So here’s several woodgrain inspired items that, if money were not an issue, I’d buy for myself or to gift …

Custom Tree & Heart Pillow Cover — great wedding or anniversary present!

Strength & Beauty Painting — I want this for my office!

Woodcut Save the Dates — if I were getting married, these would be going out in the mail

Etched Silver Faux Bois Heart — *swoon*

Wood You Love Me Cuff Links — for the love of your life

Whimsical Owl in a Tree Pendant — so cute!

Woodgrain Laptop Decal — if mine didn’t have a logo on it, this would be perfect!

Numero Dos: So far I’ve done pretty good at the blogging daily plan here on my personal blog … just need to continue this trend through September 23, 2010 so I can completely achieve #16 on my 101 in 1001 list!

Numero Tres: In addition to my sewing project I’m hoping to commence soon, I’ve been refurbishing/redoing a piece of vintage furniture I came across recently. It was originally shellaced — and due to wear/age, looked very sad and in need of some TLC – but I have a different vision for it. While asking my dad for the best way to redo it for what I have in mind, he tried his best to convince me to either re-shellac it or just put a clear coat of varnish on it. Apparantly its made out of either walnut or cherry, which apparantly aren’t cheap lumber-wise. I’m still stripping it so I have to make my mind up tonight whether it’ll be painted (my vision) or varnished (cause I’m not reshellacing it!) since I need it for a session on Sunday! And yes, I’ll share images of the before and after once I’m done!

Numero Quatro: After six + months of being minus a 50 mm lens in my camera bag, I finally sold the 85 mm lens I rarely use in order to upgrade to the 50 mm f/1.4 lens yesterday … which is gratitude post #2 of the week! Now to upgrade my 28-75 lens that’s acting wonky!

Numero Cinco:  I’ve only had one Dr Pepper this week. In fact, that’s becoming the norm as of the last month or so. Instead, I have a 20-ish ounce water bottle (bought at Wal Mart) that I consume 2-3 bottles of flavored water (those dandy little packets you add in to tap water, that is) and about the equivalent of two more in sweetened iced tea a day.

Way back when I turned 11 (aka 19 years ago next month), my mom thought it would be a great idea to take the money my grandparents gave her for me each birthday (aside from a small present) and put it towards a sewing machine.

Me, being 11, didn’t want a sewing machine. Granted, I didn’t get much say in the matter because the next thing I knew, a package from JC Penney arrived containing one shiny new sewing machine.

I tried using it, I really did. But the fabric kept being sucked into the bobbin holder. That’s what I mean by disaster. Nothing I tried prevented the issue. I eventually gave up on being as sewing proficient as my mother (who is way craftier than I’ll ever be) and packed it up. When we moved the next year, the sewing machine went into storage until about a year or two ago when my dad repaired the storage building and moved almost all its contents out into the barn.

Last fall I got the bright idea I’d make a quilt to use for portrait sessions. Bought the fabric … and its sat in my closet since. Never got around to finding a pattern this spring. So this past weekend when I was in the barn looking for something else, I came across the box with the sewing machine.

Curious if it worked after 17+ years of being packed up, I got it out and lugged it inside, cleaned it up, and plugged it in. It still works

So now I need to find a pattern … and get the rest of the needed supplies to make the above mentioned quilt. But first I need to make sure its not going to eat the fabric like it did the last time around …

Last week I featured a few items I treated myself to as early birthday presents … today I’m sharing a few wish list items of mine …

Katie Daisy — which I came across last week is an awesome artist … and I’d love the Texas print that’s a part of her Wanderlust collection. Her 8×10 prints are priced at $15 which makes it easy to buy more than one if you can’t pick an absolute favorite

Rolled Fabric Flowers — these are popping up everywhere, well at least on the photography blogs I frequent! A few of my favorites via Etsy … Pink Fabric Flower Necklace, Yellow & Grey Fabric Flower Headband, Pewter Fabric Flower Headband, Alice Flower Cluster Necklace

While Etsy surfing, I also came across these cute fabric button pushpins! The little birdies remind me of the Twitter bird!

Check back next week to see what Monday Loves I have … thinking about sharing some good summer reads next time!

