Happy Valentine's Day*

Happy Valentine's Day! Today was our 10th V-Day together and it has been a perfect day.

Yesterday was day 40 of the 40 Days of no coffee and sugar treats that began January 5. It was timed purposefully to end the day before Valentine's Day so I could celebrate with my hubby by indulging.

So it was coffee and donuts. Yes, they were as good as they look. Oh. my. god. And we put some in the microwave as learned from 30 Rock and again Oh. my. god. It was a sugar orgy.

Also got some shots of the house with all the pink, red, hearts and fun stuff.

Valentine's Eve*

It's Valentine's Eve. I know, a lot of people hate Valentine's Day. But I love it. And I love it because I have an amazing and wonderful partner to share it with. The bonus this year is that it falls on the Saturday of a 3 day weekend.

We like to decorate with hearts and valentine's day type stuff. We get each other some presents and we stay in and make an awesome dinner with good cocktails. In years past we have had oysters at home, I decorated Shawn's van with heart stickers while he was playing at a gig so when he came out he saw the surprise, Shawn decorated the front door with heart stickers for me to be surprised by when I got home and we've made kick ass cupcakes. It's a fun day for us to do fun things for each other and honor each other.

In looking around and taking pics tonight of the Valentine's decorations I also found that we have a lot of heart magnets on the fridge. So it seems we have year round Valentine's decorations.

We heart Valentine's Day!

Yoga*

Yoga teaches us that we are one with the source, whatever that source is to you. You can call it God, Buddha, Brahma, the Universe, Mother Nature, the Goddess, whatever/however you identify the higher power.

In yoga we learn that we are not our stuff or lack of stuff, our thoughts, our drama, our emotions because all of this is fleeting and impermanent. By quieting our mind through yoga we come to understand that we are really divine, pure light and love. Everyone should be doing yoga. Imagine the possibilities if everyone did.

The Mr.*

I found Mr. in a box May 3, 2000, outside of 7-11 and Lucky #7 Chinese restaurant in Norfolk. It was definitely his lucky day. It was like 95 degrees outside and it was him and two of his siblings, panting, no food or water in this box. There were a few people checking out what was going on so I checked it out as well. I tried to get some water for the kittens from 7-11 and when I came back out two people were taking two of the kittens and someone else was standing with their Pit Bull making comments about dog food. I had never been in this position before and haven't since but there was no way I could leave that kitten in that box. So I scooped him up and took him home.

It took me over a week to think of a name for him which was Diablo as he was a little crazy and devil like. But it never really fit. When I moved back to Northern VA and my friend Melissa met him she started telling him how handsome he was ... "What a handsome fella, you Mr. Man." Well Mr. Man stuck and then Mr. stuck even more. For a while it was Mister but somewhere along the line he clearly became The Mr.

M r . (period)

More Abstract*

Another abstract. Processing to black and white helps but its still not quite the abstract I'm looking for. More to come ...

Abstract*

Inspired by this challenge at Shutter Sisters. Shoot something close up so you can't really tell what it is, thus is becomes abstract. What's funny is as a painter and print maker the majority of my work is abstract but this was truly a challenge. I had a hard time getting something really abstract through the lens. While there is an abstract value to each image, I can still make out what it really is. Maybe that's because I know what it really is but I think it's time to play more with this concept.

Play*

So today I played with the new lens a bit. I'm loving how sharp the images are. Found two new buds popping that weren't popping last weekend. Some tulips and hyacinth in the side garden. Now I know these won't bloom until early April but it's fun watching them grow little by little. The crocus and daffodils should be blooming within 4 weeks.

Got the tree out front with all it's little buds. And then a reminder that it is still winter, the holly with its red berries. Not that the holly dies in the summer or anything, it's just associated with winter.

41 days until spring. Sounds like a good time to start 40 days of something.