I am being good

Weekend Reading

Having just finished my first week of classes I am already preparing for a presentation next week (no procrastination this semester). And not to mention we are expecting a snowing weekend so it will be a good weekend to sit around and read. For my 18th century project I am reading Haywood’s Love in Excess and Fantomina. I have not started either yet but they promise to be good reads. Anyone every read them?

Scissors

Watch your fingers!

Buy My Art

I do sell many of my creations. Please look at my online store for prints that are available. Also occasionally some of my creations are turned into other products. Check out my Café Press store for available products…

If you would like to help support the artist without buying prints or gifts please feel free to use my amazon link...
Camera Goodies

Enjoy your own Visual Zen!

About A Visual Zen

I take photographs. Lots and lots of photographs. I share them, sell them, blog them and put them into books for your coffee table. This page is designed to direct you to where you can find my pictures and which you can take home for yourself.

Product Reviews:
Nikon D60
Nikon D300

Photos available for print sales:
Many of my photos and photo creations are available for prints and posters. Here are the photos and photo creations that are currently available for purchase (click the thumbnail to be taken to the page with prices and products):







Special Photo Products:
My most popular photo creation to date has been Zen (pictured above). Zen is available on various photo products such as greeting cards (most popular) and t-shirts. Visit my Café Press store for products and prices.

Photobooks for sale:
Many of my photos make their way into collections and those collections are published for you to take home. Here are the current books available:


Photos that blogged:
There are a couple of blogs where you can find my photos. Here is the current list of blogs that feature my photos:
Amanda's Weekly Zen(my blog home)
Amanda's Disney Photos Slideshow
Mouse Beat

Photos that I share with the Photography community:
I belong to several online photography groups and share my photos there. Here is a list where you can find my photos:

My flickr account
My JPG Submissions
My photohunters
My Photo Friday photos
Self Portrait Challenge Photos
My All Things Girl Submissions
Photoblog Community
Photoshelter
Now Public: Crowd Powered Media
Zen: All Things Girl July/August
Pedestrian Bridge: All Things Girl May/June
Which Way?: All Things Girl May/June
All Things Girl Mar/Apr
Mockorange "The Links We Create" CD Art



My Cameras:
Name: Nikon D200
Type: DSLR
Megapixels: 10
Lens: 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G VR and 55-200mm f/4-5.6G ED IF AF-S DX VR Zoom Nikkor Lens

Name: Nikon D300
Type: DSLR
Megapixels: 12.3
Lens: 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G VR and 55-200mm f/4-5.6G ED IF AF-S DX VR Zoom Nikkor Lens

Name: Nikon D60
Type: DSLR
Megapixels: 10.2
Lens: 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G VR and 55-200mm f/4-5.6G ED IF AF-S DX VR Zoom Nikkor Lens

Software Used: Picasa, Photoshop, Illustrator, Flash, Fireworks

If you would like to use any of my photographs for non-commercial use please email me at amandavisualzen@yahoo.com. All photos taken from here or any of the listed addresses above need to have a link back to http://www.amandasweeklyzen.com/.

Help Support this blog

About Zenful Reading

If you are looking for good reads about Zen Buddhism, Buddhism in general or Yoga check out my recommended reading and listening list below:

My Posts about Yoga

Zen Buddhism Reading:
Zen Guide Online

Yoga Reading:
My Yoga Online
Yoga Journal
Yogatic 
Traditional Yoga Studies (Georg Feuerstein)
200 Key Sanskrit Yoga Terms 
Yoga Sutras as Translated by Swami J 
Poser: My Life in 23 Poses by Claire Dederer (book review)
Yoga Wisdom by Georg Feuerstein (book review)
Yoga Breathing by Richard Freeman (book review)


**KNIT THE CLASSICS UPDATE POSTED 2/28/2008**
Hello All-
I have received many emails and comments on my blog about the progress of Knit the Classics. Unfortunately it was deleted by blogger and it cannot be recovered. It was decided among the admins that it would not be rebuilt due to the schedules of the admins. The years that Knit the Classics was up and running were great! I apologize for the loss and I hope all the former members continue to read classic novels and thoroughly enjoy their knitting and crochet!
Amanda



Help to support this blog

About Weekly Zen

I have been blogging since Sept 2004. My blog started off as a placed to display my newly acquired hobby, knitting. As time went I gradually tried other crafts and talked about them on my blog. Today I mainly use my blog to display photos, talk about travel and books. All the photos you see on this blog were taken by myself including the website background and banner.

