Day 350

Tonight I'm getting started on downloading pictures from Paul's birthday weekend. I'm not sure how many pictures I have, but over the course of the weekend we had several events. Between two cameras, it will be a picture or two.

Day 259

I got out of the car at my parent's house this morning and noticed that the clouds were looking pretty amazing in the early light. It was one of many, many times that I've been glad to constantly have my camera with me.

Day 258

I go through two valleys on my way to work most mornings. Often on cooler mornings, there is this almost ethereal fog in one or both valleys. I'm always telling myself that one day I'll stop and take some good pictures.

This morning, I was heading straight to work and not to drop off the boys, so even though I was running a bit late, I stopped for about one minute and took a few pictures of the valley closest to our house.

I was so pleased with the results that I'm sharing two pictures today instead of one. Again, I'm amazed with the quality our little point-and-shoot is able to get - if it's in the right mood.

Day 257

I was so excited to receive the components for Use The Muse III this afternoon!!

This color pallet is way outside of what I normally work with, but it's so perfect for fall. I can't wait to be inspired and get started working. At this point, I'm not sure what I'm going to do. I might try stitching again, but part of me wants to incorporate some of the metal working techniques I've been learning lately.

I've got about a month to figure it out, and unfortunately, I probably won't be able to start in earnest until after the beginning of the month. It's a busy time of year, but I hope to have something to submit by the October 19th deadline.


This is probably one of the worst pictures I could have taken of this kit, but I didn't realize it until the picture was downloaded. You'll just have to wait for better ones.

Day 255

We took the boys to the circus this morning, and it was a ton of fun. I have never been to the circus, so I think I was nearly as excited as they were.

It was a good show full of loads of animals, acrobatics, and silly antics. I was surprised by how many of the stereotypical things of the circus that they actually did like shooting a person (or two) out of a canon.

The photo for today is of the elephants in one of those classic circus poses. Sadly, after this my camera died, so I missed out on pictures of the tigers.

Day 252

Grandma and I took my youngest to the park for a bit after I got off work. It was such a nice day, it would have been a waste to not spend at least some time outside. We were pushing Matt in one of the swings. A few times, I'd catch the swing and hold him in place for a few seconds, which he thought was hysterical. It also gave me the opportunity to catch his little eye peeking out at me through the openings in the back.

I thought it made for a kind of artistic, creative photo.

Day 248

We took the boys to the fair after naps this afternoon. When we left the house, it looked like it was about to pour on us, but we avoided any rain at all. The sun even came out for a little while. It seems like we might have lucked out because the rest of the weekend looks pretty stormy.

Day 237

This evening we went out to claim Cold Stone's free ice cream for my husband's birthday last week. Before we headed back home we thought the boys might like to burn off some energy in the outdoor play area.

One of the things for the kids to play with is a kind of water feature. I thought the captured water droplets in this picture (with the point-and-shoot) were pretty cool!

Day 217

These are probably past their prime, but I noticed these little flowers on one of the shrubs that lines our driveway. It's the sort of shrub that I wouldn't have thought had blossoms, but I was pleased to discover that it did.

Day 216

The fog was really cool in the valley as I was heading to work this morning. I nearly dropped the camera out the window of the car, which would not have made for a good start to the morning.

Day 171

This is what happens when you go strawberry picking with your boys and dump your camera in the box of strawberries. I was also covered in dirt and juice with the picking, so there was just no avoiding the messy camera. Fortunately, a damp cloth cleaned it right up. I'm still glad I didn't take the time to dig out my DSLR. I'm a little more protective of that camera.

Day 168

I noticed this Foxglove on the edge of my mother-in-law's yard, so I thought I'd catch a couple of pictures. I liked how this one turned out.

Day 167

It was a nice, mild day today and perfect for a trip to the zoo. We were able to go with our friends and spent several hours eating a picnic lunch and exploring the exhibits.

We walked by the rose garden on our way out, and the awesome smell from the roses drew us in. I only got a chance to take a couple of pictures because we needed to get on the road to avoid rush hour, but I really liked the coloring on this one.

Day 162

There were all sorts of gorgeous flowers around the resort. I was killing some time while waiting for the kids to get all of their stuff loaded on the bus, so I took some pictures. Believe it or not, this was actually taken with the little point-and-shoot. The ones I took with the DSLR were overexposed and didn't have the detail that this photo has. I thought this turned out just stunning!

Day 159

The sunset tonight was gorgeous. The sun was almost red. All I had with me was the point-and-shoot, but I think it got closer to capturing what I saw than I thought it would.

Day 155

We were out and about this evening running some errands and the weather was starting to change. I caught these storm clouds coming in during the sunset.

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 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 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 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.