Here’s one of my layouts from the Scrapworks Halloween Spotlight for AMM.
Journaling Reads:
Everyone has a different reason for loving Halloween.
Some people go all out decorating their lawns and houses. Others have a
blast with the costumes. Some people get a thrill from all the spooky
stuff. They create haunted houses, rent scary movies, and enjoy every
moment of it. And, of course, there are those who are all about the
pumpkin carving. The funny faces, the scary ones, and some that are
downright weird.
I am not the spooky type. Scary things actually scare me and don’t
thrill me one bit. They give me nightmares. Costumes are fun, but too
much work for me. So is all the decorating. I think I would actually
enjoy the pumpkin carving but I am still too new to it. So, for me,
Halloween is all about the food. The cookies, the muffins, the candy: I
don’t discriminate; I love all.
You can have your costumes, your decorations, and your spooky movies.
For me to have the best Halloween all I need is for you to share your
baked goods!
I made it to round two of Last Scrapper Standing. Woo hoo. Here’s the
challenge for round two:
“Alright. Your next challenge from the Dare book. It is to scrap 7
Random Facts. They could be facts about yourself, your spouse, your
child, your best friend…whomever. Just make em random and make em 7.”
I wanted to give the impression that I was looking at a mirror, so I
wrapped my background in aluminum paper. I put a black frame to make it
look like the mirror frame and even embossed the corners like a mirror
might have. It didn’t photograph well but it’s really shiny and reflects.
The facts are:
1. I can’t ride a bike.
2. I am scared of the dark
3. I have no middle name.
4. I am double-jointed on my arms
5. I went to my parents’ wedding. I even ditched school for it.
6. I have never broken a bone anywhere.
7. I can touch the tip of my nose with my tongue.
Another layout for October AMM kit.
Journaling Reads:
Towards the end of every MyGym class, they give a surprise to everyone.
Each week the surprise is something different. Sometimes it’s a ball, or
a cone, or a slinky, or a ring. Once you have your surprise, they act
out a lot of different things to do with it. They put it on their head
and then ask, “Is this a hat?”
A few seconds later, they go, “Noooo, it’s not a hat.”
“Is this a shoe?”
“Noooo, not a shoe.”
And on and on. You always participate in the games but never say
anything. I never minded it because you have so much fun during surprise
time even without the words. Last week, when you came home from the
class, you were out in the backyard, playing with the bike pump. You
drove it like a truck and then said, “Truck!” so I said. “Is that a truck?”
And you replied, “Noooo, no truck.” I couldn’t believe what I heard.
You always manage to surprise me, David. Just when I think you’re not
paying any attention or understanding anything, you show me that you
were listening all along.
Another layout for October AMM kit.
Journaling Reads:
Up until last week, we’d never put you on a merry-go-round but I always
thought you would absolutely love it. What kid doesn’t love a carousel?
Apparently: You.
When you first saw it, you were excited about the horses and wanted to
get on them with me. But once it started turning around, you immediately
broke down. You kept climbing on Daddy or me; crying hysterically. We
couldn’t ask them to stop the ride, so we held on tight to make sure you
knew we had you covered and would not let anything bad happen to you.
I know that, one day, you will love carousels and wonder why you were
crying, but for now, it’s not something you want to try and I completely
respect that. At some point, I might encourage you to give it another
try, but I will never force you.
David, I want you to know that we will always be here for you, to cover
you, hold you, love you, and protect you from anything and everything
that gets in the way of your happiness.
So I was thrilled to bits about making it to AMM DT. It was something I
really really wanted. And I am so honored!! This was my first layout as
a DT member with the October Kit. A rare one with out journaling.
Another layout for the AMM DT call.
Journaling Reads:
When they meet you in person, people always comment on how much you look
like your dad. My sister was so surprised about the close resemblance
that she said, “Couldn’t you have passed on one of your genes?” And,
it’s true, on the surface you don’t look anything like me.
But, there’s always more to people than their looks.
Tomorrow is my thirty-third birthday and my wonderful sister decided to
do something extra special this time. She found a writer and had her
write the story of how much my sister loves and appreciates me.
When I got the book in the mail, I couldn’t believe my eyes. I sat down
to read and my eyes instantly filled with tears. I didn’t even notice
that you were watching me until you walked up to me. You said:
“No sad. No crying.” You took the book from my hands and you put it on
the table.
David, you’re still a little too young for me to explain the difference
between sad tears and happy ones, but obviously not too young for
empathy. Paying attention to others’ feelings and wanting to put an end
to their sadness is something we share. My wonderful son, I hope you
never lose the genuineness with which you care about others and always
bring them the kind of joy you’ve brought into my life. I am so
delighted to know you.
I’m also glad to know that I did pass on a few genes to you, after all.
I figured it was time to post October and November layouts. This was for
AMM DT call.
Journaling Reads:
Muir Woods is my sanctuary.
The first time your Daddy and I visited Muir Woods, I was writing
novels. We were in town for a wedding and your dad drove me to the park
as part of our two-day sightseeing. I fell in love with the park
immediately. I was so enamored with the magnanimity of nature that I sat
there in awe for quite some time. I told Daddy that I could sit in these
woods and write all day and all night. I decided we needed to move to
San Francisco just so I could visit this place regularly.
Sadly, since we’ve moved to the Bay Area, we hadn’t visited Muir Woods
once until two weeks ago, when your grandpa came to visit. I was whiny
all the way up to the park and wished I had decided to stay home and
scrap. But the moment we walked in, you screamed:
“I see trees!”
