The Month of Creativity

I'm really excited about August. Like, super excited. :-) I have voluntarily declared a moratorium on all things work related on the house, like demolition, painting, laying floors, taking out planters, etc. Instead, I am going to CREATE for a solid month. I have a million and one creative projects that have been sitting on the back burner for forever, and I am going to use the month of August to get some of them done. Oh, and some reading. And some sitting in the sun. :-) Lover thinks I am crazy, because he tells me all the time that if I want to spend the afternoon just reading a book, I should just do it. I shouldn't need to schedule it into my time. :-) But that's me. I blame it on overachiever-first child syndrome, and all that other baloney. :-)

I want to make some jewelry, maybe even some of the inspirational stuff I posted about a million years ago.  I also want to maybe, maybe do some more watercolors. Oh, and I want to print out some new pictures for our dining room. And alter a few shirts and dresses. And catch up on some scrapbooking. And.... hee hee. I am going to have a blast. I may blog about it, but then again, let's be real, the blog has suffered over the last few months. I'll try to at least post a few times a week. We'll see. :-)

Hope you're having a fun summer too!

Pearl Buck in China

I recently signed up for a review program for audio books, and the first one I received was Pearl Buck in China. I have to say, I really enjoyed listening to this biography of an early 20th century missionary daughter who became a famous fiction writer later on in life. Although I came to understand that Pearl Buck's life is quite famous, I had never heard of her, nor had I read any of her books.  So I really enjoyed the opportunity to learn about her life, and the events that shaped her vision of life and ultimately led to her writing some of the most influential books about China of the early 20th century, including The Good Earth.

I think that one of the reasons I enjoyed this book was because I too grew up on the mission field, although not in Asia! I found Pearl's life very interesting, as she dealt with the strangeness of being American in China, and being not quite American in America. She struggled all her life with fitting in, with only a brief period in her teen years where she was popular and content. Later in life, once her books made her famous, she was in high demand, but always struggled with relating to the society she was writing for.  She experienced so much sadness and loss in her life, but all of these things shaped her into the writer she was destined to become, and her books have touched people for decades.

The audio book itself is very well done. It is broken into chapters, each averaging about an hour to and hour and a half. The author, Hilary Spurling, does an excellent job reading the book, speaking in a very clear, unhurried manner that makes it easy to understand. At times her British accent is a bit distracting, as the pronunciation of a few words is so completely different from American pronunciations, but overall I had no trouble understanding her. The biography is well written and well researched, and was a very interesting "read!"

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this audiobook free from Oasis Audio as part of their Review Program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.

Friday Fav: Brian Regan

This week for Friday Fav I am promoting yet another comedian, that Lover and I just can't get enough of, Brian Regan. This guy is the master of funny, and his one liners have become a part of our daily speech, the way you quote Friends or your favorite movie. :-)

We've watched just about everything of his that we can get our hands on, but our favorite has got to be the "I Walked on the Moon/Me Monster" bit. He talks about that annoying person at a party that thinks it is all about them, and constantly cuts you off in order to one up you. And he fantasizes about being one of the twelve men to have walked on the moon, as the ultimate come-uppance. Here's the skit:



Take some time to browse through his videos on Youtube, the guy is seriously Funny with a capital F. :-) His DVD's make great gifts, especially if you have hard-to-buy-for brothers like I do! Here's his site: www.brianregan.com Now all that's left to do is make it to a live performance, which is definitely on our bucket list!

Friday Favs: Anjelah Johnson

I don't know about you, but one of my favorite ways to entertain myself is by watching good clean comedy. Lover and I have been traveling alot lately, and one of the perks of that is being able to watch Comedy Central and find some new comedians to follow. One of our new favorite comedians is Anjelah Johnson.



Anjelah is a former professional cheerleader who is now an up and coming comedian. Her jokes mainly revolve around ethnicities, and the impressions that she can do of them, which are spot on. By far her most popular skit currently is "The Nail Salon" in which she nails an impression of all of the Asian women you've encountered when getting a manicure.  She jokes about getting talked into upsales,  and arguing to get your nails done the right way, and... well, why don't you just watch it?



She's got a bunch more skits on her website, www.anjelahnicolejohnson.com as well as her tour schedule. Go check it out! Now that I've told you all about her, all that's left is to convince her to come up to New England!

Wildflowers and Little Girls

This is shaping up to be a busy summer for my photography! Between all of the shoots, and our normal busy life, and my family being home from overseas, we have a bit of a hectic schedule. But I wouldn't have it any other way! The day before my brother's wedding I went over to a friend's house to take some pictures of their girls for a surprise Father's Day present. We did a few at the house, but then walked down a couple of blocks to an open field that was filled with wildflowers. I've been itching to do a shoot in a field of wildflowers for over a year now, and I finally got my wish! I loved the little outfits that the girls were wearing, and the way that they were so distinctly different, and suited to each girl! :-) They were good sports about the pictures too, in spite of the heat and not being fans of having their pictures taken!

