Journaling Reads:
When I first started practicing photography, I remember being awed by the range of greens in nature. Have you ever noticed how very many shades of green there are? It’s breathtaking.
There is so much in nature that inspires me. The towering redwood trees of Marin, the endless Pacific Ocean, animals, flowers, the sky. Sand, water, snow, leaves. Pretty much all of it leaves me speechless.
On days when I am down or in need of some inspiration, I take my little boy and go on a walk in my neighborhood. I take the time to look at small details. The way young leaves of a plant are several shades lighter green than the mature ones. The way a single flower can have six shades of blue or red. The way a tulip opens wide like it’s waiting for a hug.
When I lived in Southern California, I used to go to the beach for that. My mom always said that she didn’t like seeing an endless ocean. She likes to look at the sea and see other islands, some land. Not me. I love the immensity of it all. I love how it makes me feel like all my problems are so small.
I am at the bottom of my photos so I need to go take some more. It’s been a little too hectic for some photo trips so I need to take the time. Today started with a trip to the TMJ doctor and some more shots to the temple. He did adjust my splint though so I am in a lot less pain than I was. Then we came home, Nathaniel napped, I worked, I walked, I worked. After lunch, I decided to put some clothes on him cause his pajamas were soaking. So I also snapped some photos.
I love this one so much.
My sweet boy is so handsome.
And then he went and dug up David’s shoes to complete the outfit.
When we got David, I tried to get some shots of him, too but he wasn’t as accommodating.
But I got one!
And that’s the end of another day. I did a small crafty project today so I am happy about that and I walked/ran so I am happy about that, too. Time with my kids, work, eating veggies. That’s about all I hope for from a day these days.
Three Things I’m Grateful For:
1. I am grateful that I am going shopping tonight. I decided to gift myself something for walking every single day for the last 34 days. Maybe a sweater.
2. I am grateful that though stressful, work is extra productive this week.
3. I am thankful that the weekend is almost here. And I have a bunch of things on my list but nothing too stressful and there are two happy mails headed my way for next week, too. I am a lucky lucky girl.
Three Things David’s Grateful For:
1. mommy giving me a batman book (my friend Kathy gave me tons of reading books yesterday and I am so thankful, too.)
2. having our new art teacher at school (she’s the real teacher, she was away on maternity)
3. watching a little sprout (yes two days in a row, it’s been a rough week for me.)
Foreign Affairs was another book club pick. An old book but a Pulitzer Winner. So I had expectations. And the reviews said it was awesome and hilarious. So I had even more expectations.
In the end, I think it was so-so. I didn’t feel strong connection or empathy to either character. On the contrary, I felt like Vinnie was being a stuck up, stubborn, annoying person the whole time. And if I can’t stand a character, I can hardly read the book. I made my way through this one but I am not sure what I thought of it. It wasn’t terrible but it certainly was not hilarious.
At least not for my sense of humor.
Tulips are forevermore my first love.
After we dropped David off on the bus today, we went to visit my friend Nicholas. The plan was to walk his dog but I was tired and Nathaniel is still sick-ish so I asked if we could just hang out instead. It was a great way to start my day. Then we rushed home to let the cleaning lady in and Nathaniel loved having them here and showed off my wearing his hat.
And taking it off and wearing it again and taking it off again. About twenty times or so.
After they left, he took his nap and I worked and walked and worked more. We are a delicious lunch of sole fish, heirloom tomatoes and he even had some eggs. I went back to work and he just walked around, trying to decide what to get into next. Then he put on the headphones and walked around some.
And then grabbed my pedometer (which is not working at all and randomly making a LOT of sounds) and played with it some.
After we picked up his brother, we gave him the toy Nicholas gifted me this morning. David was a fan and played quietly with it for an hour.
When I asked for a smile, this is what I got.
Oh well.
