A Bit About Me

This is the street where I live.  You can't see our house because it's hiding on the left behind some trees (the white car is parked in front of it).  You can get a sense of the semi-rural area where I live (a small town called El Granada on the San Mateo County coast, about 20 miles south of San Francisco).  There aren't any sidewalks, and the street is only semi-paved.  At the end  of our block is an entrance to a protected open space called Montara Mountain.  I took this picture in landscape mode for the Week 1 assignment in the Get out of Auto Mode class at BPS.  For those who asked, I'm liking the class so far.  This week, we're exploring the various pre-set icons on digital SLR's, and I do feel like I'm learning much more about how to use my camera.  For instance, landscape mode makes blues and greens pop, automatically shuts off the flash, and can be used to photograph nearby objects, not just objects that are far away.  All news to me, and all useful information.  I feel like I learned something about the close-up mode this week, too.  I still need to complete the portrait mode and night-time mode assignments for this week, but I expect I'll find those pretty helpful as well. I'm getting a lot out of the class because it's at exactly the level I was hoping for, and I'm willing to go out and do the assignments.  I would also add that there was a bit of confusion early on about the assignments and the galleries, but the teacher and BPS were responsive and reorganized the galleries to make them better.
In other news, Mel tagged me and asked me a few questions.  Here they are with my answers:
1. Where in the world did you spend your most memorable day ever, and what did you do?
  About a year after DH Paul and I were married, we took our first trip to Europe.  After spending three weeks driving around Spain, we took an overnight train to Paris.  We took the metro to our pension only two blocks from the Eiffel Tower and dropped our bags.  Then we bought a Cuban cigar, lit it and smoked it while we wandered around the Eiffel Tower.  And laughed.  We felt so worldly and sophisticated. And young and happy. And in love. In Paris.
2. What is your favourite time of year, and why?
  I love summer because I get to sleep in and don't have the pressure of a set schedule.  Plus, I get to watch my girl at the beach and my boy playing baseball. And we often take a fab summer holiday.
3. What is your favourite time of day, and why?
  Mornings, after the kids are off to school and before I have to go about my work-work, I sit in bed with my computer on my lap and the cat purring by my side.  I cruise blogs and get a little me-time.  Just like right now!
4. What food would you find it very hard to do without?
  Cheese.  I love cheese . . . it's fast, it's full of protein, and it's oh so yummy!  Especially with a glass of wine.
5. What colour makes you feel happiest?
  The combination of yellow, blue and white always makes me smile.  For just one color, orange.  It's a bright, funny color that kindof makes me want to laugh because it's so ridiculous (but not too ridiculous like purple).
6. What's the nicest thing anyone's ever said to you? (Or the most recent nice thing?)
All the comments you guys made on the Challenger baseball photo post really touched me - especially when Elizabeth said I had a heart as big as my talent.  That just made my toes tingle.
7. What's the nicest thing you've ever said to anyone else? (Or the most recent nice thing?)
I recently spoke at a memorial service for a young mom in my area who passed away from cancer, leaving a 12 year old and an 8 year old.  Even though I blubbered through my remarks, everyone really appreciated what I had to say.  I think it's really important to speak at memorials because I know how much it means to the family.
8. Who would be guest of honour at your dream dinner party?
 Bruce Springsteen.  Love his music, love his politics.  If he started playing his guitar, I might have trouble keeping my clothes on, though.
9. What's your favourite bird?
 Red-winged blackbird.  They show up here in the spring, and I love the flash of red you get when they fly by!  Plus, I remember reading about them in the opening paragraph of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (which seemed like a very profound book when I was in college).
10. What word or phrase do you find yourself over-using? 
"sort of", "just", "kind of", "guess" - I guess I'm just kind of equivocal.
Looking to learn even more about me?  Come back late Friday night or first thing Saturday California time for the "All About Me" blog hop that Mel is putting together.  Here's a peek at my project:

House Party Blog Hop!

