Scavenger Hunt Sunday | April 1, 2012

April---WOW!  This year is going by so fast, yet slowly all at the same time.  Why is it always like that?  And I haven't missed one hunt this year yet.  I'm quite pleased with myself!  Anyway....on to this weeks finds.  Dad came with me to the park.  We had a fun day wandering around with our cameras.

Clouds

The day I went out to take these photos there were no clouds in the sky.  Just all blue.  But as the day went on we got some clouds, followed by a big storm.

Sun Flare

I love sun flare! 

Seven

I guess it was bath time when we got to the park.  All of the geese were out of the water cleaning themselves.  (There are actually 9 geese in this photo.  There were so many of them so close together it was hard to get just 7 in one frame.)

High Angle

I love dogwood trees!

Low Angle

Taking pictures of each other.

Quarterly Top 5 | 2012 | January-March

I participated in this at the end of last year so I thought I'd join in the quarterly round ups too.  While I don't have a human baby, I do have my Abby.  She is goofy.  She knows words like 'car ride', 'baby', 'ice cube', and if she doesn't know this word yet, she will soon...'bubbles'.  All of those are her favorite things.

Most of these were taken in March.  I guess I went through a dry spell in January and February and don't have any real decent photos of Abby.

1.  Abby giving me silly faces.  She was finishing a yawn, however when she really wants something bad she will bark and her tooth will stick out like this.  (February)

2.  An iPhone photo.  I absolutely love it!  (March)

3.  A typical night.  Abby loves to be wherever people are.  She might not cuddle with you, but she has to be in the same room people are in.  (March)

4.  I love that she lets me love on her.  (March)

5.  Abby after an afternoon playing with bubbles.  This is typical Abby.  Getting her nose in your business, wanting to know what you are doing.  Being silly and goofy.  I love her.  (March)

UPDATE:  Ashley picked my photo #4 as one of her favorite photos from this quarter's round up.  WOW!  Thank you!  Check it out here.

Bubble Fun {and a video!}

Week 12

March 24, 2012

Apparently this months 52 week project is how many photos can I take with Abby month.  Seriously, the last 3 weeks Abby has been in the photo with me.  (Last week she just happened to be in it, but still.)

Saturday was a lazy, outdoor work day.  We cleaned the lawn mower (it hasn't had much exercise in the last 2 summers due to family situations.)  Of course, since everyone was outside, Abby wanted to be outside too but she wanted someone to pay attention to her.  So I got the bubbles and we went to town.  She had so much fun and really wore herself out.

It was a good Saturday, spring day,

with the pup

and some bubble fun.

Scavenger Hunt Sunday | March 25, 2012

This week it has rained non-stop...literally.  Rain during the day.  Rain during the night.  We finally got a break from Thursday to Saturday though.  Thank goodness!

Whimsy

Today (Saturday) Abby and I did her favorite thing...played with bubbles.  Seriously, she could do this all day long.  She loves them.  Unfortunately they wore her out and she had to lay down in the middle of playing.  But if I blew them at her level she could still try to catch a few.
If you have a dog at home you should definitely try this.  

Create

A quote card I created for my scrapbook.

Dust

The other day it looked like it was snowing because these big, white petals were floating through the sky all day long.  And some found a home in our garden.

Seed/Sprout

Hastas are coming up!   I love the curly leaves and you can see some left over rain drops from all the rain.  Hello spring!

Swing/Drop

I went for rain drops for this photo.  We have had so much rain the last few days.  Actually, this whole week has looked like this.

Week 11

March 12, 2012

This has been me a lot lately.  I seem to not be able to read enough books.  In fact, I've read 2 books just last week.  So unlike me.  Don't get me wrong, I like to read, but I'm usually slow to finish.  I read this book in a matter of days.  And then started Th Hunger Game Trilogy.  Did not think I would like it and I read it in 2 days.  And I'm already into the second one.

So much for reading 1 book a month, I'm already at 3 and wouldn't be surprised if I finish the Hunger Games series by the end of the month....Guess we will find out soon! 

Scavenger Hunt Sunday | March 18, 2012

Vintage

A plate/platter that my mom found in my grandparent's basement.  It was a retirement gift for my grandma's aunt.

Word/Quote

I've been doing a lot of reading lately.  2 books just last week, actually.  I read this boo, More Than Words Can Say by Robert Barclay.  Excellent book.  And then I started the Hunger Games Trilogy.  Another great book!  And I didn't think I'd like it.

Nature's Own

Spring has sprung and I couldn't be more happy!

People

One of my 'people'.  We had an extremely interesting night last night...

Photographer's Choice

Gosh, I just love her!

12of12 | March

I think this might be my favorite 12of12 yet.  (Do I say that every time?!  Oops!)

Today was 70 degrees outside and so beautiful!

Spring is definitely in the air.

And I got a few nice surprises today too.

