The Indecisive Artist

Happy 4th of July!!!

Usually the 4th of July weekend we spend boating on the Mississippi River and hanging out in the sunshine and at the sandbar/beach. This year, the boat is in the shop... waiting for parts... so no water fun for us this 4th of July. Instead, we'll head over to Jay's family and spend the day hanging out with family. I made a red, white, and blue poke cake. Once we cut into it, I'll take photos. :) I'm kind of excited to see how it turned out. However, my cake frosting skills have gone downhill quickly. The frosting job I did was pretty crummy... literally... I got cake crumbs mixed in with the frosting... and the crumbs are red and blue... I tried to hide it a little bit by sprinkling the top of the cake with red and blue sugar sprinkles... so hopefully they'll blend in. :D I can't believe I lost my touch!!! Oh well, once we get into the new house I'll have to bake more cakes to practice.

We also plan on taking Gianna to the fireworks tonight. Last year a neighbor was shooting some off from their driveway, so Gigi and I walked down there to watch. It was just a few simple bottle rockets and such (still, illegal here... LOL) but she really liked it and kept talking about it all year long. So I figure this year we'll treat her to the real thing at Wilson Park on the Mississippi River. I hope she likes it. :) I plan on bringing my camera and doing some long exposure photos of the fireworks. I did some a few years ago with my film camera, and it wasn't too hard... and I really liked the results. I've never tried it with digital yet, so I'm excited. I'll share a few photos here later.

That's all for now. Have a happy and safe 4th of July!!!

Monday Update

I can't believe how quickly summer is going!

Gianna just finished up a session of swimming lessons. I didn't get any photos because I was in the pool with her, but we had a good time and I'll scrap it nonetheless. She even jumped off the diving board (but would only do it once! LOL). Of course she had a life jacket and her goggles on. The last night of class she wore her life jacket, and she swam the length of the pool three times by herself. Boy she was tired that night! She slept the next day until 11 am. (Ok - little rant - why is it that she can sleep in when DADDY is home with her, but when MOMMY could use a few hours to get things done, she's up at the butt-crack of dawn?????)

The ramp at the new house is nearly complete. Courtesy of the crew at Winkelman Landscaping... my little brother Scotty built us a paving stone ramp behind a retaining wall. It looks really cool!! So progress is happening...

I moved 80% of my crafting items to the new house. I painted the studio/loft last weekend. It's a pretty color called 'Wheat Penny" which is kinda funny, actually, because I've been known to collect wheat pennies in my day...Some days I think I pick my paint colors based on their cool name.... Anyway, I thought that with the loft almost done I could safely move my stuff over there and get it out of this house that we are trying to sell...

I scrapped a few pages this weekend. Nothing too elaborate. Wanted to get a few more pages in my Shutterfly book done and also just needed a creative break. Life has been so hectic that sometimes I feel overwhelmed. Scrapping is my therapy.

This is my favorite page from the weekend.

Now that Gianna is nearly three and a half, I finally got around to doing some 'formal' photos of her at age 3. I bribed her one day with a sucker... She was wearing a new pink and white polka dot dress. Plus, she found an old white hat from a past Easter (back when she didn't refuse to wear fancy dresses... so TWO years ago... LOL). I got her to wear the hat. Told her let's go outside and take a few photos. She agreed only when I said she could have a sucker if she'd just do it. Yeah, that session lasted about 5 minutes and then she was running away from the mommarazzi....

Anyway, I love this photo from that day. And I was sooo anxious to scrap it. I want to do a bigger spread of more of the photos. But I love one-page layouts so much, and I was just itching to scrap this photo. It's such a simple layout, but I'm really happy with it. Paper by Holly McCaig. Flower by Jen Wilson. Frame, Stitch, Alpha, and Journal paper by Gina Cabrera.

That's all for now. Except I wanted to say that some of our California wine finally arrived. I'm enjoying a glass or two of it right now. ;)

I've been busy...

...and here's why.

We bought a new house recently. We put in an offer and closed a month later.

But here's the fun part: It is a foreclosure, and the previous owners took out everything. EVERYTHING. Well, not the floors... but the cabinets, appliances, interior doors, light fixtures, plumbing... it's all gone.

So we have some work ahead of us.

We also have some work to do to get our current house listed and sold.

