sweet indigo life

Sugar animation; inspiration in *white*

Today is whimsical and wonderful white!  I'm inspired by many things, many people.  True hearts prevail out there it would seem.  So a small *white* tribute to those dear souls.  This first photo is inspired by this incredible sand animation artist. 

I am fascinated by animation of all kinds.  But, as an amateur photographer it makes me feel like an ant on the mountain of technology that is available now.  Click here to see why.

The reason behind all the white here today is a *colour week* project. My world is a flurry of white dotted here, and there...

 
 
  


Please join in the festival of colour this week over at n o d d y b o o m. See you tomorrow, with my favourite, yellow. Enjoy all this day has to offer you! xo

The latitudes of my equinox.

Happy Autumnal Equinox!! The nights and days are equal for a wee spell.  Then the nights reign heavily for six months.  Oh, the upheaval of Mercury gone retro is lightening up now...we'll soon get our messages straight again.  (The last few weeks has been insane for communications.)

I am hoping to accomplish the following this week:

• take a fun shot for Bench Monday! not like this, but I'll show you this anyways-as it sums up where I'd like to lay my head for the next-up in the bullet list...
• get some much desired SLEEP
• walk briskly to clear my head
• read the rest of Oliver Twist
• smile much
• increase my energy somehow
• watch a chick flick or two, I need a good cry!! (things have been even-Steven for awhile, and that is very boring, I need to FEEL)
• read all of your blogs, yes ALL of  your BLOGS!
• figure out some work related issues, yuck!
• bounce around on the beds like a ten  year old with my kids

Maybe I'll go to the lake, and get an ice cream cone before the weather gets too cold...oh and I'll shop for sweaters and boots.  Yes.  I love fall. OH!!! A recipe.  This is so inspired by the lovely chef Christina over at Soul Aperture.  I just couldn't resist it, and am telling you it is a major must in place of mashed potatoes.  So yummy!  So, fall!!!

xox

What are your skies like today?

~Bottle of coke~photograph by gillian da silva

Things go better, when Coke and I, get together.  :)

I'm drinking an icy chilled Coke right now...albeit in the form of a slushie from the corner store.  It's hot, I'm bothered... so I thought, why not?

Some random randoms;

I'm loving the sound of birds chirping in the morning outside my window, something I didn't hear in the city due to high traffic.  They singsong me awake, and then in the evening, the happy buzz of insects chirping goes well with my evening tea.  Nature, it seems, has sought me out and found me.  :)

I am grocery listing for the upcoming week, we are vacationing by the lake and I mustn't forget marshmallows, or the children will completely freak out.  Cheese strings, check.  Cheesy popcorn, check.  Big fat hot dogs with mustard, check. :)

Remember the movie "Vanilla Skies"?  Well I was one of a few people who actually liked that film (I found it interesting, as far as psychological thrillers go), but the name was taken from a painting by Claude Monet. My skies look like that right now.  I'm wondering what your skies look like today?

I just love jelly beans.  Especially the Jelly Belly kind, and I like to eat them with my eyes closed and try to guess the flavour.  Any idea what my fave one is?  I adore this one.

Have a super beautiful day followed by a cosy happy sleep with vivid gorgeous vast and sweeping epic dreams. xo

Added random bonus;

14 years ago I was in the delivery room for a most beautiful moment, the birth of my nephew.  Well he now TOWERS over me, and is such a cute thing you could pinch his cheeks all week long.  HERE is the cake my brother and sister in law got him for his birthday...super cool, don't you think? Yes, that is his actual cake featured on the blog, "Cake it from me". Is she a genius, or what??

Our tasty Sunday.

Lamb chops, in light oil and mint.  So melt-in-your-mouth.

A double skewer of pork souvlaki.  Big squeeze of tzatziki sauce. :)

Roasted corn dripping with hot spicy butter and hot peppers.

A tasty way to spend a Sunday.

xoxo

Don't let go.