Since I have been online for a few years now my site has been through many different looks. Here are some of the buttons I have had...















One of my many online projects was “Knit the Classics.” It was a group dedicated to reading classic novels and knitting themed projects. Unfortunately “Knit the Classics” was deleted from blogger this year (2008). For about 3 years over 300 participants enjoyed the group. I thank them all for a wonderful three years. Reading:
Find out more about my reading habits and adventures here.

Photography:
Find out more about my photography here

Maverick:
Find out more about the furry mascot of this site here here

Up the stairs

One Eye

Lazy Dog

Mango Tea

Only Seven Minutes to Heavenly Flavor

Doga

In 2007 I pledge to do more Doga. Everytime I lay out my mat, Maverick comes running and jumps on it with me. Together we may some day become yogis. Submitted to SPC Jan 2007 : Resolutions.

A Visual Zen

I have been having so much fun with my new camera that I set up a whole blog just for my best photos. Click the website above to take a look at what me and my camera have been up to.

Sunday Book Talk

Magazines


At a recent trip to my local mountain library I noticed there was an abundance of magazines, on every imaginable topic. From the Sierra Club to Vanity Fair there is a wealth of glossy reading. I never quite got into the magazine craze. The only time I would read them would be well waiting at the doctors office. But in recent years I have found a desire to have some sort of magazine around. If I only feel like reading one article I can and leave the magazine on the coffee table until I feel like flipping through it again. But how does one choose out of the millions of possibilities which magazine to commit a year to? Even when you choose an area (for example, yoga or knitting) you would like to read on there are tons of possibilities within.

So for this Sunday book talk (after many months off) I ask....
Do you subscribe to a magazine? If so what is it and why do you subscribe?

My favorite bookish places:



Previous Sunday Book Talks:
October 15, 2006: The Woman in White
September 17, 2006: After Dark
September 16, 2006: Oliver Twist
September 3, 2006: A Reader's Challenge
August 27, 2006: SRC Coming to an End
August 20, 2006: Changes in Reading Habits
August 13, 2006: Reading Spot
August 6, 2006: The Ultimate Book List
July 30, 2006: Reviews
July 22, 2006: Book Club Reading
July 16, 2006: Markings
July 9, 2006: Anthologies

Gentle Breeze

Nothing more peaceful then a pup feeling the cold breeze of winter.
Submitted to "Peaceful" for Photo Friday Jan 12, 2007

Puppy Love

Submitted to JPG Magazine : Beloved

Is anyone out there?

Reading my bloglines today I found out from Danielle that this week is de-lurking week. So if anyone out there reads but has been a shy commenter, say hello all members of "Weekly Zen" are friendly and have not bitten in days.

Moonlight Shawl

Ahh my huge comfy homespun moonlight inspired shawl is done just in the nick of time. Tomorrow our weather will look like this...

Friday: Snow likely with areas of blowing snow. Cloudy, with a high near 14. Wind chill values between -7 and 3. Breezy, with a south southwest wind 20 to 23 mph decreasing to between 5 and 8 mph. Winds could gust as high as 28 mph. Chance of precipitation is 70%. New snow accumulation of 1 to 2 inches possible.

I think I will sit in front of the fireplace with a cup of tea, good book and my newly finished moonlight shawl.

Other posts that talked about this project include...
Inspired by light

My Submission to JPG Magazine

Check out my submission in the sidebar and if you like it, please vote. Here is a link to my photo. Thanks!

Reccomended Reading

I read many books but there are not very many that I would take the time to re-read. The following list is comprised of my all time favorite books in adulthood. There are books that I own and do not ever plan on getting rid of so I highly recommend them to any reader.