I had so much fun on this photoshoot, and the best part is that I got to go back and see them again, as they just added a little baby boy to the family! Congratulations, and I cant wait to meet little Jude!

Clean House, er, Garage

On my sidebar there on the right, you'll see that I keep a running tally of things that are currently on my project radar. Of course, these are only a sampling of my mega to do list, but I have fun trying to check them all off. My most recent cross off was the long overdue garage cleaning and straightening.

Not exactly a fun task, but one that was long overdue. As you'll be able to see by the pictures below, the garage was a chaotic mess that has never really been dealt with. The previous owners left a bunch of stuff in the garage when we bought the house, and we were pretty excited about some of it. they left lawn tools and a lawnmower, which was a godsend for two broke first time homeowners like us.  Unfortunately, they also left a bunch of random junk, plastic plant trays, firewood and other garbage. And then, as we settled in and began renovations, cleaning the garage never even showed up on the radar. :-)

Someday, I'd like to thoroughly clean and sort out the garage, paint over the orange paint and install some more organizational items. But for now, a major toss of all garbage, straightening of equipment and a thorough sweeping will have to do! Here are all the fun before and afters:

The plan is to use up that wood throughout the summer and fall in our little chimenea, and then evaluate what else needs to be edited and cleaned up. So, for now, it's not perfect or particularly pretty to look at, but it is neat and clean!

Can't get on board

As much as I love decorating, and I try to keep abreast of the current trends, there are a few that I just cannot get on board with. There are definitely a few current trends that make me go -" oh my goodness, what are they THINKING?" And while I am sure that some people might say the same thing about some of my choices, this is my blog, so I get to pick on them for a day. :-) So here goes...

Burlap

No offense to all my bloggy friends out there with burlap ribbon, and burlap table runners and burlap bedskirts. Burlap is greatly loved because of its amazing texture, and I am in total agreement about that. Burlap has awesome texture. But, that visual texture is linked to a tactile texture that feels like something akin to sandpaper to me. Why, I ask, would you want a burlap pillow on your bed? I don't know about you, but when I lay this head down to sleep, I want it to be on something soft. I don't relish the idea of a nightly facial from my pillow.

Owls

OK, I canNOT be the only person who is creeped out by owls. Seriously. I constantly read about someone who found an old metal sculpture of an owl, refreshed it with spray paint, and oh-my-goodness-would-you-look-at-how-cute-it-is-now! Sorry friends, but when I see these pretty painted owls, all I can picture is this:



And from someone who, at the tender age of seven, couldn't sleep for a week after watching Raiders of the Lost Ark, you can imagine how I feel about having creepy owls staring at me from my living room. No thanks!

Tassels

I don't have a lot to say about this one. I love a tasseled fringe as much as  the next girl. Heck, my dining room curtains are held back with tassels.  So I am not a tassel hater, when used appropriately. But these decorative tassels that everyone is hanging from their lamps, and hutches and doorknobs? I just don't get it. They remind me of something I heard someone say about a platypus once. "God made all the animals in the world, and then he made the platypus out of the leftover pieces."



Wouldn't it be great if I could find a tassel that features an owl as the ornamentation, with some burlap to really set it off? :-D

Plates on a Wall

Now, don't get me wrong, I've seen this done right. In fact, in an upcoming project, I plan on using a few plates as decoration on my wall. And, when done in a kitchen, or a dining room, it makes sense to me. Of course, most times you can't ever use those plates, they're strictly there for decoration, but I am okay with that.  But in a bedroom? Or a bathroom? It just makes no sense to me.  Hey, while I am taking a nice bath, I will gaze at these lovely china plates. Wait, why am I  starting to feel a little hungry? ;-) And wouldn't you be worried about them falling down on your head in the middle of the night? What if there is an earthquake? Hey mom, I survived the earthquake, but I needed fifty stichtes from the pottery shards that got stuck in my head. :-)

Jon and Steph's Engagement Pictures

Two of my favorite people in the whole wide world got married just two weekends ago. I canNOT believe that my little brother is all growed up and married now! And, I am beyond excited to finally, after decades of waiting, have a sister! Steph is the sweetest girl, and she brings out the very best in Jon. They flattered me by asking me to do their wedding pictures, and I was thrilled to do them! We carved out some time in the very busy pre-wedding schedule to do some engagement pictures, and had a blast doing them. Here are some of my favorite shots.

Aren't they so cute?

There was lots of laughter. :-)

We went down to the rose garden, and the light was absolutely beautiful. It made for some very romantic shots!

They were so willing to do anything I asked, which is always a lot of fun!

So pretty

Love this one

So cute!

They are going to be so happy together

All in all we had a great time, just like we did the day of their wedding. Wedding pics to come soon!