Beautiful cactus blooming in my backyard.

Snapshot

My Friends 

remind me, by their very steadfastness, 

that truth, beauty, and goodness 

exist in the world,

 and that, no matter what, 

there are and always will be 

people loving people 

through thick and thin.

  -Kay Foley


Jungmee, Me, Karen
Cadiz, Spain '10

Birthday Girl

A Class Act

Last night my sweet Grandmother, Julie Memmott, passed away. She was one of the loveliest people I have had in my life.  As we often do when a loved one passes on I started reminiscing about all the memories and wonderful times I shared with her.  My earliest memory of her is  her driving me past the hospital that I was born in.  It was just down the road from her home and she told me about that day and how she was there and saw me born.  That is really amazing considering it was 1963.  She pointed out the window of the room where I was born in the hospital and told me my birth was one of the most beautiful things she had ever seen.  She told me this story every time I would come to visit her and I never grew tired of it.

Some other fond memories:

She had the longest telephone chord I have ever seen.  She could cover her entire upstairs with that phone.

She loved pretty things.

Fresh peaches in the summer at her house that were amazing.

She would say "Pardon my green gloves."

She had the really expensive, fancy jelly fruit slice candies and she would get the box down from a hidden spot and share.

She would sing "I'm just a little petunia in an onion patch".  She would sing this as if she was the petunia crying her eyes out.  It was hysterical.

She had a great laugh.

She loved Keds and had them in every color.

She gave great arm tickles.

I loved to go shopping in SLC with her.  It was a day of shopping then out to lunch.  I will never forget the time when I was in college and I went to visit her.  She drove to the ZCMI Center and parked in the parking structure.  When she pulled into the space and hit the cement pillar she threw the car in park and yelled we're here now lets go shop.

As a young woman she took me to meet Ardeth Kapp and had her sign a book for me.

She always encouraged me to practice the piano.  She would say, "Some day you will live in a place where no one else can play the piano at church and they will need you."  I didn't think that was possible but it did happen and I played.

She put butter on vegetables in very large amounts.

She had beautiful hands.

She made me feel like I surely must be the grandchild she loved the most.

She had a sign in her house that read' "Choose you this day whom ye will serve:..but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord."  And she lived it!

I love her and am blessed beyond measure to have her for my Grandmother.

Wanna Be a Photographer?

Love this great little cheat sheet.

Source: None via Kristina on Pinterest

Good Book

Hey, out there have you read any good books lately?  Please share.  I am on the hunt for a good read.  I would love some suggestions so I don't have to plow through all the choices out there.

Don't be shy.  Please share.

Sunday Snapshot

Macro

Trying out the new Macro Lens. 

Not the typical Macro Lens.

It a Lens Baby Composer.

With Macro Kit

Here is a more Vintage look.

I have so many things I want to try with this lens.

Stay Tuned.

In the meantime check out their site. 

Next on my list.....Fisheye Optic

To Kindle Or Not To Kindle?

I love reading.  I love books.  I LOVE having a Kindle.  I remember years ago when the hubby came home from work and told me all about a demonstration he had seen on digital cameras and the possibilities.  I told him everything that was wrong with that idea.  Well we know how right I was on that one, don't we? Much like the digital cameras, when I first saw the kindle and other eReaders I thought there is no way that these are going to catch on.  Let's face it there is nothing like the feel and smell of a good book or the fun of browsing through the books store looking for the perfect book.

Then I was given a Kindle as a gift from my techie hubby.  I have to say it has been one of my favorite gifts of all time.  I will now address the questions I most often get when people find out I have one.

"Is it hard to read?" --  No, it is like reading a book but instead of turning a page you push a button. Oh and should the text be too small for your liking you can make it larger. Also best part about Kindle is that there isn't glare on the screen like on an iPad.

"Don't you miss the feel of a real book in your hands?" No, it is actually lighter and easier to handle than a book, especially if you are reading outside where pages would be flapping in the breeze. 

