Screen Printing for Dummies

* This post has been sitting in draft for almost a year.  I thought I should post it.


HA has always had this idea of making tshirts.  After our project earlier this year of making the picture for Gravity, we thought they would make a great tshirt.


DM, in his thoughtfulness, brought back HA a t-shirt making kit on one of his trips back to the US.


So the boys set aside a weekend to make tshirts.  The first step was to find the tshirts.  It's hard to find good quality, inexpensive tshirts in Australia but the boys found them.  The next step was to decide on what went on the tshirt.  HA had one particular quote he wanted on it so that was the first tshirt.  Then we have a friend that was leaving Canberra to move to Brisbane, so they decided to make a tshirt for him.


I had no idea screen printing was such a time consuming job.

The ingredients

The saying is printed onto a wire screen

The screen is placed on top of the tshirt and the paint is run over it.  This part was a three person job.

The final product.  We had to redo DM's b/c the paint was too thin. But we thought it would be funny to switch out the tshirts late into the night so that people wouldn't be sure if the shirt was fuzzy or if their vision was fuzzy.

The final product that the boys wore out in Sydney!

The Red Center

I've always had a bucket list of things I'd like to do before I leave Australia.  One of those things is visiting Uluru or better known as "The Rock".  My friend DM is also moving back to the US in May and he also had this trip on his bucket list...so, we decided to do a quick weekend.  Everyone I know that's visited Uluru have said that you don't need more than two days there - so we decided to do the trip in a long weekend.

We got to Uluru at around noon on Saturday and drove directly to the resort.  There is only one resort in Uluru so there aren't alot of choices.  It is literally in the middle of nowhere.

There wasn't much to do at the resort so we headed out to the rock.  When it came right down to it, we were not prepared.  None of us had sunscreen. I was wearing flip flops.  And we had no water.  Completely unprepared.

It was worth it though.  The Rock is beautiful and much bigger than you'd expect.  But, I'd like to confirm, you really don't need more than a day in Uluru.  We went out to the Helga's and hiked around a bit.  Then we drove to The Rock and hiked just a little bit and drove around the entire thing in about an hour.  We choose not to climb to the top b/c it's not respectful to the natives.

The Helga's - There was way more vegetation than I expected.

Hiking the Helga's

What I imagine Mars to look like

Always alot of love between HA and DM

What the boys did while I took pictures

Sunset

We ended up having dinner at the resort and having a few beers but there wasn't much else to do so we were in bed fairly early.  The next day, we decided we didn't need to see the rock at sun rise so we started our road trip to Alice Springs.  It was quite a long drive.

Came across this tire tree on the way to Alice Springs

We failed to realize that we weren't getting to Alice Springs until late afternoon on a Sunday.  This meant that nothing was open.  So, we made the best of it and found a pub and drank beer all afternoon and then had dinner at a pub.  I don't really have anything to post about Alice.  I wouldn't suggest visiting.

Safety first...comfort second

I was reminded today about the real role of a steward/stewardess on an air flight.  


This morning, on my 6:30 am flight from Canberra to Brisbane, a passenger had a heart attack.  Almost immediately after take off, the gentlemen approached the stewardesses and told them he wasn't feeling well.  They sat him in the first seat so he could catch his breathe and then escorted him to the toilet when he looked ill.


The passenger passed out in the toilet and the stewardesses discreetly and calmly enlisted the help of two passengers to pull him out of the restroom and lay him on the floor.  For the next 30+ minutes, until we could land, the stewardesses took turns performing CPR to help try and keep him alive.  The pilot very quickly diverted to Sydney where they cleared the runway for us and had an ambulance waiting.


I am in awe of how well the ladies of DJ1207 handled the situation.  They were calm and never hesitated to do what they thought needed to be done. I'm not sure I could have handled myself so well.


Unfortunately, I don't believe the gentleman survived but I can't be sure.  My thoughts are with him and his family.


Next time you're on a plane, please remember that the stewardess and stewards of the flight are there primarily for your safety.  In any situations while in the air, they will be your champions and your rescuers.  Give them the consideration and respect that comes with that role.

Paper or Plastic?

The ACT (Australian Capital Territory) government recently passed a law banning plastic bags b/c they believe they are detrimental to the environment.  It's fantastic that Australia is trying to look out for the environment.  They do this in many other ways as well - like asking everyone to limit their showers to 2 minutes and encouraging people not to use their dryers.


