Leaving his mark

Our remaining time with him has effectively been cut in half, lopped off with pruning shears

exciting for him, and for us, to see this new growth before he is on his own path

leaving his own mark.

Spielberg an Entrepreneur

Spielberg is now selling his photography artwork on Red Bubble:

http://www.redbubble.com/people/illplanet

The site allows him to sell and publish his artwork. Most of his best photos are up. How about some custom note cards or posters, framed photos, etc.?

If you're not interested in buying anything right now, would you please consider visiting his site and leaving comments to help get the word out? I'll be adding a button for you to grab and help spread the word. Check back often as he will be uploading more artwork daily.

And if you have any suggestions of photos you'd like to see or images you'd like to challenge him to capture, please comment. As always, thank you for your time and help in getting him started.

Snow

These images are from the southern portion of our trip. It snowed the entire first day we were down there, but we were still able to capture some interesting shots (and by "we" I mean Spielberg, of course).
A)

B)

C)

D)

E)


F) Yes, that is a bald eagle

G) (easily my favorite)

H)

I)

J)

Do you have a favorite?

Bonding

One of my goals this year is to take a trip with each of my children to just spend some one on one time with them. We happened to have a rental car this week since our van was in the shop getting repaired from a minor fender bender, so I decided to grab Spielberg and go on a photo trip. I didn't take a picture the entire time, and I didn't mind at all. It was fun to see his mind work.

Mom, I see everything in pictures, in framed shots. My mind is always composing the next photo.


The first night we headed to downtown Salt Lake. Tripod and camera in hand, we hopped on the Trax and off we went. Just for frame of reference, he snapped over 1000 photos on the entire trip so you are only seeing a small sampling.

We met an interesting couple on the Trax. Ramon, as the name tag on his greasy mechanic coveralls identified him, and his girlfriend/wife were dressed ala (modern) Rockabilly style - he with a slicked back pompadour, she with two-toned hair (hot pink and black-as-night) styled in a Rosie the Riveter bandanna 'do and cheek piercings (ouch), both of them wore gauges in their ears. It was standing room only on the train and after a few stops Ramon looks up at my son and jokes about him taking his picture (oh, how I wish he had), I was standing behind Spielberg and said, "You totally should," and then I laughed. This pretty much mortified my son (which means I must be doing my job right).

Ramon piped up, "Have you ever seen Weeds?"

Me: "No but I've heard of it. Isn't that on HBO?"

Ramon: "Showtime. You look just like the lead actress. People think she is this naive housewife, but inside she is this rebellious lady who gets away with all kinds of stuff. She's brilliant."

Me: "Doesn't she sell MJ to make ends meet?"

Ramon, "Yes. She's like our hero." He uses big hand gestures, funny.

I laugh, "I can give you my autograph if you like."

Ramon: "You even have her smile and laugh."

Me, as the train pulls into our stop: "I'll have to look her up, then."

Ramon and girlfriend in unison, looking first at my son and then to me: "It's not a show for kids. No, definitely not for kids."

I tweeted something about how I just got told that I looked like the lead actress on Weeds and I wasn't sure how I should take it. I didn't even know who the actress was. Within a few minutes, I get a handful of responses that I should take it as compliment because she's "hot". (btw, I do not recommend googling the terms "weeds" and "lead actress" with children present - I waited until my son was sleeping that night).

My son said to me, "What a strange family. I mean they tell you that you look like some lady on TV who sells drugs, is that supposed to be a compliment?"

I told him, "They were nice people."

Spielberg looked at me like I am crazy, "Mom, they had gauges and the girl had cheek piercings."

I remind him that those are just expressions of individuality, and that good people come in different packages.

"But mom, do you think he was high or drinking? Who tells a stranger that she looks like someone who sells drugs?"

I just laughed it off. We walked all over downtown for what felt like a few miles in the freezing temperatures, snapping pictures. Once, he tried to capture the full height of a darkened mirrored building, but could not get enough light into the frame. Passersby would stop, look up and try to determine what was so interesting up there, what were they missing? I found it comical. How many of us remember to look up once in awhile and appreciate the beauty of our surroundings?

We hopped back on the train, getting off near the restaurants. I spied a $20 bill on the ground and pointed it out to Spielberg. He picked it up. I told him, "I should make you give it to a homeless person. That's not really yours."

Later, over dinner he commented that he wonders about people on the train, what their stories are, like the homeless guy who was sitting across from that strange family. He took a bite of pizza, "I mean, how did he get to be homeless? Did he used to have a job? Did he do drugs, go crazy? Did he grow up that way? How did it happen? Where does he go at night? Does he try to find a warm building, or just sleep on the bus stop benches?"

Don't try to tell me that teenagers only ever think about themselves.

On (not) Writing

I haven't taken a single shot.

Road Trip

Just a few shots from the road (all are taken by Spielberg):

Remind me tell you how someone said I looked like her. Personally, I don't see it.