I take it with me everywhere.  I always have something to read.  A book, a magazine or if I'm being lazy I can play a word game.

I have classics ( many are free),   the scriptures, children's novels, Readers Digest and  a lot of other books.  

I browse books on Amazon and if I think I might be intersted in them I can save them to my wish list to purchase at another time.  I have found that the books are fairly priced.  I have only had two books that I wanted to buy that were not available on the Kindle.  They were both books for my book club that are very old and somewhat obscure.

Because of a very unfortunate event I no longer had my Kindle and have been without one for about Three weeks.  Today my new one arrives.  Can't wait.  I have been missing it.  Where are you Mr. UPS?  Oh and all my books that I had on my previous kindle are still in my Amazon account and will be reloaded onto my new Kindle.  I wonder if it will remember what page I was on in "Someone Knows My Name".  Well, if not I guess you can't have it all.

So do any of you have a Kindle or some other eReader.  What's the verdict?

Fez Morocco

Hi everyone,  ready for more travel log?  I wanted to share some of my pictures from Morocco.  It was an experience like no other.  Before our trip Janet had hired a tour guide to take us to Fez, Morocco one of the four imperial cities. Our destination was to the Old Walled City. We had a few snafus finding the guide when the Cruise ship docked in Casablanca.  We were only a tad worried when one of the taxi drivers pleaded with us not to leave the immediate area of the ship to find our tour guide because it would not be safe for us.   (I believe him now). We didn't spend any time in Casablanca which is actually a very modern city.  We headed straight to Fez just a quick 3 hours down the road, through the rain that came out of nowhere when we were well on our way, and didn't have proper rain gear with us. 

This is one of the first things we saw when we arrived in the city.  All these men out in the grassy areas exercising.  It was strange.  Also no women to be seen.

Jungmee and I enjoying the rain and getting ready to see the sites!

 

Interesting and beautiful architecture.

The entrance to the old city.  It would be so easy to get lost in here and never find your way out.

An old vendor. Selling lemons, limes and other spices.

Eggs for sale.  No cars can get into the old city because it is small alley ways.  People use these carts and donkeys and horses to bring supplies in.  Pedestrians must give right of way to them.

Inside the courtyard of the mosque.  We had to wait for their prayers to finish before entering.  You can see some of the people in the covered area who had just finished prayer.  They wash their feet in the pool of water and then they also put some of the water in their mouth.  When it is time for prayer music is played on loud speakers all over the city.  You can hear it everywhere.

Here is the whole gang in the Mosque.

Marian, Angie, Florence, Janet, Me, Lori, Jungmee, Karen

This is our tour guide in his traditional clothing.  Many people wore these.  They have a white dress shirt and this covering that looks like a bathrobe.  The hat is pointed and the hemline is just high enough that it doesn't get wet or muddy, then they wear dress socks and dress shoes.

Some of the shops....

We went to use a women's bathroom in a restaurant.  The bathroom for women was on the top of the building.  We had to go on the roof to get to it.  This was the view from the roof.  I guess they are all getting some TV time.

These are pictures from the leather district.

The smell here was absolutely unbelievable and not in a good way.  This are the tubs that the leather is processed and dyed in.

These are some of the leather shoes that they make.  The one thing I regret not purchasing.

These are large metal tubs from the metal district.

Something New

I love PINTEREST!  I have always felt a bit frustrated when I see fabulous pictures of all variety of things online and can't  remember where I saw them.  Solution:   Pinterest.  It is fantastic.  I love it.  It is addicting.  You must try it.

So what is it? When you see something you love you pin it to your pin board.  You have your own personal catalog of things you love in categories you choose. It is great because it gives proper credit where it is due.  Those items you pin stay on your board.  You can follow others boards and see what they love and are inspired by.

So please sign up here.  Request an invite and then invite your friends.

