image. I stumbled across these bizarre flowers while taking a walk around my hotel on a July trip to Shawsville, VA to visit family. No special lighting or retouching, just a snap from my smart phone.

Most people don’t realize how important librarians are. I ran across a book recently which suggested that the peace and prosperity of a culture was solely related to how many librarians it contained. Possibly a slight overstatement. But a culture that doesn’t value its librarians doesn’t value ideas and without ideas, well, where are we?
― Neil Gaiman

 

 

 

 

 

 

Below is the original photo used to create this image. It turns out my front yard is the perfect breeding ground for mushrooms… No special lighting or retouching, just a snap from my smart phone.

I don’t care that they stole my idea. I care that they don’t have any of their own.
― Nikola Tesla

 

 

 

 

 

Below is the original photo used to create this image. I saw this beauty of a sunset on my way home from work and actually pulled over, got out, walked two blocks and crossed a bridge to take this pic. Ah, the sacrifices I make for my art… No special lighting or retouching, just a snap from my smart phone.