Day 30. I really, really enjoyed this and realized that I very much need to be posting something here every day. I loved that when I did it in 2009. New Year's Eve that year, Shawn and I sat down and went back through our year together. It was awesome. And sure, sometimes I took a few days off but always caught up. It made me more aware of my surroundings and what was happening day to day, so I could get pictures of something.
Took this with the iPhone. Damn I love that effing thing. Then played with it in Photoshop. It looks like I overlayed the sunflowers onto the photo but I didn't. I was standing behind them. That was the other thing about this little challenge. It got me playing a little more. And realizing I need a haircut!
And I even got that Day 13 pic. Of course I dated it June 13 ... couldn't have stuff all out of order.
Maybe I'll challenge myself ... hmmm... how about a hipstamatic pic every day in July?
And big thanks to Kimberly for posting the pics everyday. I found some new blogs I'll be checking out:)
Never short on photo ops with the cats. Can't believe there's only one day left in June. And then 2011 is half over.
Jasmine flowers in Buddha's hand. The Jasmine plant has tons of blooms right now, so imagine the amazing smell we get when we step onto the deck. And of course, Jasmine blooms at night and the flowers pretty much fall off the plant by the next afternoon. A while back, I realized that even though the flowers had fallen off the plant, the fragrance still lingered on them. So I started gathering them and making them offerings.
In making those links, I've realized that my labeling kind of sucks. Gotta get a better system down for that!
Today is my last day of vacation. I wouldn't say I'm dreading going back to work but I wouldn't say that I'm wanting to go back to work. In an effort to make the transition a bit less harsh, I'm teaching my yoga classes tonight. Kind of easing my way back into the grind. I think it's the grind aspect that I'm so not wanting to get back into. Get up, go to work, exercise, come home, catch up on side work, go to bed, start over. Savor two measly days while I try to get everything done during them. Blah! There's got to be a better way. So universe, send me some answers. I'll do my part to clear my head and quiet my mind so when you send the answers I'll be ready to catch them.
A shot of a kitty enjoying his nap from a distance. I tend to take photos of things either cropped or pretty close up. I actually like this far away shot. I feel like the space is part of what gives it a quiet, serene, nap time feel.
Up close on the sun flowers from the farmer's market, Hipstamatic style.
Pulled this from the archives. It's the pink rosebush and every year, in May, this rosebush graces us with the most amazing pink blooms. They epitomize the color pink. And then I couldn't resist this pink nose.
But of course, this had to be a cat photo for me. Two of our three cats. Tiki on the left and Lenny Boy on the right. Sadly, we had to lay Tiki to rest this week. She was just two months shy of turning 18. I've always known that I would have to make the call with her. Nelli Kitty and Mr. both passed away without me having to make that decision. Tiki came to me and told me it was time. Tiki was the last of the triumvirante, the original 3 cats I had when Shawn and I got together. I've lived multiple lives during Tiki's one life. She used to be all big and fat and she was the best lap kitty ever. We'll miss you Tiki baby.
Love sun flare. Love it. I took this with the iPhone while stuck in traffic.
Catching up after a little vacation adventure.
Hands, specifically, the rock hands. 17 months ago these hands couldn't do jack shit. They could not hold a fork for Shawn to feed himself. They couldn't play bass. They couldn't even wear his wedding ring because his fingers had shrunk. Miraculously, today they can break rocks on a vacation adventure.
Me wearing my Ganesha pendant which hangs from a strand of tourmaline.
Disconnecting for a few days for some vacation fun. Woo-hoo! Will be playing catch up later this week.
Something orange. A pretty lily.
Posting a bit late. Vacation started, there was a gig, dinner with friends. But better late than never. That Day 13 shot is coming later today:)
Shoes. I have a lot of shoes and I should really wear more of them more often. I tend to get stuck in ruts, wearing the same things, eating the same things, etc...
What I love about shoes is that I can ask myself, who do I want to be today and the shoe can help define that:) Gym rat, professional, casual and fun, rock star, yoga chick, hippy, hottie and so on. As a true Gemini I have multiple facets to my personality. And the shoes bring out the best of each one:) I wear these shoes pretty often except for the leopard print, peep-toe, sling back stillettos. They're new and have only been out of the closet once. They definitely need to get out more!
Me taking a picture with my iPhone of my Macbook taking a picture of me.
Cool ass Hipstamatic pic from the iPhone. Love me some technology.
Had to totally go against my anti-rigmarole nature tonight. Pulled out the tripod, learned how to use pivoting tripod head thingee that hubby got me and take a lot of pictures.
My Day 15 pic and a sneak peek for an engagement shoot I did about 2 weeks ago.
Debbie and Joe were awesome. I was feeling the love:)
Lenny Boy's amber eyes. They're also the exact same color as the floor underneath him. If you look at like his eyes are the floor it gives this weird kind of dimensional feel.
