Love, Lydia - Notes from a geeky, plus sized artist.: nature
Showing posts with label nature. Show all posts
Showing posts with label nature. Show all posts

Saturday, July 9, 2016

News + My Nerd Origin Story

Hi Friends,


This week has been a crazy one, with lots of good and lots of bad to report.  Honestly it breaks my heart to think about it all too much.  However I'm going to try and write about some of it and we'll see what happens from there!


News

Giveaway


First off I'm pleased to announce a winner to my giveaway (found in this post).  Congratulations to Melissa K!  Her prize will be shipping soon, and if you missed this giveaway please stay tuned to my blog.  I'll be hosting another in the near future!


I'd also like to thank everyone who entered my giveaway.  I loved reading your ideas for what I should be writing about and noted many folks want to see more about plus size fashion and reviews.  I can't wait to bring you more of this!

Liebster Award



Last week I was nominated by my lovely colleague Sadie at Sadie By Design for a Liebster Award!  The Liebster is an way of giving bloggers a better platform to tell their story to the world.  I wanted to acknowledge it in this post even though I haven't had time to fully address all that goes with the nomination yet.  I'm thrilled and flattered to be featured this way and can't wait to write more about it.  Please watch for a more in depth post about this in the next few weeks!

#BlackLivesMatter


This is just exhausting to keep track of, and the more hate that builds as people start to see race as an issue to take sides on the more sick I feel.  I can't think about other people that way.  506 black lives have been lost so far this year, and now more are being added from the police force thanks to a few renegades who are taking things into their own hands.  One of the 506 was my cousin a few months back.

I keep thinking things will change for the better, and then there is only more violence and tragedy.  It leaves me an emotional mess, feeling guilty when good things are happening in my own life and others are experiencing so much loss.  Guilty for being white and having the privilege to go and do what I want without being anxious for my life.  I feel bad that the best I can do most days is simply have dialogue with you, my readers, or the other folks I know in person or online.  It just feels like nothing I do will be enough to help.  And for that I am sorry.

However I try to read and stay educated about what is going on.  I don't just block it out with my own moderately happy life.  If this strikes a chord with you and you'd like to learn more about concrete ways you can help find peace and ensure a better future for everyone in this country please check out this amazing article featuring a list of practical ways to become an ally.

Pokemon Go


This has been the happy thing of my week  I have been enjoying this app I have eagerly awaited the past 8 months.  I'll be writing more on this in the near future, including a full review!  For now I have my Bulbasaur, a gym next door to my house (First to claim!  Though it's already been taken over and....well, I'll come back to that later).

My Nerd Origin Story


My friend and fellow blogger Mickey came up with this writing prompt and opened it up as a bit of a group project within the Geeks & Beauties community I'm a part of.  I think it's a great topic to think about as we get introspective about life because it helps us look on the bright side of things and view our own life as a story that we get the power to write.  Just as some of our favorite superheroes lives were shaped by adversity so are our own at times.  And as with superheroes, sometimes we keep our nerdy identity a secret from the general public.  However, today I'm opening up about it to you all.

My own story starts when I was learning to read.  I was homeschooled and my mom had some curriculum to help that included a series of books with stepped difficulty and little racetrack to move along as you read each.  I remember after the first dozen or so I think I completed the rest in a day, and then started begging my mom to take me to the library.  From then on I loved reading and would get a dozen or more books each visit, multiple times a week.  When I was 10 years old my mom, brother and I spent some time living with my grandmother and great grandmother to help them out.  As soon as we realized we might be there long term the library visits started there too, and in some ways reading became my best friend when there was no one my age to play with.  While I love my brother, when you're cooped up in a house together you get sick of each other eventually.  Books became my escape from that, and later my comfort as I had to figure out how to make friends with kids again when I had left a kid and came back to my hometown a middle schooler.  Fantasy books were my favorite, from retellings of fairy tales to waiting for each new Harry Potter book.

