Learnfest, Day 2

My classes today were with Tamara Lackey and Laura Novak.

http://www.tamaralackeyblog.com/

http://www.lauranovak.net/

Today, I had better luck with not accidentally formatting and erasing all my pictures. Here are some pictures of the photoshoot with Tamara Lackey.

Learnfest, Day 1

What a great day. I learned so much today from Audrey Woulard and Lena Hyde. They are both amazing photographers (blogs below) and shared so much with us. With Audrey we had a photo shoot and I took loads of pictures.
http://www.audreywoulardblog.com/
http://lenahyde.com/blog/

So, where are the pictures??? Well, after dinner, I took some pictures of the club house after dark. I decided to drive a little further down the drive and get another one, but when I stopped to do it, my camera was formatting my disk which erased all my pictures. I hadn't turn off my camera, as I wasn't going to drive far down the drive and I guess my camera hit the series of 3 buttons that are required to format a disk...what are the chances of that happening??!!

Hey, our IT person at work was able to retrieve my pictures...so here are a few...

The Oddie Children

Today, I arrived in Raleigh, NC and stopped by the NC Museum of Art so I could see this painting of my ancestors. The Museum was closed and the painting was in storage, but they museum had made arrangements for me to see it the week before. They sent me this picture of the paining and well as the write up below.

Department: European to 1910
Title: The Oddie Children
Classification: Paintings
Artist: Sir William Beechey, British, 1753-1839
Label Text: Before the eighteenth century, British artists often portrayed children in family portraits as if they were small adults. The subject of children at play reflects a new attitude of tolerance for childhood games in the second half of the century, although an opposing puritanical philosophy still viewed play as sinful. This charming picture of Sarah, Henry, Catherine, and Jane Oddie, the daughters and son of a London lawyer, must have achieved some popularity, since it was reproduced as an engraving. Young Catherine, careless of spoiling her white muslin dress, rests on all fours, gazing out as if to invite the viewer to join the children’s activities. The artist simulates the textures of fabrics brilliantly, contrasting the simple white dresses of the girls with their colorful satin sashes and matching leather slippers. He also manipulates light and dark areas to great effect, silhouetting Jane’s brunette hair against the sky and the heads of her fair-haired siblings against the dark foliage.
The Oddie Children was exhibited with six other Beechey portraits in the Royal Academy exhibition of 1791. Appointed portraitist to Queen Charlotte in 1793, Beechey also painted her husband, King George III, and the couple’s sons, and gave painting lessons to their daughters. These services to the royal family earned a knighthood for the artist.
Date Label: 1789
Culture: British
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 72 x 71 7/8 in. (182.9 x 182.6 cm)
Credit Line: Purchased with funds from the State of North Carolina

Up, Up and Away

Soon I'll be headed to Bald Head, NC for my photography course. The setting looks pristine and gorgeous (not my picture). Can hardly wait...

The Oddie Saga

A few years ago, my dad put together a family photo album which he titled "The Oddie Saga". It had pictures of our ancestors and ended in the mid 70's (okay, maybe it was more than a few years ago!). Here are a couple of my favorite pictures. The first one is when I was 2. I wasn't behaving for the family photo and I'm sticking my tongue out at my sister. The second picture is when we stopped in England on our way from Ethiopia to America. I always liked soft serve ice cream and my sister would always get a popsicle. On the rare occasion that we got ice cream, it was from an ice cream truck called Mr. Softee.

Hearst Castle

I'll have to post pictures later when I figure out how to get them from my Blackberry. Why was I taking pictures with a Blackberry when I have a 10 megapixel digital SLR camera with three lenses? Well, I carried the 10 pounds of photography around the castle, but none of it does any good when your memory card in your car!!! I realized that it wasn't in my camera when I got on the bus, but was told there wasn't time for me to go back and get it. Note to self, when you view pictures on the computer (which I did the night before), always put the card back in the camera when you are done!!!

Route 1 Coastal Drive

Today, I drove down Route 1. I stopped in at Carmel-by-the-Sea and walked along the beach. I could see the Wal-Mart First Tee Open being played at the Pebble Beach Course. On my way back down the beach, I was the little girl below flying a kite with her mom. I thought it was a cute picture and the kite posed just right!

I was amazed how many dogs were at the beach and in town in Carmel. These two were having fun playing in the water.

The pictures below are at San Simeon.