But back to the plastic bags.  So what does this mean to me?  Well, it means no more spontaneous trips to the grocery store without a very large purse.  Gone are the days when I think to myself, "Oh, I need milk...oh, I should pick up some bread too...oh and maybe some ice cream."  Cause now when I do that, it means that I have three choices:  1) buy the legal, biodegradable plastic bag for $0.20 each, 2) buy the reusable plastic bag for $1.00 each, or 3) carry it all in my purse.  My purse is already heavy enough so that option is out.  I already own a million reusable bags, I don't need another one.  So, I guess I'm paying the $0.20 each for a couple of bags.  That adds up with enough spontaneous trips to the grocery store.  Adam and I now leave about 4 of the reusable bags in his car so that we never get stuck without them.


But this got me thinking - are plastic bags really that bad for the environment?


I've read around on the internet and it seems like there's a split decision.


It's generally agreed that while it's easier to recycle paper bags, the energy and cost to the environment is too high.


The energy and cost to make a plastic bag is quite low and they're very inexpensive.  But apparently, even though they're recyclable, people don't generally put them in the recycling bin.  Instead, they reuse them for other purposes and then throw them in the trash bin, thereby clogging up the landfills.


The reusable bags on the other hand, again don't take alot of energy to make and, obviously, they're reusable.  The one thing that I did find interesting is that there's a concern around bacteria growth with the reusable bags.  For instance, lets say you put ground beef in your reusable bag and it hasn't been put into a separate plastic bag because those are illegal, and the blood from the beef gets all over your reusable bag....there's a fantastic opportunity for bacteria growth and germs.


Hmmm...i think I need to go clean out my reusable bags.  What do you think..paper or plastic?

Baby Brooks

On the second half of my trip home, I spent about five days in Phoenix.  I went to check on the house, to get some warmth (Canberra has been freezing), and to attend my friend Kim's baby shower.  Kim found out she was having a baby back at the beginning of the year and she has been so excited.  I think she was even more excited when she found out it was going to be a girl (look out Cooper Tew!).  She's going to be a fantastic mom and Blaine...well, Blaine is going to be in for an interested ride with two Brooks women in the house.

I've been slowly building my portfolio of portrait photography (you know, in case I ever decide to quit my high-paying corporate job that flys me all over the world).  I've done an engagement, a family, a baby, and now, thanks to Kim, I've had the chance to do maternity pictures.

It was around 114 F in Phoenix the day we decided to do pictures and I couldn't talk Dad Brooks into heading out to the park for pictures.  It was just far too hot.  So we settled on their backyard so we could go inside to cool off every now and then.  As it turns out, we got a fantastic sunset and fantastic light.  

I hope you enjoy the pictures!  I think the pictures came out pretty well.  Thank you Kim and Blaine for letting me capture this precious time for you!

Hello Cooper Tew!

During my last trip home, I made a special stopover to North Carolina to visit with my friend Merritt and her husband Morgan.  But the real reason of the trip was to meet the newest member of the Tew family - Cooper.  I missed most of Merritt's pregnancy so when an opportunity arose to get to see her and the new bub, I did what I could to make that happen.


I got to meet Cooper right away - they brought him to the airport to pick me up but it was midnight and he slept through the whole thing - already a good sign.  As it turns out, Baby Tew is one of the most chill babies I've ever had the pleasure of hanging out with.  He hardly ever cried, he let me hold him without being freaked out that I was a new person.  He was the best kind of baby -quiet, chill, and not mine.


If you follow this blog, you know that I've been trying to get into this photography thing.  Lately I've been focusing on food photography b/c I've suddenly become very domestic.  I think it's a need to nest that I can't fulfill b/c I live in a fully furnished apartment where, when I decide to move home, have to fit is a 5x5x6 crate.  But I digress, this blog is about Cooper.


Mert was cool enough to agree to let me photograph her bub as I hadn't done babies before.  Thankfully, the day we decided to do the session was gorgeous and we happened to catch some beautiful light.  I'm not completely happy with them but the colors in them are very pretty and I think we were able to catch just how chilled out the kid really is.

Love the hat!

Honey Beer Bread

For this week's baking experiment, I decided not to go with a sweet dish like I have the last couple of weeks.  Instead, I decided to go for what looked like a very easy bread.

The bread recipe was really pretty easy - flour, a little sugar, some baking powder, beer and honey.  Mix it all together and throw in the oven.  Can't get much easier than that.

All the ingredients

Bake it up in the oven for an hour

Enjoy yummy warm bread!