{Dipping My Toes Back in the Water}

Hello, strangers!

What is it about a major life transition that puts blogging squarely in the back seat? LinkAdventures has been decidedly neglected for months, and people are one person is protesting my moratorium. Truth is, I miss this 'ole blog of mine. :)

What context it will take on remains to be seen, as the population of LinkAdventures has been reduced by just under 50% and what I want to share on the world wide web appears to be evolving. But I've been told more than once not to overthink everything so damn much! Interestingly enough, I heard this from ten different sources in as many weeks. If that many random people in your life come to the same conclusion and feel compelled to share it with you, perhaps it's worth taking note of, right?

With reckless abandon, I'll share and let the wind blow me and my little blog where it may ...

****************************

There's been lots of fun stuff happening. I haven't been very good about getting my camera out to document most of it (bad photographer!). That is, in part, because I'm staying present in the moment and enjoying what I'm doing and who I'm doing it with!

A couple highlights include a fabulous, homemade gourmet vegetarian meal with the Law family; going to see DisneyNature's "Chimpanzee" with Paul for Earth Day; attending a book reading with Jeff to hear seven-time Olympic medalist Amanda Beard talk about her memoir In the Pool, They Can't See You Cry; exploring the Tempe Art Festival with friends; and tea at The Phoenician with my new landlord and friend, Patrice.

I was honored to participate in Pat's Run this year. (I walked it with Lindsay in 2008.) It's a big deal in our community -- a 4.2 mile run for a good cause! My friend, Jeff, rallied and got ready to do it with me even though he hadn't run in six years after having both knees reconstructed. What a trooper, that guy! (If you want to support this cause, you might be able to do a "Shadow Run" in a city near you. Check it out here.) We got to meet up with the Hendricks family before and after. It was a fabulous way to spend a morning!

I've already had a couple sets of company in my new little house in the city. Aaron and Pam (my brother and sister-in-law) absolutely, unequivocally saved me by flying in the weekend after I moved. They were on a very specific mission to turn my box-filled mess of a house into a home in a fast 36 hours. They've both been through similar transitions and they know it can be a scoach overwhelming. We spent the first night reconnecting over wine, food and great conversation at Postino Wine Cafe. But at 5AM the next morning, Aaron was up and making sure us girls were, too! Aaron attacked the living room and Pam was in charge of the kitchen. I bounced back and forth between them. By the time they left on Sunday morning, everything was hung on the walls, my living room and kitchen were completely done, and I had a largely settled place to start my new life. As if that wasn't enough, they bought me all kinds of things to get me started including stuff for my kitchen, tools, plants, coasters, and more. :) I'll be forever thankful to them!! I'm so lucky to have these two (and their four kidlets) to love.

Then, my girl Jen -- who I've been friends with for 22 years now! -- flew in for a fabulous girls weekend. We had so much fun! Wine, a spa day, laughs at The Tempe Improv, good food, an awesome hike on the Cholla side of Camelback Mountain, shopping, and gobs of effortless conversation. A perfect weekend! It was wonderful to be able to focus on each other for four distraction-free days. Moments like that in life make me stop and thank The Universe for the amazing friends (which I count as family) I've been blessed with!

My "LinkAdventures" continue, even though they feel different today. It's all a lifestyle choice. Mine is on a mission to give back, explore, integrate into my community, experience new things, enjoy moments big and small with good people and a smile on my face -- determined to fill the air around me with positivity and sparkle! I think it's going to be a good summer. :)

{I See Myself Through Her Lens}

I finally got out from behind the camera and had my photos taken.

It was an awesome experience.

For one, it was fun to "be the model."

For another, we met at a location I've been dying to use in a photo session.

Making it the backdrop for my own pictures made me really glad no one

else had taken me up on the suggestion to use it before!

But much more than that, it was so incredible to work with Olivia. You see,

she and I have known each other for a few years now through our blogs. We

only just met in person the day we got together to do these photos. It was

totally surreal. Our first meeting certainly didn't feel like our first.

I thought she did an incredible job. She made me feel so comfortable and

beautiful, too. If you're interested in hiring her, click here. She's fabulous!

I'm so grateful to have these.

They were taken on April 30th, a day that started out as one of my personal

best days ever. I'm really glad to have documented this exact moment in time.