All in all, much better day than usual. Mostly cause I kept my cool for most of it. I didn’t get to do a layout today and I have to rush to book club in a bit but I might finish a small project before then if I am lucky. If not, there’s tomorrow. Working on being less in a hurry and more peaceful. Peace peace peace. It always comes down to that for me. And being content. so much better than happy as Tara Whitney recently pointed out. I love being content.
Three Things I’m Grateful For:
1. I am grateful to have spent some time with my friend Nicholas and I get to see him tonight, too.
2. I am grateful that the house is all clean and tidy. Nothing like this great smell of clean.
3. I am thankful that the last of my December Daily items have arrived and I cannot wait to sit down and put my album together.
Three Things David’s Grateful For:
1. playing with Nicholas’ toy
2. getting a silly band from a friend at school
3. watching a little sprout
Catalyst One Hundred and Twenty-Three is: Is there something about someone that you’ve always wanted to know but have never asked?
Thoughts:
A few years ago, I took this amazing class that completely transformed my life. Shortly after, I was back home in Turkey and I was telling my family about the class. My grandmother listened intently and said she wished she’d taken the class and that she had some big regrets about her life. I remember making a mental note to follow up with her, at the time. But I never did. And, this last winter, I lost my grandmother. So now I will never get to ask. So I wanted to make my art be a reminder that you should always ask. Right now. Do not put it off. Do not assume. Ask.
I worked very very hard to become an American citizen so I never take the privilege of voting for granted. Never.
Today started around 3am when Nathaniel decided it was morning time. Then there was early morning naps which lead into the whole day feeling out of whack. As I worked, he played with everything and piled on whatever he could find. But he was really good for the most part.
And then my work went into a speedy downfall which started swallowing me up inside it. And from that point on it was chaos chaos and more chaos. It wasn’t until 5:30 that I remembered I hadn’t snapped a photo. So I quickly grabbed one of David.
And one of Nathaniel with all the food on this mouth. He was really whiny by this point. Exhausted and wiped from the super-early nap.
He’s still sick, too. And so am I. I am hoping we’ll recover sooner than later. Because the day was such a mess, I have a ton of emails, comments, and other todo list items piled up on my todo list. I also have my layout from this morning still sitting on my desk, unfinished. Which means I have to tackle those next.
I am also avidly watching CNN. Election nights are always my favorite to watch and really the only news I watch these days. No Glee tonight so more reason to stick to CNN.
Three Things I’m Grateful For:
1. I am grateful that after all the chaos and stress, the build did go live and so I can now relax a bit.
2. I am grateful that I exercised. I will be grateful for that every day for a while. Lost one more pound, too.
3. I am thankful that I get to vote. I don’t take nearly as much time to appreciate the fact that I am American. This was a lifelong goal for me. It’s something I am deeply thankful for. Deeply. Democrat. Republican. Recession. or not. I am so grateful to be in this country. This is where I belong.
Three Things David’s Grateful For:
1. drawing
2. sitting next to maggie on the bus
3. mommy
I know I’ve done this before, but this last month of art journaling also meant that I finally finished the art journal I started back in 2008. So I decided it would be fun to to do a recap post about all of them. So here’s the item:
56. Create an art journal and fill all the pages
So, as I mentioned, this journal was started in 2008. It was an old 7gypsies album I had and I covered it with a photo that I loved and with my word of the year for 2008 which was journey. Here’s an image I took early this year:
This year, I bought a journal kit from Rebecca Sower and added the hodge podge pages into this book. So it ended up with some scrapbook paper, some water color paper, some copic paper, tags, envelopes, etc. I then glued the cover so it was one piece. That failed at some point, so I punched some holes and put ribbon through them. Not sure that worked so well, either. But it held up. So now here’s a look at all the pages I did this month:
and more.
and one more set.
And here are some pages from July and before.
remember the trees from months ago?
and more
And here are some shots of the album before and after:
And finally here’s a top-down look for you.
And there we are. I can’t believe this journal is done. I think for next year, I will make another journal and do pages once a week. Maybe I can keep it up.
Well, November started on a good note over here. I got a lot of work done and I scrapped and I exercised. What more can one ask for? I didn’t snap as many photos as usual but that’s life.
