Billy Powell

I just had to post a short note about the passing of one of my favorites, Billy Powell of Lynyrd Skynyrd. I've been a huge fan of the Mr. Powell and the whole group since my college days. His music has helped me celebrate some great moments in my life and lifted my spirits when things were rough. Lynyrd Skynyrd was a distinctive band because of Billy Powell's piano and the guitar combo of Gary Rossington and Allan Collins. I was thrilled to see them reunite with my favorite singer, Johnny Van Zant, as lead.

Although I never was lucky enough to meet Mr. Powell, he was a dear to me. His music helped me forget my troubles and truly has been a major part of the soundtrack of my life. My thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends tonight.

Recycled book jacket gift tags.

This is my first project of the year. It's gift tags made from recycled book jackets. It's pretty simple. You just need a template for a tag, some decorative paper, plain paper for the back of the tag, glue, scissors, and string. I really like the designs. I just stamped "to and from" on the backside and used them for the holidays.

Image

Just a quick note to explain the image that I am using at the present. It's a photo that I took last spring. I wanted to catch the dewdrops on some buds and didn't even see the heart shape when I took the photo. This photo made me realize how much I miss every day. I am so concerned with things that don't matter and problems that I think are important that I miss the real beauty of each day and sometimes the love that is there. So I like to use this photo to remind me to slow down and really look around me.

Speaking of beauty. Here's a shot of my cat Annie. She enjoys sleeping under a blanket.

New Year New Ideas

I've always hated new year's resolutions. I always thought they were about what you don't like about your life or yourself and wanted to change. They were always so depressing and overwhelming. I'm gonna lose weight. I'm gonna get a better job, make more money. Yeah, right. I'm gonna beat myself over my failures was more like it. So I stopped many years ago.

Then along came 2009 and I guess I feel optimistic for the first time in many years. Maybe it was the election. Maybe it's the feeling that people are actually beginning to wake up. Maybe it's just hope. For whatever reason I've made ten resolutions this year. Then things I want to do. Then things to challenge me to be more creative and have a little fun this year.

1. 52 weeks of creativity.
I'm going to do something each week to try to jump start my imagination and creativity. This could be a project or an artist day.

2. Complete the Markeroni challenge. Logging 50 historical markers or monuments.

3. Reconnect with my cousins.

4. Read the Classics. There's a collection of Greek and Roman classics in the library where I work. I play to start reading them.

5. See all of John Wayne's movies.

6. Take at least one art class.

7. Go on a real vacation.

8. Utilize my blog more. Actually keep up with updating my blog and exploring other blogs.

9. Become more active in my community

10. Spend more time with my brothers

Okay, that should give me things to do and think about for a bit.