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WEEKLY BOOKS - THE KNITTING CIRCLE  I picked up The Knitting Circle pretty randomly. I wanted something lighter and quicker to read.
Well it was quicker. But not lighter. As it turned out, this book is about a mom whose five year old daughter just died from meningitis. The story is personal cause the author herself just recently lost her own daughter. And this book was well written. But it was so painful. So so dreadfully sad. Having an almost-five year old myself, I couldn't stop imagining the worst and kept getting freaked out over and over again. I am not sure it was a good idea to read it. It did, however, make me want to knit again. The soothing, repetitive motion is quite calming. I must also say that the woman who taught me to knit was nothing like the store owner in this story. She was unwelcoming and snotty. All in all, I would say do not read this unless you're into really sad stories. On to John Irving. I love him.  DAILY PHOTOS - OCTOBER 31 2009  Halloween is not a favorite of mine. I hate all things creepy and I hate horror movies. But I do love seeing how much joy David gets out of it. Nathaniel got to be a bumblebee this year. David's old costume.  Doesn't he look cute?  I couldn't get a good shot despite how much I tried. I think there was less light than I thought it and I didn't raise my ISO as much as I should have.  And David was Buzz Lightyear, thanks to my awesome sister who sent us tons of costumes.  All in all a joyful day. Hope yours was, too. DAILY PHOTOS - OCTOBER 30 2009  I did all my A Million Memories layouts tonight. Four layouts, all with a lot of journaling, and I love them all. It was a rough day, today, but it's looking better now that it's almost time to sleep. PHOTOGRAPHY TIPS - TRIPODS Today's video talks about tripods. Let me know if you need me to put photos that show examples. Feel free to let me know if anything is unclear or if you have questions. Next week is on flash. Photography Tips is a weekly feature and is posted every Friday. You can find Ma href="category/ptips.html">all of them here. 52 QUESTIONS AND TECHNIQUES - TAG 43  Honestly, this time last year, I was throwing up. I was quite sick and in the hospital a few times. But I decided to focus on the happy and I made this about how thankful we were to find out that we were having another baby. Our little Nathaniel. He has brought so much joy into our lives. I covered the tag with fabric and stitched half hearts on both sides. A little piece of fabric on the bottom covers my attempt to stitch the word "family" and I placed some hearts. A bling, some beads and ta-da!  I now sell some of these tags in my etsy store. If there's a tag you like and are interested in, email me or leave a comment and I'll be happy to add it. I am combining Emily Falconbridge's art journal questions with trying a new technique each week. You can see the full list: here. Weekly tags are posted every Thursday, you can see all of them by clicking here. DAILY PHOTOS - OCTOBER 29 2009  Today, I was watching him play on his bed before he falls asleep and I saw him go on all fours and rock back and forth like he's been doing for a few weeks. But then he rolled on his side and sat up. All by himself. He sat up and grabbed his two little teddy bears and played and played. I was so amazed that I broke my rule of never going back in and grabbed my camera to take a shot. And now he sits up all by himself. This kid never ceases to amaze me. DAILY PHOTOS - OCTOBER 28 2009  I want to leave you with the thought that life is short and you shouldn't feel obligated to do anything that you aren't really obligated to do. (sounds weird but so many of us feel a sense of obligation when there's no actual obligation.) ETSY STORE - NEED YOUR HELP So have I mentioned that I love Rebecca Sower? And I love the art tags I've been doing all year? I have? Yes, I know. There's something about Rebecca's art that speaks to my soul. I can't even put my finger on what it is. But each time I look at it, I fall in love with the fabric, with the art, with the stitching. So I was telling my sister a few months ago that I want to make these amazing pieces, too. I know they will never compare to Rebecca and they might not turn out all that amazing but I am ok with that, I want to try. And since I need a reason for doing everything I do, I told her that maybe I'd open an Being the amazing person she is (and she is so amazing) my beautiful sister went and bought me a ton (and I mean a TON) of amazing things. Fabrics, beads, metal embellishments, sequins. Let me show you some of them:     Aren't they amazing? And this is not even all. There's fabric. Stunning fabric. And sequins. Felt. And so much more. So now I have these amazing goodies. I am scared of not doing them justice. Not doing my sister justice. (She packed all of this stuff into tiny little