Quote of the Month

"The big question is whether you are going to be able to say a hearty yes to your adventure."

~ Joseph Campbell ~ 

Image by: Trekking Rinjani

Quote of the Month

"We read five words on the first page of a really good novel and we begin to forget that we are reading printed words on a page;

we begin to see images."

~ John Gardner ~

Image by: Ruifernandes

Quote of the Week

"Without change, something sleeps inside us, and seldom awakens. The sleeper must awaken."

~ Frank Herbert ~

Image by: Kain Kalju

Quote of the Week

“Regard it as just as desirable to build a chicken house as to

build a cathedral.”

~ Frank Lloyd Wright ~

Image by: Normanack

Quote of the Week

"Birds sing after a storm; why shouldn’t people feel as free to delight in whatever

remains to them?"

~ Rose Kennedy ~

Image by: Jessie Millan

Ladies...Go Red!

(I'm certain the above candy hearts are dark chocolate.)

 My sister-in-law sent me this video and I thought it was fitting to share it with you all today, the final day of the American Heart Association's February "Go Red For Women" campaign.

As some of you regular readers know, my mother suffered a heart attack a few months ago. Heart disease is serious stuff! So I wasn't sure how they were going to make a short, FUNNY video promoting heart awareness among women, but they did.

I'm sure every mom out there will relate to this. Check it out!

Take care of your heart!

Image by: Muffett

Chocolate is GOOD for you!

Lately, I’ve been working on some health, fitness and nutrition pieces for a client, and what with it being Valentine’s Day and all, I thought I would share some recent discoveries I’ve stumbled upon. Chocolate-related discoveries. I present to you, seven, count ‘em, SEVEN health benefits you get from eating chocolate. (They’re from legit sources and everything!)

• Chocolate is heart healthy! Studies show cocoa may reduce risk of heart disease.

• Some research has linked chocolate consumption to reduced instances of diabetes, stroke and heart attack.

• It helps lower blood pressure and improves vascular function.

• Chocolate has been linked with improved cholesterol levels.

• Chocolate boosts your mood! Chocolate makes us feel good.(Like we needed research to support this one! Clearly if it reverses the effects of Dementors, it's got to be powerful stuff.)

• Chocolate makes you smarter. Seriously! A study published in the Journal of Nutrition says so. See, chocolate has flavonoids. And flavonoids have been linked to increased brain functioning.

• And this one is a real winner. Researchers from the University of California, San Diego, reported in the Archives of InternalMedicine, that people who eat chocolate regularly tend to be thinner than those who never or very rarely consume chocolate. Is this cool or what?!

You’re welcome. Happy Valentine’s Day.

Now go eat some chocolate!

Disclaimer #1: The majority of the good stuff is most prevalent in dark chocolate (65 percent cocoa content and higher), than either milk or white. But hey, it’s chocolate, right?

Disclaimer #2: Chocoholics should still try to control themselves. Doctors remind us that it's important to keep a balanced diet and that all this cool research doesn't necessarily mean people should start downing daily bars of chocolate. Yaddah, yaddah, yaddah.

Disclaimer #3: I’m not a nutrition expert! I merely play one on this blog, particularly when it comes to the subject of chocolate.

Indulge at your own risk.

Image by 1la

Quote of the Week

“Perhaps the feelings that we experience when we are in love represent a normal state.

Being in love shows a person who he should be.”

~ Anton Chekhov ~

Image by: No lurvin here

Quote of the Week

“Keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot see the shadow”

~ Helen Keller ~

Image by: A. Witt

Quote of the Week

"A mind troubled by doubt cannot focus on the course to victory."

~ Arthur Golden ~

Image by: Mike Baird

Fabulous Flamenco

Okay, I realize this doesn't count as an actual "Holly writing something" blog post, but you guys HAVE to see this!

I'm heavily into research for a writing project. Part of my research required me to investigate the art of flamenco dance. I've been to a couple of performances in my life, but hadn't really taken the time to study up on the art at all. Through my research I came across a particular dancer, considered by many to have been the best of all time: Carmen Amaya (1913-1963). For the fun of it, I decided to check YouTube to see if I could view any of her performances. This video is only a little over 2 minutes, and...
It. Is. AMAZING!

