Summer Holiday

The girls and I this morning before the first day of school. They were so excited.
Kids at the park in Stevens Point- our old hometown.
Door County we were heading home and were very tired and had a two day drive ahead of us.

In front of Mark Twain The Haunted B&B we stayed in.
On the trollley
In the Mark Twain cave.
Mark Twain's boyhood home.

We went on a summer holiday to Door County, WI and on the way there we stopped in Hannibal, Missouri. Mark Twain's boyhood hometown. It was so much fun although my senses were up. There are some haunted homes there too.

I didn't take too many pictures of Door County but it is so beautiful there we have been going every summer for 12 years. Our kids love it.

I start a new job soon and I am super excited. Paperwork today and I start tomorrow I think.

I am also joining a gym and am going to whip myself into shape again. Started eating clean again now I just have to get moving. I have been so inspired by another mom at our school who looks amazing and just competed in a fitness contest. I saw her this morning and being shy me I couldn't even say hello. Duh...oh well I have to get up and get out everyday now so I will say hi. No more staying home anymore for me.

Blogger break

Taking a little blogger break to get ready for school. Seeking a different direction, time to set some goals and reach for new avenues.

Not very happy hair

On this little break I will do things like fixing my now very dark brown cherry red hair. I freaked out about the violet red color and went to Sally's they told me not to bleach the red out but to dye over it in a golden blonde color to tone down the purple red that had popped up. I did that but now it is a dark brown cherry red and not very attractive on me. But I don't want to ruin my hair so I am letting it be and washing it alot to wear the cherry color out back to blonde thank goodness that red dye fades very fast. Then I will re-dye it red but a light copper blonde red not a violet red. It's not black or grey (which I have done before) but still it's not what I had envisioned. Big mistake to go with a violet based dye and not a copper one at least for me!!

Be back very soon.

Happy 18 months logged in to CCAA today

Hey we have reached the 18 month point for our China adoption. This was our date that we set when we first got started about 2 years ago as the most logical date that we would get our referral. Ha ha guess the jokes on us. We continue to wait with no end in sight and more new problems to plague the process. Like our very small agency not being Hague compliant, the ubiquitous I-800A instead of the I600A. And renewals of home study and new paperwork which is now a nightmare and we have let go.... party because we moved and because after talking with our small agency last year there was no end in sight and they didn't think it mattered. We still have several years to go so I am not worried. I think it will get worked out eventually....or not...because I am not sure about the program. The CCAA has stated to just be patient and everyone in line will eventually get a referral? I have been emotionally out of the whole process and just letting it go so to speak. When I was checking rumor queen every day it became hard to see the end of the tunnel. I know it will take forever that's not ok but it is what we are dealing with and that is ok. It will work out in the end.

Red I said...feeling Scottish..Irish.

Edmund Blair "Accolade" 1901.
Red hair was a popular subject amongst Pre-Raphaelite artists.

Far away...do I look anything like the baby picture in my header above?...lol...
Yeah, it's red

Close up picture in not so flattering light, whoo it's bright in here.

A few red hair facts:
-Red hair is a genetic mutation
-Red hair is seen on the heads of only four percent of people
-The highest percentange of natural red heads in the world is Scotland at 13%
-The second highest is Ireland at 10% (so happy that I'm Scottish and Irish)
-In the US only 2% are red heads
-Fairies are strongly associated with red hair (Interesting that my maiden name had fairy in it and I was nicknamed Fairy face in HS..lol)
I am feeling my Scottish Bruce Clan and Irish O'Connell roots coming out.

I did it courtesy of L'Oreal Paris Superior Preference box #6R Light Auburn, it is a big change and will probably fade back to blonde very quickly but it's fun and fallish. Now off to find some cute green shirts.

Also is anyone else super excited about watching the Olympic's tonight!! The kids and I have a whole night planned out.

Today was also the day I was going to find out if I got a certain job I interviewed for last week. It was my first job interview in about 12 years..whew mercy me..I think it went well or not. But I haven't heard anything. It's ok I am still on to sub this fall so whatever happens I will be happy.

How to get beat up at Sephora...and cute shoes

I was standing in line today at Sephora getting a little face illuminator for myself after school shopping with the kids all day. I mistakenly cut in front of a woman with a sleeping baby in a stroller. Who ever said new mothers have a "glow" about them is wrong it's more like Lucifer was unleashed. All hell broke loose on me, her neck twisted, her voice screeched. She accosted me, pushed me aside and yelled at me. Even after I had moved aside and said "oops, sorry." She had started to pay then everyone was looking at her and the place fell quiet, she then turned around again and started yelling at me again "It's not like I wasn't standing here....blah...blah....blah..."
I finally threw up my non confrontational hands and said "no reason to continue being so rude, I stepped aside for you." She continued to yell at me. And I stunned, along with everyone else just stood there looking at here thinking this is not about me at all.
Shaken, I paid for my lovely illuminator (after her of course) and walked the girls to the car. While looking over my shoulder and answering their questions about why some lady was screaming at me in the store. I have a hard time shaking that kind of thing.
We had been in line for the same amount of time and they opened a new register right in front of me, so the woman said "can I help you?" and I put my little box down and then the lady from hell started screaming at me. Wow....lady...have a zanax...I will probably have nightmares about her screaming at me.
Oooh, I have been through worse for sure, much worse, but it was just so out of the blue and out of place with no workup proceeding the event. Strange how these things can shake you to the core.
On another note...After seeing the fine frenzy video below (she used to have blond hair too but is a naturalish red head) and seeing the new Anthropologie Catalog. I think I might dye my hair red again. I go between red, brown and blond all the time. But I'm in a red mood and as a child I had reddish blond hair.
I also picked these cute shoes up too, while buying tennis shoes for the kids. I think the green color will go with red hair quite nicely.

