mental notes while skiing

Dan and I took a short and simple super Sunday bowl trip to Steamboat Springs.  We had a sweet time taking laps through the chutes, swishing into the trees, sipping hot tea on the chair lift, snacking to keep blood sugars up (me, not him!), and soaking in the shiny snow in the sunshine.  In addition to taking a few real photos, I definitely took several mental snapshots to ensure a mental memory because clearing fog + falling snow + sunshine = pure magic.

I also took a mental note to pack birdseed when we ride the Morningside lift.  We witnesses a surreal moment when a GreyJay landed on the hand of a guy riding the lift one chair ahead of us.  All I could think of was Bert and Ernie and it was awesome.

++Don’t forget to check in with Dan’s ski days blog right HERE.

 

WHOLE (GO/venture2 : day5)

See Kal’s take HERE.  See Elise’s take HERE. See the Flickr group HERE.

Day 5?  Yep, I skipped ahead to Day 5.  Maybe sometime I’ll finish up the Day 4 : PERMANENT prompt because let’s just say great minds think alike.  I had some sketches started for that one and for lack of self-control, I peeked at the other solutions already posted and they kind of stole my thunder.  But hey, this is all about adventure and who stinkin’ cares if someone else chose a similar path.  Anyways…

I thought and thought about the word WHOLE.  At first I went all natural – holistic thinking and then I thought about how everything adds up to feeling whole – sum of all parts kinda thinking.  I never really put pen to paper with those thoughts though.  Tonight I sat down to write up a completely different post not relating to GO!ventures when all the sudden I got the hokey pokey in my head with the phrase “whole self in” screaming out at me.

Ain’t that the truth?

I went to work in picnik with my words and once again – putting my WHOLE SELF in, I arrived at the above result much past my bedtime.  Dang that whole self thing.

It is no wonder I am completely spent sitting here on a Saturday night.  I put my whole self into this day and yesterday.  And the day before that?  WHOLE self!  I know it is never good to do things half-hearted but once in awhile it sure would be refreshing to just approach life with a little less than EVERYTHING I’ve got.  But, that’s just not who I am so I might as well embrace it.

When you get me, you get my WHOLE self.

The end.

 

COINCIDENCE (GO/venture2 : day3)

See Kal’s crazy cool drawing HERE.   And, of course, the Flickr group HERE.  Next word prompt:  PERMANENT and the last day is WHOLE.

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Wanna know the story?  Well, settle in..this is a good one.

I was all set to skip this COINCIDENCE prompt but the circumstances were just meant TO be.  I guess that’s just how it goes.  I created these cootie catchers from the images of last night’s KU vs. CU basketball game.  There is (of course!) more to this story as to why on earth I would choose these recent photographs and why on earth I would make them into a cootie catcher.  More on that in a minute but in the meantime time, here’s how I got from point A to point B.

So I took this shot from last night

and this self-portrait from my TV time appearance (do you see me there between their heads!?)

and turned it into this print

and glued this on the other side

I saw this post on Photojojo this morning and it got me thinking about cootie catchers – you know the great fortune tellers of elementary school.  The likelihood of any of the folded paper predictors actually coming true is next to none as in FAT CHANCE.  On the flip side of that…to go looking for a coincidence is kinda like the same thing.   But nonetheless, I looked.  I tried to see the unlikely and the slim-to-none chances of two things colliding at the perfect moment and just when I had brushed it off, it happened.  My flap in my cootie catcher came to be.

Dan and I cheer hard for the KU Jayhawks.  Since we are in Denver now, we go as far as buying tickets to see them play against CU at the Coors arena.  In the past, our luck with seats has been ideal.  When we got to our seats yesterday, we couldn’t help but be disappointed since they were actually in the very last row of the arena.  Bummer, dude.

We headed down to the third row to get some up-close warm up/shoot around photos.  I love seeing this part of the action each game.  During this time, a gal motioned for Dan and me to come down to the front row.  At first, I believed we were in her seats but, as it turned out, she need to fill the seats directly behind the ESPN announcers to look good when they went on air.  Oh, sure…yea, we could help her out.

She thanked us over and over and said we were welcome to stay until someone came to fill these sure-to-be-sold seats.  We were happy to be on the front row and pleased to be on TV.  “Hi Mom and Dad!” was all I could think to myself.  It was a blast.  The guys went on air and there we were on National Television.  I stole a moment to prop my camera in my lap for a self pic to document the experience.  The game started and we kept waiting for the ticket holders to show.  More time passed and the more we got comfortable with our unreal seats.  And then it hit me.  We went from last row to front row just like that – FAT CHANCE!  Big COINCIDENCE, right place at the right time…not likely at all but somehow, it happened and it was great.

