I've missed our last two posts, for a good reason. We've just returned from our family trip to Ireland for Christmas. I'll come back later and post about some of our trip later, but for now I'll give you a few pictures of the holidays.
For us, this time of year is not just Christmas and New Years, but it is our anniversary and both of our daughter's birthdays. Suffice it to say that December is a crazy month typically for us. This year we spent Kate's birthday in Dublin, and she and Anne shared a local favorite from a cupcake shop to celebrate. So for my 'togetherness' prompt from Sally I have a birthday celebration in Ireland.
As for saying goodbye, I will say that I am not much for big goodbyes, or send offs. I'd rather think about it as a continuum and what comes next. So as we started the year with the holidays, we end this part of the journey with the holidays. This is a view from the top of a popular shopping center in the heart of Dublin. They really do this time of year in style! But I really don't feel like this is goodbye. We have been on a journey together for a year and I've met many new friends along the way that I hope to continue to blog with in the future. So to you I say Happy New year and see you soon!
We have an annual family tradition of decorating the tree together adding each item and recounting the story behind it. When we travel the one souvenir we all vote on and pick up from each destination is an ornament. Some years we pick up several, other years it might be only one. But there is usually at least one new story to add to the collection each year. I did a pinterest board if anyone is interested in seeing some of the ornaments and the destination they represent.
So far this year we've added only one ... but there is still time, and we're hoping to add just one more. But I'll save that story for a later post.
As we wrap up the year of Sally's Focusing on Life photo hop, my last few pictures to share are of the holidays and family. This time of year is always very special for me. Both my daughters were born during the holidays (one at Thanksgiving time, and the other between Christmas and New Years), and our wedding anniversary is in December.
I need to play a bit of catch up with Sally's hop as I've missed the last two weeks. So let's begin with Giving Thanks, which is an easy one for me. My girls. I cannot imagine, nor would I want to, my life without them. Nothing can prepare you for how much your life will change by being a parent. My life is forever altered in the most amazing way. Something that I am thankful for everyday.
The next prompt was to focus on a little sparkle, which is also an easy one as you can see. Our tree provides plenty of that both literally and figuratively with all the glorious memories of our travels together through life. You can see this one from the Cayman Islands is a bit worse for wear, but still has a wonderful story to tell.
And now for this week; provide a little pop of red. Yep, also easy. This past Wednesday was our 20th Wedding Anniversary, and my travel partner gave me roses. So very sweet of him. I got up crazy early (as I always do) to go into the office. Followed by an important morning meeting, and then back home by lunch to celebrate our special day --- only to see he'd made it out to pick up flowers for me. They are on the pink-red side, but then I've been channeling my inner pink lately as you can see from my post earlier in the week!
I've had a lot going on lately and haven't been able to get out and snap pics for Sally's hop. I am hoping to catch up today since I took the day off to celebrate my youngest daughter's birthday.
Sally asked us 3 weeks ago to focus on an industrial photo. I confess that I had some trouble trying to think about how to capture that in a photo. Yes I work in New York, but a single photo? When I think of industry it makes me think of the turn of the last century when machines made life easier, which made me think of the old sewing machines. I learned how to sew on an old Singer with the crank wheel. And when I bought my first machine I wanted one just like it, so I bought this one. It only goes backwards and forwards. Nothing fancy, but it is what I prefer.
The next thing Sally asked us to think about was to reflect. This time of year I do reflect on all the things to organize as the kids go back to school, the days become shorter, and the rains come --- soon to be snow. I actually enjoy the cooler weather, and don't mind the rain. But that is probably because I grew up in the Pacific Northwest.
Ok, so one more photo to share with you all. Today is my youngest's birthday, and my centerpiece. She is very excited as we are having several of her friends over for pizza, cake and then off to the opening night of the Hunger Games. It just happened to coincide with her exact birthday. She's just a tad giddy today as she awaits the arrival of all her friends showing up to help her celebrate. So I might be a little delayed in getting around to everyone's blog posts tonight!