I was the kid who while perhaps 13 walked to the mall on black Friday to buy myself a Game Boy when they were finally cheap enough to be affordable to my family, and then patiently wait to receive it on Christmas day along with a cartridge for Pokemon Blue (my brother got Red!).  We had an old Nintendo we shared and played the first few Super Mario games on, and I vividly remember playing all of the Legend of Zelda on a 6 inch black and white tv.  As he got further into his teens my brother took over most of the gaming systems in our house, deeming me unworthy to play them as a female.  But I was already hooked.

Growing up we had a closet full of board games, stocked by my mom that we used often.  Before she homeschooled my brother and I full time she had been a librarian at a university, and before that a high school biology teacher.  She loved learning and finding us new projects to work on that stimulated our curiosity.  Even when we watched tv with my parents they would often be watching Star Trek or other science fiction shows.  On Saturdays my dad would take us on walks to 7-11 to pick up some small item the family needed and buy me a Barbie or Strawberry Shortcake comic.  I didn't realize how nerdy this all was until much later in life.  I just took joy from reading about gardening and teaching myself to grow roses, or learning to identify birds, trees, and insects.  I never thought of myself as an outdoorsy kid, but I loved nature and the science and beauty of it.  To this day when I'm creating art or decorating my home themes from nature are constantly finding their way into my work.

Later in high school I wanted to run my own website for a church group I was in and learned to code some in HTML.  We didn't even have a computer at the time, just a WebTV unit that allowed us to do very basic web surfing and checking emails.  But I figured out how to make it work, and later when we did have a computer I was the one keeping that up and running for the 5-6 years we owned a desktop the family to shared.  And I almost ended up in the field of graphic design, except I fell in love with darkroom photography and preferred it to sitting in from of a computer for long periods of time.  And now my work involves a computer (or smartphone) all the time!

For most of my life I didn't think about myself as a nerd, I just did the things I loved, which happened to be geeky.  Nowadays when I'm looking for new friends or trying to find my tribe I often go straight for the nerdy girls first.  And most of the time that's exactly what works best.

If you'd like to hear some other great nerd origin stories please go read Mickey's here at the Nerdily blog, Sadie's at Sadie By Design, Andrea's at her YouTube channel Chibi Drea (coming soon), and Evelyn's at Princess Eevee.  I'll update these links to go straight to their stories, but for now you can check out their sites and get to know these lovely ladies.

What's your nerd origin story like?  Let me know more in the comments!  And as always, thanks for reading.  I really appreciate all my visitors.


Thursday, October 22, 2015

Coloring Books and Fiction Books

Hi everyone,

Today I wanted to share a about some grown up coloring books.  I know recently they've become a trendy thing and more publishers are catching on.  This means there are many to choose from and there's something to suit everyone's taste too!

However, I bet some of you are wondering, why would a professional artist like these coloring books so much?  That would probably be some of the same reasons I think you might enjoy them as well!  First off I find coloring books to be therapeutic because I can simply focus on filling in spaces.  I can create flat areas of color, add texture, or make gradations within the spaces, but I never have to draw up the outlines.  This allows you to A. relax and think about the things you need to see more clearly that have been percolating in the back of your mind, B. think or meditate on a particular subject, whether that's a bible verse, a book you finished reading, or some other subject that's worthy of studying, C. or it allows you to destress, clearing your mind out to focus on just the actions related to coloring.  I honestly do all three at various times.

Additionally, as an artist I find it a useful way to test out ways of using colors together without worrying if they're perfect or not on the first try.  I also find that coloring books can be a fun thing to collect while traveling.  There's a much greater variety in subjects and complexity these days than you might assume.  Below are some favorites from my personal collection, I have more, but I'm going to give you a peek at 4 of them today.  (And as always links with a ◊ are affiliate links, so if you use a link to buy items, they don't have to be the ones in this post, you help support this blog!)

Grown Up Coloring Books

The Art of Nature 

Available from ModCloth◊ and Amazon◊ this is a gorgeous coloring book.  It's probably the most decadent one on my list, but it's worth it because the pages are perforated, and the paper a soft antique white.  Additionally each image could easily be framed as home decor, with or without color.  Though you can match the colors to the ones within the room you plan to hang the image if you do color them.  We're doing that with about a half dozen of them, which fits really well in our beach themed master bedroom.





