I’m a big fan of blogs and YouTube. Well in fact I am a big fan of all of the riches everyday Joe & Jane blog about and chat about and video about in the cyberworld circa 2008. Honestly I think it fascinates my inner peeping tom allows me to see the world from all sorts of points of view. I’m a big fan of people watching!

In my never ending quest to keep my blog peeps entertained I thought I’d share some of the more irreverent, funny, gross and fun blogs I like to read on a weekly basis. These are frequent fliers in my world so strap yourself in.

Here comes that pesky disclaimer: if you’re easily offended you may just want to skip these. If you want to laugh a bit and nod your head in agreement you may want to read on. For those that aren’t going to pass the time away with some of my more faves, here’s a few boy images taken from days of no snow and warmer weather 🙂 (I sometimes feel like I neglect the tougher sex in my retrospective moments so here we go…making up for it!)

My Pal With the Hat & Sword

He Knows He’s The Man…

Backlit Waterfall

 

BLOG BLOG BLOGS:

 

The celebrity mom freebies on StrollerMomDerby always worth a read! The highlighted on focuses on J.Lo (or is it Jennifer Lopez? I can not keep up!)

A new favorite which I was referred to viewing just the other day, The Sneeze. I’m sending you right to the “Steve Don’t Eat Me” series of entries. I am warning you: it’ll gross you out but you’ll be laughing so hard it won’t even matter.

Because I Said So the blog of a Chicagoland mother who is on the verge of superstardom. Check her blog out so you can say you knew her before she became WAY rich and WAY famous. Some of her entries are so funny.

Speaking of mothering, everyone here at Casa Marmalade is sick.sick.sick. Except for me, I keep the dubious distinction of caretaker tonight (well every night actually). We were supposed to attend a function at the Museum of Science and Industry tomorrow night for the Children’s Heart Foundation and now I am really concerned that it will be a no go for us. 🙁 The girls are so excited though so please keep healthy vibrations coming our way. With some luck and healthy vibes perhaps the girls can go have a night at the museum tomorrow evening.

Ciao! And as always, thanks for stopping by!

xoxo, Mare

 

 

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  • Elizabeth - February 2, 2008 - 2:42 pm

    Thanks for the blog links.. I love finding new blogs that give me a laugh.. so thanks for that.. Hope you are all feeling better? and managed to go to the Science Museum event?

In this past month I have voraciously devoured numerous texts on photography, on living better and how to just be better. I’ve devoured hours of just me lost time on the internet and I have rediscovered the passion for learning and sharing.

In our quests, as humans, to prove our existence…we go to great lengths. Some of us are satisfied with creating images for families to cherish. Others go deeper and further than most of us are allowed to or ever have the opportunity to.

To that end, I say one name: Jim LoScalzo. He has a book out, EVIDENCE OF MY EXISTENCE and I found this 2 part series of promo video of his memoir.

Be aware some of the images are not only thought provoking but that viewing should be done with discretion. You may feel everything or nothing but you will not walk away untouched:

part I:

part II:

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Steve Jobs for President.  No…not really but seriously if ANYONE can turn it around, Steve Jobs can.

 

Steve Jobs For Prez T

 

 

This insanely great tee is  available at Insanely Great Tees. A friend of mine recently asked me how many Apple computers actually exist in our household, I was ashamed to admit it so I sort of just started doing the # count in my head.  :D  I know she still thought that was pretty funny.  So if they can persuade me into buying their newest & greatest….Steve Jobs & Apple wouldn’t be a bad fit for president.  At least the economy might be stimulated and heck, the Oval Office as a scene for the newest gadgets…can’t be all bad!

(personally if anyone is out there shopping for l’il ole me I’d like the ctrl-z (different in apple speak) t-shirt.  not that i’m hinting or anything…)

Finally…the sad part of today’s entry.  Just the other day (yesterday actually now that I think of it because it was MLK day and the kids were home sorta driving me nuts) I thought about getting out our copy of  “10 Things I Hate About You” and watching it sometime this week.  I adored that movie, when it was on HBO doing its’ round through there I swear I watched it no less than six times.  Julia Stiles was adorable and that is when I fell in love (and yeah, I felt like I was robbing the cradle!) with Heath Ledger.  So tonight, on our way back from The Container Store in Oakbrook (getting more elfa for our house!  I adore the January sale!) when I was listening to Roe on 890 am and they announced the news that he was found dead today I was astounded.  Just astounded.  It made me sad, such talent and youth just.gone.  With a toddler in his life no less.  It made me sad to think about it.  Now I’m not certain I’ll be able to take out “10 THings” without being sad.

Heath & Julia: 10 Things I Hate About You

Heath Ledger you will be missed.

Can’t Take My Eyes Off Of You

 

:(  xoxo, Mare

 

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  • Paula - January 23, 2008 - 6:14 pm

    I totally agree. Can’t believe he is just….. gone. Weird. Addiction is such a crazy and scary thing.

  • Elizabeth - January 28, 2008 - 5:31 pm

    I just watched 10 things I hate about you this afternoon.. I too am heart broken over the loss of Heath Ledger.. I didnt follow his career I didnt see all of his movies.. but the ones I had seen I always enjoyed tremendously.. I cant even imagine what his family must be going through and his dear little girl.. such a tragic tragic loss.. and I have spent probably way too much time reading up on him his career his life and hiw romance with Michelle Williams.. it seems that at one point they were so in love.. you could see it in the photos.. Such a tragic loss.. makes me sad too.. I am glad I am not alone in this.. I was starting to feel kind of goofy about being so sad over this.

