New Years Photos!!!

Just a quick note that I have posted several shots from my New Years trip to Charleston that I took with my new Rebel on Flickr.com! Please check them out and post your comments. I am learning how to use it, slowly but surely. So, let me know what you think! Happy New Year!!! (needless to say my first resolution is to learn to use this camera!)

etsy Pick o' The Week!!

I hope some of you were able to find some killer holiday gifts from etsy this year! I know I was! My pick for this week is a shop that is unique like all the others, but in its own right. It brings nature into your everyday life, which I think is a good goal for us all. The shop is named Lady Farrah, and offers awesome little terrariums for your home or office. They are encased in glass containers, and even (Julie, you'll love this!) have planter monograms! My favorite is the Tot Collection because they're so small and easy to put anywhere.

I just love her introductory quote on her page- "Nature is my medicine". So true. You have to check out her relaxing bits of nature, perfect for a quick focal point for meditation throughout your busy day. Enjoy!

LadyFarrah.etsy.com

New Camera Alert!!!

So I have finally made it to the big leagues- I am now the owner of a bright shiny SLR camera of my very own!!! Thanks to my wonderful husband! Now the challenge is to figure out how to use it! So, I will be enrolling in a community education photography class this month. I can't wait! And in the meantime, I will keep trying to teach myself, reading the manual every step of the way.

I took it out on its first outing tonight after work! The fog was so thick that you could hardly find your hand in front of your face. And I loved the way it was throwing around light amongst the leafless trees. So I grabbed it and drove around town trying out different settings, since night photography is one of my goals.

So, I started a new set on my flickr account called "The Rebel"- the name of my camera, where I will be posting all my trials and errors. So, please please be sure to visit continuously and post your comments. I really want to hear what you think!!

Just visit flickr.com, and click on "Search", then "People" and type in dewindesigns!

etsy Pick o' the Week!!

This week's etsy pick is probably the most unique one yet! The shop is called edm designs, and it offers different types of jewelry made from what appears to be old machinery parts. She refers to it as "steampunk industrial jewelry", and it is beautiful! My ultimate favorite is the Steampunk Vintage Swiss 17 Ruby Jeweled Watch Movement ORNATE Silver Pendant Necklace!

These are a bit higher in price than my usual postings, but when you check them out you will understand why. She puts a lot of detailed work into each piece. And, there are 197 to choose from! They truly are works of art. You will definitely get noticed wearing one of her pieces!!

edmdesigns.etsy.com

The Village- Watch it!!!

Just a quick bit of advice...if you haven't seen the movie The Village, you need to do so immediately. M. Night Shyamalan is my new hero. Craig and I had a M. Night fest the other night. We watched The Village just because it was in a bunch of videos a friend had given me, and I fell so in love with it, we got online and watched Unbreakable afterward. That movie was genius as well. But, The Village, was so creative and just beautiful, I can't recommend it enough. I was bummed to get online and find out that it got mostly negative reviews. I can't believe that. I think this guy is so unique and insightful.

Though I love a cheesy romantic comedy, their replayed plot lines get old after a while, and M. Night offers anything but ordinary. He's seriously a visionary. The whole world he creates in The Village is just amazing. I love it!! And there are several big name actors in it- Sigourney Weaver, William Hurt, Joaquin Phoenix, and Adrien Brody. Please check it out and then come back and comment on what you thought of it!!

etsy Pick o' The Week!!

Okay, okay, so I said that I would stick to my etsy pick every Sunday and I kept it up for... well, one week. But, in my defense, I did have food poisoning which didn't disappear completely until yesterday. So, here is your etsy pick, better late than never!!

This week's shop is called And Then..., which, for all you fellow Dude Where's my Car? fans out there, is reason enough to shop there. For the rest of you sad saps, this is a pick for the wee ones on your list. I am always preaching creativity and breeding imagination in children, both in real life and in my book (which I am hoping to devote the entire month of January to). Well, here's some help. This shop sells pre-made kits with everything a kid could need to make different crafts. I must say I am a little weary of crafts that have a specific purpose, as I prefer to provide kids with a bunch of different materials and just see where it leads them, but this is a good start. I guess I would have to say my favorite one is the fish aquarium kit, though the tiny mummy is totally cute!

She also offers some of her originals prints and photography, which are really great as well. So, hurry up before Christmas is upon us, and grab something unique for the little ones on your list!! She even offers a gift wrapping service!!

andthen.etsy.com

The Neverending Story Followup

Just wanted to write and to say that I finally finished reading The Neverending Story, and Ende wasn't kidding with the title. I had to renew it like 3 times in order to finish the 400-page adventure. But it was definitely worth it. Just as I was sad to release my grip on the video 23 years ago, I was actually sad to let go of the book yesterday. The moment I first grabbed it off the shelf I knew it was full of possibilities. The fact that it is about 5 times fatter than any book I've read since Moby Dick in the ninth grade coupled with all the crazy illustrations on the front cover were my first clues to how special this story would be.

I was remiss, as my good friend Mike would say, when I wrote in my other post that the movie covered half of the novel. Wrong. It covered only portions of the first 5 chapters out of a total of 26 chapters!! Twenty-six chapters of different worlds and characters that Ende created in amazing detail. I actually found myself looking forward to reading it each night as an escape from the usual into this place like none other. It felt as though I were being let in on a secret.

There were some parts that I liked less where the storyline got very dark. Usually this type of material wouldn't bother me, but I guess compared to the beauty of the rest of the novel, it was a little hard to swallow. Especially since I will admit I sort of fell in love with the character of Atreyu, and when he started getting messed with, I was not happy!

But I would definitely recommend this book if I were on Reading Rainbow. Check it out if you want to remember the importance of a beautiful imagination!