Elevate the ordinary

Ah, elevate the ordinary.



If any of you remember this far back, in April 2012, Mandy and I did Superhero Photo and straight after that finished, we did Elevate the Ordinary.

I did it as best as I could during winter (but it was harrrrrrrd forcing myself to go outside). At that point I couldn't take photos inside at all.

I've been trying to complete this course (the one after Superhero Photo) for two years, and finally I'm nearly there - I have a few more lessons and then I'm done.

It will be done by the end of July because I put it on my list :)

Well, it's been great.

I've found the lessons refreshing but also affirming. Because it seems I already elevate the ordinary in a number of ways, most notably I totally honour my obsessions.

The other day I was playing with blur (!) and when I looked at my camera, I'd taken about 284 photos in about 30 minutes.

So lovely.

I can't wait to pick through them all for the gems.

Speaking of obsessions, colour is another one of those obsessions.

If I see something cool, I go back there to take photos.

The kids and I have been on two colour photowalks. It's SO fun! Just Connor and me for the blue one, and then the other day all three of us on a pink photowalk.

It's just too much fun.

The photo above is the ugly bit of wall.

But me? I see potential in that ugliness!

This!

Colour!

Rust!

Texture!




And that's when I dragged the kids back there to take some photos.

How are you elevating the ordinary in your life?
Not necessarily with photos, but with anything.

12 awesome things about being self-employed

pink light from sunset!!!

Eek - my photo posts are piling up because I'm going on too many photo walks. Who would EVER have thought?!

These ones are called elevate the ordinary because yes, I am redoing the course I did in 2012.



So I'm paying attention to things that take my fancy and not feeling guilty about taking tons of pictures of the same things (leaves/ skies/ trees/ walls and interesting backgrounds, and of course, light!)



Meanwhile, let me tell you what is AWESOME about being self-employed.

1. Not having to get up and out of the house on these cold (to me!) winter mornings
2. Reading in bed til I feel like I want to sleep, instead of being responsible with the light off at 12 midnight
3. Fetching the kids from school daily. It doesn't get old - I LOVE IT.
4. Jeans and takkies every day.
5. Morning gym on Thursdays - I've only missed one week these two months, the week I was sick.
6. Having the freedom to run errands during the middle of the day. I've only gone in the mornings twice (all grocery shopping) because I don't want to waste my quiet hours when I could be working in a darn shopping centre.
7. Getting a bee in my bonnet and just going to cook or bake something.
8. Cooking at leisure and having it ready most days by 6 pm.
9. Not having to wait to take photos of my organising or photo projects. Normally all of it would have to wait for a Sat or Sun afternoon
10. Technically being able to go on photo walks daily. We go about 3 times a week - sometimes I just take my iphone. Once I just walked.
11. D says spending quality time with the kids (his love language is quality time :))
12. D says not being so grumpy from being at That Place.

(the kids started taking me for granted. As in, ignoring me and just brushing past me to jump in the car, so I gave them a talk and said if they can't behave, then Nanny S will walk them home and since then, MANNERS again)

This was a Thursday since I'm in my gym clothes

 

I love how moody the keys look

the kids painted this wall with their roller stamps one day when I was sleeping!

my bouquet was dying so I grabbed some of the flowers and tried to give them some life

Tell me what's awesome about being employed by The Man!

(I miss the people interaction)

Elevate the ordinary 1 - get uncomfortable

So Elevate the Ordinary started off very slow for me.

I was all ready and raring to go and the first week was a week of just familarising yourself with the formats, discussion groups, flickr, etc.

Which I was not a fan of. Because I lose momentum.

And so  I didn't quite get into it until a lesson where she spoke about commitment and going the extra mile to get good pics.

It was very timely for me :)

Especially since she used a pic of hers I absolutely LOVE (the one of the girl in the yellow leaves). She mentioned how many pics they'd taken on a normal street to get The One and how all that was worth it.

So I was reminded again that you don't get great pics (or any pics, for that matter) by being lazy and saying that it's cold outside (because I still don't know how to take pics unless it's Extreme Daylight, not Jhb winter fading daylight).

I need to make the effort and take tons and even be willing to play a little with post-processing (which I also hate - no patience!). But I have learnt about the beauty of warmify in Picasa for that whiter than pale winter skin :) I mostly still aim to get it right in the camera.

