Day 151

Before church this morning, I finished another book. This one was for our book group that met on the 15th, but I really liked this book and wanted to finish it. The book was Broken for You by Stephanie Kallos. It's taken me forever to get through because I've been unusually busy lately, but I'm glad that I did.

I also wanted to take this picture to play around some more with focus with my "new" lens.

Day 150

I wasn't sure what to photograph today. I had a couple of things, but they were sort of repeats of a theme, which is pretty easy to do when you take a picture every single day.

As I was sitting down to get some work done this evening, I happened to notice a couple of handprints on the window. I played around with some settings until I could get a good shot where you could actually see them. I thought it turned out pretty neat.

Day 149

I drove out and picked this up today. It came unassembled in the box, and I managed to put it all together myself with a super excited and impatient 4-year-old and curious 15-month-old "helping" me out.

I took a few pictures, and I liked this one because it's kind of a cool composition and it's the part I had the most trouble with. I needed to adjust the brakes and had a hard time figuring out how to do it because the directions cover probably 20 different bikes. I eventually got it and am confident he'll be able to operate the handbrake and have it work.

The tires came completely flat, so we'll be bringing it over to grandpa for tire filling. He'll probably check all of my bolts and make sure they are tight enough. The directions say they'll probably all have to be tightened up after the first ride anyway.

Day 148

I met my mom during my lunch hour to take Paul to preschool, and there were these beautiful flowering trees in the parking lot where we met. My mom spotted them and told me, "I know exactly what you can take a picture of today". She was right.

Unfortunately, I left the DSLR at work thinking I wouldn't need it, but the point-and-shoot did a pretty good job. I was trying to play around a bit with a different angle, and I'm happy with how this shot turned out.

Day 147

For Christmas a couple of years ago, I asked for and was so excited to receive a specialized lens for my DSLR. The reading I did on it explained that it was a macro lens and was good for portrait photography. I put it on the camera for about a month, and for the life of me, I could not get it to do what I wanted. It has sat in my camera bag for over two years, and it's been bugging me.

Recently, I read a blog post about how to get blurry backgrounds. I was so excited to read about this because it's one of those things that's really nice to be able to do when you photograph children. They have this uncanny ability to be running in front of your unfolded laundry, their toys, and all sorts of other distracting things in their pictures.

As I read the post, I realized that I had this lens sitting around that would be perfect for this particular desire of blurry backgrounds. To practice my technique, I took the DSLR out to Paul's t-ball practice this afternoon and just played around with taking pictures. I'm really, really happy with the results.

Day 146

For about four years now, I've been kind of looking for a new toothbrush holder. The one we received as a wedding gift does not have openings large enough to accommodate the wide handles of little toothbrushes. Now that we need to fit two little toothbrushes, I figured it was time to really look for one.

I was lucky today when I went to the store because I found a holder that coordinates really well with our newer cup and soap dispenser. The best part was that it was on clearance, so I paid about $3 for a ceramic toothbrush holder.

I also used this as an opportunity to play around a little bit with my "new" macro lens.

Day 145

For the end of the long weekend, I really wanted to accomplish something. I finally set aside much of the late morning and afternoon to convert Matt's room from baby storage to a toddler's room. The picture today is of his new sleeping arrangements.

Day 144

It's Memorial Day weekend and for the first time in a very long time, it's not only dry, but also sunny and hot. It seems like a great day to drag out the pool and fill it up. The picture of the day is of Paul looking longingly out the window and Matt trying desperately to work the door as I finished up putting water in the pool.

Day 143

This little kiddo just cracks me up. I found him in the living room playing with one of brother's cars, while laying on his back. It was pretty cute how he was content like that. I've also caught him before in our closet lounging out on the laundry.

I love how his little feet are grabbing at the diaper bag, too.

Day 142

In a rare feat, I managed to finish a book. But not only that, I read the entire thing in 2 days. I'll have to admit that it wasn't a challenging read at about 170 pages with big type and lots of pictures, but I'm still strangely pleased with myself. I feel like I accomplished something.

Anyway, the book was Carrie Fisher's Wishful Drinking. I don't know if I would say that I recommend it per se because her language is pretty crass and she doesn't hold anything back. But if you have an even moderate interest in her life, then I think you'll find it an enjoyable read. I liked her wit, humor, and ability to laugh at herself.

I'm kind of wishing I had been able to see her show a few months ago like I had wanted to, but checking the book out from the library was much less expensive.