bags, neatly packed into a 30lbs box and shipped it all the way from Turkey.) I want to dig into them. I want to make things. Conquer the fear. Find the joy. So here's where you come in. I need ideas. What kind of things do you think I could make? What are things you might like to buy? This is no commitment to buy anything, I would never expect that, I just need some ideas. Some encouragement. If you have some ideas about the kind of things you have seen that you like, things that you think I could try to do, I would be very grateful. Thank you. WEEKLY DIGITAL DOWNLOADS - JOURNALING SPOTS ROUND 2 This week's download is a set of journaling spots. Here is some of what's in there:  You can download it here: journaling spots round 2 set download. You are welcome to play with these as much as you want and use them anywhere you'd like. You are NOT allowed to sell them ever. You don't have to but I'd appreciate a link back if you do use them. This is part of a weekly digital download series. They are posted every Wednesday. You can find all of the ones that were posted here. WEEKLY LAYOUTS - I FORGIVE YOU I THANK YOU  Yona, I want you to know that I forgive you for throwing me into a tub full of water when we were sitting in the bathroom together. I forgive you for taking my five-dollar bills and giving me two one-dollar ones and telling me how I was better off since I had two bills and not one. (Maybe that's why I ended up being so good at math.) For calling me complaint box my whole life. For making me write all of your French homework. (It made me an even better student.) Stapling my hand just to see if it would work. Waking me up many nights so you could squeeze in bed with me after peeing in yours and making me get up first so you could make the bed over again. (I still don't tuck the sheets in.) Pushing me under the radiator. And under the swings, which caused me to split my head open. Kicking me so many times when we slept in the same bed in Israel that I split my head open. Again. Hitting me. A lot. So hard that I could see each of your fingerprints on my skin. I forgive you for not wanting to hang out with me. For making fun of me. For making fun of my glasses. (It's karma that you ended up needing them too.) For making fun of my ears. (I still wear my hair down.) For always making me take the shots at the doctor's first. Just to see if I would cry. For making fun of me. (This one deserves two entries.) For making me feel even more lonely because you were so popular. (Ok, that one wasn't really your fault.) Yona, I know that you did so many things to make me cry when I was little and I know that you wished you had a brother and not a sister. I know you were annoyed by so much of who I was and I know that as we grew up and moved away from each other, you came to regret some of the not-so-nice things you did to me. But I want you to know that you do not have to feel bad anymore. You are fully and completely forgiven. I don't want you to spend one more minute feeling bad for anything you've done or regretting anything you haven't. I love you with all my heart, my wonderful sister, and I forgive you. the other side Yona, I want you to know that I thank you for driving me for hours to the other side of town just so I could buy my favorite English books. I thank you for sending me so many letters and cards from Canada that I felt closer to you than we ever had. For always having faith in me and my abilities. I thank you for teaching me how to read. (It is, by far, the greatest gift anyone gave me.) Thank you for talking to me until the wee hours of the morning, over and over again until I realized that it really wasn't just me. Thank you for writing that amazing book about us and for apologizing. (It's not the apology that I needed, just the acknowledgment.) Agreeing to come with me so I could still go skiing even though mom and dad didn't. For buying me a present with your first paycheck ever. For coming to visit me just so we could spend ten days together, just you and me. Leaving your family behind so we could really bond. (Though they are always welcome here.) For cooking those amazing dishes and making the salads and getting my son to eat edamame. For sending me the recipes to both gateaoux salami and the salty biscuits I love so much. For convincing me that we and our kids can be very close to each other even if we're an ocean apart. (And I know you mean it.) For telling me how proud you are of me and how brave you think I am. Always telling me the truth. Supporting all of my ideas, even if they are crazy. Reading my blog. Loving my kids. (And they love you so much, too, how could they not?) Yona, I know that with you in my life, I will never ever be alone. I know that you are forever there for me and will always be on my corner. I am so thankful to have someone like you in my life and so honored that you're my sister. I want you to know that I appreciate everything you do for me, everything you are and I am so thankful for all the moments we get to spend together. And for having you in my life. I am so lucky to have you. I love you with all my heart, my wonderful sister, and I thank you. DAILY PHOTOS - OCTOBER 27 2009  We've been having a lot of these faces lately.  