A tri- to try in Photography

Terrific! It's Friday. What's going on this weekend? Don't let Friday the 13th get you down. Throw a superstition party and let everyone reveal their most believable superstitions (of course select your favorite Friday the 13th to watch as well). Celebrate with crepes on Saturday in honor of Bastille Day, and don't forget to head to explore some art and to pay homage to Rembrandt on his birthday (we'll be doing it!).

Here's a trifecta of awesomeness all wrapped around photography for you to try this weekend. My new camera is going to get broken over the next few days in prep for the Alt Channel class I'm taking on Tuesday with Justin Hackworth. Join me, and we'll both become pros at our DSLRs (I really do want to see all the great shots you capture of your kids! I promise).

1. TAKE STUNNINGLY FLATTERING SELF SHOTS: 

(Not necessarily captured here.) I've got a need for some higher quality headshots/self-portraits. I am so horrible at finding a shot that I like, and I kind of find the whole process a drag. I found three simple reminders from a fellow blogger heading out to a blogging conference (where lots of photos are taken) that I want to pass on.

Have you tried this?

Angle yourself towards the camera, drop your shoulders, and lean into the camera, putting your weight slightly on your front foot.

I'm going to try it. I'll let you know how it goes. :)

2. DO NOT SAY CHEESE:

Dave Cooper, talented hubs of Jen Cooper, over at Classic Play has some awesome suggestions on how to take better family photos.


My fave is #2:

2. Let it happen naturally and capture it. Your family is a living thing that moves. You need to move as well. Capture real moments. These are so much more rewarding to look at a month from now, a year from now, 10 years from now. Have you ever heard someone say “Remember that time we all stood up from the picnic table and stood in a line and you took that picture? That was fun. We should do that again.”?

There's more goodness over at Classic Play. Go and write down all that he has to say!

3. MAKE THE MUNDANE EXTRAORDINARY:

I'm discovering, with my new large camera, that a strap is essential. And though I don't mind loudly publicizing Canon, I'd like to go for something more special. Bri Emery over at DesignLoveFest posted a wonderful tut on crafting your own camera strap. Have you seen it? Go check it out.

Race you to Michael's for all the supplies!!

Do you have any great photography tips you can send my way? How do you make great art and look good doing it?

Thanks for a great week! Don't forget to enter our giveaway held in conjunction with the Playful Learning. Tell your friends, too. Winners chosen on Monday!

Until soon, XOXO, MJ

Ready to Pray

Hi friends,

I'm hoping to find a better way to get myself and my kiddos ready for Sundays. Our pastor made the suggestion a few weeks ago that we should all take the time to digest the readings before we come into Church. I've done this here and there, but I thought it would be so much more worthwhile to do it as a family.

This week we pulled out the Ipad and went to this website to find what we would hear at Sunday's liturgy. M was able to read the psalm and C and L waited patiently to see what we'd be doing after we were done with all this listening. :)

This week we celebrate the Nativity of John the Baptist, 6.24.12

Here are some questions and thoughts to discuss as a family:

1. What is a Nativity? Who was John the Baptist?

2. Why is his birth/his life an important one?

Our activity involved the psalm for this week which is one of my very favorites.

Feel welcome to download our idea sheet here.  I had one sheet for each child and we spent 15 minutes brainstorming, writing, and drawing everything good that God made about each of us.

I found it a really powerful exercise to do with each of them. I offered ideas of wonderfulness they had not thought of, and I was reminded of other great talents that had not shown themselves lately. We also spent time talking about how we should appreciate what God has given us, even when we want our hair to be more curly like our friend's or we want to be taller like another friend. God has made us wonderful.

Happy Sunday, friends. Hope to post more of these each week as we challenge ourselves to dig deeper into God's word.

XO, MJ

Where did my voice go? I must find it.

Happy Friday! We did it.

I'm shifting into high gears next week with lots of time in the office, and while I'm preoccupied there will be some superheroes over here, sitting behind the keyboard at Pars Caeli. They hail from Ireland, Italy, as well as the Northeast and deep South of the beautiful USA (what a lovely melting pot) and these ladies have come armed with dazzling photos, DIYs, calls to action, and even a fancy pants Vlog (first one here ever!!) to keep you coming back for more. Yes, I am cool by association.

I will be popping in to relieve my stress and to say hey so please, please be sure to continue your happy commenting trend. And when I do return, I'm coming back with fireworks ablazin' with a great giveaway and a pool party for the 4th on this here blog (I hope my Mac can handle all that chlorine).