Day 141

I bought some beads during a limited edition sale at one of my favorite online bead suppliers late last week. I get frustrated with buying beads without having a project in mind, so I was determined to turn these into something.

I had a design in mind, but tweaked it a little bit as the beads decided on a bit better arrangement. I also altered the complimentary components as I figured out what best worked with what I had in my stash. I didn't quite get it finished before midnight, but it was pretty close.

These are the pieces that I was considering using when I started. I have an idea for a central piece that will require a trip to my local bead store, so there will probably be a picture of the completed piece at a later date.

Day 140

I had a little bit of trouble with the picture for today because I tried a few things and nothing really jumped out at me as working the way I wanted. I think I'm picking this one because the little guy in the photo is hugging the heck out of me right now.

I was taking some flower pictures, and I noticed Matt walking around in the background. I really try to pay attention to the entire photo and not just the subject, so I started to move when I thought it would be kind of cool to keep him in the background out of focus. I didn't quite get the composition I was looking for, so I don't love it, but the idea is there. I'll just have to try it again some time.

Day 139

I discovered this really cool setting on the new point-and-shoot. I was playing around and found out that you can photograph all in black and white except for one color. I thought it would be fun to take just the blue of the denim of my little guy's overalls. He was enthralled with watching brother play soccer.

Day 138

It was a rough day today, so I really wasn't in the mood to come up with anything inspired. When I got home from work the kids were desperate to go outside. We took the bubbles out and played around for a bit until it started to rain.

This picture is blurry, but I actually think it works. Paul was dancing around trying to pop the bubbles I was blowing.

Day 137

I was getting ready to go to church this morning and when I went to put on my watch and ring, I could not find my wedding ring.

I have a metal allergy where I will get irritated skin rashes if I leave my ring on all the time. I will always take it off at night, and I often find myself taking it off to do the dishes or after I wash my hands because water aids the irritation.

When I couldn't find my ring, I didn't worry too much at first. It's normally with my watch, but sometimes I end up taking them off separately. My hubby and I checked out all my usual places, but we weren't able to locate it and needed to leave for church.

It felt really strange to not have my ring on, and then I tried not to worry about where in the world I might have left it. Some time in the morning I had the idea that I might have put it with my jewelry because I'd been wearing a bracelet or two on Saturday. When we got home, I discovered it was in fact in a drawer with my other jewelry.

Before I found it, I kept thinking that I really don't have any pictures of my wedding ring other than one that was taken at the reception. So I decided I needed a current picture (not that the ring has actually changed any), and I wanted to play around a bit with my macro lens.

Day 136

It was a gorgeous day today, so we ventured out to the zoo. I found a pretty good parking spot on the street after driving all over the last time the boys and I went, so we just went directly to my free parking spot and walked the 3 or 4 blocks into the park.

On the way, there were some trees with beautiful flowers. I quickly snapped a couple of photos while my boys walked ahead. I'm going to break my one-picture-a-day rule today because I really liked both of these.

Day 135

Lately, I seem to have a thing or two or three about clouds.

As I was driving to my church book group this evening, I noticed this really unusual cloud formation. I'm not sure what caused it, but it's probably something man-made. I thought it looked pretty cool in the pre-sunset sky.

Day 134

Some days you get hit with certain things all at one time. Today was one of those days.

Matt has been needing some new shoes for a bit. I am super particular about the shoes I want my boys to wear on their growing feet - especially for Matt since his feet are growing and developing so quickly.

One of my local children's stores was having a sale of buy one, get one 50% off. My ideal would have been to find a pair of regular shoes and a pair of sandals for Matt, but unfortunately, they did not have any sandals in his size. I still ended up coming home with two pairs of shoes for Matt.

When I got home there were two more pairs of shoes for Paul that came in the mail. One of the bargain sites I browse was offering deeply discounted shoes that I like for Paul. It ended up that the two pairs of shoes I got for Paul were less than one pair for Matt.

Some days you win (get a really fantastic deal), some days you lose (pay full price/don't find the exact right thing), and others are a pretty awesome mix in the middle (today).

Day 133

In spite of the fact that it was pouring down rain, t-ball went on as scheduled this afternoon. Since it was canceled last week due to rain, they didn't want to cancel it a second week in a row. The kids didn't seem to mind being soaking wet. We enjoyed the practice from the comfort (dryness) of grandma's car.

Paul is in the center wearing his green jacket and crouched down to practice fielding a ball.

Day 132

The only thing to do with an unexpected series of storms is to get some good pictures. I was taking Paul to preschool and noticed this window of blue sky amongst the imposing storm clouds. There's some hope that the sun will come out by the weekend, so I think this picture is appropriate.

