Okay, so I may be the last person on the block to know about this, but my friend Kym introduced me to something really cool tonight. It's called sand art, and if you go on YouTube you can find several videos on it.
The ones that I like the best are done by a lady, Ilana Yahav. Ilana is a sand animation artist.
Using only her fingers, Ilana draws with sand on a glass table. If you attend one of her live performances, a video camera is trained on the glass table and the images are then projected up onto a screen so that all can see. My favorite of them all is "Just Imagine". Her website is www.sandfantasy.com . Following are excerpts from her website telling about her art form...
'Ilana draws on sand, using only her fingers. As she weaves together sand, lighting and music, Ilana creates incredible three dimensional vistas they play out in perfect time with the musical accompaniment, Indeed, it is difficult to decide if the music accompanies the work of art, or vice versa Ilana's fingers dance in the sand on the glass to the music, the resulting aesthetic dynamic is powerful and moving. Ilana uses this original technique in the creation of advertisements and image building clips.'
'The art of "Sand Fantasy" was created for specific song lyrics and themes, where some of the clip messages were presented as a story created by sand. The show is created not only after a song's main message and spirit, but is also synchronized with the rhythm and music.
The combination of the production of music clips with this unique art usually raises tremendous interest in the local media (TV, newspapers, magazines) and helps enhance public relations for the singers or musician involved.'
**For those of you who make a habit of watching Animal Planet, they used sand art for a marketing series. Amazing animal pictures! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jvFBcUb9mZ0
****While you're at YouTube, check out this video! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XY-XTs-9Psk Wish we could have done something like this when I was in German class!
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
This and that
The countdown is on...it will be only a few short weeks until I am boarding a plane and flying to see my sister and brother-in-law. It feels like I need to cram in as much summer as possible before I leave, so I've been filling my days to the brim.
Yesterday I spent time moving stuff from one classroom to another at the school in preparation for summer school, which starts next Monday. I also spent time getting copies done, and trying to think through some lesson plans for certain kids. After I was done with that, I rode my bike over to Kym's house and ate a salad with her, while playing with Jaxxi. We had an enjoyable few hours playing with the baby, and enjoying the cooler, rainy weather on the front deck. In the afternoon I did some cleanup around the house, getting dishes and things like that completed, and then went out to mow the lawn. The recent rains have made it so that it is too wet to get in and mow, but still make the grass grow more! It looks like I need to borrow a baler now, and maybe in a few days I can make a hay bale! :) I was a sweaty mess when I was done--the humidity yesterday was something else!
So far today I've gone on an early morning walk around Marion with my friend Julie, run some errands downtown, and I'm in the middle of making some homemade yogurt. This afternoon Kym and I will go for haircuts--I know, I lead an exciting life! :) It's been good to have a few days of relaxation though, I like spending time in my own home, something that I don't seem to do much!
Tomorrow the big thing on my calendar, aside from my morning walk, is learning a new sequence for massage class. I'll be learning side-lying massage, and prenatal massage, so that I can give Heidi some massages while I visit. It's important to be trained in the specific strokes, because certain types of massage and work on certain pressure points actually start labor, which is not something we should do at this stage! Maybe if she's overdue and ready to pop at Christmas when I visit, but not at this point! After massage class, I will hop into my car and head to NE to visit Grandma and Grandpa J. Tim and Terri are on vacation right now, so I'll be doing some of the farm chores while I'm there. This is the first time I'll be back since they sold the animals off, so I'm not sure how I'll react to it all. I've tried to prepare myself as best as I can for the change.
Yesterday I spent time moving stuff from one classroom to another at the school in preparation for summer school, which starts next Monday. I also spent time getting copies done, and trying to think through some lesson plans for certain kids. After I was done with that, I rode my bike over to Kym's house and ate a salad with her, while playing with Jaxxi. We had an enjoyable few hours playing with the baby, and enjoying the cooler, rainy weather on the front deck. In the afternoon I did some cleanup around the house, getting dishes and things like that completed, and then went out to mow the lawn. The recent rains have made it so that it is too wet to get in and mow, but still make the grass grow more! It looks like I need to borrow a baler now, and maybe in a few days I can make a hay bale! :) I was a sweaty mess when I was done--the humidity yesterday was something else!
So far today I've gone on an early morning walk around Marion with my friend Julie, run some errands downtown, and I'm in the middle of making some homemade yogurt. This afternoon Kym and I will go for haircuts--I know, I lead an exciting life! :) It's been good to have a few days of relaxation though, I like spending time in my own home, something that I don't seem to do much!
