Julie Ann Shahin's Inspiration For Generation C

Day 77. The renovations continue...our final inspections were supposed to be tomorrow but I'm not holding my breath. The contractors were called away to another job yesterday. I'll be happy if it's done by Monday. This photo is their ladder, and you can see that they've been working on the trim - filling in gaps and nail holes. A little wall paint got on the ceiling too, and needs to be touched up. Not sure if I'm getting the handle with my new camera but I kinda like how this shot focusing on the unexpected.

Working away myself at projects for Zsiage - The Essence of Fabulous. They need projects for their new catalog and CHA Winter. I put my hat in the ring to be chosen to attend CHA...if I'm chosen I'll deal with my husband and the cost of airfare then but I'm not going to worry about it for now. Hope everyone has a terrific day!

It's here! It's here! My RebelXT is here. And yesterday being home alone, I sat for some self-portraits. So I know absolutely nothing about SLR's so these aren't so bad for a true beginner. These I took just after reading the guide that comes with the camera. Then I happened upon Rebel XT Lessons

Anyways...reading JC's book, and today it is about having compassion for oneself. I'll get to her assignment for today in a minute.

First, about me as an artist. I'm 28 days shy of turning thirty-five years old. When I look in the mirror, I see my fair-complexion and my double-chin. I'm working on losing weight. I've always been told I look much younger than I actually am and that one day I'll appreciate that. I just haven't always liked the part about people assuming I'm less mature because of how I look. I envy the women like Catherine Zeta-Jones who have a stunning mature look, I'm one year younger than her - and I can imagine standing next to her and feeling like a complete child. As an artist, I get to deal with these feelings and transform them through my creations. As JC says, "It is always this way with art. We say the unsayable and in saying it we name not only ourselves but also the human condition. By being willing to characterize our lives in art, we begin to have the character necessary to make living itself an art."

Her assignment for today: "Try this - most of us have been braver than we know, braver than we acknowledge. Take pen in hand and write yourself a fan letter, thanking and praising yourself for your courage. Be specific. Your inner artist is proud of you for your many accomplishments. Let this letter be a place to share that pride. Write fully and fondly, then mail yourself the letter." (p. 84, The Sound of Paper)

" A sister is a gift to the heart, a friend to the spirit, a golden thread to the meaning of life." ~Isadora James

As I think about starting my own family, how many children to have and so on, my thoughts drift to my sister. I felt her love so deep during our Thanksgiving visit, that I could not imagine life without her in my corner. We have not had much time to visit one another this year as she was working double over-time on getting her candidate for Mayor of Buffalo elected. Perhaps absence does make the heart grow fonder because I feel more connected to her than ever. She had this beautiful Christmas cactus in her kitchen next to this old photo of us.

How I love this little guy! Introducing to you my 4-year old nephew, Reid. He is my favorite person to photograph, I have to admit, and it's mainly because his tween cousins try to hide from me when I take their pictures. I just want to capture every movement he makes as he grows and matures each time I see him.


Whence that three-cornered smile of bliss? Three angels gave me at once a kiss.
Author: George MacDonald

My husband's favorite joke when people look at the publications I'm in is that "she's Martha Stewart without the jail time." Sadly, other than that I'm crafty, I'm nothing like Martha Stewart. Especially in the kitchen of all places. I hate to cook...it's not like a scrapbook page that can be admired for years - food is consumed and so is your creation. So I don't have much patience for it. The one exception is that I love having Thanksgiving in my home. Last year was the first year I hosted it, and this year I didn't even think about it because of our renovations. Still, it was a special request of my MIL that I make my sausage stuffing. Here I am sauteeing the onions and celery. And I did allow myself to enjoy the whole process while realizing it would all be gone in 24 hours.

My sister, Dana, loves to cook for others. This is my favorite photo of all the pictures of yesterday, Thanksgiving Day. She is improvising a version of Apple Brown Betty, while entertaining my husband and myself. I posted a few other shots that captured the day here. It was a beautiful day- and we had a grand time with both families. Today is a day of relaxation and recuperation. Maybe even a venture out to get a deal sometime this afternoon!

Usually we do this on Thursday, but we moved it this week due to Thanksgiving. So today you really must treat yourselves by looking at the Scrapbooker Online's DT creations uploaded today!

