"Where Children Sleep"

Where Children Sleep
A book with photographs by James Mollison...
A photo of a child and, quite simply, a photo of "where they sleep".
Check it out...
Thought provoking, heart wrenching, and interesting.

As seen on DesignMom.com

new header photo

I am just loving my photo of the barn and rows of neatly piled dirts with green mountains in the background. So I changed my header photo.

I like it!
Brings new life to slo inspired.

Orcutt Road Photoshoot Fun!

This weekend, I went on a photo drive through the hills near San Luis Obispo, with my friend Anna. Orcutt Road is beautiful as it goes through vineyards, farms, and rolling hills. When we saw somewhere we wanted to stop, we would (including parking in front of a sign that specifically said "NO PARKING ANY TIME" (what rebels we were!)).

It was great setting out with three goals:

1. to witness this beautiful place.
2. hang out with an inspirational friend.
3. to take photos!

It was easy to do all.

Here are some of my favorite shots...

And what do you think about my finally using Picasa to collage my photos?
Fun!
(Thanks iartu's Jen for the tip!)
(You can make them bigger by clicking on them)

Brussels and reflections.

More reflections, vineyards, and grain!

One of my favorite shots of the day.

Beautiful skies.

self reflection and revelation is inspiring!

It was a tough weekend.

But as a result of making important and really hard decisions, I am left with such self reflection.
And I am surprised by it as well as being sort of inspired by it/me.

I am being forced to re-evaluate what is important to me.
And I am realizing more and more that what is important to me is being present and positive.

Sounds easy, right?
Well it's easy to make that decision, but for me being present is something I have struggled with for a long time.
What with my iPhone (with everything at my finger tips!), my eyes constantly behind my camera, email, facebook, blogs... man! It is hard to be present with all of that being as important as I let it be.

So my goal going forward is to let a bit of that go.
And on the flip side, get in touch with me and my surroundings more... go out in nature, maybe even without my camera (Gasp!), and sit and listen, breathe, and just BE.

I know me, and I know that all of the things above that contribute to my not being present are not going to magically go away. And I am not going to banish it from my life. But I am going to remove myself more and more from them.
Maybe I will leave my cell phone at home a workday or two.
Limit my email checking and facebook obsessing.
We all do it- blankly stare at the screen in front of us... And remove ourselves from the present, from our surroundings, and the endless possibilities that are around us.
And in exchange for these, I am going to focus on breathing, on a process of being more present.

And as a result of this, I think the positive will follow.
The positive will also come from making better choices for my health and head...
And going into the world with a positive attitude. Give what I want to receive.

I know none of these are new concepts. In fact, I have a few friends who inspire me with their ability to be present and positive.
And a while back one of my friends gave me a book, that I never gave myself the time to read, that is going to be a part of this process.

Anyways, I feel good about this.
And it is inspiring.
It won't be easy, and it will be a slow process. But even the thought of being more in touch with ME is exciting!

How about you?
How do you stay present?
And what does it mean to you?
I'd love to hear your thoughts as I start making these changes in my life.

Andrew Bird live in Santa Cruz

Do you know Andrew Bird's music?

This is not a great photo - just from my phone...

If you don't know about him, you might want to give him a listen.

I saw him play a couple of weekends ago. And to make it even better, I saw him in my beloved Santa Cruz in a cool old movie theater. I was so excited for the show and really had no idea what was in store for me.

Simply put, he blew me away:

The video isn't the best, again filmed on my phone.
And I didn't start recording early enough and stupidly stopped recording too early.
But I think the sound is great.
And I really wanted to be PRESENT at the concert and not worry about holding my phone still.
Isn't he the best whistler ever?!

He is the most beautiful one man band that I have ever heard...

For those who are not familiar with him, he loops his music...
Starting with a guitar "bass" line then adding a guitar melody. Then playing something on the violin.
And finally, after he has all of this layered how he wants, he goes in with his voice and whistling and more violin. And between there maybe playing a line or two on his glockenspiel.
And this is all live on stage.
I know there are those who may knock looping- but Andrew Bird does it in the most beautiful way.
To me, he is charming and dorky, funny and romantic. It doesn't seem like he combs his hair so much and he took his shoes off on stage after his warm up.
And he is truly so inspiring to me.

Coincidentally, he started playing the violin around the same age that I did (4-5) and learned by the Suzuki method, the same way that I did.
So I feel like we have a special connection in that way.
Of course I quit playing the violin seriously when i was 17 and he is still playing today. But still.

I really recommend you give him a listen if you have not done so already. I will even help you out by sending you a mixed tape (cd) of some of my favorite songs.

The things you can find at ROSS (dress for less!)

Remember the old commercials?
"Do you love it?" "I love it!" "I got it at Ross!"

Yes, there are (ridiculously cheap) great finds at Ross when you search... And I am always proud of these (often times rare) finds, especially when someone comments that they like it.
But among these finds are some others that are, well, pretty terrible.

I wander through Ross from time to time and always find myself gawking at the strange items
Now I am no fashionista... But I do enjoy good design of any sort.
Here are some of the not-so-great "what were the designers of this item thinking" items that I found at Ross in the last week...

Even if this bag was my style (which it isn't),
I think I would constantly get those chains tangled in... everything!

Glitz and glamor gecko, anyone?
(For those of you who love the design but not the gecko, have no fear- there was a myriad of different animals in this same fashion)

No Comment.

For the punk rock princess in all of us...
Maybe these are for SOMEone, but not me.
(They are much much more glittery in person!)

Thanks for viewing...
I know this will become a semi-regular thing because I just love seeing all the crazy things for sale at Ross!