paint+animals+quotes

I have a thing for paint.

I also have a thing for animals.

I may also have a thing for meaningful and memorable quotes.

Put them all together and you have the following:

Some recent canvases I did for my dearest friends (aka prends)

For my flamingo loving prend, Judy:

and for my horse loving prend, Karla:

(both of these pictures are from Judy & Karla's Facebook - I did not take pics before gifting them.)

I had such joy doing both of these pieces, especially knowing how much they would be appreciated and treasured.  Both of these chicks are special to me and we have been through so much over the past few years...good times and bad times, I knew I could count on them.

I have just completed another canvas for a gift - this one is for my stepmom for her birthday (which was last month - I know, I'm always late!)

She and my Dad gave me Angus for my birthday, and she recently got her own mini schnauzer and has fallen head over heels in love with Scruffy!  I thought she needed a little animal art to don her walls.

This one is a little different because I added a little sparkle with none other than GLITTER!!!

weeeeeeee

I already have some ideas for future projects like this.

(and, yes, I have blogged more than once today - it's a snow day, what can I say!)

Hello February - okay, mid-February

Well, at least I'm keeping it to less than a month since my last post. 

Okay, let's re-evaluate those New Year's resolutions goals, shall we?

Failed: 

• The P52 - I did one week...WTHeck?  After doing two years...faithfully, of my own 52WP and I could only get through one week.
• Dave Ramsey's debt free life....yeah, who was I fooling! (not totally giving up on this one yet.)

So far, so good:

• My365 iPhone project. Love doing this to capture a little piece of my day.
• Living more green and more frugal. Still making my own laundry soap and loving it.  I used all the soap made with Fels Naptha so made the second batch with  Zote.  {SIDENOTE: Although I like the smell and ease of grating of the Zote better, the Fels dissolves much better}
• Continue to dabble in some couponing, a little menu planning and putting at least one thing in the freezer per week, so I call that fairly successful! Just have not been menu planning and blogging for accountablity.  I need to change that!
• Reading my Bible through. I'm using my Bible app on my phone and have gotten behind a few times, but have caught up.  I'm determined this year - I have started this and not completed it for several years.

So what about you?
Have you re-evaluated your goals?

My friend Laura

Calling Laura "my friend Laura" is pretty much an inside joke stemming from conversations between my husband and me.

I am so pleased to have had the opportunity to photograph Laura and her family several times. She is one of my many friends who has had such faith in my photography business and the growth thereof.  I feel extremely blessed to call her my friend.  She is one of my prayer warriors that I call on and always know she will pray for whatever I request.  I do the same for her. How comforting...

I wanted to share some of her latest family shots.

When we first met, she only had Abbie and she was just a little fart. Now, there are three little rugrats with Ty and sweet Ms. Callie Sue. 

I love those kids, I tell you! When Abbie was little I taught her how to give the peace sign and say "peace out". I'm glad I could have a part in her proper raising! LOL

Can you imagine these little angels acting like this???  (Sorry, Laura)   hehehe

Let's just say, this photoshoot was quite interesting!  :)

I am so glad to have "my friend Laura" and her family in my life!

Menu planning

In order to hold myself accountable, AND to help me remember because my memory ain't so hot anymore, I am going to try to blog my menu plan each week.  I hope this process gets easier and more of a habit the more I do it.

I have been reading some blogs on menu planning, freezer and crock-pot cooking and one task I have in mind for my weekend is to do some ground beef freezer cooking. I decided that would be the easiest and most versatile ingredient to start.

I used this blog post as inspiration and I now have in my freezer:

3 pans of 3-cheese baked ziti
12 mini-meatloaves
1 lb. taco meat

and crock pot orange chicken ready to cook for supper tomorrow night. 
I also fixed a huge pot of veggie beef soup for lunch today and froze the leftovers.
AND, I plan to fix Mexican chicken and Spanish rice this week, so I will make an extra pan for the freezer while I'm making it.

Not bad for my first go at freezer cooking.

