Cathy Zielske's Blog

Welcome back, winter once again

It's almost here. Winter. When we hole up for the season. And do things inside.

With all this unseasonably warm Minnesota weather of late, it's nearly lulled me into believing it won't get cold and snowy. But it will. It's coming. It's just a matter of time.

With the temps dipping now into the 20s, my old friend the treadmill has rejoined my workout efforts. I'm not very outdoorsy in cooler temps. The last run I did outside, it was just around 30 and the skin of my belly, specifically the chubby parts, was red and chapped and numb. I'm sorry. I like to sweat, not to freeze my chub.

I look at my treadmill as an old friend, truly. When I'm down in the basement, there are several pluses:

1. Water bottle in the bottle holder as opposed to water bottles strapped to my waist.

2. iPod strapped to the treadmill arm as opposed to my arm where it tends to chafe.

3. No fear of strangers jumping out from behind bushes.

4. Climate control. 65 degrees for the entire run.

5. Kleenex everywhere. All the time.

6. Good tunes to keep my mind happy.

The way I look at it, I like to sweat. I like to move my body and feel alive. I like the clarity that settles over my brain after a 5 mile run, regardless of where it takes place.

I love that no matter how cold it is outside, I'm in compression shorts and a tank top.

Running in place.

With that, I have to share a song that always makes me smile when it comes on my shuffle mix. In fact, the songs on Owl City's Ocean Eyes are some of my all-time running faves. Mostly because of their light, airy, happy feel. It's hard to feel like you're slogging through a workout with that much light coming through your headphones.

But this one always feels right when winter is just around the corner. In fact, it's all about winter, and Adam Young should know, he lives just a hour south of me.

 

 

Thankful

One of my favorite holidays has come and gone. Thanksgiving, you're totally awesome.

This year it was our turn in the family rotation to host. We would officially be 13 people for dinner, but around 24 coming and going for snacks, drinks and drop ins. (Dan has four brothers and sisters and some were dining with their other families this year.)

I did much of my cooking the day before, including the most delicious cranberry chutney ever, courtesy of my neighbor, Sarah.

While a Lady Gaga at Madison Square Garden concert on HBO blasted on the background, I prepared my stuffing the night before (adding a pound of cooked sage sausage to it, no less!) and cooked my acorn squash. The less to do in the morning, I figured, the better.

I cleared off the scrapook supplies to set a very acceptable table, and with my helpful cooking side kick, I was ready to tackle the bird.

I've only made the full turkey dinner four times in my life, and each time, I've trusted Martha Stewart's approach to cooking a turkey and gravy each time. I have to say, she's never let me down yet. The gravy alone is so rich and flavorful. I'd be happy with just a bowl of that and some mashed potatoes. This round of my holiday cooking efforts was my strongest yet. My nephew's new wife, Melissa, even commented, "You look like you know what you're doing." You know, I guess I really do. Go adulthood!

I will admit, I woke up with a bit of stress, but that all dissolved after tapping the first bottle of Cotes de Rhone just after the noon hour. Oh sure, I was probably a bit too exuberant greeting our guests as they arrived, but who doesn't love a bold welcome?

While final preparations were taking place, cousins played basketball in the alley.

And Aidan served as the official family portrait taker for the afternoon. (Pictured here? Dan's sister Joy and her family.)

Unfortunately, I didn't manage to get my family all together on the steps for an official holiday shot, but heck, we've got time, right?

One thing I should mention, we had a near record breaking temperature for the day: 59 degrees. I cannot recall the last Thanksgiving where the front door was open, not in the 22 years I've lived in this town.

People dutifully filled out their Thankful cards. My neice Erin, pictured in the family shot above, warmed my heart with her card, especially the first entry.

The meal was delicious and the good news? We made enough for leftovers to enjoy all weekend long. Another plus of hosting the day.

In the end, we were full, peaceful and happy.

It really does remind me of how much I am thankful for in my life. How I need to not let that fall by the wayside in daily life.

I hope you all had wonderful celebrations of your own. 

Happy kick off to the holiday season.

Happy Thanksgiving

To all those celebrating today, have a safe and joy filled holiday.

I'll see you back here next week.

 

Everyone was wearing fingerless gloves

Note: the links in this post are not kid friendly, and possibly not every adult friendly. If you're squeamish about language in songs, don't click on the links. However, this post does include a story about a kid, who watches some non-kid friendly content in the name of humor. You have been warned.

If you're familiar with the guys of The Lonely Island, then the title of this blog post may just mean something to you.

We're fans of The Lonely Island in this house. True, some of their stuff is pretty raunchy. (Does anyone remember The Bing Bong Brothers?) But sometimes, a little raunch that is actually funny is good for you. I mean, come on, who didn't go around singing Captain Jack Sparrow after it aired on SNL?

Their latest video, Boombox, inspired Cole over the weekend to dress up for a birthday party he was attending, complete with fingerless gloves.

I think letting him listen to all that Green Day and Queen wasn't that bad for him afterall.

File under: Folly of my youth

Last week, I was digging through boxes of old photos and found many a gem, including the photo I'm about to share with you. I was 20-ish, perhaps. And my skin was a white as the freshly fallen snow.

Good Lord.

It took me a while to place the location and the reason for this shot.

Location? Dallas, Texas.

Reason? Documentation of a hair cut for my stylist.

