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.
This week’s question is: “What am I taking for granted?”
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.
This photo is technically poor but I still love it. Lest you think Nathaniel lives in the exersaucer, it’s just an easy place for me to put him while I have both hands free to shoot photos.
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.
There are no words for how much Rebecca Sower inspires me. Really no words. I want to be her when I grow up. I made a long wish list trying to be like her and here are some of the goodies my mother in law was generous enough to buy me for my birthday. If only they came with her talent…
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.
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.
You can’t see this very clearly but I love watching them play together and it’s one of the things I am most looking forward to as they grow up (not the bickering though).
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.
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.
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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.
Look at this child. He’s so incredibly cute. I know you might be sick of seeing photos of my kids. I totally understand. But I will never be sick of it. These photos make my soul happy.
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.
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.