I think he's cute even with his sad sad face. DAILY PHOTOS - OCTOBER 26 2009   Nataniel had his six month appointment today and he's doing well except for his weight. He is at 30% height, 50% head circumference but only 10% for weight. He was 25-30% last time (at four months) so this is sort of bad. To be fair, he's looking and acting all healthy but I will nurse him extra long for a while and give him some daily solids and pray that he gains some weight. My little boy also got a ton of shots today but he's such a trooper that he barely cried. I hope David will be the same way when we go back next week for his flu shot. PHOTOSHOP VIDEOS - TEXT ON A CIRCLE Today's video shows you how to put text along a circle. Photoshop videos are weekly videos that show you how to create digital elements and photography tips on Photoshop. They are posted every Monday. Click here for all of the archives. If you have questions/feedback click on the "share" link on the bottom right of this post. Thanks! If you have ideas/requests, please let me know, I am out of ideas. DAILY PHOTOS - OCTOBER 25 2009   This little template was the one David chose for this year.  Nathaniel wasn't all that happy. I am not sure if it's the teeth or he's just moody.  Afterwards, while I gave Nathaniel another portion of food (he didn't like it much better.) David practiced his letters. We've been writing one letter of the alphabet every day. We skipped yesterday so today we did both Cs and Ds.  I didn't get much of my todo list done this weekend but I am feeling very thankful for my beautiful life. DECEMBER DAILY 2009  I decided I wanted a 6x6 this year so I could take portrait and landscape shots and still print 4x6's. I kept the pages pretty simple so that I can feel open to do as I please when the date comes. Can't wait till December. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Yey for December!! CATALYST 85 - NY TO SD  My words: “Let’s just do it!” I said. We were sitting in Bar 89. Facing each other. Talking about how much we hated our jobs how sick we were of New York. How we wanted something different. “Let’s just quit and move!” I encouraged him. (and myself) I wanted to know that we still had the guts. That we owned our life, not them. It took us another year but we finally did it. Quit the jobs. Packed the apartment. Bought a car. And moved 3,000 miles. To a city we’ve never seen before. A city where we knew no one. Had no jobs. We did it. We got jobs. Found a home. Started a life. And, most importantly, proved we can do it. We just did it. WEEKLY BOOKS - THE HELP  Honestly, when I first decided to read The Help I was a little traumatized by the fact that my reader said it was over 1,000 pages. After last week's reading marathon, I wasn't sure I could finish this one on time.
I was so wrong. This is one of the best books I've read in a long long time. Absolutely fantastic writing, gripping plot and I cared for each of the characters so much that I couldn't put the book down for a second. I really wish it went on for another thousand pages. It was that good. The changing of the points of view was smooth and wonderfully executed. It's almost impossible to believe this is her first novel. It's about a world I know almost nothing about and I think that's what made it even more compelling to me. I would highly recommend this book. Truly. On to next week's book. Something smaller but doesn't look like it will be lighter. WEEKLY BOOKS - THE HELP Honestly, when I first decided to read The Help I was a little traumatized by the fact that my reader said it was over 1,000 pages. After last week's reading marathon, I wasn't sure I could finish this one on time.
I was so wrong. This is one of the best books I've read in a long long time. Absolutely fantastic writing, gripping plot and I cared for each of the characters so much that I couldn't put the book down for a second. I really wish it went on for another thousand pages. It was that good. The changing of the points of view was smooth and wonderfully executed. It's almost impossible to believe this is her first novel. It's about a world I know almost nothing about and I think that's what made it even more compelling to me. I would highly recommend this book. Truly. On to next week's book. Something smaller but doesn't look like it will be lighter. WEEKLY BOOKS - THE HELP Honestly, when I first decided to read The Help I was a little traumatized by the fact that my reader said it was over 1,000 pages. After last week's reading marathon, I wasn't sure I could finish this one on time.
