Tag.....I'm It!

I have been tagged by Lori Moon Studio. She is one of my amazing creative souls.


The Rules
...you must post the rules
...answer 11 questions the tagger posted for you
...create 11 questions to ask the people you tag
...tag 11 people
...let them know you've tagged them


My questions:


1. If you have/had to get a one word tattoo. What would it be?


Sorry but my "word" tattoo will be two words.................... "Bite Me"




2. What are two things you love the sound of?


My two daughters when they get along.




3. What is your favorite holiday celebration of the year?


Christmas.............hands down.




4. Share some advice on friendship, love or marriage...


I would have to say that, for me, I am an open person and I accept people for who they are.  So that would be my advice.  Accept them for who they are.




5. A quote you live by?


"Everything happens for a reason"




6. decisions..decision..heart or head?


Oh man, this is a hard one.   Both.




7. Where are you headed for your next holiday/vacation?


I am going to spend time with my sister in a little over a week up in L.A. and then in July I am going to Vegas to see family. :)




8. What is something you do every morning when you get up?


Check my cell phone, lol

9. When do you feel most free?


When I get the chance to get away from it all.




10. What couldn't you live without?


My children.




11. Summer, Autumn, Winter, Spring...tell us your favorite & what you love most about it.


Spring.  There's just something about it that makes me feel alive.  Also, my birthday is in the springtime and I LOVE my birthday. :)


I hope you enjoyed my answers! :)

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss

In honor of Dr. Seuss, whom I have loved since I was a little girl  I am reposting a post I did a few years ago when my little on was learning how to read:

Enjoy!

***************

Dr. Seuss, we do love you.
You make us rhyme with new blue goo.

Green Eggs and Ham
That Sam-I-Am

A Cat In The Hat
how about that?

My youngest is now starting to read
And a book from you is just what she needs.

She created a reading area in the hall
With stacks of books around her all.

I had gotten these books out from in a box
That belonged to her sister, including Fox in Socks.

I myself had read them here and there
When I was young I read them everywhere.

Fox in Socks is my favorite one.
The tongue twisting.....I got it done.

And here my youngest is, reading Green Eggs and Ham.
She loves the book, especially Sam-I-Am.

So Dr. Seuss, thank you so much for your wonderful words.
Your drawings, rhyming and odd looking birds.

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.