Farmington NM to Monument Valley Utah

We left Farming ton at a reasonable hour after a look around and headed for Monument Valley.  The journey took us through the town of Shiprock. The landscape is dominated by the rocky formation that is Shiprock. I took more photos than were entirely necessary but it has a majestic and haunting quality to it.

 As we drove along we knew it was windy but then we "hit" the area of the dust storm.

Didn't fancy the ride this biker was getting.

We stopped along the way for a variety of photo opportunities and here are two of my fellow photographers.

The views of Monument Valley along the way!

We are staying at The View Hotel and here is part of our view from our balcony. 

One final view from the day.....

A photo of "moi" thanks to Julia!

Santa Fe to Farmington New Mexico

We started out from Santa Fe and traveled some of the journey we did in September on our journey through "Georgia O'Keeffe Country".

The rocky out crops and the snow made for lots of photo opportunities... even if they were drive by ones.

The snow still covering the ground surprised and delighted us. We were sitting in the car wearing short sleeved shirts an indicator of the warmth outside not of the heating in the car.

 We drove along the back roads for a while and then onto the main highway as it was a bi of a distance (202 miles) between our starting point and "home" for the night.

I hadn't expected to see the number of oil rigs, small oil rigs admittedly, but oil rigs all the same.

I'll tell you what I want, what I really really want!

What a tease Tami is... she sets a challenge using the song title and of course it is playing in the heads of all of the blog challenge folk.
 Here is what she said
What I'd like to know.. is what do YOU want? Not just scrappy things but anything. I love window shopping, I also think that seeing what people want gives you a glimpse of their world and who they are? Did you know in my house full of boys, *I* am the biggest gadget junkie?
So what's on your wishlist of late? Link us up! Share pics, name 5 things that you'd like to get today.
(yes you can pretend you're elite and have unlimited funds if you want )

So 5 things on my wish list.....

1. an ipad! gotta sign up for that wonderful item!
2. a perfect lightweight reliable suitcase- still haven't fond one
3. an upgrade to first class today as we head back to NYC
4. an ipad oh I said that! then an iphone
5.  latest digital slr- love mine but it'd be great to have a new one!

Ah the taxi is waiting better head for that slow plane journey to NYC cos it's Thursday here in sunny Melbourne.

A pearl?

In keeping with the March challenge I checked out what Michelle had in store for the bloggers and she said...
For today Sunday the 21st (or any time you get to it) share a "pearl of wisdom" with us on your blog. It can be a quote you find, something a parent or grandparent used to say... you name it. Share as much or as little about it and what it means to you as you want. Post when you have your "pearl" posted! I'll go get mine up now!

I could go on and on with this one given the Happiness Project has given me plenty of pearls of wisdom and Maddy used to have some particularly fine ones that enter my conversation on a regular basis... so to choose an appropriate pearl for this time.

It was a pearl that Maddy would drop on the odd occasion "I must have been out of my tree!" More of a summary of life's events than advice but it certainly sums up how I have been feeling in part over the past weeks. Why?

I must have been out of my tree to think that I could:
Fly to Australia, then back to NYC  and then on to a ten day  tour of  Monument Valley via Santa Fe and Vegas and still work/learn here in Australia for the past two weeks and then have my head together for the work in NYC in April!

Actually I am managing but .... perhaps I am half way up a gum tree rather than out of it.

Then reflecting on the challenge of threshing around a "pearl of wisdom" my mind fell into exploring  "the only life you can lead is your own"  which sort arises out of Stephen Covey's work and thinking when he (and others) said the "only person you can change is yourself". That then has me thinking about the little book "If life is a game then these are the rules" The only rule I can remember is that "you only get one body". All these kinda interlink.... and so reflecting back on being out of my tree I figure I m leading my own life!

Music as inspiration

Actually what Paula had in mind was album covers when she said...
Welcome to week 3 of my inspiration series! I'm posting inspiration pieces every Thursday in March as my contribution to the Get It Scrapped Get Blogging challenge. This week I'm moving on to music, specifically cd covers, or whatever they call them these days LOL! The beauty of the cd or record cover is that it's a square and translates very nicely into a scrapbook page.

This had me thinking and my immediate thought was "What!" but then I started to look through the piles of LPs yep you know those things before CDs? And we have mountain of them here in Footscray ... I decided I could use them as an inspiration but not only for layouts... this will also be quite revealing about my eclectic taste in music- you may even question the use of the word taste!

Here goes...

I thought the collection of photos in my view there are 5 photos laid out here, the title with a subtitle and even a bit of journaling at the bottom!....  and look at that.... LP's are the same size as well as shape of a 12x12 scrapbooking page. Paula you are so clever!

I wasn't planning on using the inspiration from this as a page but more as a photographic layout... all I need to find is a brightly coloured seat! Oh and someone wearing black to sit on it and a nice manicured set of nails!

And finally...

 

I like the brightness of the blue and yellow  but also like the "platform" with possibly 4-5 photos arranged on it then the best part is the title "Ego is not a dirty word". Showing my age here and that I am Australian as others from other times and places would have no idea what I am talking about. 

 I was tempted to try to download something but then that would be stealing. So here are some of the lyrics from the Skyhooks song....

If I did not have an ego I would not be here tonight
If I did not have an ego I might not think that I was right

If you did not have an ego you might not care the way you dressed
If you did not have an ego you'd just be like the rest

Ego is not a dirty word
Ego is not a dirty word
Ego is not a dirty word
Don't you believe what you've seen or heard

If Jesus had an ego he'd still be alive today
And if Nixon had no ego he might not be in decay
If you did not have an ego you might not care too much who won
If I did not have an ego I might just use a gun

Ego is not a dirty word
Ego is not a dirty word
Ego is not a dirty word
Don't you believe what you've seen or heard

Going green on St Patrick's Day

I actually missed the boat with this one but I'm still getting caught up on my blog and the challenges. I like the challenges as they make one think differently about both blogging and the day itself.

Michelle's challenge was ...
On March 17th post a layout that has you "going green". You can interpret this in several ways, you can recycle product and go the echo green route or find some great green product to showcase. Pick your poison and I will be watching

There is no way I'd have a scrapbooking layout done either in time or  on this subject yet what with being in Footscray and working!! eek I just haven't had the wherewithal or inclination to get a layout done but did take a photo that is part of the "going green' theme.

For years now we have had our process of composting our kitchen scraps. The little brown bin sits on the kitchen bench and any vegetable or degradable matter is just tossed in there and when it is full enough to warrant the trip to the black  compost bin in the garden then out it goes. Not a particularly pleasant scent sometimes but it is great use of the by products of cooking. The compost bin shifts around the garden depending on where Michele has placed it. Notice I say Michele as it is her area of expertise (the gardening not the compost). This particular time it's under he wattle tree that is in front of the bungalow.

Two for Tuesday

The challenge for the day came from Tami ...

Any ideas on the first marketing person who coined the term two for Tuesday? Me either but it's definitely catchy! So today instead of the 5 W's I'll ask just two things.
What's (was) for dinner tonight?
What are your evening plans?

How easy was this for me! Michele and I went to Bridie's (our niece) for dinner so I didn't have to choose or decide what to cook. We had a lovely meal of chicken and veges all cooked by the lovely woman herself.

Our evening was spent chatting and laughing and catching up on news.