Lost Aussie on the loose

And the Winners Are....

Drum roll please...

Due to the lovely and overwhelming response to my "pay it forward" Giveaway - I decided to give TWO lucky commenters a place in the next Digital Magic Class.

Random numberly generated winners are:

Cathy Sylvester and John Dearden.

I will be sending you both an email - Congratulations and a very big thank you to everyone who participated in the draw.

As a thank you to all of you who participated in the draw I will extend the "Early Bird" pricing of the class for another couple of days so that you can sign up at the discounted rate.

There are not too many spots left in the Class - so don't delay!

My G Q Dude Rockin' a Tux

The new school year is off to a whizz bang start in Australia and number #2 son starts the rounds of Senior Prom events this past week.

Each school hosts their own event and this is Mr D ready to attend the "Ball" for St Mary's school.

He has a couple of other events to attend before he gets to his own school Senior "Prom" which will be held in May.

I'm torn between the delight of seeing him all grown up and ready for the next step in life and worrying about the ridiculous cost of tuxedo and limmo hire!

Life for them is so different than it was for me at that age.  We thought that puffed up balloons and home-made dresses were just fine!

 

 

And yes, that is ME, circa 1977 at what we would now call my "Senior Prom". 

I was 16 and graduating High School. 

The fellow to the left, and cropped out is now sadly passed away.
Our "limmo" chariot was his beat up souped up car and I think I still had to be home by 11:30pm.

He was a DJ at a local radio station which made me somewhat of a school hero... going out with a "grown up" ... of course you had to temper this fact with the one that I was also a school and library prefect - so yes.... I guess there were nerds even back then!

Times change, but seeing handsome boys in good suits, especially when they are yours is always a heart filling moment.

Well done honey! You look smashing!

Painting New York

My photography course has come to an end and although I tired of the "paid programming" the teacher inserted into each week's lessons (to boost sales in her store) I did learn a number of new things and most importantly gained plenty of confidence with all the bells and whistles on my camera to the point that that I now shoot mostly in Manual mode and am quite happy doing so.

I think from her perspective I must be the least successful student she has had, for on the second to last week I took a portfolio book of my work in to share with my fellow students.  There were plenty of ooh's ahhs and how did you do that? ... but then the teacher peeked at the book too and her comment was ... "Oh... you do take photos so that you can RUIN them".  Which was a joking comment I had made a week or so earlier.

So, I guess there lies the difference between the purist and the artist?

And yes, I am less interested in the perfect shot than I am in what I can do with the image once I get it into Photoshop.

But at least I know how to take pictures in the dark of the Subway now and how to capture the movement of the train .... so thanks teach'!

A Giveaway

Due to popular demand I will be hosting another session of the Digital Magic Online Class.  This is likely the last time I will be offering this class, so if you have been wanting to take it and missed out on the other sessions, I recommend you grab this last chance.

For more information and samples you can follow the links.  Class starts on March 5th, 2010 and seats are limited.

As with all my online classes I have a number of spots to GIVE AWAY - it's a pay it forward kind of thing and often means that students who could not otherwise take the class have the opportunity to win a free place.

So, if you are interested in being entered into the RANDOM draw for a free place in the Class, you can leave your comment at the end of this blog post and feel free to share the opportunity with your friends.

The other free seat is being offered by my friend Carla Naron on her Blog - you can check it out here.

I will be drawing the winner's name on Monday February 28th at Midnight, Eastern US time.

So good luck!

And Off We Go Again

Another 4 inches of fluffy white stuff...... ugh!

And Then Came A Little Art

Head Cleaning

I love the beach at any time of the year.  So when Friday's weather temps hit the high 50's DH and I took a little road trip to the north shore of the island to a place called Eaton's Neck. 

We'd actually looked at buying a house there when we were moving to Long Island and I sorely wish we had. All the good reasons we chose for the location of the house we have turned out to be totally invalid about 3 months after we bought the place, and DH's then employer, saw fit to move office to the middle of New York City .... yeah really!

Anyway, a walk on the beach is always good therapy for me.  In our Family we call it "head cleaning" - where you stand in the cross wind and let the cobwebs get blown from your mind!

I could very easily have become accustomed to waking up to views like this each day and having the beach on my doorstep!

What is it they say? Coulda, woulda, shoulda?

Grisley Contemplations

I'm tired of grey, so I decided to make this winter rosehip into something colorful.  I don't really care that it's not remotely hip or realistic - I need some warmth and vibrance.

I also need some clarification and understanding -

Why is it that with all the taxes and fees we pay, our local school districts have seen fit to remove, libraries, librarians, music, art and sport from the local school curriculums becasue they don't have enough money?

Why is it that with all the BILLIONS of dollars that are sent overseas from the US, we have to cut 6000+ teachers from the NYC budget, eliminate the majority of funding for senior citizen support in this State, close down Fire Houses and well the list goes on....

Why is it that I am invited to dinner with my Australian Prime Minsiter but asked to pay $1500 for the pleasure? Surely they should be paying me to attend - or at least offering me dinner for free! .... or perhaps I am just supposed to WRITE  IT OFF as a tax deduction?

There is really something very wrong with the global state of affairs.

You might call me pessimistic, but I am worried.  I am worried for me, but I am more worried for my children.

Love - ly

I had a wonderful Valentine's Day yesterday.  I hope lots of love came your way too!

An Online Jewelry Class

My dear friend and long time Art Pal, Deryn Mentock is debuting the first of her solo online jewlery class workshops and I am so excited to be able to play "student" instead of teacher for a while.

Fiddling with wire and beads has been a long time passion of mine - but well, what with travel and many other "life" moments it's hard to get to take a workshop.

Deryn has come up with my perfect solution - an online event that will offer me the opportunity to refresh some old skills and build upon some new.

I'm excited and if jewelry making is your thing, I know you will be too....

Check out Deryn's workshop here....