(For a little added inspiration for my fellow "shorties" out there, Carmen was barely 5' tall.)

Enjoy!

Quote of the Week

"Familiar acts are beautiful through love."

~ Percy Bysshe Shelly ~

Image by: Rachel Tayse

Quote of the Week

"Anger makes you smaller, while forgiveness forces you to grow beyond what you were."

~ Chérie Carter-Scott ~

Image by: Vauvau

5 Advantages of Being a Cougar

Well, as my front lawn clearly BROADCASTS (thanks to my darling hubby!) I’m celebrating my 50^th birthday today! Some people feel weird about birthdays, especially milestones, but I love my birthday! The only one I truly recall having anxiety over was when I turned 18. I freaked out because I knew the world now considered me an adult but I felt like I didn’t know anything!

Now I know I don’t know anything, but I realize nobody else does either. Plus, I think I’m gonna sound way cool saying things like, “Yes, well, speaking from half a century of experience here…” and “Scuze me? Listen honey, I’ve been around for half a century, so I’m pretty sure I know a bit more about....” Stuff like that.

In addition to becoming half a century today, you may be surprised to know I’m also a…cougar. That’s right. I’m older than my husband. Now some people might not think that’s something to brag about either. But there are some definite advantages to being older than your husband. These are probably some of the very things Demi Moore thought about when she first married Ashton Kutcher.

Five Advantages of Being a Cougar

1. Your Status: There’s the obvious status boost you attain among your peers as a renowned cougar. A woman able to capture the love of a younger man. Added bonus: Arm candy! He looks fabulous on my arm at a party!

2. His Status: On the flip side, your man gets to brag about he’s ignited the love and passion of an older woman. Oooh, la, la!

3. Pancakes: It’s a well-known fact that women are better at, um, making pancakes when they’re older, and men are better at making pancakes when they’re younger. So, now your pancake making will be perfectly aligned.

4. Arguments: If you figure out you’re losing an argument, you can always fall back on the line, “Honey, thanks for sharing your thoughts. But, let’s face it. I’ve got much more life experience than you have. So let’s just defer to me on this little matter, hm?”

And my personal favorite…

5. Driving: You know those rare occasions when you’re actually the one driving and your hubby is in the passenger seat? And he’s providing you with all sorts of unnecessary and unwanted driving advice? At those times I just turn to him and say, “Sweetheart, you just sit there and look good. I've been driving A LOT longer than you have, so I’ll take it from here.”

Postscript: Chris yelling from the background, “Knock it off! You’re ONLY 17 months older than I am!”

Shhhhh!

Five Tips for Marital Bliss

Today is my hubby’s and my 26^th Wedding Anniversary! I was going to write a short post sharing some of the wisdom I’ve gained on maintaining marital bliss for over a quarter of a century, but I stumbled upon this video and I cannot even begin to compete with the hysterical advice of Selma and Kenny! Married 72 years, they created this short video sharing their five tips for a happy marriage with their about-to-be-married grandson.

I PROMISE you this video is worth the entire four minutes to watch. But even if you can only hang around for two, do it. I was cracking up! And now, I give you…

Selma & Kenny

Quote of the Week

"Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever."

~ Mohandas K. Gandhi ~

Image by JaseCurtis

Your Unrecognized Awesomeness

So, my lovely author and blogging e-friend (yes, I just made that word up!) Heidi Willis recently wrote a post about this book titled, You Are Good at Things: A Checklist by Andy Selsberg. The author makes readers aware that we are all most likely suffering from “unrecognized awesomeness”! For example, perhaps…

* You have the uncanny ability to always notice when someone has gotten a new haircut.

* You can make the last half-ounce of toothpaste last for a month.

* You are an expert at remote controlling, or…

* You're a wizard at resisting the urge to eat all the cheese right after grating it.

According to this quirky book’s description, it offers “a celebration of all your secret skills and unheralded abilities. It calls attention to the way you're able to give your kids names that will never appear on key chains at gift shops, and cheers your talent for wrapping presents using very little tape. In your own way, you're a master, and the world should know it. Because let's face it: You are good at things!”