Creative Photography Retreat

Thursday evening was the kickoff to CPR (Creative Photography Retreat). Lisa Bearnson was the keynote speaker. It was fun to take classes from several of the teachers as I already a little about each of their work. I was disappointed that I forgot to take Erin Manning's book with me to the retreat to get her to autograph it. We had a scavenger hunt where we were supposed to take pictures of certain items and use the techniques that we learned for the pictures. There was also a "best of San Jose" contest. It was amazing to see the incredible talent of some of the people.

Happy Birthday!

Today, I took one of my friends to California Pizza Kitchen for a birthday meal. They have GREAT salads there. My friend got the Mediterranean Salad and I got the Thai Crunch Salad (and had them add avocado). Not my pictures!

Plant Tour

One of my friends came to visit me today and I had the opportunity to give him a tour of where I work. I work in such a fun industry that I enjoying sharing the whole process with others. How would you like to be out on a boat in these kinds of seas? Not my photos from a fishing tournament that some of our boats were in, photo credits on photos.

A Lost Briefcase

This evening, when I was getting ready to leave work, our South American Salesman stopped by to discuss the layoffs that we had today and to find out how he could get the sales specs for some of the boats that we are selling. He arrived yesterday, with a potential customer from Venezuela, to look at one of the boats. As there was no one else still at work that could pull the information, I said I'd gather the information as he and the customer were flying out tonight. A little while later, I took him the specs he needed. The customer returned from looking at the boat and said that his briefcase was missing. As we had a layoff this afternoon, and he left it on a chair in the hallway, I was very concerned that maybe it was stolen. We looked throughout the office, but couldn't find it. His passport was in the bag. The salesperson had a bag, so it appeared that only one bag was missing.

I went back to my office and said a prayer that we could find the briefcase as at this point, it would really take a miracle to find it. When I went back, people were still looking around. The salesperson went into his bag and pulled out a phone and charger that weren't his. He then checked the computer only to discover it wasn't his either. The customer said they weren't his. Okay, now there were two bags missing, a laptop, blackberries, passports and any other personal information that is kept in a "safe" place. The phone in the bag had the name of a person that was laid off today. I then had a thought to call our IT person. I asked the IT person if the laid off person had turned in their computer before they left, or brought it back later. He said the HR manager had called him to say that the laid off person had turned in her bag and could he lock it up. He had gone to the chair, picked it up, then locked it up in the computer room. I signalled for the customer to follow me and gestured there was a small chance of finding it.

Problem #2, the IT closet was locked and only three people have keys to it. One person I didn't have a phone number for, the IT person was at home 50 minutes away and the third person was on the east coast. I said another quick prayer, put my key the lock and the door opened right away. A month ago, when we had a prior layoff, my office key had been replaced and I had been given a second key. This second key worked, but my master key doesn't. I saw a couple bags in the closet and held a smaller one up for the customer to see. A huge smile spread across his face and he nodded. There are times when it doesn't matter if you speak the same language, you can still communicate. He then turned back and pointed to his arm...it was full of goosebumps, we both laughed. What a relief! The salesman's briefcase was in their too. I shared that finding the cases was an answer to prayer. How nice to know that God cares about small things in our lives. The customer liked the boat, I don't know if he'll actually end up buying it, but I'm glad his experience at Cabo ended up positive.

Happy 87th Birthday!

On Sunday, I went to Forest Lake Academy and went to the surprise 87th birthday party for Susie Davis. It was fun spending time with some of my friends from Cocoa and getting to see the children I used to teach in Sabbath School when I live there.

One Day Church

At ASI, the One Day Church concept was introduced. Currently, more than 100,000 SDA churches are needed around the world. Some people got together to develop a church of galvanized steel that can be errected in less than a day for about $3,000. Once the steel framework is completed, then local churchmembers can finish the walls and interior floor in a manner consistent with local customers. This can be bamboo, canisu reeds, matting, bricks or other suitable material. For more information, visit http://www.onedaychurch.org/. The picture below is just a small scale of the church. The actual church will seat about 125 people.

ASI - Tampa, FL

What a great time I had by going to ASI. The meetings were inspiring and it was fun to spend time with family and friends. Friday evening, the children and young people had the program. Some of the youth had been in the area for several months.

Laguna Beach

Today, a friend and I went to Laguna Beach. As we walked on the side streets, there were a lot of entrances to get to the little coves along the shore. It was great day. When we first arrived, it was very cloudy, but after awhile, the clouds left and the sun came out.