Thursday, August 23, 2012

Spewing Sentiments

Things go wrong and things go right.

I think that's life's way of guiding us.

The ol' "can't go over it, can't go under it, gotta go through it."

How else are we going to learn?

Well, life, regardless of the shape and size
of the obstacles in our way, is still beautiful.

We've all been given different things:
different eyes to see the world around us,
different minds to interpret the world around us,
different hearts to feel the world around us,
different souls to enhance the world around us.

What gifts!

My eyes are an adventurous pair.
They magically morph most every moment into an exciting quest.
They grew up that way or, that is to say,
they've never really grown up at all.
They are the "lost boys" that tether me to childhood forever.

My mind is a vast cavern.
Dreams flutter through chambers and secret passageways.
Paintings and lovely trinkets adorn every polished surface.
Sunlight pours through lofty windows, splashing everything with life.
It is the colorful collection that calms and thrills me all at once.

My heart is a delicate album
of music and of photos, all in one.
It's Ella Fitzgerald on a scratchy gramophone and a time machine.
It's Anna Netrebko at the Paris Opera house and Grandma's afghan.
It's The Carpenters, Barry Manilow and a 9-passenger suburban with no empty seats.
It's a Latin beat and my husband's light feet.
It's "Rock-e-bye" - Mom's voice lullabying from my lips.
It is imprinted with fragile footprints,
and fueled by tears, kisses and laughter.

My soul is a familiar stranger.
She is very much like me and has yet to be like God.
She is eager and impatient and worn and willing.
She is peace from head to toe and joy from ear to ear.
She is the reflection none else can see.

Who are you?

Thursday, July 12, 2012

Design LIVE

Check it out!
I illustrated the artwork for Tennessee's 1940 Census for Ancestry.com


Then scroll down and click on Tennessee :) Cool!

This is what it looks like, but it's a little cooler to see it on the actual site.


Oh, and click on this one, too!

You should give me something to design for you, too!

P.S. Do you know why my sidebar pictures aren't showing up anymore?

Thursday, June 28, 2012

green.

green.


green.


green.


green.


green.


green.


green.


green.


green.


Tonight I'm very grateful for green...

Especially our adorable green pepper,
the first fruit of our little garden :)

Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Dashing & Debonair Continued

Here are some more photos from Hubs and my date night photo shoot.

Haha, yep, we have fun.


James did a good job photographing, no?


Trying out some ol' school editing.



James getting his "Cary Grant" on.


Am I right or am I right?
 



Hope you enjoyed our fun and completely random old school shoot.

I know WE DID!

P.S. Isn't my hair AWESOME?
I...might do it like this next time I go to some place fancy. It's fun.

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Rosies

You know those people who can see you better than others can?

The people who may even see you better than you see yourself?

The kind that have this superpower x-ray vision into your soul.

The kind that, when they look into your soul, say,

"Hey, you've got something great going there..."

and when you don't see what they see, say,

"Don't give up. All you need is a little more time,
a little more practice, a little more elbow grease.
You've got what it takes to make your dreams fly."

The kind of people who give you high-fives along the rocky road.

The kind that play victory music for you to dance to
when you do something right for once.

The kind that don't let effort go unnoticed.

That kind that catch your crumpled papers,
spread them out on the table before you
and with some sort of magical encouragement
turn their "no's" into "what if's".

Do you know the kind of people I'm talking about?

For the purpose of this post I'll call them
"Rosies"




Those kind of people rock.

There are plenty of critics and pessimists in the world,

Plenty of "you can't's" and "don't try's".

We can credit our thick skin to those guys, sure,
but I don't care how thick your skin is - 
strong as armadillo armor or fragile as a dry leaf -
can't we all use a little thumbs up every once in a while?

That's why I say,
thank heavens for our Rosies.

Monday, June 4, 2012

My Cute Little Show-off

I'm sitting here on my couch doing freelance.


James is doing a workout video in front of me.


