Sunday Self #14

Ahck. Haven’t done Sunday Self for a while. Exactly the reason to bring it back. 

Sometimes I forget that God brought me into His beautiful light.

Crafty Tuesday

I LOVE Anthropologie.

Love it.
Although I can’t go in and buy every single thing I see in the store,
just walking through and browsing is {happy-dance} relaxing to my senses.

The smell.

The texture.

The décor.

It does it for me (and I know I’m not alone).

Which brings me to my circa 1970’s condo which has no interesting history and leaves me feeling uninspired - but I have a great fireplace that works – I love that! However, fireplace mantles have always been a bit of a challenge for me and then I was motivated by a post from a Facebook friend and a couple blogs I happened upon all within a 12 hour period of time. 

One day later I had my own Anthropologie inspired wall.

I used clip earrings from the collection I inherited from my mom. They get to sparkle with a new, repurposed life!

I used old sheet music for the carnation shaped flowers because I just couldn’t bring myself to tear out pages from ANY of my vintage books I have laying around. 

As proud as I was of my new decorations, I didn’t say a word to the Guy-I-Dig. I wanted to see his reaction… Ironically, even though the fire place is the first thing you see when you walk into our living area, he didn’t notice for two full days.

He even set down and picked up his glasses from the mantle.

Three days later, as I sat at the table working with Harrison on something, I glanced up to see him looking intently at the wall above the fire place, “How long has this been here?”

“All weekend.”

He laughed, “DOH!”

I love my husband.
…and he gave the wall décor his two thumbs up.

Linked | Body Parts

Okay I admit, the words Body Parts, conjures up all kinds of images better played out in a crime drama.  I obviously watch far too much CSI and Criminal Minds.

I’ll work on that.

Then I thought of all those sweet babies that I’ve photographed [and neglected to get posted here], with their little toes and fingers and faces… but why break a bad habit now by posting some cute little client pictures.  Especially since I got sick yesterday and can’t really hang with my computer for long enough to go back archives (and isn’t “going back to archives” kind of cheating for Linked 52 anyway?)

And frankly, I’d LOVE to trade in a couple of MY body parts right now!

So alas, I give you…

 

BODY PARTS

 

I know!
It’s like a Lego body part grave yard!

Heads, arms, bodies, strewn all over Harrison’s room. 

It’s not like we don’t have organization in place for these small, sad creatures with their missing hands or legs…

I’d love to blame this scramble of body parts across the floor on the weather, or us ALL getting sick by the end of this week.
But let’s face it…

With 90 Mini-figures floating around the house, a Lego grave yard full of body parts was bound to happen sooner or later.

[it was a busy week around here with a sick boy and a deadline – trying to get it all done before I go out of town. I’ll be in Vegas next week for WPPI. But I’m scheduling a “Sunday Self” post this Sunday.   Pray that this cold lets go of me before I get on the plane Sunday morning.]

Want to join  Linked? Jump in and play! Check who else is playing: Stacey, Michelle, Tracey, Heather, Andrea, Jenn, Jessica, Amanda, Amanda, Kristin, Sara, Tracy, Lesli, Janet, Naomi, Rhonda, Carla, Heidi, Kristin, Heather, Amy, Liza, and Veronica.

 

Now back to casting off MY unwanted body parts, like this cold-ravaged nose…
Hmm?…

Linked | {in the} Quiet {time}

This afternoon I stepped away from my computer and work to take a break and make some lunch.

I remembered the brussel sprouts waiting for me in the fridge, so I turned on the oven and pulled out a cutting board to prepare them for roasting.

That’s when I became inspired to photograph them.

As I took in the kitchen preparing and photographing those little green brussel sprouts, I realized something –

It was quiet. I mean REALLY quiet.

I had been so busy creating that I wasn’t even cognizant of it at first.  But it struck me as I stood in the warm sunlight of the kitchen; my home was empty and quiet. I breathed in the contentment of that moment. 

Sometimes I forget just how powerful and healing the quiet can be. When there is no TV, no music, no family members talking and most of all – no noise in my head of what needs to get done, where I should be, what is next, who needs to be where. Just   QUIET.

I prepared the brussel sprouts for the oven by marinating them in a couple table spoons of olive oil, some Kosher salt and fresh cracked pepper. 

They roast in the over at 400 degrees for about 30 to 40 minutes.  It’s ironic, I've gone from swearing I would never eat brussel sprouts – ever again, to loving the smell of them roasting in the oven. 

They end up dark and crunchy outside, flavored by the salt and pepper and soft on the inside with a more mild taste when roasted long enough.

Within the hour I was back to work, the noise in my head turned  back up  to full, albeit I longed for more of those yummy little balls of crunchy green. I’m telling you, it’s a serious new love affair! I actually make a conscious choice to BUY brussel sprouts!

Brussel Sprouts?
Seriously, I’m not in my right mind.
But I just want MORE!

 

 

Linked In: Stacey, Michelle, Tracey, Heather, Andrea, Jenn, Jessica, Amanda, Amanda, Kristin, Sara, Tracy, Lesli, Janet, Naomi, Rhonda, Rose, Carla, Heidi, Kristin, Heather, Amy, Liza, and Veronica.

“Great. Now I have guilt!”