This week Sally's prompt has a seasonal twist to it. She asked us to focus on: saints, souls, skulls or scares. And while sugar skulls are most popular this time of year, I've been playing around with another type of skull: Southwestern style. In my opinion, no one does it quite like Georgia O'Keeffe.
Georgia traveled from NY to northern New Mexico in 1929, and she talked about her love of the area saying “When I got to New Mexico that was mine. As soon as I saw it that was my country. I’d never seen anything like it before, but it fitted to me exactly. It’s something that’s in the air, it’s different. The sky is different, the wind is different. I shouldn’t say too much about it because other people may be interested and I don’t want them interested.”
Georgia was a photographer and a painter and you can see the influence of advanced photography (of the time) in her paintings. Her imagery is both crisp and surreal. She painted the subtle nuances of color, shape and light on her subject, in more than 900 paintings during her lifetime.
I'm showing several images of my necklace to explain some of the things I'm learning as I use my new camera. The main reason I wanted the camera was to be able to get better close ups of my jewelry, and I also wanted to play with the focus so I could blur out the background as you see in this picture (left). I hung the necklace in a tree to create the green background. I have been trying all kinds of surfaces to get a completely white background. This is so that you can take the background out of the picture and have only the image of the jewelry. We typically use a white background for Bead Chat Magazine. I tried a blank white canvas, cotton, cheesecloth, even fresh white sand ... and most of these surfaces produce a bluish hue? You see this in the first picture (top left). For some reason the watercolor paper absorbs the light instead of deflecting it and gives the warm hue you see in the second picture (top right).
As for my necklace, Georgia was my inspiration. I wanted to get that stark Southwestern feel in my focal. I used a custom cut wood focal made by Edi Royer of Memories for Life along with some small wood feathers that I've had her make me before. A bit of simple tone on tone beading (the large rounds are howlite) to create the headdress on my skull. You'll see this featured next week in the November issue of Bead Chat Magazine. I'm just giving you a sneak preview and some learnings on photographing. There is a big announcement next week, so be sure to look for it over at Creative Bead Chat!
We are coming up on week 43 of Sally's weekly photo hop. I can't believe how this group has banded together and kept the momentum! I will miss the weekly hopping around from blog to blog come January! It has really been so much fun getting to know everyone better through photography and learning more about each of your lives.
Ok enough teary stuff. For this week we were focusing on shadows. We were to capture where we see shadows, and the patterns that they make. Well at this time of year they get long. And for me, it can be a challenge since I was trying to take pictures during daylight hours, during the work week. Because the buildings are so tall where I am, it is hard to catch shadows! So instead I focused my camera (ehem iphone) upward and watched them dance across the Helmsley Building. It sits straddling Park Avenue at about 46th street. A nice way to take a break from a long day at work, and the weather is just perfect at the moment!
This week Sally asked us to think about all the various things that happen in the course of a day. I decided to give you a little photo tour through my day; through my usual routine to and from my 'day job'
I need to play catch up again. So apologies for the few extra pictures I'm showing this week. Let's start with Sally's prompt from this week. She asked us to think about connections, and I thought I'd show a whole lotta connection in one place! It really was fun to meet so many of you in person this August at Bead Fest. Yes, I know I'm cheating just a little since I took this picture a few weeks ago. But still, you have to admit it works for this week's prompt!
I actually have been taking pictures for each of Sally's prompts from the previous weeks, I just didn't get a chance to get the post put together. Sometimes life just gets in the way of everything else going on. And that darn day job .... tends to get busy as we head into the holidays. So I tend to get a little behind this time of year.
Anyway, so for last week's prompt Sally asked us to show you a smile. Now this isn't my daughter Anne's usual ear-to-ear grin, which she is known for, but her subtle "I-see-you-taking-my-picture-mom" smile.