Week 1 | Resolution

I have talked about my resolutions already this year so I won't bore you with more of the same.
Instead I'll share my first week's photo for Project 52.

I have 3 different 365 photo apps on my iPhone right now, until I decide which one I will use. 
Anal, I know.
....and, yes, I am putting each day's photo onto each calendar.

Although I think a 365 photography project sounds next to impossible with my camera and posting/blogging each day, but with my mobile device, it's easy peasy!

I resolve...

I am not a huge resolution maker, but I do have a couple of goals this year.

First, is to try to be more aware of my budget and attempt to be a better saver.  I would like to work toward Dave Ramsey's baby steps to living a debt-free life.  That seems so unattainable to me, but I know anything is possible if one works hard.

In doing that and trying to be more "green" I have started by making my own laundry soap.  Super easy peasey and so far it seems to be working like a charm. :)  I did the simple Borax, A&H Washing Powder and Fals Naptha soap mixture.  There are several different ways to do it.

(Click photo for a link to the simple recipe I used or check Pinterest or Google if you are interested. Also, I would love any advice on other simple ways to save around the house in like ways.


I am going to work toward better menu planning again.  I am hot and cold with this one. {sort of like blog posting. ;-) } Along with that, I hope to do a better job with couponing and grabbing deals when grocery shopping; and I will try my hat at some freezer cooking. 


Of course, me, along with every other human being on the planet wants to try to be more fit.  We'll see how that goes. ugh


So, do I think these are attainable? 


Of course they are. It just takes a little work and a lot of willpower.

The rest of 522011

Oh my goodness, I cannot actually believe it's been over two months since I have posted anything!  I decided I definitely needed to post the remainder of my 52 week project for 2011 and report that I have decided not to do the self portraits again for 2012.  I need a break from myself! LOL  

I will be trying out a new 52 week photo project over at My 3 Boybarians using a prompt each week.  

Please feel free to join me. :)

I'm also going to attempt the 365 project using an app on my iPhone. I hope that will be pretty simple since I usually take at least one random photo each day anyway.  

So here are the last couple months of photos:

 5211-43

 5211-44

 5211-45

 5211-46

 5211-47

 5211-48

 5211-49

 5211-50

 5211-51

 5211-52

5211-42

This was a quick shot I did while heading to a conference last Sunday.  These trees at my workplace  are absolutely stunning right now. This shot had no real plan I just aimed and fired.

In the words of Bob Ross, it was a "happy accident". :)

It reminds me of watching fireworks in July, so I call it "autumn fireworks".

5211-41

So I was going for an old glamorous Hollywood feel in this week's photo.  I thought my Mom had an old pair of cat-eye style glasses (she used to wear them back in the day) but alas we could not find them. :( 

We did find my old pair of Ray-Ban Wayfarer style shades though so I decided those would be as old school as I was getting for this shot. 

I obviously did some post editing on this one to give it a dramatic feel. 

Oh and remember me showing you my branding last week for my photo stuff?  Well, I worked on my site yesterday and thought I'd hook it up here. My blog will probably undergo a facelift to emphasize my photography, but I have not given up on Clever Notions either.  I hope to pick up my crochet hook soon and crank out some crochet candy flowers.  I also have some headbands in various stages of production so I will have some ready soon. 

If you know me at all, you know I am constantly trying new things and starting new projects.  This photography thing, though, is something I've been working toward for awhile.  It was not something I could just plunge into all at once. 

Any advice you want to give is welcome so feel free! Click my logo below to see what I've got so far.

5211-39 & 40

The last two week's worth of photos have a fall feel, don't you think?

I played with some fun textures and overlays on this first photo. I really need to do more of that.

The weather has been splendid the past few days...perfect sunny days and mild temps. I am so digging it! If Fall would stay like this I would be a little more welcoming. Guess Fall doesn't care if I welcome it or not...it is coming, ready or not!

Oh, and I have taken my photography a little further. I have actually designed a logo and built my smug mug site a little more with pricing. Super excited about the possibilities. Maybe some changes around the old bloggy blog soon.

What do you think?