I'm an engineer with an irresistable drive to be crafty... knitting, sewing, papercraft, photography, jewelry-making, you name it, I've probably tried it! - Email Me -
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Friday, June 06, 2008
Lost my Mojo
I've been in a little bit of a slump this past week. A few contributing factors, including a broken big toe (ouch), and a distinct lack of after-work-crafting motivation. So nothing's been done this week, despite ambitious plans to work on several different projects.
I know times like these come and go, that I will feel productive again soon, but it's hard to see that from inside a slump.
One advantage of my toe injury is that I don't have to get up at 5am tomorrow to run with my running club, so I'm hoping that will provide a little extra energy to find my crafting mojo.
In the meantime, I have enjoyed gazing at these amazing lillies, a gift from a good friend who came to visit last weekend. I swear you can smell them in my whole house, just delicious!
I got totally caught up in the laziness of the three day weekend, and didn't do any crafting yesterday. I putzed around the house, made coffee cake, took care of some long-needed organization projects... but nothing in my craft room despite several due-soon projects!
The package with my king-size batting showed up so I'll soon be madly basting and quilting the master quilt - a couple other projects are going to get priority, so I might miss my Saturday deadline, but not by much.
I'm back on track, I just don't have much to share just yet! Since I hate a post with no pictures, here's another sweet baby!
52 Nights Update - Night 13 was a miserable failure. I did quite well avoiding technology during the day, but in the evening we decided to see what all the Lost fuss is about and got sucked into Season 1. I'll have better self discipline next week, I hope!
Monday I had the opportunity to take a few photographs of the daughter of some good friends. This is Izabelle, at 9 weeks:
Even though she was grumpy I still had a lot of fun. I've found a 9-week-old that can't move around much is easier than a squirmy toddler, that's for sure!
We're back from our trip south! We had a fantastic trip, it was amazing and beautiful, and to top it all off we got upgraded to 1st class on the way home!
Is anyone else having trouble seeing photos on flickr? Only about half of mine are showing up, and I can't see everyone else's either...
I actually got home almost a week ago but arrived home to broken internet, so posting may be sporadic for a little while... They're supposed to fix it tomorrow, but they've said that before! I have a ton to share (not just vacation photos!) so I'll be back as soon as I can!
For my birthday (...in October...) I got a new lens for my camera. Well, the promise of a new lens - I had to decide if I wanted a better all-purpose lens or a fixed focal length "portrait" lens... After a lot of research I decided to get a lens that will give me the yummy shallow depth of field I love so much... I am already smitten with my new toy!! Just a few examples from the past few days...
My puppy DJ being silly.
My precious sleeping nephew.
Hitch looking out the window.
Our new pelican.
Do you see that last photo? That pelican? My mom made him! Isn't he gorgeous? Living on the gulf coast we have a special place in our hearts for pelicans, and now we have one of our own. My mom is so talented!!
Well, I know I said I was going to be gone, but I couldn't resist sharing one of the reasons I've been away... I got to go take some family pictures for some friends for their holiday card! Michelle reads my blog and loved my travel pictures from Europe, and asked if I would take some of their family. I was flattered, but totally nervous. I do landscapes, not people! I ended up having a ton of fun, and got some pretty good shots! I hope they're happy - hey, at least I am free!
I hope everyone's having a wonderful holiday season! Only 6 sewing days until Christmas!
I really love how there are so many people sharing cool things they find online. I get an email regularly from Photojojo with cool photography gadgets, and I really love this latest toy from Animoto.
You just upload your pictures, from a photo site (like flickr) or your computer, and pick your music, and it makes a video for you. No more slideshows! 30 second clips are free, or you can get unlimited for a few bucks. Just thought I'd pass it on to anyone else looking for a neat alternative way to share pictures!
Thank you so much for all the blankie love!! I really am so happy with it. Luckily I don't have to wait too long to find out if my new niece/nephew loves it too.
Sorry for the slight absence! Much shorter than you've put up with in the past, of course. I went down to the Los Angeles area for a few days for my cousin's wedding. It was gorgeous - overlooking the ocean at sunset, perfect weather... They couldn't have asked for a better setting!
The bridesmaids all loved their necklaces. For once it occurred to me to take a picture of the gift recipients!
Otherwise I didn't take very many pictures - I think I photo'd myself out in England!
I'm sure you're all sick of seeing pictures from my work travels. But I found this really cool flickr gadget and didn't want to lose it, so here are all the "flickr worthy" pictures I took - keep in mind this is only 44 of the 400 pictures I printed for my photo album at home... Yes, I'm crazy. Enjoy!
I did finish necklace #2, and as soon as I'm home early enough for good light I'll take some pictures! It's quite different from #1...
