the goal post COULD start on fire, ya know...

(SUCH a cliche shot...but, after 13 hours in these bad boys...they deserved some sorta somethin'...)

i've had this issue with phone apps that are all the rage lately and pose as photography tools. i've voiced my concerns with this to anyone who will listen...or, not listen, but whom i've cornered into a conversation and have no choice BUT to listen.

anyway.

i kinda take it all back.

i've been playing with a couple of 'em...and here's what i love:
-i don't have to carry my filmless polaroid, my defunct brownie or purchase a holga to get their results. granted, the look to me is about as authentic as the sound of an old, grainy 45 that's been digitally remastered on disc. but, it's still kinda there...
-i don't have to carry my dslr everywhere i go...but i know i can get a cool shot wherever i go.
-no editing. how i shoot 'em, is how ya get 'em.
-no computer time to upload from my camera. it's just a click away before they're emailed to me and posted wherever.
-my biggest awesome factor though...these apps bring me back to the art of composing a shot. i know i won't be editing, so i try to make sure it's all perfect...lighting, composition, balance, viewpoint, color, background, etc... it brings me back to the basics and it feels great!

the reason i'm not a fan you ask...?
-hipsters. stupid, smelly, big-fake-glasses-wearing, hipsters. they think they own instagram and they don't. so there. i said it. hipsters.

damn hipsters...

lord she's restless, like the cotton candy clouds that sail the day...

(oh spring break...i'm so glad you're gone. we were running out of things to occupy ourselves with...)

sittin' here, at the start of a, soon-to-be-gone-way-to-fast, three day weekend. i have no plans on monday...just took the day off cuz it's the last one i will feasibly get anytime soon. (coworkers leaving, room structure changing, etc...)

i don't know what i'm gonna do...i'm thinkin' a lonely day trip with camera, maybe lunch with a friend and hopefully a thrift store or five in there too, somewhere. i'm determined to do something that involves a shutter click though. maybe i'll shoot film all day for the challenge...idk. the possibilities are endless and exciting in my crazy mind. i heard there's a good chance of rain...so, maybe i'll be inside writing all day. who knows...? rain is so inspiring for me...

tomorrow though, i'm super excited to be volunteering as a photographer at an anti-bullying, convention. i get the kids seminar to shoot...it's perfect for me. (i do know i plan to not spend all day monday editing...that's for sure. that should be done by sunday. period.)

other than that...just sittin' here, listening to Cash. the song, 'any old wind that blows' seems to be somehow about me...and when you follow it with, 'cry, cry, cry'...it's beautiful :) well, not like wedding day beauty, but beauty like the titanic or something. which isn't really beauty...it's just poetic. or somethin...

happy spring!

(i adore googly eyes...they make everything better :) )

(my typical afternoon...lesson plans, art projects, a snack and tea. not coffee. i really can NOT complain...)

so, this week was spring week in my classroom. i had so many ideas and projects and fun stuff planned. we made flowers with tissue paper and pipe cleaners. used our finger prints to make a big spring scene, on canvas, full of caterpillars, bee's, butterflies, flowers, birds and anything else a finger print could look like. we made rain sticks and splatter painted a big umbrella for our door and we designed butterflies with water colors and coffee filters; plus, we spent at least an hour, each day, playing outside. it was wonderful week to wash away winter and add some major color to our room and minds.

today, i stayed late at work to decorate the windows...i hung all the butterflies, with fishing line, down from the window sills and taped all the flowers, going upwards, on the window sill to give it the impression of being a butterfly garden. it added so much color and warmth to my room and the kids loved it; all eight windows are now filled with spring beauty!

then...i went to open my windows, to let in all the spring time freshness of the afternoon, and realized that i had inadvertently taped them all shut as well. i now need to go back and remove every, single flower to get my windows to open again.

however, being that it was a friday afternoon, and i have a three day weekend, i just left. i'll deal with it later :)

(p.s. i'm gonna hate myself later...)

c-r-aaaa-c-k

so...last friday, we were all feelin' it. myself, along with my entire class...that, 'this-day-is-way-too-long-why-isn't-it-the-weekend-yet, feeling? there was craziness, extreme noisiness, lack of patience and, low and behold, in the end, somehow a rocking chair that got busted. (it happened in an extremely similar way to when my sister and i broke the family rocking chair by playing the funnest game ever called, 'how far back can i push you before you fall!?' my class is full of three and four year old's, my sister and i were in high school.)

