intrigue in the powerlines>>polaroids!

todaywasgraduation.
many amazings graduated.
i brought my pola (roid) to document
and it was a blast.
i have so much life that has been lived
since i last wrote to you, dear blog
but
some life must be just lived
not written about
not even photographed.
youknow?

There's a cactus garden in our parkinglot

What a perfect place for a photo session with my wonderful roommate Shanna. I am so lucky to live with this girl-- not only does she put up with my (intentional and INCREDIBLY aristic) mess, but she ROCKS the film world-- has started a female film group on campus, sings so cutely in our room with her headphones on, and shares her really good fruitsnacks with me.

Nate (ha- who is becoming my new personal photographer) shot a few roommate photos of us.
We realized we hardly have any. That had to change.
This is officially the most awkward one, which i thought
would be the most fun for you to look at.

Here's a nice, happy, natural one of us. The two Sh's.

Explorations with Glasses and Scissors etc

My friend Brian (hi Brian!) wanted a hair transformation for graduation. A surprise for his mom. Isn't that the best present a mother could receive? I'm glad that he trusted me, since the only hair I've ever cut is my own. Oh wait! I did cut my sister's hair once. But it wasn't this drastic. I figured out a new outlet for stress in this experience. It is so soothing and fun and relaxing to just snip off little bits of hair for an hour.

He started out like this.
But look how calm I am about it all.
I mean , its just a haircut, right?Nate documented the entire event for us.
He became quite intrigued by the glasses.

Hi Nate! So, how are your tic tac toe skills coming along?

(don't worry there are about 20 more)

[they're blurry because you don't have them on, silly.]
next on the agenga:
the many faces of Brian Walton
with his stunningly amazing haircut

the AHH I didn't want it THIS short.

(he did though. this is just an exploration into the IF'S.)

the Scrunchy Face

the Subtle and Quiet

the I'm Suave Look At Me

the Genuine.

Does anyone else need a haircut?

Toga Party!

Every year my dorm [SIGMA!] walks in togas to a field in the middle of campus to reflect on the year. With so much happening at the end of the semester [finals week is next week!], last night reminded me of the blessings and growth I've experienced this year-- only because of God's grace grace GRACE in my life.So many good friends were there! This is Danika.

She taught me how to suck the honey out of honeysuckle flowers.
Josiah and MikeLee and Clay, rockin the tye-dye. Denise and I!
Can I tell you again? I love this girl.
Thanks Bobo for taking this for us!
You got those shadows perfectly.And to top it all off, our Greek god: Michael.
Sigma! It's been such a fruitful, incredible year.
Thank you thank you thank you.

Crazy Hair (are you sure?)

WOW! You should name this one CRRRRAZY HAIR.
The photographer at church today laughed when he saw this one on his lcd screen. This is NOTHIN', bud. ;) I'll gather up some of my best crazy-hairs when I am bored one day this summer. My mane can get pretty wild.

One of my favorite parts about church today was the photographers stationed around campus taking family photos for mother's day. It only made sense to try out a couple of them :) Might as well! [ha, the photos were my favorite part]

CONTEST!
Which Saddleback Church photographer rules more.
My opinion, number two.
We look like real people.
We aren't segregated by gender.
Half of us don't have our eyes closed.
Better composition
(no dead space on the sides).
Better lighting. WAYYY better lighting.

So, that was interesting to see two approaches to the typical FAMILY PHOTO. Emphasis because family photos are such a big deal most of the time. Personally, I like having families run around places like Disneyland and capturing them having a blast together. In real life. Not sitting down, awkwardly and fakely posed. You know?

Now back to my wonderful mom.
I caught this moment as we were walking into church.
This photo totally shows her fun, energetic spirit.
My mom lights up rooms as she enters them :)
This is her reaction to a risque card my dad decided to have her read out loud. Oh-- and it sang to her. I absolutely love in-motion laughing images. Especially this one!

mom:
you're lovely
i like your spirit.

Denise Corsaro: glowing as usual

Denise looked so beautiful as she went to the Spring Banquet today. My oh my. I was sad to not get more photos of everyone else as they left, but here's a few of Denise that I caught just as she ran out the door!

Denise and her date Dirk driving off into the night (day).
Note to Dirk: I trust you to treat her like a queen.
A queen.


!!

Organic or die

If you're in LA at an art museum, the only choice for lunch is Trader Joes, because all green LA people eat fresh and raw and organic and local. If you want to be even greener, eat it in a park. If you want to wow your green friends, buy your toothpaste and shampoo at Trader Joes while you're at it. Sometimes they have $1 daffodils too. Sometimes they have free samples of brie on crackers. Sometimes they have fair trade coffee samples. You'll always find those wonderful orange cranberry scones.


Hope, Kevin and I graced Traders last week, and it was quite lovely. Then we brought our freshly acquired picnic to a park and felt very environmentally friendly while simultaneously watching moms push their kids on the swings while wearing skirts and high heels. Talent!

Save the earth, drink water, use spudware.

How exactly do you spell Muckenthaler?

I had a wonderful
family session today.
Ryan
Alyssa
Emily
and Will
!

We all went to Alyssa's favorite place from her growing up years, the Muckenthaler-- an art and culture center in Fullerton.

I know I say this a lot-- but the SHAPES in this one. Mmm.

Will! Isn't he adorable?

This is my favorite photograph from our day.
Sweet Emily saw this rock and said
it is SO beautiful
and then hugged it for longer than a minute. I melted.