Like I said, it's been busy. LOL.

But it will be nice when it's done.

Once we get rid of that  hideous blue door.

And grout all that rock.

And build a ramp to the front door.

Then we'll get started on the inside.

My favorite part is the studio/loft above the garage. It's going to be my own personal retreat. It will house my studio so I'll have some space for my photography as well as for my stamping and scrapbooking, too. Once I get it painted and trim put on the walls.

Lots to do!

We hope to be moved in in about two months, but we'll see how things go.

And should anyone know anyone who might be in need of a 1700 square foot patio home, completely wheelchair accessible, with lots of maple cabinetry, a big office with maple bookshelves and desks, laminate hardwood floors throughout, well, you send them my way, will you. :)

Jacuzzi Winery

I very much meant to post these winery posts sooner, but things have been hectic. Then, when I did have some time to post, wouldn't you know that my computer died. Well, not the computer, but the power cord. It's not very old either. It just wouldn't work, and without a power cord, there was no way to charge the battery on my laptop. So I headed to Best Buy last night to get myself a new power cord. I didn't want to wait for Dell to determine what was wrong and hope they'd send a replacement. I couldn't wait that long!! Ok so patience is not my strong suit. And just to give you an indication of HOW impatient I am... Best Buy ranks second in my book of all places I despise shopping. (Wally World is numero uno.)

But now I have power. I don't even want to say how much that purchase set me back. Yikes.

Anyway, here are some photos from the Jacuzzi Winery in Sonoma. This was the first winery we visited during our stay. It was just a few miles from the hotel and we got there about an hour before they closed.

I have to say this was probably my favorite place we visited. It was hard because I knew it was the first visit, I didn't want to go to ga-ga over what was there knowing full well that the next winery might be even better. LOL. But I think the reason I liked this one the best was because the wines here were Italian, not Californian. And I prefer Italian reds to California reds, generally speaking. There was one wine we tried there (the name escapes me but it was nothing I had ever heard of) that was so delicious. You know how they have different flavors and tastes they use to describe wines? Well, I'm not ashamed to admit that I think it's a bunch of hoo haa. When I drink wine, I taste wine. LOL.  But this wine was different. It had a finishing taste that reminded me of toasted marshmallows. It was sooooo delicious! I have a couple bottles arriving here soon. Can't wait to drink those babies!

 

This is the Jacuzzi Winery and the Olive Press. I don't know if they actually make the wine there as I didn't see any of that stuff... but the grapes are growing right behind the building. We actually saw this place before we got to the hotel, and I knew I wanted to visit it. Just look at all that Italian looking architecture.

View of the courtyard behind the building. It was sooo pretty here. It was such a beautiful day. Jay sat inside tasting wine while I journeyed outside and around the grounds for some camera time.

Before we tasted wine, we tasted olive oil. DELICIOUS!!!! Each of those silver canisters is a different flavor of olive oil, with the lightest on the right and the spiciest on the left. The one on the left end was so peppery it left tears in your eyes and burning in your throat! We were not prepared for that one! We ended up buying a bottle of the mildest flavor.

Just some of the wines on the shelf. They had the most gorgeous gift shop. I could have spent a fortune. Pottery and kitchen stuff.... oh it was heavenly. The Olive Press (where they sold olive oil) had a bunch of homemade soap and bath goods. It was tempting, but I was content just to smell and not buy. I can make my own olive oil soap. ;)

Finally, this is a fountain out off the courtyard. It was beautiful. Behind this were the vineyards. You can sorta see them in the photo, though it's hard to tell from the photo that that is what they are. Those hills in the background? Napa Valley lies on the other side.  We had to drive around them to get to Napa, even though it was probably just a few miles as the crow flies.

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At this rate it's going to take me months to post photos from all the places we visited. :)

San Francisco Photos

Thought I'd share a couple of San Fran photos. I took some of the highlight photos, and cleaned them up in Photoshop. I learned a new thing tonight - how to enhance your sky in your photos to make it a darker blue. So I tried it on these photos. I think it really enhances them and makes the photos much warmer looking.

First up, this is a photo of the Golden Gate bridge. It was cold and windy there when we stopped on our tour. There were these crazy surfers there catching waves. Insane. I guess they like to surf there in the bay because the waves are more frequent than on the coast. At least that's what the tour guide said.