Since my birthday (a major one) is just under seven weeks away, I’m starting to create a bit of a wish list of things I want … course this week’s items are what I’m gifting myself this year …

First up, this super cute Shey[B] camera strap named Raspberry Lemonade … doesn’t that sound yummy? I already have a few Priddy Creations Straps on my cameras but two of them were needing an update! So this one (which I’m having padded) will be going on my primary camera and the one currently on it (once this one arrives) will be swapped to my backup camera. My bro has a Shey[B] strap I bought him about a year and a half ago … Amy and Shey[B] are the only two camera strap makers I’ll use and recommend!

Next up, a couple of ruffled pillow cases … yes, I know, PB Teen, but I couldn’t resist! For the summer months, I’ve swapped out my black & white ikea comforter that’s way too heavy with a vintage quilt … which works well with these pillow covers (and they’ll coordinate with the winter bedding too).

Last, this print that I’ve already got the perfect frame for … from Canadian photographer Irene Suchocki. She has so many amazing dreamlike images to choose from that I had a tough time picking out just one for myself. I was so glad I dropped by her shop on the last day of a great sale because a dear friend of mine will be receiving one of her images as well later this year  

That’s all for this Monday … next Monday I’ll feature an item or two that I’m resisting buying for myself!

Aka: Phase 1 of “My plan for world domination”

I spent the bulk of my weekend doing two, okay, three things:

1) Cleaning, sorting, purging, and rotating my belongings.

2) Taking pictures + editing them

3) Locating items to complete Operation: Workstation

I guess I should elaborate, eh? Grab a snack first, I tend to get wordy when I elaborate

I spend most of my photo editing time in one of two places: on my bed (I use two laptops) or at the breakfast nook in the kitchen. I can’t keep the laptops in the latter location permanently because of these events known as breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The former results in me sleeping with a heating pad on my upper back because its a guarantee after hunching over the laptop (or both) while sitting on the bed every evening, my back is killing me.

Oh, I do have two desks. One that’s a computer desk w/ a hutch and the other that I keep around because it has drawers and was built by my father when he was in high school. Neither one, however, is conducive to hours on end of photo editing since there’s barely enough desktop space left for the laptop with all of my biz stuff, stacks of various papers (i.e. bills, photo ideas, and whatnot), muchless two side by side.

So — I spent last weekend (the 24th-25th) measuring my share of the space I habitate and figuring out how to shuffle around furniture that must be kept + what I can part with as well as what I can fit into said space and still have more than a pig trail to move around in when all is said and done. I’m limited by two major things: the location of the phone jack as well as my annetta connector (for the tv).

First thing I did after measuring all of my furniture was to figure out what had to go. The two desks are being evicted, as well as a two drawer file cabinet that doesn’t belong to me and that the owner won’t let me take the contents out of to use for myself (it now primarily serves as a location to stack all the books I’ve bought but not read).

Next was the replacement workstation — a table I bought several years ago at a garage sale that’s been stored in my dad’s barn ever since. Its an odd size (IMHO) — 47″x31″. Huh?

Since it doesn’t have drawers (its a table, duh), I had to contemplate how to replace the storage I’m about to lose w/ the hutch on one desk and drawers on the second — a smaller hutch + file cabinets. However, most two drawer ones are too tall to go under the table mentioned above short of using the contraptions you’d use to raise a bed up higher.

Solution: at the end of a photo session I did on Saturday, the client asked about my shopping plans for the next day (they knew I was planning to go to the local ‘flea market on steroids’). I mentioned I was looking for a file cabinet or two and a hutch (like the ones Ikea and West Elm sell). What do you know — he had an industrial/office style file cabinet in his garage he was planning to get rid of! Needed a little TLC to make it pretty again, but it was exactly what I needed! It wouldn’t fit in my car, so I went back yesterday to pick it up.

In the meantime, I had to expedite part 1 of phase 1 — which meant spending the rest of Saturday clearing out half of my closet, moving a bookshelf into it, moving other stuff up into the top of the closet, and the rest into storage or to be donated. The file cabinet will go where the bookcase was and double as a tv stand for now.

Then yesterday, I found an awesome shelf at the last vendor I stopped at before leaving the ‘flea market on steroids’ — in a shade of turq/aqua that’s almost matches one of my biz colors And for less than half of what the hutch I was eyeing via Ikea and West Elm would cost me!

Last night I repainted the file cabinet — in a shade that can best be described as milk chocolate — tonight I’ll finish cleaning it up (inside and the bottom) and move it to its new location.

