The Beauty of Spring

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I know it's summer, raging summer in fact, but yesterday I was looking through my photos and fell head over heels in love with this tree blooming in spring. Isn't spring so beautiful?


In all honesty, I find beauty in each of the seasons but I find each season can last a little too long. I think I have a short attention span for weather* and seasons. I think every two months would be good, especially when it comes to summer, my least favorite. Or maybe we could have summer and winter for  two months each and have spring and fall for four months each. Now that's a good idea! What do you think?

Rambling on another topic, I really loved this picture straight out of the camera, but I processed it to bring out the yellow in the sunlight. I love it even more this way. Would you ever want me to share how I use Picnik to process my photos? Yes, I mostly use Picnik and rarely use Photoshop. Is that a terrible thing to confess? 

* This is why I am an excellent candidate for life in Oregon. ;)

Lemon Fresh

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It's the last day of summer vacation and boy does it feel like it! The heat came in overnight and I've been slurping down ice cold water with a slice of meyer lemon from my MIL's abundant tree.

lemon fresh

We had a swirly lemon cheesecake after dinner tonight to celebrate getting through a long, hard summer. The Noodle has mixed feelings about returning to school: happy to see his friends and teacher again, sad to be away from me and a little nervous about the responsibilities ahead of him in second grade. (Is worrying hereditary or what?)

I have mixed feelings too: happy and elated. Ha. I will miss my little guy but I am in desperate need of time to myself. I'm not sure what I will do tomorrow, it's going to be a scorcher around here. I don't want to work too hard on anything, I want to enjoy the bliss of doing nothing before everything ramps up to full effect. 

Amazing Dahlias

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I picked up these gorgeous, amazing dahlias at my farmers market yesterday afternoon for four dollars. I really couldn't believe the price. I'm in awe of them. Look how they transform from those closed buds to those giant blossoms! I love the middle stage so that's where I focused for this shot. It reminds me of when you get a glimpse of your child and you can imagine what they will look like as an adult. That happened to me recently with the Noodle.

Tomorrow is our annual all-school cleanup in preparation for the new school year. Yes, back to school happens on Tuesday! We are both very excited and for different reasons. I kind of can't believe I have a second grader...

Single Tasking

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I read this Poppytalk post which led me to this article on How to Live a Single Tasking Life and I wanted to share it with you. Please read the article, it's short & sweet and the bullet points at the end are wonderful.


Have you tried doing only one thing at a time lately? I tried one-tab-at-a-time browsing recently upon the advice of my career coach. Let me tell you, it was really hard at first. I actually felt twitchy. Then slowly...I felt relieved. I only had to absorb one page of content at a time! But have I kept up with it after the one-day trial? NOPE. 

It's #4 in that article that really intrigues me. What if (the collective) we poured ourselves into one thing at a time? I think it would have a huge ripple effect on the world. I'll tell you what -- for the rest of this week I am totally committed to browsing the web with only ONE tab at a time. It's such a great step and it's not even a baby step for me, it's more like a long jump. I am so scattered when I'm online and I know this will have a huge effect on my concentration, comprehension and productivity. Do you dare try it with me? :)

Sunny Cove

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We went to a special spot in Santa Cruz on Saturday where my MIL Betty grew up body surfing. She has been taking the Noodle there this summer and they wanted to show it to us too. From the beach, you could see out to a sea cliff and lots of people were jumping off with their boogie boards. 

Do you want to see what the cliff was like?


the path down

the terrain


the tide pools


the sea anemones


the colorful plants

the view south of Sunny Cove


someone trying to protect herself from the fierce winds

and...the cliff facing Sunny Cove

Yes, my husband joined me after a bit and I walked back with his hat and shirt after he jumped off the cliff and swam back to shore. (That splash there is just from a wave though). Later on, he jumped off the cliff again...WITH MY BABY!

Simply Hue Creative Challenge

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Happy Friday! I'm having a kid-free day which means there has been a little time for this mama to read blogs and play with her camera again. It was great timing for my visit to Simply Hue and discovering that this week's theme for the Creative Challenge Flickr pool is Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny because look  what we found in our mailbox yesterday!

a darling toy red VW bus

Our neighbor left it for the Noodle and I promptly begged him to let me have it. I'm having a busy day otherwise -- I had a job interview this morning (please cross your fingers for me!), followed by a lunch date with my husband, I'm leaving shortly for a 1.5 hour massage and this evening, I am meeting my girlfriends to see Eat Pray Love. 

