Grey Street Girl

Wishing you...

the happiest and most joyous new year.

I know this last year has been particularly rough for a lot of folks.  So, here's to fresh starts and 365 more opportunities to find contentment and beauty in each day.

 

Great Balls of Yarn

Live:  I read this Change Your Brain book a few weeks back and really enjoyed it.  One of the things the author recommended was killing negative thoughts, which I tend to have a gazillion running through my head at any given moment.  One statement he made over and over in the book was this:  "Your thoughts do not always tell you the whole truth.  Sometimes they even lie to you."  So, if you listen and believe everything you think, it's like someone constantly whispering in your ear, leading you in the wrong direction - a destructive direction.  This has helped me so much since I read it - like something finally clicked, an epiphany regarding how destructive it was for me to look in the mirror and think, "You're completely hideous and ugly," or "You're grossly fat and slovenly."  The book advises acknowledging these thoughts, but then analyzing them and putting them in perspective in a rational manner.  So, I'm doing more of that.  Yes, I'm 10 pounds overweight right now, but it's the holidays and I'll get it back under control and it's not the end of the world and I don't look hideous or gross.  This process doesn't come easy.  The negative thoughts really haven't been a whisper but more of a roaring lion for the past three decades.  Sigh.... Sometimes staying happy is hard work.

Love:  I'm such a sucker for photography of lone trees.  I discovered a Flickr user today who takes incredibly lone tree shots.  Check one out here.  That sky!

Laugh:  Oh, that crazy Daisy.  She has an obsession with my wireless laptop mouse.  On any given day, I can find it laying helplessly on its back blinking for help in some random part of the house.  Today, I caught her red handed....I mean pawed...I mean mouthed....When I walked in the room she had the mouse in her mouth and the light was blinking and making her whole mouth glow.  I let out a yelp and she immediately dropped it and looked at me like, "What????"  Goofy ass dog.  I love her and her mouse stealing little body. 

Give:  I didn't do too much giving today, but I did give a friend encouragement to take a leap...to do something fun for herself.  I hope she does.  We only get so many trips around the sun, you know?

~and~

Gratus:  Today, I am thankful I found some really cool yarn to keep me busy with crocheting scarves over the next couple weeks.  And, here's a scarf I'm finishing up tonight!  Yay me!

The Power of Positive Prozac

Live:  Today was a day.  It was okay, I guess, but if I didn't have wonderful pharmaceuticals running through my system, I think all the little crap would have gotten me down.  But, I'm good.  To start, Daisy kicked it off by peeing on the carpet.  I finally decorated my office by putting up shelves for my vintage knick knacks, but I nearly ruined my wall with one of the shelves because I drilled one of the holes in the wrong spot.  I put some of my photos in frames and hung them, but the frames were cheap and falling apart on me. By the time I got settled, I was too tired to actually do work work.  And then I ate too many circus peanuts and gave myself a stomach ache.  Sigh....But then I made a dog bed and did a bunch of cleaning and finished up some crocheting....I think I may have a problem relaxing.

Love:  I'm now addicted to Jon & Kate Plus 8.  They're having a marathon tonight on TLC and it's my first time seeing the show and I'm completely glued.  Their marriage is fascinating to me.  They almost seem to hate each other.  It's like not being able to turn away from a train wreck or a car crash.

Laugh:  Tonight, I was finishing up the scarf I was making for Waldorf (you know, because the ladies on Flickr thought he needed one).  I had a lovely cup of tea sitting next to me on the table...right next to a little garbage bin I was using to throw in scraps of yarn....Can you see where this is going?  While mezmerized by J&K+8, I absentmindedly threw bits of yarn in my tea instead of the bin.  Sigh....I'm too tired to make more tea.  So, I am tealess.  :(   

Give:  I decided to cheer myself up a bit by giving myself some flowers.  Of course, I also bought an Alicia Bock print and a bundle of beautiful fabrics on Etsy...because I don't have enough craft projects going on right now.  So, I just gave to me today.

~and~

Gratus:  Today, I am grateful for lint rollers and vacuum cleaners.  Amanda is blowing her coat, which she does twice a year.  So, there are giant tufts of hair everywhere.  I'm vacuuming once a day and there is still fur floating about like dragonflies skimming the hardwood lake that is my first floor.  I guess I could make a nice coat out of all of it like these folks.  And, I totally wish I'd thought of taking this photo since I have so much fur on hand.  Too funny.

Here's one of the flowers from my bouquet.

Life in the Woods

Live:  I pretty much spent the entire day driving to and from an organic farm in East Tennessee.  A good friend of mine is renting a cabin on the fringe of the farm, high up on a hill in the middle of the woods.  It's so secluded that you have to cross a wide stream by foot to get to it.  She's rented it for the year, but she'll only be staying out there on her days off.  I'm green with envy.  As we were getting her set up, listening to one of the three waterfalls on the property, we were discussing that the perfect retreat has to include woods and water.  If you have a forest and a creek or an ocean or a river or a lake, you're in heaven.  I can't wait to cash in my chips and have a life in the woods.

