April 12, 2011

I have been thinking a lot recently about how much I have to be thankful for. I am so fortunate that my family and I have a home.

April 11, 2011 Thankful

I received two thank you cards from friends this weekend. I was looking at them this evening and it made me so thankful I have such wonderful, kind people in my life. I'm lucky.

April 10, 2011

The pretty weather has us busier and my daily photography assignment has certainly suffered because of it. We had soccer games, birthday parties and a baptism this weekend that all got photographed, though. When we got home today I was excited to see the first blooms on my knockout rose bushes. By the end of the week I think they will all be in bloom. Next weekend we plan to get some tomato plants in the ground.

96/365 Spring

Things are starting to bloom!

95/365 What a difference a day makes

The view from the same room a day later--6:30 pm and tons of sunlight streaming in. You would never know we had such wild storms yesterday. Time to head out for a run in the sunshine!

94/365

It's been a Monday of crazy storms and some tornado touchdowns in our area. We are very blessed to be safe this evening and just a little rain outside the window is a welcome sight right now!

93/365 sunny Sunday

We got to go for a sunny drive in the convertible today and toured another historic plantation in the area. We are on a history roll lately! There is so much in the way of civil war history here that we have just never taken in. Today we toured the Carnton Plantation. It is the site of the Battle of Franklin in 1864, and also the setting for the recent bestselling novel, "The Widow of the South". The plantation was actually used as a field hospital after the battle and over a thousand of the confederate soldiers that died in the battle are buried in the cemetary. It was an enjoyable and informative afternoon!

92/365 Saturday

My attempt at macro of a ladybug on my rosebush, soon to bloom!

90/365 Waterdrop Macro

So I love seeing these really cool photos people do of water droplets and since I have a macro lens now I figured I would give it a try. I quickly learned it is a whole lot harder than it looks and I obviously need a tutorial of some sort...

89/365

My love/hate relationship with running continues with my 1/2 marathon 4 weeks away. My magnetic board in the workout room tells it all...

87/365 Savannah

Trying to get back on track with taking my photos again every day. This time last week, our 11 year old friend, Savannah, who I've mentioned on here before, lost her battle to cancer and gained her angel wings. She had been battling an aggressive soft tissue cancer for over five years and just a month ago was placed on hospice care as there was no other treatment available for her. It's been an emotional time for us, since we have known her since she was four years old, and my heart is just completely broken for her family.

One thing you could say about Savannah was that she lived! Her family made sure that she experienced life to the fullest and made every moment count. She was always happy, smiling, and laughing. She loved to dance and loved anything to do with fashion and bright colors. Her casket had a large tied died peace sign on it and these earrings of my daughters reminded me of that today. I took a picture of them because they reminded me of Savannah and they made me smile.

We love you, Savannah! And we know that heaven is a much brighter place with you in it!

81/365 Spring day

The kids and I spent the morning touring the home and grounds of President Andrew Jackson here in Hermitage. It was really interesting and a beautiful spring day!

80/365 Fun spring colors

Loving these cute and colorful lanterns I got from Pier One and just put out on my front porch today.

77, 78 and 79/365 Getting caught up

The kids have been away all week with spring break and because of that my routine has been really disrupted. I haven't posted for several days but have taken my pictures every day. Mainly we have been out and about enjoying the spring weather and colors. We went on a historic plantation tour on Saturday that ended with a wine tasting and then on Sunday we visited our favorite local winery for a relaxing afternoon of wine and a little music!

76/365 Spring!

So excited to check out my rose bushes today and see that things are ready to BLOOM! Love seeing those red leaves!

74/365 Gotta run

Logging some miles with just 6 weeks until I run the Country Music 1/2 Marathon. It has been so great to get some outdoor running in lately with some nice weather!

73/365 Macro Monday

Just playing around with some macro around the house

Sunday March 13 72/365

The Sunday morning pancakes--unaffected by the loss of an hour in our morning!

71/365

Just now realizing that tonight is daylight savings time and we lose an hour tonight, I thought the morning would go a little smoother if I made our morning pancake batter ahead of time tonight. An extra few minutes any morning always helps!

70/365 Newest Lego Creation

My son gets Lego magazines and decided he wanted to enter one of the contests to win $100. The theme was space station and here is his.

69/365 Why I hate yard sales

I never shop them. I haven't participated in one in over 10 years. And I hate clutter. But my street is having their annual sale that I have avoided for a few years now but kind of got talked into this year. This junk is leaving my house tomorrow--whether it sells or not!