Mystical Mandala by Alberta Hutchinson

Mandala coloring books are the most popular type of adult coloring books, and the mandala itself dates much farther back in Eastern traditions connected to meditation practices.  The designs in this book, however, are more Western influenced with most incorporating flowers and the types of patterns you might see in a kaleidoscope.  This Dover book◊ is quite lovely, and the mandala designs in it are great for relaxation.  Also I've recently partnered with Dover because I love their coloring books so much!  They have fantastic deals and on average their coloring books cost $4.  They make nearly 30 coloring books of mandalas alone, along with scores of coloring books on almost every subject imaginable.  The only drawback I can think of about Dover is that most of their books have images printed on both sides of each page.  You'll see another one of their books further down in this post too!



Desert Critters by Sue Coccia

I found this book of amazingly detailed original art designs while visiting El Morro National Monument on a roadtrip in New Mexico a couple years back.  The designs are incredibly intricate and I was happy to find that she has made about a dozen different coloring books now when I checked on Amazon to get you a link where you can find this book◊.  I love how she can make animals (and bugs!) that might be unsettling to most people and render them endearing, such as the bat below.  Her books are on especially sturdy paper too, and the spine allows the book to lay flat nicely.  Since these are such beautiful art quality I'll probably be framing some of them too.  And if you don't feel like coloring in the designs she also makes prints of her work, which you can find here.



Civil War Fashions by Tom Tierney

I have to admit I really love all the big frilly dresses of this era.  This book covers fashions from both the north and south, with some of sources also being French fashion plates.  For being another little $4 Dover book this one◊ has tons of pages and pretty nice quality paper too.  I was able to use watercolors on the page shown without much warping at all, though I had to be very careful.  Additionally the paper is recycled product, as designated by the little green symbol on the top right corner of the cover.  While I may not be that much of a true southern girl (please don't make me sit through Gone With The Wind ever again!  Once was more than enough.) these costumes we associate with southern culture will always catch my eye.  Though the same women's designs were also worn in the north, and in Europe around the same time, it just gets forgotten easily.  Watch a movie like The Young Victoria◊ (which I highly recommend and happens to be on sale as I write this!) and you'll see the similar styles.


Fiction Reviews


The Death And Life Of Mal Evans


I know it's been a couple weeks since I've published any book reviews, so this week I've got 2 for you.  First off is The Death And Life Of Mal Evans: A Novel by Peter Lee.  I was given a copy of this book to review, and was really excited about it.  The premise is looking back at the life of one of The Beatles' roadies, if he could go back in time and change things would The Beatles have stayed together.  The book is really well researched and even has a timeline and possible discographies of the fictional albums that could have been.  Most of the content is songs that would have been in solo projects and such.  The whole book is a love letter to The Beatles and their fans, and it's easy to get sucked in and go right along for the ride.  While there are are fights, and other things that trip up the band in the end there's a better vision of how it could have been thanks to a roadie who poured his life into the belief that The Beatles were at their best together.



Spell Or High Water


The second book I read recently is Spell Or High Water by Scott Meyer.  It's the sequel to Off To Be The Wizard, and follows along with Martin and Phillip as they head off to a wizard convention in Atlantis.  While I enjoyed this book I felt like Meyer had even more trouble writing women than he did in the previous book.  The plot was pretty good though there were parts where I just wish it had more depth.  I did like how he developed the shell and various other ways wizards found to innovate and essentially code the world around them.  Otherwise it's another slightly nerdy fantasy book that if you enjoy fantasy and time travel you will probably be happy reading.

Thanks for reading and if you have any books to recommend let me know in the comments below!  And if you haven't entered to win my giveaway for Julep nail products please check that out below.

Love,
Lydia




You can win the 4 colors above (Lydia, Lee, Florence, and Sandi) plus a set of holographic decals by entering your information in the Rafflecopter widget below.  And if you'd like to try them out you can also use this link◊ and get an introductory box of gorgeous metallic colors free!


