365 Photo Challenge Day 3

An unexpected Christmas gift and the return of an old friend – maybe

Lately I have had a love/hate relationship with A.T. Cross Pens, well more specifically their pencils. I have owned a Black Classic Pencil and Pen for more than a decade, but only in the last several years have I picked them up again to use on a regular basis. Unfortunately, I have had difficulties with the pencil – my favorite mode of everyday writing and had to return it to Cross twice in less than six months.

The last time I sent my pencil back I began surfing the net looking to find a similar pencil to replace it with, yet always in the back of my mind was the feel of the pencil in my hand and the perks of a lifetime guarantee. Needless to say I found a few mechanical pencils that were working in the interim, but it just wasn’t the same.

Today I returned to work after a short holiday break to find a Christmas present waiting in my chair. When I opened the package I found the nice gold Cross pencil pictured in the foreground above! Wow, what a surprise. This was a totally unexpected gift, and one that I am truly grateful to have received.

When I arrived home this evening what do you think was waiting for me – old faithful, or so I thought. Inside the package instead was a replacement called the “Switch-it”. This is a pen and pencil in one according to the directions included in the package. Reading the instructions it seems a little more complicated than I would like, so the gratitude for the new pencil becomes even greater.

I am truly grateful for the many friendships I have and particularly for those that know me well enough to pick out thoughtful and most important useful gifts.

Thanks for stopping by, and enjoy your day/evening!

356 Photo Challenge – Day Two

OPD – 2 – JAN 2 2012 – First snow of 2012

Well the post to this site is a day late, but I am proud to say I posted yesterday to the Flickr pool associated with this challenge. Nothing spectacular, just a shot of the first snow fall of 2012. I will continue to work on capturing the flakes – which was my goal, but hey in Cleveland I have at least three months to master that challenge!

Welcoming 2012 with A Photo a Day Challenge

As I embark on 2012 I have a number of challenges I am attempting to fulfill. I’m opposed to resolutions mainly  because it seems that it is trite and something that most people end of failing to complete – myself included. I don’t recall making any resolutions in the last several years. Instead I have attempted to go into each new year with an optimistic view of the days to come and a plan to live a better life.

For the most part I can say that I have partially achieved those goals each year, so this year I decided to take a more concerted approach at self-improvement and making 2012 a fabulous year. The first step was to challenge myself to take A Photo A Day for the next 366 days (remember 2012 is a leap year).

Originally I felt the first day would not be a challenge at all because I would have ample opportunity at our annual New Year’s Day dinner at my cousin’s house; however a nasty virus took over her household earlier this week and dinner was cancelled, so as not to infect everyone else.

So after a very late night/early morning bringing in the New Year I thought it would be a great challenge to find a photo because I had no plans to venture outside today. Rising earlier than anticipated this morning I set out to complete my New Year’s Day dinner and had an aha moment!

Rarely do I prepare New Year’s Day dinners and this year I planned to follow the tradition set by my mother and her mother before her and probably many women before that. In the black community it is tradition to prepare black eyed peas on New Years for good luck in the coming year. Below is a photo of the peas before I prepared them.

New Year’s black eyed peas soaking.

Another tradition is to prepare collard greens for prosperity in the new year, and who wouldn’t hope for a little prosperity in the new year!

Collards cooked with smoked turkey for a prosperous 2012!

Step one in a more productive, creative and prosperous year is complete! Happy New Year! I hope you’ll visit again and follow my progress with the 2012 Photo Challenge, your support, encouragement and comments are welcome!

What Do You Do…Create!

I’ve been away quite a little while, but I have been busy creating! With all of the creating I have done of late not much of it has included the written word which has always been the backbone of my creativity. The funny thing about creativity and creating is that the creators are often so hard on themselves. You never think you are really any good. There is a voice that lingers in your head questioning your every step and stating with authority that you are not “all that and a bag of chips” even though you may think so.

This voice or gremlin (thank you Karen Walrond) is very loud and fills your mind, and head with so much doubt you begin to suffer from creative block. Writers refer to this as Writers Block, but I speak of creative block because as the title says I create! I create through words, photography and papercrafting! These are the things that bring me joy, but these are also the things that leave me feeling less than more often than not.

Kat Sloma recently wrote a post about the many hats she wears and how it is difficult to answer the question “What do you do?” with a single response. I too would be limiting myself and the things I love to do by simply stating “I am a Marketing Manager,” in response to that question.

As I close out 2011 it is with the strong desire that I will learn to ignore the GREMLINS in my mind and continue to pursue and practice the things that I love to do.

Here’s some of the work I have been creating of late:

Taken for both the texture and the composition – I came across this fence during a recent Photo Walk.

I really love this next picture because it shows how beautiful, and intriguing nature can be. I have recently become a big fan of the outdoors and trying to see the beauty that exists around us, but that we rarely take the time to see.

Hairy Tree is what I call this photo, because I never recall seeing a tree with all of this hair or fur.

This last shot would fall under the category of paper crafting I believe and is my first attempt at Subway Art. Thanks to Jessica Sprague for her recent class Mouse, Paper, Scissors – Give which incorporates Photo Shop and paper crafting as ways to create wonderful gifts and works of art. Joining Jessica in presenting the class is Heidi Swapp. The class has been a true journey and I’ve learned a great deal about Photo Shop! If you’re not familiar with the work of Jessica Sprague, you must check out her site here.

Subway Art