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2013-05-25 17:02:52 (7 comments, 4 reshares, 21 +1s)

I saw this in the paper this morning, and it made me chuckle so passing it on.  :)

2013-05-25 16:50:23 (0 comments, 2 reshares, 22 +1s)

2013-05-25 05:36:32 (8 comments, 6 reshares, 29 +1s)

This was an interesting article, it's in Russian but the pictures are universal.  It is an antique and vintage Hearse collection.
http://marinni.livejournal.com/806990.html  

2013-05-25 04:51:11 (3 comments, 0 reshares, 15 +1s)

Goodnight Plussers I hope you have a wonderful weekend.  Here's a flickr photo from my photo shoot last week.  I had a really busy week this past week with mostly kid and family related obligations so I did not have enough time to write as much stuff as I would like to have on here.  But be patient with me, I promise you guys are never forgotten!  

2013-05-24 19:04:44 (0 comments, 1 reshares, 10 +1s)

If I could sing you guys a song, I would sing you this one right now.  It's been stuck in my head the last few days, and my daughter and I both started singing it a few minutes ago.  I guess it's been in her head too.   Happy Friday Plussers!  XO

2013-05-23 15:56:10 (0 comments, 1 reshares, 22 +1s)

Just a whovian joke for your morning.  #DoctorWho #Whovian #Dalek

2013-05-23 14:53:41 (10 comments, 0 reshares, 9 +1s)

This is an interesting read about the tumblr purchase.  Makes it sound like an incredibly stupid business deal.  Does anyone here use tumblr?

2013-05-22 21:10:18 (41 comments, 3 reshares, 35 +1s)

Don'ts for Husbands and Wives from 1913
I found these two little books from 1913 called "Don'ts for Husbands" and "Don'ts for Wives".  It's interesting to see how times have changed.  They are a really funny read and I thought I would pull out some choice quotes from them for your enjoyment from time to time.
From "Don'ts for Wives":
"Don't 'fuss' your husband.  Mistaken attentions often annoy a man dreadfully.  If he comes home late after a busy day, and has a quiet little supper alone he doesn't want you to jump up and down like a Jack-in-the box with 'would you like more pepper, darling?" and present him with the cruet from the opposite end of the table, when he already has one in front of him.  See that everything is conveniently placed for him and then leave the man alone until he has fed.  Lethim f... more »

2013-05-22 20:53:09 (3 comments, 0 reshares, 6 +1s)

Paul Allen is the co-founder of Microsoft and one of the worlds richest people.  He gifted the Seattle area with a wonderful rock museum, called the EMP.  It looks like he wanted to try his hands out at making a rock album.  What do you think--can money help you make a good musical album?

2013-05-21 18:17:40 (1 comments, 1 reshares, 7 +1s)

I want to tell you a very unpleasant truth about climate change. It's a lot more serious than we've been discussing in public.

(Warning the first: This is not going to be a cheerful sort of post. It will, very likely, leave you feeling deeply unsettled. If you do not want this, you should stop reading now.)

(Warning the second: This is not a post on which to say "I don't believe climate change is happening!" or "this is a left-wing plot!" or "I don't believe there's adequate proof that humans are causing it!" There are times that I have the patience and interest to discuss what are essentially political arguments about science, and this is not one of them. If you believe this stuff, it's because you have a deep personal need to do so, and best of luck to you with that. But I'll just delete such comments on this post.)
... more »

2013-05-21 17:54:06 (4 comments, 2 reshares, 6 +1s)

I thought this might interest some of my readers.  Sounds pretty cool huh?

2013-05-20 21:56:49 (11 comments, 1 reshares, 8 +1s)

It looks like Flickr has some big changes. Including giving everyone a free terabyte of photo storage.   They also redesigned the site.  It looks very pretty, and it looks like they have some new apps for mobile. I really like their old apps, so I am sure these will be even better.  They have become my go to way to take photos on mobile because the app is so easy and convenient, and I also like playing with the filters.  The only downside for me is there has not been a way to share my photos to Google+.  I haven't checked if that is possible yet but once they do that it will be perfect.    

If you are on there and want to connect I am linking to my profile.  I pretty much connect with everyone who connects with me at this point.  So go over and introduce yourself if you use flickr.

Edited to say +Thomas Hawk has a good article out on the changes to flickr that sayseverythin... more »

2013-05-20 04:43:14 (3 comments, 2 reshares, 27 +1s)

I love the Bad Wolf theme from Doctor Who.  I saw this on deviantart and had to share it.  I am counting down the minutes till I watch the latest Doctor Who episode.  We don't have cable so I wait till Amazon sells the episode the next day.  Almost got the kids in bed and almost ready to watch it!  No spoilers please!
Art from:
http://browse.deviantart.com/art/Bad-Wolf-Rose-Tyler-138253029

2013-05-19 19:16:03 (1 comments, 3 reshares, 36 +1s)

I love this photo of a mother and her child.  It captures so much of the spirit of motherhood.  You can see the love radiated so vibrantly between the pretty mother and her child.  