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thursday, September 24, 2015

Mac and Cheese + Good Reads

Hello again!

Today I've got a new recipe for you.  I decided I wanted to tackle something new for the guys this week for our tabletop RPG night.  I love recipes that make things easy and one of the easiest ways I know of doing that is crock pot recipes.  I looked at a couple different versions of crock pot mac and cheese before coming up with my own.  Here is my version:

Leveled Up Mac and Cheese


What you'll need:

3 3/4 cups of shredded cheddar cheese (we tried Sargento's 4 State Cheddar because it sounded good/was on sale)
2 cups Mexican blend shredded cheese (we just used Kroger's version)
3 cups of milk
5 tablespoons butter
16 oz elbow macaroni
8 oz cream cheese

Optional:

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/8 cup bread crumbs (we went with garlic and herb seasoned)
1/8 cup grated parmesan cheese
1 package of bacon

Total time: about 3 hours

First boil the pasta until it's al dente, or if you're like me as soon as you look in the pot and see they've grown, then drain the noodles.

Then add all the items in your crock pot except the parmesan, bread crumbs, and bacon, stir them a bit and set the crock pot on low.  Come back and stir every half hour and in 2-3 hours it will be done.  You can tell it's done when everything is melted, smells good, and cheese starts browning on the sides of the pot.  When it's at that point just add a layer of the parmesan and bread crumbs on top, put the lid back on and set your crock pot to warm until you're ready to serve.

If you want to add bacon to the dish cook the bacon separately in the oven.  My favorite method is by putting the bacon on a foil lined pan, into the oven and then setting the temperature to 375F for 20 minutes.  After 20 minutes if it's not done just check it every few minutes until it's done the way you like it best.  You can then chop the bacon and add it to your bowl of macaroni.

We found that as a main dish this recipe feeds 5 adults, as a side dish it would feed 10.  It is very cheesy and fill you up more than you'd assume because of this.


And now for the book reviews:

Cover image used under fair use guidelines

A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson was a really interesting read.  I had picked it up at a thrift store a while back knowing Bryan had enjoyed some of the author's books and thinking a book about the trail so close to where I group up in Roanoke would be interesting.  And it was!  The Appalachian Trail stretches from Georgia to Maine, with an extension trail that goes on up into Canada for those who wish to keep going, and Bill and his friend are about to tackle walking it all.  I think I ended up enjoying some of the more thoughtful sections of the book on history, nature, and the influence of man on it all better than I did some of the parts about the experience of walking the trail and the humor involved (the humor actually put me off a little at times).  I could mentally picture what it might have been like to see the huge old chestnut forests.  All in all it makes me want to go out and walk some parts of the trail and photograph it.  This is the kind of book that many readers will enjoy, but there will be parts you can take or leave along the way.  However, it's all worth the trip.


Cover image used under Fair Use guidelines


Velvet Volume 1 by Ed Brubaker, Steve Epting, and Bettie Breitweiser is the quintessential spy story.  A spy is framed and has to revisit past memories to find out the secrets that will allow them to clear their name.  Only in this case it's a middle aged female spy who was just working as a secretary at the time she was framed.  Over the course of this first book we find out just how much she knows and doesn't know about those she has spent her life working with.  And all this while she's on the run from her own agency.  This was one of our reads for the Word Balloons discussion group at Fight or Flight Comics (my local comic book store in Raleigh, NC), which I probably would never have picked up otherwise.  It reads like most spy movies and has a fairly formulaic feel, but undeniably left me wanting more the moment I finished reading it.

That's all for today, but I'll see you again Friday!

Love,
Lydia

Tuesday, September 15, 2015

5 Fall Favorites

Hi folks,

This week it's finally feeling like fall, and I'm thrilled for it!  Bring on all that cooler weather, cause for cocoa, and copious amounts of cinnamon.  Mmmmm, and so many other magnificent munchies.  Ok, I'll stop it with the alliteration, but all you fall lovers know just how I feel!