Welcome to the House Party Blog Hop!  Last month, I sent envelopes full of paper and embellishments to blog friends all over the world.  They all used them to create altered houses, and today they're ready to share them with you.  Please join us on the blog hop to see the wonderful creations.  Each blog will have a link to allow you to easily follow the circle. If at any time you get lost or find a broken link, you can find the entire list of blogs at the end of my post, so you can jump on the circle in a different place.  It's possible, with the various time zones, that there may be a bit of confusion o time lag here or there, so please bear with us if this happens!

My house is titled "Life is a Circus," and it features some Hungarian postage stamps and a picture of myself on the Eiffel Tower.  Even if my life is a circus, it's a happy life!
I wanted to also share a picture of my IRL house, so you can see where I create.  I live in a town called El Granada in California.  It's on the coast, about 25 south of San Francisco.

Come on in and join the party!  If things get too crowded inside, feel free to go out back and enjoy the garden.  There's a nice bench by the vegetable patch (where you can see the birdhouse my talented DD Clara made):

Thanks for stopping by - please leave a comment noting whether you are a first time visitor, long time lurker/first time commenter or old friend.  I'll come up with a nice give-away for a few of you who leave comments.  Ooops the doorbell's ringing - gotta go let in more party-goers. . . 
Ready for another house? Click on this link to go check out Kim's house at Scrap 'n Sass.


If at any time you get lost, here's the list of blog participants:
Kimberlee of Scrap and Sass at http://scrapsandsass.blogspot.com links to
Jacky of scrappyjacky at www.scrappyjackylive.blogspot.com links to
Margi of The Maverick Crafter at http://maverickcrafter.blogspot.com links to
Liz Lee of “Life at the Gables” at http://lizlee-liz.blogspot.com links to
Ruth Street of Everyday Life of a Suburban SAHM at http://suburbansahm.blogspot.com links to
Nancy Young of Squirrelyart at http://squirrelyart.blogspot.com links to
Lizzie of Lizzie made at http://lizziemade.blogspot.com/ links to
Sian of From High in the Sky at http://fromhighinthesky.blogspot.com/ links to
Mel of I Speak Melsh at http://ispeakmelsh.blogspot.com. links to
Deb of Deb's World at www.debs14.blogspot.com links to
Deb of Paper Turtle at http://paperturtle.blogspot.com links to
Karen of Random Reflections at www.kbwalker.blogs.com links to
Cherry of Nights Dream at http://blodwyn3snightsdream.blogspot.com links to 
Sharyn of Living Artfully at http://sharyncarlson.typepad.com/livingartfully links
Julie of JuJu's Folly at http://jujusfolly.blogspot.com/ links to
Elizabeth of Hootings of an Owl at http://emhowl.blogspot.com/ links to
Amy of Over at Our Place at http://overatourplace.blogspot.com/ links to
Denise of Den's Crafty Diary at http://deecie.blogspot.com/ who links back to me
Maria Rinda Ontiveros of Gallo Organico at www.gallorganico.blogspot.com

The house party is about to begin!

Welcome to my front door.  Preparations for the party are taking place inside.  Stop by later on (Saturday night 10 p.m. California time; Sunday morning in the UK) to join the fun!
See you then - I gotta go put the beer in the fridge, find the blender for the margaritas, and finish making the playlist for the i-pod!

A Party is in the Wind . . .

A little bird told me that there's a party coming!!!


It's a House Party, and it starts late Saturday night .  Like all good parties, I expect it to rave on through the night and carry on all day Sunday.  There will be almost twenty participants sharing lovely, crafty, altered houses!


The lovely bird at left was a house warming present from Deb, and she's grabbed a bit of my house to give you a sneak peek.


Also, here's a sneak peek of my real life house, which you'll also get a chance to see if you come to my house party.  Hope to see you then.

p.s. I've sent out an email with the final (corrected) order for the blog hop and directions.  If you're participating and haven't received the message, please email me at rinda1961@yahoo.com