…but I feel writer’s blocked. I swear I have a mild case of A.D.D. because seriously I’ll type away and have this amazing (@ the moment) train of thought, get interrupted/distracted by a shiny object and POOF!, awesome/amazing train of thought all of a sudden is uninspiring/stinks and I’m back @ square one. I’ve been sitting here for two days just staring at the blank blog page and wondering HOW much of my train of thought process can my readers possibly handle.

So it’s been silent.

Alas, I cannot keep quiet too long though. I had three clients email me in the past few days going through some blog withdrawls. (Thank you Lisa, Annette & Whitney for emailing me with “glad you’re alive” emails, it made my week and contributed to my general feeling of warm fuzzy love at the end of last week…and yes to anyone I haven’t personally answered, that WAS Nick L.)

So what to talk about, what to talk about. Hmmm… a) it’s too cold to snap photos. b) y’all know my deepest darkest wishes for 2008 already. c) I haven’t bought any new tunes that blow me away. I have done some shopping and had some me mall time this week, sweaters are way on sale now and every thing I own is sort of sad looking. I debated getting a new car a couple of weeks ago when my husband drove us to the dealership to get new wiper blades for his sedan but I stood my ground and decided the gas guzzler we own is a lesser evil than another gas guzzler with payments (even if it’s one that I have coveted for a couple of lifetimes now).

There’s a sofa/chair combo in my studio that I’ve bartered to exchange out for two chairs from the antique store across the way from me. Jill is awesome (the owner of J&R Antiques) and just started the storefront business this past fall and I am so excited for her because things seem to be going very well for her. She and her husband have a true talent for putting things together, her holiday ideas in store blew me away. I really do need to get in there this week to make the exchange out. One of (soon to be mine) new chairs is a white wood with light blue fabric (? it might be velvet…I forget) bergere with metallic details and the other chair is a whimsical quilted chair that would be perfect for little girly girl shots. I got this AMAZING chandelier for the viewing room from the antique store next to hers several weeks ago. It’s this amazing tiered beaded number and at $59 it was a REAL find. Just gorgeous. I’m getting giddy just thinking about it.

The antique stores in downtown Wilmington, near my studio, are pretty amazing. I’ve discovered this side of myself that loves the “find”. Milltown Market (located a few blocks away) has another awesome leopard print victorian legged bench like the one that is sported in my studio. If any of my clients loved that little bench, you’ll be glad to know there’s an almost duplicate (legs & all) at Milltown Market on Kankakee down there.

Here’s a picture of the more than adorable Ella on the bench in question:

Ella Bella

Ok, brief discussion dedicated to my photography friends. I have posted information on my upcoming photography workshops at my photography workshop site here . I am now opening up slots for the 101 level workshop. Eligibility is limited to photographers outside my marketing area as discussed on the site (if you need to bookmark it, www.seethelightworkshop.com)

Thanks for stopping in & visiting. I swear I’ll get more blog exciting in the next few days. 🙂

xoxo, Mare

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  • Elizabeth - January 22, 2008 - 11:38 am

    I hear ya on the lack of blogging stuff.. I have done pretty much nothing its cold and blah and stiffling.. I cannot wait for spring

I apologize for the lack of blog love this past two weeks.  Admittedly I felt a little bit of writer’s block however it’s time to get back into the swing of things.  Question is: so what in the world does a mostly outdoor based photographer do during the downtime/self imposed time to reorganize, regroup, revitalize, regenerate and rediscover during the cold Chicago winter months?  She tries to find her center and get all sorts of stuff done behind the scenes.

I am busily at work putting the finishing touches on the workshop site, I am so very excited to premiere details very very soon!  Also as I mentioned, I’ve been finding my center again, purging the old and bad out of my life, making peace with things that may have caused distress in my life this past year or so and started taking care of ME again.  I highly recommend regrouping to find yourself.  For me I suspect yoga has been an integral part of this journey (and who knew I was still fairly flexible?  I sure didn’t!).  Yesterday morning in class I felt  a calm and peace come over me that was a shock to my system.  It felt so good to come to terms with it.  January 2008 seems to be a month of renewal for me and revitalization.  Loving myself as much as I love those near & dear to me.

Gosh I am rambling… 🙂

Speaking of love.  I think I am in love with my  new camera.  I’ve been having a blast with it!  I’m currently participating in a self imposed picture a day project (which I won’t bore you with here) and am living my own advice of KNOWING your equipment.   Feeling challenged to come up with different stuff daily is fun and my girls are totally into this as the pic of the day (we take turns on who’s day it is).

Luminous, Soft & White

Girly Girl

Other Girly Girl

Guitar Girl (pic of the day 011208)

So, keep out on the look out for more news & stuff.

xoxo, Mare

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  • Elizabeth - January 17, 2008 - 5:52 pm

    I cant wait to hear more about this workshop… and I have been following your picture of a day with your new love for you new camera on Flickr.. and Love what you have been doing.. I have been feeling very blah and uninspired myself these days… and am oh so longing for a D3.. ( am currently saving up my change )

  • Marianne - January 20, 2008 - 5:43 pm

    Thank you E.

  • mk - January 28, 2008 - 10:53 pm

    I LOVE that first shot!