Keeping With The Times

living, learning, and keeping with the times

Sunday Sundries #1

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Hello, and Happy Sunday! Welcome to Sunday Sundries #1 (a rather unadvertised little linky party).

I’m here to ramble on about my week, it helps me to be grateful and to “celebrate” all the small extraordinary moments … even when it’s -30C. All these images were shot with my phone … the “keeper of the everyday” …

Snow Dunes, Sunday Sundries

Last Sunday as we were eating lunch, I glanced out at our deck and was surprised to see this little fella visiting us! I was watching him through our glass door and managed to capture a shot with my phone. I posted it on IG and people were beyond fascinated … some couldn’t believe it was real! But it is definitely real. It’s a Short Tailed Weasel according to Alberta Environment and Sustainable Resource Development. The tell-tale features are the size, the black tip on it’s tail (not shown here) and it’s white feet … the Long Tailed Weasel has brown feet! So cool! I made the photo dreamy with Focal Lab.

weasel

This photo is from the first Lemon Chiffon “shoot” for Food Photography Meets Still Life Photography … it didn’t make it to the presses … I ended up redoing both the cake, and the shoot because I didn’t like the light, or the background. It just wasn’t what I was envisioning.

Sunday Sundries

  • My blog’s been undergoing some updates … a new design and some behind-the-scenes improvements. I’m so grateful to have found Mitch … he knows what he’s doing and always gets the job done … he’s not cheap though … I’m grateful that hubby puts up with my blog obsession …
  • On Friday, I had my hair cut and some dark brown “low-lights” added. I went to the salon with the intention of getting silver “high-lights” but my hairdresser talked me out of it, saying that it’s too hard to get silver colour – it may fry my hair and they eventually will turn yellowish. I’m so grateful she did, I love the results and I don’t look so wishy-washy, plus she gave me a great style. Small things, but happy things, and a lesson on keeping an open mind. I also got a manicure … so pampered and grateful.
  • On Saturday I had a vision of a new way to arrange our office. It required a ton of work but luckily the hubs was on board, and together we made my vision materialize. It turned out awesome! It’s clean, organized, and much more convenient to work in.
  • I took some steps toward making a dream of mine come true … not there yet … but closer …
  • I’m taking part in “Liberate Your Art” with Kat Sloma, and I’m grateful that Kelly Kardos reminded me about it!
  • I decided I need to make a note on my calendar each day, recording at least one small thing to celebrate. It’s so easy to forget things!

But that’s all for today. If you feel like visiting and sharing your week with us, please link up to my Sunday Sundries party!

Sunday Sundries: Love and Light

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Sunday Sundries: Love and Light

For the last couple of months I’ve been getting messages from my heart, which thankfully, my head has been listening to. It’s been asking me “what is it that you love to do, what have you outgrown, and what should you be letting go of?”

I’ve been rambling here on the blog, voicing concerns on whether or not I’ve been devoting my time to things that are important to me. Learning social media was a big part of the reason I began Keeping With the Times, and I have no regrets about it, but I was getting messages that it was time to let some of it go. When I wrote the post Question For You, I was surprised to hear that many people feel the same way I do about it, (including blogging).

But it wasn’t just about social media. There were a few other things that had been draining me of energy, and I would mutter “it’s sucking the life out of me.” When you hear yourself saying that I would caution you to listen. Then, quietly and mysteriously, little opportunities to “let go” began to present themselves and I reached out and grabbed each and every one of them. I’m still getting messages … one I wasn’t thrilled about at first, but it was a true lightbulb moment … “it’s time to go” it said … and in retrospect, it’s not a big deal … in fact it’s quite liberating.

I suddenly feel lighter, more centred, and focused.

Now, as is so often the case, the space I’ve created has made room for some wondrous opportunities; flowing in and filling me with amazement and wonder … really? truly? me? oh.my.goodness.

I so love this quote by TS Eliot. I first saw it in Simple Abundance by Sarah Ban Breathnach.

… you are the music
While the music lasts. These are only hints and guesses,
Hints followed by guesses; and the rest
Is prayer, observance, discipline, thought and action.

Listen to the hints that the universe is sending you, and then act on them.

I took this heart image with my DSLR, underexposing the shot, tweaking in LR to darken the shadows, lighten the highlights, and then I warmed it up a bit.

I also took this same shot with my iPhone using Camera+ and PicsPlay Pro to edit it. That phone is capable of some pretty amazing stuff! I posted it on Instagram if you want to compare.

OK – super long post! If you’re still here … thank you!! I have one question for you today. Would anyone be interested in a Sunday Sundries linky party? A place to share anything you want; big or small! Let me know!

Oh, and have you entered my give-away? The winner will be picked on Tuesday.

Happy Sunday!

