Friends in high places

There are many things I’d love to do in my lifetime. So many. There just isn’t enough time or connections to do it all and you end up having to choose what you really want to do. But a close second is having friends that do the things you’d love to do. This is where it’s awesome to have lots of friends. Lots of cool, fun friends. I have crafty friends featured in Parenting magazine, friends that worked off-Broadway, friends that toured overseas with a Broadway musical, musician friends, actor friends, professional photographer friends, friends who have worked to become American citizens, writer/journalist friends (he’s technically family but still), evangelist and missionary friends and so on.

Do you remember Steffie? Well, she’s quite the little actress. She has told me that she did some acting when she lived in Germany but I have a feeling that she has downplayed her talent and roles. Earlier this year she took some acting classes here in town and from that class she made friends and connections. From those connections she had the opportunity to participate in the 48 Hour Film Project. This project is a contest where filmmakers are assigned a genre, character, prop and line and you have only 48 hours to make the film. Last night Ken & I had the good fortune of attending the screening. We saw 14 of the 28 films entered in the competition and her film was, by far, the best. I feel that they only have one other film that is their competition. The winner advances to other levels in the competition and the ultimate goal being the Cannes Film Festival. If you’d like to view the film, go here. (Please be warned, though, that there is some potentially objectionable language in it.)

Did I have the connections to be involved in something like this? I’d love to, but no. But I had a ball cheering her on and it was a pleasure to attend this event in her life. Not everyone gets to make an entire movie in 48 hours and I was thrilled that I had the opportunity to share this experience with her.

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Used

I plan to revisit this subject matter when I get my new lens, which should be here by Wednesday!

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Back in the saddle again

Now that I’m back home, it’s time to get back into the swing of posting every day. The day after our Atlanta trip, my mom and I started working on baby shower invitations. I love paper crafting. Love getting my hands dirty with ink and glue. Here’s the fruit of our all-day-labor.

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My budding artist

Tonight was Ethan’s spring concert for school. In the past, that has meant suffering through band songs and some interesting singing. I’m not sure if they’ve gotten better or if I’m listening through rose-colored ears (that didn’t translate as well as I thought it would). He has played the trombone for two years now and I’m beginning to see how talented he is (I can’t imagine how good he’d be if he practiced on a regular basis). We had great seats tonight and could hear him really clearly and he did so very well. I was never in the band when I was younger and I’m amazed at how good these kids are.

Another aspect of the concerts is the art. They didn’t offer art as a regular class when I was in elementary school. It wasn’t until high school that art was offered as a separate class. I really wish that had been different. I always wanted to be good at art type things but felt that I needed to be good before taking the class. If I had been able to take art from 1st grade, imagine what I’d be doing today! My paintbrushes wouldn’t be sitting on a shelf now. Here is what Ethan created for this concert.

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He says he’s better at drawing and I would probably agree, but I love that he’s being exposed to all types of medium. I so enjoy watching my kids grow up and discover what talents they have hidden inside. 

Unused

Oh boy. There are many unused tools in my house. Bet you didn’t know I was going to be a painter, did you? Apparently, I was going to pull that talent out from where the sun doesn’t shine, too. I tried. I really did. But when I couldn’t paint a spiral correctly, I figured that was the end for me. Heck, I can’t even doodle so why did I think I could paint? So here sit my unused paint brushes. I think they’re lonely on their shelf. I even put them in a nice pretty vase. But they figured it out. They know that there’s no chance they’ll be used any time soon. Actually, I did use one to touch up a spot on my family room wall but when I put her back in the vase, I think she shed a tear. That’s right; they’re girls. They don’t have names but they are most definitely (can I EVER type that word correctly on the FIRST try??) chicks. She wasn’t being used to her full potential and she knew it. I’ve been found out.

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{The inspiration for this photo came from here.}

On another note, have any of you ever had your blog printed professionally? I was thinking of putting my blog in book form at the end of the year. I include lots of memories of my boys & figured I’d give their wives something to fight over some day. I’m usually a procrastinator so I figured I’d get an early start. At least I could shop around. I’m thinking I read somewhere that someone has done this. Real specific, I know. So…any suggestions?

1000 cranes for Japan

All around the blogging and flickr world, people are making cranes in support for Japan. I’m thinking about doing a tutorial for these.

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I know a girl

There’s this girl I know.

A really cool girl.

Even better, she’s a really neat girl. And want to be just like her when I grow up. The funny thing? I’m 21 years older than her.

Yep, twenty one (whew, that was harder to write than I thought it would be).

Perhaps you’ve met her. Her name is Anna and she creates lots of art. She shared her art with me today. In the form of a sugar cookie. Who do you know that creates actual art on sugar cookies? This cookie was better than anything I’ve seen Martha make (Which isn’t saying much. I haven’t seen Martha make a whole lot; she’s not my favorite person). And she shared it so freely, too. I would have taken this cookie and saved it for years.

Ask my mom. I save everything.

I would have saved it and put it on my dresser (because, isn’t that where all treasured things end up?). I would have taken pictures of it and maybe even made it my Facebook profile picture. But not Anna, she shared with me. Aren’t I lucky?

As I think about my life and the things I treasure, Anna makes the list.

Really, I’m just an average, everyday girl who is surrounded by extraordinary family and so many magnificent friends. Isn’t that what makes life great? No matter what you are, if you’re surrounded by great people, life is great. If I were the best at creating art on sugar cookies but didn’t have anyone to share it with, how crappy would that be? If I was the funniest person but didn’t have anyone to tell my jokes to, how lame would that be? It’s the people in my life that make me lucky and happy. The people that share art/cookies with me. The husband that laughs at my (lame) jokes and my two boys that think I’m cool (at least for now).

Thanks, Anna for your cookie. And for so much more.