I was so wrong. This is one of the best books I've read in a long long time. Absolutely fantastic writing, gripping plot and I cared for each of the characters so much that I couldn't put the book down for a second. I really wish it went on for another thousand pages. It was that good. The changing of the points of view was smooth and wonderfully executed. It's almost impossible to believe this is her first novel. It's about a world I know almost nothing about and I think that's what made it even more compelling to me. I would highly recommend this book. Truly. On to next week's book. Something smaller but doesn't look like it will be lighter. DAILY PHOTOS - OCTOBER 24 2009  In honor of the six month birthday, we tried solid food for the first time today.  I gave him his own spoon cause he kept grabbing mine.  In case you were wondering if he liked it, that's a definitive no. Not a fan.  Today I didn't get as much done as I had planned but I did make some progress, got a few major items done, played a lot with my kids, cooked, and I am now relaxing and telling myself it's ok if my todo list doesn't all get done. Tomorrow: carving pumpkins. DAILY PHOTOS - OCTOBER 23 2009  I've been working on my December Daily album. I am so excited about it so far. Here are a few sneaks.   Happy Weekend!! PHOTOGRAPHY TIPS - RAW VS JPG This week's video is about whether you should shoot in JPG or RAW. Enjoy! Feel free to let me know if anything is unclear or if you have questions. Next week we start talking about lenses. Photography Tips is a weekly feature and is posted every Friday. You can find all of them here. 52 QUESTIONS AND TECHNIQUES - TAG 42  Bar none. Christmas. I love Christmas. Everything about it. My favorite time of year. It used to be New Years but now it's Christmas. I wanted to use this week to test out a cover I was planning for my December Daily album. So I covered it with fabric and put buttons. Stitching is bad cause I had to use the machine. But it turned out ok. Since then, I've also made my December Daily cover, it's different but I love it.  I now sell some of these tags in my etsy store. If there's a tag you like and are interested in, email me or leave a comment and I'll be happy to add it. I am combining Emily Falconbridge's art journal questions with trying a new technique each week. You can see the full list: here. Weekly tags are posted every Thursday, you can see all of them by clicking here. DAILY PHOTOS - OCTOBER 22 2009  Good day but really tired so more tomorrow. WEEKLY DIGITAL DOWNLOADS - GRATITUDE OVERLAYS This week's download is a set of overlays designed for A Million Memories. They are all gratitude themed:  You can download it here: gratitude overlay set download. You are welcome to play with these as much as you want and use them anywhere you'd like. You are NOT allowed to sell them ever. You don't have to but I'd appreciate a link back if you do use them. This is part of a weekly digital download series. They are posted every Wednesday. You can find all of the ones that were posted here. DAILY PHOTOS - OCTOBER 21 2009  This morning David was on the bed with Nathaniel watching some TV and here's how I found them.  And, mom, you said he was going to be jealous of the baby!  Let's just say you were wrong! WEEKLY LAYOUTS - REMEMBER THIS  Journaling Reads: i forget too often how much fun bubbles can be how much joy they bring to you i always think it will be too messy but then when we start you have so much fun with them this is so i remember how much you love them and make sure we blow bubbles much more often Weekly layouts is a weekly feature focusing on simple layouts with photos and journaling. It's posted on Tuesdays. DAILY PHOTOS - OCTOBER 20 2009  Here's how I work most days. Wouldn't you love to have this little one with you while you work?  I am so thankful for my life. PHOTOSHOP VIDEOS - ADDING TEXT INSIDE A SHAPE Today's video shows how to add text inside a certain shape, for example to put text on a photo. Photoshop videos are weekly videos that show you how to create digital elements and photography tips on Photoshop. They are posted every Monday. Click here for all of the archives. If you have questions/feedback click on the "share" link on the bottom right of this post. Thanks! If you have ideas/requests, please let me know, I am running out of easy ideas. Sorry for the delay this week, YouTube was down when I tried last night. DAILY PHOTOS - OCTOBER 19 2009  I love this shot of Nathaniel cause it shows you that he's going to be a multi-tasker just like his mommy.  And those eyes. They're not like his brother's but they are pretty amazing.  CATALYST 84 - AN AMERICAN CITIZEN  This was simple for me. A few months after David was born, I became an American Citizen. It was the best gift I gave myself and the best gift I could ever give my kids. DAILY PHOTOS - OCTOBER 18 2009  And here's today's Nathaniel.  Have I mentioned he's got a tooth that's broken through the gums? He's not even six months old! Ready to crawl, already teething, this little boy is scaring me. WEEKLY BOOKS - HER FEARFUL SYMMETRY 
I seem to have a lot of trouble beginning a book. It takes me a while to dive into it and the first fifty or so pages are always a challenge. For this reason, I used to make sure that I was in the middle of a book when I knew I was taking a long flight.
