The New Year has begun-Mother Nature says Good Morning!

The new year has begun, and I’ve decided to clarify and work with developing my Core Values and Goals, rather than develop a list of resolutions. These values determine how I live my life, relate to clients and friends, and generally move ahead in 2012.

On the voice over scene this includes more training, focused marketing, networking with colleagues – helping out where I can, I’ve already tweaked my studio space a bit, and re-doing the website with a new host.

On the personal side it includes getting out and about more, and continuing my studies with inspirational, positive materials, people and podcasts. As well as developing my Japanese, and budding Italian language skills more fully.

It also includes appreciating nature. Remember to take time to look around and see the beauty in life. Here are some piccies which I took this morning! Walking forward there was a beautiful red, orange and rose coloured sunrise. Whilst behind me, the moon was still out. It was so cool! Then a few minutes later, I noticed the moon was disappearing and on its way to bed. Nature is wonderful. Total gratitude to start my day off with such wonderful sights!

Happy Holidays

Enjoy the holidays, and try not to let anything get you down!

Here are some photos to brighten your day. They were taken at various places such as the Birmingham Christmas market, the London Hyde park Winter Wonderland festival, and here and there!

Cheers! Happy holidays/Solstice!

Got my Head in the Clouds

First picture is: Popcorn Clouds.

Second piccie is: Wooly Sheep Clouds

Copyright2010 stefanialintonbon

Cheers!
http://ipad.io/N7I

Clouds

The sky was very beautiful this morning.

Like fluffy white glowing feathers!

[Pics copyright 2010 s.lintonbon]

Cheers…

Stefania
http://ipad.io/MrJ

Ciao from Italy!

I’m not really still in Italy…but I was just there a few days ago!

Ciao from Italy
Abano Terme, Montegrotto, Padova

 

 


Arrived in Venice after circling in the air for about an hour waiting for the thunderstorm to pass.

Sitting at the hotel admiring the globe lights illuminating the darkness and drinking the very unItalian Earl Gray tea – with lemon – meditating on the sculptured perfection of the Hotel Venezia’s (Abano Terme) front lawn accented with colourful small flowers in little quartered circles…Yes, we’re definitely back in Italy.

The next day was fabbo, bright and sunny. A wonderful surprise since the BBC weather predicted rain for the whole week-end.

What to do with myself whilst Hubby was working? The kind concierge looked up the weather on the internet, and we saw sunny and cloudy today – high possibility of rain tomorrow. Ok, it’s a no-brainer! Montegrotto & The Butterfly House today, and Padova with my favourite pizza place and lots of shops, cafes to nip into should it start to pour – tomorrow.

The butterfly house, officially called the Butterfly Arc, is totally WOW! I have never seen anything like it. It’s really hot and humid for the sake of the butterflies, but SO well worth a small bit of discomfort. Can’t even describe the wide variety of butterflies found there..So, piccie time!

This butterfly is this beauiful blue colour on the inside..AND...

Brown on the outside!

Amazing floral life there as well…

Chameleon and dragon lizards, and tortoises too…

…and more butterflies

Spent a not unconsiderable period of time trying to catch a snap of a butterfly in flight! Ha! Got it!

and there were…wait for it….bunnies…

…Then there was the Fairy Wood on the grounds of the Butterfly House…

The Fairy queen

and her mate and myself [fresh from the humid butterfly rooms]!

Wow again. Magic! You can even sit on the fairy queen’s throne and imagine yourself queen (or king) of the fairies.

There were many school groups at the centre that day enjoying a chance to be queen or king; so, as soon as the children were gone, I quickly nipped over to the throne and had a sit down myself! That was so cool!

 

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There was also a big Slow Cooking fest on in Abano Terme, but unfortunately, it was strictly for the trade – not regular peeps. Boo hoo! Comforted myself with a nice cappu at one of my favourite little cafes in Abano Terme – Peccati di Gola. I think a lot of local peeps go there, so it’s got to be good!

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Padova rocks! I really like the city (and university town) and believe it’s well worth a visit. But since I’ve spent this blog rabbiting on about the Butterfly Arc, I’ll save Padova for another day to cover it properly!