Tomorrow the big thing on my calendar, aside from my morning walk, is learning a new sequence for massage class. I'll be learning side-lying massage, and prenatal massage, so that I can give Heidi some massages while I visit. It's important to be trained in the specific strokes, because certain types of massage and work on certain pressure points actually start labor, which is not something we should do at this stage! Maybe if she's overdue and ready to pop at Christmas when I visit, but not at this point! After massage class, I will hop into my car and head to NE to visit Grandma and Grandpa J. Tim and Terri are on vacation right now, so I'll be doing some of the farm chores while I'm there. This is the first time I'll be back since they sold the animals off, so I'm not sure how I'll react to it all. I've tried to prepare myself as best as I can for the change.
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Date night with Grandma
Tonight is date night with Grandma B, and everyone is coming in my direction. After my 5 mile bike ride around the lake this morning I started on the ribs so that they could bake all day, and hopefully fall off the bone by tonight. I even made my own BBQ sauce for them. I also was blessed that Heidi and Terri were online and I was able to chat with them for awhile.
I've been busy picking up the house a bit, folding and putting away laundry, although I'll save my major cleaning for Friday in order that everything is ready for my purse party. I also had my TM1 final today--the full Swedish body massage sequence. I was a bit nervous, and made a few mistakes, but overall it went really well. I have a meeting on Friday with the ladies at the massage clinic to go over procedures and expectations. I'm eager to start moving my things into "my" room, and decorating the room to make it my own.
When I got home, I baked a quick loaf of beer bread for dad--carbs, carbs, carbs! ;) Pickerings will be coming over after dinner for some more talk about our summer travel plans.
The rest of the week is going to be some more "deep" cleaning of the house, getting curriculum and plans done for summer school, May girl sleep over, purse party, and maybe a few other fun projects thrown in there!
Erica's South Beach-Style BBQ Sauce
1 1/2 medium sized onions, chopped
2 T. garlic, minced
Drippings from meat
1 cup water
4 T. vinegar
2 T. Worcestershire sauce
1/2 cup lemon juice
2 tsp. Splenda
2 tsp. mustard
1/2 cup ketchup
2 T. Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce
Saute onions and garlic in the meat drippings. Add in all other ingredients and simmer for 20 minutes.
I've been busy picking up the house a bit, folding and putting away laundry, although I'll save my major cleaning for Friday in order that everything is ready for my purse party. I also had my TM1 final today--the full Swedish body massage sequence. I was a bit nervous, and made a few mistakes, but overall it went really well. I have a meeting on Friday with the ladies at the massage clinic to go over procedures and expectations. I'm eager to start moving my things into "my" room, and decorating the room to make it my own.
When I got home, I baked a quick loaf of beer bread for dad--carbs, carbs, carbs! ;) Pickerings will be coming over after dinner for some more talk about our summer travel plans.
The rest of the week is going to be some more "deep" cleaning of the house, getting curriculum and plans done for summer school, May girl sleep over, purse party, and maybe a few other fun projects thrown in there!
Erica's South Beach-Style BBQ Sauce
1 1/2 medium sized onions, chopped
2 T. garlic, minced
Drippings from meat
1 cup water
4 T. vinegar
2 T. Worcestershire sauce
1/2 cup lemon juice
2 tsp. Splenda
2 tsp. mustard
1/2 cup ketchup
2 T. Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce
Saute onions and garlic in the meat drippings. Add in all other ingredients and simmer for 20 minutes.
Wednesday, June 06, 2007
Great News!
Summer, or what I've had of it so far, has been busy. Our family had a wonderful, wet trip to Indianapolis. Upon re-entry in Marion, the week was busy rushing around catching up and preparing for Becca's beautiful wedding this last weekend.
Our garden is bountiful, and rewarding us with an enormous amount of produce. We've got lettuce, spinach and cilantro coming out of our ears--a good problem to have, if you ask me! We've harvested all of our cauliflower by now, and I have put some in the freezer for later. Our broccoli plants are doing really well too. We've got little jalapenos, bell peppers and tomatoes putting on. Our bean rows are nice and straight, our cucumbers are spreading out their winding tentacles, the onions are slowly growing bigger, and the potatoes are flowering and bushy. I think we'll be blessed with more than enough--plenty to can, freeze and share with others.
I've canned some salsa verde already. I cut part of the cilantro plants out (it barely made a dent in it!), and added jalapenos, tomatillos, garlic, onions, lime juice, and a few pablano peppers. It's a beautiful green color, and can burn your skin off! I accidentally splashed some in my left eye, I thought I was going to have to go to the ER! Thankfully I was able to wash out the eye with cool water and plenty of tears.
My good news for the day is that I've officially now been invited to join the massage clinic here in town. As early as next week I can move in and start setting up a client base. Yippee! I need to figure out how I want to advertise, and how I'm going to go about all of this... I want to at least make enough to cover the rent for the room I'll be occupying, and not be "out" of any money at the end of the month! If you have any suggestions, I'd be happy to hear them! Of course, I'd welcome any of you to be my clients! ;)
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