Cherish beauty in all cultures.~*

Out
Of a great need
We are all holding hands
And climbing.
Not loving is a letting go.
Listen,
The terrain around here
Is
Far too
Dangerous
For
That.
 ~Hafiz~

Journey to an exotic land~(you aren't daydreaming)

 

~daydreaming~ by gillian da silva

I want to tell you about an exciting journey.  Do you enjoy travel? Photography? Adventure? Then read on because this applies to you.

This journey is to a most exotic land with a dead sea, a vast Arabian desert, and souks loaded with ceramics, embroidery, jewellery and other handicrafts. 

A place almost as old as time itself.  An ancient place that you could journey to on a photographic safari! Yes YOU!! 

Journey to Jordan, is a photographic safari to Jordan happening March 1-March 8, 2010.  This event has been organized and facilitated in it's entirety by Tara Bradford (Paris Parfait) and Alessandra  de Sousa (Gypsy Girls Guide).

Journey to Jordan will take us on a magic carpet ride through the highlights of an ancient land, with photography instruction led by Jordan's premier photographer Zohrab.

Space is limited, therefore I recommend you sign up for this chance of a lifetime opportunity as soon as you can.  Please visit the Journey to Jordan website for sign up and all other pertinent information-and I'll see you in Jordan in the spring! (Note to self: must practice, practice, practice my landscape photography skills.)

Can you just imagine how very amazing and beautiful this land is going to be? (Insert back flips here.)

***A million *Thank you's* to Tara and Alex for putting together this trip of a lifetime. xoxo

Enjambement.

 

It's Sunday and I'm happy to be home putzing about doing what I do best. (My new bedroom windows allow the sun to tap me on the shoulder, waking me up.  It's a sweet view, with the golden light coming up over the houses on the street. I'm surprised to be up so early, as last night we saw Paul Potts in concert.  Not Pol Pot.  LOL!!! The Nessun Dorma's were weep worthy. But truly my fave of the evening was Caruso...love that song!)

So...today I'll eat toast, drink tea, flip through my book, fret about my hair (Thursday's appointment seems so very far away!), attempt more unpacking. 

I'll weed the yard, fuss over the kids, call my mum.

I'll make a dinner.  (After I go to the grocery store and spend so much more money than is necessary because when I shop I'm a chef!  I can go on T.V. and prepare culinary delights for the nation to envy and emulate! Taste buds will stop in their tracks! Faces will gaze upwards in praise singing...)  It'll likely be a simple meal.  Who am I kidding?  It will likely have an avocado in there somewhere! Oh I've also been told there is far too much food being thrown away.  We compost now, and well, let's just say our bin was overflowing this week!  Egg shells and tea bags baby.

I'll nip out with some excuse or other with my foot to the floor (pedal to the metal baby) and gun it to some pretty location, camera in hand, hoping, wishing and praying for the right light! The right subjects! The right mood! And right when I'm about to snap the perfect photo my cell phone will ring and it will be my sweet husband asking me to pick up milk, and "How much longer do you think you'll be?"

Whatever Sunday brings you, whether you are washing your car (windex those inside windows, it makes for better night driving), making spaghetti bolognaise, watching Amelie, painting your toenails, chatting with your friend on the phone about closet organizers & the benefits of aioli sauce on a salmon burger...or just napping on the couch with the dog curled up behind your knees....do it with L O V E.

Have a  lovely Sunday mon cheries!!!

p.s. Did you have to look up the post title? Perhaps you are a smarty pants and don't need to. (If so, good fa you!)

Do you know why

It is relevant

Here, now, for you to grow!

Wiser, stronger you will be

for using this in your _____ :) 

? {Lousy example, true!)

edit:

I'm sorry for the comment trouble guys.  It should be fixed now. :)

Flower picking.

A field of wild daisies near my home.

Thursday is upon us and that means a few things to me; It means I'll rise with the sun and pop off to work with a song, because the world keeps turning and people need us.  (Who needs you today? Cause that includes YOU.) It means I'll start a new book today.  I'll listen to this song a few times.  Cause I love it.

