The World According to Angie

project SAVOR - Q ... Quiet

( graphic elements - Carina Gardner - ABC Inspiration @ JessicaSprague.com; page layout - all me. fonts - elephant, adobe garamond, and amaze )

Journaling reads: Learn to enjoy the quiet of your own company. It's not anti-social ... it's healthy.
"We need quiet time to examine our lives openly and honestly." Besides, if you can't stand your own company, how can you foist it on others?

 
 

Heart & Soul

Done as part of the self-paced digital scrapbooking class Digi: In Deep v2 at JessicaSprague.com ... elements provided as part of the class; I just recolored them to match my photographs. Copyrights remain with their respective holders, blah blah. Ahem.

This was part of lesson 2, or week 2, or whatever. Skills I picked up this week involved use of custom shapes, layering brushes (love how this looks on the 2nd page!) and use of the Warp function to create a drop shadow that makes the journaling block look like it's lifting off the page.

I created a second complementary page to house more photographs of the routine ... and since my albums are all 3-ring, it doesn't matter that the stripe swoosh doesn't line up completely. I'm not getting stuck on perfection. :)

These layouts are honestly WAY more frou-frou and detailed than I would normally create. I tend toward the streamlined, the simple, the Cathy Zielske style of scrapbooking, if you will. But that's why it's fun to take this class - not only am I picking up these new techniques, but I'm also getting a little variety in our family albums.

And these wild + crazy pages?

They are totally Veronica.

Grace & Strength

Look who's scrapbooking again!

I've registered for the self-pages digital scrapbooking class Digi: In Deep at JessicaSprague.com in an attempt to (a) give my days some structure and (b) keep my skills from getting rusty while I'm on short-term disability for fibro. The added benefit is that it's got me scrapbooking again.

This is the first of four assignments from this class. The left-hand page is, anyway... and its layout is copyright Jessica Sprague. All rights reserved, blah blah blah. All photographs, on the other hand, are copyright ME.

Journaling reads: This year's Officer Modern competition piece was set to Jewel's You Were Meant For Me. I loved watching you discover this song, which was released when I was in college. But I also watched you work with an intense focus to pull off the Pilates-like moves. You've always been graceful, Veronica, but in the last couple months, you've developed a rock-hard core body strength. Girl, you inspire me!

 

I've decided to use the four assignments for this class to knock out scrapbooking photos of V from this year's drill team competition season. Added bonus: my creative juices are once again a'moving. Yea!

"Believe in Yourself" (that goes for me, too)

I've been gripped by some massive brain-block the past couple weeks, but today, I sat down at my computer with the express intent to CREATE SOMETHING. Not sort, not organize, not tag ... create. And this is the result.

The photograph is of Veronica, executing a C-jump. Isn't she gorgeous? Long, lean, and limber ... and so strong. We did this shoot to commemorate competition season during her 8th grade year in drill team. It's one of many from that day that I'll wind up using, but something about the power in this image spoke to me to today. (I added a selective radial blur in Photoshop after pumping up the color, and then came the text.)

I found the quote/typopgraphy while browsing (read: wasting time) on Pinterest the other day. As soon as I saw it, I knew it was scrap-worthy. And then, I read this article about how to steal like an artist and how nothing is original, and the artist is a collector, and "it's in the act of making things that we figure out who we are" - words that spoke directly to my heart, my frozen + terrified artist's heart that was sitting + waiting + not creating because I didn't have everything together.

More specifically, I am more scattered and possibly a bigger mess than I've ever been in my life.

But today, I sat down to create.

And this was the result.

I think I want to print it. BIG. And hang it up - either in the hallway or in her room, if she likes it enough to let it grace her lime green + zebra-print walls.

Turns out I made it for her, but I also made it for me.

Huh ... whaddya know.

The Many Moods of Veronica

Shot with Nikon D300s + Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 @ 75mm; 1/320s at f/5.0 and ISO 400. Shot at abandoned railroad tracks in Allen, TX on a bright, sunny day in late October. Photograph was taken in shade (sunlight filtered through trees) with no flash and no light modifiers.

I should probably title this "Veronica Does Serious" or "Veronica, Pensive" because it's rare that we see her without a face-splitting grin. She giggles, bubbles, laughs, bounces ... but rarely is she quiet and serious.

Unless she's acting. :)

Miss Thang

Shot with Nikon D300s + Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6mm; 1/250s at f/4.2 and ISO200 @ 36mm. Shot at an abandoned railroad track & trestle in Allen, TX on a bright & sunny afternoon in late October in full sunlight. Diffuser used to create shade on subject's face, and fill flash used to balance out exposure.

How is it possible that this sassy young lady is my stepdaughter, Veronica? She's growing up, right before my lens...

This is the first of what will be many posts of shots from her 14th birthday photo shoot. Work it, Miss Thang...!

Thank God you're here, 2011!

Happy New Year! I can't begin tell you how glad relieved stinkin' thrilled I am to say goodbye to 2010. It's been a rough one for a whole host of reasons I won't detail here on my blog.

In fact, my blog is a good indicator - when I stop blogging, there's big, bad stuff going on that I can't talk about. So when you look at my blog posts and see I made one on January 12, 2010 and the next one came in September ... well, that says a lot about what kind of year it was.