Anyway, these were all taken one FREEZING Saturday afternoon at 5ish after I returned from errands with Kendra. I really should have been cooking supper but I thought no more excuses. I want a couple of decent pics.
 

this whiteness is exactly what the sky looked like. beautiful but cold.

the ground was a bit greener in patches... but look at the underside of the leaf

and the flipped-over leaf

the one bit of green in the garden :)

this. THIS. never fails to grab me. LOVE the colours.

this could be a metaphor for life. barren branches with just a bit of growth :) HA!

more of the sunset

then I decided to make a bit more effort and got up on a stool...

and I got this one. It was worth it to get uncomfortable and make the effort

love the texture of this old plank

and of the bricks - oh, I added some shadow to this one - do you spot the bit of green?

the nicest pic of an old tap I've ever seen :) otherwise known as elevating the very ordinary!

and the inside of a rusty pipe

by this time, the sun was practically gone so there are some gorgeous shadows. yellow makes me so happy.

So there you have it!

As usual with these sorts of things, it was totally worth it getting REALLY cold for 20 minutes that Saturday afternoon.

I've done another two of these "braving the cold" sessions and I think I'll chase the kids around the garden again tomorrow.

Playing with photos and cooking/ baking is about all I've done that was creative this month, except for the two canvases I made for gifts, both of which I have no pics of :( And you don't want to see pics of the party bags, right? That's the other creative stuff going on here!

Which is your favourite pic?
Would you get cold and uncomfortable for a photo?

(I wouldn't if I wasn't on the course. Actually I would if at my work - I LOVE taking pics there so much)

PS Click here to visit Superhero Designs and read more about Elevate the Ordinary.

Working 9 to 5, what a way to make a living

Conversations this morning.

 

Connor  Mummy, I want to go to work with you today.

 

Me Baby, they don't allow babies to come to work.

 

Kendra We're not babies. We're big kids.

 

(very tempted to say "big kids remember to say if they need to pee" but I restrained myself)

 

Me Okay, Connor, you can go to work in the sunroom. What are you going to do at work?

 

Connor Write.... and work on the computer.

 

Kendra And eat yoghurt!

 

Me (laughing) Well, that's true, Kendra. I do eat yoghurt at work.

 

(they obviously watch to see what I add to my food bag in the morning)

So there you have it - at work, you write, work on the computer and eat yoghurt. Quite accurate in my case but I would also add "managing other people's cr*p"



ipad pic - I love the wide angle - I can't get pics like this with my Canon! Tell me you love this pic as much as I do -
I LOVE THE LIGHT!

 But really, work.

 

Has been... interesting.

 

The big thing has not been removed from my shoulders (or more important, my list) but we have agreed that I should just focus on the other million things on my plate and not stress about that. For now.

 

Which is not ideal, me being a J and wanting things Sorted. Decided. Now.

 

But at least I've been released to be productive in other areas for awhile.

 

So yesterday I had the dreaded performance discussion.

 

They inflict this on us every 6 months and it is a true dread.

 

I even hated them with my old Wonderful Boss.

I think it's because I'm cynical as I know they give you whatever increase just because and not as a direct result of the PA.

How do I know this? Because in the past we've had increase letters and then had PAs.

Anyway, moving on.

My ex-boss phoned the new boss while we were busy with my PA.

She told him she can only talk quickly so he phoned me afterwards to see how it went.

Me It was both better and worse than I expected.

True story.

The conversation around my role here, what I'm doing, how I'm doing, etc. was brutally honest and very challenging (all of which I love when I can feel the person wants what's best for me and are not just being mean) but I got VERY low scores.

We mark out of 8 (I won't bore you with the nitty gritty) and I've typically got some 6s and mostly 7s.

This time I got 4s, 5s and I think one 6.

So I am not looking forward to seeing that bonus letter or the resultant conversation.

But the interesting thing was the metaphor for my work that I'm getting from the photography courses!!!!

I even pulled up this pic in the meeting (on my iPad!!!) and we discussed how amazing this is.

poster from the Superhero and Elevate courses - printed, laminated and stuck right in front of me

I am a bit scared (okay, a lot) of New Boss because she's brilliant but does not suffer fools gladly. And so I don't bring all of my awesomeness to my job because what if she doesn't agree, think as I do, etc.

