JustMeAgain

Garlic Festival 2009

I must admit. And please forgive me when I say this, but I had never been a huge fan of the garlic festival before. Let me explain. The first time I went there about nine years ago, it happened to be a particularly HOT day.  I remember it being over 100 degrees the day I was there.  And my memories only include a long hike into the festival grounds because we could not find any parking near by, my daughter was only about 3 years old and was not amused with the heat and the hike.  When we got there, all I can remember is a strong smell of beer (if I had to pick one smell I hate the most, it would have to be the smell of beer) and sweat and a multitude of people everywhere.  And quite honestly, those elements were the ones that came to mind every time anyone asked anything about the garlic festival.  I could not even think of the garlic! I could remember, however, our rushed exit from there after about twenty minutes of what I always called "torture". 

Fast forward to about three or four years ago. My friend Beth convinced me to sign up as a volunteer to help in one of the booths to help our church. At that time I thought, well, I'll be in a booth, in the shade, how bad can it be?  So, along I went. Sadly, that was another bad experience for me. Another extremely hot weekend, my shift seemed extremely long and I have to say exhausting, too!  As soon as my shift was over, I run like a bat out of hell and I swore I would never, ever, be back again.

Now, back to last weekend. Garlic festival time again. Beth twisting my arm every day since Friday. Telling me how fun it would be. She was there every day. I finally gave in when she said we could go in early in the morning before the big rush.  So along I went.  I warned her I would only be there for an hour at most.

Well, I realized there were so many things I had missed before by not giving myself the chance to really be there and experience things. And people.  I had missed the fun of uninterrupted photo ops; the wonderful craft section (all these years I thought there was only food and beer in there); the friendly people; the garlic man and his adorable wife; the sense of community and the atmosphere of fun.  I had missed the fact that even if I did not want to eat greasy foods, I could still enjoy watching other people eat it.  I had missed the fact that if you ask a perfect stranger if he or she would let you take a picture of their garlic fries, not only would they happily pose their fries for you, but they will also offer to let you take pictures of their deep fried garlic tomatoes! Ha, ha. Yes, that really happened!

There were so many things that I had missed. I never really gave the garlic festival a fair chance. And this time, I did not even smell the beer. I did notice the garlic smell, and it was delightful.

I also noticed the happy people around and thousands of smiles.

I noticed happiness.

And my friend Beth was interviewed for a local TV station.  So much fun to watch and capture it all in pictures. 

So, my deep apologies to the garlic festival. I can honestly say, it really wasn't the way I remember it. Quite the opposite, it was one of the highlights of my summer this year.

Oh yeah, and I ended up spending four and a half hours there this time. Quite a record for me!  Thanks Beth for twisting my arm!

Sorry for the shameless mom post, but I must share.

These photos were taken by my daughter' art instructor Scott Lance, artist and photographer.  I am so beyond grateful that he took the time to take these pictures during class last week and e-mailed them to me today (Sabrina's summer classes were in the mornings during my work hours so I was never able to attend as I would have liked to.)  You can imagine just how hugely GRATEFUL I am that Mr. Lance took the time to take and send these to me.  I cannot tell you how this just MADE MY DAY. 

I am also very grateful of his strong encouragement towards Sabrina's art.  As a mom, I tend to believe everything my daughter does is beautiful and artistic, but when a trained professional recognizes the  talent and praises it with such enthusiasm as he does, well, I think my proud mommy heart gets bigger than there is room in my chest for it.  Just like when I read all of your sweet and kind comments about her work (thank you!)

This is the second time that Sabrina takes part of actual art instruction.  The first time, when she was five, she took oil painting classes for about six months.  She loved it, but then she had other things she wanted to try instead ~like dancing, guitar and sports.  She is now in love with drawing and sketching.  Specially after giving life to her little Mr. G for Green Earth Enterprises.  Now she is very excited to continue weekly art lessons even after school starts in late August. 

No matter what she does when she grows up, I just know that her passions will translate into beautiful things because she puts her heart and soul in whatever she does. 

Can a mom be any more proud?  I think not.