It was interesting how it was so bright and clear and sunny that day. (This was on Thursday morning - the day we headed out of town to Sonoma.) In just a few hours after taking this photo, I'd find myself driving across the bridge. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. However, when we came back in to town Sunday night, the fog was rolling in, and driving over the bridge had this eerie feeling. Unfortunately I was driving, so I couldn't get any photos of it.

This next photo is just a sign marking Fisherman's Wharf. I had attempted to Photoshop out the wire across it, but I don't quite have that technique down. :) So it's going to stay for now.

Fisherman's Wharf was interesting. Lots of people. LOTS. People from everywhere around the globe. Shops on the street selling grey market photo goods. With my big camera around my neck, I was an easy target. Luckily rock bottom prices on grey market lenses are not a temptation for me. LOL. In the same shop they often sold high end artsy stuff. Like $20,000 statues. Jay WAS tempted. In fact, one of the shops was selling out everything really cheap because they were converting the business to be a diamond wholesaler. (Nothing shady there... <sarc>). Jay REALLY wanted to get some marble pedestals. They were only $50. And $120 to ship. But still a good price. I wouldn't let him do it. Ok - so it's the first time in our marriage he has ever actually listened to me when it comes to buying something. LOL. I was just afraid that he'd never see his pedestals. Remember, this is the shop selling grey market camera goods, too.

This was definitely a touristy area... but I'm glad we did it. Lots of fun stuff to see. Pier 39 was interesting with all its fun shops. We certainly enjoyed it. And we got thru it without spending too much money. Except at the fruit stand. OMG the strawberries we bought there were to-frickin-die-for. I only wish strawberries in Minnesota could taste that good this time of year!

So another one of the sights we saw was Alcatraz Island. I knew I didn't want to actually GO there. (Still a little freaked out by that movie The Rock.) LOL. But I didn't realize just how close it was to the city. I had envisioned it being farther away. So I was excited to be able to see it from Fishermans Wharf.  The photo is a little deceptive. I cropped in on it a little bit to focus just on the island. You can see a tour boat going around the island on the right side of the island.

We also asked a guy on the pier to take our photo with Alcatraz as the backdrop, but the results were less then spectacular. He did a good job of getting the island in focus... but we are just a couple of fuzzy blobs. Oh well... we tried.

This last photo I want to share is just this cute little guy waiting for dinner, err.. waiting to be dinner. LOL. There was a row of crab shacks along the street, and I couldn't help but take a bunch of close up photos of the the food available there. MMM. Fresh seafood. And lots of seagulls and pigeons looking for handouts. Crab sandwiches and clam chowder for an afternoon snack.

I have a lot more photos. (Approximately 1096 more...) I will try to share a few more of them over the next couple of days/weeks as I go thru them. I'm working on creating a scrapbook of the trip - one that I will have bound into a book - probably from Shutterfly. I normally don't do bound books except for theme albums... so I thought this was the perfect excuse to create a new theme album!

Anyway, those are the best of the San Fran photos I took. Next I'll share some winery photos.

Quick Post Trip Post

Only have a few minutes for a quick post. We were without internet at home until yesterday, so I wasn't able to post a summary of our California trip until now. And since the hotel in Sonoma wanted $10 a day for internet, I didn't have internet access on the trip, either. So much for keeping the blog updated with photos!

Anyway, the trip was awesome. The weather was beautiful - except for Saturday when it rained. We got to see fog in San Francisco as we drove back in to town over the Golden Gate bridge. Sonoma was rural and peaceful and beautiful. Napa was crazy busy with people. The wineries were not snobby at all.... we didn't feel one bit out of place. (We were actually a little nervous about that.) Some of the buildings/grounds at the wineries were literally castles. Amazing stuff.

Gas was $4.14 a gallon. Our rental car was a Kia Optima. (My husband 'forgot' to rent a car before we left, so when we walked to the car rental place - all three of them - Thursday morning, no one had any cars available, which isn't surprising, since San Fran is sooo hard to park in, it's not like they keep lots of extra cars on hand for crazy tourists to just rent at the spur of the moment. Anyway, since we paid $400 a night for the hotel on Fisherman's Wharf, we decided to get our money's worth, and we put the concierge to work finding us a rental car while we toured the city. :)  And luckily, he found us the Kia at Enterprise. At least it got good mileage. :)  )

We visited 10 wineries in total. Loved them all. They were all different - some had amazing wines, some had amazing views, some had amazing grounds. Some were all of the above.