I love Toy Story, don’t you? And Rex is the best… well, I love all the main characters. Although Harrison gave his Mr. Potato Head away because he said Mr. Potato Head has bad behavior and isn’t always nice.
As usual, I digress.
Back to my guilt.
Last week I started Harrison’s valentines for his class. I planned to get Trader Joe’s Organic Lollipops, but I was rushing and happened to be at Target where I spotted some heart-shaped lollipops on the cheap.
On the cheap.
Translation: filled with high fructose corn syrups and, more so, several artificial colors and preservatives that I can’t announce and would never endorse.  Plus there was my internal voice saying “WHAT?!!!”, that I was ignoring with a figurative hands-over-the-ears-saying “la-la-la-la… I can’t hear you!!” motion. (I learned that from a college boyfriend who did that to me once – literally. [WHAT?!] But that’s another story.)
Anyway, I bought them and moved on.

Then, earlier this week, I was reminded about the evils of food dyes when I posted an article about the subject on my Facebook wall. That’s when I felt it, I looked at that pile of valentine cards with a shoulder-slumping sigh of defeat. That was not what I planned, heart-shaped or not, I can’t in good conscious give a candy to another child that I wouldn’t give to my own. (Even though I let Harrison try one – DOH! Maybe that’s why he was hyper the other night.)
Food coloring dye. Maybe you have heard of Red #40 and are familiar with the studies on the effect of [petroleum based] food dyes on children’s behavior, especially children with ADHD. I first heard about the effects of red#40 from a friend while at Disneyland in 2008, she asked me, “Do you notice a difference in Harrison’s behavior when he consumes food with red#40?” “No”, I answered. She responded by telling methat it’s in everything including Kraft Mac and Cheese. I thought for a moment and realized I hadn’t bought Kraft Mac&Cheese for some time. I went home that night and looked through my cabinets and I discovered I no longer buy most name brand packaged foods.  […reason why I suck at collecting those silly Box Tops.]
Fast forward to today and the ongoing war against food dye, while the FDA has recently concluded that there is not enough evidence to link food dye with hyperactivity and voted not to add warning labels to ingredients, others beg to differ including the CSPI.  Even the UK removed artificial dyes from the food beginning as early as 2008.
Consider this from the CSPI:

On my Facebook page alone, a friend brought up that her son is allergic to all synthetic food dyes, which is in EVERYTHING from our food (including fresh fruit) to our clothing. I’ve heard stories from friends about the change in behavior they observed when they cut out the artificial colors and preservatives from their child’s diet.  But my other concern is that most of these dyes are more carcinogenic than once thought to be.  Why do we continue to fill our bodies with petroleum based preservatives? It doesn’t even sound appealing! 
And I’m not even going to start on High Fructose Corn Syrup, that’s another entire can of worms.
But think about this – HFCS and food coloring started to be used in mass in the 1970’s, less than two decades we began to see a shift in the health and weight of our children and now we are in an obesity epidemic.
Just to keep it real, I am not perfect and I’m not a food Nazi either. We do consume HTCS and food colors when were out and about it can’t always be avoided, but I don’t buy products with those ingredients. It’s one of my baby steps to better eating along with better planning and fresh ingredients.
So when Harrison takes his completed Valentines cards with a little treat attached to school next week, I will  have no guilt. 
Next to a home baked goodie, it’s a treat that a mom can be proud of giving.
Okay, I’m pushing now.

But even a 1st Grader can pronounce every ingredient on this lollipop label.

One Month Down

EDITED TO INCLUDE: My 'Linked' post will be over here this afternoon.


I got through a picture a day for January – Phew!!
Made it by the skin of my teeth, I need to find my groove (and inspiration for the creatively blank days). It’s hard to believe that it’s February already. Boy, did January fly by, I still feel behind the eight ball – heck I think there’s a big comfortable seat with my name embroidered on it behind that eight ball.

I don’t plan on getting comfortable…

Maybe that’s why I decided to torture myself attempt the 365 Project again this year.

I’m looking forward to traveling life’s road this year.
One picture at a time.

Up in the Air {or how I spent time waiting}

If you’ve flown anywhere in the last 10 years since 9-11, chances are you have had to wait at least once. Whether in the plane on the tarmac or in the terminal for a late or cancelled flight, or you just have a big layover,  you’ve waited.

I ended up on planes and in airports four times in 2010. That was a new record for me. I’m not a good flyer, so a career that included a lot of travel was never “in my future”. 

Now with all that flying, I also did my fair share of waiting and what better to burn up time in an airport terminal then wait?
Watch!

I’ve always been a people-watcher and I love just sitting and watching people coming and going in a large airport (probably because I ‘m often too jet-lagged and anxious to concentrate on reading something).

So on one of those trips I pulled out my camera and played.

Let me tell you something; if you want to stay inconspicuous while sitting in an airport for three hours, don’t sit right in front of the people-movers with a camera at your face. You will get a lot of stares.

But still, I just sat and played with a REALLY low shutter speed and my aperture stopped down– not looking for sharp, clear images of people frozen in time. I wanted to capture  the blur and distortion of constant movement that takes place in a busy airport - every. single. day.

Yes, I ended up with a kah-zillion images as I changed settings on my camera to account for the back light and movement and experiment...
But, boy did that layover fly by! (no pun intended)

And just like that, I was back up in the air.