One of the rare exceptions to this was on a trip Jake and I took from NYC to Istanbul. I had checked out several books from the library and hadn't begun any of them. The Time Traveler's Wife was one of them. It was huge and I am not even sure why I thought it was a good idea to bring it in my carry-on. But I am so glad I did. I opened the first page when we took off and did not close the book until I was finished. And, if you've read it you might know that it's quite a thick book. I could not put it down. It was amazing and incredibly unique. So, when I heard the wonderful author had a new book, I couldn't wait to get my hands on it. I'll have to admit that this one was harder to get into. It might be because I wasn't in a confined space. Or because I now have two kids. One of which needs to nurse quite often. Either way, I made it to the weekend having only read forty pages of the book. Determined as I tend to be, I decided I would read the book this weekend. And I just finished it. All 704 pages. And I loved it. While the book wasn't nearly as magnificent and as unique as the other one (it is really impossible to do that again I imagine) it was very interesting and worth the read. I liked the characters. I loved the descriptive narrative (which I am not usually fond of). I was interested in the characters though I would have liked a few of them to be a bit more three-dimensional. But honestly, I really loved the book and am still glowing from its dream world. It was a splendid way to spend my weekend. AMM ANNIVERSARY CROP BLOG HOP & SCAVENGER HUNT As part of AMM’s anniversary crop we’re having a blog hop and a scavenger hunt. Here is how this will work: each one of the AMM Design Team members will have a special post for the blog hop where you will have the chance to get to know them a little bit better. At the end of the post, there will be a question that will lead you on a hunt through the AMM site and/or AMM blog (the link to the AMM blog can be found on the left sidebar of the main store site). Be sure to check the anniversary crop forum for complete information on the Blog Hop Challenge. Here’s a little interview for you to get to know me better: 1. What are your 3 must have scrapbooking products/tools? Computer for journaling and photos, glue, thickers. 2. What was the last scrapbook item you purchased? I bought the amazing Mistletoe line from Pink Paislee. 3. What was the last non-scrapbooking item you purchased? These awesome plates from pottery barn. I can't wait to get them. 4. What scrapbooking item do you have way too much of? Thickers. And yet I never seem to have enough. 5. What scrapbooking embellishment or technique do you use on almost all of your pages? Journaling? If that doesn't count, I don't use this all the time but I love using stitching. 6. What was the last movie you saw in a movie theater? Oh wow, Twilight? I have a six-month-old baby. I don't get out much. 7. What motivates you daily? My family. I love them. 8. What are your favorite scrap blogs? Well it's not scrap but it's art. I adore Rebecca Sower. Now onto the scavenger hunt! Here is your question: What are the names of the limited edition kits currently for sale in the AMM store? Now head on over to Tonya’s blog for your next scavenger hunt question! DAILY PHOTOS - OCTOBER 17 2009  We went to Lemo's Farm in Half Moon Bay. We rode the train.  We rode fake horses.  And real horses.  We played with fake pumpkins.  And real ones.  We even got a spider hat!  And here are a few cute ones just for fun.    I spent most of the rest of the day reading. I am not even halfway in my book this week. I will likely make some more progress tonight and tomorrow but I am not sure I can finish. Let's see. DAILY PHOTOS - OCTOBER 16 2009   Good day today. And a pleasant, wonderful surprise at work. Nice way to end the week. Tomorrow's the pumpkin patch! PHOTOGRAPHY TIPS - SUBJECT IS TOO DARK This week's video is about why you sometimes get photos where your subject is too dark. Feel free to let me know if anything is unclear or if you have questions. Next week is more on light. Photography Tips is a weekly feature and is posted every Friday. You can find all of them here. 52 QUESTIONS AND TECHNIQUES - TAG 41  Another tag about art. Sorry. I am really enjoying these now so I want to celebrate that. I wanted to try a technique the amazing Rebecca posted about last week. I can't sketch to save my life so I traced some Maya Road chipboard and stitched using that. I then inked a little bit in the inside and lined the stitching with tiny beads. Put some stickles on the edges and here we are. I included the the back of the tag so you can see the stitching.    