Noogler!

So the stars have aligned and my dad's company, eBook Technologies, was recently acquired by none other than Google!!! You may or may not know that I have a huge crush on Google - its kind of ridiculous really. From their awesome search engine, to Gmail / Gchat / Google Docs / blogger / Sketch Up, to their Google Doodles, to the Googleplex - its kind of ridiculous how much I dig this company and their corporate culture and humor.

The fact that my dad now has an @google.com email address is pretty much the awesomest of sauce. The fact that they have a hazing ritual of sorts at Google Corporate, and that my dad (and the rest of the eBook crew) had to stand up during the weekly Q & A session with their Noogler hats and their n00b shirts = pretty much fantastic-ness.

The only downside to this is that my dad will be working in Irvine. On the plus side, my parents are getting an apartment in Irvine, so I'll have a place to stay right down the street from Disneyland & the Verizon Amphitheater...

4/52 : Saturday in the Park

We spent part of last Saturday enjoying the 70° weather, in a lovely San Diego January. I took a lot of film shots of the group playing Kubb and Bocce, so we'll see how those turn out. But this is my shot of the week:

4/52

January 21, 2011

iPhone 4 - Hipstamatic

Etsy Treasury! Blind Lady Cycling

So I'm racking my brain for a fun Etsy Treasury Challenge, when I check my twitter feed and see some posts from Blind Lady's 2nd anniversary celebration shenanigans... so here's an attempt to combine craft beer (Blind Lady style) with Etsy :

I think it turned out pretty well. Its certainly pretty to look at!

And then there were four ...

... on Sunday morning my sister's and my cockatiel Frosty didn't wake up.

Its been a long road with this little guy (we've had him for 20 years - he was 23 years old), and the last couple of years have been pretty hard on him. I'll miss him dearly, but its probably for the best.

Frosty the Snowbird

Rest in piece little fella. I'll always remember you walking on the table and through our cereal bowls in the morning before school, hanging out on my shoulder, whistling the Andy of Mayberry Song, and asking us to "Let Me Out!" 30 seconds before a major earthquake would hit.

He's survived by the rest of the menagerie - one noisy-ass - but loving - Moluccan cockatoo, and three very friendly - and fairly wily - cats.

3/52 : Light it up

So this week I actually took a couple of decent photos on my iPhone. It was a hard choice, but I think 3/52 is this one, that I took at Downtown Disney the other night:

3/52

January 14, 2011

iPhone 4

Some runners ups:

Balboa Theater

Hipster Landscaping

Arizona Highways

Newly Redone Online Portfolio!

I am really excited about my newly redone portfolio. I think its a bit cleaner than my last one, but still shows my spunky personality a bit. There are a couple of screen shots below, but if you want to check it out visit www.azlynn.com, click 'My Resume and Portfolio' and log in (if you need login info. shoot me an email).

Portfolio Splash Page

Photo and Graphics Index Page

If you want to view the site on your smart phone - scan the QR Code below and it will navigate you to my website! I have these on my business cards and resume´ - and I think they are pretty clutch.

Now I'm off to write my latest cover letter AND start working on my new work sample postcards (Moo just announced new 2 sided postcards!!!).

2/52 - Runes & Cards

Runes & Cards

2/52

January 13, 2011

iPhone 4

Mad Tea Party - My First Etsy Treasury

I've been wanting to do this for a while - but I finally put together my first Treasury List on Etsy. I'm excited to do more of them, as its really just an excuse to scoot around Etsy and look at a lot of really crafty and talented folks' stuff.

Want to browse these talented Etsians' shops? Go to the Treasury.

1/52 - Taking the California out of California Adventure

Last year I really wanted to do a 365 project, but I'm not very good at stopping to take the time to do a worthy photo for a 365 project each day. This year I've decided to do a 52 week project - one photo per week. I'm not aiming to have an amazing photograph each week, and lets be honest, most of them will be from the iPhone (which, as I've said before takes pretty decent photos). To help keep me honest and fulfill one of my latest goals (being more active in the online communities I take part in) I've joined The 52 Weeks Project on Flickr!

Without further adieu - here's week 1/52:

Taking the California out of California Adventure

Week 1/52

January 3, 2011

iPhone 4 (HDR)

The last night that the 'California' letters grace the entry to Disney's California Adventure.

New Etsy Banner!

I'm trying oh so hard to revamp my Etsy shop. I am not selling as many things as I'd like, some of my listings need some tag and photo help, AND I try to be productive with my procrastination (read - I should really be cleaning my house) - so a new banner and new avatar were on this afternoon's agenda.

Here is my new user avatar:

And my new shop banner:

The bunnies are drawn in Illustrator, the damask background taken from a free template blogger [The Blogger Fairy], and the beads from one of my Etsy sales [Playing Dress Up].

Check out the shop for a few new listings in the next several days (and a few - shown below - from earlier this week).

Now I'm off ... got some laundry to finish...

Aufedersein 2010!

2010 was a pretty insane year and the last few days I've been trying to think of a way to sum it up for a blog post and have been coming up sort of short. A drunken conversation with a friend on New Year's Eve sort of helped me put the last two years of my life into perspective for me... so here it goes.

As I think everyone in my life knows - 2009 was an equally sucky and awesome year. 2009 was all about self discovery and learning how to navigate and live happily within the confines of joblessness. It was frustrating, taxing, and surprisingly awesome all at once. At the end of the year I was hoping that I would have the courage to reinvent myself, after learning who I actually am, and what stuff I'm made up of. I think I really did need that time to say to myself - hey, you can do things! you'll be okay!

