A couple of weeks ago I had coffee with my wonderful friend Melanie. We talked about a million and one things, and I told her about my allergies and food intolerances I seemed to have developed in the last months or years, and that I've jumped on the Paleo bandwagon on January and doing a so called „elimination" diet to find out what my body doesn't tolerate. Coming from a doctor's family and being friends with a naturopathic physician, I was totally amazed about her great knowledge about the Paleo lifestyle, food intolerances and so on, and I was so happy to get some new tips and suggestions on this sometimes so frustrating journey where patience and perserverance need to be your new best travelling buddies. Of course I had to introduce her to my new favorite store, a nearby whole foods market, after all that food talk. ;-) On our way to go grocery shopping I snapped a few images of beautiful Melanie just „on the go". Seriously. Melanie is one of my favorite subjects in front of my camera. She feels so very at ease in front of my lens, smiles and laughs effortlessly, I just press the shutter, and we're done. She's so grounded. When I suggest to take off her sweater ... then take off her blouse ... (to get a little variety), not once did she complain that it was freakin' cold outside the sun.

Melanie is my kind of girl. I think I never heard her complaining about anything anyway. If there is a challenge in her life or at work (BTW, do yourself a favor and go see her in the musical "Rocky"!), she identifies the problem immediately, then thinks of a solution and works on it. She's no procrastinator which makes life a lot easier. What I love the most about her is that she's so very genuine. She's always authentic and true and real and honest. Every time we meet for coffee, we get straight to the point of all the things that currently matter to us or keep our minds busy, the good, the bad, and the ugly. She knows how to choose the things that really matter. And some things just don't matter as much, like the kind of car you're driving. How big of a deal is that in the grand scheme of life? Not big at all. But lifting someone's heart - that matters! I think most people know what matters, but they don't choose it. 

I leave you with a little food for thought and a couple of images of beautiful Melanie - happy Monday!