Drive

This week was all about driving.  While driving my 4-year-old to preschool on Wednesday, I saw a police suv.  As soon as I eyed it, I realized I didn’t have my updated car insurance in my car or my purse.  My insurance is current, I just always forget to put it in its appropriate place.  Then, when I returned home after dropping of my 4-year-old, I dropped by the mailbox and received a voter’s registration form.  I kept putting this off so I figured I better do it now before election time.  Well, I started filling out the paper work and it asked for my driver’s license information and my purse wasn’t within arms reach so I put the pen away and decided that I’d finish it later in the day.  As I did that, it occurred to me that my driver’s license was expired because I had turn that age (last month) where I needed to renew.  So, I find my purse and pull out my wallet and there it was, the expired license.  I panicked.  I needed to pick up my kids from their schools and we live a couple of minutes from the police station.  Yikes.

I drove super careful that day keeping an eye out for any police cars.  Then yesterday, husband had the day off work, and we headed to the DMV and renewed (as well as registered to vote).  What a relief!

I guess forgetfulness comes with age or maybe I’m just not eating enough fish.  Anyway, here’s a song that popped in my head while all this car driving craziness was going on.  It’s called “Drive” by R.E.M.  This was a favorite in college.  I especially like the guitar part.

I also want to share some freebies I made at my other blog.  You can grab them here.

Come Thou Fount

A beautifully composed piece by Paul Cardall:

 

I also wanted to share some free papers I created as a Friday Freebie download at my other blog.  You can grab them here.

Enjoy your weekend!

Nature Art

By a 4-year-old.

Flower.

Butterfly, flower, and the artist herself.  She was wearing a red shirt that day so she had to draw herself in red.

She drew these using Photoshop.  Initially, she was drawing with the Wacom tablet but it was a bit complicated so she used the mouse.  After she finished drawing, she said, “Save these okay?  Can you save them?”

You Had Me At Holga

I got a Holga from my secret santa (my sister) and was the happiest person on earth.  I’ve been wanting one for a very long time.  It is a very light plastic camera.  I think even lighter than the 110 camera I used to have back in the 80′s.

Holga’s are supposed to produce dreamy distorted photos, or as worded here:

My sister even included a couple of medium format rolls of film.  This one is the black and white one:

I was so excited to use this camera but later learned that it was harder to have the film developed than expected.  I went to Mike’s Camera because it was the closest one to my house but I don’t know if that was the best place to go.  I heard Wolf Camera also develops medium format so I’ll have to give them a try next time.

I first used the black and white film because it was 400 speed and I was taking it indoors (my Holga is flashless).  Out of the 16 exposures, only 7 were developed because the others were probably exposed to light when I loaded and unloaded (I forgot I was supposed to do this in the dark), and out of the 7 photos, there was only one I would call decent.  Two other were not bad.

These are the photos:

The photos were scanned in black and white by my husband.  The actual photos have a tint to them, similar to this:

I added the the yellow/brown in photoshop to make it look as close to the actual picture as possible.  The photo is actually a little more bluish but I had a hard time trying to pull that color out.  Also, the graininess on the photos is from the dust on the flatbed scanner.

For some better Holga photos, visit my “Altered Lens” board at Pinterest.com.  These images were repinned from other pinners who’ve pinned them from bloggers and websites.

And, before I end this post, I wanted to share a song I still love by Bruce Springsteen called, “Secret Garden” from, Jerry Maguire, a movie I also still love.

You Can Tell She’s a Princess

She spins the world around.

You can tell she’s a princess.

She doesn’t need a crown.

These were the words Kylie sang one evening last month while playing a game on the computer.  Her back was to me and she sang her heart out.  I was able to capture her singing on my cell phone after I had scribbled the first three verse down.  She would have stopped singing immediately if she knew I was listening and recording.

Accomplishments in 2011

Somehow I feel as though I’ve failed more in 2011 than accomplished things.  Maybe I should talk about the failures.  Nah.  I’ll focus on the positive.

In 2011, my biggest achievement was in the digital scrapbook world.  I’ve won some challenges and even money to spend on more digital scrapbook stuff.  I’ve made GSO (gallery standouts) and layout of the month.  I’ve joined 6 designer’s creative teams (CT) as a layout artist promoting the designers’ work.  I have since left the first 3 designers and within the last few months have been on 3 other designer’s CT.

It’s been an interesting, challenging, and fun experience immersing in the digi-scrap world.  At first it started out as trying to create pretty and simple scrapbook pages using photos I’ve taken of my two kids that I’ve kept on my computer since 2003.  But, it ended up being more than that.  I realized that there was so much more involved, such as, getting the hang of the editing software I thought I knew pretty well.  There was so much to learn out there and I spent a lot of time learning.  I even took a fantasy design course online and it really opened my eyes to so much more.  It was overwhelming learning new techniques week after week knowing that I wouldn’t really be using them all and go stale in some areas but it was worth the torture.  I feel as though I can choose my path better with this knowledge.  I can continue toward the direction I want to go a little more confidently.  And, of course…learning is never ending and I will continue learning.

A big accomplishment for husband and I is we finished our backyard landscaping.  We spent probably $3K to do it ourselves compared to the $10K+ we would have to spend to hire someone to do it.  It’s also a great feeling to see the yard and know that it was our hands (especially husband’s) that put it together.

Another big accomplish for husband and I is we paid off the loan on my car and upped our savings by another 1%.

I’m also very proud of husband for taking on a managerial position in December of 2010.  He took on a store that was a mess and turned it around.  Recently his boss told him and his team that they’ve brought down AR by more than half in 2011.  I hope that means a big bonus by this fall.

