Sunday, June 30, 2013

Sunday inspiration

Happy Sunday, friends. ☺

Today's inspiration from French artist Anastassia Elias is quirky and a whole lot of fun! Elias creates whimsical artwork inside toilet paper tubes. She says her ideas for each miniature creation come from scenes of everyday life. Once she knows the scene she wants to create, she uses manicure scissors to cut tiny paper shapes, then manipulates them into place with tweezers—with remarkable results like the ones you can see in the video below. Visit her Web site (found here) to see more of her artwork. (Click here for more of her toilet paper tube art.) Enjoy!



Wishing you all a creative and inspirational Sunday. ☺

Saturday, June 29, 2013

Six-word Saturday


A whole lotta nothin' goin' on...
 
and that's just the way I want it! After a fun (but busy) week full of commitments, today is my day to relax, and that's just what I'm going to do. I'll read and write and maybe watch a favorite show or two. This is my kind of Saturday. ☺

Wishing you all a fun and relaxing weekend.


Friday, June 28, 2013

Friday fun

Happy Friday, friends!

My plan for this weekend is that I have no plan for this weekend. I'm looking forward to those "lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer" that Nat King Cole sang about. Relaxing, reading, writing... That's all I have on the agenda. ☺

How about you? Any big plans for the weekend? Have a great one!


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Thursday, June 27, 2013

So much excitement!

Photo: John Nyberg, rgbstock.com
Happy Thursday, friends. ☺

There's been a lot of excitement at our house this week:

♥ My six-year-old son lost his first tooth on Tuesday morning. (You've never seen such a proud boy!)

♥ The kids were able to play in their new inflatable pool for the first time on Monday. (They had outgrown their old one.)

♥ I made it through Jillian Michaels' 30-Day Shred, Level 1. Whew! (I'm starting Level 2 today! Wish me luck...)

♥ I signed up for another Coursera course, History of Rock, Part 2. It begins in a less than two weeks. I'm also signed up for a fall poetry class that I've heard some great things about: Modern & Contemporary American Poetry.

♥ I've been doing more work on my dad's memoir—so much fun!

♥ The kids and I survived the first week of summer vacation. ☺

Speaking of that last item, I've been trying to find interesting things to do to keep the kids occupied and entertained. Yesterday I discovered this fun video about creating instant ice. A future project? Perhaps!


(Go here to find more tips for making this project work.)

So that's my world this week. What's exciting in your world?

Wishing you all a fantastic Thursday. ☺

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Our World Tuesday

Today is Tuesday, so that means it's time once again for Our World Tuesday, a meme that encourages bloggers to share images of their world. It's a great way to get a glimpse of life through the eyes of others! You can find out more about it here. Even if you don't participate, I encourage you to take a look at the intriguing photos that bloggers from around the world share each week.
 
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Last week, my husband, kids, and I went down to the lake to feed the geese, ducks, and swans. This is the goose that greeted us. He seemed to be smiling at us—or laughing—and with his open beak, he was always ready when someone threw a treat. (Actually, he was probably panting and trying to stay cool on a hot day, but I like to think he was being clever. ☺)
 
My husband took these photos while I tossed Cheerios into the lake—and this brainy goose actually caught some of them!
 

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Wishing you all a happy Tuesday. ☺
 
 
 

Monday, June 24, 2013

Another something I love

Happy Monday!

A couple of weeks ago, I told you about something I love—this music video for one of Tanya Davis' songs, animated by Andrea Dorfman. Today I'd like to share another example of Dorfman's phenomenal work.

Dorfman is a filmmaker, an artist, and an animator. The short video below is the trailer from Flawed, her Emmy Award-Nominated time-lapse animation about our need to find ourselves and learn to accept other people's faults—and our own as well. You can see the entire film here at the PBS Web site. It's excellent, and I think you'll really enjoy it.



Wishing you all a fantastic Monday. ☺

Sunday, June 23, 2013

Sunday inspiration

Happy Sunday, friends!

I don't know about you, but if there's one thing I absolutely need in order to start each day, it's coffee. I love the taste (and that great smell!), and I definitely need the caffeine boost after the four or five hours of sleep I get each night. The coffee I drink isn't fancy—I usually just brew it in my kitchen—but over the years, I've seen some amazing coffee art created by very talented coffee artists like the ones featured in these two videos.

The first video presents the latte art of Chris Phillips. You can find out a bit more about him at his Web site. And in the second video, you can see some absolutely unbelievable 3-D coffee art created by Japanese cappuccino painter Kazuki Yamamoto, who piles up foam to make gravity-defying designs. You can read more about him here.  Enjoy!