Missed Day 13, although I am going to do it retro-active. Bus number 2 blew threw here early Monday morning and flattened my ass. Migraine, chills, nausea in addition to the hives I've been battling for over a week. Not sure what's up with the hives. Have never had them before and they came out of nowhere. If it's food, I'm suspecting wheat since wheat and dairy are the only two things I have not eliminated in the last week. No berries, nuts or chocolate. Please, that's the mainstay of my diet! So starting now, no wheat and dairy and we'll see what happens. I'm on prendisone which I'm not thrilled about but I needed relief. And if this morning is any indication of my energy level (from the steroid) I might just get to that Day 13 photo in a bit.
Me with 13 buddhas, kaun yins and ganeshas.
Yes, I admit, I went back to the archives for this. Hands down, the best sunset shots I've ever taken were in Hawaii. And this was from the porch of our condo on Molokai where we were like 2 of 10 people staying at the resort. This was from my little 3 megapixel point and shoot, long before I even thought about getting a dlsr. But just one glance at this takes me right back to that porch and the blissfulness of that vacation. Now I'm off to a concert on a Sunday night! Sully Erna's Avalon tour is coming through Baltimore and my BFF and I are going. Hopefully I can sneak some iPhone shots:)
The blue agate slice that sits upon the blue shelf which is above the blue desk (not pictured here). No problem finding something blue.
A childhood memory. I had a few ideas for this post but when I found this photo on my card, this was the one. One thing I remember was always having a pet. Cats, dogs, birds, hamsters, turtles, fish, pretty much everything. Several dogs throughout the years and and more cats.
Tiki, pictured here, is the pet I've had the longest. She's almost 18 years old. Most of the family pets didn't make it past 10 or so. I would even venture to say that Tiki could be considered a pet from my childhood. I was 29 when I got her, still a kid in retrospect. Plus who doesn't love a fisheye cat pic? Well, besides the cat:)
Well this one was easy. First, I used a photo I already taken because unfortunately I won't see this guy again until Sunday. And second, he's definitely someone I love. Here's my hubby doing one of the things he does best, playing his bass, being the hot rock star that he is. Want to see more of him? Just click on the Shawn label:)
Did anyone catch the number of that bus that hit me? Whew! Got home last night about 6:45, decided to relax a bit on the couch in the cold, dark basement. By 7:00 I was too cold down there, so I went up in the bedroom to relax and pet the kitties for about a half hour. Next thing I know, I'm waking up, completely out of it at 10pm. And the only reason I got up then was to feed the cats, who I think kept coming in the bedroom and trying to rouse me while I was unconscious. Not sure if it was the heat here in the mid-Atlantic but something wiped me out. So I'm posting yesterday's image today and will get today's later.
So a bad habit. I've got a few but I'd have to say my worst bad habit is being on the internet, in particular, Facebook too much. And now that I have an iPhone, it makes it so much easier. Where I used to have some self-control because I didn't want to sit at the computer now I can just grab the iPhone, sit on the couch, AND even have lap time with the old kitty while I peruse Facebook or text or email. A few weeks ago a girlfriend and I were Facebook messaging, texting and emailing at the same time! Finally we just called and talked.
All of this is really a mechanism for my really bad habit of procrastination. I'm a master at it. So let me get off of here and get to work!
So if I had been on top of my game this morning I would have taken today's photo when I was filling the blender up with berries making my morning smoothie. But no, I was tired and out of it. So my fruit photo is of my favorite popsicle, Edy's Fruit Bars Pomegranate flavor. Yummmmmm...
A funny little story behind this. Two years ago when I discovered these amazing popsicles Shawn noticed that I would leave the stick behind, wherever I happened to be when I finished it. Kitchen table usually. So when he mentioned one day that I never threw them away I was like huh? Really? Well then maybe those sticks need something done with them.
So if I remember, I took a stick and left it under the windshield wiper of his van. He got a good laugh out of that and the stick is still in his van. Then I took a stick and drew a stick man on it, and popsicle stick man was born. And left it on his keyboard in his office. Snicker:) And he loved it. The first popsicle stick man sits on his desk.
Then I took another stick and drew a stick man on it, maybe with long hair and put it in his guitar case to find when he went to a gig. I'm trying hard not to laugh now. And I do believe that popsicle stick man is still around.
And most recently I drew a stick man on a popsicle stick making the rock symbol with one of his hands and left it in his gig bag to find at another gig. And now Shawn has a collection of popsicle sticks, i.e. trash, that he can't throw away!
So as I sit here and look at my popsicle stick from my just finished treat I'm wondering what's the next step in popsicle stick man's life:)
So normally I don't do stuff like this. But I'm giving it a try because I'm trying to work every angle I can think of to start shooting bigger shows. Meaning a show at a music club or a amphitheater vs a wings bar or pool hall. And I think I've done a good job at making some of my rock photos look like they were NOT shot at a wings bar or pool hall.