Love:  Don't you just love the week between Christmas and New Years?  I think, other than my birthday, it is my favorite time of year.  Even if I have to work, it isn't much and no one really expects anything to get done.  It's just such a laid back time.  Sigh....

Laugh:  I don't have any funny stories for you today, but I'll give you:  (1) The cup holder I'll never have without major surgery; and, (2)  The opossum carolers I'm glad I didn't have at my door. 

Give:  I guess my give for today is helping my friend move an entire cadre of home interiors into the rustic cabin.  I love that my friend has such a zest for life that she brings china, linens and antique furniture into a place that doesn't have indoor plumbing.  She rocks!

~and~

Gratus:  Since my five day weekend is over, I am so grateful that I get to work from home tomorrow.  Who wants to place bets as to weather I'll even shower or not???

Here's to taking the road less traveled....

 

Just me and my monkey

I just had to let you know of a world-wide historic even that just occurred here in my humble home tonight....

I crocheted my very first hat!

For my stuffed monkey....

His name is Waldorf.....

I may have been dropped on my head as a child.

But, apparently, I can do better.  Here's my new inspiration.

Okay, Waldorf...give me...sexy!

Few Aims

Okay, now that I generally know all the stuff my camera does, I'm still having trouble remembering to think about and check all the settings before I shoot a picture, mainly because I'm lazy and in a hurry to take pictures. 

So, I sat down this morning to make a list of them all and see if I could come up with an acronym to help me remember and slow down before each shot.  Here it is:  FEWAIMS.  But, I need your help to make sure I'm not forgetting some vital thing....Here's what FEWAIMS stands for:

Flash
Exposure Value
White Balance
Aperture
ISO
Macro (i.e., do I need a macro lens/setting for this?)
Shutter Speed

Please leave any suggestions or ways you remember in the comments.  And, if there's some universal acronym you learned in a class, let me know.  I'm self-taught.  So, I'm trying to figure out all this stuff on my own.  I'm hoping this acronym thing will help me advance to the next level where I'm really using my camera.

This was taking last night and I wish I'd used the settings on my camera more, but it turned out okay.

Five Dollar Friday - Week Three

Live:  So, how was your Christmas?  What did you get?  Mine was great and, of course, I splurged on myself quite a bit over the last two weeks.  So, Santa was good to me.  Yesterday, I got a lot of stuff done around the house - just little fun projects.  I actually ended up having lunch at Jack in the Box because I have no food in the house.  But, I made up for it at dinner with Indian food with friends.  It was incredibly good.  We also saw Benjamin Button....I'm not sure what to think about it.  It was three very long hours.  I wasn't expecting that.  And, in the middle, they do this super gratuitous montage of Brad Pitt dressed up like Jack Kennedy on a sailboat, like James Dean on a motorcycle and like Robert Redford from the 70s.  It was so obvious and unnecessary.  Sigh....I guess I was just expecting more from the movie - something more endearing or funny.

Love:  Love is now available for purchase.  Oh wait...that sounds bad.  Okay, the LOVE print is now available for purchase.  I also have the Bluebird print on Cafepress too.

Laugh:  Yesterday, while waiting in line for the movie, my friend and I were talking about how much Tom Cruise sucks.  Now, he was The Bomb in the 80s.  Top Gun?  Oh yeah, baby!  But now?  Ugh.  He just gives me a headache.  Now, picture us having this animated conversation about him and his stupid Valkyre movie just as Nicole Kidman walks by us and goes into the theater.  I'm pretty sure she didn't hear us.  And, even if she did, I'm sure she'd join right in on our rant.  And, let me just say, she was wearing the most fabulous boots.  She looks amazing for just having a baby too.

Give:  Today was Five Dollar Friday!  As usual, I put a five dollar bill in a little ziploc baggie with a little note.  Since I went out to Centennial Park tonight to practice my night photography (which I'll be posting later tonight), I decided to leave it on a cute little park bench.  Once again, I was humming the theme to Mission Impossible as I got out of my car and trotted over to the bench to leave my booty.  This is so much fun.  :)  Oh, and check this out - a big group of people did the pay it forward thing at Starbucks for over five hours in one of the Nashville suburbs.

~and~

Gratus:  Today, I am very thankful that Daisy is recovering really well.  A little too well....I can't get her to settle down, which she needs to do for the next week.  She and Amanda and Bear have been wrestling like crazy and I keep having to put Daisy in her kennel so she doesn't pop her stitches or get some sort of internal bleeding from all the romping around.  But, the good news is that she isn't chewing at her wounds, which is awesome!