Wishing you all a creative and inspirational Sunday. ☺

Saturday, June 22, 2013

Six-word Saturday


Perfect morning: coffee, quiet, many words.

My house is quiet, my kids and husband still asleep. I've been awake for quite a while though, sipping coffee, reading, and writing. I can't think of a better way to start my weekend!

Wishing you all a peaceful and relaxing Saturday. ☺
 
 

Friday, June 21, 2013

Friday fun

Happy first day of summer!

I'm so glad it's Friday. After a busy week filled with my son's school activities, I'm definitely in need of some R & R. I hope you all have a great weekend, whatever your plans. ☺

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Thursday, June 20, 2013

Happiness is...

Happy Thursday, friends. ☺

Today is a happy day! A few weeks ago, Tara at Tara Tyler Talks gave me the Happy Tag. (She made this cute button to go with it.) I am to list five things that make me happy (other than the given—family and friends.) Here goes...

I'm happy because:

1. I didn't have to rush this morning. I slept in until 7 a.m., which is late for me! Today is the first official day of summer vacation for my newly minted first-grader. Both of the kids are still sleeping, and I'm enjoying the quiet.

2. The Laughing Cow company makes thirty-five calorie cheese wedges. Yum! I'm dieting right now (yuck), and these wedges really help with my cheese cravings.

3. I'm enjoying this writing book: Now Write! Nonfiction. It contains some great exercises for memoir and creative nonfiction writing.

4. This song has been an earworm for days—and I don't mind one bit! (You can watch a fun LEGO version of the video here.)


Lyrics here.

5.  It's a gorgeous day! The sun is shining; the birds are chirping. How could I be unhappy about that?

Feel free to grab the tag if you'd like to play along on your blog.

So tell me, what's making you happy today?

Wishing you all a day filled with smiles. ☺


Tuesday, June 18, 2013

"Start with a mouthful of sentence"

Happy Tuesday, friends!

Some of you know that I'm a poet. I love poetry; I love reading poems by my favorite poets, and I love hearing poets read their work, which I think often adds so much to the meaning of the poem. However, even I have to laugh at this hilarious video from Fishbowl Improv, which pokes fun at the way some poets read. Enjoy!



Wishing you all a Tuesday filled with smiles. ☺

Monday, June 17, 2013

Aw...

Happy Monday, friends. ☺

Today I'm linking up with Awww...Mondays, a meme in which bloggers post the things that make them say aw. You can find out more here.

This adorable puppy definitely earns an aw rating from me today. I hope he helps get your week off to a good start, too. Enjoy!



Wishing you all a beautiful Monday. ☺

Sunday, June 16, 2013

Something fun for the dads and those who love them

Happy Sunday, friends, and Happy Father's Day to all the dads!

This video is a wonderful and hilarious tribute to dads and everything they do for their families. Enjoy!


Lyrics here.

Wishing you all a fantastic Sunday. ☺

Saturday, June 15, 2013

Six-word Saturday


Where did the school year go?

My son has only three more days of kindergarten before school is over. I can't believe I'll be the mother of a first-grader soon! And my baby will be a preschooler next fall. Where did the school year go? Where did the TIME go?

It goes way too fast.

I can't help but feel the way country music singer Billy Dean does in this song:       
 

                    Lyrics here.

Wishing you all a Saturday filled with beautiful memories. ☺

 

Friday, June 14, 2013

Friday fun

Happy Friday, friends.

I'm exhausted! Yesterday I spent about fifteen hours burning DVDs from our camcorder. I finally fell into bed around two a.m., and then I was back up at five to wash a shirt my son needed for his Flag Day presentation at school today. Bedtime can't come soon enough!

I hope you enjoy this week's dose of fun. Wishing us all a relaxing (and restful) weekend. ☺

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Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Something I love

Happy Wednesday, friends!

If you've been reading my blog for a while, you know that I'm a huge fan of poet/singer/songwriter Tanya Davis and filmmaker/artist/animator Andrea Dorfman. I've done several posts featuring their work. (You can find them here, here, and here.)

As individuals, Davis and Dorfman are very talented, but when they work together to create a piece, they're phenomenal! Today I want to share one of their collaborations—a video animation that Dorfman created for Davis' song "The Drums." The song has a catchy beat and a wonderful message, and Dorfman's animations complement them both very well. Enjoy!


Lyrics here.

Wishing you all a wonderful Wednesday. ☺

Tuesday, June 11, 2013

Our World Tuesday

Today is Tuesday, so that means it's time once again for Our World Tuesday, a weekly meme that encourages bloggers to share images of their world. It's a great way to get a glimpse of life through the eyes of others! You can find out more about it here. Even if you don't participate, I encourage you to take a look at the intriguing photos that bloggers from around the world share each week.
  
