{ a swoop and a dart }

Spring Break: An Incomplete List of Activities

1. Watching: lots of NCAA basketball, a terribly tragic Frontline about TB, Despicable Me 2 + bonus content (these three things = completely ridiculous study in contrast); also, Inside Llewyn Davis sans children (not sure we loved it, but it was OK)

2. Super-fun Saturday Mama-Maddie date to the library, Fork and Spoon Market, Target, Lowe's, Kohl's, Kroger's, and Barnes & Noble

3. Lots and lots of reading (the new Brandon Mull, first introduction to Tamora Pierce, and some other miscellaneous series books for Maddie, the fifth and sixth Harry Potter books for Bridget, and the sixth and seventh Harry Potter books for Grace; some thick non-fiction for me and Matt will get back to regular reading after the crazy month of March is over)

4. The Great Desk Refinishing Project of 2011-2014 (more complete report will appear in the 52 Projects album soon)

5. Way too many dentist, vet, and dr appointments for spring break

6. Shoe shopping for Grace

7. Birthday gift shopping/mailing for Kattie who turns 40 this week (!!!)

8. Contacting Moonbot Studios to invite myself and the girls to take a tour before we move (it pays to ask! It is possible! This makes me irrationally giddy with anticipation)

9. Combing through photo archives (and shooting some new photos) for a new big project on the horizon

10. Panicking a little about how the horizon for aforementioned new big project and the horizon for moving to Alabama are pretty much the same horizon

11. Major grocery store avoidance that leads to fancier-than-normal breakfast (blackberry muffins from scratch)

12. Playing lots of catch (the gymnasts have good arms)

13. Lots of gymnastics (which does not set this week apart from the other weeks in the year)

I almost deleted this because I cut off Maddie's feet while trying to avoid the reflection of the glass door, but then I realized Gracie was also in the picture, and I decided I liked having both of them appear in the same image : )

14. Clean-up-the-house party (this is truly an epic spring break)

15. Piano practicing, but no French horn practicing because the French horn and the French horn player have been tragically (but thankfully temporarily) separated due to a necessary instrument repair

16. Lots of chasing after blooming-things

What in the heck!

17. Making clover and Chinese witch hazel bouquets for the table

18. Not getting up early

19. Not going to bed particularly early, either

20. Very much looking forward to summer vacation

This post is part of a list-making project called Lists With Friends 2014, an effort to document the year in lists of all types. I love lists, and I love a good project.

 

 

 

 

A List of Big Ideas and Amazing Things

I've been listening to and reading more about big ideas and developments on the horizon this year than any in recent memory—partially because I've adopted the habit of listening to various NPR news/podcasts more often while I'm out with the dog or driving the hour round trip (twice a day, three days a week) to gymnastics, and partially because of some like-minded idea junkie friends who send me cool stuff to read all the time (and vice versa).

I haven't kept track of everything, so here's an incomplete list of reading/listening material if you find yourself with a little extra time and the need to have your socks knocked off, too.

This story about 3-D printers that features a baby with a rare medical condition that would previously have been a guaranteed death sentence.

And then there is this amazing development in 3-D printing (and another story here) that marks the beginning of the end of prosthetics being out of financial reach for families, especially families with growing children. 

I was pretty much blown away by this episode of TED Radio Hour—every single story. Especially the one about how we'll look back at how quaint and ridiculous it was to treat cancer and other diseases with a "hope this works for you" approach, vs. having customized treatment drugs for each individual sufferer. But all the stories were incredible.

Biology has been my least favorite branch of science since high school so I almost skipped listening to this particular story, but I'm so glad I didn't because it was fascinating. Or, maybe I've softened up on my dislike of biology the more years I put between me and Mr. Parker in 10th grade (boooooooorrrrrrriiiinggggg).

Another biological concern that is kind of freaking me out a little is bee-related, and you can hear more about it from this episode of TED Radio Hour.

