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Angela Leesehttp://angelanoel.comI grew up in South Florida, fell in love with a guy who took me to California, then returned to the East Cost in late 2008. I’m an engineer constantly yearning for more time to take photos, travel, pet my cats, craft, and write.

OLW – February Blog Hop

February 1, 2013 by Angela Leese

I decided to participate in the OLW February Blog Hop. It’s my first time doing one of these so I truly hope I do everything correct. The whole idea of this hop, like others, is to go from one blog to the next, reading about each person’s interpretation of the topic.

This month’s topic is our response to the January prompt of choosing a word and creating twelve intentions cards. I already wrote about that – and about my expanded intentions for January – so I’m going to be a rebel and write, instead, about the other scrapbook pages I’ve made in the last week or so – all having to do with OLW.

But, first, my title page. I decided I didn’t want to start with my intentions themselves, that the whole project needed a more formal introduction. I had leftovers of the bright pinks and purples from my intentions cards and decided to keep that same color scheme. I also used my new stamp set that I picked up last weekend to do a bit of lettering. As you can tell, I’ve almost never stamped anything other than a single stamp before so I need practice lining it all up.

I also made cards for my January intentions. Not sure why I picked pastels other than guilt over the fact they always wind up leftover at the end of a pack of paper. I’m not very happy with how this page turned out but I’m going to be good and not redo it.

Even though the whole Project Life thing sort of died last year, I did like having those pages of a photographic review of the entire month. It took just a short while to put the page together, though I did mess up when actually printing the photos (hence topics 1 and 3 sharing a photo). This page will be opposite the Jan intentions one so it also has a pastel theme.

Finally, here’s the two pages about my specific intention to pick a day and record it Day in the Life Style.

I’m particularly excited because this was my first time back at paper scrapping and – even more impressive – my first time printing any photos since our wedding. I just used the template Ali provided and put 9 photos per sheet, cutting them out and placing them, as required. Did it at Costco this AM via their website. Super easy and fairly cheap.

Now for the blog hop part. Next up is Janet

Here’s the whole list of participants, in case you want to skip farther ahead or go back to someone’s post.

WORTHY Documentation – January Intention

January 15, 2013 by Angela Leese

This month, my plan is to:

Take a self portrait daily. Attempt to take one non-self portrait daily. Post a photo a day to daily photo group with explanation on the key points of the day.
Take photos at FIRST, new places we visit, and around the house. Aim for 100 total non-self portraits this month.
Make a scrapbook page of the efforts this month (ok, this is an every month thing, but it first got put on my list when I was thinking through this month’s intentions)
Journal when in the mood but focus that journaling on the feelings of the day/time/event, not just what’s happening.
Pick a day and fully document it. [I chose Saturday, January 19th because it's a non-work day and should be a pretty typical Saturday during FIRST season.]

Usually I won’t develop my intentions so late in the month but this one’s a bit different as I signed up for the class late and FIRST just started and name your excuse. At the end of the month I’ll come back and tell how it all went down.

Before I go, here’s those intention cards I promised before. First scan is of the front of the page, second of the back. The tan colored “paper” is actually cut up file folders and the colored paper is from a pack of 2″ strips of cardstock I picked up at Michaels last fall. I’ve really got to get my hands on some more supplies if I want to keep up with the paper scrapping!

Until next month…

OLW – Intentions for 2013

January 14, 2013 by Angela Leese

The first assignment in the One Little Word class for 2013 was to think about twelve intentions for the year and create little intentions cards with those on them. They’re then put on a page that’s kept at the front of what will be your album for this project. At first, I didn’t want to make cards at all. I just wanted to keep my thoughts in my little specially-chosen notebook where no one would ever see them. Then, I realized that this was just cowardice (really, that’s spelled like that, huh..). In other words, I didn’t think my cards would be worthy enough creatively in terms of how they’d look or that my intentions themselves wouldn’t be worthy. But, hey, that’s the whole point of this OLW thing – to show myself that I really am worthy of taking the time to make my intentions more public.

I had this whole giant list of things that I wanted to focus on but, when I went to make my cards using the very little paper scrapbooking supplies I had, I only had enough of the same set of colors to make six cards. I took this as a sign that I only needed six, not the full twelve, and foraged ahead. I’ll be honest – the cards turned out a total mess and, to make things worse, I had this nagging feeling that I was cheating. And, really, I was. Having only six intentions meant I got to edit my list of twenty down to the six I thought were easiest. Didn’t have to face the ones that would be hard or uneasy.

