Curtis' And Tammy Irons'

Curtis' and Tammy Irons'

Rodney Wayne Irons Wearing A

Rodney Wayne Irons wearing a

2011 Intentions: April Edition

Welcome to the April check in for your 2011 Intentions, Resolutions and One Little Word Projects.  Once a month, I offer a gentle reminder to revisit the goals you set at the beginning of the year and post a project about them.  To learn more about the project, check out this post or click on the label "2011 intentions" below.  I have three art journals going:  my intentions journal (to be "50 and Fabulous"), my one little word journal (focusing on health), and my resolutions journal (focusing on 12 specific things I want to accomplish this year).  This month's page is in my intentions journal, and it was inspired by the fact that I got to meet one of my personal heroines at an amazing event we held at the law school where I teach.  

That's me on the far left, and in the middle stands Dolores Huerta, co-founder of the United Farm Workers.  My journaling reads "In April, I was fabulous because I met and shared the stage with Dolores Huerta."  She has been a huge inspiration to me because of the work she has done to help empower female farmworkers and to improve their lives, as well as the lives of their families.  Her presentation was fantastic - in turns, funny, inspiring and informative.  I can't  believe the amount of energy she still has, especially after the very hard life she has led. You can learn more about her by checking out her foundation's website here or the United Farm Workers site here. Meeting her made me realize that I am fabulous at fifty because I am passionate about seeking social justice and have been able to find a career which lets me work toward that goal.  I don't blog much about my work life, but I did write one post with a video link that you can find here.  One of the things I love about this picture is the way it captures three distinct generations of fabulous women -we're surrounded by some of my 20-something law students (aren't they all beautiful - you can see how star struck we all are, I think). There's me, and there's Dolores.  We're all together, all working to make the world a better place.  Dolores Huerta is "80 and Fabulous." Now that's definitely a goal to aspire to, don't you think!!!
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How are you coming on your 2011 intentions, resolutions and one little word projects?

"Mad Dog" Debbie Irons

"Mad Dog" Debbie Irons

Andy Irons; Eternal Legend

Andy Irons; Eternal Legend

Battling and Celebrating with Team Teal

Marti, the mother of my good friend, Deb, is celebrating her birthday today, so I created this art journal page to say. . . Happy Birthday Marti!!!  Please join me in wishing her a good one!
Marti is battling cancer right now, so a few prayers to go along with those birthday wishes would definitely be appreciated.  Fortunately, Marti is surrounded by a loving family and "Team Teal" (a group of supporters who wear a teal cancer awareness bracelet in her honor), and we are helping her celebrate today.  The bracelet looks like this:

It speaks of hope, strength, courage and love.  And I wanted to share a story today of others who battled cancer and a celebration they enjoyed:

This very old layout documents the day in May of 2003 when we celebrated my dad's 70th birthday.  That's him on the far left.  He's surrounded by his compadres, a group of men who he met 45 years earlier when he and my mom moved to California, and who became life long friends.  Brilliant dancers and hard-drinkers, this group of men was rumored to have serenaded my mother with Mexican corridos while she was pregnant with me - as a way to apologize after they kept my dad out too late.  We spent many afternoons with their families, enjoying bar-b-que's and soaking in that warmth  of extended family which my parents no doubt missed, having moved away from all their brothers and sisters in Texas.
My father has his arm around Henry Jauregui, my son's namesake.  On this day, Henry was in the last stages of battling stomach cancer.  He had been bed-ridden for weeks and no one expected him to make it to the party.  But he did.  He pulled himself out of bed and came and sang and danced with his compadres one last time.  He made it to the celebration. Because that is the power of love.  And of hope, and strength, and courage, and faith.
Happy Birthday Marti.  May the powers of hope, strength, courage and faith take you to many, many more celebrations.
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To find the linky for Team Teal's posts, check out Deb's blog by clicking here.

Jeremy Irons And Tilda

Jeremy Irons and Tilda

Jeremy Irons

Jeremy Irons

Andy Irons Dies. R.I.P

Andy Irons Dies. R.I.P

Blogging with Culture and Weekend Events

I received this wonderful little necklace from Maria of the blog Bubblegum and Duct Tape.  It has a little book with Frida Kahlo on the cover.  Isn't it great? (ETA: it just so happens that she's running a tutorial today on these necklaces - how cool is that?)