I know I’ve been posting less frequently lately — a lot is going on behind the scenes and posts that would be posted are half finished! Hopefully I will finish them and get them posted pretty soon …

In the meantime, this list would make a lot more sense if I’d finished the entry I started on Monday. Long story short, I’m reorganizing my space to put in a proper workstation to edit client images and get work done at home … rather than sitting at the breakfast nook or laying on the bed with the laptop. Part of the wallspace that’s part of the workstation will contain items that inspire me — gotta have something to keep the creative juices flowing, right? Anyway, some items I already have that’ll be going into that space, one major item I found last weekend, and the rest I’ve located in the past several days. The latter would make up this week’s mid week loves …

“Keep Calm and Carry On” — I love the posters that have popped up around the web; the originals are from WWII in the UK, but many updated versions are making a resurgence.  So, having eyed them for several months, a few different versions of this important message will be scattered about the new workspace. And I even snagged this — straight from the UK, gotta love the current exchange rate with the Pound Sterling! The etsy version was a tad bit more expensive. In fact, I even came across a code for their site for 10% off your order — “popbitch.” The bag is my Commercialized Excuse to Eat Chocolate Day (Valentines to the rest of you) gift to myself.

“Make Cupcakes Not War” — several months ago I listed the Johnny Cupcakes t-shirt version of this quote. Seeing as I never could find it in my size, I did locate the stamp version on Etsy. I actually would classify this as the Cupcake category, but I somehow resisted the other cupcake item I spied. Oh well.

Converse sneakers — I don’t know what is about the Chucks, but despite the fact I don’t own a pair (!?!?!), I love them. I keep contemplating swiping the bro’s pair that he rarely wears since they fit my feet … but in the meantime I spied this image via Little Brown Pen’s blog. The card version will soon adorn my inspiration board …

Vespas — I know its completely and utterly impractical to own one, despite the price of gas fluctuating as it has been, simply because I have a 35 mile one-way commute to work. Can you imagine how long it would take, besides the fact my uncontrollable hair would look even worse than normal! So, the next best thing to the one and only time I’ve spied one unoccupied to photograph (those pictures still need to be prettified btw), is this image in my commercial/travel biz colors.

There’s also a few other inspiring items that’ll occupy the space, but they’ve either been previously mentioned or will be once I’m done renovating.

So … more about the workstation renovation to come as soon as I finish writing that entry …

Ok, so I saw this on my Aussie pal’s blog and thought it was too much fun not to participate in! What a great way to kick off the New Year also!

So here’s what to do …

1. Be one of the first 3 people to leave a comment on this here little old post, and I will send you a handmade gift! How much fun does that sound?

2. You then need to post the Pay It Forward challenge on your own blog and make a gift also for your first 3 commenters and so on it goes.

The gift can be in any price range you like and you have 365 days to post it. I would like to get mine in the post as soon as possible though so I won’t be sending them on the 364th day.

I’m also more than happy to send overseas!!

If you are one of the first three to comment be sure to leave a reliable email address in the email section so I can contact you for your mailing address!

Inspired by Rachel of Bling on my Sewing Machine‘s list for 2009, I decided to make mine a bit prettier than just plain text …

In case the image doesn’t show up, here’s the not so pretty text version of what I have on the agenda for 2009 …

… travel lots — within Texas and northward!

… upgrade my computer + a couple new lenses

… bulk up my savings account

… donate my services for charitable purposes

… put myself first — health & happiness, stop stressing over what I can’t control

… simplify where I can, with my business & personally

… improve my technical skills behind the camera + create my own PS actions!

There’s a few more things, like being more crafty, creating stuff myself, and all that stuff on my 101 in 1001 list, but I kinda ran out of space!

Additionally, I was also inspired by Christine Kane‘s New Year’s Eve newsletter — picking a word (or two) to guide one through the year.

I’m choosing three for 2009:

… Release — this ties in with organization, change, letting go (obviously)

… Creativity — with my photography and other crafty endeavors

… Adventure — this ties in with my photography and travel plans and goals

And to wrap up this post … a few quotes I found posted at twitter and flickr yesterday …

Life is 20% what happens to us and 80% how we deal with it. Check your assumptions and reactions before placing blame on others.

Life isn’t about the destination, its about the journey.

Fear is a door to success. Those who are ready for success assume it is unlocked and proceed, despite not knowing what is on the other side.