I will have to double-check the final count, but I do believe I took close to 1100 pictures over the course of the trip. Not all are keepers, of course. :) But I had a goal of 1000 photos (or 200 a day), so I'm quite satisfied. Here's one from dinner Saturday night at the hotel's restaurant. The wine we purchased just minutes before at the coop tasting room on the hotel grounds. The restaurant waived the corkage fee since it was purchased there, and because we were already at the hotel and done driving for the night, I was able to enjoy more than just a sip!

We purchased a couple of cases of wine and had them shipped back here, so they should be making their arrival some time next week. I can't wait!

I'm a little sad that our vacation is over - the time went so quickly! And now it's back to reality. Of course, Jay and I are already talking about "when can we go back?" :)

Internet Ain't Free

I am at the airport, officially on my vacation. :D Well, our flight was delayed an hour because the plane had mechanical problems, so we are waiting for a new plane to arrive. (This is deja vu of our last trip....)

I decided to send one last email for work that I had forgotten to do last night... rather than waiting until we got to the hotel later. And since I have an hour to 'kill.' Only to find that I have to pay for internet service at the airport. All for one stupid little email. So I'm going to get my $4.95 worth.... and start blogging!

Actually it works out because my internet at home has been down for a couple days. Damn Charter. And it won't get fixed until after we get back because it's a problem with the wiring somewhere in the house and we actually have to have a real live person come out to investigate. Which reminds me, if you ever are stuck in automated phone hell, like the service Charter provides, one quick way out of it is to have your 3 yo kid STEAL the phone out of your hand while you are listening and then WAIL LOUDLY when you take the phone back. Apparently their voice recognition software can't understand the screams of a 3 yo so it bumps you out to talk to a real person.  I know this from experience. And I don't know if I'm proud of myself for finding this out or if I'm totally ashamed that my kid behaved that way. I'll stick with pride for now.

Anyway, I haven't been able to access my personal email since Monday morning... so I guess it all works out.

In just a few hours we'll be in California. And Jay says the first thing he wants to do is get a bowl of Rice A Roni.

Until later...

Old Family Photo Layout

A friend of my FIL found an old photo in his things, scanned it, and emailed it. My FIL then emailed this long-lost photo to all of us. Right away when I saw it I knew I had to scrapbook it! It's a photo of my in-laws and my DH when he was just a little tyke.

The photo had a little bit of color shifting in it since it was a bit older, so I cleaned it up in Photoshop, sharpened it a bit, and got rid of some noise. I think it looks amazing. Except for the obvious fashion differences, this photo looks like it could have been taken very recently. Gotta love technology!

I used a template by Janet Phillips and papers and embellishments by Nina at Oscraps. A very quick, basic layout. My favorite kind.

I honestly don't digi scrap a lot of my older photos because I don't take the time to scan them. But when I get gems like this coming my way, it's so much fun to see them in a new light. LOVE it. 

I suppose after almost 40 years have passed, this would qualify as a heritage style layout, don't you think?

Another Self Layout

I was playing around in Photoshop last night after the DH and DD went to bed last night. I can't tell you how much I enjoy that quiet time.... No TV, no music, no interruptions... It's my 'life's little pleasure' to sit and scrap in total peace and quiet.

So I was going thru some photos from the last couple of weeks. When I attended that photo seminar a few weeks ago, Gigi and I stayed with my sister, and so that Sunday we went out and had a girls' day - coffee, shopping, and just hanging out. When we were at the coffee shop, Gigi snapped a few photos of me. Yes, the girl is a camera addict as much as I am, already at the ripe old age of 3! It's a monster I created myself. I taught her how to take photos with my little point and shoot camera, and now she thinks it's hers!

Anyway, I sorta liked one of the pics she took of me, so I decided to scrap it using some scrap supplies I hadn't used yet. This is what I came up with:

I did a little bit of Photoshop work to get the image the way I liked it, but basically the composition of it is all Gianna. I just changed the colors and cleaned up the noise a little bit.