Trying to show several things at once. I know there are many things wrong with this photo - but it was the best one out of the bunch. Today is our final electrical inspection for the addition. Sometime between 1 pm and 3 pm. This is my big window in my scraproom, and there are all the green stickers from previous inspections. This shot also shows the snow we received last night, the first real snowfall of the year. Fonts are 2peas Flower Garden and 2peas Vineyard.

Thanks for looking and I hope you all are warmer than I am right now!

What a wonderful thing is the mail, capable of conveying across continents a warm human hand-clasp. ~Author Unknown

I altered this photo using Virtual Photographer. Thanks to everyone who congratulated me on getting my RebelXT ordered. I decided to just go with the one lens for now, and wait on the 50 mm lens. This is my first SLR and seeing as there is no rebate on the latter, there is no rush. I did order yesterday the book: Rebel Digital Field Guide.

I know among scrappers we pretty much stalk the mailman if we are on design teams and/or submit to magazines. And then's there's swaps. Today I mailed out over $40 worth of postage between CJ's and swaps. Tell me they don't love me at the post office! Here is our old ugly mailbox. I have a replacement one that DH hasn't put up yet. We also need to change our house numbers...who knows when we will get around to that.

Anyways...some exciting news. DH is ordering my RebelXT tonight after he gets home from work. I decided to go with the 28-135 IS lens as well as a 50 mm 1.8 lens. Yes, I am very excited.

Join us at Scrapbookeronline today from 1pm to 4 pm EST for a fun crop with prizes! See you there (P.S. It's free!)

Give me joy over happiness any day. In my opinion, happiness is fleeting but joy is a state of being. I happened upon this book by Osho one day at the bookstore. I wasn't sure what I was going to photograph today and this was within reach. I put it on the floor near the sliding glass door where the sun is streaming in.

Another excercise from Julia Cameron's The Sound of Paper. List five imaginary lives and steps you can take toward actualizing it. "Anytime we take an action that resonates with an imaginary life, we feel better, somehow more ourselves."

1. Belly dancer
a. Look up how-to info on internet.
b. Buy a belly dancer costume.
c. Take a lesson.
d. Borrow or rent video about belly dancing.
e. Hire a belly dancer to perform for a party.

2. Yoga instructor
a. Buy a book about yoga.
b. Buy yoga pants.
c. Do my yoga exercise video that I have downstairs.
d. Talk to a yoga instructor and find out how he/she got started.
e. Take a class at the Y.

3. Scrapbook Celebrity
a. Find an online chat that a current SB celeb will be at.
b. Enter a big contest.
c. Write a fan letter.
d. Mail in a layout submission instead of submitting online.
e. Rub elbows with celebs at CKU.

4. Inspirational speaker
a. Look up inspirational quotes.
b. Write a speech.
c. Copywright your own success story
d. Practice enunciation.
e. Look for advice at toastmasters.org

5. Art therapist
a. Take a studio art or photography class (even though I've taken a bunch it's been quitea few years since I've been in Art)
b. Audit a pyschology class.
c. Try a new technique such as Batik.
d. Keep an art journal.
e. Make a sand creation at the beach.


Photo of the day: I love my curves. Me at Curves. This is my "before" shot- taken yesterday. I have a lot of weight I'd like to lose.

Julia Cameron, in The Sound of Paper, speaks about teachability. "Many adventures require that we muster the courage to be a beginner....List five things you would love to do, if you didn't have to do them perfectly."

1. If I didn't have to do it perfectly, I'd try: painting a mural.
2. If I didn't have to do it perfectly, I'd try: using an SLR camera.
3. If I didn't have to do it perfectly, I'd try: running a marathon (in my case, I'd have to walk one.)
4. If I didn't have to do it perfectly, I'd try: writing an article for a magazine.
5. If I didn't have to do it perfectly, I'd try: meeting more people.

Yesterday I complained about our renovations. Today I get to sing the praises of the renovations. (BTW, which of the photos from yesterday is most usable?) So today's story is that when I get my new scrap room, my husband insists on having a place for him to sit and watch TV in order for us to be together. I debated him at first on this because he tends to step on things, as I tend to use all of my space when I scrap - even the floor. As you can see here, I did not win. The joy to losing this argument is that I got new living room furniture while the old mis-matched pieces will now be moved - the old sofa in the finished basement, and the old loveseat goes into my new scraproom. And with new furniture, DH had to have new TV as a well - which explains the large boxes in the first picture. Thanks for looking!

