Words and Music and Feelings

Music has always been an important part of my life.

It really is a big influence in the world when you think about it.

Music has the power to evoke so many emotions in people.  

From happiness to sadness and a myriad of emotions in between.

I really can't say there isn't a genre of music I DON'T like.  Oh sure, there are certain types where I prefer that, but then comes along a song in another type of genre that I do like. 

Back in my high school and beyond days, I would go to dance clubs (Florentine Gardens, The Palace, Club 21, Marilyns, Network, 321, Seven Seas,) and clubs in Hollywood and L.A. to listen to bands (i.e. The Roxy, Whiskey A Go Go, The Troubadour, Gazarri's, The Country Club - In Reseda).   And this happened pretty much EVERY weekend.

I always enjoyed going to clubs, whether it was listening to bands, or dancing to music or both.

I also envied those who could play a musical instrument.  My dear friend, Stacy, who came from a musical family background, knew how to play the piano and the drums.  Hey, I played the clarinet in 3rd grade, does that count?  LOL!

My actual earliest memory of a song I remember was when I was 4 years old and my mom had taken me with her to a motocross event (back then when it was just me and her, she partied and went places.  Hard to imagine that, huh?) and I remember Chicago's "Saturday in the Park" playing.   When I hear that song, I always revert back to that time and place.

In the 70's there was my first "teen idol" crush, with Andy Gibb and Shawn Cassidy.  And, of course, let us not forget disco music.  I had a "disco dance contest" at one of my slumber parties.  Yes, don't laugh, I still love disco. *grin*

In high school I had posters of bands and artists all over my walls in my room.  I was always on the lookout for the not "common" posters, but ones of early days of the artists.   In fact, I had a Madonna poster that apparently is so rare, I can't even find it on the web to show you! (Damn, I knew I should have kept it......)

In high school, I also made a vow to stay current with the current trends of music when I had kids, and I have kept that vow.

Normally these days when I go out and dance, it's the current dance music, but last weekend I went to a club where they had Reggae Music playing and I had such a good time! 

Back when I was growing up it was 8-tracks, cassettes and records (yes I still have my purple 12" Purple Rain record), and now it's CD's and mostly mp3's, but no matter how the music is produced to listen to, I will always have it be a part of my life.

Pin Up Photo Shoot

Back in high school I would admire all the Guess ads that were in all the magazines and loved the way they looked in black and white, with the classic "pin up" look. I would tear them out of the magazines and tape them up on my wall (along with all my other posters I had)

. 

I had always loved the classic 1950's Pin Up posters as well.

I'd always been interested in doing a photo shoot like that, but never had the guts to approach any of my friends to dress up and allow me to photograph them.

Imagine my surprise and delight when I was approached by someone asking me to do a Pin Up Photo Shoot!

I eagerly accepted!

The photo shoot itself, went well.   Processing and editing the photos?  Well, now that too a LOT more time and energy.

I had a vision in my head of how I wanted the final product to look like in Photoshop.  I tried many different techniques, to no avail.

Then I did a google search and, lo and behold, I found a Photoshop Pin Up Tutorial!

And the result was this:

Once I had the look I wanted, I then experimented with other photoshop techniques and came up with this black and white one:

I like it because it looks like it was actually taken in the 1950's.

And then I was having fun with the different effects I was able to achieve using Photoshop Actions.

I don't always like to do the traditional poses and like to get a little off center, only show part of the face, just a little different.

She was a fabulous model for me and I was so privileged to do this photo shoot for her.

Oh!  And I can't forget the car that was loaned to her for the photo shoot too!

GTO

You can also find me on Facebook here:  Tina Louise Photo

I learned so much with this photo shoot, mostly with Photoshop and my love for the program has only deepened, as well as my love for photography.

Word of the Year - 2012

Textures by Kim Klassen

Word of the Year.

This is a word that encompasses you and what you want to have as YOUR word for the year.  This word belongs to you.

It can be a word that helps you get through things.

A word that will give you strength throughout the year.

A word that describes you.

It can be whatever you want it to mean.

Last year my word of the year was:  CHOOSE.

A powerful word.  A word that gives me ownership to what I do.  I don't HAVE to or NEED to do it, I CHOOSE to do it.

It was a word that resonated with me from the year before and followed me into last year.

Last year another word started resonating with me.

The word was: PASSION.

This word describes ME.

It's a word I use in my descriptions of me, whether it be on Facebook, Twitter, Gmail, etc.

I am so passionate about so many things.

From my children to my beliefs.

From my art to my creations.

From my family to my friends.

From love to even, yes, loathe.  (I dont' like using the word hate)

Passion is what keeps me going.

Passion is what helps me to aspire to what I want to be.

Passion is what describes my feelings.

Passion is, ultimately, ME.

What is your word of the year?

What is that ONE word that can describe you and what you want to use to help you get through the tough times, the wonderful times,  and just everyday life?

Try finding a word.

It helps.

Trust me.

My Fly Tribe Gals and I are each doing a post about each of our Word of The Year.  Please take some time and read about each one of our words.   Thank you Kelly Rae Roberts for bringing us together.

All you have to do is click on this Fly Tribe Logo/Button and it will take you to our culmative page with all of our blogs.  Thank you.

7 Years Ago

7 years ago today the world lost a wonderful person, friend, sister, mom, and grammie.

My mom was the bomb.

She really was.

As naive as she was at times (and sometimes I do shake my head at how naive she was, lol), she was a strong woman.  She raised 3 girls all by herself, with virtually no help from our fathers (yes, you saw that right, father"s".  "naive moments", but God love her for trying).

Yes we struggled, that's for sure, but she did it on her own.  She didn't go on welfare (well, she did when my younger sister was born, but got off of it quick because she got virtually nothing and got more money from an actual job).