This morning, I tossed those old cards and started a more complete set. I don’t have the cards themselves to show off – haven’t had time to scan them in and photos don’t work due to the shiny page protector they’re in – but I do have a written list of those intentions.

Jan: WORTHY documentation – Record life. Good and bad. As much as possible.

Feb: WORTHY friendship – Reach out to old friends. Attract new ones.

Mar: WORHTY mentoring – Identify a mentor. Find place at FIRST. (FIRST is the robotics program where I mentor HS students)

Apr: WORTHY exploration – See a new part of DC. Walk around the neighborhood.

May: WORTHY intellect – Learn somethign entirely new. Take the GRE.

Jun: WORHTY photography – Read the manual. Participate in challenges.

Jul: WORTHY appearance – Start running again. Accentuate the positive.

Aug: WORTHY culinary skills – Help Matt make meals. Cook a whole meal.

Sep: WORTHY organizing skills – Closets. Basements. Offices. Digital life.

Oct: WORTHY writing – Write everyday. Blog.

Nov: WORTHY creativity – Try painting. Don’t force it.

Dec: WORTHY kindness – Knit hats, give time, say hello to everyone.

I should have been random with my alignment of my intentions to each month but, let’s be real, that just isn’t my style. I’m too controlling. January and February are my two craziest months, with robotics after work two days a week and all day Saturday. In June we’re going to Spain so lots of photo opportunities. I am not going to start running again until it’s at least a bit warm out (though hopefully July isn’t *too* warm). So, I fiddled with the timing of each until it made the most sense.

Each month, I’ll (1) watch the video and do the exercise for the OLW online class, (2) expand on my intentions for that month, (3) create at least one scrapbooking page about how I implemented (successfully or not) those intentions and (4) attempt to remember to blog about all of that.

I’ll be back in a few days with my intentions for this month and the intention cards themselves, this month’s assignment.

One Little Word: Worthy

January 13, 2013 by Angela Leese

There’s this thing in scrapbooking – a project, I guess you’d call it – called One Little Word. The idea is to pick a single word which will be the focus of your energy in the next year. There’s a whole online course associated with it to guide you in implementing your word and, as it is a scrapbooking thing, in creating an album to record your implementation journey.

After going back and forth for a few days, I decided to participate this year. In a way, I participated last year by choosing to focus on recording my life. Sure, I wasn’t very successful in that I blogged less and took fewer photos but I did think about it more often and got quite a few scrapbook pages under my belt.

But, this year, I really want to focus on living out my word. And, you guessed it, I chose WORTHY.

All my life, I’ve never really been convinced I’m worth it. I get glimmers that maybe I’m smart of I’m pretty or I’m creative. But I let myself forget all that as soon as I see someone who’s better than me at whatever it is. And, you know what, there will most always be someone better at me than whatever that thing of the moment is. But, I am WORTHY because I’m the best person out there at being Angela Leese. I’m cynical and dorky and passionate and ungraceful and talk too much and too fast. But, that’s who I am.

I did sign up for that online class associated with OLW, as the cool kids call it, and hope to post each month about my response to the assignments. I’ll be back tomorrow, at least – well, the WordPress widget that auto-posts at an assigned time will be – to talk about my intentions for the next year. And, maybe after that, I’ll talk about how I’m actually implementing them. For now, I’m off to sit and think about this whole one word thing and all it will hold for me in 2013.

Giving up 2012 / Remembering worth 2013

January 1, 2013 by Angela Leese

2012 was the year of giving up…and not in a I-will-no-longer-eat-fast-food sort of way. In a I-can’t-commit-to-anything sort of way. I was restless and unfocused and, overall, uninspired. At some point in the year I started then later gave up on scrapbooking, wearing makeup, photography, writing a memoir, cross stitch, knitting, crochet, blogging, sewing, running, watching the X-Files, embroidery. Only thing I really stuck to was reading (three cheers for the Kindle) and dying my hair (though partly because of the appointments made in advance).

I felt not good enough. My photos weren’t as great as those of others on Flickr or Instagram, especially because I wasn’t willing to dress up in a funny costume and never figured out how to clone myself with software. My current life had no excitement to blog about and my past was too boring to write about even within the confines of the notebooks that no one ever sees. My cross stitch was mundane; my attempts at a TARDIS embroidery untidy. My knitting (except socks, everyone always love their handknit socks) was unwanted. My attempts at cooking, bland. My attempts to mentor the students at FIRST, ineffective. My job search did go well at first because my suit didn’t fit properly (not because a great job was waiting for my within my own company – where I wore jeans to my interview). The only thing I could do correctly was eat, it seemed. Oh, and fall asleep reading. Totally mastered that this year.