But that's all behind us now, right? Because we've turned both the proverbial and literal page as the calendar flips over to 2011. And I know in my heart of hearts that this year is going to be an awesome one.

No matter how tempted I am to say, "Because it darn sure can't get much worse than last year," I'm not gonna do it... because I know that's just tempting fate. God has a sense of humor, and he won't give you more than you can handle, but don't pray for patience because he will test yours. I know, 'cause I've seen him do it.

I know 2011 is going to be a better year than 2010 because I've learned so much from the year that's past.

I've learned...

• God is in absolute control of my life. My stress level will be much, much easier to handle if I recognize those things I can affect (like how well I treat my husband) and just give up the illusion I control other things (like, whether I'm going to lose my job). God's driving that particular bus ... Ultimately, it's the Serenity prayer, right? God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.
   
• I'm married to one of the most amazing men on this planet. Yes, he's imperfect ... but with every one of those imperfections, he's perfectly matched for me. I can't imagine any other man would have stood by my side through everything that happened this year. We've weathered one hell of a storm, and come out the other side. I count every day I get with my Jim as the greatest blessing, and he makes me want to be a better woman, a better person, a better wife, a better partner.
   
• I've got an exceptionally cool stepdaughter. I'm fortunate I was able to forge a relationship with Veronica in her late childhood or 'tween stage, before the teenage thing happened. Because now that she's there, I can see it would have been much, much more challenging. But with the foundation we build when she was 11 and 12, now that she's 14 (choke!) it's evolved into a pretty cool relationship. I've learned that I need to devote one-on-one time to V, separate from her dad, so she can talk to me about girl stuff. Because she does. It's not only cool to be another adult she trusts with the important stuff, it's a big responsibility.
   
• I need to make time for family. Not the ones I live with day-to-day, although that's important, and Jim and I plan to re-institute date-nights on a monthly basis this year ... I'm talking about my mom & dad, and my brother and sister-in-law and their beautiful daughters. I do a good job of staying in touch by phone, but this year, I need to see them in person more often. Mom & Dad are about 5 hours away by car, and Jim & Heather are about 8 hours away, so it's not like I absolutely have to climb on a plane to see them. This year, I need to make the time to be there in person for my family.
   
• It's time to see a neurologist. Actually, it's long past time. I've been allowing Internal Medicine docs to treat my migraines for over 20 years, and the best we've been able to do is "mostly" control them. So in early December, I finally saw a neurologist, and he put the pieces together - not only for my migraines, but also for my fibromyalgia - and we begin treatment on January 4th. I haven't talked much about my fibro, but it's time to share a little ... and that's something I'll be doing here on my blog as the treatment begins. If I don't take care of my fixing what's wrong with my body, I won't be able to do anything else well. ANYTHING.
   
• Finally ... I live with a lot of stress. Much of it comes from my job - the nature of the beast - and the rest of it is just my personality. I take stress on myself, and when stress doesn't exist, I will manufacture it. Yeah, I know, that's sick ... and silly ... but it is what it is. Part of the self-awareness I've gained in my 30's is an understanding (and acceptance) of not just who I am, but how I work. Anyway ... I absolutely must take specific steps to burn off my stress each and every day, or it will eat me alive. I've learned there are two things that work for me - exercise and creativity. So, I have to move my body and my brain in ways that feel like play.

I'm not doing resolutions this year.

Resolutions get broken, and then you feel like a failure. Instead, I've got lessons I learned in 2010, and I'm simply going to apply what I learned in 2011 to make it a better year.

I am, however, participating in a project I've done for several years running: Ali Edwards' One Little Word. It involves choosing a word to be your guide, your focus, for the coming year. In 2008, I used balance. In 2009, I used invest. In 2010, I used health (which sort of backfired on me).

This year, Ali has developed a 12-month class she's offering through Big Picture Classes called, of course, One Little Word. I've signed up to take the class, and I'm ridiculously excited about the structure, about the ideas, about the inspiration she's providing to keep us focused on our chosen word throughout the year.

For 2011, my word is listen.

I'll blog all about it in another post.

To borrow a phrase from Audrey Reed (who is taking the One Little Word class with me!) I am so stinkin' excited to see 2010 in the rearview mirror. I resolve to listen more in 2011, to take the lessons I learned in 2010 and as the bumps and bruises and scrapes begin to heal, to apply what I learned to make this new year a thing of beauty.

Welcome, 2011!

13, in Profile

A little playing with low-light photography resulted in this stylized portrait of V that makes me happy. And that's what my little hobby is all about.

Shot with Nikon D200 + Nikkor 55-200mm f/4.0-5.6; 1/60s at f/4.8, ISO 400.

Just call her "Hollywood"

I love the attitude I get from Miss Veronica every once in a while. When she wears these oversize sunglasses, her dad calls her "Hollywood".

Shot with Nikon D200 at 180mm; 1/400s at f/5.0 and ISO 200. 

No looking back

This shot makes me want to make some sort of sappy remark about how her girlhood is behind her and those teenage years are ahead ... no looking back ... but I'll resist the urge.