Yay for You!

 Aubrie received her first college acceptance letter today and we are so proud of her!

Another Teenager

Donovan went to the mall with Meme on his birthday and came home with this.  It is a Wogibe.??  There is a whole store in the mall dedicated to selling these beanbag type chairs that mold to any body.  Truth be told they are very comfortable, a cross between a bean bag chair and a memory form pillow.  He got the largest one they sell and is thrilled as is evident in this photo. Just look at him sitting there all handsome and happy in his hand me down clothes.  At thirteen he inherits nearly his whole wardrobe from his older brother Peyton who at 16 is only a few inches taller. Good thing he is saving money on clothes as he now owes Meme $130.  He is hoping to recoup most of this in gifts when we celebrate his birthday on Superbowl Sunday.   I probably would not  have approved a $240 lounge chair purchase, so it's good that I stayed home.  Nor would I have enjoyed carrying this 7 foot chair up an escalator and then dragging it through the mall; but I'm sure Donovan did. I do wish their was video footage of him and his 5 foot Meme dragging it along.  The memory of that alone was probably worth the purchase.  :)

The World at my Window

So excited to be starting a new business, and  with a friend to keep me motivated. We have been haunting Goodwill stores looking for pieces of furniture to paint and resell. Today we did a little sanding and hope to paint soon.  Maybe tomorrow!  Hoping for a warmer day after a snow day on Saturday.  It was heaven.  All sporting events were cancelled.  We watched three movies this weekend.  Blue Valentine, Runaway Train, and I am Number Four.  Yesterday was Donovan's birthday which we celebrated at Red Robin, and by trying out his new big beanbag chair thing.  (Cannot remember what it's called, but they have dedicated a whole store at the mall to them) Fun times. 

Skywatch Globes

I have been transferring my love for sky photography to globes!  I collect globes, grabbing them when I can from tag sales and Goodwill. It is always so exciting to find one for just a few dollars.   I was so inspired by the work of artist Emily Gold at ImagineNations. From that inspiration I decided to try literally wrap the sky around the world!  And I do it with a song in my heart.  Each globe has a song title that plays through my mind as I work on it.  Seriously, you can't make this stuff up. lol.  So far they are as follows:  From a Distance, Heavenly Day, Waiting on the World to Change, and Night Moves. I love em!

I thought this would be a perfect post for skywatch Friday.  Enjoy!

http://skyley.blogspot.com/

After and Before

Silhouette

I love silhouettes and have always wanted to try making my own. I have some of my children done several years ago at Disney World. I can still remember 3 year old Gabe perched on a little stool, bribed with the promise of candy. It was over 100 degrees that day, but to my surprise his three year old self was able to sit long enough for the gentleman to painstakingly, yet with amazing speed, cut his silhouette on and by sight. It was incredible all the way around. Finally I decided to attempt this on my own, albeit the easy way. I decided to attempt my first silhouette using my very cute nephew's profile. He recently went from an impish bob to a very bad ass Mohawk. On Christmas Eve I snapped a few pictures of his profile which is more adorable than ever with this haircut. I then printed out, traced around his profile with a fine tip sharpie, cut that out, traced it onto mat black paper with a pencil and cut that out. That's it! Much easier than I imagined, and quicker. I recommend a very sharp tiny pair of scissors and, wear your reading glasses if you are over 40. The smallest wrong move can alter their likeness. Oh yeah, don't forget to add eyelashes in, they don't show in every one's profile.

I am linking up.  :)

http://micheleravendesigns.blogspot.com/     Primp!

Yellow Macro Mosaic

http://lisaschaos.com/ and macro monday

Let Me Count the Ways

Wrestling is a sport that only a Father can truly love. I do not love wrestling, and my oldest son will sometimes throw back in my face when I am grouchy about the sport and all it entails and he is just being his grouchy teenage self, "You hate wrestling!!" he will yell as if he has just exposed some evil ugly truth about me. I do not love the sport,true enough, but their are parts I do like and even enjoy. Like watching my little guy, Gabriel make friendly small talk with his opponent as he waits for his match to begin. He likes to humanize as well as size up his competition if he gets the chance before his bout number is up. It is heartwarming to hear the small details he gives me about his fellow competitors. Like they are truly his friends now. He loves the sport fully. The many hours spent working out on the sweaty mats with his team mates. The days on the weekends spent at tournaments, either his or his older brothers. His matches themselves, even when he loses, focusing immediately on something positive. And of course winning and even pinning his opponents.
The list is long regarding what there is not to love about the sport. Here a few: The time dedication the sport requires when two of your children wrestle, and your husband coaches and coordinates the town youth program. 40+ hours a week! Girls wrestling boys, especially in middle school and highschool(that is a post in itself), weight loss for the sport(another rant I could go on), and the crying. I always think of the movie League of their Own when Tom Hanks says their is no crying in baseball. Well, their is crying in wrestling. And, a lot of it, especially with the littler boys. Even when my boys' win, if the losing wrestler cries I can't fully enjoy their victory. The first couple matches of the season are heart wrenchingly tearful. By the end of the season you are immune to tears in small children, your empathy lost.
Enough said.

Skywatch

http://skyley.blogspot.com.

Eggs Benedict

Gabe and I had eggs benedict for breakfast not that long ago. On a school day!! Around here eggs benedict is usually reserved for Mother's Day, but he has taken a liking to it so I surprised him. Tee hee. He could not believe his eyes and quickly hopped up on the stool at our messy kitchen island. We shared.
After the hectic first 45 min. of the day where everyone is waking, dressing, eating, packing,and sometimes arguing, Gabe and I have a peaceful hour together. Sometimes he is still in dreamland and then stumbles down at 7:45 to tell me his dream or sometimes he is wide awake and hungry. That hour is heavenly in many ways and will no longer exist when Gabe enters middle school next year and his day begins an hour earlier. It will be gone like our 11:00 lunches together eaten at the island as he waited for the kindergarten bus. :(

Monochrome

This is one of my favorite photographs of my daughter. As we now wait patiently to hear from the colleges she has applied to (Vassar, Connecticut College, Wheaton, Salve Regina and Emmanuel)this photo brings me back, way back.

Taken 17 years ago with film I have figure an easy way to turn my favorite photos digital and then do any editing or enhancing that I want. Like turning a faded color photo sepia. I take my point and shoot digital canon and just lay the photo on a flat surface near natural light. I then zoom in and snap. It is that easy. I can then edit within the camera with the many opions these little cameras have, like color enhancing or miniature, or upload to my computer and then pulling it into Picnik or even a store photo section like Walgreens where you can enhance your photos there right before ordering new copies. Choose one hour developing and pick them up in an hour. I have a friend who does this with very old faded black and white photographs. With her camera she zooms in on individual relatives in a group photo to get nice individual pictures of that person that just don't exist. The whole process is so easy and within a few hours you can change enough photos to digital and actually have the hard copies in your hand or a hard bound photo book ordered and on its way in the mail.

http://sepiasaturday.blogspot.com/

Word from the Road

I spent almost six hours on the road today driving in circles. Pulling out, parking, and patiently waiting at schools, Dr. offices and sport facilities. Thank God for my camera and Howard Stern and Dr. Laura! Shortly, my daughter will have her license and then soon after my oldest son. I know I will miss this time when I have them captive in a minivan.



http://skyley.blogspot.com/

I think It's Wednesday

2011 Highlights

Florida Keys, Thimble Islands, many college visits, soccer and more soccer, wrestling and swimteam, URI Rugby Reunion in Newport, all mixed in with diagnoses, break-ups heartache and realizations. Life.

And now for my photo editing tip. Try Picnik if you have not.