Woman on the Edge of Time by Marge Piercy (first read in 1998)
If on a Winter's Night by Italo Calvino (first read in 1998)
Mal de amores (Lovesick) by Angeles Mastretta (first read in 2000)
The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri (first read in 2004)
Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri (first read in 1999)
The Bell Jar by Slyvia Plath (first read in 1996)
The Driver's Seat by Muriel Spark (first read in 2006)
Swann's Way by Marcel Proust (first read in 2006)
Three Woman by Marge Piercy (first read in 1998)
Time Regained by Marcel Proust (first read in 2006)
Tom Jones by Henry Fielding (first read in 2007)
Love in Excess by Eliza Haywood (first read in 2007)
Pamela by Samuel Richardson (first read in 2007)
Bluebeard by Kurt Vonnegut (first read in 2007)
Nausea by Jean-Paul Sartre (first read in 2007)

Innocent

January 007 Snap A Dozen

To me January is the month of storms. Here are a couple of shots that remind me of January in the mountains...





Want to see what others are capturing? Click here.

Inspired by Light

This month KTC is reading The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins. I read this book for the first time last semester for my Victorian Lit class and loved it. One of my favorite aspects of this novel is the use light. I wanted a project for this book that made me feel the way the way moonlight “feels.” To me it had to be various shades of blue and be able to completely wrap around me. So I came up with a very simple yet fun project.... Moonlight Shawl. Just garter, just two shades of homespun, but it feels like moon light.

Of 2007

So as mentioned in my last post one of my main goals this year is to slow things down. I took on way to much at times last year and this year I plan on taking it easy and enjoying life. So for 2007 I have few goals...

1. Because exercise is always important I decided to join in on the 100 miles by April 1st project. In addition I will be taking my usual yoga class and cardio class at my rec center.

2. Because reading is my life I will be making a huge effort to read each and every Knit the Classics selection. The next three months alone promise to be fantastic reads. In addition I am taking some great classes, 18th century literature and nationalism, and gender and the Indian novel. I would also like to read as many volumes of In Search of Lost Time as I can this year, no set number because Proust wrote to be savored.

3. Because I love my new camera I decided to join the Snap a Dozen Days project. In this neat little project each person is to snap a couple of photos and post some on their blog that show what the month means to them. Low key camera fun.

4. And of course the crafting. I will try to get as many KTC project done that I can and just craft as the mood strikes me. Last year I joined way too many KAL/CAL/SALs that I at one point felt overwhelmed. Crafting should never overwhelm anyone so, 2007 will be my craft at will year.

Few goals, yet enriching and relaxing...

2006 in Review

Well 2006 was a busy year for me. Jobs, school, crafting, reading I did it all and here is everything I can remember doing in 2006...

Knitting and Crocheting:


Sewing:


Reading:
43 Books Read
20 Reviews Written
1.Clarissa, or the History of a Young Lady
2.The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman (Penguin Classics Series)
3.Bleak House by Charles Dickens (Barnes & Noble Classics Series)
4.Lord Jim by Joseph Conrad
5.Ezra Pound: The Cantos
6.Turn of the Screw by Henry James
7.Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
8.Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett
9.Journey to the United States of North America by Lorenzo de Zavala
10.Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
11.Woman on the Edge of Time by Marge Piercy
12.The Driver’s Seat by Muriel Spark
13.The Postman Always Rings Twice by James M. Cain
14.The Blind Owl by Sadegh Hedayat
15.The Complete Stories of Kafka
16.Dom Casmurro by Machado de Assis
17.The Good Solider by Ford
18.Watt by Samuel Beckett
19.Three Novels: Molloy; Malone Dies; The Unnamable by Samuel Beckett
20….And the Earth did not Devour Him by Thomas Rivera
21.Brown by Richard Rodriguez
22.The Killer Inside Me by Jim Thompson
23.SRC #1 The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter
24.SRC #2 Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
25.SRC #3 The Collected Poems of Langston Hughes
26.SRC #4 Aspect of the Novel by E.M. Forster
27.SRC #5 Great American Trials 201 Compelling Courtroom Dramas Editor Edward W. Knappman
28.SRC #6 Sea Glass by Anita Shreve
29.SRC #7 Brick Lane by Monica Ali (audio book)
30.SRC #8 The Vicar of Wakefield by Oliver Goldsmith
31.SRC#9 A Passage to India by EM Forster
32.SRC#10 The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
33. SRC#11 Scoop by Evelyn Waugh
34. SRC#12 Italian Folktales by Italo Calvino
35.RIP#1 Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
36. RIP#2 After Dark by Dion Boucicault
37.RIP#3 Goblin Market and other poems by Christina Rosetti
38. RIP #4 The Woman in White
39. RIP #5 The Lifted Veil by George Eliot
40. RIP #6 Adam Bede by George Eliot
41. FTS #1 The Faerie Queen by Edmund Spenser
42. FTS #2 The Book of Margery Kempe by Margery Kempe
43. FTS#3 Dr Faustus by Christopher
44. FTS #4 Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens

My favorite things this year were...
Knitting and Crocheting:

The Knit the Classics May blanket. So many KTCers donated to this blanket and it was a pleasure to put together and send off to Warm the World (Now if I can only get our second set done...)

