Kitchen Renovations, Supper Reservations, Eco Celebrations

My kitchen is finished for now. With the exception of a light fixture and a good cleaning, it is complete. Down the road, I plan to change out the look of the cabinets and counter tops, but that is way down the road. For now, it has a new floor and new appliances. The photos only show the new stove, but we also have a new fridge and a new dishwasher.

The floor is through Britt's in Snellville. We chose to go with vinyl on the kitchen. Here is my logic on that. Marc and I vowed to try and be as eco-friendly as possible with this house. I only wish our contractor was as eco-minded. His sentiments are that he just doesn't care since he will only be around for another 20 yrs or so. But that is beside the point as much as that rubbed me the wrong way.

So I researched and researched my options for eco-friendly flooring. After wanting cork in my living room and finding first hand how easily it dents with a finger, I chose against it. But my kitchen was still important to me. I had the options of linoleum, vinyl, laminate, or hardwood.

Linoleum is a plant based product that is very eco friendly. It was popular in the 60's and 70's. Since it comes from a plant oil, it is renewable. However, it does take a more energy to produce. There are new varieties of traditional linoleum, but I just didn't find one I liked.

Vinyl is a petroleum based product, durable and comes in a variety of options to choose from. It can be laid in sheets or in tiles.

Laminate is affordable and provides a hardwood look without using the real wood for the floor. There are lots of options for this one as well. However, the durability of laminate can vary depending on the cost. In laminate's world, you get what you pay for.

Hardwood is always a beautiful option, but depending on the practices of the lumber providers, it can be very eco friendly or unfriendly. Bamboo is a popular eco friendly choice because it is actually a grass and not a tree. However, many lumber companies are destroying virgin forest to plant bamboo to sell it as eco friendly. Not too responsible in my opinion. Hardwood can also be expensive. However, some options are available such as engineered wood which is all the left over scraps compacted down to a dense board and then just a small layer of the desired wood (ie, oak, maple, pine, etc) is put on top. So instead of having a whole board of that tree, it is left over scraps with just a layer of the desired tree making it more efficient.

Anyway, I chose vinyl for the following reasons:

1. After researching, I found that while vinyl is petroleum based, it takes less energy in the factories to make whereas linoleum was made from a renewable resource such as flax seed oil, it took more energy in the plant to create as more steps were required.

2. Vinyl was an affordable option to have a look we desired in our house, and it is very durable and easy to replace out should it need to be replaced.

3. When and if we decide to get a new floor down the road, vinyl is recyclable and can be broken down to create new vinyl floors.

So I felt at peace with my choice after weighing the options. More on my eco-friendly choices for my new home coming soon.

This is the old flooring and old appliances. We removed the stove, but we are keeping the fridge for now in the laundry room for extra freezer space. Our new one is stainless steel like the stove and dishwasher.

The new floor looking towards the front door which is in a beautiful entrance room with beautiful hardwood floors that we have no plans of changing.

Ignore the trash and dirty cabinets. This is my new stove and other appliances are in place. They came after this photo was taken.

She's At Home

My little sugar bean loves being out at the new house. From the first day it was officially ours, she feels right at home. When we are out there working, she is such a sweet little girl. She watches her DVD player, helps in the garden, colors in her Scooby coloring book, plays in the water hose and loves collecting rocks. We can't wait until we are in the home officially!

Down Came A Coop

Once upon a time there was a boy and a girl who were madly in love. They decided to get married, have a baby and eventually buy a house out in the middle of a magical place called Walnut Grove.

Inside the Grove stood an adorable little house that would become the home of the boy and girl. But first much cleaning and repair had to be done. The girl, who loved to garden, wanted a patch to harvest yummy fruits and vegetables. Yet, the ideal spot was the home to an old rackety chicken coop.

So to please his girl, the boy put all his might into bringing down the treacherous eye sore that once housed chickens. Four days of endless chopping, breaking, hauling, swinging, and a little sweat, the boy triumphed over the victory he had taken over the coop.

The girl swooned and sang a lovely song as she saw that the coop was gone, and she began to plan for her garden. Once again, because the boy loved the girl with all his heart, he worked day after day to complete her dream of raised beds for her garden.

Today, with a coop gone and half a garden planted, the boy and girl and their little sugar bean are living happily ever after.