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As we have frequent chances to go to Italy. I’m thinking it would be brilliant to have some VoiceOver representation there. I’m open to suggestions!

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App of the Week
Hot Body Yoga

Keeping with the last blog’s Yoga theme…I found another iPod app with Yoga exercises using weights. There are many routines in this app for various goals, such as recovering from injuries, stretch, strengthen, etc.

One of the intermediate routines uses dumbbells. I’ll have to work my way up to that one, but I’m looking forward to it. The programme is aimed at women, but I think women or men could try it.

Voiceover News

Continuing with announcements for radio stations…just did a Mexican character for an animation vid…and auditioning like mad!

Cheers…

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A Day at the Seaside

Stream of Consciousness Musings

A short train ride to the Devon seaside at Exmouth…
Brisk winds, cloudy skies, seashell filled sand adorned with big wads of seaweed which had been washed up on the shore…

The atmosphere was permeated with the smell of seaside air, mingled with the cooking smells of fish and chips.

Waves lapping up on the shore

(this might be one of those “you had to be there” snaps–haha!)

It is said that the air by the sea is filled with positive ions, good for cleansing mind, body and spirit.

So many lovely seashells (and mussel shells) everywhere

It was a good time. Enjoying the warmth and comfort of coffee and home made fruit cake in the Hall at the Sunday market, followed by a walk along the shore into the wind, a bit chilly…
but bracing and energising!

All good!

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App of the Week

“5 Minute Yoga”

Really nice to loosen up with before a recording session, followed by Tongue Twisters and some lip trills, or something similar. It’s also good to do maybe at the start or end of a day.

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VoiceOver News

Kept a little busy recording a Library Systems tutorial, and doing more announcements for the radio station. More goodies in the pipeline…looking forward to those promised projects coming to fruition. The sooner, the better!

Such is the voiceover life!

Cheers…

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London Chocolate Festival – a photo essay

All photos copyright 2010 stefania lintonbon

“There are four basic food groups: milk chocolate, dark chocolate, white chocolate, and chocolate truffles.” Anonymous

 

Had a sweet time the other week-end at the London 2010 Chocolate Festival. This was my first time to attend such a festival, and I have to say it was a delicious experience! Even if it did rain — a lot — near the end of the day. I was determined not to let it slow me down — and so were the other attendees!

There were no choccie microphones on offer for voiceover type peeps; but I daresay someone would have been only too willing to whip one up for me.

Here are some piccies from the day:

Chocolate IS good for you. This lady says so!

Ok, time for a drool fest! Here we go!

The three piccies above are all chocolate sculptures!

For shoe lovers…

 

It rained, but since when have a few drops of water stopped a dedicated chocolate lover! ha, ha!

And there’s more…

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iPod App of the Week

This week, I’ve gone mad for WordChasers. It is so much fun — if you’re into words, Scrabble-like games, etc. The letters rain down — slowly at first — and then faster and faster — whilst you try to select the appropriate ones to make words for maximum points. It’s an absolutely beautiful game as well, lovely bright jelly colours. And I like how the popcorn pops up and down at the end when you’re viewing your stats! :)

All for now…
Cheers

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My 2nd Audio Blog…More nuggets on positive living and inspiration

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This is a picture of beautiful koi fish living in a canal in a small village in Japan.

 

I dug up a book today that has been sitting on our bookcase for ages. I bought it and never had time to read it. I’ve been doing a lot of voice over marketing and voice over auditions lately. I just had a hunch to pull it out this book. Maybe the Universe is trying to tell me something!

The book  — by Dr. Daniel T. Drubin –is called:

Busting Your Rut — 33 Practical Lessons to Alter Your Destiny,

Transform Your Life and Free Your  Spirit

I did a little recording of a section from the book entitled:  Change Happens When You Do

Let’s all stay positive no matter what’s going on in the world and keep on moving forward! Please click on the link below to go to the recording.  

Daniel Drubin-Bustin Your Rut

Cheers!
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