Dinner by the Braunolds, take II. Meatballs and rice, martinis and Dutch apple braid.
Author: Joanna
Selfie!
This is how we roll. Meat pie. Sidecars. Creme brule. #rockingit
Surprise!!
It took two years to actually happen… We’ll just have to pretend we planned to see Cirque du Soleil for our third anniversary instead of to celebrate Daniel getting out the army 🙂
Good morning! ❤ The Braunolds
Me too – confessions on depression
I haven’t written a Facebook post or a blog post about Batsheva’s passing. Mostly because I feel like a fraud – we were friendly, but not close friends, and who am I to mourn so publicly when so many of my friends were so much closer with her and have more ‘right’ to be sad.
However, after some incredibly brave friends of mine have written posts in the last 24 hours, I wanted to chime in and say this.
Me too. I too have suffered from depression. I too have found myself unable to get out of bed, unable to dress myself, unable to eat or drink. Me too. So many people are in this boat, and the more vocal we are about it, the more fellow sufferers may be able to get help instead of giving up hope.
I never thought it would happen to me. And neither did anyone else – the first reaction of people when I tell them I had a depressive episode is usually “But… you’re so… [insert adjective here: funny/happy/together].” But it did. And if it can happen to me, it can happen to anyone.
Without the help of a few special, dedicated and genuinely amazing friends, I would not have got through it. I don’t know what would have happened, where I would be now. Most people, and there is no blame intended here for I too would have done exactly the same before the depression, came over with some ice cream and a box of tissues. Once they saw that this wasn’t just ‘sad’ but was way more than that, they usually backed out the door as fast as they could. And I don’t blame them – it’s terrifying to see someone (especially someone who is usually so on top of her shit) sitting in bed, tears rolling down her face, wearing the same pyjamas as yesterday and the day before that, unable to stop crying or tell you why she is. Unable to ask for help.
One of my biggest fears about having a baby was post-natal depression. Any time I cry, or get a little down, my first thought is always, “What if it’s another episode?” I’m lucky to still be surrounded by my amazing husband, family and friends, who have always been honest with me and pushed me to seek help when I have needed it.
Depression affects everyone differently. Depression affects people you would never have thought it would. Depression can make people feel so wretched that they do terrible things, give up hope, break our hearts.
Speak out. Ask for help. Know that others have been there before and others will be there in the future – we can get through this, together.
52Frames 2015 – Week 26
Joanna BraunoldBaby space
Posted by 52Frames on Sunday, June 28, 2015
This weeks 52Frames theme is Negative Space. After a busy and difficult week, I threw myself into the challenge and chose to try a technique I had previously seen done exceptionally well by fellow framers Rudi Bishop and Shani Shalgi. I decided the thorough editing process would be an excellent distraction.
After taking a few shots of Emilia lying on the blanket, I took more shots of the blanket scrunched up in different ways. In Photoshop, I cropped the blanket shots so that only the blanket was visible and copied the layers various times, rotating and transforming as I went to attempt to disguise any repetition in the fold patterns.
Once I had covered all the blank space with blanket shots, I had to fix the lighting – in hindsight I should have done this before combining the images. The shadows were a little strong which made the piecemeal composition a little too obvious. I used the dodge tool to make the shadows a little lighter, and used the patch tool to disguise some of the seams in the layers.
After I was happy with the composition, I put the completed image back into Lightroom and edited the exposure, color balance and white/dark balance. I then chucked it back into Photoshop and put a slight filter on the image as it was very yellow which I didn’t like.
This is the finished image – happy for any comments, critiques or advice for next time!
The rest of the album is beautiful – check it out here!
Strange things you learn when you become a parent
- How to rhyme on the spot – I genuinely believe I could take down Eminem in a rap battle now. As long as the songs were about nappies or milk.
- How to change words in songs to the name of your child (common personalized songs include Cecilia, It’s a Jolly Holiday with Mary, and Old MacDonald had a Farm)
- Speaking of Old MacDonald’s farm (or Emilia Braunold’s farm if you live in our house), I have learned how few animals actually belong on a farm? Once you’ve done your pigs, horses and cows, you need to start thinking of more exotic creatures (which is why we have Emilia Braunold’s zoo, Emilia Braunold’s Westeros, and Emilia Braunold’s comic books).
- How easy it is to just fall into calling your daughter ‘beautiful’ instead of using it as a qualifier – beautiful CEO, beautiful marine biologist… luckily there’s usually still time to tag something on afterwards.
- Just how many tops you can cover in sick in one day.
- How interesting people seem to find a woman walking a dog while wearing a baby in a sling. Seriously – people have stopped me in the street.
- How to divide your day up into half hour intervals so you feel you’re being productive and interesting, when really all you’re doing is holding a baby while doing laundry and trying to watch a movie.
- How long it can take to get through one episode of TV. For example, did you know that a one and a half hour double episode of Grey’s Anatomy can in fact take six and a half hours to watch?
- New levels of forgetfulness. Today I went upstairs to change the baby but realised when I got there that I had left her downstairs. A new low.
Joanna Braunold 