I now sell some of these tags in my etsy store. If there's a tag you like and are interested in, email me or leave a comment and I'll be happy to add it. I am combining Emily Falconbridge's art journal questions with trying a new technique each week. You can see the full list: here. Weekly tags are posted every Thursday, you can see all of them by clicking here. DAILY PHOTOS - OCTOBER 15 2009   I got David these Spongebob pajamas and he loves them. Puts them on several times a day.  I've been semi-productive lately. Not getting as much as I'd like done but getting enough done not to feel sad. It does look like I'm not going to be able to finish this week's book on time though, I'm not even to page 100 yet and it's like 700 pages. Some good news from today, my brand new BPS class is now open for registration: reclaiming my time. This workshop literally changed how I live my days. And here's a sneak of my project.  I hope to see you in class! WEEKLY DIGITAL DOWNLOADS - 2010 CALENDAR MONTHS This week's download is a request from Kim. A set of calendar pages (in PNG so you can change the color). Here's an example month:  You can download it here: 2010 months set download. You are welcome to play with these as much as you want and use them anywhere you'd like. You are NOT allowed to sell them ever. You don't have to but I'd appreciate a link back if you do use them. This is part of a weekly digital download series. They are posted every Wednesday. You can find all of the ones that were posted here. DAILY PHOTOS - OCTOBER 14 2009  WEEKLY LAYOUT - EXERSAUCER  The journaling reads: a few weeks ago i realized that maybe you were finally old enough to use the exersaucer i worried you might not like it but figured we'd give it a try as it turns out you love it even though you're still a little too young for the toys i think you just like the feeling of standing up and looking around i am just happy to see that smiley face Weekly layouts is a weekly feature focusing on simple layouts with photos and journaling. It's posted on Tuesdays. DAILY PHOTOS - OCTOBER 13 2009  We had torrential rain today. I am not liking the rain all that much and can completely do without it. So thankful we live in California. DAILY PHOTOS - OCTOBER 12 2009   And here's the scary moment of the day. Nathaniel's been getting on all fours and moving back and forth lately. Which is the beginnings of crawling. He's not even six months yet!! ugh.  Happy Monday. PHOTOSHOP VIDEOS - ADDING DROP SHADOW Today's video shows how to add a drop shadow in Photoshop CS3. Photoshop videos are weekly videos that show you how to create digital elements and photography tips on Photoshop. They are posted every Monday. Click here for all of the archives. If you have questions/feedback click on the "share" link on the bottom right of this post. Thanks! DAILY PHOTOS - OCTOBER 11 2009  Wonderful Sunday, with family. Relaxed and happy.  My handsome boys.  I can never kiss him enough.  And Jake snuck in a few of me.  Finally feeling better. Happy Sunday. CATALYST 83 - JAPAN  My journaling: “Come work for me,” he said. I had worked for him before and I loved it. I knew he was a great manager and possibly the answer to the slump I was having at work. But to go live in Japan for six months? Was he crazy? I had to leave my life. My boyfriend. My home. And move somewhere where I knew no one. Didn’t speak a word of the language. And hated the food. Was he crazy? Was I crazy to be considering it? It scared the crap out of me. And, in the end, that was exactly why I decided to do it. I packed my bags, and moved miles and miles away. Six months in a faraway land. As it turned out, it was some of the best moments of my life. I made friends. I learned Japanese. I worked hard. I proved to myself that I could do it. Leave it all behind and still be ok. Go despite my fears. I still hate the food. But now I know I can do anything I want. I am brave. WEEKLY BOOKS - JULIET, NAKED 
When I heard Nick Hornby was coming out with a new book, I preordered the minute I could. And Juliet, Naked did not disappoint. I'll admit, I love Hornby and while I wasn't a huge fan of A Long Way Down, I've loved all of his books. I love his style. His humor. His ability to take a serious subject and inject a lot of humor and emotion into it. Noone can do that like Hornby.
