Mandalas

I've been a little obsessed with crocheting mandalas lately. There's something really therapeutic about free form crocheting in the round and figuring out the design as you go. It's liberating to not have to follow a design and letting the yarn and stitches guide what the next round may look like. I hope one day I'll be adventurous enough with knitting to try to do it with that, but for now, it's crocheting. I have them up for sale on my etsy, but my real goal is just to get them to people who will appreciate and adore them :). Making them is a type of therapy for me. It helps me escape the stress of grad school for a little bit... and also gives me an excuse to watch a TV show.

I'm going to try to start posting more on my blog. It's so easy to upload with other social networks that I often forget how therapeutic it can be to blog and journal. I'm halfway through my master's program for occupational therapy right now. The end is in sight!!! It's been a tough first year. I've been pushed further than I've ever been and at times, further than anyone should ever be pushed. Cannot wait for my fieldworks to start in a few months though!!

Jeff and Kristen O'Brien's Wedding

Oakland CItyscape!

This image was done with two photos. The first I took on my roof of the cityscape of downtown Oakland. I made a diy heart brokeh lens hood from diyphotography.com (http://www.diyphotography.net/diy_create_your_own_bokeh). The second image I took was also on the roof as well with a flash, wearing black (that rhymes!) and me balancing on a chair in order to get as much black background as I could (which means less postprocessing work which I find to be a pain).

I used gimp and since I forgot to bring my mouse while visiting my friends and family, I painstakingly did it moving my finger very slowly on the laptop pad. Lots of undoing and redoing here.

Really, the reason why I wanted to do this image was so I could have an excuse to use the brokeh lens hood and see what it's all about. It was simple to make and created some cool results, although I thought all the lights were going to be hearts. All well, at least the majority of them are.


SO works about to start again which = more effective time management = more photos = more posts on flickr(http://www.flickr.com/photos/89337456@N00/) and hopefully here as well. :)

Rumors

Yesterday I had time to shoot and edit. I'm really happy with the results, but I know I can do better. I just feel like there's only so much I can do on Gimp and so much more I can do on photoshop. Soon... loans first, laptop second, then I'll have to start saving for that.

Here's what it ended up looking like:


I took three pictures and lassoed each figure into one image. I had to extend the wall and get rid of a door on the right side of the photo which was a major pain. One thing that bothers me with gimp is I can make convincing shadows and they're such a big part of how real something looks.

The Happiness Project

I recently stumbled upon a book at a bookstore written by Gretchen Rubin called The Happiness Project. . I didn't have a lot of time to look at the book, but I saw that she had a website. I looked it up later, hoping to find more information on what she did in her search for happiness for a year. It didn't, but it did have a great way to make your own happiness project.

Although I still don't know how to use a lot of the items, it gives you a way to connect with other people and see what they are doing.

I decided to start with three goals: Stretch everyday, Take my vitamins everyday, dance once a week. For some reason, having them down and knowing people can see them is keeping me really accountable. I've missed a day here and there, but I've been doing those things more consistently than I have in the past. Hopefully by the end of the month, they'll become habit and I can come up with new goals.

No Shampoo for You!

I read this article about how for women with curly hair, not shampooing is the way to go. I have wavy hair, but I figured that was close enough. (I wish I saved the article. I can't seem to find it.)

So, I tried it out... I lasted 4 days. There was no bad odor (I was still using conditioner because I have pretty long hair) but the issue I had was it looked sooo oily. Today I gave in and ended up using shampoo. I will try it again soon and try the baking soda shampooing method. That might work better for me.