Even though it's only been just over a month since then, a lot has changed.

Life looks different.

I feel different.

Seeing these photos reminds me of who I am, what I want and that I can be truly

happy within myself. They also speak to me about acceptance. I'm not perfect, nor

is life. But if I smile, believe, work for what I want, and concede to only controlling

the things I can control, then I can find something special in my heart.

If I feel it in my heart ...

Then I'll feel it in my life ...

And that'll give me a drum to dance to.

{Links Lately}

The people have spoken.

You see, I put a little poll on the right margin of this site asking you what you wanted to

hear about next on Link Adventures. The most popular answer was posts about us. (If

you have an opinion, go over and cast a vote.) So much of what we do is basic, day-to-day,

regular stuff -- not unlike everyone else. No one wants to hear about laundry and taxes,

I'm certain. But I thought I'd try to blog a little more about the Links. Here's a mini update

-- punctuated with cell phone photos -- to get things started ...

I can't get over how cute my husband is. :) I mean, how lucky am I?

I feel happiness radiating from David's aura lately. He seems to be in a pretty good place

-- peaceful, smiley, calm, patient, and agreeable. He's overworked and under rested of late,

but that will smooth itself out soon enough and return to "normal." He's back on a running

regimen now after letting his training schedule relax for a bit. He ran 21 miles in the last

week to get started. It's hard for me, a non-runner, to believe that's a "getting started

week!" His next event is the Seattle half marathon in June.

I've started Skyping with my friend, Alejandra, on Thursday evenings. She moved to

Boston a year and a half ago, and we've so missed our regular long talks over dinner.

We talk about where we are and what we're thinking. Then, we set small weekly goals

together -- things that help us feel more like us and give us balance in our lives. It's

been wonderful, and I'm so thankful for her calming, sincere, creative, wise presence

in my life! You know, they say it takes a village to raise a child, but I think it also takes

a small village to get one through adulthood successfully.

Oliver is recovered from his wound. (I think I was the only one that was concerned. Ha!)

He's been enjoying his normal routine of playtime with me punctuated by long, lazy naps.

And a Link update wouldn't be complete without these two angels. Their dips in the pool

are becoming more regular now that the weather is getting warmer. We're all trying to

enjoy the outdoors before it gets too hot. This is a perfect time of year here in Arizona.

That's it for today -- just a quickie look at the Links. I'll be back with more on another day.

{Digital Elements}

I had a decent collection of digital elements, all neatly ordered into folders and categories,

but I lost them when my PC laptop died late in 2009.

(Update on crashed computer: The hardrive was still under warranty. So, I got it replaced,

and instead of paying Best Buy Geek Squad $200 to install it and reconfigure my computer

-- again -- my darling husband recently figured it out himself for FREE!)

Anyway, the loss of all those digital elements has been bothering me ever since. Projects I

thought would be fun to make -- like a new blog banner -- were put on hold in the name of

downloading more elements so I would have them to work with.

That situation has now been rectified. Ahhh. I again have complete folders for alphabets,

paper, embellishments, and the rest. I still want to add to it, but glorious order is restored.

Me explaining how all this works would kind of be like me giving a grammar lesson in French.

I know just enough to be dangerous and get by. So, you would end up very confused.

It would be my pleasure to give a little direction, for those of you who are wondering ...

* I Googled "digital scrapbooking freebies".

* That lead me to this site. It tells you where to find them.

* I downloaded everything from here.

Making a new banner is the next step.

Few random things:

* Today is David's birthday (36) and our dating anniversary (11). **Time really does fly.** Happiest birthday wishes to my wonderful husband. I love you, and I'm looking forward to

celebrating tonight!

* Tomorrow, I'll post my entries for the photo hunt challenge. I just need to find one more

photo for the sound category. I'll take a photo of my iPod if all else fails, but I'm hoping

inspiration strikes today while I'm out and about.

* The tile is looking so insanely nice. They still have a few pieces to lay on the bathroom

floor and then the tile baseboards to do. After that, it's time for grout and sealer. Photos soon!

* As of tomorrow, I will have blogged every single day this month! Woot-woot. I've only

done that once before for National Blog Posting Month in November 2008. It's felt good!