Sewing:

My YOGA MAT BAG! I loved the way it came out and it makes taking my mat with me so much fun, I love compliments! And just thing I learned to sew by hand only this year!

Reading:

Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens. It had everything, drama, mystery, comedy... 800 pages of reading pleasure.

Well I am sure I missed something it still looks like I had a very productive 2006. One of my goals for 2007 is to slow things down. So what were your favorite things of 2006?

About Maverick

Maverick is my furbaby who my husband and I adopted 5 years ago. His birthday is March 24, he is 8 years old. He used to love to pose for the camera, but in his older age he has become camera shy. His favorite things are snow, mama and daddy, chicken, yoga mats, and his huge pillow. Here find some of my favorite pictures and videos of my fur baby.

Maverick makes appearances on You Tube:



Maverick's Pals: Hopi and Sampson





Maverick's Photo Album

Archives

2007:
Dec 2007
Nov 2007
Oct 2007
Sept 2007
Aug 2007
July 2007
June 2007
May 2007
Apr 2007
March 2007
Feb 2007
Jan 2007

2006:
Dec 2006
Nov 2006
Oct 2006
Sept 2006
Aug 2006
July 2006
June 2006
May 2006
Apr 2006
March 2006
Feb 2006
Jan 2006

2005:
Dec 2005
Nov 2005
Oct 2005
Sept 2005
Aug 2005
July 2005
June 2005
May 2005
Apr 2005
March 2005
Feb 2005
Jan 2005

2004:
Dec 2004
Nov 2004
Oct 2004
Sept 2004

Finished Reading 2007

Books Read in 2007

27 Books Read
1 book in progress (Fools Crow by Welch)
1 of Reviews online

Finished
1.KTC JAN-The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins>br> 2. Love in Excess by Eliza Haywood
3. Fantomina by Eliza Haywood (short story)
4. Pamela by Samuel Richardson
5. The Talking Room by Marianne Hauser
6. Mumbo Jumbo by Ishmael Reed
7. The Art Lover by Carole Maso
8. Fanny Hill by John Cleland
9. The Complete Tales of Merry Gold by Kate Bernheimer
10.The Fast Red Road by Stephen Graham Jones
11.The Book of Portraiture by Steve Tomasula
12.The Complexities of Intimacy by Mary Capenegro
13. The Melancholy of Anatomy by Shelly Jackson
14. Indiana, Indiana by Laird Hunt
15. Frank by Ralph Berry
16. Fanny Hill by John Cleand
17. Tom Jones by Henry Fielding
18. The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy by Laurence Strene
19. Humphry Clinker by Tobias Smollet
20. The Open Curtain by Brian Evenson
21. Tom Jones by Henry Fielding (2nd read)
22. The Book of Portraiture by Steve Tomasula (2nd read)
23. Ways of Seeing by John Berger
24.Wurthering Heights by Bronte
25. Nausea by Sartre
26. Bluebeard by Vonnegut
27. Lord of the Flies by Golding


To Be Read
1. Swann's Way by Proust
2. Caleb Williams by Godwin
3. Joseph Andrews by Fielding
4. Shamela by Fielding
5. Within a Budding Grove by Proust
6. Mansfield Park by Jane Austen
7. Tender is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald
8. The Female Quixote by Lennox
9. Time Regained by Proust
10. Beloved by Morrison
11. Bury my Heart at Wounded Knee
12. The Woman Warrior by Kingston
13. The House on Mango Street by Cisnero
14. The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan
15. I know why the caged bird sings by Angelou
16. Bless Me Ultima by Anaya
17. Fools Crow by Welch

Photohunters Blogroll

Here you will find all my posts that pertain to the photohunters challenge. Below is the photohunters blogroll.

Photohunters themes 2007

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