68/365

Everyone is in bed and I hadn't taken a photo yet so I had to resort to playing around with the macro and focus points with some paintings on the wall in our guest bedroom.

67/365

My husband not only cooked tonight, but he took the kids to soccer practice as well. I am enjoying a quiet house!

66/365 What's on my bathroom counter

Not much, since I cleaned the bathrooms yesterday! I saw this idea on someone else's blog and liked it for something to shoot today.

65/365 Just Do It!

So my trusty running shoes had finally lost all of their spring and bit the dust. As is usually the case with running shoes, when I went to the running store I found out they no longer make the model of shoe I wore. I was having some issues anyway, so I had a talk with the girl at the running store and got fitted with a new pair, Nike Lunar Glider 2's. Took them out for 7 miles today and LOVED them!

64/364 Morning brew

My latest favorite non guilty pleasure! Gevalia fat free cappuccino in our new Tassimo single serve coffee brewer. Hello weekend!

Still playing with macro

I may never take this lens off of my camera!

61/365 More macro

I got to take the macro lens outside for the first time today. I love, love, love this lens!

60/365 More macro

Playing with the macro again! Trying the candy heart shot I did at the beginning of the month that I thought would turn out so much better if I had a macro lens! Do like the detail in these shots so much better. Gosh, armed with my new toy and so many macro possibilities, my family might actually get a break from being my photography subjects for a while!

59/365 Macro love

So I literally got this "new to me" lens in the mail today and only snapped a few pics but I can tell I am going to love this Canon 100mm 2.8 macro! I have always loved those pics the wedding photographers do of their rings so I snapped this quick one of my ring. Can't wait till things start to bloom to get some pics outdoors! Love new toys!

Sunday 58/365

I know this is not a great picture technically in any way. I just love that it is February and it is mild enough that we grilled out this evening and roasted/caught marshmallows on fire on our deck afterwards!

57/365 Painting Pottery with my girl

My daughter and I painted pottery today at "Fired Up' and had a great time while my husband and son were at the shooting range. I didn't have my DSLR with me but my camera phone did pretty good! Here is her creation--totally her! We pick up our finished creations next weekend!

56/365

Saw a pic like this on the "I Love Faces" blog and my daughter and I tried to duplicate it. It was in the evening and with not a lot of great light, so I couldn't get my shutter speed high enough to really freeze the motion of the sequins she was blowing. It turned out cute, but wasn't as easy to duplicate as I might have thought! We had fun anyway!

55/365 Playing with processing

Just took a few pics of my daughter tonight and tried some different processing...it's not my every day kind of thing, but I do like the soft look of this picture.

54/365 What 10 year old boys love

Love this--found in my son's backpack. So this is what 10 year old boys love: fast sports cars, money, cell phones, ice cream, (all they had were photos of weight watchers bars, he informed me) pizza, and the Geico commercials.
Which only proves my theory that often grown men are very much just like 10 year old boys!!!!

53/365 Happy Birthday Savannah

A while back I posted about our friend, Savannah, who is fighting an aggressive form of soft tissue cancer. Our whole community has become decorated in green bows. Lime green is Savannah's favorite color. We have them everywhere-- mailboxes, stop signs, trees, on the front of school buses and throughout the Elementary School where she is a student! There has been an incredible show of support in this community for this sweet girl. Tomorrow is her 11th birthday. Since she was diagnosed at 5, she has been battling this disease for more than 1/2 of her life. Unfortunately, her tumors are no longer responsive to treatment and have grown and spread extensively--into her bones as well as her lungs and she has been started on hospice care to help with her pain control.

We spent the evening making cards, bows to wear on our shirts, and blowing up balloons for our sweet friend. We plan on dropping our gift off in the morning to let her know we are thinking of her on her birthday and we pray for her every day!

We love you, Savannah!

Procrastination

X number of years out of college, and I still can't stop procrastinating when it comes to studying. I had a renewal class I had to take today and I'm up at 4 am today trying to review the stuff since I left it to the last minute. You would think I learn...

Sunday Feb 20th 51/365 Sleep is overrated

This is what is see every time my 10 year old goes to a sleepover birthday party and stays up half the night. Here we are at home at 2 pm today. Hope he sleeps tonight!

50/365

Burning question--How sour are extreme sour lemon warheads?

Answer--EXTREME sour!