News

Just found out I was accepted into the Urban Street Bazaar. They gave me my second choice on booth size, which means I'll have a 5'x10' rather than a 5'x5'. Yikes, I've got some work to do! :)

SPC: daisykate

i have a thing for daisies.
to me, they symbolise freedom and life.
for my thirty-fifth, i celebrated with a daisy, tattoed you-know-where.
it has seven petals for the people in our family, plus seven is God's number, and it's pink (cuz i'm a girl) and yellow (for the sunshine)..
it was a cathartic experience.. i waved off a few bad memories that day.
hubby got a celtic eternity symbol at the same time.

i made my first necklace a year and a half ago.
it's a five-pointed flower (for my five kids). it's mostly pink and brown beads.
i think i shoulda been time-warped in the seventies.

and today i've been making a paua and wire flower pendant for a bride and her maids.
it's still under construction. i have four necklaces to make, and four sets of earrings. i think i might put more of a wiggle in the petals.

Brainstorming Sketches and Ideas....

SelfPortraitChallenge:
Okay, so here's a photo of me that I am not so jazzed about. It reveals the part of me that is scarred an stretched and won't every go back to what it once was. The stretch marks are barely showing up at this point, but I've got 3 more months to go and they will be fully visible soon. After having Aidan, I lost more weight than I had gained, but my belly was never the same and I often felt embarrassed by this. I hate that I can't just accept that this is a part of me having babies. I am embarrassed by the fact that I am embarrassed by it, and by the fact that I long as much as I do for when I was small and flat.

spc: in smoke

sometimes the bad habits are the ones that feel the best...
sometimes the brightest light in this darkness is from the end of a cig...
sometimes... this is as good as it gets. and i rest content. knowing i could do better. knowing i could do worse....

Stepping out.

Hoping to get a tiny booth here. If my stuff is accepted, that is. Say a prayer for me for good ideas and lots of productive hard work.

EDITED TO ADD: My friend, Superchica, is a pro at all this, and is helping and encouraging me. Check out her site!

My Home Part 1: New England

As a part of my home project, let me show you one of the places I call home--New England, USA. I was in western Massachusetts this weekend shooting a wedding and the colors of the trees were amazing!! I drool over these colors!! No wonder this is the busiest of the wedding season. The weather is cool and crisp (in the 50s during the day) and the scenery is lovely.

We won't have time for apple picking this year, but this weather makes me want to pick apples and pumpkins and bake yummy things.

SPC: eye spy fear

i have had imperfect vision for as long as i can remember.

i've worn glasses since i was six, and now i'm a minus nine in one eye and a minus ten in the other.
minus twenty is complete blindness.. so i can see clearly up to about two-thirds the length of a new pencil in front of my eyes, and anything beyond that is blurry (sorry, lost my ruler, had to resort to a pencil-measure lol).

three weeks ago i smashed my glasses on the tile floor of my bathroom, and since then i've been wearing my really old, huge, nineties specs.. or my contact lenses, which give me excellent vision but make me really grumpy: it's like having a grain of sand permanently wedged in behind my eyelids.

today i viewed a dvd on lasik eye surgery and promptly burst into tears.
the idea that i could have this miracle blew me away..
and all for only $NZ5600, payable over three years..
tempting, so tempting.

but: holding my eyelids open while a light burns into my cornea??
freaky.
and will my eyes be able to be operated on, or will they say no??

"Your Westley is dead. I killed him myself."
"Then why is there fear behind your eyes?"
(any Princess Bride fans here??)

SPC: Fear

The spring semester before Adrienne died she made a series of photographs for a class entitled, 'Fear'. She used Andrew and I as her models. I realized that some of these images, ironically now 7 years later, portray my present state of fear and ever-present anxiety. I feel exposed and vulnerable.

A VERY LATE HOME ASSIGNMENT:
Thanks to Kate I will link to a previous post or two made on another blog that has pictures of me working on my son's "big-boy room" as well as a picture of the finished project. It's not exactly what I was hoping to show for my "home" project, but it does reveal some of my actual home and my love for color. Also, because it is the first room in my house to have an actual "color" and not just a neutral tone on the walls, it feels more like home to me than any other room in the house. I think I'll be painting the nursery next...maybe a bright juicy red!

Girlfriends

On a lighter note, these are some of the wonderful friends I've made here in Boston. These girls are all awesome. I'm so thankful for them.

From left to right: Sarah (she's pregnant!..one of my closest friends), Anna (my snowboarding buddy), Gisella (from Peru, helps me with my Spanish), Sarah (works at L'abri...is a sweet friend), Amanda (Sarah's sister from Idaho), and me!

SPC: Fears

Most of the time I am thankful for the wonderful life that I live--I have a beautiful supportive family, a fabulous soul-mate of a husband and a job/career that I love. But sometimes I am (very selfishly) paralyzed with fear that this good life cannot last and that at some point I will have to pay for it all with a severe tragedy...My life has never been perfect and we have had various struggles like anyone else, but I convince myself that I should feel guilty that my life hasn't been full of great suffering instead of being thankful for what I have...

Assignment 3

Well-despite some of our failures in September's project, I think we should keep going!! For October I have 2 thoughts.

1) Fall is here. (Maybe not in New Zealand.) What does fall look and feel like where you live?
2) 'In my backyard...' I've really enjoyed getting to know all of you better through your self-portraits. What is your environment like? Your neighborhood? Your street? Your surrounding landscape?

Just choose one of these or combine them if you wish! These will be due Oct. 25th.

Good Luck!!