She also LOVED this twig. A girl after my own heart.

Kids can just...play. It's so wonderful.Ha! So can adults. :)I love the shadows in these white wall ones.SHE'S SO WHIMSICAL!We had a diva on our hands. A very photogenic diva.A little dog came to visit.

I love this picture of Ryan and Will.

The last of Emily's brief modeling stint.
Ryan and Alyssa--
I had a great time hanging out with you and your kids today!
Your family is beautiful, and thanks for showing me a new art place.
It seems perfect for picnics.

Shannon Leith

Figments of trees

I went to the Norton Simon Museum the other day with my art class, and saw these trees. I like the random crawling of the branches and leaves. I like the shapes.

More ecstatic photos of Heather and her friends

I sure love you, Heather :)

Bird out of bread. Wheat bread!

Live feed from my life: I'm watching Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade for my class. I don't think I've ever watched it before. I know. I'm film-deficient. I'm in a healing process for this one too.

Here's a bird that I made at breakfast out of bread!

And, here's the spinach bird (why did they have spinach at breakfast?)

And the leaf bird

And the bran claw.

It's animal-exploration time in design class.
I chose sparrow (or just...bird.)
200 more are in-process. Prolific. Intense. FUN!

Its so fun to explore and just be free.
That's today's thought.
be free
make new things out of old things
and don't be scared if its ugly.

see? look at the canteloupe bird and be encouraged.

oops. not my best work.
not 100% of all food sculptures rule. embrace it.
when you make food sculptures today, let me know how it goes.

Me hula-hooping. VIDEO {this is a new world} !!

Learn about the story behind me getting hula-hoop free rightttt here

EXTREME enthusiasm. And I mean... extreme.

happy birthday, Heather!

World: my sister is now 14.
Her friends are ecstatic about it!
They celebrated at Downtown Disney!
I say, Okay girls, be... excited.
And I get this level of enthusiasm for 30 continuous minutes.
WOW!!
Girls, you rule.

AND- more pictures will be posted tomorrow!

Bliss in my mailbox

As I have elusively indicated, I am pretty stressed out this week.

A large paper on a Matisse painting
Make 200 images of a sparrow
Okay, I just looked at my organic calendar to see what else is stressing me out, and I guess that's all. (maybe its more than my calendar, eh?)

*sigh*

Anyway. It is so lovely when the world picks your ultimate worst days to send you mail, isn't it? I received these two beauties in my box a few days ago, and oh was I ever ecstatic!

I totally bounced the ball this evening for five minutes.

Healthy Life Choice Alert:
IT WORKED!
(i also hit myself in the face trying to
take a picture of the ball mid-bounce.)

I like to tape inspirational anythings to my wall.
(ie: the two new pieces of mail)
tip: painters tape is the best, especially the lime green kind

Things in any of these categories can be on the wall.
aesthetically lovely-wise words-hideous
funny-mandy moore's autograph-etc

its essentially just an explosion of everything that i enjoy.
for instance, this awesome old photograph that i found in a box

Summary in case you're a scroll-to-the-bottom kind of person:
++ surprise mail rules
++ walls can be transformed into fields of inspiration.
++ bounce a bouncy ball
++ write hi on a napkin to someone


thanks for reading
and enjoy whatever part of the day you are currently in.



!!!!

Shannon Leith

Healthy life choices: idea number one

Do you ever just have a lot to do, but you don't know where to start?

Currently I'm so overwhelmed
And I want to not be...but I am
So instead of stressing myself
out even more, I decided to m-
ake a healthy life choice and do
something that i enjoyed. Late-
ly I've enjoyed laying down in
my really comfortable bed that
is an allegory of my life (it has
orange sheets and a gray comf-
orter and beautiful green pillo-
ws.) Allegory? Was that the ri-
ght word? So, I layed in bed, a-
nd put on my go to bed with t-
his on mix. On the off-chance
that you're interested in the m-
ix, here is is, straight off my it-
unes. You might have to get a
magnifying glass. Ooooh! Or j-
ust click on it and it will expand
. I like squares, and I am asking
God to overcome my fear of wr-
iting this paper with un-fear. H-
ealthy life choices. Its good for
me to realize that its good for
me to make them. Do you have
any h.l.c. ideas at all to throw m-
y way?

i got scared when i did it

I went into iPhoto
put my pointer on the scroll bar
closed my eyes
scrolled the dealie up and down
moved the mouse around the screen a lot
and clicked
and this is the photo that fate has chosen for us.

its my friend Michiko's boyfriend.
he's eating pop rocks at the beach.

now, if I could eat pop rocks at the beach right now
I'd be a happy woman.
because my life is so busy and filled with things that aren't solitude and random fun that I think I'm kind of drowning.
if i could eat pop rocks at the beach right now
i'd have sand in my purse (i despise the sand aspect of the beach)
and i'd probably be sunburned (i am very pasty)
and i'd be telling my friends that i didn't want to go in the water (swimming isn't really my thing)
andddd i'd be eating (eating and i are friends)

this is leading me to realize that i need to give myself some pop-rock time.

do you need pop rocks right now?

i do i do i do i do i do i do i do i do


* edit: I'm realizing i painted THE BEACH as horrible. i actually wanted to paint the beach as enjoyable and fun-- and was more envisioning myself freely eating pop rocks under the sun. catch my drift? go in peace.