magical photo

the magical thing about photography is that you never know what you're going to get. as i contorted myself amongst the stinging nettles to try to catch the right ray of light during the golden hour, i didn't imagine this photograph. but due to the magic of very shallow depth of field (thanks to the 50mm fixed lens, at 1.4 aperture) and the perfect (read: low) light, this was my result. and i think it's magical, even if i do say so myself. and even more, i love that despite it being a digital photo, it has a film-like quality. and it's straight out of my camera, no processing at all, aside from a slight crop on the left. it's a photo you could fall into and get lost.

boot sparkle bokeh

sorry for the long and convoluted (read: boring) entry earlier...this is where i work through stuff and try to understand it and sometimes it means you all have to suffer. but i do apologize. and i am aware it was heavy and boring (hence the links to the fun boring bits). i'll try to lay off that for awhile, tho' i can't guarantee, because there are a lot of things these days that i don't entirely understand. but i hope these bokeh-filled shots of sabin's fabulous uggs in the snow and sparkling sunshine from this afternoon might help you forget.

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speaking of UGGS, there's an awful lot of ads for fakes on my facebook.
and i think that's pretty uncool of facebook.
but here's a hint: if the site wants you to pay to some random chinese guy via western union, you should interpret that as a BIG RED FLASHING LIGHT.
just don't do it.

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i'm reading the second installment of ken follet's century trilogy.
and i'm hooked.
he's good at creating characters and the history feels right.

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check out the first installment in lisa's fabulous stone project.
(hint: it's one of the stones i brought her last summer).

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you know i love maps, but a literary map? swoon.

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the u boards on pinterest: utterly fabulous. upcycling.

pinspiration no. 4 + a bit of randomness

we awoke to a sparkling frosty morning, so i had to run out and grab some bokeh. soon the frost will be totally gone and i won't have another chance for months and months. right? the frost will go soon, right?

then, i settled in with pinspiration no. 4 and a cup of tea. the sunshine was bright and kept beckoning me outdoors, so progress was slow.

our baby bunnies are 3 weeks old today and are VERY active now. i cannot tell you how much we enjoy our bunnies - way more than i ever would have imagined. and baby bunnies? they're like miniature, whole complete rabbits. perfection.

and my pinspiration no. 4 dragonfly. here's the beautiful original i was inspired by. it was hard to cut into the vintage cross stitch, but i like how it turned out, tho' it's far from the perfection of the originals by mr. finch. it's an interesting exercise to basically indulge in someone else's art. which in my view (and picasso's) is perfectly ok if you're not doing it for commercial gain. this, for me, was an exercise in forcing myself to cut into a vintage textile, as well as to find materials around me to work with...some waxed cord as feelers and some little wire legs. for the body i used a bit of cotton that was trimmed off some old curtains and had been soaked in black beans at one point. as you can tell, most of that "dye" rinsed out. it was a good exercise for me in many ways - both freeing and yet awkward. but it has pushed my thinking towards making something entirely my own.

but in the meantime, it looks very pretty on the branch i hung on the wall in the living room a few days ago. and i'm learning a whole lot from this making something i've pinned on pinterest thing.

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i listened to this on repeat (more times than i care to admit):

it seems a little lame to be enamored of belgian house music, but there you have it.
i mean really, belgium?

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and i'm longing for something like this in my community.
nice to know it's good to be bilingual.
and tho' we already knew it, it's hip to use natural dyes.
oddly, this seems like me. in danish.
and this is an interesting question to ponder.
ikea. more than just crack meatballs.
blown away by this work.

sparkle feathers

princess sparkle pony

now that i feel light and myself again (it seriously took only minutes to get myself back - if only i'd known that earlier), i can't believe how the ideas are flowing. my thoughts are skipping and so is my heart. it's partly the white wonderland and the sunshine we've had of late - sunshine makes such a difference. but it's more than that. it's a settling back into my soul, knowing that all of my energy is my own, to do with what i wish (and what i wish is not to waste it. ever again.)

i find myself once again open to opportunities for creativity. and oddly, i didn't even realize how closed i was. wow. i have this feeling that something amazing is about to happen. and my eyes are open to it now. i'm ready, universe. bring it on! help me make it happen.

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and hello to all of you new reverb10 folks stopping by! i'm so glad i decided to play along!