Hello lover
Pleased to welcome my newest toy to the family. Canon AE-1 Program circa 1984.
Resolving to cook more
Throughout the years I’ve learned to appreciate things that are handmade or DIY and cooking is certainly something I feel that falls within those categories. Yet, the lack of home-cooked meals I make has been sort of an enigma. Of course it’s also a little more challenging when you’re also working towards losing weight (17.8 lbs lost so far and counting). And although I’m not one for New Year’s resolutions, I really wanted to make an effort to cook more in 2010. It’s not that I can’t cook. In fact as a teen, my mother would compliment my cooking whenever I would prepare dinner for our family (so my mom could have a break every now and then).
I’m not sure if the cooler temperatures have sparked my urge to want to cook, but tonight I actually couldn’t wait to get home and dive into the kitchen. Although, I confess I’m still not a huge fan of cleaning up afterward.
Who knows, maybe my resolution will be easier to keep than I initially thought.
Playlist for the New Year 2010
Welcome 2010.
Photo by Laura M Bailey
I’ve been meaning to write an obligatory New Year’s post that was originally going to be on the things I plan to accomplish or change over the next 12 months. Instead I figured making a playlist would be more fun. Compared to my last playlist this one includes more upbeat and pop-like songs, which I think mimics a lot of people’s emotions as the New Year begins. It seems a lot of people (myself included) associate this time of year with feelings of leaving things in the past, starting anew, and welcoming change with a sense of excitement.
Download 2010 New Year Playlist:
The New Year – Death Cab for Cutie
Clarity – John Mayer
Shh – Frou Frou
Free Me – Joss Stone
I Feel It All – Feist
Drive – Incubus
Such Great Heights – The Postal Service
Miracle – Paramore
Dance Dance Dance – Lykke Li
Bleed Together – Lovedrug
More Adventurous – Rilo Kiley
Enjoy.
Cataloging Jewelry Inspirations
Since my interest in beading began several years ago, I’ve held onto unused pieces with the hopes of one day using them in the future. Unfortunately, that has rarely happened. I’m unsure how other beaders operate but I usually just buy new pieces when I have an idea in mind, which ultimately adds to an ever growing pile of excess beads.
Over the weekend my mom and I visited our favorite beading store where we picked up the “Best Of” issue of Stringing Magazine. This publication is by far my favorite beading magazine. It always has a ton of unique designs, most of which have a boho chic appeal to them (I highly recommend it to anyone interested in making their own jewelry). This issue even sparked my interest in wanting to create more earrings.
After finishing the Anthropologie-inspired earrings, I thumbed through the issue to see if I could incorporate my current “spare beads” inventory into anything of interest in the magazine. I realized then it would be easier for me to visualize my ideas by photographing the beads on top of the design in the magazine and jotting down any notes or alterations to the design I wanted. I’m not sure why I never thought of this process until now but I hope it will help use up my spare beads by turning them into finalized pieces.
Below are a few sample photos:
Anthropologie Style
It’s been months since I’ve done anything jewelry/beading related, but I recently spotted a pair of earrings at Anthropologie that inspired me to recreate a similar pair of my own. Best of all, they were done at a fraction of the cost.
Christmas 2009
3 days and 3 family visits later, the Christmas weekend is officially coming to an end. Of all the memories created over the past few days, I think my favorite was when I took this photo of my nephew opening one of his many presents. As soon as the bulb flashed and the film ejected from the camera, he stopped to look up at me with an inquisitive smile and said “Let me see!” Although I’ve taken several Polaroids of him in the past, this was the first time he seemed to understand that he could watch it develop before his eyes. It was pretty special.
It’s Depoe’s World of Colors. We Just Live In It.
A while back street artist Depoe contacted me via Flickr in regards to a few photos I took of his pieces down in Miami’s Wynwood district. He asked if I would be interested in swapping copies of my photos for some of his pieces. Seriously, how could I say no? I love his work. Well, earlier this week I received a wonderful package containing two pieces encompassing his signature bleeding boxes/lines. He even included what appears to be pages from a sketchbook and USPS shipping labels he drew on top of. Photos of the original pieces are located on my Flickr page.
Also, be sure to check out Depoe’s Primary Flight installation. It’s beautiful.
Art Basel 2009
This weekend was filled with nonstop art adventures thanks to Art Basel making itself comfy in my hometown of Miami, FL. I can almost swear I’ve walked more in the past two days than I would during a weekend at an Orlando theme park. But frivolous nagging aside, some of the work we saw was incredible.
While we walked up and down the seemingly endless aisles of gallery spaces, I noticed I was favoring sculptures more than usual. And it goes without saying that my favorite artist from the convention was Nick Cave. Although his pieces aren’t a textbook definition of a sculpture (he terms them sound suits), the amount of detail and beauty was fascinating.
The fruit of life
For the first time last night I had a bowl of pomegranate arils and golden raspberries. The simplicity of the fruits were too beautiful to not photograph. And yes, they were as delicious as they look.
Regarding my last post, it seems my plan of reading the book Journal of a Solitude is on hold because there is not one bookstore in all of South Florida that has it, so I had to order it online. As a result, I moved on to 30 days of morning pages. Despite this practice cutting into my cherished minutes of extra sleep, I always feel 100% awake after doing them and I can’t deny that I missed the mental AM purging. It’s definitely a practice I recommend to anyone. You’d be amazed the thoughts (big and small) that spill onto your paper as soon as you roll out of bed.
30 Days of…
Photo by andreanna
Recently my best friend brought up the idea of starting a routine to try something different every 30 days. I liked the idea of changing things up, but normally I’d hesitate at tackling a project of its kind because my track record for completing them in the past has always halted (like The Artist’s Way). That’s probably why 30 day “projects” seem more manageable, as opposed to the ever popular 365 day projects.
Although my friend has her own list of different projects, I decided to go back and revisit some of the exercises I completed for the Artist’s Way which included lists of things I wish I did more of. So far I gathered 30 day challenges of…