One of the reasons I love her blog is because it has such a strong Latina feel to it.  A few other blogs with a similar vibe are "Mexico in My Kitchen" and Gloria's Blog Viva la Vida, as well as my cousin's blog, When the Sun Comes Out.  I find myself drawn to these blogs because they reconnect me with a part of my core identity, which you sometimes see come out in my art.

Two other blogs with strong cultural feelings are Athena's Creative Journey, an art journal blog from Italy, and Shutter Happy Moments, a photography blog from the Phillipines. Visiting these blogs feels like a mini-trip abroad.

So, I'm curious . . .  do you find yourself drawn to any blogs with a strong sense of culture? I'd love to know which ones they are, so I can check them out.  And, do you think my blog has a particular cultural flavor to it?

Do check back in this weekend.  Tomorrow will be a colorful link-up, which I previewed here.  Saturday will be the end-of-the-month check in on your 2011 resolutions, intentions and one little word projects. And on Sunday, I hope to participate in Sian's Storytelling Sunday.  See you then!

Jeremy Irons Is Such An

Jeremy Irons is such an

When Irons Looked Like These

When irons looked like these

Of Course Jeremy Irons Was And

Of course Jeremy Irons was and

Fast and Simple Scrapbook Pages

Recently, I mentioned that I scrapped 15 pages at an all-day crop and shared a bit about my scrapbooking process.  Today, I thought I'd share some of those pages.  The page up top is a fairly typical page . . . quality paper from Club Scrap, 4 pictures arranged in a very linear way, a journaling block and a few embellishments.  Most of the time, I scrap in double page spreads.  Here are the two I did with fall pumpkin patch pictures:

My Fourth of July pictures:

And layouts from DD Clara in Junior Lifeguards:

You can see they are all very simple, but they are done!  You can click on any of them to enlarge them and see more details. 
I also mentioned that sometimes I start with blank layouts and then find pictures that work.  Here's an example of that type of layout:

The layout started with the background papers (beige an blue), plus the dark green paper strips and blue and green photo mats.  These six pictures I had from our summer vacation matched the color and feel of the blank layout.  I found a stamped dragon fly border and embellies in my stash from some sort of page element swap, which I thought completed the page well.
So, there you have it!  I think my favorite page is the fireworks page, although I am also quite partial to the last layout as well.  What about you? Do you have a favorite?

Jeremy Irons,

Jeremy Irons,

Easter at Our House

We had a very nice, but low-key Easter.  I wasn't planning to do Easter baskets for the kids, but DH Paul bought them chocolate bunnies and some candy, so I made each of them an Easter bowl with their bunny, a hard boiled egg, a plastic egg filled with cash and a bit of candy.  It was just about perfect for them. 

Paul and I enjoyed mimosas and cracked a few eggs playing egg wars to make egg salad sandwiches for brunch.  Then we played Peeps Wars for a while (to play, you put a toothpick in the front of your Peep, square it up in front of your opponent's Peep, place them both in the microwave, and run the microwave until one skewers the other) :

For dinner, I made fideo, which is a Mexican chicken noodle soup and totally yummy.  You can find the recipe here.

And we had blueberry bars and Amy's very intriguing balsamic strawberries for dessert:

All in all, a very pleasant day!  How was your Easter?

Flat Irons

Flat Irons

avril lavigne sexy

Good Mail Day!

I had so much fun yesterday taping and gluing bits of paper together to make some mail art.  And then, today, when I went to the post office, I found the fantastic envelope above filled with this beautiful card:

They came from Denise of Chocolate Mousie as part of the mail art exchange organized by Ginger at Ginger's Life of Spice.  Aren't they fabulous!!!
So, what am I sending out?  I taped two of my post cards from ATC's together and then filled the interior with paper and embellies from my stash.  Here's a sample (outside on the top and inside on the bottom):

And here's what my envelopes look like:

They were so much to make! Have you received any "good mail" lately?

Marketing futbolero: Kalise by Iniesta

On Today's Show: Jeremy Irons,

On Today's Show: Jeremy Irons,

Easter Greetings from Gallo Organico

I am rerunning this canvas from last year because I still think it's the Easter artwork which best reflects my sensibilities and style.  It's a tiny 3x3 inch canvas with gel medium for texture, tinted with acrylic paints.  The image is from a photograph I took of some graffiti in Paris.  I hope you all have a wonderful Easter!

celine dion wallpapers