The template is by Rachel Giallongo. Papers and flowers by Christina Renee. Stamped alpha by Michelle Coleman. Ribbon flower by Weeds and Wildflowers. White ribbon and photo actions by Holly McCaig. Photo frame and canvas tag by Gina Cabrera (I think...) Drop shadows by Sara Amarie.

I'm actually really pleased with how quickly it came together and how it all looks together. I don't have that many photos of myself because I'm usually the one behind the camera. So when I find a photo I like, I think it's kinda fun to scrap it.  Plus, I'm just really into scrapping those small everyday moments - you know the real life that happens in between the chaos of big special events.... when everyone is dressed up and on their best behavior. Not that there's anything wrong with scrapping those things... but sometimes it's good to scrap the everyday stuff to give a true perspective about what your life is really like.

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My trip is coming up rather quickly. I'm not sure I'm ready for it. LOL. But I'm sure it'll be a good time. I'm looking forward to some California sunshine. I will probably be bringing my laptop with so that I can backup my photos each day, so I may try to blog a few pictures each day.

Year in Review Page

I know it's May already, but I swear I've had this layout done for a long time. I always enjoy putting together a year-in-review layout, and this is one I created for 2007. This one features Gianna, but I will probably put one together that shows the whole family.

It's been so long that I don't even remember who to credit for all the elements. I'm pretty sure it started out as a Janet Phillips template... beyond that, I'd have to look it all up.

I just think it's a fun way to see how much things have changed over the course of a year. My baby went from being this little baby girl of just barely 2, to the big silly toddler you see in the last photo. It all goes so quickly.

In other news, I attended a photo seminar over the weekend and learned a little bit about photographing babies and bellies (pregnant bellies, that is). I haven't attended a photo seminar for a long, long time, and this one was definitely worth it. Most of the focus was on marketing, and building a plan/approach/branding. But there was also a short session on how to light and photograph these sessions.... including a live photo shoot of a real life mom and baby. It's definitely got me inspired and thinking about taking more photos. I sure do enjoy that excitement and that feeling of 'I can't wait' when it comes to photographing something new. I'm a bit of an introvert in unfamiliar situations or with new people and so putting myself out there is something that doesn't come naturally or easily to me. In fact, it definitely holds me back. However, when I'm feeling inspired and have people excited about my work, then it's much easier for me to take those risks, and putting myself out there is much less terrifying. :) Now, you won't see me quitting my real job and opening a studio. But you might see me making a little effort in trying to photograph more sessions. (Which reminds me, hello, it's MAY. Gianna turned 3 in JANUARY. TAKE HER 3-YEAR PHOTOS ALREADY!!!! LOL. Truly a case of the shoemaker's kids having no shoes, huh!)

In related photo stuff, my newest baby arrived today. LOL. I bought myself this little wide-angle zoom lens. It's a Tamron 17-35 mm f.2.8-4. It's gorgeous. :)

 

I really NEEDED a wide-angle lens, especially for this trip I have coming up with all the opportunities for landscape photography. I did get a lower-end lens just because wide-angles are pretty expensive, and also because my camera has a built in magnification factor that sorta cancels out the wide-angle affect. Still, I need something wider than what I have so this fit the bill... it was affordable, it's wide, and it's fast at the wide open range. I didn't get a chance tonight to play with it yet, but hopefully will get some test photos tomorrow. From what I've read, it seems a popular lens for indoor use... as it's wide enough to get a good scene in smaller places and fast enough to use without a flash. Not to mention the good outdoor landscapy stuff, too. hehehehe...

Making Cupcakes

I made this scrapbook page a few days ago. It was for a scrapbook sketch challenge on SCS. Very easy to whip up in a short amount of time - I just had to find a series of photos to fit the 4 image sketch. I ultimately decided on some snapshots I had of a Sunday afternoon Gigi and I spent making cupcakes

I used a new kit, Twirl by Shabby Princess to create the layout. (The stitched bow is the exception - that is by Weeds and Wildflowers). Drop shadows by Sara Amarie.

For this layout, I really wanted to tell the story about making cupcakes - from mixing the batter (and thus licking the beaters...) to frosting them... to enjoying them.

I love how focused she is on frosting the cupcake! She was sooo determined to frost some of them herself, no matter how hard the bag was to squeeze! I had to take turns with her frosting them all, or else she'd get upset with me for not giving her a turn! She's soo determined and independent sometimes!

