A tribute to me

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To love yourself right now, just as you are, is to give yourself heaven. Don't wait until you die. If you wait, you die now. If you love, you live now.
~Alan Cohen

I celebrate myself, and sing myself.
~Walt Whitman

Today is my 35th birthday. I am celebrating me today. I really love who I am on the inside, my core qualities I do love, of course there are things I need to work on sometimes. I would say that I can tolerate the outside but I don't love it - so that is a work in progress. Saying that, this was a big challenge for me to do a SP today. I hate taking pictures of myself. But I really love some of the SP's I see and in the near future would like to do some. So today I am breaking out a little, you see I still have a little veil over me with these textures.( who are from Miss Anna Gay)

I give all of you who do the SP thing all the time MAD PROPS!!!! It was hard! I took about 70 Pictures, the first set I didn't even use! My feet have scratches on the bottom and are sore from running back and forth and climbing on a tree stump (which didn't even make the cut) I will def have to get a remote before attempting this again!

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“The creative is the place where no one else has ever been. You have to leave the city of your comfort and go into the wilderness of your intuition. What you’ll discover will be wonderful. What you’ll discover is yourself.” — Alan Alda

I am just having so much fun with these textures although I haven't really had any time to really sit down at length and play with it. Basketball is over now though so I will have much more time. I am loving this whole learning process.

Texture is from Anna Gay

HSS!

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This is the first texture I have used from Anna, I will post a link when I figure it out. I am having so much fun with this! Gotta run, hope everyone is having a great weekend!

Pink!

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Sunset this evening, gotta run - the BFF is in town and we are having a girls night out. See ya'll

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One of my loves. :)
Who did not want his picture taken. I'm also posting another pic from yesterday's "Cotton" this one I like better but I had so many to go through I didn't even notice it. This one I did nothing to it - it came straight off the camera.

Cotton balls

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Today we had "toy story" clouds and they were so pretty. We went to the park and it was so hard to pick a pic for today. I was standing there turning in circles taking pictures, the clouds were just insane it looked like a cloud explosion. I love these old big oaks although they look pretty small here.

A boy and his bike

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Many places a bike can take you during your childhood. I have many fond memories, and adventures of me and my bike(s). These boys are on these things whenever weather permits, although they do try even when it does not. They have made a whole track in the back yard complete with little jumps they made by covering a log with dirt (they are very small - but exciting!)
Nice weather today so we are enjoying every minute we can , you never know when the next arctic front will come through!

*Just a little note for you ladies who need to make another account or get your pw emailed to you so u can comment!! :)

Summer memories

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Today I was in the mood for a B&W. We have a big vase filled with these beautiful shells and it just made me think of the sand, water, and smell of the beach. I am looking forward to the next Season.
I can't believe it has been 50 days already!

HSS!!

Amarillo

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Ok, well, I don't know what happened yesterday. I totally forgot to do my photo yesterday. I have been very tired lately but I just don't even know what to say it totally slipped my mind. I even took my camera with me yesterday hoping for a photo op. Oh well I guess that is one more day added on, the world will not end.

ANYWAY, today is just gorgeous!!! We already went to the park. I got in a nice run, even the olg girl went with us (Our dog) and I saw daffodils sprouting. :) My son picked this one for me so of course we had to get out my little tiny vase and let it shine. This is my very favorite little vase - its from a dear friend who lives in Ireland. Everytime I get it out I think of her, hopefully I will get over there sometime in the near future to see her.

Indian Pony

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Well we had a great time at the barn today, it was 71 degress today and it was just wonderful. The kids and I went to the barn to try to get some of this absurdly thick winter coat off of her. It is so thick in places it is matting. So we curried her all over and she was loving every minute. So there is a guinea hen at the barn which I have no idea where it came from, anyway there was a feather on the ground and we thought it would look good in her hair.

I caretake for an elderly lady a few days a week and she grew up on the prairie, so she asked if I could get "The little house on the prairie" books for her because they were one of her favorites growing up. So we have been reading about the prairies and the indian ponies that have feathers in their manes and tails - I have started reading them to the kids too, so they thought this was pretty cool.

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Well I was sitting on the deck in the sun and took a bizillion pics. This one I put a texture on and it brightened it up and really made it pop.



Here is one other outake because I love flare

Eyes

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A couple of days ago challenge was eyes, well I finally got to it today. This one of my lovies eyes, they are such a cool color, he gets it from his Dad. Sorry but I'm addicted to textures so you may see alot of this lately.

