What a rare moment. I am up at 7:30 a.m. on a Saturday and can’t fall back to asleep. Which is weird because my favorite thing about waking up early when I don’t need to is that sweet realization that I have more slumber time right around the corner! Grrr. Might as well squeeze in the blog entry for the month before March passes me by. Random early-morning thoughts:

Breakfast of Champions: Oatmeal + Brown Sugar + Crumbled Bacon

Believe it or not, taking a painting class was Basil’s idea – but I was more than happy to sign up! This was not my first attempt at painting, but it is my first finished piece! My first attempt (years and years ago) was a bit ambitious. I bought a huge 4ft x 4ft canvas and envisioned creating a beautiful cityscape masterpiece that I would present to my dad – but I never got around to finishing it. I would carry this huge square canvas and my paints a few long blocks over to Central Park or sometimes paint up on the roof of our apartment building. I remember it would blow over in the wind on the roof (tall building) or bang up against me when I would carry it back from the park.

There is a lot to process after attending last week’s Streaming Media West conference in San Jose. Aside from all that takeaways relevant to digital media for the enterprise, I also wanted to test out some of the new (or at least new to me) toys for my blog.

There are whole discussions about whether these lomographic cameras create art or cheap photography but I have to admit that I’m a fan. I’ve been lazy to research and finally purchase one, although I’m sure when I stop playing Farmville for 5 minutes and commit some of my “personal fund” to this venture, I can make this happen.

In the meantime, I’ve found this fun how-to article that gives a step-by-step walk-through on creating your own Lomo effects in Photoshop.

To brighten up the room, we (and by “we” I mean mostly Anna, Stella and Christine) created pom-poms, following the very simple instructions by Martha Stewart. At the risk of breaking one of Brad Pitt’s “New Rules for Highly Evolved Humans” I’m linking to her how-to for party poms. I love these! My infatuation started after seeing 2 bright pink poms in the room of Andy & Olinda’s daughter. Great craft idea to spruce up a room and add a touch of whimsy.

I love this idea of capturing each week in a photo and a letter to the baby. What a great way to record the ups and downs of the pregnancy, about the anticipation and excitement of planning for the family and to be able to share all this with your child years down the road. So to all you moms-to-be out there, no matter how “chubby” or “unattractive” you feel (possibly due to back aches, morning sickness, and the bowling ball sized package you’re carrying – I’m just guessing here…), take this opportunity to capture this amazing moment in your life and recognize how beautiful you are!

For those of you who are like me and find yourself avoiding Flickr because for some odd reason or another you find the user experience oddly busy and cumbersome – there is a very useful service that will display your Flickr pictures in a clean, minimalistic interface.

http://ihardlyknowher.com/ by Justin Ouellette, creator of Muxtape.

For those of you that do not own a Polaroid camera or if like me, you own a couple but never carry one around – there is Poladroid!