Love, Joleen Photography Blog

A Change In Luck

Good evening! After five days off I was not looking forward to gettin' back to business today but I've had a great day. It appears I've had a change in luck these last few days and nobody is more thrilled than me! :)

Friday I went to the doctor for a followup appointment and my test results. It turns out I do more than likely have PCOS. At this point it feels good to have some validation and a fertility plan set in motion. I feel very hopeful. I was also very pleased that I do not have diabetes and most of my levels (blood pressure, cholesterol, etc.) are good.

My doctor praised my weight loss efforts and encouraged me to keep it up. As of yesterday I have FINALLY crossed the mark that's been plaguing me and I'm at my lowest weight in 2 1/2 years!! Woohoo!!!I still have quite a ways to go but I'm feeling very motivated. It's less than a month until my half marathon so I'm definitely going to be stepping up the training.

Here are a couple new Wardrobe Remix pics.. I don't know what is up with my face in the bottom photo (ha!). I think I was thrown off by the flyby peanut in our first go. ;) In case you're wondering, that fabulous purple sweater is from Ruche. So great, right?

Ok, so talk about lucky! I rarely ever win anything and tonight I won two tickets to see the Broadway Musical, Annie. I'm soooo excited! I saw this on a smaller scale when I was little and remember really loving it. :)  xo

PS- Other typepad users.. is there a way to post your photos on the right and text on the left? I've done it this way in the HTML coding and it looks right in the preview but isn't publishing correctly. Hmm..

Happy, happy 2009!

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It's been pretty insane since Christmas so I haven't really had the time to write. That, and my laptop finally ate it on Christmas morning. Yeah... not such a great week. ;) I had a fun photoshoot the weekend after with three young sisters. I'll post some of my favorites from that shoot next week sometime. Heather and her peanut have been visiting us since Tuesday night. We've been having a great time. We got to spend the day with Karin in San Diego on New Year's Day. I have tons of photos but I'm going to have to spread them out. :)

Heather and I have been creating lots of art. Here are three art journal pages I created on the 1st. The first is my personal goals for 2009. You may recall that for the last few years instead of making resolutions for the new year, I've created lists of goals. Goals are great because they let you think about what you want to do and achieve. Goals can be adapted. Goals can be pushed to the next year or dropped completely without guilt if that's what's needed. The goals listed here are in no particular order. Here are my lists for 2006, 2007, and 2008. I've gone back over the latter and added notes on those completed for anyone interested. The bottom two art journal layouts are in my fertility journal. Tonight I scrapbooked quite a few pages so I'll share those over the next couple of days.

I hope you've had a wonderful holiday. I have a feeling this is going to be a good year. xo

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Moving Forward

Lately, I've been trying to come up with a way to display my very favorite polaroids. I was so inspired when I came across this last month. I loved the idea, although a heart shape didn't exactly scream "Alex and Joleen". ;) I am quite pleased with the result of this installation.

Below, are a couple more spreads from my fertility art journal. I am really enjoying the process of working in this book. It's so personal and freeing. It has really been unlike any other "project" I've done before. Because it deals with such a personal topic and I'm using personal imagery and ideas, I feel so much more connected to it. It feels like an extension of me; of my thoughts and feelings. 

I hope you're having a great weekend! Anything exciting going on? We're being homebodies this weekend. :) Here are a few linky links I've enjoyed this week:

♥ Awesome Frickin' Picture Books for So-Called Grown Ups
♥ Things I'd Wish I'd Known
♥ Just A Few Flickr Favorites
♥ Sneak Peaks by Design*Sponge ; Oh! And Before & After - so inspirational!

The New Journal

I went to an antique store this afternoon and bought an old children's book for $8. The binding was in pretty good condition and was made more sturdy with book binding tape. I hadn't intended it when I purchased it but decided to make it into my fertility art journal. It's smaller than I thought I would make it, so it won't fit my two previous journal pages- a bummer but that's ok. I'm thinking I may just put them in my other journal and print smaller copies for this book. I don't know yet. The cover is a work in progress. I want to find the perfect text to use so we'll see when I find that. :) I covered the red book binding tape with masking tape for a more cohesive look. The second image is my first entry in the journal. Thank you for your kind words and support regarding this project. I look forward to sharing this experience with you. Happy weekend, friends! xo

Baby on the Brain

You may have noticed in the last art journal page I shared along with the one above, that I've got baby on the brain. I've decided to start a new "fertility" art journal and am thinking of using the altered book format and putting these pages in it to start. I'm very excited about this project- it won't be easy but being creative always helps me to address and deal with things in my life. I've suspected for some time that conceiving might be difficult and I need to seek medical care to make a plan of action. That being said I've decided to share this with you, friends (and family), because you are my support. You may notice some new icons/symbols in this art journal, as Heather has encouraged me to use. I think it's all so very interesting and this may seem weird but it makes me feel closer to people - fertility / life cycle being pretty dang universal. ;)

I found this frame (above) today at the thrift store for $4 and loved it! It's 15" x 15" and the (mass produced) country painting inside measured 9.5" x 9.5". I decided just to paint over it and have started this piece. You can click on the image to see it bigger. It's just a work in progress. I got stuck and decided to leave it for now. Heather gave me some good ideas and I think I have a good jumping off point for the next time I work on it!

You know I have an affinity for old (vintage/antique) things, especially if they've belonged to children. This includes dolls, books, wee typewriters, sewing machines, flashcards, etc. One of my most favorite(!!) collections is the paper doll sets my mom has given me for gifts.   These sweet paper dolls from the 1920's are my absolute favorite. They're big at approximately 12" x 4". Aren't they just the cutest? They kind of remind me of Blythe dolls a bit. Someday I hope to frame these in a little one's room a la Flea Market Baby. Alex has made me promise not to put anything too creepy in there. Creepy? Nah. ;)