Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Road Trip Photos {for Rinda}


My friend Rinda is hosting a Summer Photography Scavenger Hunt over on her blog, and my efforts so far have been a bit lacking. I knew of a place where I could find several items to check off the list, so Doug and I packed up and took a day trip to one of our most favorite places on the planet: Young, Arizona.

Along the way, Doug stopped so I could take a photo of a historical landmark {item #6}.
{I love that this is in the shape of an Arizona map.}

A shadow {item #11}

A library {item #13}

A horse {item #10} - super sad that one is blindfolded. I tried to call
them over to the fence, but they were stuck to each other like glue.
{Ooh, no pun intended with the glue reference...sorry horsies!}

The closest shot I could get without inviting myself into
this front yard space ~ a swing hanging from a tree {item #20}

And finally, a train {item #5} - blurred because we were both in motion.

And just because - I'm throwing in a few photos that aren't on Rinda's list. They're photos I took during our little day trip that I thought you might enjoy. :o)




Dear Rinda ~ Thanks for hosting the scavenger hunt again this year. I love looking for items on the list! And by the way, I found a stinking ANT HILL this past weekend too - one of the few items I could not find last year! :o]

Dear Doug ~ Thanks for taking me out so I could photograph stuff for Rinda's hunt. You're the sweetest husband ever! Let's go back to Young again real soon, ok? xo

To see more fun scavenger hunt photos, please visit Rinda's blog for her link up party!

Monday, July 30, 2012

Weekend Review


Good Monday morning, sweet friends.
Our weekend was busy and lots of fun.
I'd be super bummed that it's over, but there's a trip to
California to see my family at the end of this week.
So bring it!!!
Sunshine on my shoulder. 

Friday evening Doug and I watched the opening ceremonies of the Summer Olympics. I loved seeing all the British literature portrayed in the ceremony, and I actually squealed when all of the Mary Poppins's came floating down. :o}

Doug and I went separate ways on Saturday morning - me for a massage and him for a golf game with his buddies. His golf game took way longer than my massage, so I passed the time by making a pan of chocolate-chip-coconut-pecan bars. Oh.My.Gosh.Amazing.

Saturday night I had the bright idea to organize some of my ribbon. Sheesh. There's so much of it - I wasn't sure whether I should feel disgusted with my collection or proud. At any rate, I managed to organize two of the eight boxes. I really need to figure out what to do with all this stuff. Anyone want some ribbon? For free?

We had a bunch of rain this weekend, but yesterday morning the sun was shining and my sunflowers seemed quite happy about that...

After our morning coffee, we loaded up Doug's truck and took a day-long road trip to Young, Arizona. I haven't made that drive in over a year since we sold our property, and it was such a nice day trip!

The purpose of the little road trip was to have lunch at Antlers. This place burned to the ground over a year ago and has since been rebuilt. Ah - we had the best burger and fries there...

And ZOOM! Just like that it's Monday morning. Lots of stuff going on at work this week, and on the home front getting ready to travel to California on Friday. Yay!

Peace and blessings all around!

Saturday, July 28, 2012

What to feed a box turtle

Oh little Rexy Boy.
We him.

I get a lot of questions about our box turtle - mostly questions about what we feed him. Truth is that he's a bit of a picky eater. There's all kinds of information online with lists and lists of great foods to offer a box turtle, but Rex isn't fond of much variety. Though I do offer a variety of choices, he has his favorites and walks over {literally} the stuff he doesn't like. His favorite? Hard boiled eggs.


And raw hamburger meat. He tears into this stuff like he hasn't eaten in weeks!


A couple times a week I throw a little handful of frozen corn kernels in the grass and he really enjoys that. I find that he prefers yellow and orange foods the most - he loves cantaloupe too!


After dinner? He goes for a swim in his little pond. And about that pond - it's stocked with little feeder fish that we were sure Rex would gobble up. Instead, the fish flock around him while he's in the water, picking at his shell for bits of food he's dragged in. Rex appears oblivious to them!


