Psykopaint

Psykopaint is a website where you can upload your pictures, and then turn them into 'paintings.' I thought it sounded fun, so I used a favorite picture from our family's Disneyland trip a couple of years ago. The picture was JUST out of focus, so I could never print it... but it was perfect for this.


Here is the original image:

And here is the painting:

Isn't that fun? Now you can paint your own images without years of experience or the cost of all the materials. ;)

Thursday Night Supper Club--The details and this week's menu

Alright, people. Thursday Night Supper Club is officially on!

This Thursday's menu is:

-Broiled Chicken Provençale
-Quinoa Salad with Dried Apricots
-Lemon Crème Brulée or Chocolate Tuiles with Vanilla Custard

If you're friends with me on Facebook, you'll get the update there, too. But if not, here are the details:

-If you know me and trust me in the kitchen, you're invited. :) Bring a friend (or spouse, o' course) if you feel so inclined.
-I'll make dinner every Thursday and you bring a few bucks to help pay for ingredients and whatnot.
-The cost will NEVER be more than $8-$10 per person, and I'm hoping to keep it more to the $4-$7 range.
-I'm NOT going to make money off of you--promise. The cost will be evenly divided among everyone who comes to dinner, including me.
-This isn't some weird self-promotional thing and I'm not trying to sell something to you.
-You don't have to participate every week (obviously).

I'll send out the menu every week by Monday, you let me know if you're coming by Tuesday night, and I'll have a seat and a plate for you on Thursday night. :)

Let me know if you want to join in!

If you're not interested this week, let me know if the general idea appeals, and I'll put you on my list of people to include in my weekly menu email.

Woo hoo!

Make Your Own Motivational Poster

I subscribe to Photojojo's newsletter, and recently they sent a link to Big Huge Labs where you can make your own motivational posters (or snarky de-motivational posters).


Here's a random one I just whipped up.




I think this is a great idea, because you can make your poster say just the right thing.
AND it could be used to create posters that have nothing to do with motivation... obviously your caption can say anything you want it to. (Mine is borderline motivational, I guess.)
For example, I think it could be a great way to create visual aids that demonstrate a concept, like Juxtaposition.

So, should you feel inclined, here is something fun you can waste a few minutes on. You're welcome.

Let's Be Friends

My cousin Jeremy posted a link to SUMO Paint on his blog. It's like a web-based Illustrator, basically. I took an Illustrator class once. It was great. Then my trial version expired and I didn't have the cash to go buy the real thing. But I love Illustrator. It makes me feel all creative and happy.

Sadly, this is about all I can do without taking the time to learn how to use all the tools again. But I like the idea. I think I'll do some more and then print them out as little note cards. Wouldn't that be fun?

Hooray for Snowshoeing

I went snowshoeing with my dad on Christmas Eve. We were gone for about three and a half hours. It took me at least that long to warm up again once we got home. Brrrrrr. It was a tad nippy outside Wednesday.

We hiked up our usual ravine, but it was like a whole new place because there was about 5 feet of snow underfoot. Toppled trees that we normally have to crawl under were completely covered in snow and we were able to walk right over them. It was really fun, super cold, AND according to my heart rate monitor I burned 1150 calories. Nice. If only I had three extra hours a day that I could go snowshoeing.


A bunch of the trees in the ravine still had leaves on them.

The ravine we hike in.

This is a funny little sign near the top of the ravine.

The ravine opens up to a few ridges... a few sort of "foothills" on the back of Cascade.

Then... over the southern ridge into a meadow, down the hill to meet up with the road and trek back to the parking lot. (Where, unfortunately, the bathrooms were "locked for the season." LAME.)

Oooooh, I'm going to miss my mountains.

MB SLK 55 AMG

If the title of my post doesn't speak to you, then you, like me, are not obsessed with cars.

However, I think I might have just had an obsession-inducing experience with the Mercedez-Benz SLK series 55 AMG. A guy friend of mine just bought one and took me for a ride this afternoon.

