Alfred
alfredapp.com
Works basically like Spotlight on Mac, but also searches sites like google and wikipedia and twitter. Still in beta.

Dropbox
dropbox.com
Online file storage. You can share or access your files from any computer.

Evernote
evernote.com
Note keeper. Take text notes, record audio notes, take a photo of a post-it note, organize it. It’s rad.

Jing
jingproject.com
Makes taking and sharing screenshots and videos easy.

Grooveshark
grooveshark.com
Works like Pandora, except you can upload your own music, and you can actually create and save playlists.

Tinysong
tinysong.com
Works like tinyurl, except you enter the name of a song, and it generates a tiny url to that song on Grooveshark.

Delicious
deilcious.com
Online bookmark organizer. Straight forward and easy.

WordPress
wordpress.com
An excellent cms for websites as well as great blogging software.

One of my favorite photos I’ve taken, along with the ones of his precious delighted face as seen front and center on my homepage.

I’ve jumped up off my creative derrière and have quickly thrown together for myself a website, which is now motivating me to go forth and create fresh new content to fill it with! In a roundabout way, I have Twitter to thank for it.

www.lisalidback.com

Beyond just being inspired, I think I’ve discovered my niche. Although it’s really too early to say, I do know that I’ve been deeply inspired by the wave photography of Clark Little, and recognized several elements about his very specific niche of photography that I’ve always had a keen interest in: water, light, and places. And the biggest plus: getting to travel!

Organizing swing dances. Surfing. Road trips. Snowboarding. Road trips alone…

For Christmas I’d received some cash to buy something for my apartment. wasn’t sure what to get, contemplated a bookshelf set or a papasan chair, and did some online shopping. Surfing Craigslist for furniture, I happened across a Yamaha Keyboard for $50. I had just been thinking about how much I miss playing music in band, and miss having a piano to dink around on.
Around this time, I’d been invited to go snowboarding with friends, so rented some gear, and had a blast. darn it! I really didn’t need another sport to sink a ton of cash into. Renting gear is expensive, and buying new gear is enough to make you choke. I started hunting craigslist for some used boots, (my friend offered to let me borrow her board) and found used boots didn’t run very cheap, but found several breathtaking deals on snowboard+boots+bindings packages. Fully drawn into the hunt at this point, I regularly checked craigslist to find a package with the right sized board, right sized boots, in the right price range. It only took a few days.

All that intro to say, I bought a Keyboard in Olympia, and a Snowboard in Seattle. Road Trip!!

Except I ended up going alone. I’d expected it to be a long, lonely, boring drive, but was sweetly surprised. I left my place at 8am, and listened to Josh Groban and Michael Buble all the way to Olympia. I arrived at our meeting place (Starbucks!) with no problem and plenty of time, and enjoyed a London Fog tea latte and a little boy smiling and laughing at me over his daddy’s shoulder. I got a little restless fifteen minutes after our meeting time and I hadn’t met her yet, and didn’t have her number to call. But she arrived, and was very sweet. It’s so strange to meet someone knowing you will probably never see them again in your life. Getting back on the Interstate to Seattle was no biggie. Once I got into Seattle was when the fun began. In short, it took me about 45 minutes to get from the exit to our meeting place, when it should have only taken me 10. I did have Tara’s number, and she was very sweet helping me trying to figure out where I was and which direction I need turn around and head towards. I got to know Fairview, Mercer, and Pike streets real well. I finally arrived, and loved the snowboard twice as much as I thought I would have. It is a deep, bright blue on the top (it looked black from the picture) and the bindings are top quality, the boots fit perfect, and the overall quality and shape of the board is outstanding.
I started really enjoying myself after deciding to park down by the ferries and walk to Pike Place Market. I ended up in a parking garage without wanting to (oh well) and was feeling quite daring for walking downtown Seattle alone. I felt so independent, so grownup. (and I mean that in the non-cheesiest way possible.) I actually quite amused myself. I was feeling so daring, that I started taking pictures of random people. It was quite fun! I also made a point to visit the Lush store, as I’ve been dying to get my hands on some Ocean Salt face scrub. mmmm, gotta love Lush! and have quite a lot of fun taking pictures of tourists. Something about taking pictures is so personal. Even taking pictures of a crowd of strangers, it’s like being able to express my mind, to share my view. It was such a lovely day, all to myself. I feel like I just got back from a soothing vacation. how odd.