So..what will be different in 2013? I’ll learn not to care. Okay, still care about important things like doing my absolute best at work and not dressing like a slob and making sure the bathrooms are clean when guests come over. But, not to care about things which are creative.

My friend Heather once told me that you can’t possibly fail at creativity. And, you know what, she’s right. No one dies if your embroidery is crooked or your photos is a bit blurry (call it “artsy”) or your mac-n-cheese is a bit runny.

Because, for the 100th time, all of my creative (and running, ’cause, you know, there’s that, too) efforts are worth it. Because, greater than that, I’m worth it. My time, my energy, my effort, my stash of craft supplies – all worth it.

Red

November 3, 2012 by Angela Leese

So….I got my hair redyed and cut toay. It’s very, very red.

Boyfriend – Quick FO Post

November 2, 2012 by Angela Leese

The FO itself wasn’t particularly quick, taking me a month and a half to complete. I haven’t even blocked it yet, hence the slightly too tight, slight too short nature of it as is. It’s supposed to be an easy going sweater, like you’d borrow from your boyfriend (hence the name).

The details:

Pattern: boyfriend by Lori Versaci

Yarn: Berroco Vintage DK in Pumpkin, purchased last Black Friday at fibre space’s annual sale

Yardage: Not quite sure, I’d guess 4.5 skeins so just under 1300 yards

Mods: Made it slightly shorter both in overall length and the length of the arms due to my, well, short nature

Comments on pattern: I liked this pattern but must admit that the twin rib drove me nuts. It’s one of the designer’s signature fabrics but I don’t think I’d sign up to lots more of it again. I liked that this was seamed – allowed me to practice my seaming and didn’t require me to fiddle with working on the round.

(Thanks to Matt for taking a quick iPhone photo. I sort of ambushed him in his office and made him take it. Try to ignore the green bag by my foot, wrinkled pants, and flipped up shirt hem.)

It’s November

November 1, 2012 by Angela Leese

…and we all know what that means: another year I attempt to blog daily and fail somewhere between the 13th and 18th. Don’t I just look sooo enthused?

I know, it doesn’t look good when my very first day of posting daily doesn’t happen until just before I crawl into bed. And it’s a pithy entry, too. We’ll just pretend that I wanted to spare you a long first post to wade through before I get to the point.

So we’re not without visual cues that don’t concern my I’m-ready-for-bed face: two shots of my desk, a reflection of how busy either my life or my mind is. About now, both are sort of scattered, but I’m trying to embrace the mess.

Tomorrow, there will be more words, most likely. And maybe even photos not taken when it’s pitch black outside.

Ireland

June 10, 2012 by Angela Leese

I had planned to do my usual one-post-per-location showing off photos from our recent Ireland trip but decided, eh, why bother? If I take the time to do all that, with as crazy as everything is right now, I’ll never finish or never get back to blogging about other things going on in my life. All of the photos are here and here on my Flickr and, below, is the scrapbook pages I made for each portion of the trip.

Mix Tape, er, CD

May 31, 2012 by Angela Leese

One of the Flickr groups I participate in is doing a mix CD swap and I had to participate. Not because I’m any sort of musical genius who can expertly put a CD together or anything but, in my opinion, I’ve got interesting taste. Note that I didn’t say good, but interesting.

I blame my parents.

No, really, I do. See, my dad is a classically trained percussionist and my mom, sheesh, never play against her in musical trivia. My dad loves to sing and my mom jokes that she plays a mean CD player. I grew up listening to Afro-Cuban jazz and Celine Dion and Phil Collins and Carol King and who knows what else. In high school, I got into techno and acid jazz. Now, I listen to lots of pop and country with some classical and jazz thrown in, depending on my mood. I own over 200 CDs, though less than a dozen are from the last decade.

So, I put together quite the list. Here’s the tracks and why I picked them.

(1) Two Night Stand – Agent 99

No, you’ve never heard of them. My friend, Erin, knew the band because, well, they rehearsed in her garage for a few years. I’m pretty sure they’re not together anymore. This was the title song from their first CD (and maybe only CD) and it’s still a favorite of mine 8 years later.