Small But Special Accomplishments: My Orchids

The orchid husband and I received for our house warming from my brother and SIL last year bloomed for the 3rd time (see also photo above).  This might even be the 4th time…I can’t be sure.

…and the master bath orchid bloomed once again!  This time, there are two stalks.

Sadly, the smaller pink orchid plant that was also in the master bath died.

Here’s To You…

My Top 10 Progressive House/Dream Trance Picks of 2011

I have a love for dreamy balearic music along the lines of progressive house and dream trance.  I’m not so much into the hardcore techno stuff, unless I’m at a night club…which I haven’t been to for a very long time, because it’s not something I could relax to.

Dream trance is what it sounds like.  Dreamy and mind altering.  Some of my favorites are those with soothing vocals and lyrics that take me to far away worlds and all things far from reality.  It’s fun once in awhile to create a world of ones own imagination to escape to.  A lot of these songs have areas of fading in and out of slow and fast parts.  Some songs are extremely lengthy and repetitive but I think that’s what makes this kind of music unique.

I mostly listen to dream trance (and the likes) when I am working on digital scrapping, digital art, editing photos, writing, etc.  It puts me at my best.

Here are my top 10 this year.  All these videos were found on YouTube.

Vocals:

1. “Feels Like Heaven” (Downtempo Version) by Roger Shah & Sunlounger feat. Zara Taylor.  I could listen to this song straight through + repeat.

 

2. “Disarm Yourself” by Dash Berlin feat. Emma Hewett.  This is a very beautiful song and Emma’s voice is beyond soothing.

 

3. “Ong Namo” (Live Intro Edit Version) by Bryan Kearney and Snatam Kaur.  Soothing and epic intro.

 

4. “Opposing Worlds” (Original Mix Edit) by Dimension & Long Island feat. Anthya.  I love the fade in and out of this song.

 

5. “See Me Here” (Acoustic Mix) by Orion.  Slow, relaxing, and the vocals are dreamy.

 

6. “Beautiful Night” (Downtempo Version) by Roger Shah feat. Antonia Lucas.  Great song but I think the best part is the music starting at 4:40.

 

Music Only

7. “Sunshine” by Ryan Farish.  This song is on his Legacy (Greatest Hits 2000-2010) album but I still listen to it quite often and sometimes on repeat.

 

8. “White” by Smith & Pledger.  At 2:20 it slows down to a beautiful tune, and then picks up, taking that tune with it.

 

9. “One Day” by Soundlift.  Starting at about 2:35, it slows down, and gives a whole new feel to the song then picks up again around 4:30.

 

10. “You Left” (Alexei Zakharov Ambient Mix) by Pedro Del Mar & Blue Tente.  This version is slow with a touch of melancholy.

I hope you enjoyed them!

The Rest…

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas.  I sure did.  I know I’ve fallen behind with posting my girls’ 24-day-of-Christmas gifts.  Here are the things they received starting from day 4.  To see anything before day 4, just scroll through the blog.

The girls enjoyed the gifts that required putting together like the cards and angels.  They want to do more crafty things.  They also liked their dresses.

In The Clouds

[Walkway]

It is not unusual to see haze in my neighborhood.  It is one of the best things about this area and one husband and I found by surprise after we moved here a couple of years ago. I’ve captured some beautiful shots earlier in the year of a frosty haze.  Over the summer, we had a few hazy mornings and I wish I had captured them, but there is always next year.

Yesterday we had a thick haze for most the morning and afternoon.  It was thicker in some areas than others.  In my neighborhood, it was pretty thick.  I think haze is one of the most beautiful and mysterious thing to see.  It brings on a kind of peace and calm.

While we were out and about my kids were curious about the haze and asked questions.  I made it simple and told them that we were in the clouds.  My older one knew it was haze but my younger one didn’t.  I think being “in the clouds” made more since to her than haze would have.

Here is a comparison of haze and no haze from the master bedroom.

The latter photo was taken this morning.

Other Stuff

Kids say very interestng things.  I think as parents this is the one thing that keeps us going.  For me, it puts a huge smile on my face and reminds me why I have them in my life.

Late last week Kida and I had a conversation about parents while I was driving us somewhere.  She brought it up and I’m not sure why but maybe she wanted to make sense of it.  She told me there were two kinds of parents.  The first kind she called, teenager parents, and the second kind she called, real parents.  In her words, “The teenager parents are the kind that talk a lot on the phone and say, “OMG” all the time, just like a teenager.  They also act like they are teenagers.” The conversation continued like this:

ME: What does a teenager parent act like?

HER: Like they are young.

ME: So teenager parents act like they are younger than they really are?

HER: Yeah.

ME: So what is a real parent?

HER: A real parent is responsible.

ME: And, how do they act?

HER: They act like their age.

ME: Is that good?

HER: Yeah!

ME: So, am I a real parent or a teenager parent?

HER: You’re a real parent.

ME: Do you prefer a real parent or a teenager parent?

HER: A real parent.

I smiled.  It didn’t matter whether I was a real parent or a teenager parent.  What mattered was, I = what she preferred.

Then with Kylie, while driving home from a Christmas party over the weekend, she and I had a conversation about waiting and at one point she said, “Mom…you have to wait 16 hours.”  Husband was listening and whispered to me, “Ask her to count to 20.  She always skips 16.”  So, I said, “Kylie, can you count to 20?”  She didn’t hesitate and began counting, “1, 2, 3, 4, 5…”  She does great as usual.  Then, “….12, 13, 14, 15, 17, 18, 19, 20!”  Husband and I started laughing then she said, “I messed up didn’t I.”  We told her she skipped 16 and she started laughing (she had no idea why we were really laughing).  It’s funny how she knows a number 16 exists, yet not when she’s counting.