She said something so insightful I'm still mulling it over - my great thing is also my downfall. I am so good at getting things done quickly that I sometimes do that at the cost of everything else. E.g. after I analyse a business case, I type out an email with my thoughts and off it goes to the client. It's fine but she said maybe if I think on it another day or so, different focuses will emerge, etc. and this will mean a more complete analysis. All true.

So my things to work on:

1. be brave (to speak out more, esp with her)
2. tell my story - to bring MORE of myself no matter what
3. be open to experimenting
4. trade my fear (with some lines of business) for curiosity
5. don't be afraid to make mistakes (of COURSE I am!!!)

 I was actually gobsmacked at all these insights from photography! Are you?  

How's your work going at the moment - out of the home or at home work?

What do you think of my insights?

Pottering, putzing, faffing around

Look at his expression. This is exactly how I feel about doing laundry :)

Today was SUCH a lovely day.

My favourite kind - pottering around the house.

Do you know I only got into fresh clothes at 3pm? Yes!

Kendra and I stayed home from church because she's a little under the weather and I took the opportunity to organise up a storm. Maybe because i posted about organising toys on the organising blog on Friday but I dove into them again.

Chucked out some "treasures", re-categorised and labelled some more containers.

Also Kendra got a bigger bed for her "children". I think there are an assortment of about 5 - 6 animals (her children) sleeping in the new bed (organising crate with the front off, mattress is a couch cushion and the blanket is a towelling diaper/ nappy).

Poor Thursday :)

Oh, some of you asked the last time if I have issues with dolls.

Well, I don't... but I'm not a girly girl and I was never a girl with dolls, etc. so it's the last thing I think to buy. 

And nobody's ever bought one for her either (she usually gets her girly fix from birthday and Christmas gifts, and I keep things all gender neutral :)). Although my one friend said she'll buy Kendra a baby doll :) I think she'll be in girl heaven. 

As I was organising I thought of some things to add to the list - I keep this mental list of things so if the family ask for ideas for birthday presents, I can actually tell them real things.

Speaking of which, my kids are now into presents.  A few weeks ago, they loved their mother's day presents D gave them in real gift wrap :)

I love this pic. Look what you get when you get on the ground :)

Today I wanted to give them some jumbo pencil crayons I bought at Clicks (R20 for 6) with a sketch pad (cars for Connor and butterflies for Kendra) so I wrapped them up pretty as if for other kids (I blush - I do nicer gift wrap for other people instead of my own kids!!!).

We actually have TONS (too much) of arts and crafts stuff. I love this kind of thing so I clearly keep buying too much for them. 

I handed Kendra's present to her immediately when she came back to the study and she squealed appropriately (MandyE, she's learning from me!). 

When Connor came home from church, I gave his present to him and he was all "thank you Mummy for my lovely present". Yes, I melted. 

I was clever this time - I also use washi tape as labels so I labelled each pencil crayon with a big K or C so there will be NO fighting!

Anyway, the 10 minutes spent labelling and wrapping the gifts = totally worth it for those moments of happiness.

this is how it typically looks on my desk

I also had some lovely 1:1 time with Connor. He didn't want to sleep so D brought him to our bedroom so he didn't disturb Kendra. This boy LOVES getting his head and neck stroked. The other morning I wasn't even aware I was playing with the nape of his neck and when he went away, he said to me with such heart, "thank you, Mummy, for playing with my neck" LOL

Anyway, so I said, "do you want me to play with your neck?" "Yes," he said and before 5 minutes had elapsed, he was out like a light. I left him on my chest for about 20 minutes til D came to move him. Bliss!

And this afternoon I organised about half of the May pics. I want to do a bit more now and then tidy my desk because it's a bit messy. 

I also decided to consciously use a smaller bag for a week or two so that I stop carrying my whole life with me. I usually find my things stay that way easier if the bag is smaller.

The second photo canvas craft is also now 100% done - I do so love crossing things off my list.



sunset from my desk



This week I'm looking forward to booking my US accommodation and going to gym twice! I'm going to try and fool myself by saying "I'm competent and able to do Big Task at Work" but all prayers of the IT variety will be very welcome.

Also, I've just seen Elevate the Ordinary starts tomorrow not Wednesday like I thought. Let the games begin :) 

What are you looking forward to this week?

PS did you like the random pics? :) 
PPS that's an affiliate link for the course. I get a few bucks (to help with the US trip) if you sign up. So far I have $9,80 - woohoo! :)