Colorful in Every Way

Our daughter Annie is very picky about photos of her. She's pretty much hated every layout I've ever done about her, because she doesn't like the photos. She doesn't seem to like the pretty, smiling ones. She doesn't really like the solemn ones. I'm not sure what it is, but only Annie knows what photos she likes. So, when we were in New York with her earlier this month, I had her pick her favorite photos that I had taken of her. I put them into an album on iPhoto, and I promised that I would only use these photos in my scrapping. Well, I've already broken that promise! I just thought these pictures were so cute, I couldn't resist. (She did choose the one on the top left of this layout, so I'm not totally a bad Mom).

These pictures were taken in Central Park, right by the Boat Pond. I love the cute faces she was making, she's totally uninhibited with her expressions, and they are charming and dear to me. I love the contrast of her beautiful fair skin, her lovely green eyes, strawberry blonde hair, and purplish hat. She truly is a colorful girl!

Victorious/ Spin Master Cast Party

"Tori Vega" (Victoria Justice) poses with her one-of-a-kind doll

This afternoon our design & management team at Spin Master Toys, where I work, went to Hollywood to the Nickelodeon Studios for a special cast party with the cast of the Nick show "Victorious". We have recently released dolls and toys based on the show, and we were treated to a lovely visit to the studios and set, where we presented each cast member a one-of-a-kind gift. The girls (Tori, Trina, Cat and Jade) received beautiful dolls, designed by my fabulously talented co-worker Kristie. The boys (Andre, Beck and Robbie) received one-of-a-kind handpainted microphones designed by me. We also presented director Dan Schneider, duplicates of these gifts for his own enjoyment. The cast couldn't have been sweeter. They didn't even look bored posing for endless photos! They loved their gifts, and were thrilled to have a unique and special treasure to display in their homes. (Actually, the girls all wanted to take them out of their display cases and play with them. Cat really did take hers out of the case!)  They are all so annoyingly photogenic, if it hadn't been for a number of blurry photos due to my taking pictures without a flash, I would have about 300 good photos from the event.

The adorable "Cat" (Ariana Grande) poses with her doll

"Jade" (Elizabeth Gillies) loved how much her doll looked like her. Eerie!

Here I am, posing with the entire cast of Victorious.

"Robbie" (Matthew Bennett) seemed to like the microphone.

"Beck" (Avan Jogia) and Jade are a couple in the show

Tori and Trina (Daniella Monet) are sisters in the show.

Tori poses with me and co-worker Kami.

3 of my co-workers brought their little daughters (ages 8 and 9) and the girls were awe-struck, meeting their favorite TV stars, and having them fuss and pay attention to them. What a special treat!

Cat was so sweet with the little girls.

Jamie Yager

I've been one busy girl these past few days, and not a moment to create any layouts about all that busy-ness!  Friday, Bruce and I joined son Alec & daughter-in-law Alicia at the Culver City Veterans Hall for a MMA pro tournament. For the uninitiated, MMA means Mixed Martial Arts, and it's a type of fighting that's not boxing, not wrestling, not karate or judo, but a mixture of moves & techniques. Not my usual Friday night entertainment! But nephew Jamie, who is a pro MMA fighter, was the headliner in the Samauri Pro 2011 event. There were 7 fights that evening, and Jamie's fight was the last one. It was quite exciting! I was able to take some decent photos of the fight, due to the fact that I could photograph with my telephoto lens from the balcony, thus over the top of the fence that surrounds the ring. Jamie won handily, winning a TKO (technical knock-out) within just a few minutes. He was awesome! We were so proud of him. I guess in the world of MMA, Jamie is pretty well known, and at one time he was on the TV show the Ultimate Fighter. Since we don't watch TV, I have no clue if this was a great thing or not. But I do know that this big fight Friday was Jamie's big 'come back'.

So there you have it, my story, and my layout. (Click on the layout for a closer view).

Gritty City, Pretty City

Here's a concept layout I've been thinking about. I often use my long commute time to plan layouts, taking some of the design time & experimentation out as I think about how to do what is in my head. Once I planned this one out, it didn't take long at all to execute it. I wasn't sure if it would work out like I'd envisioned it, but I think in some ways it's better than I had hoped. I considered doing the entire right side a blend of greenery right into the buildings, but somehow I didn't do that, and I like how this looks better.

Of course, it's rather symbolic. Actually, I don't think the city is all that gritty. My daughter lives in a part of the Bronx that I wouldn't exactly consider a garden spot, but even there, there are lovely trees, and interesting architectural details and textures that are rich and 'pretty'. But still, I'm a 'green lover', and I love to see the contrast of trees, flowers and plants with the skyscrapers and other buildings.

Central Park

Another layout about our trip to NY:  this one features photos taken in Central Park. It was a beautiful early Fall day, cool and peaceful.  Annie sang for us under a bridge... the acoustics were wonderful! She has such an incredible voice.  We enjoyed watching the children climbing all over the statue of Alice in Wonderland and Lewis Carroll's other creatures. The toy sailboats were out in full force on the pond. It was one of those days that might make me want to live in New York!

Avery Homestead

When we were visiting our daughter Annie in New York last week, we spent part of the weekend in Eastern Connecticut visiting our dear friends, the Archibalds. They took us to visit some friends of theirs, Connie & Perc Reeve, who own a wonderful, historic home that was built at the very end of the 17th century. Bruce and I took a lot of photos inside and out, and we marveled at the beauty and simplicity of this lovingly restored piece of American history. Each detail is just perfect!