The game was rocky and rough and CU played like we should have.  We missed free throws and they made three point shots.  We squeaked it into over-time and finally claimed the “W” but not after a lot of anxiety.  It was too close for our No. 1 Jayhawks but a win is a win.

I think my favorite memory would have been missed without our coincidence seats.  Two die hard CU fans sitting right next to us began taunting Sherron Collins at the end of over-time.   I’m not a fan of the taunting but the exchange between Collins and them was priceless.  He strutted, he flexed, he gave him the number 1 sign and said “We’re #1″ and I waved him off.  He smiled.  I captured blurry pictures of the entire event.

I also loved the part when Bill Self came out after the game and got an interview with Bill Rafferty.  I couldn’t resist the geeky fan thing to do and, as he walked off, I yelled, “GO Bill!” as if that means anything.  He waved at me.  I’m such a dork.

All in all, a serious chance happening coincidence of magnitude and I’m so glad I was pushed to see it.

Below is more of a collection so that I will not soon forget this COINCIDENCE.

I have serious Self respect…

Thanks for making it to the end of my book-long recap of this crazy night. You make writing and remembering more fun.

 

INVISIBLE (GO/venture2: day2)

See Kal’s drawing HERE.  See Elise’s handprint HERE.

I’m a day late getting this one up but I figure if you all knew about the monstrosity we’ll call yesterday then you would understand.  I started out thinking about the INVISIBLE prompt as a way to view perception – you know, more than meets the eye kind of thing.   I played around with a keyhole visual but could never really get anywhere.  I was all set to try something with negative space and the things that seem invisible if we are just looking at the subject.  Both of those were fine ideas but they weren’t very personal.  I decided to create the word invisible out of my diabetes test strips for checking my blood sugar.  Living with Type 1 diabetes definitely has its ups and downs (literally!)  Read on to hear more about this story.

Allow me to explain.  Let’s just say that I braced for a busy day yesterday and that was an understatement and then when my school day was officially over, I couldn’t leave because I believed I would a.) pass out on the drive or b.) lose my lunch on the way to the car.  Both of those options coupled with a low blood sugar led to me laying on the classroom floor next to the trashcan, eating graham crackers, talking on the phone with Dan.  I know, you wish you were me, am I right?  So yea…the blood sugar was low and despite forcing myself to swallow the grahams eventhough I really just wanted to hurl I kept eating and kept checking my blood sugar.  I cannot begin to explain the frustration I felt after every 15 minutes checking my blood sugar and seeing the reading go lower and lower.  67. 58. 58. 56. 48. 48. 46.  This went on for an hour and a half.  And then I lost my lunch in the trashcan, several times.  It was not awesome.

What was awesome then though was the fact that my blood sugar went up to 80 meaning I could drive myself home and also my stomach felt less like it was trying to punch me in the face.

I got home two hours after the ordeal began and felt confident things were on the up and up.

Not so, my friends.

I got feverish and visited the dreaded porcelain god two more times before just calling it a night.  One more trip to the bathroom before my fitful sleep led me to a substitute at school today and an all day date with my bed.  I am feeling less achy and less puny but my spirits are still a little low.  While fixing myself a piece of toast, I realized that diabetes is my invisible right now.  I like to think that I keep it hidden, aside from the tubing sticking out from my pump in my pocket.  I don’t try to hide it…I just don’t want it to be a big deal – define who I am.  And, afternoons like yesterday continue to prove that “just because it isn’t visible doesn’t mean it isn’t there.”

So there you have it.

I am doubtful that I will get around to today’s prompt of COINCIDENCE on time, especially since I am already buzzing about tomorrow’s word of the day PERMANENT.   Lots to think about.  In the meantime, check out the other great creations at the Flickr group right HERE.

 

WANDER (GO/venture2: day1)

See Kal’s vintage bus roll HERE.  See Elise’s globe HERE.

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Okay, okay…I have gobs to say about how I arrived at this piece, however, early morning meetings + morning duty + Tuesday hard day + post-observation meeting tell me that I have already spent my daily allowance on this little adventure.