This next picture may not be the most amazing one I've ever taken, but here's the thing. I've been wanting to upgrade my camera so I could play with focus. Focus in on the subject - blur out the background. I wanted to be able to take better macro photography of my jewelry. I finally got my camera in July and have been playing ever since. I've taken lots of late season flower pictures like this one where I can zero in on the flower and the bee resting just on top. I'm so excited I can do photography like this now!
And just one more. When Sally asked us to focus on a quiet moment, well nothing says quiet to me like tea, in my favorite chair reading over all of your blog posts! This happens to be a cup of homemade Chai. I don't buy Chai in the store, as I'm not exactly sure what that is supposed to be? But it doesn't taste like true Indian Chai. So I buy tea and spices to make my own. I also have a hand whip to froth my milk. Most of the people I saw making Chai on the streets of India would froth the tea by pouring back and forth between containers. I'm just not that skilled - it would be a kitchen disaster for sure. And would completely ruin my quiet moment!
I had a hard time with this prompt for some reason. Partly because I didn't get a chance to take the picture for the prompt over the weekend, and needed to do it during the week. Therefore I only had my iPhone with me. And as efficient as it is ... it is auto-focus. Thus it is hard to get something 'in motion.'
Nonetheless, I decided I wanted to try to include a shot of the many NY Taxis that drive people from place to place around town. They are always there, and always in motion. And just for a little fun, and since my iPhone can take videos, I took one in the elevator as I rode it back up to my office. Enjoy the ride!
Everything seems to come in twos at my house. When you have 2 girls, close in age, you can't very well buy singles. Everything comes in doubles. So when Sally asked us to think about things that comes in twos .... my quick answer is ... my girls.
Here you have 2 girls, sitting on a 2-seater couch on 2 devices, separated by 2 pillows (of course, they couldn't be touching each other - that is way to bothersome). Yep. Everything comes in doubles. You should have heard my husband this morning talking about the credit card bill. So sue me. I went back-to-school shopping for 2 girls. Yikes!
I will be a little delayed again this weekend in getting around to everyone's posts. But I'll check in later in the weekend!
Our prompt from Sally for the week was to look for growth and change in our lives. Not hard to find the first week of school with the kids once again grumbling about rolling out of bed in the morning to catch the bus!
But is hard to capture how much they've grown in one picture, and it is even harder to get them to agree to have their picture taken. First question "this isn't going to end up on Facebook is it?" "...ah, no thanks mom."
I realized I still had the growth chart on the wall even though we stopped tracking it a few years ago when Kate literally ran off the chart. She is now about 5' 4" but you can see the markings from the past. My favorite part is Kate scratching out one of the marks claiming it wasn't true and demanding we re-measure her! You can see the scooch upwards with the revised marking. Which satisfied her at the time. She was so worried she was going to be short, but she just took a little longer to sprout. She's all legs at this point, so the worrying is over!
This week our prompt from Sally was to add something to our pictures ... or in other words edit the picture. I decided to have a little fun with a pair of beaded earrings I made with some stone squares Melinda Orr sent me.
I had originally photographed them with a fiber background, but then re-photographed it with a plain white background so I could take the background out and play with the picture.
The results are this whimsical shot of my earrings appearing to be lying in a field of grass. I played around with the blades of grass so they layered onto the collage. Total silliness.
I took a bit of a bloggy break over the summer, and I thought I'd show you what I was up to ... or actually what I was not doing! I was relaxing with my family and trying to shift into 2nd gear. I picked my favorite spot to do that; our camp in the Adirondacks. Nothing fancy, just a cabin on a lake in the middle of nowhere. Sounds perfect doesn't it? So to catch up on the 8 weeks that I wasn't posting regularly to my blog, here is what I did on my summer vacation.