Another question I often get is wondering what our cats think of the turtle. Oddly enough, they haven't seemed to notice much. They can see into the atrium where Rexy lives, but quite frankly I think they are more curious about the little fish in the pond than they are of Rex.

But who knows about cats?
I can only speak for the turtle.
Edit: Thanks to a comment from Pris, I'm editing this post to include a disclosure. When I originally wrote this post we were still fairly new to turtle feeding, and Pris is right - they need more greens! I've tried chopping up Rexy's favorites and mixing with lettuce, green beans, peas, carrots, and such and he likes them just fine that way.
 
This post is in no way intended to represent exactly what to feed your box turtle! This was just the way we were feeding Rexy in the summer of 2012.  :o)

Thursday, July 26, 2012

Art Saves ~ A Pass the Book Post

Art saves.
That's quite a statement in itself, isn't it?

I was curious about this book when I won it in a "Pass the Book" round from JoC. I loved looking through it and reading the stories of the individual artists and how they used their art to overcome adversity in their own lives. I began to think, "How has my art saved me?"

I don't know that I can really come up with an eloquent description of how I've used my art to pull me through the depths of dark times, but I do know that I rely on it, albeit subconsciously, to get me through rough patches - to get me through everyday life, really.


Carrie included a quote on her blog a while back that went like this: "Your handwriting. The way you walk. Which china pattern you choose. It's all giving you away. Everything you do shows your hand. Everything is a self-portrait. Everything is a diary." ~ Chuck Palahniuk

I began to look around me, and saw that it was true. All around me I am surrounded by my "art" - the things I love and the way I arrange them in my life speaks volumes to me personally, and brings me a familiar comfort and pleasure that saves my life {or at least a bit of my sanity} every day.


About 20 years ago, I had an opportunity to attend a day-long seminar on goal setting and visualizing the outcome of a goal. At the beginning of the day the facilitator said, "Show of hands, folks," holding his hand up high as our queue, "Who in this room is creative?" Without even thinking, I raised my hand. And then I was a little embarrassed that in a room of about 100 people there were only two of us holding our hands high!


My sister will say that she is not creative, but I beg to differ. She has a beautiful home, an impeccable fashion sense, and plans a party better than anyone I know. She is surrounded by her "art" without even realizing it.


How blessed I am to have the ability to share some of my art with others! I never take that for granted, and I am grateful for it always. And how blessed we all are to be able to share our art with each other every day, in a variety of ways. Look around you! Where is the art that saves you every day?
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Thanks to Sian for starting "Pass the Book," and for the others
before me who have enjoyed this book and passed it on to me.

Would you like a chance to borrow this book?
If so, just say so in a comment and I'll put your name in the draw.
I'll announce the winner next Wednesday, August 1st.

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

What's in an Instagram

for Rinda
 

Instagram, Instagram, Instagram.
I know, I talk about it a lot. I use it a lot. I love it a lot.
Wanna' see why?

Ok, if you aren't familiar with what Instagram is all about, I thought it would be fun for you to see what I've been doing with it. It's pretty basic really - you take a picture with your phone, pull that picture into Instagram, crop it, choose a filter, and share it. Other Instagram'ers can see your photo, like it, and comment on it.

All of the photos in this post were taken with my iPhone. The photos on the left are before, right side after editing in Instagram.

Really cool, huh? I confess to trying every filter available on most shots before I settle on the one I think looks best. You can see how much it changes the look and feel of the original shot.


One little tip I would offer for Instagram is to bring it in close. When I pull a photo in and crop it I go super close, then work my way out until I have what I want in the frame. This next shot was also edited with PicFx to get the bokeh in the mix.