Earrings? Did not belong to me.

Eyebrows? Had not yet discovered the true joy of plucking and shaping.

Neutral lip color? All the rage in 1986.

Constipated lip pout? All my idea.

Sometimes, I love the vantage point from 45. That's all I'm sayin'.

Here's to old photos and blown out skin from the pre-Photoshop years.

 

The giveaway winners are…

The winners of a copy of "Finding the Holiday Joy," a new eBook from Kelly Willette are:

Ladies, email me at czdesign@comcast.net and I'll get you set up with your eBooks!

Sponsor Giveaway: a holiday photography eBook from Willette Photography

Two people will win a copy of "Finding the Holiday Joy," a new eBook from Kelly Willette.

finding the holiday joy (a pdf file that will be emailed to you upon a successful/cleared paypal payment) is chock-full of great info to help you capture your holidays in photos. This is the perfect companion to your daily December project since each day offers shot lists, ideas and tips to help you document your December in photos.

The finding the holiday joy ebook is a proven method to keep your mind focused on your holiday season and photos of your holiday with tons of tips, tutorials and more. 

This 66-page eBook includes:

• 25 holiday centered photo lessons
• 25 holiday shot lists with literally 100s of photo ideas
• 8 video tutorials
• 66 pages of info
• downloads and more!

All of this for $30! Visit willette’s site for more photography tips for parents, free downloads, free templates and more.

You may also be interested in willette’s original photography ebook: finding the joy. This focuses on how to photograph your children with natural expressions. It makes documenting your children in photos FUN and joyful!

If you want to be inspired for holiday photo taking, check out the class info. Kelly's videos are great. This is a book and a class all in one. In fact, Kelly's class inspired me to get a bit more creative with my own camera, holidays or not. Check it out if you have a chance!

TO ENTER: Tell me what your favorite holiday photo was from last year. I'll draw the winners on Sunday.

Comments are now closed. Check back to see if you're a winner.

What goes around…

Digging through some old photos yesterday while searching for sporty shots of me from my youth (I found zero, for the record) I came across some old photos of Dan and specifically, this one:

This was my husband in high school, pictured with his dad, Dan Sr., and their weimeraner puppy, Mooksie 2. (Mooksie 1 met an untimely end, as it seems did many of the pets in Dan's life.) In fact, I'm not even sure how long Mooksie 2 was around, but I digress…

What struck me about this photo was not the adorable puppy, or the crazy man-stache on Dan's dad, or even the fresh, adorable youth of my high school hubby, but the sweater—the vintage sweater.

Dan scored that sweater from his moustache-sportin' father. And because Dan never throws anything away, his daughter has the tendency to do the exact same thing: score old sweaters from his collection.

I found this shot from a few years back, the last time I documented Aidan in this particular sweater, though she's worn it many times just this year.

Interestingly enough, Aidan walked into my office yesterday, glanced at that photo of Dan and told me that her first thought was, "What photo of me is that?"

And this concludes our story of clothing that spans generations, daughters that resemble fathers, and the fact that they just don't make 'em like they used to.

A is for Awesome

Girl rocks a camera and a scarf like nobody's business.

Just wanted to point that out today.

That is all.

My Thankful Album Project 2011

My second favorite holiday is just around the corner and this year we are hosting the Thanksgiving meal. Do you know what that means? It means as the host of the celebration, I get to keep this year's Thankful album.

For the past few years, using an inexpensive 4 x 6 photo album, I've created journals of gratitude that include everyone present at our Thanksgiving gatherings. (Here is my album project from 2009; here is the one from 2010.)

I designed a new set this year and you don't need Photoshop to use the files, just Adobe Acrobat, some cardstock, a bit of patterned paper and a small photo album.

First up, a cheap little album from Target.

I found this last week and at first I looked at the colors and thought, "Hmmm. I think I'll just re-cover this with patterned paper I like better." But once I saw that the paper I wanted to use worked just fine with these colors, I decided to scrap the covering idea. (The part I'm not really mentioning is that I had a bad Xyron adhering accident and the album covering attempt looked like ka ka du jour, but I digress. Good thing I bought two of these little guys.)

Next, a few sheets of paper from a new Echo Park set.

I also decided to include some of the green papers from this collection to match the greens of the photo album.

Then I printed out a title page. (Mine is in brown, but the set also includes orange.)

The files include crop marks to help you trim out the cards to the correct sizes. Here are the album cards that people will fill out.

Then you just print a bunch of them out and adhere small strips of patterned paper at the base of each card to dress them up.

For the gathering, I'll place them on the table in a tin with a pen and encourage people to fill them out. I'll also remember to take a photo of each person to use in my album.

My tradition has been to give the album as a gift to whoever is hosting the holiday gathering which means this is the first year I get to keep the album.

Over the past few years, I've also heard from blog readers who use this concept at  home, encouraging family members to fill out gratitude cards throughout the month of November and even into December.

It's a simple way to count (and document) your blessings.

This set is on sale today through Wednesday at 3 a.m. E.S.T. as part of the Designer Digtials quarterly sale. It also includes a set of PNG dates to drop in for future years!

Learn more about the set by clicking here.

Speaking of gratitude, I have two new templates (one in 8.5 x 11 and another in 12 x 12) that might inspire you to save and document what you're thankful for on a scrapbook page.