365/6 Sparkly!

Today the theme is supposed to be "with words" but when I woke up we had a dusting of snow that was already starting to melt and a lot of very sparkly trees outside.  So we are going to have to save "with words" for another day. 

Today is the day I finally figured out how to override the autofocus feature and toggle my focus on my new camera.  After trying to figure it out with just the manual, I tried my trusty friend Mr. Google and it turns out that I am not the only person who had trouble with this one.  Phew, thank you to the person on the Flickr forum who posted the answer. 

Here's my favorite sparkly shot from today:

And here it is cropped in even closer.  I love that the droplet is reflecting everything around it, and that little extra sparkle of sun flare.

Tomorrow is "Movement." 

365/5 Colorful Food

Today's post is "colorful food" which would be easier in the summer or any other day but Saturday.  But I finally found something colorful today.

And here's another:

365/4 Fur!

Today's theme is FUR!  Since I am working on focus, I took my speedy, chubby fur baby out for some exercise and some pictures.  I love how her ears are flapping as she runs.

And somehow we ended up with more than one picture today.  Why not?

After all that exercise, a little nap under the table was in order.

Tomorrow's theme is Colorful Food.  Does this mean I have to cook?

365/3 Repetition

Day three!  Now that I am in the swing of things (a little) I am going to try to incorporate some of  the themes that were suggested by Capture 365.  Today's theme is REPETITION. 

This brings to mind our morning routine.  Since it is winter, we wake up while it is still dark.  Which I do not love.  It goes something like this:

Wake up before the alarm goes off.

Pretend there is still time to sleep.

Hear Son #2's alarm go off, enjoy the iPod tunes he chooses.

Horrific beeping alarm goes off next to my head. 

Hit the snooze.

Crawl a little further under the blankets for 10 more minutes.

Horrific beeping alarm goes off again. 

Turn it off.

Get out of bed and drag my butt into the shower.

Get dressed, dry hair, shiver a little.

Wake up Mr. O and get him into the bath.

Line the floor with towels before leaving.

Feed the dog & let her out.

Feed the cat.

Drive Son #2 to the bus stop by 7:13.

Come back and get Mr. O out of the bath.

Clean all the water off the floor, because Mr. O. likes to splash. 

Wake up Son #1 to get ready for school.

COFFEE ~ How I do love thee.

Heat up lunch for Mr. O and pack it into his thermos for school.

Wake up Son #1 again - usually 2nd time is the charm.

Start  on vitamins.  Round 1 - capsules in grape juice with straw.

Vitamins Round 2 - crush non-capsules into grape juice.

(these need a syringe)

Vitamins Round 3 - sprays and homeopathic drops

Vitamins Round 4 - patch and creams.

Check the tracking bracelet.

PHEW - vitamins are done.

Heat up coffee in microwave.

Send Son #1 to the car with hubby. 

7:50 and off they go.

Wait for Mr. O's bus. 

7:55 and off he goes.

Heat coffee again in the microwave.

Awake the Kraken ... err... I mean, my daughter.

Get the girl dressed.  Dodge a few kicks.

Give the girl breakfast and pack her lunch.

Comb the girl's hair.  Dodge a few more kicks.

Explain (every day) that it is winter and we MUST wear socks.

Head out to the last bus stop of the morning. 

8:41 and off she goes.

Home and exhausted.

Heat coffee one more time in the microwave.

Drink coffee.  Finally.

Can't wait until 2:30 when they all come home. 

365/2

And here we go, day two and we are back to school and someone wanted to have her hair curly like all of her friends.  Braids the night before and here's what we got:

365/1

OK, first post on my 365 Journey.  Cheating a little (as already stated) because this photo is not from Jan. 1st but from a day or two before.  I'll try to make sure the rest of the year is on track.

  My boy in the car, he loves car trips and this 4 hour trip home from visiting Grandma was no exception.

Can I Do This?

Once again, I have not posted in ages.  That ARI conference I mentioned back in April?  It was awesome.  My brain was so filled with good information about diet and genetics and behavioral therapies and supplements, I think I had a minor explosion somewhere within my skull and I am still trying to shake things back together all these months later. 

I met up with some great people too.  Wow.  I got to sit in a hallway and talk to Tom Malterre for hours, and then got to listen to him speak the next day.  I have his book just waiting for me to have time to read it and apply it. 

I secretly dream of being adopted by his family, so I can live in his organic world and pick blueberries off the mountains all day.  Sigh.

Coming back to my reality, the spring and summer was spent trying to feed my family healthy food, trying to keep active, trying to learn new things each day, and honestly, unclogging the toilet pretty much every single day.  We had some wonderful visitors, went to some parties, threw a few parties ourselves, hit the beach, visited some theme parks, drove to Grandma's house, played with cousins,  all that good summer fun.

  Then came September, first day of school for my kindergartner, and first day of high school for my 2nd oldest, lots of firsts and lots to think about and also .... a little more time for ME.  You would think that I would have gotten more done around here, huh? 

The fall brought a lot of craziness, Hurricane Sandy came along and wiped out a lot of the places we love, we lost power, lots of people lost power for a lot longer than we did.  The images from the Jersey Shore really hit me hard, since I love the beach so much.  And that is all I want to say about that because the months of November and December were just kind of horrible for a lot of people, for a lot of reasons,  and we have had it pretty good so I am not going to whine or complain any more. Just going to drink my coffee in my "Courage" cup when I feel the need.    

So now the kids are done with their winter break, it is a new year, I got a new camera and I am thinking that I want to try a 365 project.  I promised myself that this year is my year to work on my photography.  I want to learn Lightroom, I need to learn all the features on my new camera and I want to start building a portfolio and getting organized.  Can I do this?  I am going to start, a picture a day for the rest of the year.  I am giving myself permission to occasionally miss posting for a day, as long as I take a picture and post it later.  And for my day 1, it is possible that I will use a photo from Dec. 31st instead of January 1st, since all I did was fold laundry that day.  Shhhhhh.  Don't tell.  Am I ready?  Can I do this?  I guess we will find out!