Week 26 :: Your Own Prompt the week I left off, Sally asked us to pick our own idea for a picture. I decided to show you the Matriarch of the family; my mother-in-law Joan. Getting up to our camp in the mountains involves a lot of family. Aunts, uncles, cousins, second cousins ... and the list goes on. That is because Joan's father and his brothers all decided to either buy or build camps around the lake. So when we are up in the Adirondacks the other cabins around ours are full of relatives. But the one who is still around and telling us all about our little lake in the mountains is Joan. Everyone knows her. And everyone comes to her to ask advice. She's seen it all, and has the stories to tell.
Week 27 :: Textures our camp is actually full of pieces that Joan's parents brought back from their years spent in India. Various pieces that they collected from the North in the Garo Hills and nearby. This first piece is a beautifully carved wood candle holder. When my husband and I visited we brought back several carved wood pieces. And this is just as beautiful in its leaf pattern. This piece is carved from wood found locally in Kashmir called sheeham, or the local rosewood.
Week 28 :: Pretty Patterns I really love this old elephant bell. It is unbelievable just how heavy it is! And I can't imagine an elephant carrying it around, let alone several of these. When I said exactly that to Joan, she simply said "well they are huge animals and this wouldn't be that heavy to them." Well, yes I guess that makes sense. Regardless, the pattern on this bell is just so beautifully done with such intricate detail in the painting that I pulled it out to display prominently on the mantle. Even daughter-in-laws get to make some changes.
Week 29 :: Routine one of the things that seems to mark the end of a beautifully, relaxing day at the lake is to sit out on the porch and reflect. Just a bit of rocking in one of these babies does the trick. Rockers are so common here in the mountains. You'll find them in all the camps, and you'll find it is typical that someone will ask you to come in and sit for awhile as you rock and chat about the comings and goings around the lake. Something I really enjoy about summer at our cabin.
Week 30 :: Catch the Sun this summer was pretty hit or miss with the sun. We were painting the outdoor trim, but had plenty of raining afternoons with puzzles as we waited for the weather to clear up. When indeed the sun did show up, it was glorious. Sparkling on the water, and just making you want to jump in the kayak for a paddle around the lake. We also had quite a few loons living at the lake this summer. So getting out there to visit them on their little island in the middle of the lake was quite an event. They are really big birds!
Week 31 :: Hues of Blue there are lots of blues around camp. The kayaks, the row boat, the large float the girls swim out to ... not to mention the water. So with this prompt is was easy to find blues around camp to photograph for Sally's prompt. I love the stillness of the water with the row boat in this picture captured in the early morning when the lake looks like glass.
Week 32 :: From Where I Stand speaking of glass, I love the way the lake looks first thing in the morning before all the boats, birds and kids hit the lake creating endless waves. It is so peaceful from the end of our dock that I could stand deep in thought for sometime. That is until the mosquitoes find me!
Week 33 :: In Season ok, finally caught up to this week's prompt! There is nothing like all the wild flowers that pop up in the mountains. The growing season is so short, that they seem to come into bloom all at the same time! While the black-eyed Susans are likely planted by us locals, I love seeing them. Everywhere you look. And in several varieties from the classic yellows to the orange centers. They are such happy flowers.
This week Sally's prompt for Focusing on Life is to finish the sentence 'You are ...." She asked us to think about what kind of a person we are. If you could only pick one word, what would your's be?
I've been thinking about that all week, and it just isn't that easy. But I've finally decided on the word unconventional. When I think about the things that define my life, that is the theme. I wouldn't confuse that with more traditional things. I did take my husband's name because I wanted all of us (my kids, my husband and I) to have a family name.
But some of the choices my husband and I have made are unconventional. I work full time, and he stays home with the kids. We didn't mean for that to happen, but when my oldest was born I had the boring, steady job with good insurance. He had the better paying, interesting job in high tech, but his work was on a contract basis. So he quit and we made do on my salary. Don't get me wrong, there are many, many days when I wish we could trade places. But we're just too far down this path to make that change. We both felt strongly about one of us staying home with the kids. It is just how it played out for us.