Thank you, Mr. Lance, from the very bottom of my hugely overgrown mother-heart for these priceless photos of my little artist.  And with his permission, I shall share one more. And can I just add Mr. Jiminy Cricket has never been more handsome than when my daughter brought him to life? 

Yes. I thought you'd agree.

About that RAK post earlier in the month

Remember this post?

Do not,  for a moment, think that I've forgotten!  I am finally ready to mail and/or deliver the goodies to the people that posted on that entry and gave me some awesome suggestions and ideas for future blog posts.  Thanks everyone!  I had 10 items to give away, but only five people posted on that particular blog entry, not counting two more people that commented on facebook.  To make it fair to the blog audience, I'll keep the goodies intended for this RAK to those commenters from the blog and since there were only five, they will each get two things!  (My two facebook friends who answered there, will still get some goodies from me, of course! In fact, I'm meeting one of them for coffee tomorrow to hand-deliver some stuff.)  Back to the blog post, thank you to those who answered. I hand-picked what each of you will be getting in the mail from me (and it will include a little coffee treat from my favorite coffee place, Starbucks, as well as some of my Imagekind and Etsy prints!) 

Here are the links with their suggestions:

Liz Ness had a suggestion for a post that included links to all my flickr groups.  The post went public here on July 11.  Thanks Liz for such a wonderful idea!  And by the way, go to her blog, she has a fun giveaway going on now, too!

Tiffany had a great suggestion to make a post about paw prints (still working on that one and should have it up soon.  Her idea filled my head with wonderful new perspectives for pictures so I've been snapping with this post in mind since the day she mentioned this.  I still need to get a few more photos that I've been hunting down.  It will be a photo-filled and very funny blog entry for sure!)

Nicky wanted some ideas on a scrapbook album for a 50th wedding anniversary.  I posted a quick answer on the comments section that day, but I plan on making a full post in the future, too.  And by the way, I'm super excited to share that Nicky has a blog now!  We have been friends and pen pals for years and years (she lives in Canada and I live in California so that's not a very short distance unfortunately.)  I love her more than I love chocolate and that's an understatement!  Needless to say, I'm so beyond thrilled that she is joining the world of blogs!  I'm thinking that a blog all about Nicky, and our long distance friendship, is way over due!  Look for that post in the near future,as well!  ;D

My super sweet and talented friend Terry asked for a post on how to jumpstart creativity and she even called me Superwoman in her incredibly kind comment, that part just made my day considering that I am far from any such thing!  Specially when she is the one who deserves such description.  Wait until you see what I just recently got from her in the mail!  I've been looking at it every day. Okay, here is a sneak peek!  She made me this incredibly BEAUTIFUL personalized scrapbook.  All I have to do is add photos to her masterpiece.   It is breath taking in every little turn, so I can't find any photos that can make it justice.  It even has one of my all-time-favorite gratitude quotes on the cover!  I have been literally speechless since I received it.  I am beyond grateful and excited and honored and happy!  Thank you a million times Terry!  

Alette had more great suggestions for future posts about our dogs, sharing more garden pictures, flowers and an entry about my Josh (Josh Groban.)  You can bet a million dollars that her wish will be granted.  Many blog posts to come ahead on these themes!  Thanks soo much Alette!!

And again, thank you to all of you that come here for a visit; whether you visit this blog only once in a while, or on a regular basis, you are always welcome.  Thank you!  Your comments and/or suggestions are always welcome, too. 

 

My in-house environmentalist goes even greener with Mr. G

That would be my 12 year old daughter. Her tree hugging tendencies and huge love for everything green started early in life and they tend to only get bigger as the days go by. Her latest gig includes illustrating a little green frog called Mr. G for Green Earth Enterprises, a new company that has amazing plans ahead, including its initial phase being created to provide a locally accessible, safe, and environmentally clean facility to receive and process green waste (all that stuff we get rid off after gardening and we never really know where it goes) as well as wood waste into usable biofuel and landscaping mulch products.  The mission statement for GEE states that it is their goal to "reduce the amount of wood products sent to our landfills and provide clean wood products for use as biofuel by our power plants locally and across the country.  In addition, we are providing clean colored mulch for use in landscaping our highways, as well as residential homes, and employment opportunities for those in our community, thereby reducing unemployment locally."