I decided to take the ferry from Seattle to Bainbridge, and on my way to the ferry, was hoping I’d just miss the ferry so I’d have time to walk down to get some clam chowder from Ivan’s and take pictures of the guy playing the drums on a bunch of plastic buckets. he sounded amazing. unfortunately, I made the ferry on time. Adventures for another time I guess. On the ferry I spent most of the time out side (of corse) still snapping shots of random people. A Dad and his little girl were feeding chips to the seagulls and made an adorable subject. I also saw and snapped a few photos of a jet skier racing the ferry with a shark fin on his wetsuit. A few guys standing near by thought it was awesome and hilarious. I thought the same to myself, and was oddly very contented.

The rest of the trip home provided little to share, I made it back home around 5:30 and almost peeled with joy when I plugged my keyboard in and started tinking around on it and playing with the settings, and got rather frustrated when I couldn’t get a decent snapshot of my snowboard.

I suppose it might not have been such a satisfying trip if I hadn’t been buying myself Christmas presents, but who knows? maybe being alone on a solo trip to Seattle to take pictures of the general public is therapeutic. who would’ve known how much I love traveling alone? I am certainly developing my love and interest for travel in general. I shall definitely be doing this again in the near future.

-these were my immediate thoughts after hearingt: “If you aren’t failing, you aren’t taking enough risks”

A force of nature. The surf mecca of Canada. The hot spot of the Pacific Rim.

Surfing is one of those things I never thought I’d ever do, or ever have any interest in doing, yet here I am with my own board, wetsuit, boots, gloves, prepped to be pounded as I’m learning to understand the rhythm of the water. and I’m diggin’ it. But if you asked me why I’ve developed a sudden infatuation with the scenic little surfing village of Tofino BC, I wouldn’t know how to tell you.

I’ve always had a thing for traveling in general. In my childhood years my Dad was a Coastie and we moved every four years or so. I lived in North Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama before settling up here in the beautiful Pacific Northwest. The only move I was old enough to remember well was our trip from Alabama to Washington State- we took a two week road trip. Some of my sweetest memories are those of being carried from the hotel to the van in the wee hours of the morning, collecting hotel soaps, and seeing many things and places that I’d never seem before.

When I was sixteen I went on a missions trip to Spain. Our team taught English classes at an elementary school for two weeks. While we were traveling there, we missed our first flight and consequently, every flight after that. With over a dozen team members, it was a trick to rebook all our flights. They managed to keep us together for the most part, but after 32 hours of traveling, we ended up in Spain and our luggage ended up in Chicago. It might sound like a horrible start to a missions trip, but the effects were we had all grown so close as a team and as friends from the necessity to stay together and to depend on each other. I loved every part of that trip- the journeying just as much as getting to experience the culture, invest in the kids lives and their families, and sewing seeds for the Lord’s harvest.

I love the journey. I love to travel. Now that I’m working full-time, there isn’t much opportunity in the near future for me to make any big expeditions to Spain or to Ireland, or Australia or Iceland, though I have an indefinite dream to travel the world, exploring countries and cultures and photograph them.

Why do I so ardently want to make a trip to Tofino Canada? It’s more than just a surfing trip to a hot surf destination. It’s a journey. To reestablish the pace of my stride. To renew the significance of my aspirations. To breath in a breath of fresh air. To take a trip! A three-day-weekend, a little gas and a ferry ticket is all I need.

It’s like my soul is flying though my feet are on the ground

Washed by the sun

Dried by the rain

If you surrender to the wind, you can ride it

I get up. I walk. I fall down. Meanwhile, I keep dancing

For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees?

For the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.

Now faith is the evidence of things hoped for, the conviction of things not yet seen.

To have found God and still peruse Him is the soul’s paradox of love.

I’m finding everything I’ll ever need, by giving up being everything.

“In Better Hands” by Natalie Grant, ”Always” by Newsboys, Quote by Toni Morrison, Quote by Hillel, Romans 8:24, 2 Corinthians 4:18, Hebrews 11:1, The Pursuit of God by AW Tozer, “Forever” David Crowder Band.

Celtic Music

Dancing

Swing dancing

Ballroom dancing

Ballet

Surfing

The Ocean

The Coast

Communities

Cultures

Patterns

Colors

Fall

Change

Thunderstorms

Wind

Snow

Purity

Harmony

Seasons

Change

Travel

Adventure

Journey

Companionship

Growth

Wisdom