Though the silence around here might indicate otherwise, I am still around... And even crafting! Or thinking about it, anyway... I'm almost done with the Scottie bookmark, I have some fabric that might be right for a very special baby quilt, and I've been spending a lot of time with family.
I've also been sitting at this computer a lot, sorting through all my pictures from England!!
A lot of them are ending up on flickr. I just can't believe some of the beautiful places I got to visit.
So I'm sorry if I'm quiet these days! I'll be around, I promise...
I'm back home, and so glad to be here! It's taking me longer to adjust to certain things - the time zone, driving on the right side of the road - than last time. A side effect of so much time away, I suppose!
My last day as a tourist in the UK I headed up to Warwick Castle. It was fantastic!
The castle is huge, and has quite a few interesting exhibits and demonstrations. The grounds are gorgeous, too, with a rose garden, river, and peacock garden.
You can climb to the top of one of the castle towers, and the view from that high is amazing!
I definitely enjoyed myself, but I could tell I was losing my enthusiasm for being a tourist... It was so nice to finally get home!
Saturday I got up bright and early to start a 200 mile tour of four castles southeast of London. It turned out to be one of my favorite days so far!
First I headed to Scotney Castle, only recently opened to the public. It would be easy to never realize a little gem like this sits hidden in the English countryside.
My next stop was Bodiam Castle, straight out of a fairytale with its moat and perfect castle towers.
Hever Castle came next, and the grounds around this castle were some of the best I've seen. Many people seemed to pay the low garden access fee in order to bring picnics and sit in the gorgeous parks and let their kids play in the fun garden mazes.
Finally I stopped at Hampton Court Palace. If I hadn't already been to Hever Castle these would have been my favorite gardens, but something about Hever just seemed more intimate, Hampton was so formal. Still beautiful, of course!
There will be larger versions of these pictures and many more showing up on flickr when I'm home again with my beloved Photoshop, and I have more pictures from Sunday I hope to get up this week! I even have a work in progress to share - you didn't think I could make it five weeks without any crafting, did you??
Wow. Hi there! It's been a little while. I'm surprised I remembered my blogger log in! How are you?
I'm still over in the UK, working long days but enjoying my weekends. My first weekend over here I stayed near my hotel, relaxing and reading my book in the sun in a park by the river. It was fantastic! The next weekend I visited some friends in Newmarket, near Cambridge. We went to the horse races and walked through Cambridge - unfortunately the sun had abandoned us and we had to carry umbrellas the whole time, so my pictures are few.
Last weekend might be my favorite so far. We took a quick hop up to Edinburgh and spent two days exploring the castle and surroundings. Of course my camera got the most use in the botanic gardens; I've found I have a definite draw to nature pictures!
Last night we had a celebration dinner since we successfully prepared for our first review, at a wonderful restaurant in the Oakley Court hotel. The meal was good but the setting was even better! We ate our dessert on the terrace by the river and everyone had a wonderful time.
This weekend I'm going to explore a few more places in England, then after one more week (making a total of five this trip) I'll finally get to come home. For three weeks. Before heading back for one last business trip...
I have been exploring England for three days now, and I have had gorgeous, cool, sunny weather. Isn't it supposed to rain in England?
Friday I went back into London, and walked around all day. I went to Kensington Gardens, Harrods, Buckingham Palace, Liberty of London (a post of its own!), St. Paul's, and the Tower of London. I broke down and used the underground towards the end of the day because my feet couldn't take anymore!
Yesterday I took the train to Oxford. It really made me wish I'd looked into the study abroad programs available at my university... It would have been so much fun to be a student there. Everything is in bloom, and I seem to be getting into the habit of taking pictures of flowers in front of things!
Today I braved the roads and drove about 200 total miles to see Wells, Bath, and Stonehenge. I did well on the roads if I do say so myself, only hitting the curb once. I did walk up to the wrong side of the car every single time, though, how embarassing!
(See, more flowers in front of things! I can't help myself!!)
One more day to explore, and again the weather is supposed to be amazing... I feel so lucky!
Thursday my boss came into my office, asked me what I was doing this week. Umm, nothing. Do I want to go to the UK for a week? Of course! Then Friday, he asked what I was doing the week after that, if I could stay an extra week. Okay...
Trafalgar Square
So here I am, about 40 minutes outside of London. I got in yesterday morning and immediately turned around to take the train into the city.
Big Ben
The weather has been perfect, sunny and cool. I get two holidays while I'm here that I wouldn't get at home, and I plan to put them to good use exploring London and maybe some of the surrounding towns.