2013-05-19 18:26:29 (3 comments, 10 reshares, 38 +1s)

My morning laugh came from seeing this.  Happy Sunday!

2013-05-19 01:38:10 (10 comments, 0 reshares, 44 +1s)

I can't resist putting this camping photo up.  Yes, yes, I do have a hidden agenda of convincing everyone that the Pacific Northwest is an incredibly beautiful corner of the world.  I realize each little peace of our beautiful planet is beautiful in it's own way...but this one is mine so I am partial to it.  

2013-05-19 01:25:50 (3 comments, 0 reshares, 22 +1s)

Day camping with my little kids and the local girl scouts.  We had a great fire going and even got a taste of the years first smores.  I spend all day running around the outdoors, so these smores were very well deserved.  

2013-05-18 04:36:46 (13 comments, 0 reshares, 22 +1s)

I just saw the best "tag line" under +Marc Velez 's profile. It said "When I was young I knew everything". 

I can't say enough how much I love that. I am pretty sure at 18 I thought I knew a lot more about everything than I do now. The older I get the more I realize I don't really know much about almost anything.

2013-05-18 04:26:07 (7 comments, 9 reshares, 29 +1s)

Shhhhhh!  Don't give it away. 

2013-05-18 00:26:15 (20 comments, 0 reshares, 31 +1s)

  Conversations with my 4 year old.

Him "Mom milk comes from a cow penis".

Me "No J. pee comes from a cow penis, milk comes from a female cow's udder"

Here I show him a picture of a cow being milked.

J. "Well, that looks like a penis".

And suddenly I realize, again, how teaching your 4 year old is a two way street.

#kids #conversationsWithmySon  

2013-05-17 22:25:21 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 11 +1s)

I was at the local bookstore and and saw a book called "Pat the Husband" which was obviously a parody of "Pat the Bunny". 

It don't know if I should admit in public how funny I thought the book was--but I have been married almost 13 years now so I leave you to figure out if I got a few good laughs. 

2013-05-17 01:03:02 (10 comments, 0 reshares, 56 +1s)

I was by the Seattle waterfront doing a photoshoot today.  This isn't a professional photo obviously.  I shot this with my iPad while waiting for the photographer.  Cheers Plussers.  Have a lovely Thursday.  :)

2013-05-16 16:14:24 (2 comments, 1 reshares, 12 +1s)

New interview up by +Maria Stepanov Sommerfield on the website. Maria interviewed +HEATHER FAY recently. Head over to the link below and read all about it!

http://www.artistsintheplus.com/#!news--blogs/c1ldv

2013-05-16 00:00:19 (23 comments, 2 reshares, 27 +1s)

I walked by the very first and original Starbucks in the world.  It's located here in downtown Seattle.  They keep the original logo at only this store.  I thought I would take a picture for those of you who have not had the chance to visit.   

2013-05-15 23:00:49 (33 comments, 0 reshares, 29 +1s)

Hi Plussers!  Are you still here?  Hopefully most of you aren't going to get scared away from Google+ with all the new changes.  Everyone still with me or are you all clicking around as clueless as I am?  Did you get the new changes yet?  What do you think?

2013-05-13 18:19:48 (5 comments, 2 reshares, 18 +1s)

I saw this quote at the Video Game exhibit at the Seattle EMP yesterday.  It is referring to video games as an art form.    Since I am not a gamer, but a social media person, the quote spoke to me on another level. I do use social media as a form of self expression, I try and be artistic with it. I don't really think I have the right to say I am an "artist" per se, but I think social media is an emerging art form. I am glad to have watched it from the very beginning. I also found the people who I have learned from and who inspire me the most on social media, besides the journalists, are those who use it as an artistic platform. So here's to what I do consider a newly emerging form of art--social media.

Do you agree or disagree?  I love when you guys talk to me.  As I often say your comments are often better than my posts.  

2013-05-12 22:38:16 (7 comments, 2 reshares, 46 +1s)

Where does a husband take his nerdy wife on Mother's Day?  To the Fantasy and Sci Fi exhibit at the EMP in Seattle, of course!  We saw lots of cool things, including the costumes from The Princess Bride, Superman, and The Matrix.    We even saw a Dalek.  Neither of us were exterminated.  I don't know if this is because I am a really bad or a really good mom, but I survived my first Dalek encounter.  