{Reporting Today from the Bright Side}

That's right.

Finally started the crossover to MAC.



We decided it wasn't worth putting a second hard drive into my Dell laptop.

And this way, I get to play with all kind of new toys! :)





Our desktop is still a PC. So, I'm a half-sy right now.

Enjoying the transition though, for the most part.

The downside is that my Photoshop CS4 is for a PC. I had it on my laptop but never put it

on the desktop. When I tried to the other day, I found out there isn't enough RAM on that computer. So, I'm just using the Elements 3.0 that came free with my camera and trying to decide what I want to do about that. It's bummin' me out a little. I'm going to take the

opportunity to learn how to use iphoto though. Otherwise, I'm excited about my new,

shiny MAC and all the yummy things it can do.

I do have a PC question though. I'm hoping one of you techy girls will be know the answer.

Q: Sometimes when I click on the button to safely remove my external harddrive, it says

no because it's "still in use" even though it's not in use. Why is that? Is there something I should be doing differently?

{Stupid Spam}

I hate spam.

But I've been lucky not to get any on this blog.

Until this week.

Damn, spammers.

So, I had to turn on word verification for comments. I'm hoping that keeps them away.

Bummer.

{First Photoshopped Banner}

Most of you blogger chicks have been making your own banners in Photoshop for years.

I marvel at them but have never created one myself. Well, not a tricked out one, anyway.

I have at least been making the kind with a photo and my blog name typed over it (see

the one above) for awhile now, thanks to a how to Lindsay posted a long time ago.

What I do know about Photoshop is limited and basically all self taught. It's a shame

since I am lucky enough to have an awesome PS program. Kind of a waste not to use

it to it's full potential, right?

Last week, I had an opportunity to learn a few PS things in Online Media. We all did a

simple exercise to get the basic idea of how to use layers and elements. (Click here to

see step-by-step instructions.) Then, we were told to get busy making our own banner

for our personal resume site (that we're in the process of making now). This is what I

came up with -- using simple elements I found online and this photo taken by Jennifer

last year. I might make another one that's a little more professional looking.

Woo hoo! That was sooo fun. I'm hooked. :)

{NOW}

Silly bloggers out there are always running around tagging other

bloggers to do things like surveys and photo challenges. I can

rarely resist. On Saturday evening when D and I plopped onto

the couch to relax and flip channels -- woo-hoo! --I turned on my

laptop. That's when I found a post on Lindsay's blog tagging me

and four other unsuspecting ladies with an assignment -- take a

photo of yourself as you are right in the moment. No fixing hair,

clothes or makeup. In the name of pure laziness, I used the handy

webcam in my laptop instead of getting up to get my camera.

This is me in the now, last Saturday evening. Favorite zip up

hoodie, hair pulled half back, makeup on but looking like it's been

there since early, generally happy after a nice and relaxing day.

No tags. Just do it if you want to!
Although, Jennifer Jones - I hope you do it. I miss your face!

{NaBloPoMo}

A little birdie told me November is National Blog Posting Month.



I've decided to give it a try... a post a day for 30 days.
Anyone else wanna give this a try with Liz and me?

Hungry Hippo

My computer's been in a funk.
I should have seen this coming.
I naively kept plugging along,
thinking those strange kinks
in the system would magically fix
themelves.

Until one day when I sat down to find
ALL my photos from the YEAR
were GONE. Poof! Just like that.
Whisked away into cyberspace.

I cried.
And then I got mad.
And then I called David.
And then I cried again.
And then I got pissed off.
And then I cursed myself
for not having a backup
or printing enough photos
throughout the year.
And then I mourned the loss!
Oh, so many photos.
So many memories --
moments in time that can
not be recreated.
Images that I was really proud of.

It made me thankful for my blog.
There are a lot of good pictures on
there! But this experience also
helped me see that I really need to
get it printed at some point.
Bound in a book.
I'm going to work on that.

In the meantime, David got down to the
business of trying to recover my lost images.
It was a time consuming and frustrating
process for him, but he didn't give up!
He used two recovery software programs
and spent several frustrating hours on this.
With a combination of patience, technology and luck --
he was able to recover a good majority
of the pictures. I did lose quite a bit
but not all of them. Thank goodness.