(2) Besame Mama – Arturo Sandoval / Chico Corea, et al (Special “Jam Miami” concert recording)

Excellent, excellent CD. Some of the greats of Cuban jazz got together for a concern one night in Miami and produced this CD afterward. I was tempted to pick a song like Oye Como Va that everyone who has ever heard of Cuban music or Tito Puente but that would be too easy.

(3) Godspeed (Hybrid Mix ) – BT

BT was one of the techno/trance groups I came to love in high school. And I still remember every moment of this song.

(4) Bernstein Portrait – Canadian Brass

Sorry, Dad. I stole this CD from you years ago. The Canadian Brass are a quartet of, well, brass-playing Canadians. This song has bits and pieces of several different Leonard Bernstein classics, from West Sing Story to Candide.

(5) No Tell Lover – Chicago

Chicago is one of my all-time favorite bands. It’s something about the brass, I think. The guys (well, some of them) have been together for over 40 years and it’s obvious that they love playing together.

(6) Go Outside – Cults

This was a free iTunes song of the day awhile ago but I truly enjoyed the track. It just reminds me of cabin fever in winter, where all you want to do is go outside and frolic in the sun.

(7) So Right – Dave Matthews Band

My brother and I discovered Dave Matthews when I was in ninth grade. OK, he had hits before that but we got really into him them. The driving horns behind his vocals make this a favorite.

(8) Maybe I – Five for Fighting

Randomly selected track from a mostly overlooked CD (most people bought it to hear “100 Years”)

(9) That’s Life – Frank Sinatra

Does anyone not love Frank Sinatra? This is the song I listen to after a hard day.

(10) Congo – Genesis

My dad had this one CD he played on repeat called Rhythm of the Saints from when Phil Collins traveled to Africa to learn traditional percussion. This song is a sampling of what that CD was like though far more, well, Westernized (I, quite sadly, do not own a copy – yet).

(11) Up Up Up – Givers

Don’t even know where I got this song from. But you can’t help but have a smile on your face when you hear it.

(12) Are We the Waiting – Green Day

Green Day was just this band that was OK and popular with middle through college kids until the American Idiot CD came out. This song shows their maturity and depth.

(13) Hear Me in the Harmony – Harry Connick, Jr

In the ilk of Sinatra, Harry Connick Jr could sing me the phone book and I’d love every minute of it.

(14) One Fine Day – Hiroshima

Another band that’s probably new to everyone but not to those who love acid jazz. Combine American jazz with Japanese instruments and melodies and here’s what you get.

(15) Summer Song – Joe Satriani

It’s summer and Joe Sat is an amazing guitar player – do I need another excuse?

(16) Do You Hear the People Sing? – Les Miserables Original Broadway Cast

I’ve always been a fan of Les Mis since it was our marching band theme my Freshman year of HS. I chose the most rousing number, a call to start a revolution (the French one, specifically).

(17) Gershwin: Sleepless Night – LA Philharmonic

Having been a clarinet player in a former life (ok, 6th to 11th grade), I’ve always enjoyed Gershwin. Here’s a non-Rhapsody in Blue or Porgy and Bess piece. Good tune for walking through a city you don’t know at night.

(18) You Don’t Bring Me Flowers – Neil Niamond

Another song which makes me feel like I’m really a 60 year-old woman, disguised as a 27 year-old. Here he is with Nancy Sinatra (I think).

(19) I Have Confidence – Julie Andrews (from the Sound of Music)

Any musical buff like me knows the Sound of Music by heart, but how many know this track? It’s in the movie but often forgotten about, played as Maria heads off to the von Trapp house.

(20) Caribbean Breeze – The Rippingtons

Just what the title says – a little piece of the Caribbean from a well-known smooth jazz group.

(21) Trust – The Generationals

From a compilation from the South by South West (SXSW, for short) music festival last summer, a rock-y trio sings about, well, Trust.

(22) The House That Built Me – Miranda Lambert

This was a big country hit last summer. I cry every time I hear it, without fail.

(23) The Edge of Glory – Lady Gaga

A track to lift all of our spirits and make us wish to be and do more than we imagined

(24) Don’t Panic – Coldplay

From another oft-played CD, this song represents my two years spent at the University of Florida, though more in a looking-back-on-it-now way than a “this is where I was then” way

(25) Saturday in the Park – Chicago

Fave song, ever. Truly.

needles & vectors