2013-05-11 17:53:09 (7 comments, 21 reshares, 88 +1s)

To all the supermom's here on Google+ may you have a fantastic Mother's Day weekend. :)  And may you receive all the love and pampering you deserve.  

2013-05-10 23:43:09 (6 comments, 2 reshares, 12 +1s)

And this might just go down in history as the first ever flying car crash.  It's probably the first of many more to come.  

2013-05-10 22:19:22 (1 comments, 1 reshares, 3 +1s)

Just because I like this song.  It's the theme song for a show I have been watching recently.  I like the haunting melody, it's been newly added to my playlist.   

2013-05-10 19:54:09 (3 comments, 3 reshares, 18 +1s)

18 Oscar Wilde Quotes that might have been said by "The Golden Girls"

This is the most entertaining this I have seen online this week.  http://goo.gl/ZaKP4

I included one of the images, but the whole serious is brilliant and very entertaining.  Oscar Wild quotes+ "The Golden Girls" makes for great entertainment.  Enjoy!  Oh, and don't forget to click on the link--lots more brilliance.

2013-05-09 19:18:40 (18 comments, 28 reshares, 74 +1s)

 5% to 10% of people from Melanesia, a group of islands northeast of Australia, have naturally blonde hair. In the world, blond hair is exceptionally rare outside Europe.  However, Melanesians  are one of the few non-European people and the only dark-skinned group of humans known to have blond hair. This has been traced to an allele of TYRP1 unique to these people.  A study of people shows that they evolved the striking blonde trait independently of people in Europe.

Another point of interest  from the Wiki article was "Some recent studies suggest that all humans outside of Africa have inherited some genes from Neanderthals, and that Melanesians are the only known modern humans whose prehistoric ancestors interbred with the Denisova hominin, sharing 4%–6% of their genome with this ancient cousin of the Neanderthal."

Information taken from Wikipedia.   #ScienceEveryday  #Scie... more »

2013-05-09 16:16:53 (12 comments, 7 reshares, 11 +1s)

I thought this article was worth passing on.  Apparently it isn't that uncommon to accidentally swallow one of the tiny wires from grill brushes.  If you do accidentally swallow one, it can cause a lot of damage to your body.  It's recommended that you find another way to clean your barbecue-grill.  I have always used this type of grill brush in the past, but for the future I plan to clean my grill some other way.

2013-05-09 04:38:40 (4 comments, 8 reshares, 37 +1s)

The Artist and His Model by  Alexei Harlamoff circa 1875.  This painting generated a lot of interesting discussion on my FB page.    On there I am www.facebook.com/maria.sommerfield if you want to check out the discussion.

2013-05-08 22:17:19 (22 comments, 1 reshares, 15 +1s)

My winner of a targeted ad
This is my daily winner of a FB targeted ad.  Not sure exactly why I find it so entertaining but this one really made me chuckle.  In the decade that I have been using Google, I don't think I have ever (not ever, really,  I promise) clicked through on one advertisement.  For some reason the FB format works better for me, I do actually notice the ads there, and sometimes click through.  They clearly have to do a better job with personalization since often times, the ads the put on my page are pretty far off the wall.  

Oh, yes, and if you don't know I have been married for 12 years and together with my partner for 15 or so, no signs of any amount of pulling away as yet.  Of course maybe they know something I don't know.  ;)

2013-05-08 04:12:59 (10 comments, 3 reshares, 27 +1s)

Mom power
Somewhere along the way I missed my calling to be a drill sergeant.  I am  pretty good at organizing people it's one of my hidden talents. Still,  I think in order to be a mother of little kids in the modern world you have to be able to juggle and organize people in an efficient manner.  

Today I had to get all 3 of my kids to the dentist by 9 am for 3 cleanings and 3 dental check ups in a different city.  Then I had to  drop my son off at his preschool and  rush to the elementary school where my daughter and I had to be there at 10:00am  to catch the school bus that was departing  for her class field trip.  

I was told by my spouse there was no way I was going to pull this stunt off.  I kind of looked at him and though "there is no way YOU would pull that off, but don't under estimate the capability of a mother of 3 kids to juggle aninsane sch... more »

2013-05-07 21:53:28 (5 comments, 2 reshares, 17 +1s)

More Seattle spring Euphoria.  I was down at the water front today, on my daughter's class field trip.  We took the kids to the Seattle Aquarium.  I used to live across the street from there for a while so this practically still feels like my back yard.  I can't get over how magnificent it is in Washington State when the sun comes out during spring time.  

2013-05-07 06:04:49 (9 comments, 0 reshares, 16 +1s)

Funniest comment of the night.  "How you use Windows 8 is you go to Google and you search, "How do you find X in Windows 8" and you follow the instructions. " 

I have been using Windows 8 for the past few days.  I actually do like it once I get over the initial frustration of not having everything I am used to being in the same place.  