A big chunk of what got eaten were the
pictures taken when Jen and Jack were
here. Out of around 430, we salvaged
45 or 50. Not all of those were great photos,
but at least we have something.
I felt terrible about that.
Of course, Jen was totally understanding.

Word to the Wise:
If a message pops up on your computer
saying "LOW DISK SPACE", pay attention
to it. I didn't. I didn't know what it meant.
So, I closed the message box and moved
along my merry way. What a dumb ass
I was! Turns out, I had used up all the
available memory on my hard drive.
So, it just started eating itself to make room.
Apparently when computers eat, they eat
like a hungry hippo. Now I know. . .

The solution:
a) Clean up your hardrive and delete
unnecessary things that have been saved
b) Buy an external hardrive and save all
your big files to it (pictures take up a lot of space).
It's so worth a hundred bucks.
c) It doesn't hurt to have a super fabulous,
computer literate and very cute husband
on hand just in case, too!

Next: The Trumans come to Arizona!

HALLELUJAH & HAPPY 100!

Summer classes are now officially over.
Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hall-e-lu-jah!
Six credits and two political science courses
down. My classes were great -- the second
one was just a ton (I mean a TON) of work.
So, I'm glad to have it behind me.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

This is my 100th blog entry. Pretty cool, huh?

I originally started the site so all of you could
travel to Ireland with us. It's turned into a
wonderful way to keep in touch with everyone
we're so far away from -- making the distance
seem a little smaller than it is. It means a lot to
me when I hear people read and enjoy it, and
we've really appreciated all of you that respond
with emails, calls and pictures in kind.

To mark my 100th, I've decided to get back to
the spirit of sharing the local sites. While
Arizona might not be quite as exciting as
Ireland was, it'll give you a better idea of
what we see everyday.

Anyone up for a trip to ASU? Welcome to
Sun Devils Country!

I had a few things to do on campus today,
so I brought my camera along. Unfortunately,
there are almost no students there right now. So,
it looks kind of desolate. You'll just have to
imagine it full of students like it normally is.
These aren't really beautiful from a photography
stand point, but I think it will show you what I
see when I walk through campus everyday. I'll
have to go back for round two. It was kind of
tough to get it all in one sitting. Anyway, I think
this is a good start. So, let's hit the road. First stop...


Just a regular street sign -- I was playing with photoshop.




Coor Hall. Nice building. Spend a lot of time here.
The class rooms are on the main level and in the
basement. The rooms all have theatre seating, lap
top plugins, and media components. This is also
where the computer lab is that I always use and
most of my poli sci classes are here.


This is the journalism and communications building.
We're in the process of getting a compound built
downtown for it. It's going to be amazing -- state of
the art everything and it'll be close to all the news
outlets, which will be cool. This is where I go when
I have to see my advisor, and of course, I've had a
few classes here, too including television productions
in the attached studio behind this building.


This is a not-very-impressive picture of the language
and lit building. It's kind of an old building but it does
the trick.






Art Museum


Lecture hall right on University Drive


New entrance to the main bookstore




Palm Walk


Bridge over University Drive going into campus




The other bookstore


A Mountain


The Student Memorial Union -- which has everything.
TVs and couches, a market store, almost every kind of
food, Jamba Juice, Starbucks, music store, dry cleaning,
a place to get your ink cartridges refilled, and an ASU
store. They even have four bowling lanes and pool tables.
I don't spend much time here, but it's nice to have some
lunch options once in a while.


The other side of the MU (the building above)
They do quite a bit in this open area in front of the
building -- mobile blood drives and music. Stuff like
that.






A lot happens on the lawn -- bands play, they hold debates,
have booths for different clubs around campus, book sales,
etc.


Closer view of the picture before this -- this is the back side
of the Hayden Library entrance


Steps going down to Hayden


This is the library where I study. There's a little place just
inside the doors with the best vegetable shwarma.






Lots of pretty, nice places to study and read.




Old Main


This is over by the music education area -- concert hall just
around the corner






Gammage Auditorum -- this is like the Wharton Center
at MSU. Plays, lectures, music. One of the Bush/Kerry
debates was held here when they were running against
each other.


Arhed lamp posts in front of Gammage. Kind of 70s deco
but they're cool.