He keeps looking at me out of the corner of his eye
to see if I'm watching him...


...when I do he pushes harder
and seems to exaggerate his breathing.


I go back to working on freelance...


...with a knowing smile on my face.


My husband is a cute little show-off
and I love him.



Thursday, May 24, 2012

Up Next: Mississippi


Here's a preview from our family reunion
down south with James' family.


I have never felt so close to Steve Irwin
as I did at this very moment of my life!

Bet you can't wait to see the rest of the trip, huh?

Stay tuned :)

Our Honeymoon

Now, I know that it's been...what? 5 months since our honeymoon.
But hey, better late than never I always say.

So, without further adu,
Our Honeymoon:
A Cruise!

YAY!
Here we are in Los Angeles on a bus from the airport
to the cruise embarking dock...thingy.

(Remind me not to take photos of myself at this angle ever again)


"Oooh! There it is! There's our ship!"


James: Happily holding our boarding passes.
Me: Hoping they don't blow into the ocean.


Pretty tropical flower we saw while waiting.


And VOILE! Here is the...um...lobby? of our ship.


Goodbye, Los Angeles. Hello, Mexico!




Classic elevator photo :)
Happy are we!


Mmmm, free breakfast room service!
Don't mind if we do!


The line to go to shore extended down several flights of stairs,
but we made some friends while we waited.


First stop: Catalina Island
Yes, that is where "The Even Stevens Movie" was filmed.
Needless to say, I was excited!





On our way to shore a dolphin swam right under the boat.
THAT was cool!




YAY for the beach!
Unfortunately the weather was a little too cold for swimming...


...but the scenery was still pretty!
Doesn't this look like Hawaii?



Yes, of course I took a picture of a squirrel.








My goofy husband sampling the tropical plants.










Do you see all the pictures we took?
Yeah, that's because we went on our own adventure
and walked ALL OVER the island.

Lot's of walking.

Unfortunately, there's not a lot to do on Catalina Island,
but hey, it was a beautiful day...


...and we found some cool typography.







Yes, very picturesque.
Here's a cute little man painting the picturesqueness :)


Don't ask me why, but yes,
we DID walk up those stairs, too.


THAT'S why!
Pretty view, no?





YAY for being back on the ship.
We soon found out that relaxing on board
was our favorite thing to do....



Unfortunately, there are a whole lot of pictures missing right here.
I didn't bring my big fancy camera to Ensenada day,
but we did have our little disposable camera...


...we just haven't developed it yet...


...cause we lost it.


...


Anyway, here is us leaving Ensenada.
Adios, Ensenada.




Another favorite part was the fancy dining for dinner...
EVERY NIGHT!

This was what I ordered on our last night.
It was the least "fancy" meal that I got the whole time,
But it sure tasted good!


The "As Big As Your Face" Burger!


This is what I got for dessert EVERY night.
Eventually our cute waiter just started bringing it
to me without asking :) Haha!

Molten Chocolate Cake
+
Vanilla Ice Cream
+
Hot Chocolate
=
Happy Lindsay


This is one of our waiters - Abhijit.
We took a picture with him because he's AWESOME!


And here's my favorite waiter - I Nyoman.
Even on the nights that he wasn't waiting on us
he would smile and say "hi" and bring me hot chocolate :)


Wahoo! Hittin' the hot tub.
We got hot tubbing down to a science.
We found that the best time to go was around 7:30-8p
when everyone was at dinner or a show.

And, of course, we topped the experience off
with virgin Pina Coladas and our fancy white robes.

Hot tubbing done right, I'm tellin' ya.



I could go for a little hot tubbin' right now.


Time for another cruise! ;)


If I were to go on a cruise again,
these are the things I would do differently:


-Go somewhere super warm
-Get a ship with a bigger pool
-Bring cuter clothing
-See really cool sites on land


...I think that's it.
Everything else was pretty much...


Picture Perfect.