Tonight I Am Thankful

After a few days of contemplating thankfulness, I just finished reading a wonderful friend of mine's blog on her evening prayers with her son. It came on at almost the same moment I was preparing my thoughts for this blog about thankfulness and gratefulness. So thank you, Lauren, for inspiring me to be continue forth with this post.

Sometimes I wonder if I truly am the person who sees the glass half full or half empty. I wonder if I am a true romantic or a true cynic. Some days I wake up and just can't seem to find the sunshine; others I welcome the rain for I know what the rain brings: growth, cleansing, refreshment. But for the most part, I try to acknowledge what I have in my life and appreciate it full heartedly.

Many people find the act of being grateful in line with their religion or spirituality. I am no different. While I practice a less commonly accepted spiritual path, I do acknowledge the gifts given to me from a higher source. In my pagan path, I am a firm believer that whatever we put into this world, we will receive in return 7 fold. Basically, if I do what is good and kind and respect all that surrounds me, I will receive the same in return. Likewise, should I put hurt and anger, turmoil or negativity into the world I live, it too will return to me. This is along the same lines of "Do unto others..." or "What goes around, comes around".

I also believe in my heart that there is much validity in the old saying "Don't look a gift horse in the mouth". When we are blessed with something--anything in our lives, I think it is our responsibility to be grateful for that blessing. It becomes a huge insult to the Divine who blesses us when we show a lack of appreciation for that which we have been given. I know when I personally feel that something I did was not appreciated, it makes me not want to do it again for that person. How awful would it be if the universe chose to stop blessing us because we don't appreciate it or show gratefulness for the many gifts?

So with that said, I make it a daily effort to find and state what I am thankful for. I try to take the things in my life that are less than pleasant or perfect and force myself to see the positive side of it. For example, when I get extremely frustrated at my hubby for his lack of attention to cleaning the litter box, I remember how well he cleans the bathrooms for me, and I also remind myself how thankful I should be to have a husband who is kind and gentle, as some women are not so fortunate. On days when I want to go to the park and play outside with my daughter, but I wake to mud and rain, I remind myself again that rain is a gift from the Divine, and how often do we receive a tangible gift from the Divine falling from the sky. I have even found the song "Rain Rain Go Away" to be a bit pessimistic and a bit unlucky to sing. I find living in GA, a drought filled state, and singing such a song to be a little risky, and I just don't want to push my luck. Much to my belief in "be careful what you wish for" but that is for another posting another day.

So to ensure my family continues to be thankful and appreciative of what life gives us, Anniston and I spend a few minutes each night after we read, sing, and say our prayer discussing what we are thankful for. We have been doing it for so long now, she sometimes comes up in the middle of the day and tells me what she is thankful for.

Tonight she said, "Mama, I am sankful for loving you...and I am sankful for spendin' the day with you too, Mama. Oh and I am sankful for my toys too"

After listening to her beautiful sentiments, I am torn between gratefulness for a child whom is so kind hearted and spirited, and the beautiful emotion of watching my baby girl grow up into such a thoughtful young lady.

But at the end of the day--each and every day--I remain thankful for my family. Each member holds a unique and special place in my heart. Every day I realize how important family is, and I appreciate their relationships to me even more. I remain thankful for the life I have. It isn't perfect, and on most days it is quite challenging. I don't have a lot of things or money, but at sunset, the bills are paid, there is food in my pantry, and I have clothes on my body. What more could I ask for? I remain thankful for the simple wisdom to know when I have it pretty well off.

Tonight, I am thankful!

Inman Art Festival

This past weekend I had the amazing honor of participating in the Inman Art Festival in Atlanta, Georgia. I joined other amazing photographers from Atlanta Photography Group in a shared tent. It was a two day festival in the heart of Inman Park surrounded by beautiful old trees and amazing homes.

In my two day run, I sold two fine art prints. Now that may not sound like a lot, but in this kind of economy for a photographer to sell a print which is an unnecessary purchase is an amazing success.

I loved walking around looking at the other artists and their crafts and work. Anniston racked up with a handmade princess wand and a handmade doll. Mom found a great bird bath/feeder/planter made from recycled PVC and a great clay casted moon/sun decor for the deck.

For anyone who has been to Bele Chere in Asheville, NC--this is very similar. Here are some photos of the festival.