View from the Eye
Jetlag is catching up with me, and I'm racing my dying laptop battery, so I'm off to bed!
We spent the weekend in one of my favorite places, a little town called Bodega Bay on the coast of California north of San Francisco.
My parents rented a beach house so family and friends could come see my dad - everyone has been wanting to visit since he found out about the cancer, so this seemed like a great way to do it.
We were able to stay for three days, and during that time saw my grandparents, cousins, aunts, uncles, and many close family friends. We also got to explore along the coast, often going from fog to sun and back again.
It was a wonderful weekend, but we took the red-eye to get home and neither one of us slept much. So despite the clock saying 9pm, I'm going to go get ready for bed!
Work has left me very scatterbrained this week, but I decided to just go with it because I have a few random things I wanted to post...
1. We went to the rodeo Tuesday and it was so much fun. I love seeing everyone dressed up (no, I don't own cowboy boots) and seeing all the animals and the rodeo events... And can I just say how neat it is to be able to take pictures in a nearly dark stadium and have them look decent?
I hope everyone has a wonderful Valentine's Day!! I try to avoid the commercial side of this holiday, but I couldn't resist some caramel Kisses. Instead of buying gifts, we're going to sit down to a home-cooked dinner of scallop and crab stuffed fillet of sole, balsamic and garlic asparagus, and roasted sweet potatoes, with creme brulee for dessert. I'd better get cooking!
Traveling to Singapore was a wonderful experience. I've never been to Asia, and I'm told Singapore is a good place to start because everything is in English. The subway and streets are so clean, and it was actually dry the first few days we were there (though we did still manage to have fun in the rain the last few days). I don't have a whole lot of spare brain cells for words, so hopefully some pictures will make up for it!
View from the Marriott
Night on Orchard Road
Fabric Shopping on Arab Street
Central Business District
Clarke Quay
Clarke Quay at Night
Riverwalk at Night
All these were just with my point-and-shoot, and I can't take credit for the last one. Maybe next time I'll have a camera bag so I can take my new toy!
That's anniversary-birthday-Christmas, in case you were wondering. We had to combine all three in order to justify my new baby:
The Pentax K10D!! It is so awesome. I have only had a few days to play with it and I am already completely in love. Here are just a few of my favorite pics from the last couple days...
I promise not to turn this into a photo blog, but I had to share my exciting news!!
We had the back seats down so we could load up the car to evacuate - cooler, box of photos, sleeping bags, cat carriers, animal food, pillows, gerbil cage. We spread blankets out in what space was left in the backseat to give the animals somewhere to be. I took this picture while I was in back keeping them company. I don't think I can convince anyone they were stressed out - but you can tell they were happy to have me nearby!
I took this through the windshield on our way to San Antonio for our first anniversary. I love it when the sun behind a cloud lights up the edge like it's neon.
I haven't been able to do much crafting this week... We've been really busy, and I have been so tired at night I haven't even felt like knitting! I do have quite a list planned, though, so hopefully there will be some posts to come!
Kath at Red Current created a new website for Self Portrait Tuesday. She also posted a monthly challenge - body parts. For some reason, this picture feels really daring to me. It's nothing different than what people see at the pool, but it still felt risky to post it. I'm going to leave it, though - it's what I thought of when I read the challenge, since it's part of my body I am happy with.
I didn't get up to run yesterday morning (why does 5:45 seem so early??) so I went after work instead while my wonderful husband grilled us some steaks. This is what I was racing against while I ran...
The wind kept picking up, and getting cooler, and the lightning flashed, and there was thunder... and then it ended up not even raining! Gotta love Houston weather...
I've never really considered myself a runner. Then last January I ran my first half-marathon. I'm doing it again this January, and I've finally started running again. I have to get up at 5:30 am to "train" since it's too hot after work. I can't wait for fall, or what counts for fall here in Houston!
I have a fascination with the skies in Texas. They change so quickly, and are so beautiful. I often take pictures of the sky when I can, but usually I don't have my camera. The picture above was taken on February 2, 2002 (02-02-02) at sunrise just before my husband proposed to me. We were at the top of Enchanted Rock, near Fredricksburg, TX.
More crafty posts to come - I've been crafting, but not finishing!
It looks like my updates will be a little later in the day now that I have to go to work like normal people. And I don't have anything truly crafty to post today. So... these were two pictures I took on our Thanksgiving trip to Virginia that I really like. The first is a picture of my husband, and I mostly like it because of the lighting. I am having a lot of fun playing with natural light.
The second is a picture I took at Arlington National Cemetary. The fall colors were mostly gone, but there was a beautiful patch of these yellow leaves on the ground, and I practically flattened myself on the sidewalk to get the shot I wanted.