And this book is no exception. Its characters are well thought-out, interesting, relateable, and their story is worth reading. I enjoyed this book so much I am not even sure what to pick for next week. DAILY PHOTOS - OCTOBER 10 2009        I was playing around with my childhood photos yesterday and found this one. Don't we look so similar?  DAILY PHOTOS - OCTOBER 9 2009  Still feeling super-grumpy. Not sure exactly what's going on. I think I need a little time off from myself. PHOTOGRAPHY TIPS - LIGHTING BASICS Today's video is about lighting. I hope you'll enjoy it. Feel free to let me know if anything is unclear or if you have questions. Next week is more on light. Photography Tips is a weekly feature and is posted every Friday. You can find all of them here. AN OLD MEMORY I've been with Jake for almost fifteen years. We met the last few weeks of the first semester of my Junior year in college. We were friends for a short while and then started dating right before it was time for us to go to our own homes for the holidays. Even though Jake's flight was several hours after mine, we went to the Pittsburgh airport together and talked and talked until it was time for me to board my flight. At the time I was a Resident Assistant and a few days before the Christmas holidays begin is finals time at Carnegie Mellon. And during finals we observe Quiet Hours in the dorms. Which means exactly what it sounds like. About a week before I left for home, I had heard blaring music from the room adjacent to mine. I walked into the room, prepared to remind them about Quiet Hours, but instead I sat on the bed and listened until the song finished. After that, I told them to turn the music down and went back to my room. But the song stuck in my head and I managed to get a copy on tape (this was before there were mp3 players, thank you very much). Even though I knew Air Supply, I'd never heard "Making Love out of Nothing at All" before and I really loved it. In fact, I pretty much listened to it on repeat for the new few weeks. On the day of the airport, I was still listening to it on repeat and as I boarded the plane and took my seat, I put the music on and looked out the window. That's when I saw Jake standing by the big glass wall that looked out on the runway and waving. I thought of waving back, but I knew he couldn't see me. And yet he waved. He continued to wave for the next 30 minutes. All the way until my plane pulled back and got on the runway to take off. I spent the whole time listening to the song over and over again and watching him wave at me. That might be the moment I fell in love with him. All these years later, I still think of that day when I hear the Air Supply Song. As the band plays images of the airport appear before me. I see him waving at me. Smiling. And I fall in love all over again. 52 QUESTIONS AND TECHNIQUES - TAG 40  The first thing that came to my mind when I saw this was time. Time is passing so quickly lately. And sometimes I find myself wishing for it to go faster (so Nathaniel can sleep through the night, so the weekend can come, so Christmas can come, etc. etc.) but I really need to appreciate the value of time so much more. Time with my loved ones. Time to practice my art. Time to read. Even time to do my work. I don't want to take a moment of my life for granted. I was originally going to make another fabric piece for this week and started to but after a failed attempt, I decided to use the Maya Road clock. I inked my background and put the clock on it. I added a few buttons, some words, a little fabric with stitching, some bling and some small alphabets and that's it.  I now sell some of these tags in my etsy store. If there's a tag you like and are interested in, email me or leave a comment and I'll be happy to add it. I am combining Emily Falconbridge's art journal questions with trying a new technique each week. You can see the full list: here. Weekly tags are posted every Thursday, you can see all of them by clicking here. DAILY PHOTOS - OCTOBER 8 2009  I am feeling a bit frustrated lately. Not because my todo list is too full (which it is) but because I actually want to do all the items on my list but cannot find the time to do them. Several times a day, I find myself itching to do one of the items and then immediately itching to do another one at the same time and then I get none of them done and I feel mostly frustrated. Oh well. Life. DAILY PHOTOS - OCTOBER 7 2009  A lot of photos today. One of those days where I couldn't decide which one to post. So you get them all. Sorry. Here's how much he is interested in his big brother.  Two just for me.   Here he is laughing. Laughing.  And here's what he's laughing at:  And my sweet sweet boy.  Good day. My husband did something amazing for me today. Thank you, Jake. WEEKLY DIGITAL DOWNLOADS - DATES SET This week's download is a set of date stamps. Here is an example of what's in there:  You can download it here: dates set download. You are welcome to play with these as much as you want and use them anywhere you'd like. You are NOT allowed to sell them ever. You don't have to but I'd appreciate a link back if you do use them. This is part of a weekly digital download series. They are posted every Wednesday. You can find all of the ones that were posted here. WEEKLY LAYOUTS - MY BOYS  if someone had told me years ago that i would end up with two boys i don't know what i would have said to them would i have been happy? did i want boys? or did i want girls? as it turns out having boys was the best thing i could wish for my boys are kind sweet loving generous and they hug with all their heart just like their daddy i am so thankful /c for my boys.  