ordered

quite a while ago, I met a gorgeous pregnant lady in the smith's parking lot. She was breathtaking. I had her come into the studio.

a month or so back, I got a email from her, their computer had crashed and they lost all their pictures. She wondered if I still had the ones we did (yes).

Open to the beauty of film. It is fairly indestructible. Here is one of the ones I printed for her. I love love love it.

i got inspired. (thanks, k.eve)
to get out my small at home studio light.
just for a few minutes
on a weeknight date with
rosie.

i haven't been up to photographing.
going to appointments to deal with the
accident 3x a week
is...
exhausting.

to say the least.

i'm still here....but
my interactions are
in person.
and i can't help but think
in so many ways
this is a
blessing...

but i'm MISSING my online friends, so very much. So I'm hosting a little "get your studio groove on" party. for v-day. details to come, but I'll be at the studio all day, and peeps can come in (bring your cameras OR you can have me take pictures for a VERY minimal fee). I want this to be party-ish. I miss my friends. So I'll pick a date (give me suggestions if you'd like) and come on over. I wanna see you all. For real.

checking in

How are your goals, resolutions, non-resolutions going? Anyone broken down and quit yet?

I'm thoroughly enjoying my reading.
Staying strong with early to church.
Multiple interactions have let me check in about the status of my heart.
Journal time is happening, more frequently than before.


Sunshine coming through the window in the kitchen has me primed for more commitment to the calm a good year can give.

let's talk about

Brandy. Not the singer.

I've never cooked with alcohol before. Never purchased it. Never even been in a liquor store. But I've been dying to try this brandy cheesecake recipe from this book for a few years now, and with T's birthday last week I figured it was time to try it.

I'm not a cheesecake person. He loves it, though and his mom's is so good (I've have it. It is super tasty). So I've been kinda afraid to make it. And I must admit I was a little wary of the whole "buying one ingredient that we can't use for anything other than cooking" thing, either. For these reasons and SO many more, I hadn't tried making it. WELL, I'm glad I finally did. That cheesecake was GONE. T had like four pieces. And finished it up for breakfast the next day. Said it was perfect. And told me to make it again and soon. (win!)

Some things that swayed me (because I do think there are multiple points of view on the cooking with alcohol discussion within nondrinking circles):

* pure vanilla extract is 35% alcohol. Has to be to be considered pure.
* via america's test kitchen: 70% of the alcohol will cook out of a dish in a 12-inch skillet in 20 minutes.
* this recipe is cooked for 7 hours.

Do you have any IDEA how expensive alcohol is?! ugh. SO glad we follow wise counsel and abstain.

Today is T's birthday. About 4 months ago, he commented on a shirt W has, and said he really wanted the same shirt. The shirt is red with the below graphic.





Here's the thing: it is from when I was a child in Germany. Having no scanner, I called a shirt shop and asked them about it. EGADS. They wanted over $100 to put the graphic on a shirt (scanning, cleaning up the image, etc.). NO DEAL.



So I utilized my education as follows:

Photographed said shirt.
Pulled image into photoshop, adjusted perspective (so the graphic wasn't askew).
Adjusted contrast, color, rubberstamped some abnormalities.
Cropped.
Flipped new image on its axis (so it would print correctly).
Printed.
Ironed.
Ironed again (didn't stick the first time.

AND voila! Shirt done. It looks fabulous and I'm thinking about making ones for other days of the week. (marvelous monday, anyone?)

Let me know if you want one of your very own. I have a spare I made to practice, size small :) I'll send it your way.

p.s. Yes, he likes to ski.
p.p.s. I kinda wanna use the money I saved to get him another little gift. Permission, please.

car accident

yup.

yesterday afternoon.

rear-ended.

by a very nice lady.

two words:

WHIP. lash.

pain and percocet.

but the love is amazing, having my best friend for hours (and knowing E was in good hands while I got xrays) was priceless and calming. Only a best friend can make you laugh like that... in the way that somehow it doesn't actually hurt even though everything else does. thank you thank you thank you for playing with E, for reading to W, for driving my car and knowing me so well that you had the same expression I did about my nurse's funny comments. Thank you for laughing about my comparisions to Scrubs. Thank you for dinner and, sigh, everything. Thank you for seeing through my hazy communication and knowing that I NEEDED you. Thank you for coming immediately.

Members of our church have been calling and already extending loving hands and I'm speechless. I'm so glad I knew there were people I could leave W with and that he would be fine. I'm so glad T has friends at work who would bring him home and that they would stay to help him give me a blessing.

I'm in awe of the human race. Talk about greatest creation.

First Class TOMORROW!

I'm so very excited to be teaching a photo class this month. It is tomorrow night at 7pm, then the next friday at 7pm as well. The students are RAD and I'm stoked to talk photo with them!

Wanna get in on the action? Can't believe you missed it earlier? Shoot me an email (alisha@alishastamper.com) and we'll see if we can get you in :) 'Cause lets be honest, don't you want to discuss the above image, and so many others, and learn how to make more than snapshots yourself? Its a dslr class.

Resolved

Its done. They're written. And posted. And emailed out. And logged. I look at resolutions this way: what am I going to commit to that I think will better my life? What will add inner calm? What do I want to look back on as accomplishments? For me, the following FITS into my life. There is always more one wants to do, but for now, this is what fits.



I made it easy this year. The fabric ready for dresses and quilts (not cut, mind you, just purchased). The patterns for dress choices are waiting patiently. I have music and my flute ready for friday afternoons (did you know I played from about 9-18 with lessons? Betcha didn't. I still love it. Even think I might try to join a community orchestra one of these days). I've been picking hiker's brains about how to train up for Timp. The kids both like being out of doors (I've accomplished something!), so I think this might be a family-ish affair, at least the training part. I started the five@five yesterday, complete with five minute timer. Twelve rolls of 35mm film are on their way to me.

In 2010 I kept a journal of sort by way of a christmas present for the hubs. Every day (Since Dec 25 2009) I wrote something I observed about him that I loved and was glad we were married--> be it in an interaction with me, the kids, his work or church calling. I gave it to him this christmas and I think it served a great purpose in terms of letting him know how much I love him, but not only that, it is a happy record of a year of our early married life. Time to get back to my own journal, though.

Maximum 10 commissions. That is where client work can fit into my personal art. 10. None to occur in November and December 2011. Setting a limit is freeing. It keeps me from getting bogged down. Allows me to focus on my own artistic growth.

My January books are all ready to go. Sitting in a stack. Willing me to start early yesterday (I didn't).


It was exciting organzing all the books for reading. Here is the layout for the first quarter. If you have small children, this might be a good goal for you as well. I have created a layout for each quarter. To get the layouts, email me at alisha@alishastamper.com and I'll happily send them your way :)


What are YOUR resolutions? I hope they're fabulous!