I just got involved with a fantastic Google+ group called Geeks & Beauties, which happens to be running a fall "Sweater Weather" swap.  The idea is you create a box of some of your favorite autumn inspired items and someone else does the same for you.  I'm already thinking up fun things I can add in, but it got me thinking I should share a list of some of my favorite fall things.  In no order whatsoever:

5 Fall Favorites


1. Bonfires

Whether they're in home firepits, out camping, or at fall events with friends they are some of my favorite times spent in the chill air with friends.  Summer ones are just too hot, unless you're in Maine or someplace with equally cool summer nights.


2. Hoodies

Sometimes a fire alone isn't enough to keep you warm, so you put on your sweatshirt and it fills up with the smell of woodsmoke that lingers till the next time you wash it.  They're the coziest piece of casual clothes you can own.

Picture taken by Corey Ann Carlton 2008

3. Pumpkin/Cinnamon spice things

I'm not sure I even need to explain this one because it's so common.  My favorites are not the Starbucks beverages (I prefer Dunkin's), but all the fantastic baked goods and my favorite cinnamon apple chamomile tea◊.


4. Less humidity

Unless you've been to the south I am not sure you can fully appreciate this one.  Put simply, I like being able to breathe, not sweat when I walk outside, and be able to see the stars on a clear night.  Feeling stuffy and humid makes me angry, kind of how some people get "hangry".  I love crisp air that allows me to wear those hoodies from #2.  This is probably why so many of my pictures have been taken indoors lately.  This is where I'm tempted to live all summer:


5. Fall Leaves

You know my list couldn't be complete without this one.  The best place to see leaves is the Blue Ridge Parkway, and I always want to visit most in the fall.  I may have moved away from the mountains, but they always feel like home in a way.  And I still can't resist crunching leaves underfoot.  My favorite chore?  Raking leaves!


Honorable mention goes to knitting, because while I always feel like it in the fall, I often knit year round.

So what are your top 5?  Tell me in the comments!

Love,
Lydia

Monday, September 7, 2015

My First Camera Stories

ALL the cameras!

That was my prompt for this post.  Really when I start thinking about all my cameras, the old ones and new, I end up thinking about what made me love photography in the first place.  Above all that was the magic of film.  I don't remember when I was given my first camera, but I was pretty young, and it was just a simple one that took 110 film.  Who remembers what stuff?  haha  110 film is even smaller than 35mm and honesty makes it hard for whoever processes it.  Not as hard as the film my next camera took though.

Mine looked something like this, though the image is from https://irishbear3455.wordpress.com/2014/06/10/why-do-we-love-photography-a-thirty-somethings-photographic-journey-the-early-years-1976-1986-part-six-week-three/ who got it from Google images....an image chain.

My second camera was an APS film camera, a weird little format in hard to open cartridges that I hated having to deal with when I worked for Ritz camera years later.  It's advantage was that it had a switch for making different format images, and recorded which you selected so lab techs would know which to print later.  It led to some expense since the panoramic shots cost more to print.  However it was perfect for trips as a teenager.  I ended up losing my first camera after a couple years during a fall weekend retreat, while out in the woods.  It was found the next summer in a creek, full of grit and inoperable, but the film was still intact.  In the meantime I have saved up my babysitting money for another similar model that I kept using until I finally got my first digital camera in 2004.

Switchfoot, Purple Door Festival in Shippensburg, PA, 2003
It was a humble little model, outdated almost as soon as I bought it, but it was what I could afford between my pay at a bookstore and all the concert tickets and trips I went on that year.  But the little Fuji A330 lasted for a long time with all of 3MP at its disposal.  I went from taking photos like the one above to photos like the one below.

Red Umbrella, GMA week show in Nashville, TN, 2004


Meanwhile, I decided to try community college out and one of the classes I thought would be fun was photography.  My brother had taken a photography class and liked it when he was in high school, but he was hesitant to lend me his camera.  But one of my coworkers, Jim, lent me his camera for the semester.  I was shocked because it was so nice I was almost scared to take it from him, temporary as it might be.  But he was incredibly kind about it and insisted I should.  I think he knew I'd do well at it.