Weekly layouts is a weekly feature focusing on simple layouts with photos and journaling. It's posted on Tuesdays. DAILY PHOTOS - OCTOBER 6 2009  Today is one of those days where I have a million things swimming in my head, where I want to do so many things and feel equally inspired to do all of them at the same time and having that create the paralysis and inability to actually do any one thing. ugh. PHOTOSHOP VIDEOS - CONVERTING TO BLACK AND WHITE Today's video is about one way to convert a color photo to black and white. Photoshop videos are weekly videos that show you how to create digital elements and photography tips on Photoshop. They are posted every Monday. Click here for all of the archives. If you have questions/feedback click on the "share" link on the bottom right of this post. Thanks! DAILY PHOTOS - OCTOBER 5 2009   See the little boy going crazy there just to get the baby to look at the camera long enough? Oh the things we do to capture a good shot? CATALYST 82 - UNCONDITIONAL LOVE  my journaling: i’m not sure if it’s a superpower if it’s also something that ends up hurting me the most. can it be both? it must be. because my ability to love wholly, fully, with all my self and all my heart is my super power. the one thing that makes me, me. and it’s my magic, my genuine-ness, my ability to give you all i have and ask for nothing in return because once i love you, once i trust you, i am here for you, forever, all of me. forever. DAILY PHOTOS - OCTOBER 4 2009  And here's another one of Nathaniel practicing sitting.  All in all, a good weekend. Got a lot done. A lot more to do of course. Looking forward to the week. Yes, I am surprised too. WEEKLY BOOKS - THE BOOK THIEF Sometimes a book keeps showing up everywhere I turn. The Book Thief was one of those books. I saw it in several blogs I read and week after week, it just kept showing up. So I decided it was time to read it. Had I known what it was about, I wouldn't have even added it to my list. 
I don't read books that take place during the second world war. Ever. The only exceptions to this were "The Reader" which I did love and a book I read in Turkish a while ago written by a survivor. I have watched Schindler's List and Life is Beautiful. In the case of the latter, after the movie ended, I wept in the theater for almost an hour. This topic gets under my skin. I am not ordinarily very religious but I cannot stand reading about the second world war. So I err on the side of not even picking such books up.
But I had picked this one up and when I found out what it was about (my sister told me) I decided to put it right back down. But my sister insisted. It's really amazing she said. My friend literally couldn't put it down. She read the whole thing in one day. So I read on. It was terrible. Not the book, mind you. The book is odd but well-written and the story is touching and personal and so human. That's what makes it that much worse. Because, of course, the story is terribly sad. So many horrible things happen. So many people die. And there's so much destruction. I just don't have the stomach for this much sorrow. To see how incredibly cruel humans can be. Life is hard enough as it is, I don't need my books to be this sad. I really don't. Well, one more book finished. My pick for next week is an author I adore and I hope it's a happy story. DAILY PHOTOS - OCTOBER 3 2009     I finished my AMM kit today and I've been reading intermittently. All in all not the best day but that's ok. DAILY PHOTOS - OCTOBER 2 2009  And here's today's Nathaniel.  Still feeling a bit blue, hoping it will go away before the weekend is over. PHOTOGRAPHY TIPS - MORE ON ISO Following up on three weeks ago's video, this week I talk more about ISO. This tells you I will post examples with different ISO settings but I haven't managed to do that yet so expect that really soon (as well as the shutter speed example I mentioned last week.) Feel free to let me know if anything is unclear or if you have questions. Next week is shutter speed. I am still planning on writing these up, please bear with me if you can't watch YouTube videos. Photography Tips is a weekly feature and is posted every Friday. You can find all of them here. DAILY PHOTOS - OCTOBER 1 2009  Happy October. 52 Questions and Techniques - Tag 39  This was easy for me. Making these tags brings me so much joy lately that I wanted to celebrate them. Celebrate art. It's such a joy to have the luxury to create art. I've been stuck on fabric lately. Took a bunch of my favorite ones cut little squares, glued, stitched, added a few jewels and metal joys, punched a few eyelets with twine in them and here we are.  I now sell some of these tags in my etsy store. If there's a tag you like and are interested in, email me or leave a comment and I'll be happy to add it. I am combining Emily Falconbridge's art journal questions with trying a new technique each week. You can see the full list: here. Weekly tags are posted every Thursday, you can see all of them by clicking here. |
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