Does Thursday have a scent?  I think Thursday smells like naturally aged Indian sandalwood, with a hint of Moroccan rose. (It's got to smell good! . It's the day before Friday after all.)

Now some sharings (internet flower pickin's);

Want to watch a stylish old French film?  (Love her hair! She does too, combing it as much as she does.)

This is one expensive restaurant bill!

A place to exhibit your photography. Free.

Go have yourselves a joyous one, embrace those who embrace you, kiss those who kiss you, and praise those who need it.

xo

EDIT; I know the *new* Typepad has its niggles.  (Don't you love that word?) Anyway, I've become addicted to following.  Now I'm finding all these glorious writers and blogs...who knew?  What a pot-of-gold at the end of the rainbow! Go get your free profile...then you too can follow along.  Such fun! :)

Little appreciations, an inspired post.

Christina at Soul Aperture wrote a post on "Simple Things in life".  I am following suit, as I believe in gratitude so deeply.  Little things do make our lives what they are.  We need to just pay attention.  So for my rendition, I'll walk you through Greenwich Village, the first of two posts I'll do on this trip.  Come along, and if you haven't already counted your own blessings, you may want to do your own post! According to Christina's rules, it's a list, some photos, or a post on the "simple things".  The first photo I've shown you here is a gorgeous apartment on Bleecker Street, a lovely place to hang your hat and read a book when you are done venturing out for wine and pizza.  So home is the first on my list.

 

A place to eat.  Be it a restaurant, your backyard BBQ or a dinner party hosted by a friend.  Where there is food, you've satisfied one of Maslow's hierarchies, and henceforth should be grateful no matter what.  Each day I hit the "click to give" button on the Hunger Site.  I can't imagine being in a place where my children couldn't eat. This sign represents food and also creativity, two things to feed our soul.  August is located in Greenwich.

 

Freedoms.  Liberties.  Let's not take them for granted.  Oh, and by the way...for my American readers....here we just call it "bacon".  LOL!

 

Adding a little "you" to your front stoop.  I am so excited about moving to my new home, because it already has a yellow front door!  It will save me from painting it yellow.  Oh it is a gorgeous, welcoming colour.  (I've had red doors for years! Still love red though.)

 

For any writer, photographer, or artist...a space in which to work can be completely sacred.  This is the desk space in the little apartment we rented.  Two talented people reside there.

 

You don't need anything but a pen and a notecard to make someone's day.  Christina mentioned loving opening her "snail mail".  There is nothing nicer than opening the mail and getting a brown paper parcel or a handwritten letter.  I can't go into a stationery store without leaving with lots of new crispy paper.  I'm a bit of a vintage postcard addict too.

Last on my list today...warm apple tarts and cool lemonade.  Why not???

See you next post for more little appreciations. Enjoy your week everyone! xo

(feliz?) Dia del maestro!

 My daughter's legs.  A lovely idea plucked from this very fun flickr group.

Teachers come in all shapes and sizes.  Some you give a shiny red apple to.  Others you treat poorly, because they cause you anxiety or anger (often our greatest teachers).  I guess the lesson here is to learn.  At the very most basic level, we are all here to learn.  So take whatever it is you may have perceived as a slight, and work it to your advantage.  (After all, some folks out there may not have your best interest at heart.)

When the student is ready, the teacher will appear.  I've often found this to be true in my own life.  Let's learn from each other then.  Let's squeeze this orange of a life and see what we get, fear-free.  Be yourself.  Discover who you are.  Reach for what is rightfully yours.

Thank a teacher today!! Our language, our music, math, cooking, in fact ALL your skills came from a teacher.  We need them.  We all are them.  Let go, fly, and be free!!

(Life is either a daring adventure or nothing. Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature.” - Helen Keller, right Tara?)

Enjoy your long weekend everyone! I'm going to a rollerskating party, and then a huge fireworks party.  Basically the weekend is one big party.  (Why not? Back Monday!)

xo