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Gratitude 2012

Posted on January 9, 2012 by Naomi

If you’re into gratitude, photography and doing good, I think you’ll enjoy this class led by Karen Walrond.

Karen says: “Please keep in mind that this gratitude practice is all about you: the primary goal is that you create a habit of noticing the good and the beauty in your life. The beauty of a gratitude practice is in the stopping and acknowledging your thankfulness. And the best part? You’ll probably find that mindfulness is all that is needed for the magic to unfold in your life. gratitude.2012 is all about creating a habit of being more mindful about the good in your life and in your days. For the rest of 2012, as inspired by monthly themes, we’re going to capture these subjects.”

I can do monthly. All that wonderfulness is tough to pass up, and yet I think I’m taking too many classes. All of a sudden there’s no time to read! “How to Build a Blog You Truly Love” starts today (yay!!! so excited for this one!) and I’m also doing One Little Word and a few mini e-courses too. I have two upcoming photography gigs and I’m still trying to figure out how to work this Mac. I have to be reminded that all these things are supposed to be enjoyable, not stressful. Ah well.

Posted in Creativity, Mindfulness, Photography | Tagged gratitude, Karen Walrond, Kiva, Photography | 4 Comments

Photo Friday: San Antonio Riverwalk at night

Posted on January 6, 2012 by Naomi

We recently drove to San Antonio to take our daughter to Sea World and we got to take two Riverwalk boat tours – one in the daytime and one at night when the Christmas lights were on. Since I’m VERY behind in my photo editing, I’ll share just a few night-time ones with the promise of more soon.

Seeing the reflections of the lights on the water was my favorite part. I felt like I was in a watercolor painting.

I had fun playing with moving the camera in different ways to try to get interesting effects. I like this zigzag tree.

Perhaps my favorite of all 100 night photos… just the water.

Posted in Photo Friday, Photography | Tagged Christmas lights, night, Photography, Riverwalk, San Antonio | 5 Comments

You are what you read

Posted on January 5, 2012 by Naomi

Every time I move, I end up sloughing off a few boxes of books. After my husband helped me move a huge collection from my apartment to our new condo over ten years ago now, he declared that he was never doing that again and I needed to pare down in a big way. I’ve since frequented the local library way more than clicking BUY on Amazon, but I still have my favorite books that I can’t bear to part with.

Before this past move, I donated about 50 books. As I’ve slowly been unpacking boxes these past four months and arranging the bookshelves in our new office, I am sorting again. I’ve sold some and I have large “to donate” stacks in the garage. Now I get to arrange what remains. I just love looking at my books, remembering where I was when I read it and what it meant to me. They are comforting to me. Notice that the favorites above are well-worn (and alphabetized… I never said I wasn’t obsessive. Yes, I had to alphabetize them just for the picture!).

Anyway, the point of this post is to solicit your advice. On a slow work day a few years ago, I began compiling an Excel file listing every book I’ve ever read, excluding childhood titles. I used Amazon’s recommendations and also Library Thing, a free online bookshelf which helps you create an inventory of your books. It also takes one book and suggests others similar to it, which was very helpful since I’d read most of those too!

I came up with a list of about 700 titles, anywhere from Democracy Matters (Cornell West) to Due Considerations (John Updike) to Gone With the Wind (Margaret Mitchell). So the question of the day is: should I spend time updating the list to include what I’ve read since my daughter was born and said list went by the wayside??? Admittedly, it’s mostly parenting books and light fiction. Of what value will this be for me? Could you see that it might be worthwhile to have such a list?

Addendum: Check out my new Books, Books, Books page above and let me know what you think.

Posted in Books | Tagged Amazon, Book, book list, Democracy Matters, Due Considerations, Gone With the Wind, John Updike, Margaret Mitchell, reading | 6 Comments

Our wall of love

Posted on January 4, 2012 by Naomi

“Each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born.” ~ Anais Nin

* * * * *

We’ve received an abundance of holiday and new year cards this year and I absolutely love looking at them. Every time I walk past the cards in the kitchen (on what I’ve termed our “wall of love”) I get a little lift.

It sort of feels like a reunion of different pieces of our lives coming together in one place. Near or far, long-time or newish… friends add so much joy to my life.

Posted in Home | Tagged Greeting card, Holiday, new year | 4 Comments

Words are the voice of the heart

Posted on January 3, 2012 by Naomi

“Words are the voice of the heart” ~ Confucius

I’m not making any New Year’s resolutions because 1) I’m already doing too much and 2) I did so much introspection and resolution-making during Rosh Hashanah this year. However, now does seem like a great opportunity to realize that I haven’t been keeping those!

