Caroline Cobb Smith

Monday, January 10, 2011

Ellie's 10 Month Photoshoot

On Saturday, we went out to Lake Tyler for a photoshoot with our good friends the Heatons. They are incredibly talented, and we are so thankful that they would do this for us. The pictures turned out so wonderful, and I know we'll really treasure these for a long time. If any of you Tyler people need a photographer, call up the Heatons!

I put a slideshow below of some of our favorites. Thanks again, Heatons!

Thursday, January 6, 2011

5 Creativity Killers

What kills creativity? Here are five things that really dry up my creative juices:

1. Jealousy - I started following a few of my favorite songwriters recently on Twitter, figuring it would help me understand their creative process, etc. But suddenly I found myself envying them - the community of artists and musicians and songwriters that they have, their freedom to do the creative thing full-time because it's their job, their gifts and abilities, their connections, and the fact that their identity equals "artist". Not only is jealousy just plain wrong... it also makes me feel inadequate and kills my desire to be creative, to dream, to write a song.

2. The Fame Disease - This one is loosely connected to jealousy for me. The question is this: "If I'm not a well-known songwriter, am I still a songwriter?" At what point does dreaming of being a "real songwriter" become discontentedness, and at what point should I stop dreaming and be satisfied with what I am right now? Heck, what does "well-known" even mean anyway? Why do I so want someone who is somewhat famous to sing one of my songs? I think the only prescription for the fame disease is faithfully "blooming where I'm planted" while still hoping for even more.... Oh, and more cowbell.

3. Self-critique - While some self-critique is undoubtedly a good thing, for me it stops me in my tracks before my creative juices really start to flow. I really need to let myself write and finish a song before I start picking it apart, or else I'll never finish it at all. Time-sensitive goals like the Scripture to Music project create urgency and help me get over this hurdle.

4. Audience Awareness - Again, a little bit of this is a good thing. But there is an order to things... first, I need to give myself space to write, even if the song only ends up being so-so and I'll never play it at a concert. Letting the audience "judge" me before they've even seen or heard me is a big creativity killer for me. I think this would be a problem if I ever became a staff writer.

5. Distractions - Twitter and Facebook and Web, oh my!

Your turn: what are your creativity killers?

Sunday, January 2, 2011

Christmas 2010

We had a great Christmas this year - our first one with Ellie. Even though Ellie doesn't really "get" the meaning of Christmas quite yet, it was fun to experience Christmas with her. Jesus' birth! Such an amazing gift. I can't wait for next year when she'll understand a little more.

This year, we got to spend time with Nick's family on the 18th (sorry, I have no pics!), spent Christmas Eve just the three of us (really special!), and then went to the Dallas area to be with my family on Christmas day and for a few days afterward. My parents took us to Great Wolf Lodge as our Christmas gift and it was really fun to be there with everyone. At Great Wolf Lodge, Ellie had a great time with her Cobb cousins and splashing around in the baby pool (even though it freaked her out at first). My highlights this Christmas were spending Christmas Eve as a family, opening gifts with Ellie, getting to go to our church, and seeing Ellie with all of her cousins at both the Smith and Cobb Christmas celebrations.

Here's a video and some pictures from Christmas 2010!

Here is a video of Ellie during the Smith family Christmas. She loved being in the middle of all the present unwrapping and cousin craziness! Her cousin Brianna took a little bow and put it on her head, and she crawled around obliviously.