Andy's Idea Factory

While in Las Vegas last week, exploring the Paris casino, my husband and I squeezed into a chair, held the camera out in front of us, and snapped a self portrait. Then a stranger sitting next to us asked to help and took the same shot of us, only it was no where near the same shot. While it was a better shot of us humans, it got nothing of the background of Paris. (Notice this stranger made it into our "self" photo too!) What makes excellent photographers stand out above the rest isn't their equipment, it's their eye for composition. If you took everything I learned in four years studying visual arts and crammed it into one word, it would be "composition." What most people do when shooting photographs is look at the shot, hold up the camera, and snap. But sometimes all it takes is a different point of view and a few reminders to improve your photos results by 100%. The goal is to achieve unique photos that even if they're of something quite familia...

We love to camp, but we don't technically like to "rough it." I don't know many who do, so I don't feel terribly bad about being a "car camper," since who wants to go out into the woods without their kitchen anyway? Not me! But I do like to make cooking very simple when we're cooking by campfire, and thought to share these awesomely-easy recipes for your next trip to the woods. 1. Hobo Chili - for us, the key to campsite cookin' is the lack of cleaning, so this one is the highest maintenance of all with one big pot to clean. If you time it right however, you can make this meal last and bring home a dirty dish to clean in a more civilized location. You'll need: Big soup pot 2 packages of hot dogs 3 cans of chili, chili beans, or combine cans to your liking Chopped onion Shredded cheddar cheese 12 hot dog buns And a roaring fire with a cooking grate Spoon or fork Put chili, dogs, and onions into the pot to heat up. When hot, break up...

I'm going to go out on a limb on this one, proving my lunacy to some I'm sure. But since 1995 I have worked with my lead guide, guardian angel, spiritual master, whatever you chose to call them, and have a list of miracles and fascinations as a result. Fifteen years with this man I call Merlin; he has guided me from studying crystals to teaching classes, through courses in energy work and healing, and in creating meditations, journeys and quests for myself and others. He calls me "my child," and our sacred place is atop a lone butte with miles of views in every direction and with a cave that houses our talks on the rainier days, which has two nice "sky chairs" hanging in the protected entrance. But how did I come to find Merlin? That summer in Oregon I took two classes from Sarah Felez, a woman I found at the Saturday market whom I now call my first spiritual teacher. The first class was in "Basic Assumptions," where we learned about our soul ...