I'm am so over our renovations. It was supposed to be a short-term project and we are now wrapping up month three. I ought not complain because I'll have a really grand scrap room when it's done - yet I guess I'm disappointed because I assumed it would done this week, I guess that's what I get for assuming things. So this is what it looks like in our living room after I finished scrapping on the floor last night. I took about 15 pictures...I'm curious to see which one you all like the best. I am really enjoying this challenge that is forcing me to think each day and discover there are so many photo-worthy opportunities. Want to see what I scrapped last night? The layouts will be posted at Scrapbooker Online tomorrow as it's Wicked Awesome Thursday! (WAT - the Boston owners ask the DT to upload their DT layouts every Thursday). Hope to see you then!

Zsiage Patterned Paper: Do You Believe?

Zsiage Alphastructures Chipboard

I do find it rather odd that we do not look at the sunset unless we are on vacation. That is, unless we happen to catch it per chance. I would have never captured this sunset on film if not for this challenge. I walked toward the water hoping some of the color would play off of it, but the sun was setting in the opposite direction. These are homes right on the beach.

Quotes about sunsets:

The sky broke like an egg into full sunset and the water caught fire.~Pamela Hansford Johnson

Clouds come floating into my life, no longer to carry rain or usher storm, but to add color to my sunset sky. ~Rabindranath Tagore

What is life? It is the flash of a firefly in the night. It is the breath of a buffalo in the wintertime. It is the little shadow which runs across the grass and loses itself in the sunset. ~Crowfoot

When I admire the wonders of a sunset or the beauty of the moon, my soul expands in the worship of the creator. ~Mohandas Gandhi

I can see it all just by closing my eyes - a panorama of life lived each day at its highest tempo; each morning bursting with all the freshness of a new appleblossom; each night a dream of waltzes, music and joyousness; a Paradise on earth destined to perish like a butterfly at sunset. ~Erich von Stroheim

Come join our online crop Saturday, November 19th at www.scrapbookeronline.com! Here's my layout that celebrates the fact that SBO is in the Top 100 SB sites. I used 100 in the title. I hope to see you there.

I never would have imagined that we'd go with Ralph Lauren paint in our addition. DH has connections to a local paint store and swears by the brand Muralo. However, a last minute decision to go with a different color on the ceiling had us at Home Depot early Sunday morning because the local paint store is closed for some reason on Sundays. There aren't a whole lot of choices at HD - we were instructed by the contractor not to buy Glidden. RL paint was on sale, in addition to offering up to $5 off per gallon through rebates. So now I have designer paint on my ceilings! Har. And I'm too lazy this morning to crop this photo so I'm posting as is! Happy Monday.

Amazingly enough, it didn't take much convincing of my husband to decorate our home in cottage style accessories. This shower curtain was one of the very first purchases I made when we bought this house in 2002. Of course, I am making it sound so much easier than it was. I already had this shower curtain up in the bathroom by the time he came home from work. "No way," he declared. After decades of living as a bachelor, I think he might have been in flower shock. I left the shower curtain up anyways. Surprisingly, there were no further protests. It only took a few days for it to grow on him.

Today I experimented with picture-taking by getting shots of these baubles that are outdoor Christmas lights. Not sure that I'd ever use these pics for anything...

Go to scrapbookeronline.com to see more creations for Style Saturday.

Yay...Friday is here. I love Fridays because my husband always has Fridays off to spend the day with me. We normally don't have anything exciting planned on Fridays - it's just a day to relax and get caught up on housework and errands that need to be done. Our contractor for some reason won't be here today either so we can truly relax and not have to plan our day around him. As I sit here typing, David is eating soup in the living room with the comedy channel on before he gets ready to go out and mulch the leaves in our yard.

My photo for today was taken yesterday as I was getting ready to go outside and photograph the chair...a cute squirrel was on our deck railing enjoying an acorn. The first photo I took was from inside, and while I thought I turned the flash off - I had in fact turned it on instead and thus why this first picture is a little funky. Pretty soon the squirrel jumped from the railing to the tree as I scared him, and I got this neat photo which is second. Then he sat there posing for me so I got a couple good shots of him in the tree. Instead of just posting my best picture, I thought it would be fun to show the others ones as well. Thanks so much for looking!