Super cool, right?
How about you? Are you using any photo editing tools on your phone?
If you have Instagram on your phone look me up!
I'm PaperTurtle.
:o)

Monday, July 23, 2012

Weekend Recap Instagrams

Monday, already.
I've been keeping the Instagram feed busy with photos of my sunflower - I'm having so much fun photographing this beauty! I have plans to print and frame a few of my shots when all is said and done. But I digress, sunflowers aren't the only thing going on around here...


I did some crafting this weekend and before I could get close to my work table I had to do a little clean up. {The "Today Is____" stamp is from Elise Blaha.}


Carrie and I went out for a while on Saturday for lunch and some shopping. She wasn't feeling well, and I was out of sorts but we managed to get past fussing at each other and had a good time. When I commented to her later that day that we hadn't taken any photos she reminded me that we weren't in the best of picture-taking-moods. True.

This picture cracks me up. Oh, Whiskers Jay...

I need to photograph this chalkboard that Doug made me so you can see how fun it is, just inside the entrance to our kitchen. I had him hang it low enough for little people to reach ~ and this weekend it had a little message for me, reminding me to chill out!

Doug and I met his dad for breakfast yesterday, and on the way to the restaurant I spotted this chapel. Doug is always so good about stopping the car so I can take pictures! This one is for Rinda's Summer Photography Scavenger Hunt - item #17:

I bought myself a bundt cake pan last week and proceeded to christen it yesterday afternoon:
and then I remembered why I don't make bundt cakes...
No worries, this mess won't go to waste and neither will the bundt cake pan. Next time I'll grease and flour the pan like I thought I should have in the first place! {The directions that came with the pan said to just spray it with non-stick spray.}

And one last sunflower shot:
I took a ton of photos this past weekend, and now I really need to etch out some time to put them in some blog posts for this week ~ more sunflower photos, and some cool shots I got of Rexy Boy doing his turtle thing. Good stuff. ;o)

A busy week ahead so I'm off and running.
Wishing us all a week filled with JOY
and sunflowers.


Friday, July 20, 2012

Just a Quote for Friday

{The big ones are blooming! The big ones are blooming!}

The flower that blooms in adversity
is the most rare and beautiful of all.

{author unknown}

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Team Teal Tuesday


First - for those of you who are new to my blog, I want to tell you that I have this group of family and friends {many of them I know through my blog} who wear a teal cancer-awareness bracelet in honor of my mom {Marti} who is fighting ovarian cancer.

Thing two - My mom receives chemotherapy treatments every three weeks, on a Tuesday, and today is one of her treatment days. She could sure use some extra hug-vibes in her direction if you are so inclined!

And speaking of teal,
I have two of these "Fight Like a Girl" koozies up for grabs.
If you want one, just tell me in a comment.
They'll go to the first two people who claim them.
{Edit ~ already claimed! Koozies going to Beverly and Irene!}

Also! If you aren't a member of Team Teal yet, we'd love to have you.

Thanks, everyone!

Monday, July 16, 2012

Rainy Weekend Recap

Monday greetings, dear friends.
It's always a big deal for us here in the desert when we get a bit of rain. We had our share of it this past weekend which made for a nice change of pace. We filled our rainy days with pets and pampering. Wanna' see?

Carrie is out of town for a work function so we've had her dog, Marcus {aka Sparky-the-dog} staying with us. Here's a photo I took of him Friday night ~ he's always super happy the first day at the grand-parents:

I was in desperate need of a pedicure, and it was weird to get one without Carrie ~ but I survived and my toes look pretty. :o)

As I mentioned, rain...

Fun thing this weekend: I did some stitching. It was a great rainy-day project! I used one of my sunflower photos, edited in PhotoShop, printed it on printer-fabric and stitched around it. FUN!!! I'll show the completed project in a couple of weeks as this is a gift for a sweet friend of mine...

Rexy enjoying the weekend and all the rain:

Whiskers, chillin' in the craft room:

And peanut butter chocolate chip cookies for a rainy afternoon:
~sigh~
Such a great weekend...I'd love just one more day...
But, alas, there's work to be done and more memories to make.
Blessings all around!!!
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