But I can’t leave you hanging like that so…

Let’s just say that I sat up in bed on Saturday morning and said, “Prone to Wander!” and then went back to sleep.  It was a sign.  I am prone to wander.  I need reminders to stay the course, bind my heart, and keep working towards the goal.  HOWEVER, allowing myself to wander also leads to great things…great places, great people, great ideas…great adventures.  Wandering is okay.

I made collage on a canvas with an old Missouri map, vellum, graph paper, cardboard, colored pencils, raffia, acrylic, and mat medium.  Good times.

It’s funny too, because after all that…this collage was my second go-around for WANDER.  I actually made a completely separate collage all Saturday afternoon only to realize that I needed to explore and meander through that process to arrive at this end result.  I came home from school today and put the above together based on the visions in my head.  I’ll share my original creation soon but for now I’m off to bed with hopes of having some brilliant dream about tomorrow’s prompt:  INVISIBLE.

And don’t forget to check out the GO!ventures Flickr Group

 

GO!venture2: go + be epic 2010

2009 holiday elfing was so good for my creative juices and I’ve been riding that wave into 2010.  However, as this month comes to a close, I realize I need more motivation to keep making things.

I don’t know how Kal and Elise do it but they read my mind and are once again collaborating for a GO! Adventure Art Challenge next week.  I participated in the last one (see here, here, here, and here) and it was such a great experience – pushed me to get off the couch, off the computer and MAKE SOMETHING! It was fun.

And this time – it’s going to be EPIC!

Here is a blurb from Kal’s blog:

Starting Monday we will be challenging each other to create outstanding works of art-of-some-kind to shake up our creative chakras and get inspiration flowing in the right directions. Paper crafts, paintings, photos, videos, interpretive dance, scrapbooks, layouts, sculpture, anything goes. I so love Elise. She’s a crafty kinda gal and she got all techno-into-the-future and invented a FLICKR group and we are officially encouraging the rest of the world to play along. That’s the EPIC part. Involving people. SHARING creativity. Being part of something bigger than just one brain. Appreciating differences + perspectives + souls + crafts + ideas. And GO. It works like this: we will announce a WORD PROMPT – and then the following day post our best and most inspired solution. Easy. Some will be grand. Some may be simple. It’s simply about getting yourself to GO somewhere new – anything goes.

Oh man, I can hardly wait to get out of school today and start on the first word prompt for Monday:  WANDER.

In a rut?  Feeling the winter blahs?  Come and play with us.  Don’t be shy!

 

steamboat photos and more

I dream of snow.

With the forecast for a light snow tonight, let’s revisit these Steamboat pics from this time last year.

so foggy, frozen, and surreal

and oh, the aspens.

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Today was 110%  better than yesterday.  I knew it had to be.  And tomorrow…tomorrow is Thursday which equals no kindergarten kiddos.  Not that I dislike them but I do LIKE the extra hour of time to breathe.

aack and now I think my blood sugar is low because I have tried to typ e this sentence twelve times.  I should hav ejut left all my typos like this … really I’m fine.  nothing a granola bar canp’t fix.  really.  mmm. ganola bar and that 70’s show.  good times.  I gbetter go now.  low blogging is wierd.

 

reFOCUS

Hello all,

Today was not my best.  In fact, I would put today in the “try not to remember this day ever” category for lots of reasons not including running behind in my classes despite over-preparing, loosing my temper…again, and forgetting to take my lunchtime insulin.  Bad day, bad headache.

However, I was reminded of the above quote earlier this evening and all and those ornery second graders and all those terrible, talkative first graders seem harder to remember.

give.

live.

love.

It really is that simple.

 

more sky play

I can never resist a good jet stream…

just another perk of living and working near the airport.

(more of my sky play here and here.)

 

Hand-Drawn Rocks (elfing rewind, part 2)

First off, I have to say thanks so much for all the blog love and comments lately.  It sure does make me feel all warm and squishy when I see a new comment from one of you.  Thank you!

Secondly, how about another elfing rewind?  Yes?  Yes, yes…let’s do this thing.

While taking a needle-felting break, I found an article in a magazine for Ashes and Milk.  I went to their website and discovered very cool design and very expensive hand-made stuff.  I am always looking for a good hand-made guy gift so I figured I would give these hand-drawn rocks a try.  (They cost up to $400.oo on the site OMG!!)  My dad has some shelves in their home office filled with all kinds of manly things likes pipes and cigar boxes and, in a strange way, I thought these rocks might fit right in.