I can't stop Ortonizing...

I really can't stop ortonizing everything.
I wanted to see if it worked on portraits...it does. I am actually really happy I was just fooling around with self portraits today. No smile in this one though;)I'm still monkeying around with it. I wish they had a dewrinkle one though. Like botox in photoshop. They prolly do I just don't know how to do it yet.

Orton Effect

This picture I took in Yosemite in April while on vacation at my friends wedding.

I found this little tutorial if you have photoshop elements it worked in my pse6. I wanted to find this tutorial and it works. It was named after photographer Michael Orton who used this technique. The tutorial is here Orton Effect try it. It is great with landscapes. Click on picture for full effect.

Here is a video that looks like it was shot using the orton effect. The band is "A Fine Frenzy" and I think they are my new favorite, especially this song. I found this video on Shonna's Twisted Figures blog She has a great blog with beautiful paintings check her out too.

Working on something fun

Athena hard at work dotting paper.
Little House


So my girl and I were working on a few fun things today. This house project is from Amy at Inspire Company I was thinking you could do really cute cupcakes like this too.
I also have a final resting place for my ikea frame hack. It's in my studio but now I wish I would have made it pink to match. But I do love this red. The love letter is from Love Letters A passionate love letter from Katherine Mansfield to John Middleton Murray a fellow writer dated May 19, 1917.
I also desperately need to clean my studio it's messy and full of stuff.

Photography-Something new

This was the green tea action

This was the Coffee with cream This was the coffee shop barista action

So I have been addicted to trying these out all day. I was messing around with my Photo shop elements 6. Trying to avoid writing and I discovered I didn't have any cool actions to play with. It seems they are mostly written with photoshop users in mind. I only have elements, it's less expensive. So I searched around and found this lovely woman Rita at Coffee tea photography who has great actions for free. Take a look they will work in ps or pse, which is awesome. This is my first try at the pictures here.

Breaking Dawn-No spoilers here

After having my head in this book for about 6 hours, I finished it. It was good and I didn't want it to end. Because it is the end of the entire series. Now on to something else.

I am starting this now, 'cause I love me some aliens.

Apples are from Kazakhstan

Just got this book, after having spent a month on both sides of Kazakhstan, Almaty and Uralsk. I was very excited to read this book. It doesn't disappoint, funny, sad and uplifting all at the same time. This travelogue is also thought provoking about the often overlooked country of Kazakhstan.

Because two of our children were born there I have such a deep connection and love of all things Kaz. We can't wait to root for them in the Olympic's along with USA of course.

Somebody

While perusing youtube for 80's music as I so love to do. I came across this little gem. It truly it is one of the best songs ever. I used to sing this song at the top of my lungs in my turquoise bedroom from a stolen borrowed mix tape on my brothers cassette recorder. Ahh, the memories of it all. Just me, my dreams of Somebody special and Depeche Mode.


Here it is in a word cloud from wordle

British Slang

Who knew I was British (I'm actually Scottish and Irish)
I say bugger, uni, wanker, zonked, smarmy, sloshed, and taking a holiday just for fun. This is hilarous British Slang

Crazy about Silhouettes

Such a great idea from Domino Magazine silhouette Wallpaper Idea


1. life, 2. Paper cut, 3. Paper cutting Alice & white rabbit, 4. Buddha Paper Cutting, 5. Chinese paper cut, 6. balloongirl, 7. Hans im Glück, 8. Die 7 Zwerge, 9. Sterntaler, 10. knipsel097, 11. cervo e volpe/deer and fox, 12. knipsel040, 13. 11 Achmed, 14. Paul Konewka possible Self-portrait, 15. DSC04790-1, 16. Mozart, 17. 09 Mistress Ford & Mistress Page, 18. knipsel006, 19. Knipsel192, 20. Flock
Here is a silhouette and paper cutting mosiac I put together from some talented people at Flickr. Click on their name to see more of their work.

Currently..

*Watching-
*Reading-
His book on the craft of writing.
*Eating- Brie, green apple and baguette sandwiches. The best sandwich evah hands down. Others put a little smoked turkey or ham and mustard or mayo. I like it plain...yummy.
*not my pic but it's what I have been making.
Here is a recipe for one brie sandwich

Doing*

Obsessed with*

pink cars.... we saw one like this the other day toodleing around TX and I about died. Can't stop thinking about it--must have one...someday.