Make sure you use the Pin It  bookmarklet.  It makes it so quick and easy to pin images from anywhere.
I love to browse the pins on pinterest and repin them to my boards.   For example.....

someone had pinned this from MarthaStewart.com.  I repinned it to my "For The Home Board". Now some day when I really get my act together and want to do this in my hallway I will know right where to find it.

Or how about this...A quote I liked

this from vi.sualize.us.  Now it is on my thoughts pin board.

 So please join.... and lets follow each other.  


ps  Click on pinterest in the left sidebar at the top of my blog and you will see my pin boards. Now you really want to join! 

HICCUP

That's right a big hiccup happened. I had great plans this month for the old blog but a big  snafu happened.  I won't go into the details I'll just say it is difficult to blog when you don't have a camera or a computer.  Oh well, here's to starting over.  I guess I will start by just posting an old picture since I am no longer the proud owner of the pictures from the last year of my life.  Enjoy and come back soon.  Maybe I'll get to some more photos of my European vacation. (I do still have those photos)

The Joy of Love

Happy February.  I am participating in a FREE 28-day lass from Willette Photography….the JOY of love!

Participants will receive daily email prompts/photo assignments with some tutorial/instruction built into the daily email lesson.  It is that easy.  She will email you every morning, and you follow the assignment/prompt if you would like.  She has created a public flickr gallery where you can share if you so choose.

It's not too late to participate.  Just click on the Joy of Love badge  in the upper left corner of my page here and it will tell you how to participate.

The photo above is my day 01: What they do.  It's a bit of a cheat since I took this picture last year. I need more people around this place to photograph.  I guess I may have to get out more this month!  I am thinking of doing all of my pictures for the class in black and white.  Let me know if you decide to participate and I will look for your photos.

Inspirational

This Saturday we were privileged to attend a performance of the Saints Unified Voices Choir directed by Gladys Night.  The Choir - fabulous and inspiring.  Gladys Knight shared her testimony and her story about how she became a Mormon.  She is beautiful and she is on fire!

Watch this for some inspiration.  How one Young man  made a difference.


Click here if you want to know more.

Work It

This is very important information.  I have added a few new songs to my favorite workout playlist.  You will undoubtedly want to add them to yours so here they are.

The Bomb by Pigeon John.  You will recognize this from the new VW Commercial with the two guys in the back seat dancing because of all the leg room.

My Body by Young the Giant - This was a freebie on itunes.  Love it.

Cooler Than Me by Mike Posner- Gets me movin'

And finally - not new by any stretch of the imagination I have to hear: Daft Punk Is Playing At My House by LCD Soundsystems.

What gets you moving on the treadmill?

No Bull!

Malaga, Spain

This was the first stop on our cruise ( You know the one I took clear back in october).  Malaga has a Castle 

Cathedrals

and of course -- Shopping!

The main stop in Malaga was the Plaza de Toros La Malagueta

or for you Gringos - the place where the bull fighting happens!

This is inside the bull fighting ring

Nice comfy seating

This was a fantastic place and a lot of fun.  When we first arrived we gave them our money at the door and just started exploring.  Out of nowhere came a man who had an official looking uniform, not teeth and a whistle.  He started blowing his whistle and telling us to get out of the ring.  Then he told us we could get a tour and go to the museum.  He took us to the museum and handed us over to a little tiny old man.  He brought out a cape and let us all hold it.  They weigh a ton!  Janet asked him about the cape and he said it was his from when he was a Matador!  Then he went in the office and got a picture of himself as a young Matador.  Oh the ladies all went wild.  He was a rock star!!!!  I think he was very flattered by all the attention.  The museum was amazing.  These matadors are very tiny people.  Their clothing is so elaborate and beautiful and smalllllll.  The only thing missing at the Plaza de Toro was a bull.  Well except for the one that I was able to tame so easily (and that's no bull).

Malaga is a beautiful lush city.  The parks and walkways were lovely.  They really know how to shade their walkways.

This photo would be much funnier if we really hadn't almost missed the ship.  Yup leaves port at 7:00 pm and we were the last two on the ship at 7:01.  Dang Americans.