Kiss

I haven't been doing some of these challenges because some really just weren't possible for example yesterday's was "Wedding ring" take a pic of your spouse's wedding ring, well I can't. My husband lost his wedding band some years ago catching massively huge catfish by letting them latch onto his hand. Yep it swallowed it.
Today's challenge is to kiss a loved one and capture it or do kissy faces to yourself. I thought My face was more kissy than this and was a little suprised. (I took this a while ago) I am NOT kissing anyone in my house right now we are battling Strep right now so this will have to do ya'll! :)

Happy Valentines Day

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It has a heart and my boys gave it to me. LOVE:)

In the golden light

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This is a huge barn that I have passed many times wishing I had the cam. Today I did, and the sun was setting, sweeeet!

2 for 1

I forgot to post this yesterday so here ya go.

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Hearts and bokeh for cliche saturday!
HCS!

Socks rock

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Well we have all been sick around here and I really didn't want to get out of bed to even do a shot. I guess this is my version of the sock shot, although I really wanted to show my green pj pants (I love them!) They are so bright and velvety soft. I'm also wearing my husbands hunting socks because they are so thick and keep my feet warm, it has been a real challenge to keep my tootsies warm this winter. Ok, back to bed.

Their Spot

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Today's challenge was to capture a loved one in their spot, a favorite chair etc. and it can be a pet.

Here is Ms. Lucky again and her spot is at the end of my bed. However when she saw me with the camera she had to go and get all nosy. You get the picture, hehe. I kinda like this angle though.

Something Pretty

Now, I like these challenges and all BUT I want to look at something pretty. This was taken last spring/summer. I love the green, the texture of the bark, and of course the bokeh!!
This is why I love photography!!

G.I.Joe

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Today's challenge is to photograph someone you love and their hobbies, etc... Well this is something that my boys love to do. These guys are always hanging out at my house, and have even gone to basketball games, restaurants, you name it. Sometimes I walk into the living room and there will be full blown battles going on!

Sunshine in a bowl

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Ok I forgot to post this yesterday but I did post it on my flickr. So I'll play catch up. This was very inviting to me with the yellow brightness, very much needed with this cold. I'm singing the winter blues here!



Yesterdays challenge was to photograph a gift to you that you love. I couldn't find my P&S because my 6 year old had it in his room. He was taking pics of his stuffed animals and their friends, looks like we have another photog in the house!
This is my LOVE! My husband got it for me and I was so mad! I thought it was a ridiculous amount of money to spend on a camera (and it is considered affordable) I almost took it back to the store. I called a good friend who had a DSLR and she convinced me to keep it and I am sooo glad I did!

Coaching & learning

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Today was our last basketball game before our tournament. It is such a joy to watch these boys and how far they have come. They even won tonight - woot woot! I love the look on the kids faces as they listen to the coach. I never did play on an organized team in school but always liked basketball. It is truly one of my favorite sports to watch, and such a great experience for the kids and parents. So happy for these guys!!

who They love

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Today's challenge is to capture one loved one's love for someone/something. This totally captures his love for "Mama girl".

Hope everyone had a good weekend.

Love to hate

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Today's challenge is love to hate. What is it a loved one does that drives you nuts? So, I don't mind my kids playing video games its that they would play all day if I let them, and it usually takes many times of telling them to get off before they actually "hear" me. So there ya go.



AND GUESS WHAT - Its cliche saturday so I had to include this because I am really loving this group!

It was a really rainy week so here is a big checkmark for rain on the glass, and bokeh lights in the background. HCS!

What they wear

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Today's Challenge - What they wear. My lovey is wearing his game jersey today. Off to the game we go!
TGIF!
Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Then and Now

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Yes, today's challenge is a photo of a loved then and now. My creativity took the day off cause this is all I got. I'm not liking the challenges today. I am posting another pic that I finished editing just for a little satisfaction. Bleh...



I drive by this everytime I go see my Dad. It always looks deserted but the light was on?? I'm tired, tomorrow is Friday, yay. I'm going to watch Parks and Recreation and crash.

Da Boss

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Today's challange is to capture a loved one (pets included) in their true essence, attitude, etc.

Well, this is Lucky. She was found on the side of the road inside a tied up plastic bag with her brother. I got her from a vet clinic I used to work at.

This IS her, sitting like da boss! She bosses around our Pit Bull, can get my children to do anything she wants, and is a really sweet, sweet cat. She is almost 17 years old too!

I know the focus is on the wrong eye, and she has pet eye but this is the only shot the got "it". Pets are not easy, I still have a lot to learn. (I say that alot!)

Sick

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Well its Feburary and what does that mean? {Love} right? Ok, so I'm taking this 28-day free class to help stretch and improve your skills from Kelly Willette "The Joy of Love" and basically we have a theme to photograph each day of a loved one. Today's theme is to shoot a loved one today "doing" something, anything. Today I have a sick child home and this is what he will be doing all day, cuddled on the couch with our most comfortable blanket watching cartoons.

Here is a link to Willette, she has a great website with all sorts of tips, etc...
http://www.willettedesigns.com/?page_id=2780