Hi and welcome!

Thanks for stopping by!  My name is Mary Catherine and I'm creating this space as a way to document and share three journeys I'm sending myself on: a learning photography journey, a wellness journey, and a personal finance journey.

I've been toying with photography for a few years now, but never very seriously.  I shoot with an entry level DSLR: a Nikon D3100.  It's a great camera for a beginner and can produce fantastic results, but I don't practice very much.  I get decent with it, but then I don't pick my camera up for a few months and it's like I've forgotten everything I ever learned about it before.  So, never again!  It's time to learn and MAINTAIN that learning.

My wellness journey.... When I was growing up, I was overweight.  Not obese, just slightly overweight.  It wasn't until I got to college, going to school at an urban downtown campus that I lost about 30 pounds.  I wasn't trying to lose weight.  I didn't even really notice that I had until it was all gone.  I guess not having any money to eat out and having to walk everywhere really worked for me.  But then I met my husband.  And we got happy.  As then fat, as can sometimes happen when you find yourself in a relationship.  My weight has only gone up since then.  I never really wanted to set myself a fitness goal of "losing weight."  I always find myself saying things like, "I want to be fit."  "I want to be in shape." "I want to be healthy." But the root of it is that I really need to lose weight.  I do want to be fit and in shape and healthy, but losing weight is going to be the first step I need to take towards that.  Food is a real problem for me.  I love to eat.  I eat all the time.  Even when I'm not hungry.  I really want to be one of those people who eats to live not lives to eat.

And my personal financial journey.  I do not make good financial decisions.  I spend.  I don't save.  I rack up credit card debt.  I can't pay my student loans.  Whenever I find myself with a little money in the bank (or a lot of money in the bank) I blow it like you wouldn't believe.  And I do this over and over and over.  And I never have anything to show for it.  You would think I would have learned my lesson the first few times I've dug myself out of this hole, but apparently I didn't.  BUT, I'm still young.  My husband and I have time to change and make better decisions.  I really want to set a good example for my daughter and show her what making good decisions looks like so she won't make the same mistakes I have.

Anywho, that was all pretty HEAVY, right?  But this will be my place to document and hold myself accountable and maybe even inspire someone else to make a change in their life on something that's weighing them down.  It's doesn't feel good to be weighed down by worries, so let's make the changes we need to lighten up our lives.