Their home, called Avery Homestead, is located in Ledyard, Connecticut, and is the oldest house in Ledyard. For this California girl, anything that old is just unimaginable! (Just think, it was built almost a century before the American Revolution!) The house today looks much like it must have over 300 years ago. The keeping room and parlor are in their original state, as is the master bedroom and summer kitchen.  The Reeves are working to bring the other rooms into authentic period look, and have restored floors and walls to their original finish. It's a work in progress, but they've made amazing progress!  The Avery Homestead sits on 16 acres with a pond, and is under a preservation trust.

I created a 'double-double' layout for them... two two-page spreads.  Click on the photos for a closer view!

A Map on My Heart

I was recently reading a novel, in which one of the characters talks about how he felt about his childhood home, and how he likened his earliest memories to having a map of home on his heart. I loved that sentiment, and it made me wonder if I likewise remembered my earliest home. Then I remembered this story, and decided to scrap it.

If you can't read the journaling, here's what it says:

When I was a very little girl,
our family lived in a little town
in Eastern Oregon called Vale.
When I was 3 1/2, we moved to
Southern California. We visited
our old home and friends 2 years
later on a brief vacation, but
other than that, I never once
went back to our old town. All of
 my siblings returned to Vale at
 one time or another, but not me.
About ten years ago, Bruce, Annie
and I drove Amy up to Rexburg
Idaho for college. After dropping
her off, we decided to take a
different route home. I thought
they might enjoy seeing my birth-
place, and I wanted to see our old
home again myself after so many
years.  When we pulled into Vale
from the East, we drove down into
the lovely farm valley that I
hadn’t seen for nearly 50 years.
I completely surprised myself when
I was able to navigate us straight
to our old home. No maps, no directions.
I simply followed some unknown inner
map that lead us straight to the little
yellow bungalow that you see in this
photo. It’s said that we carry a map on
our hearts of our childhood home,
and I guess that’s so.

Manhole Covers in New York

I have no idea what possessed me to photograph manhole covers in New York, but our last day there, I took a dozen or so photos of different manhole covers around the Bronx and Manhattan. I've seen photos that others have taken of these great pieces of iron (I guess that's what they are) and each one is slightly different.

I arranged these to look like it was a single scene with 9 manholes. Not! But I hope you enjoy my little creation!

Trip to New York Days 4 & 5

We're back now from our trip, and we had so much fun! Unfortunately, we had very limited internet access while we were in NY, so I've been a little delayed getting our last two full days represented here. But I'll pick a few of our highlight photos, and start working on some layouts in the next few days.  Stay tuned for more!

On Saturday evening, we took the train to Eastern Connecticut, to visit our friends the Archibalds. We had a lovely time with them all day Sunday, enjoying their family and home, and then taking a drive to Mystic & Stonington, stopping on the way to meet their friends the Reeves, who have an amazing early 18th century New England farm house, decorated completely in period.

Stef & friend Leon in the Connecticut woods

17th Century Connecticut farmhouse owned by the Reeve family

Fabulous red barn

Annie hugs our friend Valeen at the Reeve home

The Archibalds and the Reeves

Near Mystic, Connecticut

Mystic, Connecticut

Stonington wharf area

An hour or so later, at sunset

Central Park

Alice in Wonderland Statue in Central Park

Annie in Central Park

A private school on 5th Avenue

Some pretty foliage in Central Park

Goofing off in the subway.

New York Textures

I did manage to complete one layout, on the train the other night... thought I would share it. There are just so many interesting textures to be found in New York.... architectural details, cobblestone streets, posters, graffiti, flowers... I just put a few together from my photographs.

Trip to New York Day 3

It seemed that day three of our trip consisted of non-stop running.... running down stairs, up stairs, down into the subway, up from the subway, from the subway to the restaurant, then to the museum, then running back down the subway, changing trains, up the stairs, back to Annie's up four flights, back down, running to the train station, then.... relaxing on a long trip. You'll read about that on Day 4!

Here are the visual highlights of day 3!

Gorgeous architectural details in Manhattan

Annie & Bruce take a moment to relax on a street bench.

Moor cool decorative bas relief.

The highlight of our day: lunch at the Shake Shack near the Museum of Natural History

One of the Theodore Roosevelt quotes in the foyer of the museum.

The interior of the outer space exhibit at the Natural History Museum (Yes, we went back for a second time... we just didn't see enough the first day!)

Leaving the museum, off on the subway

Subway musicians... who knew Cookie Monster could play the marimba so well? Note the enthusiastic audience.

The train platform in Harlem where we waited for the train to take us to our new adventure!

Trip to New York Day 2

The fabulous Whitney Museum on Madison Avenue

Window shopping on Madison Ave.

I love how this photo looks with the pedicab driver against the dark bus windows.

Yesterday was quite an adventure.  We enjoyed spending time in the lovely Whitney Museum of American Art, we ate a really mediocre, expensive meal at a Madison Avenue cafe, (mine was ok, Bruce's was awful, so that averages out to 'mediocre'), we walked across Central Park, and met Annie at the fantastic Museum of Natural History, where we enjoyed the amazing Biodiversity Exhibit.

The front of the Museum of Natural History

Bruce and Annie at the museum

Otter diorama, isn't he cute?

Biodiversity wall... I love how they exhibited all of the different species!

Another diorama... looks so real!

After the museum, we took the subway over to the lower East side, where we went to a movie (the Help- which was my favorite movie of the year, bar none), then grabbed a quick artichoke pizza slice or two, and plowed home through the pouring rain. Umbrellas didn't keep me dry, I was soaked clear to the knees and from shoulder to elbow.