I always love sitting at the ocean at that spot where the waves crash along the shore. I particularly love when it’s rocky and the waves slam against the rocks. This photo is at Baker Beach in San Francisco which offers a little bit of the chance to experience that although there are definitely some better areas around here to capture that smacking of the waves. Instead, this is a good spot to watch the water creep up between the rocks.

Tags: baker beach, ocean, Photos, San Francisco, water, waves

I recently hosted my first giveaway on this blog. It was for a decorative pillow offered by a bedding company. I want to say thanks to everyone who participate and to let you know that a winner was randomly selected.

The winner was Gypsies Thread who has a really cool Etsy store that sells fine yarns and threads. Check it out if you’re the kind of person who does crafty things with yarn!

Thanks goes out to Lyz, @ShunkyDave, Sarah, Clarissa, and Lisette for your participation. Maybe next time!!

Tags: giveaway, pillow, winner

There is a Flower Mart in San Francisco. It’s a series of stores inside of warehouses where you can go to buy flowers as a wholesaler. You can also go if you’re not a wholesaler and I had a nice time wandering around there recently to soak in the scent and sight of different flowers.

Tags: flower mart, flowers, Photos, pictures, San Francisco

I had cherries for lunch the other day. They were so pretty that I decided to take some photographs of them. I’ve discovered that doing this sometimes allows me to be more present in the moment, enjoying something as simple as my lunch. What I really love in this picture, though, is the reflection of some of the room’s windows in the bowl.

Tags: cherries, cherries in a bowl, Food, Photos, reflection

Today’s picture is an example of the kind of picture that I’d like to learn to manipulate with a photo editing program. I like the basic setup of the picture and the quality of it isn’t bad but I’d like to play around more with different light and color options. I really need to get on top of learning this stuff!

Tags: bench, photo, pictures, still life

These are my favorite flowers of all time:

Keep reading…

Tags: kathryn vercillo, lily, lily petal, oriental lily, Photos, pictures

I don’t really know anything about web design. Nevertheless, I was able to make a website that I like using a template and some basic creativity. It was even easier for me to make my blogs myself since I use WordPress which offers a lot of great free templates and widgets to customize the blog site. I’m fairly happy with how these things turned out. However, sometimes I do think that perhaps I should hire a professional web designer to re-do my design.

I think that there are a lot of benefits of professional web design services. Web designers can create unique websites that really enhance what you’re trying to say through the site. I also think a web designer might be better at organization than I am. I’m happy with the layout of the information on my site but I don’t actually know if it’s the best method of organizing the portfolio and links that I have. I’ve gotten some feedback on the site from others and it’s been mixed.

I think that I’ll stick with the free templates for my blogs for now. I’m happy enough with them and I don’t really feel like I need anything fancy with the site. However, I do think that I might consider redesigning my actual freelance writing website at some point in the near future. It’s something to think seriously about anyway, especially since I’ve been changing some of my writing goals and may want a new site to reflect that. I suppose that I don’t have to make a decision until I know exactly what I want though.

As a freelancer, do you recommend getting someone to do your website for you are you happy with doing it on your own?

Tags: business, hire services, kathryn vercillo, professional web design, web design services, website design, websites

There are two different pieces of furniture that I have always been drawn to for my living room or bedroom space: the fainting couch and the chaise lounge. For a long time, I thought that these two items were the same thing. However, as I’ve started to look at actually purchasing something like this for my home, I’ve started to realize that they are quite different indeed.

The reason that I thought that these two things were the same for so long was because they have the same basic shape and size. They are the size of a small couch. They are typically rectangular in shape. And they usually have four legs to support them. I also thought they were the same because both pieces of furniture were popular in the nineteenth century and have resurfaced as great vintage pieces today. Both items typically also have just a single arm although modern designs may differ on each of them.

So what’s the difference between the fainting couch and the chaise lounge? The shape and placement of the back of this piece of furniture are what distinguish one from the other. The back of the fainting couch runs alongside the longer side of the couch (as it would with any couch) whereas the back of the chaise lounge is at the shorter end (like you would find with a chair). The fainting couch tends to have a back that is high on one end and low on the other whereas the chaise lounge has a back that’s the same height all the way across.

If I had to choose, I prefer the style of the fainting couch although I’d probably be more likely to get a chaise lounge since it would fit better with the style of my home.

Tags: chaise, chaise lounge, chaise vs. fainting couch, fainting couch, furniture, houzz, kathryn vercillo, resting, vintage furniture

I recently picked up an interetsing non-fiction book from the library. It’s called The Dangerous Passion: Why Jealousy Is As Necessary As Love and Sex. As you can tell from title, it explores the idea that we have to have jealousy in our human lives. This is unique from most views on jealousy since the general thought on the topic is that jealousy is a bad thing and we need to expunge it from our personalities.

The book presents theories as to why jealousy exists. These theories are mostly rooted in the science of evolution. There have been reasons over time that it made sense to be jealous in order to protect our species. A very abbreviated version of the general theory of the book is that jealousy in the past may have prevented or deterred infidelity which increased the likelihood of successful mating and therefore the reproduction of the species.

The book points to numerous examples of this over time and suggests that this jealousy is ingrained into us at a biological / evolutionary level. It’s an interesting idea. The book takes us through a scientific exploration of what jealousy is, how it manifests itself today and what conclusions we can draw about this emotion. And it reveals the idea that jealousy does have an important place in our emotional lives even though we sometimes deny its validity.

The book can get very academic at times. It cites a lot of studies and statistics which I admittedly sometimes skimmed over because they were excessive. However, it also provides some really interesting information from a scientific perspective. It also provides neat facts about jealousy in different cultures. (I laughed aloud at the description of how Samoan women have been known to approach a woman who has had an affair with her husband and to bite her on the nose to reduce her attractiveness.) Worth taking a gander at if you’re interested in human emotion and relationships.

Tags: book recommendatino, book review, books, jealousy book, kathryn vercillo, reading

I recently went to the California Academy of Sciences which is a really cool place located in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. I got to see really cool animals in the aquarium as well as in the other sections of the science center. I wasn’t able to get too many good pictures of the animals but I did like this one of some giant lizard whose actual name I’ve now forgotten:

Tags: animals, california academy of sciences, desert animals, kathryn vercillo, lizard