Last week I told you about my two rings, and mentioned that there was another story behind the diamond ring. So when we got married, we exchanged simple wedding bands. That is because we wanted a simple wedding. We got married by the justice of the peace up in wine country. It was the dead of winter (December) and pouring rain. I wore green velvet (that first pic is us on our wedding day). As many of you know, my favorite color is green. We planned everything over the course of 3 months .... so there was no running off in the night. It was just how we wanted to do it. But perhaps I should back up one more step. Late Summer, I was planning a trip down to see my sister who lives in New Zealand. As I was completing my plans I said to my then boyfriend, "so am I going by myself? or are you coming? because either way I'm going." He decided that he did want to come with me. And then as we started to plan out all the places to visit we realized that for a mere extra $100 we could stop off in Fiji. Sign me up! The more we talked about it, the more we realized that we were planning a very romantic trip, and commented on what a great honeymoon Fiji would be. We looked at each other and said, 'let's do it." So we planned our honeymoon before the wedding. But that is our life. We love to travel, so we tend to plan around places we'd like to visit. (Picture of our island in Fiji and a picture of my sister and me in NZ)
Ok, the diamond ring. We had been married 5 years at this point. I was roughly 38 weeks pregnant on our 5th anniversary. We decided to celebrate by going out to dinner. We were at a 'cozy' little restaurant in San Francisco (where we lived at the time). You know the kind of place where the tables are all right next to each other with a bench that lines the back wall across all the tables. A couple with their kids sat next to us. The woman was a serious Nosey Parker telling everyone what to do, what to order, reaching across the table to cut someone's meat. She saw my husband pull out a little velvet box and slide it toward me. She audibly gasped. She nearly yelled "he's going to ask her to marry him!" The look on her face was sympathy that he was going to make me an 'honest woman.' We both shot her a glare and my husband said, "we've been married for 5 years and this is our anniversary, as if it is any of your business." You could see the relief on her face that I was not having this child out of wedlock. Now it makes me giggle when I slide on my ring and think of that bossy stranger interrupting my moment. It is par for the course of my unconventional life.
This week's prompt for Focusing on Life is to find the green in your life. As Sally says, it is the color of balance, learning, growth and harmony. It symbolizes calm, self-respect and well being.
Green has always been my favorite color. For as long as I can remember. And when my husband and I got engaged, I knew that I didn't want to do anything in a traditional way. We ended up eloping, which means no one knew we were engaged. And when we did get married (about 3 months later) we exchanged simple wedding bands.
Afterwards, my new husband surprised me with my engagement ring which was an emerald. Our marriage has been about building a life together, about finding balance in life and a harmony in our relationship. I can say we really have grown together over the 20 years we've been married. And I cannot image any other path in my life.
The second ring is a beautiful diamond that my husband gave me five years after we were married. Certainly not traditional! He surprised me on the eve of giving birth to our first child. Funny story, but perhaps for another post.
This week's Focusing on Life challenge was to look for typography and blog about whether it drew you in, inspired you or perhaps spoke to you. Hmm, this one really had me thinking.
Each day as I commute to my job, I walk through Grand Central Station. Recently I've noticed the sign for the Graybar Building. Ornate and interesting. I must have walked by it hundreds of times. Always in a rush, never paying any attention. But in the last few weeks I kept thinking, I need to look up what 'Graybar' means. So this week, I did. In fact, I took a lunch hour to walk over to the building and snap some pictures. Both inside the lobby, and from across the street.
The Graybar Building sits next to Grand Central Station. I mean literally, right next to it. There are entrances in the station to the building lobby. Across the street is the Chrysler building. I think with all these other iconic locations, the Graybar Building gets lost. I had never heard of it, yet I walk by it every day. The Building was the first office building in the immediate Grand Central Terminal area of the city. Wow. There are so many today, but then this building dates back to early 1900s.