Here was a kick back to the 60's. Hippie man with hat and long gray hair on his cell behind the van. I love people who dare to be bold!

This is just an example of the beautiful homes in the Inman Park neighborhood area. Each home was unique and stunning!

This woman in the black top and yellowish orange purse is looking through my photos. She really had her eye on my UGA photo. I stood back and just watched!

Lamar's BIG FOUR-OH!

So I am backtracking a bit to catch up on the past few months.

Anyone who knows me and my family knows the following 3 givens in my life

1. I have two brothers

2. I am the baby of the family

3. The sun usually rises and sets on my brothers when it comes to me (in other words, they have always roped the moon)

Now that we have clarified that...Lamar turned 40 years old this year. The Big Four Oh! Oh My Gosh is more like it. Now last year, my other brother, Alex faced this same milestone in his life. For Alex, he spent his 40th in Disney World with his wife and kids. While he was traveling home, I was decorating his yard. Long story short, he did not care for my taste of decor.

So this year I wanted to bless Lamar with the same style of gift. He too planned to be out of town on his birthday. So my plan was to fill his swimming pool with beach balls and decorate his backyard. Another long story short, the town of Dacula became Georgia's "Windy City" that day and the beach balls ended up out of the pool before I could say "cannon ball".

But even without a pool full of beach balls, we still celebrated in style at his house with his close friends and family. My sis in law did an amazing job with food; we had fireworks, and we par-tay-ed til the wee hours of the night! Good times!

Happy 40th Lamar!

My Artistic Passion

Many of you know I have a passion for photography. But I am not sure if I have ever blogged about it on my personal blog. So I thought I would take a moment and share with you a little about my passion.

When I was in college, I took a photography class (two actually) and learned how to use the basic 35mm manual camera. I also learned how to develop film and create prints in a traditional darkroom. I loved taking photos in college for two main reasons: one, NC is a beautiful state to photograph, and two, my second photography class was with Marc, so it was a class I enjoyed because of my time spent with him doing photo sessions.

But even before that, as a child, I had a passion for photography. I would dress my neighbor's son up and take pictures. I would take my niece and put flowers around her and take pictures. I never thought much about it except that I liked taking photos. I felt like I had an eye for composition, but never thought much about it as a career.

In the summer of 2006, Anniston was born, and it became a necessity for me to take pictures. I had to document every moment of her life if possible. I remember spending hours taking photos of her and changing her into different outfits. Seriously what else was I to do with all those girl clothes for her?!?!

One day, I had her next to the window (our apartment didn't get a lot of light and lamps weren't working) and I took her photo. I realized that the photo came out dark in the back and her face looked like I had posed her. I took several more in this lighting and came out with some great shots. I was very proud even though I knew it was a fluke, and I had no clue how I really created such a cool image. But it rekindled my passion for composition and finding something that appeals to the eye.

Today, I still love taking photos. I recently explained it to Marc (who already knew that I loved it). I explained it like such: I love photographing people, especially kids. I love capturing the true essence of a child's personality. Taking pictures of families is also important to me because it allows me to be an intricate part in preserving the memories of that family. I get to see and watch their interactions, and it allows and sometimes forces me to acknowledge the importance of relationships and how we interact with each other as human beings. It connects me to a world I would otherwise shy away from at times. I get to be a part of those memories!

Yet, I also enjoy taking fine art type of photos...nature, landscapes, historical buildings, artistic stuff. This allows me to be creative and work for myself and not a client. It allows me to see the world and show the world my perspective. It allows me to feel like a true artist when I see my art hanging in a show or know that someone buys a print to put it in their home just for the sake of enjoying it. It validates my views on the world.

I currently have a website and offer photography services for families and children as well as seniors, maternity and special events. While I offer those services, I still work diligently at my fine art prints and greeting cards. I have been blessed to have joined the Lawrenceville Farmer's Market where I sell my prints and greeting cards and also promote my services.

Last summer, I had a great season as I was able to sell lots of greeting cards and established a regular customer base. This season I expect to be just as good if not better as more people learn about the market.

So there it is...why and how I became a photographer. I still find it hard to call myself that, but at the end of the day, that is what I am.

Feel free to stop by my site and check it out. Alicia Holman Photography or my photography blog www.aliciaholmanphotography.blogspot.com