Saw this posted in Elsie Flanigan's blog. Shamelessly stealing!


names you go by
1.Julie Ann
2.JA

2 parts of your heritage
1. Irish
2. Slovac

2 things that scare you
1. One day giving birth (the pain)
2. Spiders

2 of your everyday essentials
1. scrapbookeronline.com
2. toast for breakfast

2 things you are wearing right now
1. workout clothes
2. baseball cap

2 of your favorite bands or musical artists (at the moment)
1. DH
2. Kelly Clarkson

2 favorite songs (at the moment)
1. U2 - Beautiful Day
2. John Lennon - Imagine

2 things you want in a relationship (other than real love)
1. Trust
2. Synergy

2 truths
1. I adore my husband.
2. I like yellow.

2 physical things that appeal to you (in the opposite sex)
1. Smile
2. Emotional availability

2 of your favorite hobbies (besides scrapbooking??)
1. Walking on the beach
2. Being with friends

2 things you want really badly
1. New camera
2. For our renovations to be complete

2 places you want to go on vacation
1. Australia
2. Hilton Head

2 things you want to do before you die
1. Start our family
2. Get published in CK

2 ways that you are stereotypically a dude/chick
1. I hate to take out the garbage
2. I love decorating our home

2 things you are thinking about now
1. Taking a shower
2. Having dinner soon

2 stores you shop at
1. Scrapbook Creations
2. Target

2 people i would like to see take this quiz
1. Nikki (sabren)
2. Marjorie (minmaui)

I did promise to take a picture of the chair if the weather was nice, so voila! DH hates this chair. Too bad. He just can't fathom why someone would go for the "shabby" look. It is beyond him why a person would find the peeling paint, junkyard look appealing. To his credit, he follows that up by saying "What do I know anyway?" Good man. Yes, please leave the decorating up to me.

I woke up today to the typical November day here in Upstate New York. The whole weekend we had record days and now we are back to dull, gray, rainy Novemeber weather that I am so used to. I did use Virtual Photographer to edit this photo...punching it up with orange. Not the best picture but it's the first time I photographed this old chair....a garage-sale find from the summer. If the weather is nice tomorrow, I'll get some close-ups of this old chair.

I took so many photos this weekend that I just have to share. I have a close group of girlfriends whom I met through the internet...at a site that is similiar to live journals. We all started off at ultimateweddings.com planning our unions and then moved to letsjusttalk.com - and this past weekend we held a baby shower for Carrie - the one in blue. The core members of our group live in Upstate/Western NY, and we have one girl in from Philly and one from Ottawa. It was the best-kept secret with only the essential people knowing that one more girl flew in from San Diego. These photos that I took captured Carrie's surprise when we brought Terri out from her hiding spot. Thanks for looking! **ETA: forgive the flash in the window! All I have right now is a point and shoot.

























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I was out of town for the week so I didn't post obviously. Looking around the house for things to photograph and thought this might make a good photo. These are photos of my husband's parents (on the left) and my parents (right) on their wedding days. Along with this figurine, these framed photos were on our cake table at our wedding. My husband's parents have been married for fifty-one years and my parents have been married for about thirty-eight years. My mother-in-law was delighted to see this set up in our living room! Feel free to click on the pictures to see a larger image.

I just had to take a shot of my husband testing the cable in our new addition to our home. We are about a week away from completion. I thought this particular shot was cool because the TV seems to glow. It seems kind of funny to me the priority the television has to my husband, to men in general. This happens to be just one of five televisions in our home, and it's just two of us living here! And to my husband, the bigger the TV the better. This room he is testing in is our new master bedroom, a room that I value NOT having a television in. To me, the bedroom is for sleeping. Nevertheless, there is working cable in the bedroom, either for us or for whoever inhabits this home after we are long gone.

Today's photo is the glass container used for our wedding guests to put notes written for us into. I used the Caesar Open font to write "Wish." I went ahead and made a layout using today's photo because I was assigned to use this new Zsiage paper from their Do You Believe? JD line. Unfortunately our photographers didn't get a pic of this at the wedding so yesterday I put this quilt on a chair for a backdrop and set up this still-life. This new Zsiage paper was perfect background to unify all the different colored notes. The guests decorated their own notes with stickers! The title on my layout was created with letter stickers from Scrapbooker Online - Girls Are Weird Alphabiggies.

Thanks for looking!