Day 131

Today in the Pacific Northwest we have been holding our breath while enjoying the weather between storms. The sun was out this afternoon, but as we were driving home this evening, these storm clouds were on the horizon and reflecting some awesome colors from the setting sun. I had to pull over and capture a few.

Day 130

I was playing around with the point and shoot camera in my mother-in-law's garden. Some of them turned out kind of neat. I liked this one, but I really debated on another one instead even though it wasn't perfect. It had kind of an ethereal look to it.

Day 129

Rather accidentally I found out that the tulips were still going to be in bloom this weekend, so it was easy for me to decide what I wanted to do for my Mother's Day activity. It was pretty windy, but still a very lovely day. I'm really happy with how a lot of the pictures turned out. I really liked this Parrot Tulip.

Day 128

The Curious George exhibit at the Children's Museum was wrapping up it's several month stay this weekend. We had meant to go and even considered getting a membership because Paul likes George so much. But somehow we never made it. My sister-in-law mentioned the close of the exhibit at the concert last night and offered to bring us as guests on their membership.

The cousins had a great time playing around the museum for hours. We ended up having to drag them away (almost literally kicking and screaming). It really was a lot of fun for all four boys.

This photo was taken not long after we got into the special exhibit for Curious George. While it was not my intention at all to set the focus the way it turned out, I still really loved the results. I hope one day I can start working away from being the accidental photographer.

Day 127

My husband, brother-in-law, his wife, and I all have summer birthdays. A couple of years ago we had the idea to have one big celebration some time during the summer just the four of us instead of coming up with gifts for everyone. It didn't work out last year, but my sister-in-law noted that Third Day was coming to town and plans were formed.

We went to the concert tonight after grabbing a child-free meal. It was a fantastic show! I also had some fun trying to figure out how to make the point-and-shoot behave in the concert lighting. There were some interesting results. I like this one in particular with the lights.

Day 126

Another view of the valley from our street. I thought the misty clouds in the trees and storm clouds were awesome!

Day 125

I don't think this one turned out quite how I envisioned it, but I tried. I thought this would be a good example of perspective.

I was waiting for Paul after preschool this afternoon and saw these little lights lining the walkway. I thought you could almost see them as lamp posts depending on your point of view. I don't think I managed to convey that, but I also felt pretty silly taking a picture in the preschool teacher's driveway.

Day 124

I do not often get a chance to work on making jewelry outside of classes. I really would like to, but the busyness of life gets in the way.

Tonight my husband could tell that I needed some time off. So he left with the kids and orders that I was not to do anything work related. I bought this kit when I took the jewelry class a few weeks ago, so I pulled it out.

I was hoping I could make it all tonight, but I am pleased with my progress. First I made all the little flowers, and then I started the assembly. I'm probably just over half way through with the entire project. We'll see how long it takes me to finish it.

Day 123

I have been fascinated by those fixed cameras that take a picture every single day. I would seriously love to figure out how to rig something up like that myself. For now, I thought I'd try to tackle a project that didn't require special equipment and set-up.

For nearly a month now I have been trying to take a picture just about every day of the leaves growing on the Maple tree in our back yard. I wasn't sure when to end this little project, so today's the day.

Day 1 (04.11.09)

Day 6 (04.16.09)

Day 7 (04.17.09)

Day 8 (04.18.09)

Day 10 (04.20.09)

Day 11 (04.21.09)

Day 13 (04.23.09)

Day 14 (04.24.09)

Day 15 (04.25.09)

Day 16 (04.26.09)

Day 17 (04.27.09)

Day 18 (04.28.09)

Day 20 (04.20.09)

Day 21 (05.01.09)

Day 22 (05.02.09)

Day 23 (today)

Day 122

The company I work for has season tickets to the Mariners games. Occasionally, they will try to entice ticket holders to upgrade to a suite by offering free tickets and pampering you with yummy food and cool gifts.

I was able to go with my mom today, and we had a really great time. The food was tasty and the view was great. We got a bag full of goodies including the hat giveaway that we missed out on because we were a little bit late.

It was Turn Back the Clock night, so instead of the Mariners, we were rooting for the Rainiers. Our team played well, but in the end we lost.

This picture is to capture the old team name since you don't get to see that at your average Mariners game.

Day 121

We were driving over the bridge on the way back home from the zoo today and Mount Rainier just about looked like you could reach out and touch it on this gorgeous day. The point-and-shoot is such a handy little camera to have.