Before we head into the weekend, let me leave you with some great ideas I glistened from my new friend, Jennifer Cooper. Jen is a super talented lady, founder/designer behind Ellie Bellie Kids, editor of Classic Play, and a generous teacher over at the Alt Channel. I was a fortunate student in her class, Writing and Finding Your Voice, and I want to share some great takeaways for you and your writing (whether it be blog, papers, emails, books, or tweets!).

One thing before I give you these 5 golden rings...true confession: before starting a blog, I never really thought about the fact that I'd have to WRITE it. My mom said to me, "The blog will be a great way for you to write and share your ideas." I say, "Well, I don't always have to write. Sometimes I'll just share pictures or things I love or, you know, other stuff." My eloquence started early. And so, here I am, baby blogger, totally in the tornado of writing an ample amount, every day.

Who knew?

Oh, wait, you all did, didn't you? Well, why didn't you tell me?

So, get our those handbags, here's what we've got.

1. Less is more.

I can be a total stream of consciousness kind of girl, and I need to fight that tendency because...you people are precious and your time is the best. So this is a good reminder. Less is fresh.

2. You want to have a certain level of intimacy with your audience.

While shirking away from challenging topics and leaving out the gory details might make for happier posts, the writer needs to establish an intimacy with the reader. I think this is why the "Things I'm Afraid to Tell You" blogging series really hits it out of the park. It feels like we're all up late together eating Suzy Qs in our PJs. 

3. Remind your readers who you are – recap your best posts or your philospophy.

Sometimes I forget that you're not in my head. And so reiterating why I started a series of posts or explaining why my family decided to do something in particular would be helpful to move the story along and connect the dots (I always enjoyed the alphabetical connect the dots as much as the numbered ones, how about you?).

4.  Carry a notebook.

 

I started doing this when I started blogging, and I find it really helpful to catch thought bubbles that burst way too quickly. And I have to prohibit any to do lists in such notebook otherwise it brings stress instead of inspiration. 

 **this one is my fave: 

5.  A great idea poorly written is better than a bad idea written brilliantly.

Jen has oodles of other ideas and great recommendations on folks who do this well.  Pop over tomorrow night when she's at it again. Check it here. Grab yourself a glass of red wine and get ready to learn. I think you might just find your voice.

Happy weekend, friends. I hope it's a bright one. Meetcha here on Monday where we'll be living La Bella Vita. Do not miss it. :)

XOXO, MJ

P.S. For those of you interested, I'm starting a new weekly series focusing on faith and family. Once I graduate out of the baby blogger phase, and understand feeds and menus more, you'll be able to subscribe to this feature in particular. Until then I'll just try to remind you. "Ready to Pray" will link to the readings of the week and offer an activity and/or questions you can use with your kiddos (or yourself) to help them understand and engage in Mass. I haven't quite decided what's the best day to post these so I welcome your feedback there. This first installment will be coming at you on Saturday!! Happy inspires.

Start here.

Oh, my gosh, hello! How are you? Come on in, please. Make yourself at home. I'm M.J., and this is my web home, Pars Caeli (pars kiley). I'm kind of delighted that you've come over.

Have you ever started something just to inspire yourself? Get your creative juices going? Well, welcome to why this blog was born (are blogs birthed or hatched?)
So glad we caught up with each other! I'm a mom of three, wife, educator, and designer living in the Midwest. I have another full-time gig and for right now this blog is purely my hobby. I'm an avid blog reader, and I find the blogging community to be incredibly supportive and without (unhealthy) competition.

So I've jumped into the great big worldwide web to offer my voice and opinion. I find inspiration all over the place, and I really want to share it all with you!

These are my people, the inhabitants of Pars Caeli. When my hubby and I moved into our home ten years ago, right after our wedding, we titled our happy abode Pars Caeli, piece of Heaven.

And now we have three little people who vividly illustrate this story.

M: age 7
C: now five
L: "I'm two."

I started this blog to inspire. I started this blog to inspire myself.

It's working.

I believe that sometimes we're not fully aware of the little pieces of Heaven all around us.
And sometimes we overlook our own capacity to be one of those pieces. 

Maybe you might find some of the musings, ideas, and projects in my home inspiring.

I hope that you'll feel comfortable to leave a happy comment because I'm pretty sure you're inspiring, too.

XOXO, MJ

PS. I'm fully embracing this lovely quote I found from a wonderful shop on Etsy. Won't you join me in this quest?