Day 152: Happy Halloween

Our Jack-O-Lantern.

Again, I'll update tomorrow with specifics.

UPDATE 2 Nov:
So Sunday was Halloween.  I was so tired from celebrating the holiday on Saturday night, that I didn't enjoy much of the day.  In fact, I ended up leaving church a little early because of a migraine, and taking a very long nap which only served to make me feel groggy and slightly nauseous when I woke up in the evening.  Still, I had so much fun on Saturday night, I didn't even mind the pain on Sunday.

It's been a really long time since I've been able to say that about an evening out. :)

Day 151: Costumes!

Ryan, Christine and Casey.

I will update this tomorrow with the story behind this picture.

UPDATE 2 Nov:
On Saturday a few of us went to a Halloween party up Hobble Creek Canyon.  Setting aside the slightly stressful expectancy of having to hang out with a huge group of singles, or the part where we got lost trying to find the place, it was really a blast!

I dressed up as a doctor in scrubs, Christine was the blue fairy (or some other kind of fairy), Ryan was a guest at an Indian wedding, and I'm not sure what Casey was but it was scary.  We lent him the wig and he borrowed the polka-dot dress from the girl he came with, but he never really said what he was.  I'm going with hillbilly girl.

I think the biggest thing I got out of that party was how many NORMAL people there were.  I forgot what it was like to go to a singles event that wasn't swarming with the prowling socially inept.  It helped that this crowd was significantly younger than the ones we usually see, but still...it gave me hope. :)

After the party we watched a scary movie and laughed a lot about stupid things (that's what you do at 3AM when you're way past slap-happy).  All in all, it far exceeded my expectations for Halloween this year, and I'm so glad for it!

Day 150: Daisies and Blackouts

Mom and baby June.

I'm sorry for the lack of posts this weekend, and even more sorry for the next part.  I'm way past my bedtime on a school night, so I'm just putting the next few posts up without an explanation on them.  I'll update them tomorrow because I have some fun stories to go along with them.

UPDATE 2 Nov:
So on Friday we had a family Halloween party, and most of us dressed up.  It was fun to see everyone's costumes and to visit.  And with what seemed like very little effort on RoseAnne's part, she was able to - once again - pull off the perfect party, complete with an unscheduled blackout in the middle of dinner.  The only thing we were missing was a thunderstorm and maybe a hunchback of some sorts.  Unfortunately I was having one of those panic-in-a-big-crowd nights and we had to skedaddle a little earlier than expected, but it was still a great night.

And I got some fun pictures out of it too! :)

Day 149: Commute

Sunset from the freeway.

I was stuck in traffic tonight on my way home from work.  Not surprising.  But as I was waiting at a red light, I looked out my passenger-side window to see this gorgeous sunset.  I was able to get a couple of shots in before the light turned green.  I'm glad I did it too, because I totally spaced out my picture tonight until right before bed.  That's what happens sometimes when you're ADD.  :)

Day 148: Amused

Me.

Some people have those kind of faces that make you laugh.  And it's not because they are ugly or funny-looking, but rather, they look like they think something is funny.  Do you know who I'm talking about?  The people with a permanent half-smile on their faces?  The ones who look like they're trying to keep it together because they're about to burst out laughing?

I know a few people like that, and they just make life a better place some times.  I can't help but smile around them because I'm sure at any second they'll tell me what's so dang funny.  And if you haven't surmised already, I really love to laugh.  So if someone has a funny story, I really want to hear it, just for an excuse to laugh at something.

Day 147: Mirror Images

Ryan, Christine and Me.

I went to the movies tonight with Ryan and Christine.  After the movie I made them pose for me under the mirror ceiling in the lobby.  I thought it was a cool perspective, but having the camera in front of my face messed it up so I needed other people in the shot.  Anyway, they kept making me laugh and blur the pictures.  I had to mess with this one quite a bit to cover up the blurriness.

I also saw my first snowfall this season.  I was driving on an errand for work when I got hit by a few flurries. I would have stopped to record the moment on camera, but I was on the freeway in a construction zone, with no where to pull over.  It was fun to see the snow coming down, but I was glad when it went away fast.  I may like the look of falling snow, but I hate the hassle that comes with it.  But bright side, this season will give me many opportunities to practice taking pictures with snow!

Day 146: Steeping

My half-full tea cup.

My dad went to the store tonight right as we were supposed to start our FHE activity.  An hour later, when he returned home, he brought a strange thing with him...a coffee maker.

We don't drink coffee in our house (Word of Wisdom, and all that).  We like herbal tea, hot chocolate, and the occasional cup of Postum.  But no coffee.

I was a little concerned when I first saw the coffee maker.  I thought maybe dad was starting to loose it.  But then mom was so excited when she saw what he bought her.  Apparently, the last time they went on vacation, my parents used the coffee maker in their hotel room to make lightning-fast hot chocolate.  A little further into the story, I realized that they just like how fast these things heat up water.

So after we finished FHE, and right before we all parted for bed, we all sat together and had some Bengal Spice tea with our new coffee maker.

It was fun.  Weird, but fun!

Day 145: Pani Popo

Rolls baked in a coconut pudding.

