Self Portrait Challenge # 26

SPC - July Challenge - "Self Portrait as..."

As if... we were kids again...

giggles galore

funny faces forever

the best of friends

More Collage... Catherine & Logan

I live to create with my hands...it takes my mind off everything else in my life and allows me to express myself, if only a fraction of what my mind envisions, but create nonetheless.

This is my very best friend Catherine and her adorable son Logan in the fish costume ... we just spent a super fun...and tiring weekend with her in CA...Disneyland, Santa Monica... (pictures to come). I sure wished she lived closer...

Collage

I've been experimenting w/ collage using tips and such from this wonderful book by Claudine Hellmuth. Her style is quirky and I could hardly wait to try it with some of my pictures. I used a picture of my friends daughter for this one because I thought her pose easily elicited this "sweet" scene. More to come...

SPC #25

This months SPC theme, Pop Art, has been super challenging for me...but has actually given me a project to do with Photoshop. I so badly wanted to create something incredible like this or this, but since this was only my second time to ever use the program...this weeks submission is what you got instead... as Roy Lichtenstein as I'm afraid I can be...

More SPC here...

SPC #24

I'm too tired to really say much of anything...

Picture Book

A is for...

Aloe Bloom

• Animosity towards the pigeons on my roof. Not necessarily the fowl itself, but the filth they produce...I'm so sick of sweeping the drive everyday of the Avian muck that tumbles down. I know they need a place to live, but I'd prefer they just go away. I'm also incredibly Angry at the person who continues to leave miscellaneous food bits for pigeon consumption in the middle of my street. Undoubtedly this is to lure them away from their own home and subsequently flocks of the winged vermin have infiltrated my Abode...you could say I'm grossly Annoyed.

• Abby...my name. I actually love my name, I don't know if I just got lucky and was given a name that fits my personality, or if my personality was formed because of my name. It's a little funky but not too crazy...just a little different. I was named after a woman whom my parents met at a party and they fell in love w/ the name ... then of course there's the Beatle's album Abbey Road.

• Anxious about my life path ... where will I be in a year, 5 years. Will I have children, still be working, go back to school for my Masters, will tragedy strike? I know this is Absurd that I even Agonize over something I ultimately have no control over...but on one hand I'm Afraid I will make the wrong decisions and on the flip side I'm so sick of always making the right ones... I always choose the Acceptable or Appropriate way...when sometimes I just want to be completely Asinine.

Try a little Word Play today...it's quite Addicting.

Self Portrait Challenge # 23

For the final post of May's SPC (Introduce Yourself), I decided to show exactly what I was carrying around w/ me in my purse. I think what a girl hauls around w/ her can say a lot about their character, what they care about, what's important. What does my junk say about me?

Click on the picture to see my flickr notes and what all these treasures are... it's been nice meeting all of you.

More SPC here...

Self Portrait Challenge # 22

I am torn...my life is stagnant...I feel like I should make a decision.

Do I want to try to have another baby with what happened last year still fresh in my heart...

I am fickle..I excercise but don't eat right...I eat right then don't exercise.

I am restless...

I sun bathe when I know I shouldn't.

I like to take pictures facing the sun.

I am hot...I think I'll go for a swim...

Check out more SPC's here and here

p.s. when Esquire saw this picture he said it was a fake smile...I agree...it was nearly 100 degrees!

Self Portrait Tuesday # 21

I am from hairbrushes and lawnmowers, from Scotch tape and string.

I am from a blue farmhouse, tended to with care, now neglected and worn...from crickets singing their lulling lullaby, and soft Delta breezes caressing my skin. From rolling green lawns and new baby chicks.

I am from the strong walnut tree that allowed us to climb and pillage...from hollyhocks growing wild along side my spirit. From the passion flowers lingering at the back door.

I am from peanut butter on pancakes and thick dark hair, from Lori & Steve, Neves, Holtsman, & Brower.

I am from anger & love, passion & pain. From gear heads, farmers, crafters, and homemakers. I am from creativity and ingenuity, hard work and sweat.

From, "your face is going to stay that way," and "I'll give you something to cry about."

I am from Our Lady of Fatima...from closet prayers and unspoken beliefs. I am from Karma and goodness.

I am from California sun, Portugal & France. From lamb chops and iced tea on a hot summer day.

I am from a car accident, a broken neck and limbs. I am from a fighter, a caregiver, & dreamers in love.

I am from dusty racetracks, county fairs, and mountain campsites. I am from memories that will never fade...

**************

Thanks lovegreendog for the inspiration...more Self Portraits here and here...

Self Portrait Tuesday # 20

SPT: May Challenge - "Introduction"

This is a most befitting theme for me this month as I was introduced into this world exactly 26 years ago on this very day...that's right people, today is my B-day. Here are some random bits-o-info about Abby dearest.

• My mom went into labor with me in the afternoon, but refused to leave for the hospital until her favorite soap opera was over. It was an easy delivery (30 minutes)...but a most persnickety child to raise.
• I have my zodiac sign forever emblazoned on my back in the form of a tattoo (Taurus). Unfortunately, some have mistaken this as a symbol for the devil...such a pity!
• I giggle every year when people sing "Happy Birthday" to me. "blah,blah,blah....Dear Abby"
• I don't like birthday cake...but I could go for a good birthday cookie.

More May introductions here...