I was cracking up at the things Heidi and her commenters acknowledged they were good at, and thought to myself, “What the heck, my blog friends and I are good at stuff, too.”

So I’m totally ripping off her blog post topic!

For the record, I’d like to give Heidi full credit for the idea and encourage you all to visit her blog: And Also...because there's always something else to say. I truly enjoy her posts! And while I’m at it, I’ll give her terrific book another plug. Some Kind of Normal is a great read. If you haven’t bought it already, get it—it’s wonderful!

And now, let’s all share some things we’re good at. I’ll go first:

*  I’m good at stealing other people’s blog ideas and using them on my blog!

*  I’m good at reading manuals.

*  I’m gifted at not dusting.

*   I’m great at making dinners that cause the smoke alarm to go off.

*   I have a talent for staying up way too late every night. 

*   I’m good at having two-way conversations with my dog.

*   I’m good at interrupting people’s stories to ask questions and get more details.

*   I’m terrific at freaking out in crisis situations.

*   I’m amazingly good at procrastinating.

*   I’m wonderful at embarrassing my kids in public.

*   I’m good at making character voices when reading a story aloud.

My daughter told me I had to write this one:

*  I’m great at getting overly emotional about animals getting injured on film and in real life.

Okay, your turn!

Quote of the Week

"Do not wait;

the time will never be just right."

~ Napoleon Hill ~

Image by: mnapoleon

Operation: Hijacking the Camera

Some of you may have read my post lamenting the fact that my hubby Chris bought a new camera and hasn't been sharing.

Well….

He went out of town! So I snagged it and started a little experimenting. I’ve only got a few days before soccer season starts in order to figure out how to take amazing pics. The new camera is a Sony SLT-A65V, and it’s actually the new-and-improved version of my old camera. So I’m already familiar with some of the buttons and functions. But there are quite a few new options that I’d never seen before. Like the Sweep Panorama!

To use it, you have to pan the camera in one direction as it snaps continuous shots of your scene, creating one panoramic image. I tried it first just holding the camera in my hands, but the end result was too blurry. So I attached the camera to our tripod and tried again.

Using my favorite free photo editing software, Picasa, I zoomed in and cropped it to see how clear the picture really was, and I was amazed!

Pretty crisp, right?

Now the most important function for me to be familiar with is taking continuous action shots. Unfortunately, I was home alone looking out on a very inactive backyard.

Hmmmm…where could I find a cooperative action model. Someone willing to work with me…

Okay, Oreo wasn’t exactly willing. But he said he’d humor me as long as he was paid well with treats.

I already knew this camera would take better action shots than my old one because the manual says it can record 10 images per second! I took Oreo into the backyard with me and told him to stay…

COME!

(My daughter Ashleigh says he looks like a bunny here.)

Ooooh, the agony of running...

Now, this camera has a tracking feature I can activate. It automatically tracks the nearest subject to the screen. I decided to try it out, figuring the focus would be even sharper. Okay, Oreo. Come!

Yuck! They're so blurry! I wonder if I'm doing something wrong? I’ll have to investigate this more later.

Meanwhile, I moved on to testing the differences between the AUTO, AUTO+ and MACRO settings. When I think MACRO I think flowers. So I took three pictures, one with each setting, of my purple petunias (which despite our massive heat wave and my brown thumb, have continued to flourish). I honestly could not find any real difference in picture quality between them. 

AUTO

AUTO+

MACRO

But I found a HUGE difference in the quality of images I cropped. Here's the original shot I took of my mother-in-law's day lily:

And here it is zoomed in and cropped. Check out the awesome detail! It must be the higher pixels.

This will come in handy when I have to take shots further away from the action and I need to crop them later.

Overall, I’d say Operation: Hijacking the Camera has been a success. Saturday is the big day. The first soccer scrimmage of the season. Wish me luck with MY new camera! Bwa, ha, ha!

All Photographs © Holly Bowne

Quote of the Week

"Rose colored glasses are never made in bifocals. Nobody wants to read the small print in dreams."

~ Ann Landers ~

Image by: rnjtc1