Everyday Photos by Jodi Anderson

sleepy grey day

I have little things to say today and even when I make handwritten lists, I draw bullets. 

• It is a really grey day and I can feel the heaviness in the air.  Because of this, I have a rare headache.  It is mild, so I don't much mind it.  I like that humans are physically affected by the weather, such as barometric pressure; It seems primal somehow.  Although, ow.  My knees hurt too. 
• Regarding the lovely "creating dreams come true", it is not my goal to accomplish all of the dreams on my list this year or, even really, ever.  My personal intent is to achieve some of my dreams this year, and take steps toward some of the others. 
• Luna is starting to blow coat.  The cats are beginning to shed as well.  Oh, dear.  This is always a long process and the Furminator does help, but I'm so tired of getting fine white Kin No Neko fur on my eyeball. 
• I am making broccoli-potato soup tonight.  I think that it will go well with the cold wind blowing outside, the fresh tablecloth in the dining room, and today's Sudoku puzzle from the newspaper. 
• The evening holds a little television, making plans for the weekend, and then a book before bed. 

See you Friday or so!

© JODI ANDERSON. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

creating dreams come true

I really feel like I'm up for some new challenges this year. 

One thing that I have decided to do, although I'm about three weeks late into the year-long project, is "creating dreams come true: a creative adventure".  You can read more about it HERE. It is being hosted by Andrea of ABCcreativity.  (Let me know if you decide to participate, please!)  I'm going to play catch-up for a few days and then I'll post on Sundays like many of the other participants. 

Unless you read about it, this list won't make any sense.  That's okay.  I don't mind if you skip it.  There will be more of the usual business around here soon. 

An aside: The list will eventually reach 100.  I will add to it throughout the year. 

1. Re-learn and advance my crocheting skills.
2. Spend more time with my family.
3. Create a morning self-care routine. 
4. Create an evening self-care routine.
5. Hike Gibraltar repeatedly in 2010, and whenever possible thereafter.
6. Learn more about photography. 
7. *the crow collaberation*
8. Collaberate with Thicket.
9. Get "Hold Inquiry" up and running online.
10. Work towards my dream home by remodeling, painting, and styling.
11. Create a book for Grandma Anderson about Grandma and Grandpa Anderson.
12. Purge excess from house.
13. Wake up earlier.
14. Expand the garden.
15. Learn to can and freeze more of my garden bounty.
16. Share my perennials with others each spring.
17. Treat myself to luxuries.
18. Create a business model.
19. Um, create a business?!
20. Figure out what I am and am not willing to do with my creative endeavors.
21. Participate in 15/15 or 365/365 with Christie.
22. Update and pimp shop.
23. Try to read a novel each month.
24. Work out an efficient bill-paying system.
25. Make a financial plan for savings and daughter's college.
26. Dedicate 1-2 hours to myself each day.
27. Make journaling a habit.
28. Expand my vegan (possibly gluten-free) menu.
29. Eat out less.
30. Update website.
31. Travel to Denmark.
32. Travel to Sweden regularly.
33. Visit Newfoundland.
34. Take yearly month-long retreats in the North woods of Wisconsin.  (Thoreau-style)
35. Finish a few of my ongoing projects.
36. Learn Swedish. 
37. Visit a state park at least once a month.
38. Embrace camping again.
39. Meet up with local-ish friends.
40. Help X reach for her dreams.
41. Get a bike that I can ride in a dress, preferably with a basket.
42. Read the paper with breakfast ... instead of emails and blogs. 
43. Don't feel guilty about setting aside time for emails and blogs.
44. Snap more photos with film.
45. Get a new DSLR.
46. Acquire more lenses. 
47. Buy an awesome video camera. 
48. Find a nice piano accordian, preferably the Blue one that used to be at the music store in Baraboo.
49. Do more advocacy for type I (juvenile-onset) diabetes.
50. Contribute to the family income by doing what I love without feeling guilty for selling what I do.
51. Come to peace with promoting myself and submitting work, then doing it.
52. Make mixed-media documentaries.
53. Take regular walks for no particular reason except the experience. 
54. Always let the people that I care about know how much that they mean to me.
55. Organize the pieces of my daughter's childhood into something meaningful and efficient, like a set of bound journals. 
56. Get a massage and/or cranio-sacral work done at least monthly.
57. Do the daily Sudoku. 
58. Grow Lilies of the Valley, which I've had trouble with thus far FOR VERY GOOD REASONS.
59. Throw our daughter a wonderful graduation-slash-18th-birthday-party in June. 
60. Practice piano and get a bit better. 
61. Have my own violin again. 
62. To shamelessly own a Saab again.
63. Visit the Grand Canyon. 
64. Go to Maine. 
65. Always strive. 
66. Be gentle to everyone and myself.
67. Learn how to handbind simple books.
68. Make some handbound journals and/or books.
69. Expand my website design skills.  Or hire someone else to do it. 

Managua, Nicaragua is NOT the place to be

Ah!  And, he is gone again. 

We think that it's just for a week.  (If you don't already know, my husband aka theother23, is an operations manager for a wind energy company.  He used to travel a lot, mostly in the US but recently in Nicaragua.  Now, he is not gone quite so much.)  Today, he went into work late and we had breakfast together after my medical appointment.  Then, I came home and packed his bag.  He stopped by the office and took care of a few last minute things.  X was off to work at the library.  He returned home one more time and then started his drive to O'Hare. 

Anyhow, all is well.  I have a few projects that have been waiting for me to find the time for them.  I have a book to read.  I need to write.  Really, really need to write.  I feel healthy. 

How are you and what are you doing this week?

*A nod to our friend, Joseph, for inspiring the title by sharing THIS VIDEO with us.