Christine made our favorite rolls for dessert tonight.  She first discovered these when she went to school in Hawaii.  They're called Pani Popo (I think that's how you spell it), and I believe it's a Samoan dish.   We all just love this stuff!  It's too rich to eat more than one serving at a time, which is good because they're not exactly healthy.

Sorry that I was late on the posts again this weekend.  It's becoming a bad habbit of mine to put off posting Friday and Saturday pictures until Sunday.  It's just that my weekends are so full lately, and by the time I get to my room each night I'm too tired to stop and take an hour to write my blog posts.  Plus, I usually have a bit more quiet time on Sundays to work on them.  Still, I shouldn't be slacking off like this so I'll try to be better.

Day 144: Halloween Clouds

The storm today.

I had a monster of a headache today.  It was like a weed.  It grew and grew all day, and wouldn't go away, not matter what I did to it.  I took more and more pain meds to get rid of it, but nothing worked until I combined some Ibuprofen with a muscle relaxant.  Of course that means that I'm really struggling to keep my eyes open at the moment, but at least I'm blissfully free from the pain for a little while.  Hopefully this medicine, combined with a good night's sleep (something I haven't had for weeks), will kick that back headache once and for all.

This shot was right outside my front door.  Because of my headache, I was really struggling with getting up and trying to take any pictures, but I did manage to step outside for a moment to get some fresh air this evening, and found this.  I love the way the clouds look like they've been painted on the mountains!

Day 143: Family Fun

Baby June

Tonight we had a little get-together at Sherry's house.  Almost all the family in Utah came, and it was so fun to be able to hang out with everyone!  My favorite part of the evening was taking pictures of all the babies.

I had a really hard time choosing a picture from the great shots I got, but I finally decided on baby June because of how all the women at the house seemed to melt when they saw her.  Baby June has the most captivating eyes you've ever seen!  No matter how many times I see this little girl, I'm still amazed at how bright her eyes are and how expressive they can be!  She has the cutest, gummy smile too!  I tried to get a good picture of her smile, but they all turned out blurry.

Day 142: Tree Envy

A tree by the side of the road.

Today I left the office at 5:10pm to go home.  It normally takes me anywhere between 14-18 minutes to get home from work, but today was different.  Today, the line of cars waiting to get onto the freeway stretched all the way to the road in front of my office building.  That may not sound like a long way unless you know where my office is in relation to the freeway.  It's maybe half a mile (might be closer to a mile, I'm not sure).

That half-mile stretch took me 39 minutes to cross because of traffic.  THIRTY-NINE minutes to go half a mile.  During that time, I admired the scenery.  The trees are turning red and yellow in sparse patches on the mountains, and the fields of crops looked beautiful with the stark contrasts from the sunset.  Since most of the time during my half-mile journey I was at a dead stop, I took some pictures as I waited.

The picture above looked much cooler in person, but the shot on my camera turned out horribly.  It was faded and hazy.  Obviously over-exposed.  But since I don't have the good editing software on my home computer, I had to be creative.  I don't hate the way the shot turned out, but it's also not right.

Oh well, at least I had some fun!

Day 141: Bunnies

Emily's Halloween costume.

Celia came over tonight to show us Emily's costume for Halloween this year.  She was ADORABLE!!
She just stood in the middle of the room with her arms away from her sides, stiff as a board.  No matter how much coaxing we tried on her, we couldn't get her to move at all.  She looked at all of us with interest, and even cracked a smile, but wouldn't walk anywhere or move her arms!  She reminded me of the little brother in A Christmas Story with his snow outfit so stuffed that he couldn't move his arms.  So cute!

Mom finally got Emily to sit on her lap, and that's when she relaxed a bit.  And that's when I got the money shot.  I showed her the pictures on my camera, and she stiffly extricated herself from Mom's lap and walked over to me to get a better view.  She tried to point at herself as every young child does when she sees herself in a picture, but her little bunny mittens prevented her from actually pointing or touching the screen at all.  This proved to be rather funny as she mutely tried over and over again to touch the screen and move to the next image.  She never got upset, just kept trying with perfect determination.  :)

Day 140: Awe

Cassie.

One of my co-workers came back to the office this evening to pick something up and he brought his daughter with him.  I just happened to be at work still, trying to make up for yesterday's lost time, so I got to hang out with cute little Cassie for a minute.

She was at my desk playing with something I had given her when another co-worker rounded the corner just as she came running by.  Luckily a collision was avoided, but the look on Cassie's face when she saw the very tall Lon looming above her was priceless!  I captured this shot just moments after she (almost) ran into him, and she's still got the remnants of awe on her face.  Classic moment!

Day 139: I'm Ready for my Close-up

A lone grouping of roses in my parents' garden.  

I was in my backyard taking pictures during the sunset tonight when I found this little beauty in my parents' garden.  It was the only peach rose bush in the back yard, and it was starting to fall down.  These flowers aren't going to last much longer in the season, so I decided to take what is probably my last flower shot for a few months.  

I was still sick today, but I'm starting to feel better this evening (sleeping half the day away will do that to you).  Unfortunately, I wasn't well enough earlier this evening, so I missed a birthday party with my niece, and a chance to take some pictures of real people for a change.  