I went on a quest to find the perfect rocks – round and flat, gray but not dark, smooth but not shiny.  It was no easy feat.  I tried to buy some and I was even going to stop at rock company near my school when I finally stumbled across some – literally.  I found them outside my local Target and Michael’s.  Shhhh….don’t tell!  I just dropped them right into my Michael’s sack.

I washed them and let them completely dry out on the heat vent.

I decided to use a permanent ultra fine tipped pen like this one in 005 because I wanted a crisp, fine line with no bleeding.  I bought two and used them both up/smashed the tips by the time I finished 5 rocks.

I had fun creating my own designs.  I used the ashes and milk design in my head for inspiration but I really  just let the pen do its thing.  I also made up some organic lines and then I let the curve of the rock guide my hand into making a wood grain design.  I really like the way that turned out (wood grain on rock is funny to me!)

I made these for Christmas but I think these could be great for Valentine’s.  A sweet sentiment or a hidden word on the bottom would mean so much more than a generic card.  Just a thought.  Even if you aren’t overly creative, any lines on the rocks look great and it is fun to draw on something unusual.  Let me know if you cross over to the crazy side and make some of your own hand-drawn rocks.

p.s. spent some time this weekend cleaning up the blog a bit.  I’m not done yet but check out my new blog header.

 

Needle-Felting (elfing rewind, part 1)

As the last of the Christmas decor is FINALLY put away, I figure I better share the rest of my gift giving elfing before one more month of 2010 gets away from me.

First off,  Project:  Needle-Felting.

Have you heard of this?  Neither had I except that the Fancy Tiger’s etsy shop carried some fun looking kits and they had a jellyfish ornament kit so I just knew I had to try it.  My mama really likes moonjellies and I was looking for an adventure so I set off for the shop just before Thanksgiving break and ended up my own kit, instructions, wool roving, needles and foam.  There are a ton of sites out there that explain the process of needle felting but basically you take sheep’s wool and poke it with a wicked sharp, barbed needle over and over, and over and over until it “felts” itself together and gets hard/less soft and very strong.  Essentially, it is like molding and sculpting out of wool.  So weird.

The Jellyfish!

I sat myself down with doubts of having success but, sure enough that needle into the wool does make it get very compact and strong.  I fretted over the size and smoothness of my creation until my needle broke.  Rats. I was nearly finished but the time between getting a new needle got me thinking…If I can make a jellyfish blob, I can probably make a couple of different size blobs put them together.  And I could use different colors.  Say, I could use some blue and some red and even some yellow.  I had seen bird kits so why couldn’t I make my own little “bird”??  And that was all it took, the creative juices started flowing and my confidence was high enough that when I made it back to the shop to replace my needle, I took the plunge and bought my own stash of red, yellow, and blue wool.   Then, I set off for home with Jayhawk shapes on the brain.

You should see this stuff – it is gorgeous!

Many, many, many hours and many, many, many pokes later I gave myself carpel-tunnel syndrome in my wrist and I also created a Jayhawk (Yes, I might be a little crazy!).  In my mind I really pictured this bird to be tiny, like hang it on the tree small but somehow this silly hawk had a mind of its own.  I fooled around with the beak longer than I’m proud to admit because it was just such a schnoz and I was determined to size it down.  Alas, the bird and the ginormous beak came to be – it gives true meaning to the phrase, “Beak ‘Em, Hawks!”  I really love the process of needle felting (SO unique) but I don’t think I’ll be doing any more of this for a very long time.

This just makes me laugh…

More elfing recaps coming soon.

 

nursery painting :: Mona Jane’s Angel

Marcia is a dear friend of my mom (and me!) and she is also the proud grandmama to sweet baby Mona.  If you know Marcia, you know that she has a love for all things baby, angels, and baby angels in that order!

Everyone knows that grandmamas need a special nursery for when little ones come to play so I got the honor of sprucing up her guest bedroom/nursery this past weekend while I was in KC.

I wish I could remember the name of the artist that paints many of these primitive angels…??

Here are some before, during, and after shots.

the wall

the paint

the during

the done!

Isn’t she a sweet little potato head?  The baby bed will go right under her feet so she will be looking down into the bed.  Hopefully, when I’m back to visit this summer, I’ll be able to add some hearts and other extras but it was so nice to stretch my painting muscles.

In the meantime, Mona Jane should be in good hands.