anyway, i just couldn't throw it away. i mean, i tried to put in in the garbage but i had this flash back. see, a couple months ago, i was at an adorable little gallery and saw a big rocking chair that was bright and colorful and had everything from grilling equipment to butterflies painted on it. i wanted it, badly, but i didn't wanna spend the hundred and fifty bucks on it. (though, i did think deeply about it...even pondering tax return money.) so, when i held this tiny, broken one, i couldn't pass up some sort of opportunity. so, i veered right, away from the garbage can, toward my truck, opened the door and stuck it inside. my crazy, half hoarder/half artist brain went into over drive :)

and now, a week later, i have a plant stand. i know, i know, it's not as cool as a regular-sized, adult chair...but i can not WAIT to see how a big pot of flowers will look on it this summer :)

crap. i get genuinely excited about some strange things...

retraction notice

(no. not the prettiest picture. but i had been wondering why my dog keeps getting bloody noses; now, i know. no little shrew, baby bunny or mailman is safe around here anymore...)

heehee. just kiddin' on that last blog. after re-reading it, in a non ambien induced haze, it is nothing but a bunch of discombobulated thoughts meshed into one random ass, boring, log entry. that title gave the blog too much credit completely. also, i don't normally take anything to sleep, so, when i do, it hits hard. (i had to take something that night. i have this weird problem where as soon as i get over tired, i can't sleep. my brain goes into insane mode and can't shut off. my thoughts get messy, the creativity gets out of control...i feel like i'm running on nothing but adrenaline and i really don't know how to sleep when i get like that. so, i don't sleep. i get crazier. and extra tired. and then i spiral down...hence the ambien on night one of that downward spiral. nip it in the bud.)

okay. so, that was the entire point of this blog. to apologize for the last blog and to make sure you don't think that i truly thought that was good writing or anything.

also, i think this blog sucks too...but i'm okay with that, because this time, i remember writing it.

i passed out writing this...surprisingly, it makes a little sense...

(some little signs of life, right outside my own back door...it's inspiring)

i'm watching cheech and chong's, nice dreams, tonight. there's something about old hippies that make me happy. kinda comforting. i don't really know any other hippies that managed to move far enough from their couch and the pipe to make anything of themselves. paul reubans as the cocaine guy is pretty funny too. i just watch these movies to watch them...i don't think they're that funny or anything. i mean, they have their moments but that's about it. it's the conversations, the culture, the clothes, the era, the ending of an era, the beginning of an era...it's a lot of a lot, minus the need to be blazed. it renders a feeling of nostalgia...just like the grilled cheese sandwich i woke up smelling during sunday's daytime nap. it brings ya back in some weird, unconscious way.

so yeah...one more quick, random...all the tiny signs of growth need to be noticed and appreciated. i'm feeling dry, and boring and like store-brand, white bread and then i look out the window and the earth looks the same way. nothing going on. nothing new. no signs of creative life...but, when you leave your house, and look closer at what looks so barren from afar...it's amazing what tiny things are really there, just waiting to be seen :)

i am so cool. el. a. em. ee.

(this is the stuff i come up with on my own...now i have an official enabler. also, that used to be a clementine box...now, presto, it's a shelf...)

okay. i just gotta quick write about the amazingness of blogs. i know, i know, it's kinda late in the game, but the blog world is just.so.cool. (i just discovered this. typically, i scroll the photo blogs and ones of friends and family...i don't usually just search the randoms.) i started with this site the other night (one of my all-time favs, btw...i've been following it for awhile.)

dangerous iris site aka: awesomeville

and i clicked on the blogs that IT follows, and then i clicked on the blogs that THEY followed and i just kept goin. i know. i got crazy. IT was crazy. but wow. i found SO much personal inspiration PLUS, i found wonderful projects to take into the classroom.

so exciting :)

(omg. ((also, that's a real word now.)) i'm lame. blog surfing and exciting in the same idea train. i think i need to do something. after, i finish painting the broken rocking chair that i salvaged for a plant stand, that is.)