Sunday Sundries

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Sunday Sundries is simply a collection of random happenings, suggestions, and a few questions in no particular order.

sundry |ˈsəndrē|adjective [ attrib. ]of various kinds; several, various items not important enough to be mentioned individually

I’ve done a bit of baking, and I may or may not have eaten some of this cookie dough …

cookie dough760

… but for sure I’ve eaten a few of the baked results …

Sunday Sundries

If you’d like the recipe you can check it out here, but I’m warning you they are a bit too yummy.

I decorated my step for Christmas and was quite happy I did before the big storm hit.

Sunday Sundries Yes, it’s quite beautiful …snowy trees1

I’ve been housebound since the snowstorm hit on Wednesday night. The hubs hasn’t been able to clean the driveway and there’s a ton of snow on it. I don’t mind, really. I am perfectly happy staying at home, cozy and warm. I’ve been baking and listening to music … speaking of Christmas music, do you have any favourites you care to share? I’m always looking for new ideas. Here are a few of mine:

  • Joy: A Holiday Collection by Jewel
  • A Very She and Him Christmas by She and Him
  • Christmas by MichaelBublé

How many scrapbookers are visiting Keeping With the Times? If possible, if you are a scrapper, could you leave a quick comment letting me know? And even if you’re not a scrapper, do you use Photoshop for any of your blogging tasks such as photo editing, or templates?

I’m having a guest blogger for the next “app” happy wednesday! That’s on December 3rd, and then starting in January, it’s going to return to it’s regularly scheduled weekly linkup. I’m going to keep it easy though, as there won’t be app or camera reviews every week, just a fun linky party. I hope to see you all come back!

I needed to get a post created and published from my new computer to break the ice. I’m not going to waste any time leaving my old Lenovo behind, I went to use it this afternoon and truthfully I could have punched it! It took so dang long to load even the tiniest thing. So for this post, I’ve used the new Mac versions of Photoshop, Bridge and Lightroom. It’s amazing how quick it is … oh my … I am in love …

Anyway, it’s getting late and I need to get a few things cleaned up around here. I hope you’re having a wonderful Sunday!

Good Morning Friday!

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snowman-wave

We are up to our eyeballs in snow, and it’s still coming down, so that has me in quite the festive mood!

Yes, I do love getting ready for Christmas! I’m a bit conflicted though, because as I look around blogland, people are still posting autumn leaves… I can’t get my head around that…

Isn’t is amazing how our environment dictates our very thoughts?

I didn’t take many photos this week, so I rummaged around in my files and found these sweet snowpeople from last Christmas.

But today is about Friday Finds at Kim Klassen dot com. I love this meme – simple, no rules, fun! So I thought I would list 5 things I found this week:

  • First up, my new D7100 is broken (boo) and has gone to the hospital for at least 4 weeks, probably more… so the best find I made was my old camera and the battery, which was not an easy feat. Whew! Take note, people – if you get a new camera, hang on to your old one.
  • I found out that Adobe’s Photoshop Photography Program, which includes Photoshop CC, and Lightroom 5 is now only available until December 2nd. Initially, I had heard it was until the end of the year and was flabbergasted to see that the deadline had changed. I bit the bullet, and joined the Cloud.
  • I found out about the power of a helping hand in blogland. Last Friday, I posted my Antique Grater to the Party Junk linky at Funky Junk Interiors. Tuesday morning when I checked my fb page, I had gained over 500 likes! I panicked, and thought I was being spammed. After I got hold of myself, I checked my mail and found this sweet note from Donna “Barb, your photography is just OUT of this world. I’m sorry it took me so long to clue in. :) I know who you are… I know your wreaths a mile away. Girl, it’s time you get featured. And this sifter flower vase did it for me. I Love That Junk and various other places around the land will be catching a glimpse of this beauty! Thanks for linking up!” She encouraged her readers to visit me, and I’ve gone from 31 followers to over 900. How does one repay that? Thank you, Donna!
  • I found some beautiful, ginormous Poinsettias at Superstore (very affordable).
  • I found an email in my inbox from a company that wants me to do a sponsored post – I am beyond excited – it’s a great company and a great opportunity!

A pretty lengthy post here – hope you are still with me. I’m heading over to the Cafe to see what everyone else has been up to this week.

Have a wonderful weekend!

12.12.12.

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Frosted Mini Wheats

To celebrate this auspicious day I created a list of 12 things that made me merry:

1. Seeing Santa…

2. Finding a nice pair of black dress pants that fit me perfectly.

3. Buying the last Christmas present on my list.

4. Free peppermint hot chocolate at Starbucks!

5. A ham and cheese croissant.

6. The wintry wonderland that I drove through to get to the lake.

7. Listening to Christmas music all the way home.

8. My camera and my iPhone

9. The attendant at the gas station washed my windows and my lights (I didn’t expect that).

10. Finding another package from Devon Consulting in the mail with 3 more boxes of Burt’s Bees Products!

11. Driving into the garage and being thankful for arriving home safely.

12. A cup of hot tea.