Green Earth Enterprises will be taking part of a job fair next Wednesday at the San Jose California HP Pavillion to offer employment opportunities in that area.  If you know of anyone interested in joining this company's efforts and becoming a part of the team, be sure to attend the job fair and fill out an application. 

ETA: Information about time and place for this job fair: Wednesday, July 29, 2009 11 a.m. - 4 p.m.
HP Pavilion 525 W. Santa Clara Street San Jose, CA 95113 -Includes free parking

My daughter had fun creating Mr. G and is already working on several more adventures for this cute little frog!  I'm happy to share a few pictures that I took at the main GEE facilities in San Jose. 

 

You can see a few more pictures featuring Mr. G in flickr.

Bokeh madness

Last week when I posted my little just-for-bokeh-fun photo, I was asked to share how to get that effect.  So, in response to my friends Susan and Suzanne (that was a cute and funny coincidence) here is a post all about the ever so beautiful and dreamy bokeh.

First, let me share the meaning for those of you that are not yet familiar with the word (until a few years ago I had no idea what it meant!)

From Wikipedia:

Bokeh(derived from Japanese, a noun boke 暈け, meaning "blur" or "haze") is a photographic term referring to the appearance of point of light sources in an out-of-focus area of an image produced by a camera lens using a shallow depth of field. Different lens bokeh produces different aesthetic qualities in out-of-focus backgrounds, which are often used to reduce distractions and emphasize the primary subject.

Here is my flickr set with some of my own favorite bokeh shots.  My husband thinks that whenever I get a blurry picture I call it art.  He has yet to understand the beauty of bokeh, and art, too! Anyway, back to flickr.  There are several groups in flickr for people that love bokeh.    

I'll share a few links here:

* Bokeh Wednesday

* 24/7 Bokeh Life

* Bokeh-holics Anonymous

* Bokeh-licious

* Bokeh Wednesdays

And there are many more since this bokeh thing seems to be fascinating for most photographers.  I know it is for me! A while back I had come across this link with useful information on how to create fun shapes for your bokeh using a heart punch.  You need  a fixed aperture lens (I use a Canon 50 mm f1.8) and some cool background lighting (a Christmas tree, fireworks, or different color lights.)  On the manual setting, set your apertureto the lowest value (completely out of focus.)  And then, see what magic you create!  Do share a link to your photos or feel free to join those bokeh groups in flickr. I'm a member on all those mentioned here.

Here are a few more of my own bokeh shots that I took last week (including the one I had posted before, but right along the one I took without getting the lens out of focus so that you can see where the lighting effect came from.)

 

 

She rox my sox

 

One of the best things about vacations is the un-interrupted time I get to spend with my favorite kid in the entire universe. The one that literally "rox my sox" as she likes to say when describing something or someone she LOVES with a passion.  Yes, that would be my daughter. She is certainly ONE OF A KIND.  The funniest, smartest, 12 year old young person I have ever met. And I love her sense of style!  Aren't those socks just too cool for words? 

I specially loved the enthusiasm on this photo shoot (I don't get that from her very often these days.)  At least on this shoot, she did not care about the looks we were getting from total strangers while we were engrossed in our little photo project.  I love that kid of mine.

I have many stories to share from our vacation last week and a ton of photos, but just not enough time.  Specially now that I'm back to my regular work schedule.  I will try to stay up late a few nights this week to catch up on the blog. 

Happy late Tuesday everyone!

Legacy of love

 

As promised, here is a sneak peek at some of the pictures from last Saturday. 

Inspired

 

Last weekend I  had the amazing luck to photograph a 50th wedding anniversary party for the parents of my friend Christie.  On Saturday when I woke up, I was so ready to take pictures.  I was so inspired and full of excitement over capturing those precious moments for them. 

