Thursday, October 30, 2008

our little lambykins!


our little lambykins!, originally uploaded by brungrrl.

*sigh* We are quite fond of this little lamb.

We did "reverse trick-or-treat" with the kids from our youth group tonight. We had a blast... it was a great way to get JT out for the evening.

We'll probably dress him up as the sheep again tomorrow when we go pick up our new car. That's right... our brand new Toyota RAV4. woo-hoo!! Pictures to come...

Baaaa....

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

opera tweetup


08Oct0275, originally uploaded by wyliemac.

Tonight I attended my first opera and my first tweetup. Opera Columbus hosted tonight's Columbus Tweetup. Quite frankly, I've never like opera and hadn't really planned to go to any. But I like ballet and other musicals, so this event provided a good opportunity to explore.

Tonight's performance of The Pearl Fishers was the dress rehearsal. Opera Columbus invites students and seniors to watch the rehearsal and hear from the folks who produce the show. It is a great way to get to know opera firsthand. Being new to opera, it was helpful for me to get this introduction. I hadn't realized that modern opera has added a screen with supertitles to let the audience know what the music is about. This makes the opera so much more accessible to "common" folks. (By common folks, I mean those of us who have French teacher moms but still can't understand French! i.e. ME.)

The opera itself was a little cheesy. I think my perspective is distorted by modern film. John rents some great movies and we always investigate the history behind the true stories and watch the extra footage to get the back-story. This story about 19th century Sri Lanka as told for a Victorian Parisian audience just didn't do it for me.

I am a major fan of Les Misérables and have read the book and seen that production both in Columbus and New York. I definitely got the sense that Bizet was influenced by Hugo. It appears that Les Mis was released a year before The Pearl Fishers. And from what I gather on Wikipedia, Bizet adapted music from some of Hugo's poetry, so maybe I'm onto something. (It was Leila's memory of hiding the thief to save him and being rewarded with the necklace that reminded me of Cosette and Valjean.)

At any rate, it seems more research is in order. I would love to learn more about how this opera fits with the culture of 1863 when it first came to the stage. And how can such a piece still be interesting today?

On one other note... Welcome back, Columbus Symphony! The symphony returns this weekend with The Pearl Fishers. There are two performances: Friday, October 24 at 8pm and Sunday, October 26 at 2pm. If you are looking for something to do this weekend, check it out!

Monday, October 06, 2008

a week in the life

Ah, the life...

I finished up documenting a week in our life complete with the journaling on Sunday night. Here are some more of the pics.

crackers

popcorn @ youth group

hi pizza man

walkin' in the park

African violets


Now, I'll get right on making these into a mini album! :-)

Wednesday, October 01, 2008

document day 3

We're still at it with document our week. I'm downloading today's pictures and writing my notes. Here's a sample...

today's lunch

the ride home

Dada's home!

thinking about climbing

teeter totter

embossed cards

embossed cards

My sister-in-law, Jen, and I made some cards over the weekend. She had a bunch of new embossing folders for her Cuttlebug and some scented embossing powders. I couldn't pass up any of that cool stuff, so we spent Saturday playing.

I may love these cards to much to actually send any out in the mail. We'll see how it goes...

Tuesday, September 30, 2008

the hot air balloon shot I DID get

This shot is actually from yesterday, day one of "document your life" week. We were in the park earlier in the evening. JT pointed out a "boon" in the sky. Wouldn't you know... a hot air balloon was going right over the park!

Of course, the battery on my point-n-shoot camera had just died. I was SO UPSET. Seriously, I haven't been that upset over a missed photo opportunity in a while. It would have been an awesome shot with JT pointing up at the balloon... all in the frame, big as life.

So instead, I got a picture of him at bedtime under the hot air balloon mobile...

document your week

gettin' a bath, brushin' some teeth

Ok, so I'm following along with Ali Edwards' document a week in your life project. I took a bunch of pictures Monday evening. But let's see how I do the rest of the week, especially during the daytime. I tend to fall off the wagon as the week goes on. Tonight's photos were pretty cute. This one in the tub is a favorite from the batch. It's going to take me a while to process and post all of them. Tomorrow's excitement: swimming lesson!

This project should fit in nicely with the start of my Big Picture Scrapbooking class with Cathy Zielske, Design Your Life, that starts October 2. (Holy cow, that's soon.) I convinced Jenny to join me, so it's going to be even more fun to participate in the class with one of my best pals!

Monday, September 29, 2008

Centerville store


custom killing, originally uploaded by brungrrl.

I took this picture over the weekend. It was the local store where John grew up. It's a small store in the middle of nowhere, Ohio. John described it as a "store and slaughterhouse". Apparently, though, they describe what they do as "custom killing" rather than slaughterhouse.

Ahh, how marketing is different by location, eh?

(And yes, I know my car is missing the gas cap. I like it that way.)

Sunday, September 28, 2008

life documentation

I might have mentioned that I'm loving the atmosphere, community, and conversations on Twitter. Since I can update status from my phone wherever I'm at, I can make sure that I'm documenting an event while it's in progress.

As an example, here are the tweets just before, during, and after our vacation in June. That was such a precious gift of family time for us. I'm looking forward to documenting it in a scrapbook. These tweets will certainly help me remember the important moments from that trip.

And yes, I hear what you're thinking... "why not just keep a journal and write it down?" That's a good idea, too. And for many trips I have done just that. But on this trip, it was easier to capture the moment in 140 characters or less and upload it to a server for later viewing.

There is a lot less pressure in a 140 letter tweet than 40 lined pages of literary opportunity.


Vacation Tweets:

JT climbed all the way to the top of the stairs tonight when we got home (with me following close behind). I'm not ready for this yet.
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#grateful for safe travels and wonderful family and friends. Vacation was good... only a little glad to be home.
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JT speaks loudly into his toy phone, just like grandpa.
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Tears at departure. All hyped up on Bo Jangles sweet tea for the ride.
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Pitching pistachios at squirrels in the rain.
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Last day on beach. JT getting tan. Parents getting sad for vacation to end.
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We are just gonna stay here. John & I figure we can make friends with new campers every week so we always have lodging.
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Chasing kitties and making vacation videos.
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Saw dolphins today. Caught sand fleas. JT petted a sand shark then cried when we turned it loose.
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Stuffed from another of aunt joan's home cooked meals.
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JT & I swam with stingrays and jellyfish today. It was freaky, but cool.
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Heading to the beach
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Introduced JT to gators tonight. He doesn't think they are as cuddly as bunnies.
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JT loves the ocean! Squeals with delight. Tried to drink saltwater from the bucket.
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JT napping. Gators sunbathing in marsh. Squirrels scavenging deserted campsites.
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@pwhyte already been to piggly wiggly
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Arrived South Carolina 0530.
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Rolling in our rented Chrysler 300, JT sleeping.
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Household chores are getting done one at a time.
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#grateful for vacation. Next week's tweets from the beach!


Brookgreen Gardens 08