[Related: I love this poster by artist Hanna Rosengren. available for sale on Etsy—click it to go to her shop]

I've done a ton of reading about social media, privacy, and the effects of an "always on" culture in the past few months, so this TED Radio Hour about the future of privacy kind of freaked me out, too. The privacy ship has sailed in so many ways, and sometimes I am OK with that and sometimes I am not. It's a national conversation that needs to be taken more seriously, though, and especially amongst people in the 5-22 year old schooling set.

And don't even get me started on the implications of this book, which I'm almost finished reading. I am a tech-loving girl through and through, but this is a chilling read.

Finally, bookmark this site because it is wildly interesting to discover what big ideas are being studied at universities around the world. We live in an exciting age, and it feels like the time in between major game-changing developments is shorter than ever before.

Please recommend what big ideas and amazing things have your head spinning these days : )

This post is part of a list-making project called Lists With Friends 2014, an effort to document the year in lists of all types. I love lists, and I love a good project.

 

An Update To Remember Giveaway Winners

Thank you all so much for sharing your stories here... as always I simultaneously love and hate to do giveaways, because on one hand, it's so nice to be able to share these classes as a treat but on the other hand, I can only share them with two people. I wish everyone could win : )

My trusty partner in giveaways, Random.org, chose the following comment numbers tonight:

Which means the following two readers will receive a free seat in An Update To Remember!

Congratulations, Gina and June! I hope everyone else will still consider taking this workshop. Registration is open until April 2!

Giveaway: Update To Remember from Big Picture Classes

 

An Update To Remember opens next week (March 27) at Big Picture Classes! This is a different kind of workshop than has been offered before, because it's all about incorporating social media into memory keeping and scrapbooking. It's definitely geared toward scrapbookers, though anyone who wants to be more deliberate in their social media usage can benefit. It's divided into four weeks and will cover Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest. (See video above! I didn't make it, but you can spot some familiar faces if you watch it!). I will be joined by Kelli Crowe, Tami Morrison, Katie Scott, and Stacy Julian during the four week workshop.

Katie and I have (sadly) never met in person, but I can tell you that Kelli and Tami are among some of the funniest AND funnest people I know (yes, I used that on purpose—Tami is actually The Funnest Scrapbooker Ever, officially crowned in an international contest held by Simple Scrapbooks Magazine, may it RIP). They are also true internet/social media friends: Kelli and I go waaaaay back to 2004 on Two Peas and have run in the same online circle ever since, and Tami was the first person to show me how Instagram worked, a good year and a half before I ever had an account. Our lasting friendships are all examples of the Positive Power of Social Media.

That's Kelli and me in 2007, when she gave me like five minutes notice that she and her husband were coming to my house for lunch when we lived in California. (OK, it was more like three hours, but I still was hot and sweaty from running around getting ready when they showed up). It was SO MUCH FUN, and now I have a "surprise Kelli with three hours notice" card that I am totally going to cash in when we move to Montgomery.

That's me and Tami in Bishop Arts District, after our first day teaching together at the Great American Scrapbook Convention in Arlington, TX in 2010. Monica McNeill took the photo, and it was hands down one of the most fun late afternoons/evenings I've ever spent traveling—kindred spirits, all three of us.

And bonus! Stacy Julian will also share an adapted version of her recent talk at The Timpanogos Storytelling Conference held in Provo, UT titled Building Family Stories Through Social Media. I'm really excited to watch it. I was looking for a fun picture of me and Stacy together because we go way back now too, but then I found this one that I took in 2008, which is even funnier because I had forgotten about it: that's Stacy with her mom and another famous Scrapbook Mom in Valley Forge, PA. (Can you identify her?) Talk about family stories!

Anyway. It's going to be a fun, fun class. And I have two seats to give away today!

Leave a comment to tell me one of the most memorable things you've ever shared on social media... I'll close comments sometime on Thursday evening!