One thing I wasn't prepared to do was to be turned into mush over the emotions that rushed through my heart all throughout the event.  When her father said that the  reason of that party was only  to celebrate the love of his life, and he said it with such loving conviction, I just lost it.  His words, his caring attentiveness towards his wife of 50 years, it was all so beautiful to hear and watch.  The tears just didn't stop after that. And it wasn't just me.  I don't think there was a dry eye in that room.  The love that their children and grandchildren have for them is so evident.  Then there were the pictures in a photo slide with beautiful music that Christie put together for them.  You could see their life together and their beautiful family growing up through the years.  Always surrounded by friends.  And love.

I was melting. That is what a loving marriage looks like after 50 years. Pure love. 

It was such a picture perfect day. I cannot wait to share some of the pictures here soon. For now, I'll leave with a few of my recent playful bokeh shots.  I'm off from my day work this week on vacation and I had forgotten how exciting it is to sleep in on week days!  Have a great Tuesday everyone!

Flickr inspiration

 

* This photo includes pictures not taken by me.  Click on the link to see it in flickr with the individual links to the artists and photographers who took them.  They are all pictures that have been downloaded by members of the flickr group called Creative Flowers.

Thank you everyone!  I really appreciate all of your posts with questions and ideas for future entries on the blog!  I am so excited to create responses to everyone on individual posts later in the week.  I'll start today with Liz' request to share a link salad to all of the Flickr groups that I have started. This morning I created a couple of mosaics using the mosaic maker by bighugelabs with a hand full of favorite pictures from members of the first two groups that I started on flickr a few years ago.  Creative Words and Creative Flowers.  Creative Flowers has 401 members today with a total of 4,117 pictures, and counting, that are being downloaded by its members every day!  Creative Words has a total of 277 members with 2771 pictures at this time.  It is always very inspiring to see the work by the extremely enthusiastic Flickr community!  I can always find inspiration whenever I browse through the photostreams of the people in Flickr.

I am a group administrator to a total of six groups, but three of them were actually started by other members.  Here is a list of links to all the groups where I act as an admin.

* Creative Words.  This is a group all about WORDS, quotes, lyrics, poems or scripture that are inspiring.  I ask that the members match these words with their favorite photos. Either directly on the photo using Photoshop or any other similar software; or using wisdom words as the title, or in the description.

* Creative Flowers.  As the title implies it, this is all about FLOWERS.  Every shape, form or size are welcome! 

* Quotes Only. One more group about quotes!  Can you tell I love collecting quotes?

* The Unbussed Table (this group was started by Linda Woods and Karen Dinino, but they kindly invited me to be an admin with them.)  In this group, Linda and Karen are inspiring everyone to share their table stories through pictures.  And if you are anything like me, you cannot eat a meal without taking a picture first! :D

* Cups for Creativity (this group was started by Marissa, but she invited me to work on this group with her a while ago.)  This group was intended to show case pictures with cups!  When Marissa started this group, she told me that she loved collecting cups and it would be a good idea to start a group all about cups.  I immediately agreed with her, specially considering that a huge percentage of my photos include a cup or two.  Have you seen my Starbucks addiction set?  That explains a little, don't you think?

* Sunday Bruch (this is also a group that was started by another friendly flickr member who invited to be an admin with her.)

If you already are a Flickr member, and haven't joined us in these groups yet, you are INVITED to be a part of each and everyone of these groups!  If you are not a Flickr member yet, let's get you started, shall we?

 

* This photo includes pictures not taken by me.  Click on the link tosee it in flickr with the individual links to the artists and photographers who took them.  They are all pictures that have been downloaded by members of the flickr group called Creative Words.

End of the week RAK

I have not done a giveaway in quite some time so today seems like a good day for that.  I have a few items that I will send away for new homes.  Some are art pieces that I love, but cannot find any place in the house to showcase them properly; some are books that I thought some of you may enjoy, too; and some are photo-prints from my Etsy and Imagekind sites.  I have a total of 10 items to give away.  Leave a comment on this post sharing a question or idea for a future blog post and you'll get a little something from me. 

Oh, and if you get a minute, stop by this site.  It may inspire you to do a random act of kindness for someone, just like it did to me!

Okay, go.