And I knew I was doing something much better than scrapbooking: I was
living one of those moments that I work hard to capture on my scrapbook
pages. For the next hour, we walked along the magical pathways of Muir
Woods, and you ran around and explored everything. You looked at the
bugs. You watched the water. You kept pointing out animals. Your
enthusiasm was contagious.
I am so glad to know that a place that brings me so much peace brought
you an equal amount of joy. I promise you, my little boy, there are many
more Muir Woods trips in our future.
One of my non-ending struggles is to find a way to “have-it-all.”
I am constantly trying to decide what I should do and what I am willing
to give up in return. Often times, I am not willing to give up anything
completely so I try to do it all and I don’t have enough time to spread
across all so I end up doing a sub-par job at each and I get really
frustrated.
Back when I used to write, I’d always get annoyed that people around me
seemed to send out their stories more often or write so much more than I
did. Of course, many of them had no job or an easy 9-5 job as opposed to
my Wall Street insanity. Today, I face the same struggles. When I don’t
reach a goal as fast as the person next to me, or don’t reach it at all,
I get endlessly disappointed in myself. I feel like life is unfair. I’m
working just as hard as this person but I am not getting the credit.
The fact is I am not. This person is only doing the one thing. I am
doing seventeen things. When I distribute my attention and brain power
across that many things, there’s low chance I will do as well as the
next person (unless they are naturally a lot less skilled than I am,
which is rarely the case.) and it’s not fair for me to expect to.
Yet, I still do and I still get sad when I don’t get the recognition or
the opportunities others do. But then I try to step back and remember
why I do what I do and remember that the next step may not actually be
the best step for me to take. Sometimes opportunities aren’t actually in
the direction I want to go and it’s hard to pull myself away enough to
remember that point.
So this is here to remind me. The next step in the ladder isn’t always
the best step for me. There’s so much more to my life than the
accomplishments. Recognition. Being over-accomplished is over-rated. And often not
worth giving up the “other stuff” for.
For the next time I forget.
I miss New York City.
Even though I was completely ready to leave it when we did, I never
realized how very much I was going to miss it. Sometimes it’s as bad as
craving. There are many reasons why I miss the beautiful city, but one
of them is the variety of friends I had there.
Mostly due to the fact that I did more differing activities when I
lived in NYC, but also because the city draws so many different people.
When I look back upon the years I spent there, the people whose faces
jump out at me are from so many different backgrounds, not just Wall
Street. I remember the artists, the musicians, the readers, the goth,
the programmers, the deaf, the teachers, the executives, the Turks,
childhood friends, fleeting friends, random acquaintances.
It was wonderful having such a wide variety because it was a constant
reminder that my way wasn’t the only way to live life. And it’s too easy
to forget that sometimes. It’s easy to get lost on the Wall Street life
or the Silicon Valley life. I’ve been blessed to have worked at the best
of the street and the best of the valley, but it’s still crucially
important for me to remember that these are small microcosms of
humanity. They may be where the money is concentrated but they
definitely are not the only place to look for interesting people
(sometimes just the opposite in fact.)
So I need to find a way to build that variety in my California life. I
have a bit of it with the scrapbooking I do. But not enough of it. Not
nearly enough of it.
So I’ve been experiencing a new bout of giddy with
new friendship syndrome. And I was trying to remember the last time
this happened so I was looking through my archives and spent the day
going down memory lane. The last time I blogged about it was in 2001
but I did have another one of these in 2003, when I moved to San Diego.
It’s interesting to see that they are not as frequent as they seem and,
over time, I am not actually even friends with half these people. I am
with some and in those cases, they are solid, strong friendships that
feel good and not messed up even though the intensity is gone. It’s good
to know it can last but it doesn’t matter too much to me if it doesn’t
each time. Some people have staying power, others don’t. Each plays
his/her role in my life and that’s the part that matters.
I’ve also noticed today that the intensity with which I go to this phase
can freak some people out. This has happened before when people
interpret it as more than friendship or aren’t used to people being
really this straight with them and not having it be sexual. But it’s
not. And generally, eventually they come around. But, maybe not every
time. Who knows?
Anyhow, another important thing I thought today is that I miss writing
this blog. I mean properly writing it. Where it’s not photos or
scrapbooking or books, but it’s me. My thoughts. Not just about David,
though those too. But about me, what I think. What’s going on. Why it
matters.
So I’m going to try to do a lot of that. Daily, in fact. Let’s see if I
can manage every day in November.
The first time I heard of
Water For Elephants
was on a beach in Connecticut. We were there for Jake’s cousin’s wedding and David was running around the beach.
I saw this woman reading the book and got it confused with another one and when I realized my mistake, I asked her
how it was. She said she was liking it, but didn’t seem enthusiastic enough for me to want to place it on my library queue.
A few weeks ago, I was at Kepler’s and saw the book again. I decided I wanted to give it a try. I got it from the library three weeks ago and it’s been sitting around, waiting to be read.
Despite being on vacation, I haven’t read much at all in the last three weeks and I was getting worried that something was wrong with me.
Turns out nothing was wrong with me, and everything was wrong with the books I was trying to read. I picked this book up since it was due back in two days and I wanted to at least check it out.
And, man, am I glad I did. I read it in two days and loved loved LOVED it. I can’t even tell you why. I fell into the story immediately and enjoyed every single minute of it.
Despite the unusual setting, this is a timeless story and fantastic writing. Highly recommended.
|
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
|