Here’s the little boy reading quietly while I work.
And then I didn’t snap any photos until David came home.
One more smiley one just for Mama.
And the little boy also does his version of the smile.
I made a list of my todo list for November and I am just working my way down the list. Trying not to stress and telling myself I don’t have to rush ahead. A little step forward each day will do the trick. Right? It will!
Three Things I’m Grateful For:
1. I am grateful that I scrapped. I woke up really tired and worn out today. I am still coughing and congested. I thought the day would be terrible so I am really glad things turned out much better.
2. I am grateful that I am back to reading. I missed reading. I love reading.
3. I am thankful that I did not dip into the candy leftovers at all today. Not once!
Three Things David’s Grateful For:
1. riding my bike with daddy
2. checking out a star wars book from the library
3. having the teacher read us the chicken little book
I’ve been sitting on this for over a month now!! I am delighted to be a part of the write.click.scrapbook team! What an incredible honor!!
A new month means a new write.click.scrapbook gallery. This month’s challenge is inspired by Ze Frank’s Young Me Now Me. You can see the full gallery here! (And see it’s not a white background!!)
Journaling Reads:
Looking at these photos, it’s fascinating to see how much of this little girl is still inside me. I am still the pensive little girl who feels lonely more often than not. I still prefer to read over anything else and I still spend hours worrying. Some things have changed, too, like how much happier and more peaceful I feel now and my wonderful family, of course. But so much of me is still from that little, little girl.
Details:
Lots of photos today! We started the day quietly and I read my book while David played his Wii (since Jake’s parents were here yesterday, we’d moved his day to today.) And Nathaniel looked at the calendar some more. He loves that calendar so much.
And the minute David went to the bathroom, he took over the remotes.
And played some Lego Indiana Jones.
In the afternoon, I dressed the kids up and tried to snap some photos. The chicken wasn’t so happy.
The hulk was just scary.
Together, they look funny to me.
I snapped one more with all my boys.
Then we went out to trick or treat. I love my chicken.
Our next door neighbor was a duck so we snapped a photo of the two of them together.
And that was Halloween. Simple, quick, and fun. We got very few trick-or-treaters. So I have buckets of candy that will have to go to Jake’s work since I will not have them in the house. We’re all still a little sick with runny noses and throat pain. But hopefully on the mend. I did finish my book today and I did my walk and I even made a tag. All in all, wonderful weekend and here’s to a great November!
Three Things I’m Grateful For:
1. I am grateful that I walked 30 days in a row. Every single day. Around 45 miles this month.
2. I am grateful that I get to work on my December Daily next. Love that album.
3. I am grateful that my son is so sweet and did not have any breakdowns over halloween or not getting to eat all of his candy. He is so wonderful.
Three Things David’s Grateful For:
1. playing wii
2. going door to door and getting candy for halloween
3. getting to eat some of my candy (he was allowed 4 of them. He picked: whoppers, skittles, m&ms, and sweet tarts).
And here’s the final page.
Simple page but I think these are the pages I’ve been doing the most this month. Blues and greens with whiles on top. That seems to speak to me the most. Focus on Joy and Love and all will turn out great. Isn’t that the truth? Watercolors and flowers and doilies.
This was made for a Crate Paper contest a month or so ago.
Journaling Reads:
Having two kids is a lot of work. More noise, bigger mess, screaming, fighting, wrestling, and complaining. But then there are moments like this one. Small, tiny gestures of love that take your breath away. Like putting an arm over his shoulder as you watch Daddy mow the lawn. So simple and small and yet so significant. This is when my heart melts and I completely relax and realize it’s all so worth it.
details:
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projects for twenty twenty-six
projects for twenty twenty-five
projects for twenty twenty-four
projects for twenty twenty-three
projects for twenty twenty-two
projects for twenty twenty-one
projects for twenty nineteen
projects for twenty eighteen
projects from twenty seventeen
monthly projects from previous years
some of my previous projects
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