The Sunday Creative - Dynamic

Maegan's theme for this week was a fun one!  When I saw the prompt I instantly thought of my niece and nephew who never seem to stand still, they are always in motion.


I convinced Miss M to show me some of her dance moves.  She hasn't started classes yet, so all these are moves she's made up on her own, saw someone else do, or picked up watching TV.


I love that even her pig-tails are in motion when she spins.

Today's songs is completely obvious, a little Elton John.
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Night Photography

I love Kat's night-time photography series.  I was in awe of the amazing photos she captured and it made me want to give it a try.  If you haven't seen her series yet, head over there now, you will learn so much!

I still have a long way to go, but I woke up at my house last week before the sun and as I worked I saw the sky start to turn purple as the sun started to rise.  I grabbed my camera, dashed out to the porch and started snapping.

I love the rich color I captured, the silhouettes and mostly I just loved trying something new.  I wish I'd had a tripod, but I still think I did decently for my first try.

What photo techniques have you recently tried out?  How did it go?

To celebrate a little night photography, here's another one of my $5 amazon purchases - Josh Ritter's Beautiful Night:
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Office Project Kickoff and GIVEAWAY

My office inspiration from Emily A Clark - Planning to use the same IKEA bookshelf and similar paint, but mine will be a few shades darker and blue blue than purple.

I'll admit it, I spend a lot of time reading design blogs and dreaming of projects I want to do around my house.  While I'm home this fall and have a bit of time off I'm planning to tackle one of those projects - my home office.  It's a large airy room, with big windows that is perfect for an office.  Best of all moving out there will get me away from the kitchen table which is much too close to the pantry and fridge for my waistline.  I anticipate working from home more during the next year so I want to get the office ready as quickly as possible and I'm planning to share my progress with you as I go.

I have decided on a color to paint the walls and on the type of flooring to install, but I'm still working on all the little details which, let's be honest, is what will really make the place my own.  I'm trying to keep the budget down, so there will be lots of bargain shopping, DYI and re-purposing for the project.  I almost wish I was eligible for the surprise I have for you today, my very first giveaway.

The kind folks at CSN Stores have given me a $35 gift certificate to give away to one of you!  CSN is an online shopping mecca with over 200 stores where you can buy anything from dining room chairs, to rugs (I need some for my office), to lighting right down to storage solutions for media collections (another thing I really need!)

The Rules
All you have to do to win is comment on this post telling me what home project you plan to tackle next.  For a bonus entry become a follower and add a second comment letting me know you've done so.  Already a follower?  Simply add a second comment letting me know you are.

There has never been a better time for all of you lurkers out there to come out of the word work and show me a little comment love.  The contest closes at mid-night Sunday, October 31.  I'll use random.org to pick the winner and will make the announcement on November 2.

The small print
CSN only ships to the US and Canada and international shipping charges apply to those of you in Canada.

A little song for luck from one of my all-time favorites:
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Fall Colors from the Alpine Loop

As I sit and watch the first snow fall of the year I realize I haven't posted any of the photos I took just over a week ago of the gorgeous fall color I found on the Alpine Loop.

Last Sunday, to celebrate my homecoming, I got in my own car and headed to the Alpine Loop which has some of the best fall colors in Utah and happens to be practically in my back yard.

It was such a peaceful ride, just me, my camera and some good music.  No responsibilities and I was free to stop anytime I wanted to grab a photo or to just take in the beauty all around.

About half way through the trip I remembered that my car had a moon roof, then it took me digging out the owners manual to remember where the controller was to open it.  A sign the moon roof doesn't get much use.

If I had waited just a couple more days the leaves would have mostly been gone, so I feel lucky to have gotten home just in time for one of my favorite times of year.

I mentioned Friday I had discovered my local library had a great music collection.  I found a couple of Kasey Chambers' albums and have been listening to them pretty steadily.  I love her voice and her song writing.