Ghostly Mountains

This first shot reminds me of a Bev Doolittle painting, these have not been edited in any way

They are straight out of the camera, and pretty darn cool shots

Taken at dusk Saturday

A few favorites

I love these latest photos by Spielberg







Especially this one

Yesterday, Ty had another hip injection, we should know in a few days whether it "took" or not. We left for the hospital about 7:30 in the morning and got home close to 6 PM. Then Mr. O took the two youngest to the doctor - turns out one is flu-ish and the other has an ear infection.

Even though we'd sat around all day doing nothing at the hospital, I was exhausted. The kids were in bed by 9:15, and I was sound asleep by 9:30 - it's just what the doctor ordered.

Guess what, today is Thursday and that means tomorrow is Friday. I can't think of anything more awesome than that. Can you?

P.S. These photos are pretty amazing. Which one is your favorite?

Ill Planet (aka Sweet 16 and by "sweet" I mean Rad-spice, of course)

Updated to add: Spielberg was surprised and absolutely was impressed. He loved it.

So Spielberg is turning 16 this week. Wait, let me back up.


Sixteen years and 9 months ago.... erm, well perhaps not that far back.

But remember that awesome cityscape mural he designed? Well, that's just the tip of the iceberg. He's been drawing and designing since, well forever (or at least 4th grade) and has, lately, been drawing logos for Ill Planet - his production company (I know, he's full of all sorts of coolness - how many of you had your own production company at 16? Okay, so it's not officially a company but it's going to be).

Now, remember back when I went on that road trip to with Formerly Phread? We attended a Bloggy Bootcamp and as well as learning a boatload of bloggy info, I made some great, new connections. One of those was with Ryley of That's My Cake!

The wheels, they began a turnin'. I sent her a bunch of Spielberg's drawings and we decided on turning this one into a 3D birthday cake masterpiece:

Pretty freaking amazing, right?

I am beyond thrilled with how it turned out. Sidenote: even though I got on her schedule early, I ended up needing to put a rush on it to get it a day early. Ryley was perfectly accommodating, and I highly recommend her services (no, she did not pay me to say that - she is just awesome and you want her to make your cake. Oh yes, you do).

Unveiling is tonight, right now Ill Planet is hiding out in the trunk. I'll update you on Spielberg's reaction. I can't wait.

Sunset

Last night I was up to my elbows in pumpkin cookies for school (I had to make 90), but the sunset was simply stunning. I couldn't pass up the chance to capture it on film.

Enter Spielberg. He totally stepped up to the plate and snapped a dozen shots. Both of these are SOOC. The one above is about 45 degrees northward from the shot below. Funny how the angle and lighting and a couple of minutes make a huge difference.


Don't forget to enter to win your free apron over on this giveaway post. And please, spread the word.

City Scape project - must see!

So, we worked our butts off and now it's done. Here's a time lapse of our city scape mural. Keep in mind that my son designed and created the entire thing, I just came along behind him and painted it. Feel free to tell him how talented he is, I promise he won't mind.
And if you'd share this link with your friends, I'd really appreciate it. This room is about 300 square feet and no small undertaking. There are still some finishing details to go on the buildings as well as the final touches on the actual decor, but the lion's share of the work is done. Life can resume.

In the Home Stretch

I apologize for the poor image quality, but I am too lazy to bring the good camera down until we are finished with this project. These are from my phone. Spielberg has designed this entire mural and I have come along behind him and painted in the lines.

He's got an amazing eye. I am so impressed with him and his ability to see this thing through. I wish I could impress upon you just how big this room is and what a monumental undertaking this has been. Way to go, Spielberg - we're almost there.

2nd Layer

This weekend, we mananged to get the 2nd layer up. It's all coming together.

1st Layer is Up

This is the back layer of skyline, the 2nd one goes up tomorrow. It's going to look great!

Disney - the Epic Edition

We tried something new on this trip to Disneyland, and discovered something - I think it might be possible to take Ty with us next time (not that he would enjoy Disneyland, but it's just one of those experiences every child should have at least once).

I mean where else can he experience such coolness?

I love that Ellie thought I couldn't see her in this picture.

We used Ridemax software again and our longest time in any line was 20 minutes and most rides were less than 5 minutes. It's perfect and I highly recommend it (you just tell it the rides you want to go on that day and it configures the order so that you spend a minimum time in line). Our personal record for most number of rides in one day is 17 and that was only staying until 9 PM.

I wish we would've thought to ask someone to take our picture for us so we could all be in the family shot together. (Please to note: Ellie's face)

I think this is the only photo in which Ellie smiled "normally."

She was more into doing "tricks"

The weather was absolutely beautiful - about 75 with a slight breeze.

Spielberg still has a knack for photography

I love this shot, especially

And this one

Insert Gratuitous Self Portrait Shot here

If we just went on Dumbo and the Carousel over and over she would have been deliriously happy. And also probably sick to her stomach, so we didn't let her. Instead, we took her on Splash Mountain which she hated. Parents are such dream crushers. Big Thunder Mountain was her favorite ride - go figure.

It was a long day for her so I took her back to the hotel (I love shuttle buses) early while the rest of the gang stayed until closing time. This was the best day of our vacation. And the only day we took pictures. Apparently.

Lucky for you.