I hope all of my readers are having a lovely day too!

Baci,
Jess

Polaroid Sale

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I can't believe I forgot to post about the Polaroid sale I'm having right now in my shop! Duh! Recently the Impossible Project released their first color instant film and I am so excited by this news that I decided to throw a little sale.


All of my Polaroids are buy one, get one free through August 15th. Also, check back here tomorrow because there will be a special announcement. :)

Baci,
Jess

Golden Gate

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Saturday we took our dog to Crissy Field since I read it was dog-friendly and it was his fourth birthday. It was very cold, very windy, very beautiful and very fun. You should see the smiles on the wind surfers when they come in off the bay. Talk about a zen state of mind.


I am going to drop the August Break project and stick with posting MWF. It was an experiment that didn't work out that well for me after all. Thanks for understanding.

Did you have a good weekend?

Baci,
Jess

Surprise!

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Yes, you are still at my blog! I have had a late night curiousity with Blogger's new design features. I am not done tinkering, you know me! I was feeling like my blog sidebars were too busy and too cluttered. So I've streamlined by going back to two columns. Ultimately it means...bigger pictures!

zinnias, one of my top three favorite flowers

And there's no going back either because I forgot to back up my template! So over the weekend, I will remember how I made that cute little post signature and put up new social media icons, etc. Oh and this tickles me to no end..the font up there for Sweet Eventide is called, "Sunshine in My Soul" -- get out!!! How cheerful is that?!!!

Do tell! 
What do you think?!

Baci, xxx,
Jess

August Break

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I had some time to open up my RSS reader today, seeing how I've been laid up in bed all day with stomach aches and migraines. I think a lot of the summer stress has caught up with my body. Did I remember to mention here that a few weeks ago we found out we have to move out of our rental house by April 1st (i.e. smack in the middle of the school year)? This news is just the tip of the iceberg around here this summer. So, even though I had cut my blogging schedule down at the start of summer, this August Break idea is really appealing to me right now.


I need to listen to my body and cut out as much as I can right now. I am going to do iPhone photos only, no words, for the "August Break." I do love to write on my blog and I look forward to resuming a full, normal schedule in September after the Noodle is back in school and my career coaching sessions are done. Do you want to join the project? Comment on Susannah's post and let me know in the comments so I can be sure to visit.

Home Ec with Freckled Nest

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Have I waxed on about my love for Twitter lately? Have I mentioned how I have over 1,000 tweets starred as my favorites? (I'm slowly realizing I may be the only one who uses Twitter favorites as a bookmarking system, but hey whatever works). Here is a perfect example: I faved a tweet from Jan at Poppytalk last night and if it wasn't for her, I would not have known about this online class starting next month: Home Ec.


This class has got to be the greatest idea ever: 26 totally useful projects that each teach you a new sewing skill. Projects like pretty cloth napkins, curtains, zippered pouches, buntings, grocery/book bags, and on and on. Topics like how to troubleshoot problems, hem and take things in, how to take care of your machine and how to find your way around a fabric store.


images © Freckled Nest

I don't know about you, but I didn't take Home Ec in high school and I've often regretted that choice. I wish I had taken Home Ec *and* Wood Shop to be honest. I think high school guidance counselors should tell gals how darn handy it would be to learn a little carpentry because custom furniture is the bomb.


Anyway, this rad e-course is only $60 and you can register at the Freckled Nest blog in the top left column with the "Buy Now" button. (That may or may not be a hint to my friends and family for an early birthday gift?!) School's in session on August 10th.

Thanks Jan for your always awesome tweets!

Pink Roses

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I was backing up my iPhone this morning (long overdue, my husband threatened to take away my charger until I backed up!) and found this set of photos of pink roses from a rainy spring day. I don't think I ever shared them here and they took me straight into a daydream -- not a bad way to start a Monday!





Aren't they gorgeous! Being around boys all the livelong day makes me reach for the pink at times. Plus roses always remind me of my grandma (her name was Rose, Rosina was her given name which I learned way later in life). I miss her!

How was your weekend? We rearranged two rooms of furniture and I am loving it. I carved out a new little space for an office for me! I will share some photos once I have finished setting it up.