We all learned the meaning of being grateful for what we did have.

And we were all truly grateful for having her.

A family member once told me that they couldn't understand why we (my sisters and myself) would want to remember our mom on such a tragic day, the day she died.   And I can understand their point of view, but for us, we are remembering the last time we EVER saw her.  I mean, wouldn't you want to remember, forever, the last time you ever saw the most important person in your life?  The day you said goodbye to them?  The last time you ever touched their hand, memorizing every inch of their face, the face that you counted on, relied on, came to for comfort?

So that's what we do.

And yes, it IS sad that it comes 6 days before Christmas.  That sucks big time. Because she LOVED Christmas.   As you saw in my previous post, we have decorations of hers that she had at Christmas.

When we were younger, she would make a lot of our presents too.  Staying up until 2 in the morning sewing clothes, PJ's, robes, etc.  We never knew either that she stayed up that late.

But it is what it is.  And we deal with it, and we get through it.  Every year.  And then we go on.

Each one of us has the same tattoo as well.

Her signature.

It varies with each one of us of some sort though.  For example, my one sister, who got it first, has her signature inside a banner tattooed on her.  The one above, is mine.   My other sister just has her signature.  This is something that we each remember so vividly.  We LOVED her signature.  It was always so precise and neat.   We always tried to "forge" it, but never could.  (Of course I can do her signature perfectly now, I even write like her now, but I don't need it anymore to forge a note to get out of school anymore, lol)

And each one of us can see parts of her in each one of us.

For example, both my sisters have her hands.

My one sister looks a lot like her.

We each have some of her mannerisms.

One of my sisters and I have her feet.

I write like her now (again, wish I could have had that talent back in high school...............)

And yes, I do still miss her terribly.  Especially during the hard times.

From The Heart

The Original Mrs. Claus

In my opinion, the best presents are the ones that come from the heart.

Oh sure, there are those presents where you are like WOW, I can't BELIEVE you gave me that!  That is SO AWESOME!

Yea, everyone loves to get those.

But the presents that I will always remember the most?

The ones that are given from the heart.  Where you put your heart into it.

Whether it's something you looked high and low for, knowing that that person would absolutely LOVE it, whether it's something you made, or whether it's something you did for that person.

I love to give.

I love to see the smiles on their faces.

I love to make things for people as well.

Every little stitch, every little bit of fabric, or the photo I created.

Almost 7 years ago my mom passed away.

6 days before Christmas.

I can't even remember what was in those presents that she gave that were under the tree that year.

You know what I kept?

The tag that had her writing on it.

That's what I remember.

Her writing.

That's what I kept.

When my sisters and I went through her belongings and divided up the decorations there was Mrs. Claus.

She made this as a decoration for our house one year.

I always loved it. Correction....we ALL loved it.  But that was the only really one thing I wanted.  So my sisters let me have it.

But I knew my one sister truly loved it too.

So I set out on a mission.

Through ebay.

And found the exact pattern that my mom had to make it, many years ago.

And I made my sister one for Christmas.  And I was able to find most of the same exact fabric that my mom used, to make the original one years ago.

And it made me so happy to make it for her and surprise her and give it to her for Christmas.

And it's not how much it cost me to make it, it was about giving her something, from my heart, that would bring a smile on her face.   And believe me, it shocked the hell out of her when she first saw it, lol.

And, truly, that's all I want for Christmas.  Happiness and something from the heart.

'Twas the Night Before Thanksgiving....

Here's a little story, or shall we say....a Rememberance. *grin*
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

'Twas the Night Before Thanksgiving
It was 1983
My two friends and I hung out
With a couple of boys, maybe there was three.

We were driving around Burbank
In some kind of car
I don't remember what kind it was
But the speed was up to par.

The cops pulled us over
The boy who was driving went too fast
He also did an illegal U-turn
I wonder if that was ever his last.

We all had to get out of the car
They made us sit on the side of the road
I don't remember why now
But back then, I'm sure we were told.

Of course on that night
While sitting there waiting
1/2 the high school drove by
We were definitely hating.

After some time we were finally free
But they only let the boys go home
They took me and my friends to the station
So we could call our parents on the phone.

They said they were worried about our safety
And would only release us to our guardians
So my mom had to come get me
She said it was the first time ever at the police station.

A year then went by
And my two friends and I again went out
This time we went dancing and I drove
The freeway was my route.

We had lots of fun that night
And met some boys while we were there.
Then the time came to go home
Are you still following me....do you care?

While getting on the freeway
I noticed the oil light came on
I was very new to driving
I had no idea that the oil would soon be gone.

I tried to catch up to the boys we had met
But like the other boys, they went really fast
And soon, very soon
The oil didn't last.

I was able to get off the freeway
And pull to the side
But by that time it was over
The car up and died.

Once again my mom was called
My friend's parents had to come instead
They took us home that night
But by then the engine was basically lead.

So what's the reason
For this little story?
No reason at all
Just a little something to enjoy.

Senior Night and Pictures

I was hired to capture "Senior Night" at the local high school for one of the Senior girls.  She has been playing volleyball her whole high school career and this was the night to celebrate the wonderful talent of the Senior girls on the volleyball team.

She is a joy to photograph.

 She has such a joyful spirit and sense of pride for her team, as you can see here.

I do love sports photography, as it's the thrill of getting that one shot.

During most of my photo shoots, I will almost always find objects that I love to photograph as well, that may or may not relate/

I happened to see one of the bouquets of flowers that were given to the Senior High Girls that night and I wanted to capture the abundance of red roses that were before me.

Photography is a love I have been enamored with since I was a pre-teen, taking pictures of my Barbies.

It is a love I want to build on and learn with.