 
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My kids noticed this flower at our neighbor's house yesterday morning, and I just had to take a photo. I'm not sure what kind of plant this is, but it's a gorgeous color, and it definitely brightens up the gray days we've been having around here lately. I hope it brings a touch of brightness to your world, as well!
 
 
Wishing you all a beautiful Tuesday. ☺
 
 

Sunday, June 9, 2013

Sunday inspiration

Happy Sunday, friends!

I'm absolutely in love with today's inspiration, a very creative stop-motion commercial for Erbert & Gerbert's Sandwich Shop. They've produced what they call a human flipbook, and the result of all their hard work is so much fun to watch! The second video, which shows how they made the commercial, is also done in stop-motion, and it's just as entertaining as the commercial itself. Enjoy!





Wishing you all a creative and inspirational Sunday. ☺

Saturday, June 8, 2013

Six-word Saturday


Ha! Take that, Magic Cookie Bars!

I'd been promising my three-year-old daughter all week that we'd do some baking, so yesterday we made this recipe for Magic Cookie Bars. Talk about decadent! Chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, walnuts, sweetened condensed milk, coconut... These bars are definitely not low-cal!
 
Now, I'm a huge chocoholic, but for the past couple of weeks I've been trying hard to lose a few pounds for summer. I knew these bars would be my nemesis if I let them—but I didn't! I ate half of a bar, exercised away the calories on the treadmill (which took me about forty grueling minutes), and said sayonara to the rest of the pan. They're good, but for me, they're just not worth the calories (and the work it takes to burn those calories). The rest of the family can have them. Take that, Magic Cookie Bars!
 
 
Wishing you all a wonderful Saturday. ☺
 
 

Friday, June 7, 2013

Friday fun

Happy Friday, everyone! I hope you all have a great weekend. ☺

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Thursday, June 6, 2013

This and that

Happy Thursday!

It's gray and rainy here—the perfect day to write!—and that's what I'll be doing when my daughter naps this afternoon. What are your plans?

I saw this sweet video this morning, and it warmed my heart. We should all be as kind as this little boy. Enjoy!



Wishing you all a wonderful Thursday. ☺

Tuesday, June 4, 2013

Get your happy here!

Image courtesy of Sanja Gjenero, rgbstock.com
Happy Tuesday!

Last week I posted about some of the little things that made me happy on an otherwise chaotic day. Today I'd like to highlight a Web site that asks readers to submit their own everyday sources of happiness, Just Little Things.

I discovered Just Little Things several months ago, and I quickly realized that it's one of those sites I can lose myself in. I found myself smiling at so many of the posts. The June 2 post, for example, left me nodding my head in agreement because I was happy about the very same thing that day: "When everyone at a potluck eats the dish you brought in." I don't know about you, but every time I have to bring food to an event—in my case, it was salad to a church picnic—I always worry that no one will eat it. I always tell my husband to take some so at least it looks like somebody enjoyed it. ☺ Just Little Things is filled with these little bits of happiness, from observations like "When animals sneeze" to those never-to-be-forgotten moments in life like "Walking across the stage at graduation."

The creator of Just Little Things, Nancy Vu, has been running the site since December 2010, and she recently released a book based on the submissions she receives. I haven't read the book, but I highly recommend the site if you're ever in need of a happiness boost.

I really believe there's always something to feel happy about. As Bono says, it's a beautiful day!



Wishing you all a joy-filled Tuesday. ☺

Monday, June 3, 2013

Aw...

Happy Monday, friends. ☺

Mondays can be hard, so let's start the day with a smile! I'm linking up with Awww...Mondays, a meme in which bloggers post the things that make them say aw. You can find out more here.

This video of a cute baby on a mission to reach her bottle definitely earns an "aw" rating—and a big grin—from me. Enjoy!



Wishing you all a smile-filled Monday. ☺

Sunday, June 2, 2013

Sunday inspiration

Happy Sunday, friends!

Today's inspiration comes from Amy Shackleton, an artist who paints without using a paintbrush. Instead, she relies on gravity to help create her pieces of art, a process that is fascinating to watch. You can find out more about Amy and see additional examples of her work at her Web site, found here. Enjoy!



Wishing you all a creative and inspirational Sunday. ☺

Saturday, June 1, 2013

Six-word Saturday


Learning to be a kid again.
 
I recently started writing a middle grade novel, and I'm having a wonderful time with the process! It's so much fun to read books for eight- to twelve-year-olds and remember what it was like to be a kid all those (many) years ago. I'm also lucky to know a few kids in this age group, and their input has been invaluable. So far, this book has been a joy to write!
 
Wishing you all a happy, fun-filled Saturday. ☺