I think that 2010 was the year that I grew up.

I'm not sure when or why it happened, but I decided somewhere in the first couple of months of the year, that this lady of leisure routine that I've got going on is awesome - but not very productive. So this year I've been balancing this "free time" to play with something productive and a bit more grown up.

I certainly got my play time in this year - I took a three week trip to Scotland and England with two of my best friends; had one fantastic trip to Death Valley with Lindsey and Kylise; I spend as many weekends as I can in LA and at Disneyland with the group of friends there; the rest of my weekends I spend enjoying time with my wonderful group of friends in SD; I spent a much needed weekend in SF in May; and I've gone on several family trips (camping for a week in Sequoia, Utah for Thanksgiving, Texas in the Fall, Arizona for Spring Training).

Salena & Taylore at breakfast in Edinburgh, Scotland

There has been a great deal of celebrating, from my 25th birthday to my roommates' 7-year anniversary, to friends getting promotions/new jobs (like my sister, moving to Indonesia for 6 months to work with Orangutans!) and many friends buying houses! I've made some new friends this year (some of the neatest through Etsy), and certainly cemented and celebrated friendships with all of the amazing people who are in my life too. I've spent SO much time with so many of the members of my family this year, its a darn good thing I like them all!

And Jenelle and I got a cat (Dinah)!

Its also been a tough year. A dear friend that I used to volunteer with passed away, and then less than a month later my Uncle Tim passed away. My sister has been gone during all of this, and not having her here has been hard for me, and hard for her to have to process these events on her own. In addition to that, some of my friends have had some difficulties spring up this year, and my heart goes out to them, especially to one of my closest friends, who's Mom was just diagnosed with Breast Cancer in the Fall.

Susan G. Komen for the Cure Walk - Balboa Park

And in the midst of all of this I'm starting up two little businesses. They both started up as just a thing to do, but I'm really enjoying them both. I started an Etsy jewelry shop (Rabbitwerks) at the end of 2009, but really got into it this year (its actually starting to pay for itself!). Between spreadsheets of costs and sales, having modeling photo shoots, putting in the time on Etsy, and creating the jewelry is turning into a very fun, time sink of a hobby.

The real business, Aeonium Design Studio, is the thing that I think I have this year to be most proud of. I am actually starting a company, where people are paying me to design their yards! Its really exciting. It took me some time to do this because I lacked the confidence to think I really could do this landscape design thing on my own, and from a practical perspective, I lacked a solo portfolio of built projects.

I mentioned earlier that several friends have been buying houses - and luckily for me, they all need landscaping done, and they like me. This, and some other key connections, have landed me several clients. I have two houses completely done, 2 yards under construction, and 4 in planning stages. I also am working on an entry way to a housing community for an HOA. Right now I'm being paid in meals, honey, and massages (3 clients are paying/paid me with cash money tho!) - but I am building up a portfolio, and its already leading me to new clients!

Chris building the deck at his new condo!

Aeonium's First Finished Residence

At the beginning of the post I said that 2010 was the year I grew up. Maybe its more appropriate to say its the year I took control of my own destiny. I am really happy to be where I'm at right now, at the beginning of 2011, and I'm looking forward to how all of this continues to move forward through the year. So here's to progress and growing, but not necessarily growing up!

Happy 2011!

Adios 2010, and a happy 2011 to you all!!!!!!!!!

We celebrated the clock turning over last night in style. Well, sort of.

Taylore hosted a "Casual Fancy Dress New Year's Party" at her loft in downtown Long Beach. Not sure what a Casual Fancy Dress Party is? I'll let Taylore explain:

"Another year has passed. A year of engagements, house purchases, promotions, small business startings, weddings, and all around awesomeness. Let’s celebrate the closing of 2010 by continuing the argument “what the hell do we call this decade, the teens?” and drinking excessive amounts of champagne. So join me at my house to count down to 2011 in Casual Fancy Dress style. What does that mean? Well it means dress casually, but wear one item of fancy dress. Whether you’re wearing flip flops and a top hat, a t-shirt with a monocle, or stiletto heels with jean cut off shorts you are a causal fancy dresser my friend."

Excessive amounts of champagne were indeed had, and there was a lot of loud singing, and at one point 3 of attempting to copy the "choreography" of Jason Derulo's performance on the Dick Clark/Ryan Seacrest countdown. There was also a lot of making fun of aforementioned countdown show - I mean, NKOTB and Ke$ha on the same stage together - Really?!?!

At any rate. The real reason for posting this is to show off my newest attempt at crafty-ness. My item of fancy dress was a black blusher veil with peacock feathers. This is the first time I've made a veil, and the first time I've worked with tulle - but after my success a couple of weeks ago with a feather head band, I was confident in my abilities.

Peacock Feather Side

Leaf Side

All I have to say is that this was surprisingly difficult, and not a one person job. My friend Susan gave me some tips (after all she and our friend Tasja made the most beautiful bird cage veil for Susan's wedding), and my friend Nicole helped me cut, fit, and glue the veil to the headband. A bit of black fabric, adhesive fabric stiffener, a ton of hot glue, 10 translucent craft leaves, 6 peacock tail feathers, and two buttons later I was in business.