Anyway, I'm going to the Soundgarden show in a few weeks and when I was perusing their website I saw this win a chance to photograph Soundgarden. Cool!! So I checked it out and submitted a photo. Thing is, it's not really based on talent or skill but rather how many votes you get. And that's fine, I'm trying to get everyone I know to vote for my photo. It said the winner will be selected with special consideration for the top voted entries.
http://www.talenthouse.com/creativeinvites/preview/a5e306502787d53e5390a13a3c243b0d/208
The other thing is that the contest said for aspiring photographers, which to me means someone who has not had the opp to shoot a big show before. Funny how there's a LOT of entries of Soundgarden, Rush, other large acts, etc... clearly shot at an arena.
I also read the Talenthouse terms ... jees ... for real? My work becomes your property? Yeah, just this once. Sometimes these types of things really get me going. Like on Craigslist, when you see someone posting, hey design a logo for my company and if you win you'll get great exposure. Uh, yeah, how about I design your logo and you pay me for my time. Would you go into the hospital and gather a group of doctors and say, hey, cure my ailment for free and I'll tell everyone about you? Or go into the car mechanic and say fix my car and I'll let everyone know you did it? Come on now!
So anyway, it will be what it will be, but like I said I'm trying to work all angles. Maybe just maybe I'll get enough votes that whoever is selecting will see mine and be like ok, here's our Fairfax, VA winner, even if it's not the one with the most votes. Can't ever win if you never try, you know?
From a low angle with the iPhone. It's easier to sneak up on the cats with the iPhone:)
From a high angle or at least a weird angle. This is some sort of plant in the garden, hubby knows what it is and I shot it from above and kind of crooked with the LensBaby. Used it for all three photo shoots I had this weekend and I'm anxious to check everything out. But this girl's gotta get some relaxation on for just a little while this weekend. So more on those later:)
Something Green with a little photoshopping to accentuate the green. This is my Heart Chakra tshirt. Anahata. The energetic dwelling of our love, kindness and compassion.
So today's challenge is Clouds. And there was not a cloud in the sky today. When I got home from work I chilled for a bit and then grabbed the camera to get some clouds. And all I saw was blue sky. Today was probably the most beautiful day this year. And after I finish this post I'll be heading out to the patio to hang with hubby and have a beer.
I looked and looked for some clouds and finally found the faintest, lightest, feathery wisp of a cloud way off beyond our neighborhood. But I didn't want all the neighborhood crap in the image. LensBaby to the rescue.
I bought a LensBaby composer and wide angle optic back in April and have just now started to play with it. Sad, I know. But this great little challenge has inspired me. So I grabbed the LensBaby composer and got this shot of the wispy cloud. With the neighborhood blurred out.
This challenge has me wanting to take more photos and get creative and play. And in just 3 days. I've never done a challenge before, seen plenty of them, thought about it a bunch of times. But this one caught my eye. So thanks to Caroline at Constantly Evolving whose post I read about the challenge. Love, love, love her work. And thanks to Kimberly at Human Behavior for putting it out there from a link she saw. And she's posting pics from other folks that have joined her for the challenge, like me:) I love how this whole blog, internet thing works!
This challenge also has me coming back to the whole purpose of this blog, being present with a photo everyday. And I love that.
Day 2 of the June 30 Day Challenge is What I Wore Today. Obviously I wore clothes to work and to teach tonight but I also wore jewelry. I wear jewelry everyday, most of it either made by me or that has some sort of gemstone with its energetic qualities.
Today included my engagement and wedding ring, which don't match and I love that. Each ring has it's own meaning and style. A big chunky ring with moonstone and garnet from Sundance. I love their jewelery and would be happy with one of everything. A moonstone pendant on a moonstone and amethyst strand that I made. Moonstone earrings that I made. And two Satya bracelets, one garnet and one smoky quartz, given to me by my friend and boss at Pure Prana. I would gladly take one of everything they have too. I'm doing a lot of moonstone right now because it's the new moon and I'm hoping wearing that stone will enhance the energy of the new moon and my intentions for it.
So while my day to day wardrobe can sometimes be fairly simple, trousers and tshirts, fun shoes (that's another days challenge) and jewelry mix it up for me.
So I've decided to do a 30 Day Photography Challenge. I've always wanted to do something like this to spur some creativity. Plus it's my birthday month, so why not do something fun.
As you can tell today's photo came from the iPhone. Let's face it, if there's even the slightest rigmarole involved with something, I'm less likely to do it. After I did yoga this evening, I was like, now would be a great time for the self- portrait. But I wasn't about to get the BC (big camera). And that's ok. Creative stuff doesn't belong just to expensive equipment. And it's not like I want to print this out and hang it on the wall. It was just capturing what was happening in the present moment.