The first day we stepped into the darkroom I was terrified.  I felt like I couldn't handle all the chemicals and was scared of making mistakes and of the potential toxicity of the chemicals themselves.  I almost dropped out of the class then and there, and I think I must have said something to my instructor about being worried.  Ms Talbot, being the lovely person she is took it in stride and told me to just keep coming and she'd help me out if I needed it.  So I came back the next week, and everything went perfectly.  I excitedly developed my first roll of film from that beautiful Olympus OM-2 camera and started down a path that changed my life.

Image via Amazon http://www.amazon.com/Olympus-OM-2-35mm-Film-Camera/dp/B0084X2RIS

I think Jim knew he was influencing me back then, and I'm so thankful he was a part of shaping my life and career.  Not too long ago Jim passed away, but I will remember him as a wonderful, kind, Christian man who put a camera into my hands when I needed it most.  Thanks Jim.

I will write more about cameras at a later time, because I want to share more about my current set up and what I used while in school, but I wanted to end my post on this note as a way of thanking everyone who helped me find my passions.

Love,
Lydia

Tuesday, August 11, 2015

Beach Week Aftermath

Welcome back everyone!

I ended up taking time off of blogging while at the beach.  Obviously I didn't intend to, but the week ended up being a busier one than I anticipated.  I didn't even get any reading done!  However, I did spend lots of time with a great bunch of people playing board games, card games, computer games, going on a double date night, having late night chats, making a trip to the outlets, and celebrating my birthday.  I've been reviewing all the photos I took today, but also relaxing because I don't feel so hot.  It's really rather nice to have an excuse to relax after such a busy week.  I know most people don't feel like a vacation is work, but when I'm around a lot of people and get no real time to myself for a while it can be really draining.

Here are some highlights from the week at North Myrtle Beach:

On our first night there the moon was still nearly full and begging to be photographed, so I did!

The yard leading up to the beach.

I stayed up all night Tuesday because the air conditioning was out at the beach house, but in the morning when it was a bit nicer out (it was incredibly muggy all week and mostly very hot with the occasional thunderstorm) I went out to the beach and watched the sunrise with my camera and a couple of the guys.








And finally a little close up nature shot, my favorite kind!



As for the indoor activities I didn't take many photos at all.  Just a shot of the tournament poster I made for our Magic: The Gathering tournament, which I did surprisingly well in.  

On the way home we grabbed Michael to make things more fun and stopped at South of the Border, one of the kitschiest little bits of America that ever happened.  There we saw:
A terrifying jaguar with an unhinged jaw, the horrors!

Our brother Davey, flying his kite.

A very fake shark.

The sad mannequin, with tear stained cheeks, the poor limbless guy.

King Kong and a menagerie of other fiberglass creatures, real and imaginary.  My favorite was the lavender jackalope, I should have taken a picture of it and now kick myself for missing the chance.

The giant sombrero tower.

And the iconic sign.


We also saw plenty of fiends of old corn, peanuts, and tobacco (what's pictured above).  We got stuck in traffic on I-95 multiple times before and after lunch, and eventually got off of it altogether.  But we did enjoy the side trip for a fantastic Cuban lunch in Fayetteville, NC at Habana Cuban Restaurant.

We may have gotten home Saturday, but Sunday was busy too as Allan (Bryan's dad) and I went to see Garrison Keillor on his Prairie Home Companion: The America The Beautiful tour.  I had heard about it only a couple weeks before and near the same time heard of Keillor's upcoming retirement.  Having listened to the show with my parents many Sunday afternoons I had fond memories of his show and wanted to be able to see a bit of it live just once, and thus asked for a ticket as a birthday gift.  While the performances on this tour aren't all aired on the radio they have many of the same features as the show, plus some delightful sing along elements too.  We had a wonderful evening with perfect weather, and a fantastic venue in the Koka Booth Ampitheater in Cary, NC.  I'm hoping to take Bryan (and anyone else inclined to go) back this fall for some of their more moderately priced bluegrass concerts.






I'll be back Wednesday with another set of book reviews.  Thanks for reading!

Love,
Lydia