Anyway, just wanted to share the layout because I'd had it done for awhile, and just haven't had time to blog it yet!

More Cake

I have to share a photo of the big honkin cake I made for my course 3 final. This sucker took 6 cake mixes, 5 pudding cups, 18 eggs, plus lots of powdered sugar and crisco. Not to mention, TIME. LOL. But it was fun. Well, kinda. LOL. It was fun to finish it. Making it and frosting it were a little more work than I was prepared for.

The top layer is an 8x8x4 cake. (Two 8x8x2 cake pans, with the layers put together.) The bottom layer is a 12x12x4 cake. (Again, a 12x12x2 cake pan baked twice.)

I decided to try a chocolate buttercream frosting for the bottom. It was sooo good. It's all I can do to not eat the leftover frosting in an attempt to cure my PMS. LOL.

I wasn't sure how I was going to decorate it. My original idea was to make some daisies, but I didn't prepare any daisies ahead of time... so I went with the drop flowers.

And the frosting is a little cracked on the cake... all that moving around, plus my lack of experience... learning things the hard way! But I think for my first tiered cake, I'm happy with it. (I just wished I had made smaller dots on the top cake.)

I have one more cake class to make it thru. This one will have us doing more stuff with fondant and gum paste and making more fancy stuff with which to top our cakes.

Get this, though... I brought the cake in to work one day and just set it out in the public 'free for consumption' area. I didn't have to encourage people to eat it. But the end of the day there was only a single piece left. :D It's so nice to let other people consume the calories!

Now I'm off to make a last-minute birthday cake for my mother in law. It's baked and cooling. Just need to frost. Maybe I'll attempt those daisies again. :)

New Look for Spring

I thought I'd try a new look for spring. I'm slowing falling in love with orangey and peachy colors... so I thought I'd try them for my updated 'look.' I loved the brown and blue, but the snowflakes made it a wintery theme... so I thought I'd try something a little more appropriate for the season. (Even if mother nature doesn't realize it's spring. We had our FOURTH  last snowfall of the season yesterday. We got a couple inches of snow... and even though it melted right away... WE GOT FRIGGIN SNOW. ENOUGH ALREADY.  I am SOOOOO ready for sandal weather to arrive....)

I'm not getting rid of brown and blue altogether... LOL... I have a little something special 'cooking' up in those colors... I'll have photos later this week. No clues other than to say this was a pretty big undertaking, and had I known just how much work it would be (not to mention patience!!) I'm not sure I would have agreed to it. LOL.... but I think once it's done I'll be happy with the outcome. I hope. :) I'll post photos when I'm ready.

Until then, here's wishing for spring weather. Seriously.

Six-Word Memoirs: Life Stories Distilled : NPR

The other morning on the radio, the DJs were talking about this concept of six-word memoirs. The concept is simple: describe your life in six words. So I googled it, and found this article:

Six-Word Memoirs: Life Stories Distilled : NPR

Honestly, the first six words that came to mind for me were: Mom, Wife, Writer, Photographer, etc... But then I read more about it, and realized that there was to be some *creativity* behind it... the six words had to tell a story.

So, I'm still working on my six words. However, the one mentioned in the article "it's on my to-do list" seems pretty much the story of my life. :) I'm going to see if I can come up with something a little more my own.

I want to hear your six words. I mean it. Leave a comment... it can be anonymous... I love to hear what people come up with.

 

PS - Happy Lost Day. Woo Hoo, the show returns!

Going to San Fran/Sonoma/Napa

 

Hubby and I are going on a long weekend away to somewhere we've always wanted to go: Wine Country California!! We are going to celebrate our anniversary. We honeymooned in Italy 8 years ago, and since another trip to Italy is going to be out of our budget for a long while yet, we decided to try the next best thing: Sonoma and Napa in California.

I'm soooo freakin excited. I can't wait! Just thinking about all the wonderful opportunities for taking photos has me giddy!

The last time Jay and I took a trip together was shortly before I got pregnant with Gianna - so four years ago. We took a 7 day cruise to the Southern Caribbean.

Now if the travel books I ordered from Amazon.com would arrive I could start planning some more details!

Have I mentioned how excited I am??