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A Little Inspiration

I'm talking about inspiration today at Mortal Muses.  I am so honored to be participating with one of my favorite online groups.  The Muses are celebrating an entire week of inspiration with posts by some talent folks and lovely giveaways, do come over and check it out, you don't want to miss a chance at the Shutter Sister's book "Expressive Photography."

I've listened to this song about 10 times in the last week - I love the lyrics and the melody:

I picture you now

You are beautiful

You are golden

Just like you were

When you thought

No one was looking

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October's Cheap Music

After last week's music week, I thought I'd set aside one day each month to highlight some great music you can pick up on the cheap. Each month amazon.com has a list of about 100 albums you can download for $5, I usually want to buy everything, but maybe sharing my wish list will help me control myself.

Those I already own and can vouch for:














Those I purchased this month and LOVE (especially Tift Merritt):














On my wish list:


























Looking for something even cheaper than $5? Check out your local library. I discovered this week that my library has an AMAZING music collection, I've got a great list on hold, that I'm waiting to hear.

If only I didn't have to wait for the 100 other people ahead of me on the list for the new Kings of Leon.


Have you found any great deals on music lately? What song or album have you picked up lately you can recommend to the rest of us? Pin It

Hop on Over

The playlist we created this week over at Inspiration Studio is so AMAZING that I can't resist sharing it here too:

To play the songs in the playlist, click on the sideways triangle in the middle of the embedded player above, the songs will play in order, one after the other.  You can skip ahead or back by clicking on the < or > on either side of the player.

I'd love to have your suggestions for next week's playlist: Sunny Days Will Come, so hop on over to the post and add your picks.

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Still Lucky!

This photo has nothing to do with this post, but she's so cute, I just couldn't resist.

You know that luck I talked about last week?  I'm happy to say it has continued - except at the horse track and looking back, my bad luck there may actually be lucky because I now have no desire to bet on the ponies again.

I got an amazing parking spot on a Friday evening at Gardner Village during their October festival (those of you from the SLC area know that took AMAZING luck.)  Then, this weekend I discovered I won another blog giveaway, a Simply Deliteful Cookbook, over at Caitlin Wilson's Design Blog.  I hope the emphasis is on the simple part of the book and it will improve my non-existent cooking skills.  But the best luck of all came in the form of a shiny new Kindle as a going away gift from my friends in Kentucky.

If any of you have advice on cases for the Kindle or any other tips or tricks please send them my way.  I've had the Kindle app on my iTouch for a long time, but I'm excited to see how the actual Kindle works.

The last bit of luck was discovering this lovely song while my iPod was on shuffle this morning.  I'm sure I've heard it before but it reached out and grabbed me this morning while I was getting ready for the day.
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At Home

I am so happy to be home, I honestly didn't realize how much I had missed it until I got here and started settling in.  It is so fun to spend time with family and to know that I don't have to fit everything into a weekend visit.  There is time to relax and just enjoy being together.

I'm also realizing the little things I've missed.  My own bed.  My nearly silent dishwasher.  My own car.  The view from my back porch.  Having my full wardrobe in one place.  Shoe options. 

One thing that hasn't changed, I can't spend enough time with Miss M and Tiny T.  I haven't convinced T to stand still for photos yet, but Miss M let me grab a couple while we were running around the yard (my own yard!) on Saturday.

What things do you miss when you are away from home?  What is the first thing you want to do when you get back home?

I'm in love with this song.

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To the Races

On my last full day in Kentucky one of our great volunteers decided I couldn't leave without going to Keeneland, the local race track.  She talked one of her friends into giving us her box for the day, which was conveniently located on the finish line, the perfect way to see my first horse races.

None of us had a clue which horses to bet on, but we sure had fun.  I tried picking my horses by looking at the colors they wearing, their number and by name.  None of my methods worked - but I still argue voting for a horse called "Six Pack Abs" is a good method.

I came home $10 poorer, but had an amazing afternoon.  What a great way to say goodbye to KY.

I'm working on this week's post for Inspiration Studio, and this song was one of the suggestions for the playlist.  It is so amazing (and fitting) that I can't help but post it here too:

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