It was named after its original tenants Elisha Gray and Enos Barton. It has that same classic Art Deco style that I love in the old buildings of New York, complete with an old mail slot. It isn't in use (note the "closed" on the box). I love all the details in the lobby. They have a Moorish feel to them. The floor has tiles like the edges of a rug, look up and you see beautiful rich reds in the ceiling with lantern-like light fixtures. Lots of circles adorn the lobby. No detail seemingly forgotten.
The most interesting part of the building is just outside the front door. The canopy, above the entrance, is held up by 3 large metal rods resembling the ropes (or mooring lines) off a ship. You'll notice cones on the rods which are 'rat guards' that keep rats from climbing on ship when in port. Just below the cones you see that there are 3 cast metal rats. Some say that this is the first nod to New York City being called the 'rat race.' If you look closely, where the cable (or 'hawser') reaches the building there are eight rat heads. (You might need to click on the link as I couldn't quite capture them with my little iphone). So the question is ... are we the people, represented by rats, trying to get in? Or are we already inside trying to get out? The conundrum of New York City.
The most common explanation for the 'rat' architecture is that it represents the shipping business that defined the historical roots of the Graybar company.
Also, at the time of the building's construction the city was much more of a waterfront, or port city. I can honestly say I never noticed the rats. But standing there and looking up; sure enough ... they are metal rats!
There are figures on the building facade. They are bas-relief panels and have an Assyrian look to them. I could't find any explanation or background on what these panels had to do with the building, but I like them.
The Graybar Building is certainly one of the lesser known skyscrapers in the city. I had no idea about it's background, or that it is registered as a Landmark. But I quickly found out as I drifted through the lobby taking pictures on my paisley covered iphone. As I was snapping away one of the security guards shouted at me to stop. I didn't realize that it was threatening to take pictures of clocks. But apparently anything deemed a Landmark is off limits. Good thing I got my snaps in before he chased me out!
This week Sally asked us to focus on food for our Focusing on Life prompt. Well alrighty then. I can do that!
A comfort food to me is a lazy weekend lunch of bread and toppings. An open-faced sandwich if you will. Growing up; it was a staple. You can find this in pretty much any Scandinavian kitchen. My Norwegian friends call it a smørbrød, and if you're Swedish you might call it a 'cold table' or smörgåsbord. I just call it delicious.
So a favorite for me is to slice a few pieces of a fresh Italian bread, some greens (I prefer arugula with its slightly peppery flavor), a few slices of cheese and a little kick with jelly. I LOVE chili jelly. And a good friend of mine makes some pretty amazing homemade stuff. On my table is a little from her farm called The Land of Nod in Canaan CT (just in case you're in the neighborhood and can stop by).. it's worth it.
When people talk about something being an 'acquired taste' they typically mean that as you grow older that you've had time to become familiar with unusual tastes, smells or even odors (such as cheeses). Over time you might actually grow fond of that unusual taste.
Salmiakkis are an acquired taste. But I don't think it has much to do with age since every kid on my block loved them. They are considered a treat for Finnish kids, and my neighbors had them shipped (by the box load) directly from Finland. We all asked to get in on the action.
What, might you ask, is a Salmiakki? It is salty licorice that originates from the early 1900s in Finland, Norway and the Netherlands. Originally it was used as a cough medicine known for 'tongue-numbing,' and somewhere along the way became a candy. Clearly, an acquired taste! They are quite salty.
This week Sally asked us for our Focusing on Life prompt to think of a time when in the middle of your busy day something unexpected brings you right back to childhood. I was traveling for work last year and was in our London offices, and saw a box of Salmiakkis on a co-workers' desk. She cracked open the box and I popped one in my mouth. Instantly I got flashbacks of me, standing in the yard with my childhood friends. I get that with tastes, smells and especially music. Salmiakkis definitely make me feel like a kid.
I've missed our last two posts, for a good reason. We've just returned from our family trip to Ireland for Christmas. I'll come back later and post about some of our trip later, but for now I'll give you a few pictures of the holidays. 