So I am taking up the challenge that so many have done already: adopting a Word of the Year. I signed up for Ali Edwards’ class, One Little Word, and she will be sending creative monthly prompts as a reminder to incorporate my word into my life. So what’s my word? MINDFUL.

I’m hoping to remember to do one thing at a time, to savor the sweet moments, to notice how things around me feel and sound and look. They (whoever they are) say that “the days are long but the years are short” and I’ve found that to be so true.

When I first brainstormed, I decided my word would be SLOW, as in slow down already. (I was humming Simon and Garfunkel’s “59th St. Bridge Song” in my head.) My husband has been saying “slow” in pace of my name for the past few days, as in “Are we out of coffee, Sloe?” (I like that spelling better since it’s going to be my name.) It’s a great reminder!

Our pre-class assignment was to make a title page for our books. My daughter and I did this together.

Interestingly, my three-year-old’s word of the year is FAST. Uh oh! Apologies for the blurriness, but she’s… well… fast! Here’s her creation:

I was excited to have a reason to use my scrapbooking supplies. We had such fun together playing with our letter stickers!

If you were to choose one word to symbolize your hope for the coming year, what would it be?

You can read other posts related to my OLW here.

Posted in Creativity, Mindfulness, One Little Word, Photography | Tagged Ali Edwards, Big Picture Classes, New year resolution, One Little Word, slow down, Word of Year | 9 Comments

The Versatile Blogger Award

Posted on January 1, 2012 by Naomi

My blogging cup truly doth runneth over. Kerry Leibowitz of Lightscapes Nature Photography gave me The Versatile Blogger Award! I have goosebumps. I am sooo beyond honored! He wrote that my blog “epitomizes what the Versatile Blogger Award is all about; take a look and see what I mean for yourself. Always well-written, always insightful.”

Versatile: flexible, accomplished, multifaceted, talented, ingenuous. Good word! Thank you so much, Kerry.

Since receiving the award a couple days ago, I’ve gotten a few new subscribers, which is so fabulous! It feels so good to have new peeps. Now there are 38 of you, a fact that I still marvel at every day.

For this award, the rules are:

1. Thank the award-giver and link back to them in your post. (see above)

2. Share 7 things about yourself.

3. Pass this award along to 15 recently discovered blogs you enjoy reading.

4. Contact your chosen bloggers to let them know about the award.

My 7 things: I had a huge crush on Kirk Cameron as a kid and practically wallpapered my room with pictures of him from Teen Beat or Bop magazine ~ I would eat cake for breakfast if I could (white cake with chocolate buttercream icing please) ~ I really miss song sessions at camp around the campfire ~ I have a thing for men with long (but well-groomed) hair ~ When I was little (like 8 or 9), I created a card catalog system for the books in my room and had my little brother and sister check out books ~ I really dislike talking on the phone ~ Music and singing makes me happy

Blogs that are getting The Versatile Blogger Award:

I didn’t realize before now how many of the blogs I follow are actually well-established and have incredibly impressive followings. Because I want to give this award to people who will really appreciate the heart behind it, I don’t have the requisite 15, but these are exceptional in my eyes:

Mama Here Now: I met Fanny at The Art of Mindfulness workshop in Houston and liked her immediately. I love that her humor shines through her new-mother haze.

Catching Days: One of the first blogs I started following. Cynthia is a writer, journal keeper, and huge reader.

The Boston Bibliophile: Also a favorite for me for book recommendations of all types.

Darrah Parker Photography: What makes this compelling for me is her writing about the shock at motherhood’s early days. Her images always make me smile.

Inspirations by Ivy: I met Ivy in the first photography class I ever took, Irene Nam’s Simple Soulful photography workshop. I followed her to Picture Color and my photography really took off from there. Ivy was and continues to be a huge inspiration for me.

Snipits from Springdale: I love reading about Deanna’s adventures in her garden and seeing what she captures with her camera. She is so fun! I met her in the Picture series and have soaked up her encouraging words.

The Trousdell Five: Tracey is a fellow writer and a mother of three. Reading her blog is like having a cozy chat with a friend.

Snips, Snails, Puppydog Tails: Elizabeth is an in-person friend who chronicles her life with her son, hubby, and her dogs. She is positive and full of contagious humor even through some difficulties with her son’s special needs.

So that’t it, friends. Thanks for reading!