2013-05-06 18:16:13 (3 comments, 0 reshares, 24 +1s)

Namaste Plussers

I was sitting on the top of Crystal Mountain yesterday, enjoying a few minutes of peace and quiet.  I was surrounded by snow but it was warm and sunny.  In the distance I could see Mnt Rainier and even a glimpse of Mnt St. Helens.  Today is back to the weekly grind, but I wanted to wish you all a  peaceful week.  May you all catch a quiet breather no matter how busy you are.  Peace and thank you for circling me on here.  It's an honor for me that you chose to put me in your circles.  

2013-05-06 00:49:36 (8 comments, 3 reshares, 37 +1s)

Just in case any of you were wondering where I was today, on such a beautiful day in the Pacific Northwest.  I took this shot from the top of Crystal Mountain.  I am looking towards Mnt Rainier.  I have been uploading most of my shots to Flickr.  If you want to see them you can find me here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/maria_stepanov/

2013-05-04 23:03:52 (9 comments, 1 reshares, 34 +1s)

I shot this yesterday and just uploaded it.  It's one of my better photos of The Space Needle in Seattle.

2013-05-04 06:11:06 (4 comments, 5 reshares, 39 +1s)

Thomas Dodd is an Atlanta, Nashville based Photographer & Artist

I "discovered" his work on Facebook through the Steampunk community.  He is pretty active on his FB page, and some of his work is really quite good.  I messaged him asking if I could share this piece here and he gave me his permission.  I think it's lovely.

You can find his page here:
https://www.facebook.com/ThomasDoddPhotography

Slumber (© 2013) — with Thomas Dodd.

2013-05-03 20:56:26 (8 comments, 4 reshares, 36 +1s)

How did I not know that the Seattle Center fountain sprays water in time  to different musical pieces? It was one of the most beautiful moments of my life to watch and listen to Beethovan's 3rd while the water sprayed in time and dance to the music. All these years in Seattle and I somehow missed that the fountain does this!  Happy Friday Plussers!  

2013-05-02 23:16:44 (16 comments, 4 reshares, 72 +1s)

Just because I am listening to this right now.  

"Life is very short and there is no time for fussing and fighting my friend"

2013-05-02 18:43:42 (9 comments, 25 reshares, 24 +1s)

A Boy and His Atom
the world's smallest movie

I am sure this has been shared on Google+, but just in case you haven't seen it this is worth watching.  It is the  the world’s smallest movie and was made by moving actual atoms, frame by frame. Its creators used a 2-ton scanning-tunnelling microscope that operates at minus 258 degrees Celsius to shoot the movie.

You can read more here:
http://goo.gl/njTHv
#ScienceSunday   #ScienceEveryDay   #Science  

2013-05-02 02:48:27 (3 comments, 3 reshares, 51 +1s)

Goodnight Plussers.  I snapped this just about 20 minutes ago while on my way home for the day.  Now to get the kids fed, and ready for bed.  Enjoy your evening.  :)

2013-05-01 18:41:24 (3 comments, 4 reshares, 12 +1s)

Interesting article of the morning
and where I ask those wiser than me to tell me what they wish they knew when they were 30

Kareem is a famous American Basketball player in his mid 60's.  I thought this was an interesting article, and I love to read the advice people who are older (and hopefully wiser)  give out.  I realize this is his unique perspective, but I thought it was well thought out and written.  So far my 30's have been extremely busy, mostly because of the unfortunate fast pace of life, 2 tech parents with 3 small children have.  I wonder what advice I will give myself when I am in my 60's.  Those of you who are older and wiser I would love to hear from you.  *What are some things you wish you knew when you were 30?*  

2013-05-01 18:30:25 (8 comments, 2 reshares, 27 +1s)

Interesting Photo of the morning
Leia, Luke and Han at a read through for The Empire Strikes Back around 1979.  

2013-04-30 23:14:14 (3 comments, 4 reshares, 21 +1s)

I just saw a 67 year old man riding his bike, get hit by a car.

After helping the gentleman out from under the car, and lifting the car with two other guys to get the bike out, I heard the woman crying and trying to explain that she was just texting her friend to let her know she was on her way and didn't mean to do it.

I'll the the first to admit that I mess with my phone while driving occasionally.... But not anymore - not after that. People need to stay the hell off their phones while driving.

2013-04-30 20:56:19 (14 comments, 2 reshares, 17 +1s)

What is the story behind this picture?  
Caption This Picture

Put in your story, or header in a comment.  The comment with the most +'s wins.  What does this picture say to you?

from http://goo.gl/N15iv