01.  I was up until 2am reading More Than Words Can Say by Robert Barclay.  (And finished it when I woke up.)  I highly recommend you read it.  And--Even though I couldn't document this by a photo, I must document it by words.  Just a few minutes before this photo was taken Abby let out a massive, stinky toot.
02.  I received an unexpected text message from a friend.  It has been 14 years since I have seen her, yet our friendship has remained.  (Texting is kind of new to our friendship so I really wasn't expecting to get a text from her when my phone buzzed.)
03.  Spring blossoms.
04.  Dad cleaning up the yard and Abby enjoying the spring air.
05.  More spring blossoms.
06.  The second surprise I got today was a letter in the mail from another great friend.  (I blurred out my address for sharing purposes, but it will be nice to look back years from now when I no longer live at that address.)
07.  Me and my girl.  Is it obvious that I absolutely love her?
08.  And the job search continues...
09.  Dad cooking dinner.
10.  I got to hang out with these cool kids tonight.  (Erin was 'washing' towels and Jackson was hanging and jumping on the swing set.)
11.  Their new puppy, Ms. Milly Madeline Charlie Montgomery.  What a name!
12.  And of course, ending the night with The Bachelor.

I hope everyone had a wonderful 12th!

12of12 | 2011

I can't believe that tomorrow I will doing my 15th month of 12of12s.  I cannot tell you how much I love this project.  I think it is one of those things that you have to do it yourself to find out how cool it can be.  I never did a year post of 2011's 12of12s and wanted to share my year.  According to 2011, my 12's experienced a snow storm, a new faucet, or ordinary spring day, 2 sick days, growing flower in pots, my first surgical procedure, my last semester of college, buying my cap and gown for graduation, a trip to Chicago!, and finishing my last college assignments.  (I accomplished a lot in just 12 days!)

January | Wednesday

February | Saturday

March | Saturday

April | Tuesday

May | Thursday

June | Sunday

July | Tuesday

August | Friday

September | Monday

October | Wednesday

November | Saturday

December | Monday

Scavenger Hunt Sunday | March 11, 2012

I really loved this weeks prompts.  I'm not sure why, but I did.  I found myself starting to fill in the prompts on last Sunday.  Excited much?  Maybe.  I think the opportunity arose that day and I took it.  It helps to have chocolate in the house and a candle burning too.

Water

Despite what I just wrote, I did have trouble with this prompt.  And before I knew it it was Saturday evening and I was out of time.  So this is from the archives from 4 1/2 years ago during a trip to Colorado.  Probably THE best vacation ever.

Light

Confession...I almost never use manual on my camera.  (Something I really want to use more in the future.)  I practiced on this photo.  It turned out dark, but I liked it because it showed off the light of the flame.  Just what I was going for!  And I like that you can see a little bit of light reflecting at the bottom of the jar.  Gives it some depth without making it obvious.

Chocolate

We went through these much faster than I'd like to admit :)

Animal

Part of my 52 week project.  I love everything about this photo.  And this pup!  I took it from my crappy 3g iPhone (yes, I know I need to update.)

Crowded

Taken last week (but I haven't shared it) when dad and I went train chasing.

Do you ever get into a funk and then turn on the radio and there is a song playing that seems to match your exact mood?

That happened to me today.

I've noticed my mind has been wandering a lot lately.

And when it wanders, it goes to places that make it hard to breath.

Today I was driving around running a few errands and the song,

I Will Remember You by Sarah McLachlan came on.

"I'm so tired but I can't sleep

Standin' on the edge of something much to deep

It's funny how we feel so much but we cannot say a word

We are screaming inside, but we can't be heard."

Train Chasing

Last week dad and I went train chasing, and not intentionally.  First of all, my dad loves trains-real and toy.  And he also loves 35mm film photography.  So one day we put the too hobbies together and went out to photograph some train cars.

There is an old caboose that is at the tracks in downtown and dad wanted to get a few photos of it.  While we were there, we saw they also had an old engine on the other side of the tracks.  So naturally, we drove around looking for a street that allowed us to cross the tracks.  It took a little while to find the engine again.  But when we did, we found out the engine was running.  There were three people working on/by it.  But that still didn't stop us from getting out of the car to take some photos.

To be honest, I don't know if we were really allowed there.  One of the guys stopped my dad and asked who we were with.  (They thought we were with some company taking photos.  Ha!)  Nope, just two people wandering the train tracks with cameras.  Is that weird?  (Don't answer that!)

After this excursion we went further down the tracks where they have a 'viewing' of the trains going by.  (I guess that is what you could call it.  It is a parking lot that sits right next to the train tracks.)  Dad was hoping to get a photo of a train in motion.  But with our luck, there weren't any.  After a few minutes we decided to leave, but stayed close.  We drove up toward the river and what would you know--a train was coming!  It was moving fairly fast but we tried to make it back to the 'viewing' spot.  We didn't make it.  But we were driving right along with the train.

Train chasing.
Windows down.
Listening to the sound of a chugging engine.
And laughing at how funny, weird, and exciting it all was.

(Note: All of these are photos I took on my digital camera.  Still waiting to finish the roll on the film camera.)