Self Portrait Tuesday #19

I was not what you would call excited about Easter this year...I actually forgot about bunny day until a couple days before and my mother-in-law reminded me I was responsible for the appetizers. We went to church, I contemplated my faith that a man of flesh and blood rose from the dead, took a little nap, ate (of course!)...then the real fun began. My in-laws had bought these pop darts for our friend's kids...little did I know I was a pop dart phenom. So silly and so much fun. This is what my in-law's garden window looked like,,,I won't go into too much detail, but keep in mind we had to lick each dart to get it to stick...yummy!

More SPT April foolishness here and here...

I Love this Thursday...

I think I might have said it before, but I am a huge fan of floaty pens...and alright, I'll admit this Thursday that I'm in love with floaty pens. If you don't know what a floaty pen is, it's a pen that the top half has a little sliding scene (mostly sold at tourist attractions, etc.).

I've been collecting them now for more than 15 years on trips I've been on, or if family members go on trips they're on the look out for me as well. My very first floaty pen was from Disneyland, and my most recent from Westminster Abbey in London. I'll keep collecting them as long as they're around but they're not as popular now as they were when I was a kid... so keep your eye out for me ya'll!

More Thursday love here.

Self Portrait Tuesday # 18

You know what I do when I feel completely unoriginal? I make a noise or I do something that no one has ever done before.
And then I can feel unique again even if it's only for like a second.
So, no one's ever done that?
No, not in this spot. No. You just witnessed a completely original moment in history.
It's refreshing. You should try it.

-Sam: Garden State

If you've seen the movie you know what I'm doing...If you haven't seen the movie, you should...I'm not lying! More April foolish SPT here and here

Beautiful Sunday

We truly had a Beautiful Sunday today... we walked around MonteLago Village at Lake Las Vegas and had lunch at Cafe Positano (a chicken brie sandwich w/carmelized apples...yummy!) It's a little shopping area/village that is supposed to look like Tuscany...if nothing else, it did a great job of making us feel like we were on vacation, at least for a couple hours.

Sweaty Thursday Love

I am loving this heart pumping, muscle burning, sweat dripping, endurance testing, can barely catch my breath type of exertion. I am loving this so exhausted I sleep like a log and wake up refreshed state of being...this muscle aching, but aches so good type of feeling. I'm loving the zipping up easier, fitting a bit looser, lingering in the mirror a little longer type of days.

I'm molding this skin & muscle into the vision of myself I see in my dreams, I'm 10.2 lbs lighter with a wagon load to go, but I'm in it for the long haul...I want to feel 25 while I'm still 25 (only 1 more month!) I want to run and leap and cartwheel if I feel the notion to do so. I want my body to do as I say, not dictate my limits. I'm mostly loving this determination...

side note: I used to love this yellow Lucky Brand hoddie w/ "karma" embroidered across the front until I was flipping through the pages of the highly stimulating rag (People) and spied Kirstie Alley wearing the same exact hoodie...I didn't like it so much after that...I can't really say why.

More Thursday Love HERE...just relish in it!

Beautiful Sunday

Today has been a gratifying, hard-working, sweat your you know what off type of Sunday. Even in this barren desert I am seeing new growth, planting new life, and hoping for a mild summer. We've potted Red Flax Grass at our driveway, Foxtail Fern in the entry, and this miraculous Australian Tree Fern in the shady sideyard. We shoveled rocks, moved rocks, dug holes, planted, watered, and stood back and enjoyed the fruit of our labor...the hammock is calling my name.

p.s. This is all after working out at the gym for an hour this morning...good thing I'm still young!

more beauty here...

Bye Buddha Boy

The little man's liver function took a turn for the worst and it would have been a much to painful road for us to lead him down.

I love you...and I'll miss you.

Running on Empty

Thanks Kathleen for wondering where I've been...I'm glad someone out there is paying attention to my comings & goings. I've felt horrible that I haven't been posting, but I just have nothing, nada, I'm tapped out.

Working and living out of a hotel for a week in a different state is draining and uncomfortable. I feel like a fish out of water with the new job and I'm carrying around this unbelieveable sadness that I hide with all my being. I'm just waiting, hoping for something great to occur, for something I can say was the reason for this horrible thing that happened in my life. We found out today our pug, Buddha, has diabetes along w/possible kidney and liver damage , the options at this point are to put him to sleep or take care of an insulin dependant, sick doggy. . . I'm still waiting.

So...two good things...

1. I joined a gym and have been obsessed with going there. I took a body pump class on Sunday which rocked my world and yesterday met with my personal trainer (oh la-la!) and came up with a master plan to make me gloriously fit...or at least drop a few pounds.

2. I'm 25, have a college degree, and now have an office of my own...a name plaque and all.

I took this picture at 6 in the morning for fear that a superior would see me and think, "what the hell is she doing?" while reconsidering my recent promotion.

Time to hit the elliptical...peace.

Beautiful Sunday

This beautiful picture is ushering up this desire to travel and discover and photograph and be creative. I'm leaving for Sacramento today and wasn't going to take my D50...but this changed my mind...a real photographer wouldn't be disinclined to carry along their heavier but incredibly superior camera just because she already had too many bags to carry... so here's to encountering something magnificent and beautiful this next week.

See more beauty here.

Things I love Thursday

This is what I'm lovin' this Thursday...my loft workspace is shaping up...maybe I'll actually start crafting here?

See more lovliness here