© JODI ANDERSON. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

out and about :: 19 january 10

Oh, the mysteries of a little toy lens named Diana ...

I just never know what I'm going to get when the photos are downloaded. 

  © JODI ANDERSON. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. 

winter and art and crows

I have not mentioned here that, for all practical purposes, I've been on vacation since Winter Solstice. 

Yeah.  That's like, what, a month?  Sure, I have made dinners and reorganized a few cabinets and started to create a more efficient kitchen, but other than that I lazed about while pondering life and mulling over my projects, which is absolutely necessary for my sanity as well as the health of my arts and my life. 

Today, I finally dipped my toes back into, um, leaving the house, jotting things into my 2010 datebook, driving, going into a store, and then ... being brave enough to do it all again the next day. 

Have a peaceful week, folks.

  © JODI ANDERSON. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. 

blog linkage :: 15 january 10

I've been finding some new-to-me blogs lately.  Here, I'll share the love ...

• A Collection a Day, 2010 -- Many of you may be already familiar with Lisa Congdon.  I have been following her blogs, endeavors, and career for quite a few years. 
• Dos Family -- A blog made by two friends in Sweden who live seven hours apart. 
• A New Simple Something -- Visually beautiful blog and genuinely interesting, written by a lovely women in Iran. 
• I Lay My Hat and Wish to Stay -- Another blog written by a pair of friends.  It's a nice collaberation. 

Enjoy your weekend! 

© JODI ANDERSON. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

diana weekdays

Question:  Do you think that I should reduce the width of my online photos from 800 to 600 pixels?  If you find the present format overwhelming, would that help?

© JODI ANDERSON. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

this fresh week, month, year, decade

Hey, folks. 

I hope that you're having a nice week.  Monday was wildly productive and I wish that it had been about six hours longer ... you know, just to get a little more done while I felt energetic.  With any luck, I will be able to carry on the ambition throughout today and into the week. 

I have been coming up with a few good storage solutions in just about every room, although I haven't gotten to quite every space.  And, everything seems to have been so obvious.  Oh, of course, this basket should go there.  Why haven't these bookshelves been in this hall all along?  The list goes on, believe me. 

Have you found that everybody seems to be freshening up their living spaces this January?  Maybe I never noticed it before now.  I'm generally a spring-cleaning cleaner, but am feeling so motivated by the new year.  The design folder on my RSS reader has A LOT of bookmarks right now.  I found THIS BIT on housekeeping in the bedroom to be inspiring and a good example of what I'm seeing on the internet so far this month.  

I'm feeling the new year groove.  I have the urge to purge, get a clean slate, rearrange, and restyle.  What about you?  Are you doing any of the above this month?

 

© JODI ANDERSON. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

the infrequent monday meme

I was tagged at Kcinnova's World yesterday to do a meme.  I rarely partake, but since I have not much else to say, except ... I had a productive Saturday and a lazy Sunday, quite a nice weekend.  Monday should be a cake walk.  I kind of hope to do some thrifting. 

:: Eminent Eights ::

 

Eight television shows I like to watch:  Breaking Bad, CBS Sunday Morning, Bored to Death, Nova, Mad Men, Iconoclasts, Nurse Jackie, US of Tara

Eight Favorite Places to Eat & Drink:  Home, Del-Bar, home, Hubbard Avenue Diner, home, Blue Plate Diner, home, The Great Dane

Eight Things I Look Foward to Doing:  Yoga, laughing with my daughter, getting away with my husband, gardening, winter (every year), driving on frozen lakes and hanging around in fish shanty towns, time with any loved ones, keeping a dialogue of my life.

Eight Things That Happened Yesterday:  I slept late, until nine.  I made French pressed coffee and heated up vegan leftovers for breakfast.  I roasted rutabega and brussel sprouts for myself.  I made tacos for theother23.  I watched most of the football game with my husband.  I didn't accomplish a lot, yet enough.  I drank Synergy passionberry bliss kombucha.  I had a good day.

Eight Things I Love About Winter:  Frigid cold.  Snow.  Frozen lakes.  The sounds of snow plows, snow blowers, scraping shovels, and snowmobiles.  The dimly lit days.  The long shadows at noon.  Winter Solstice.  The spectrum of white to gray.

Eight Things I Am Passionat About:  Family and friends.  Ancestory.  Sweden and Denmark.  Expression.  Authenticity.  Conservation.  Science.  Design.

Eight Words/Phrases I Often Use:  I love you.  xo.  Ha HA!  What are you talking about?  What kind of meat do you want?  Did you feed the pets?  Has anyone taken the dog out lately?  Indeed.

Eight Things I've Learned in/from the Past:  Everyone dies.  Yoga makes me feel good.  You are, indeed, what you eat.  Breathe.  Take care of your body.  Don't say what you might later regret.  Life is too short to be boring.  I accept as true my own thinking.

Eight Friends I Want to Tag:  I won't tag anyone.  If you do this, let me know and I'll put a link to your meme up here.

weekending :: 09 january 10

I finally went to the store and shopped for fresh produce as well as pantry staples.  I cleaned my cupboards; Looking at them makes me happy.  We ate good food, watched not-too-much on television, puttered about the house.  I enjoyed the frigid cold quite a lot.  Much to my delight, I've found that I can walk on the snowy porch with just stockings (and no shoes) and that the snow won't melt, thus making my stocking wet or cold.  I took the first and third photos that way.

I have started replacing my desktop wallpapers, which consisted mostly of personal photos, to the free downloads of others ... for something different and a little inspiration.  I'm now using Hanna's.  You can get it HERE.

Happy weekend.  I hope that you're having a good one. 

  © JODI ANDERSON. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.