We sort of had a white Christmas.  I woke up to frost on the grass and leaves in my front yard.

Merry Christmas

I'm keeping it short tonight, but just wanted to wish you a Merry Christmas...with a compass in the stock and this thing which tells time....

:)

Don't forget TBS is running A Christmas Story over the next 24 hours.  I'm on my second watch of it tonight.

Please accept my gift of some virtual Christmas cupcakes for you:

I hope Santa puts some really good stuff under your tree....

I Lurve You!

Live:  Well, little Miss Daisy is home from her surgery and doing great so far (I add "so far" as to not jinx myself into a late night holiday emergency vet visit).  In addition to getting spayed and microchipped, she got that extra, floppy dew claw removed and she got some puppy teeth removed.  Poor girl!  For me, it was a crazy day, non-stop, and I'm beat.  So, I'm not even going to try to be funny or interesting because I know I will fail miserably.

Love:  I just want to say that I'm blown away by all the new readers here and by all my new Flickr friends the past couple weeks.  Wow.  My little bird picture (from this blog) and my little bike picture (from this blog) made it into Flickr's Explore (their top 500 pics for each day).  And, I know it's due to all the new inspiration and support I'm getting from you all.  So, I wanted to say I just love this new place I've stumbled into the past month.  Thank you for making it so special!

Laugh:  This is exactly what I picture my dogs thinking when I pick up my camera.  And, what is with all the obscene playground equipment I've been seeing lately?  This Fail Blog is like the 11th one I've seen.  Who plans this stuff and says, "Yeah, that's an awesome idea, Betty!  Let's have the kids slide out the donkey's poop shoot!"

Give:  Today was a super fun day of giving.  When I picked up Daisy at the vet, I handed over two giant cheesecakes (1 plain with cherry topping and 1 dulce de leche) for the staff from the Cheesecake Factory as a thank you for all their great help with my girls this year.  I also gave my waiter at the CCF a $20 tip because even though it was so crowded in there, he took time to chat with us and was just generally a cool kid.  Of course, I'm going to go broke if I keep just giving out money like it's cheap, crusty Dollar Store candy.  Maybe I can pay my bills in spider drawings (an oldie but a very goodie).

~and~

Gratus:  Oh, I am so thankful to be on a five day vacation (not to mention I'm working from home through January 4th).  And, I am very thankful I have plans for both Christmas Eve dinner and Christmas dinner with very good friends.  Happy holidays to you all!

P.S.  Is anyone planning on seeing any movies over the holiday?  If so, what?  I'm open to suggestions for my Christmas day movie.

Things that go Crunch in the Night

Live:  Mmmmm...I can't wait for vacation.  One more day.  I really have big plans to make the most of it too:  Photography, crocheting, knitting, dog parking, movie watching, pajama wearing, waffle making, reading, snarking and just generally lazing about.  Yay!  What are your plans?

Love:  Here's another interesting example of love gone awry for you, courtesy of the Fail Blog.  Okay, okay, here's a real love entry for you instead of snark.  Check out this blog with the cute apples and the fab handbags.  This kind of thing is SO inspiring me to dust off my sewing machine!

Laugh:  So, I'm laying in bed last night when I hear slurping coming from the giant mesh dog kennel at the foot of my bed.  *slurp, slurp, slurp*  I prick my ears up...*slurp, slurp, slurp*  WTF?  I glance over at the clock to see that it is 3am.  Ugh.  At this point, I'm thinking Amanda is getting sick.  That's what she does.  She barfs at 3am.  For a year, it was aggravating; now, it's just endearing.  So, I lay there for a couple more seconds...waiting...waiting to see if the slurping turns to heaving....*slurp, slurp, CRUNCH!*  What???  *CRUNCH, CRUNCH, CRUNCH!"  I flip on the lights and throw back the covers.  I look in the kennel.  Daisy has lost another puppy tooth and is entertaining herself by chewing on it like a Starbrite mint.  Yum.  I unzip the kennel, fish the tooth from her mouth and toss it in the trash with the four others I've found this week.  Joy.  She's such a goofy dog, but I love her.

Give:  I gave gifts to all my work colleagues today.  Playing Santa was a lot of fun.  :)

~and~

Gratus:  I am SO thankful that a friend told me about how a big drop in barometric pressure can cause headaches.  I had NO idea!  We had a big drop Saturday afternoon, which is RIGHT when I had my giant headache that led me to crying for two hours.  We were chatting at lunch and she told me she had a horrible headache at the same time...then another girl chimed in and said she had one too.  Aha!  Well, now I'm going to be one of those crazy old ladies who constantly watches the weather so I can load up on Excedrin in advance...and vodka...lots of vodka (kidding, maybe).

Here's yet another thing I got myself for Christmas.  I've got to stop the madness.