Then: A girl with an obsession for pictures, colors, patterns...lots of coloring books and that oh so wonderful box of Crayola crayons. The big box, you know the one, with burnt umber, maize, and orchid, and the built-in sharpener.

A girl who, on her first visit to North Carolina, begged to stop at each and every single scenic overlook on the Blue Ridge Parkway to take pictures with her Kodak Instamatic. My poor grandparents. Bless their hearts.

Now: Different camera, a whole lot more colors than there were even in the big box of crayons, and an iPad and computer rather than a coloring book, but I'm back in those same beautiful mountains, and I still experience that same joy at the simple pleasure of capturing what I see and imagine. In the years between, life happened, but in the end it all comes back to this: do what you love, love what you do.

True confessions: I love bubbles, as in the kind that come in sparkling wine, and all things both salty and sweet. The only way to get my iPad away from is over my dead body. I'm addicted to Procreate, and obsessed with making Procreate brushes.

~ Julie McMillan