 

Two Lists

I missed last week's Lists With Friends because I came down with some sort of terrible burning chest sickness in which I practically (or actually did) burst into tears every time I had to cough... I went to bed at 7:30 pm on Thursday, got up from 6-7:30 am on Friday to see the girls off to school, then promptly went back to bed and slept until 2:30. I've been right about 80% ever since, which seems a little unfair because once you've slept a bazillion hours, shouldn't you wake up at at least 94%? Since that time, I've mostly been hanging out under the radar because of the long-standing rule Thou Shalt Not Blog With a Bad Atittude, which I have had in spades lately. In addition to being sick, here's a brief summary why:

1. SOMETIMES IT STINKS TO BE A GROWNUP.

2. MOVING STINKS.

3. CHEATERS STINK.

4. BLOG IDENTITY CRISIS.

5. I SUFFERED AN ENORMOUS SPLINTER INJURY UNDER MY RIGHT THUMBNAIL.

6.  MY FAVORITE FROSTY MUG HAS A CHIP IN IT.

Clearly, this rule is in place for a reason, because I just become more and more ridiculous as the Bad Attitude persists. I dislike dead blog air tremendously, though, so here's another list where I try harder to think up good things going on.

1. My mama sent me some old Polaroid film (the real stuff!) and an Omar Vizquel bobblehead today as part of the Great Basement Cleanout.

2. Friends who bake big St. Patrick's Day tray cookies to distract you from Bad Attitudes and Being a Grownup.

3. Lupita Nyong'o.

4. Lots of new work on my plate for Big Picture.

5. Kaleidoscope stamps.

6. Bridget's knack for financing her rock-n-roll lifestyle by finding money EVERYWHERE. She keeps her found money in the car (almost $4.00 in small coins since April of 2013 or so) but decided to put only the nickel of her latest find in her bandit savings and spend the rest on an Icee at gym.

7. Bridget's cutie hair cut she got on Saturday at a place called Saturday's, which resulted in a ponytail to send off to Pantene Beautiful Lengths (her idea!). She suffers from the same disorder I do though, which is to say, her haircut looked incredibly stunning on Saturday and slightly less stunning on Sunday and like a wild urchin who slept in a tent after a shower and a good night's sleep just in time for Monday morning. How, HOW do those hair cut ladies do that with a hairdryer? But still. Better wild and urchin-y than long and scraggly (and wild and urchin-y).

8. Discovering that a 23 year old Jim Carrey was the star of the very first most-inappropriate-PG-13-movie-I-ever-saw in 1985 (Once Bitten). Hahahaha. I'm pretty sure this movie falls ten steps below Weird Science on the inaproppriate scale. Jim Carrey is 52 now. Maybe I should move this one to the first list.

9. Firefly July arriving at my doorstep via Amazon pre-order, aka when you order a book and promptly forget you ordered it until the day it shows up. O happy day! (and yes, it is wonderful)

10. Being within a week of all three girls finishing up their current piano books and moving to the next level. Home-piano-ing: not for the faint of heart, but maybe our hearts are stronger than we thought.

: )

This post is part of a list-making project called Lists With Friends 2014, an effort to document the year in lists of all types. I love lists, and I love a good project : )

 

Cheated

Matt, Maddie and I had a movie date on Saturday night to watch Catching Fire, which we missed in the theater. We all loved it—plot, casting, acting, costumes.... it is exactly how the books look in our imaginations. Well done, all responsible. We cannot wait until the final installment is released.

After Maddie went to bed, Matt and I were flipping around channels a little and came across Weird Science about mid-way through. This is a movie I saw more than once in the mid-1980s, as did Matt... we watched, a little horrified, at how absolutely, positively awful it is on so many levels. I mean, just bad. I want to believe that the rest of the John Hughes canon would still stand up today for me—but now I think I don't want to find out. Maddie will have the Hunger Games trilogy (among other amazing movie franchises) to remember from her youth, and we have Weird Science. I feel totally cheated. Kids of today, forget the 70s—it's the 80s you need to defend yourself against.