This is what it looks like.

*Swooning*

Isn't it beautiful? If I was a bazillionaire, I would buy one. It has a bum-warmer and a neck warmer for the driver and passenger. Among dozens of other features, of course.

Because I know my mother reads my blog sometimes, I won't tell you how fast we went.

I'll just tell you that on the way home from Phoenix (where he bought it), my friend went 180 and "didn't dare go any faster." Uummm, yeah, ya think???

Memry, Memory, Memories

Today I discovered Pim Pam Pum's Flickr toys.

Memry is my favorite because it takes me back to my childhood days. My family used to play Memory ALL the time.
Basically you enter a tag into the page, and then Memry pulls up Flickr pictures with that tag as the 'tiles' for your game of Memory. You click on a tile, and it flips over to show the picture so you can match it.



Exercise for your brain, pretty things to look at for your eyes. Win-win. And it's free, of course... so win-win-win. Click here to play.

A Personality Pie Chart

I think this Personality Pie Chart from Marc at Take Out Photo is a brilliant idea. I think this would be a really fun series to do with several individuals displayed next to each other (Teachers of the Week, a display at a family reunion, celebrities, random people who are being judged solely on their appearance...).

It would also be cool used in some kind of advertising (sort of a spin on the "Priceless" MasterCard commercials). Whaddaya think?




Plus I just love the look on this guy's face.


If you had to reduce your personality to five of the most representative traits, what would they be?

A Mosaic of...Me (because I'm just THAT self-centered)

I saw this on The Scoop and thought it was a cool way to share things about myself and associate them with pictures. Flickr is fun! I love the mosaic tool... so don't be surprised if you see more popping up on the blog.

1) Sarah 2) Real Italian Pizza. 3) Boring Hallway 4) The red one 5) David Boreanaz 6) Apfelschorle 02 7) Door - Morocco 2002 8) This picture didn't work... don't quite know why 9) Painter's corner 10) incurable laughter 11) The Listener 12) blonde/brunette


1. What is your first name? (Sarah)
2. What is your favorite food? (real Italian pizza)
3. What high school did you attend? (Orem High School)
4. What is your favorite color? (red)
5. Who is your celebrity crush? (David Boreanaz)
6. Favorite drink? (Apfelschorle) Update - apple juice mixed with sparkling water--this is NOT beer, people. :)
7. Dream vacation? (Morocco)
8. Favorite dessert? (crème brulée)
9. What do you want to be when you grow up? (a painter)
10. What do you love most in life? (laughter)
11. One word to describe you? (listener)
12. Your Flickr name? (skbrunette)

Look here for instructions on how to do it.

Post-It Notes...

... make me happy. Especially these, which I think are hi-larious. You can find them all (and more) through KnockKnock. Some of their stuff is kind of cranky, but the ones pictured below make me laugh.
Can't you just picture yourself checking the boxes and happily slapping one of these on someone's computer monitor?
I especially love the little 'P.S.'-type check boxes in the lower right-hand corners.

Who Has Time to Come Up With These Things?

I've always loved watching contraptions like "Newton's Dream" at the Clark Planetarium.

If you also enjoy these small and entertaining wonders in engineering, watch this video. It's great.

The Organ Loft - a.k.a. "Edison Street"

Last night I went to The Organ Loft on Edison Street to participate in the first installment of their fall Silent Movie series. Click here to find the Organ Loft on Mapquest.

I have to admit, I was a little bit skeptical about going, but it was a BLAST!!


The cool thing about the Organ Loft is that they have this Wurlitzer organ front and center, and as they show the silent film they have someone playing the organ LIVE to provide sound (and great random sound effects, too). It was incredibly fun, and something I will definitely do again.
This has to be the coolest thing I have done in Utah in a VERY long time. Have any of you ever done this? If not, I highly recommend it.