It doesn't take much to excite me

My new washer and dryer were just delivered! My washer decided to go on strike last Sunday night during a marathon laundry session, mid-cycle. So I spent two hours at the laundromat last Sunday night finishing the laundry. There were three more trips back to the laundromat in the week that followed. I was amazed at the quickness of going to the laundromat, I could get all the laundry washed, dried and folded in under 2 hours, and get to read a book while doing it!!! I never realized how much laundry we create in just a few days until I was loading it up and feeding the machines with quaters.

I am already washing a load of laundry and am amazed at how quiet it is. We chose the Whirlpool Duet machines. Here are some pictures:

Where the old washer and dryer were.

Side view of new washer and dryer.

Front view of new washer and dryer.

Happy laundry day to everyone!!

Cathy

Jessi's challenge

Jessi challenged us to do a layout with an "imperfect" photo, one that is blurry or just not the greatest but still captures a wonderful memory. Check out her blog to see the layouts that other people did, http://www.scrappinmountainmama.blogspot.com/

Here is the LO that I did for the challenge:

who loves it when...

the ups driver arrives with something for you? I do, I do! The UPS driver just delivered two packages for me. One was Filic's Father's Day gift, a little late I know. But I did order it in time, hey I am reaching here! The second package was for me, just new checks but I am excited nonetheless. I actully love my new checks, they have penguins on them. What else would they have on them? It makes me want to sit down and pay a bill, what am I saying!

Hope you are having a great day,
Cathy

Brush with Greatness

I am in awe. Today one of my photographs was being stored next to a Picasso! Can you believe that? I am going to have a photography show at MCC Bradenton in September, and I have spent the week preparing and printing my images. The images that I selected were printed

33 1/2 inches by 24 inches, by the time they are matted and framed they will be about 4 feet by 3 feet. They are being stored in the framing room where there is also a Picasso waiting to be framed. So I am going to remember this moment forever...my work next to a Picasso.

As far as the show goes, I am on cloud nine. I keep jumping up and down with excitement. This is something that I have wanted for a long time and it is coming true. I will let everyone know what the dates are as soon as I know. There will be a opening night and you will all be invited.

Have a great Friday,

Cathy

Enjoy the photos below....

This is one of my photos with the Picasso near it.

This is me holding the Picasso.

Interview with God

My photography professor showed me this website today. It is a slide show of amazing images, nice instrumental music and a narrative essay. I found it very moving and also very thought provoking. If you have a minute, it is worth the time to watch it. Here is the link:

http://www.theinterviewwithgod.com/

I hope that you are all happy with your lives thus far. Here is to a happy and healthy rest of the week.

Cathy

How many American Icons have you seen?

I was on fodors.com today and read an article about American Icons and how people travel to Europe and other places and never see the amazing places we have here in the United States.

Here is their top then list:

Grand Canyon
The Everglades
The Golden Gate Bridge
Graceland
Mount Rushmore
Disneyland
The Arch in St.Louis
The Empire State Building
The Mall in DC
Yosemite

Here are their runner-ups:

The head waters of the Mississippi River
Taos Pueblo - Taos, NM
Glacier National Park - West Glacier, Montana
Atlantic City Boardwalk
The Great Dismal Swamp (southeastern Virginia, northeastern North Carolina)
Arches National Park - Moab, Utah
The Corn Palace - Mitchell, South Dakota
The Badlands - southwestern South Dakota
St. Augustine's Alligator Farm
Death Valley - eastern California
Chesapeke Bay Bridge-Tunnel
Sunset Celebration in Mallory Square - Key West, Florida


I am lucky enough to have been to a number of the places in these two lists. I agree with a lot of these places but think that there are a lot of amazing places that were left off. For example:

Statue of Liberty
Smithsonian
Disney World
Pacific Ocean
Yellowstone


What would you add to this list?

Here's to all of your summer travels!
Cathy

Last photography assignment

I had the wonderful opportunity to take a photography class the past six weeks at MCC with Professor Drew Webster. I finished my last assignment today in the old building. Come this fall they art department is going to be in a brand new building. I was able to take a tour of the building a few weeks ago and it is going to be amazing. I can't wait to take some more classes.

I was at school almost all day today. Here are the pictures for my last assignment. These were taken here in Sarasota around 301 and University Park.

This is an infared photo. I did this using a #87 filter. I love the glow that living things take on with infared photography.




This image was turned sepia to give it a nostalgic feel.





I hope that everyone had a great Monday.

Cathy

Latest photography assignment and Challenge

Here is the photography assignment that I did last week. Grace had been sick, so I did not get a chance to get out and shoot what I had planned. Instead I was forced to get creative with everyday things and use photoshop. I manipulated the original color of these images and put four images together to do a color study in the style of Andy Warhol. Hope you have fun looking at these images.

This is image 1, these are pods that children can walk along at Potter park. Their original color is blue and then of course the mulch is brown!

This is also at Potter Park. This is one of the ways that kids can climb up onto one of the peices of equipment. This goes to show you that there are things that you come across in your daily life than can be turned into art.

This is at Epcot in the UK. The original color of this phone booth was red. How fun would it be if phone booths really looked like this. Maybe more people would want to use them!

This is at Animal Kingdom. In the Dino World area, there is a Apatosaurus bridge that you walk across to get to where you can dig for dinosaur bones. I loved the look of it and thought it would be a great picture for Franklin's room. After changing the color, I like it even more!

Lets see what items in your daily life you can turn into art. I will give you a week to take some pictures, manipulate them and either email them to me or post them on your blog and leave me a comment. I will have a prize for the winner, so get out there and get creative!

Have a great Monday!

Cathy

K2 Challenge

This is the first time that I have been able to complete a layout for K2's weekly challenge. This weeks challenge was to use fabric on your layout. I have been wanting to do a layout about Franklin and his weebie for quite some time now. This was the perfect excuse for me to get it done.

Here are the pictures from the layout:

The paper I used is Cherry Arte Burnish Starry Night. The pins are Heidi Grace, the button is Foof-a-la, the journaling spot is a Karen Russel Narratives sticker, and the ribbon is from my stash. The letters that spell 'weebie" are thickers.

This is a close-up of the words that I put on the left side of the layout.

This is a close-up of the piece of Franklin's weebie that I cut apart for this layout, the Karen Russell journaling spot, and also the Heidi Grace pins.

This is a close-up of the thickers.

Nikki, I hope that you notice that it is before midnight, 11:37 pm to be exact. What a great challenge this week. You can check out Nikki's blog at: http://www.nikkicleary.blogspot.com/

Take care,

Cathy

Orlando Trip

We went to Orlando for a few days at the end of May as part of Filic's 40th Birthday celebration. He doesn't turn 40 until July but he has the Florida Resident pass to Disney so he is unable to go during June, July and August. We stayed at a really great townhouse that was four bedrooms and had a 2.5 acre pool complete with waterslide and lazy river that the kids loved. Here is the link for the resort if anyone will be in Orlando and needing a great place to stay: http://www.resorttownhouse.com/page/page/2853623.htm

Here are some pictures from the trip:



This was at the Believe Show at Sea World. This was our first time taking the kids there. I haven't been there since I was Franklin's age!


Filic and Franklin on the only ride that Franklin was tall enough to ride in the kids area of Sea World.


Grace and Franklin playing on a slide in the playground area of Sea World.


Filic enjoying the waterslide at the resort we stayed at!


Here are Grace and I enjoying the lazy river!

Cathy