Oh well.  At least I got a chance to rest up today.  The rest of the week is really busy, so maybe it's good that I had to take today off.  

Happy Monday everyone! :\

Day 136-138: Sick

The following post has three days of pictures in it.  I was sick this weekend, so it's a miracle I got any pictures at all.  Since I didn't get around to posting any of them until today, I decided to put them all in one post to save myself the time.  The writing is pitiful, but remember I was sick.

Day 136: Friday night. 

Mom and Dad came home from their road trip tonight, and these bottles were from their snack box.  I had a stressful day at work, followed by a night at home watching romantic comedies.  Great in theory, but sometimes I can't let things go.  It took me all evening to get over my stress day, and by the time I was relaxed, it was time to go to bed.  Of course.

Day 137: Saturday....here comes the sickness.

So I was knocked down with what I'm assuming was a flu today.  Mainly it was just a fever and aches and pains, and a big headache.  It was bad enough to keep me in bed most of the day.  It was frustrating because I had things to do and I only have this one day a week to get my chores done. 

But, I'm too tired to think about it anymore.  Time for me to go back to bed and think about posting this later. 

Day 138: Sunday...Sick again.

I missed some major stuff at church today because of this stupid sickness!  I was feeling guilty at the beginning of the day because I decided to stay home even though I wasn't feeling as sick as yesterday.  But as the day wore on, I felt worse and worse.  And now that I'm getting ready for bed and feeling worse, I'm really worried about work tomorrow.  It was bad enough to miss my only two days of a very busy weekend, but to miss a busy work day as well...

Day 135: Junior Chef

Esther helping her dad make sandwiches.

I went to visit RoseAnne today, and I got some great shots of the kids just being kids.  But more importantly, I had a great time just hanging out.  I'm not the type of person to drop by unannounced.  I get extreme anxiety just thinking about texting people back half the time...let alone visiting or calling.  But with family it's always a bit easier, and with RoseAnne it should be easier still because she's the type of person who loves spontaneous visits.

And I've got to say...it's REALLY fun to just drop by for no reason.  I don't feel an invisible presence pulling me toward the door, or making me steer the conversation a particular way so that I can get my business done.  I'm so neurotic sometimes, that I can't ever enjoy the moment if I know there's a goal that is not being met. :)

Anyway, enough about that.  I'm dead tired and I wanted to be in bed BEFORE 11pm tonight.

Oh well.  At least I'm close this time.

Day 134: Short Order

The kitchen at the State Street Grill in AF.

Christine and I grabbed some food at the new State Street Grill in AF tonight on our way to the temple.  The place opened up just a few weeks ago, so everything's shiny and new.  With the sunset streaming through the windows and catching the smoke from the burgers, I thought it was a nice picture.  

Unfortunately, it didn't turn out as cool on film as in my head, but I still like it.  The guys there were really nice, and gave us extra fries because they cooked too many.  They aren't like McDonald's.  Their fries were FRESH!  

Anyway, good night.  Nice change.

I'm sleepy.

Day 133: Marbled Sky

Sunset

I was trying to get a picture of the cloud trails in the sky with this shot, and although the cloud trails are visible, they are dwarfed by the sunset.  Unexpectedly cool.

I was planning on writing something lame here, to go with what I assumed was a lame shot, but now I'm wondering what to write.  I'm still in a foul mood over this project, but oddly enough, the annoyance I feel is actually fueling me onward instead of spiraling to the pit of despair.

I'm not saying I'm super hyped or anything.  But it's a start.

I still feel like whining about it, but I won't.

Instead, here's this.  A story of how tonight I nearly gave myself a heart attack in a matter of - maybe - 3 seconds.  And I am not exaggerating that time frame.

Just now, as I was trying to type this entry, I heard movement upstairs.  It was just the neighbors stomping around in their house, but because Christine mentioned earlier that she freaked herself out by mistaking the neighbors and our cat for intruders (and because the house is dead quiet and Christine is fast asleep), I immediately thought there was someone in the house.  BUT, before I could remind myself that it was highly unlikely to have intruders, an entire scene played out in my head in a matter of milliseconds.  I saw a killer break in the front door and wander around the living room before sniffing us out,  finding the stairs to the basement and pounding down them so fast as to render escape - or any movement - impossible (as if being cornered in the basement weren't trapped enough).  I saw the killer round the corner to my bedroom and tear down the hallway in a mass of noise and murderous rage.  I saw him fling open my door and head straight for me without a second's hesitation.

The vision was something akin to a scene from 28 Days Later, and my heart rate spiked so quickly from the split-second horror that I felt like I'd been given an electric shock.  I freaked myself out so badly that the air was sucked right out of me.  I found myself staring wide-eyed and horror-struck at the door to my bedroom.  Frozen in fear, unable to move, or even dispel the vacuum in my chest and draw a breath, waiting for the psycho killer with lightning-fast stair skills to come charging around the corner in a bloody, screaming rage...with arms outstretched to rip me in pieces with his bare hands.

A second later my voice of reason caught up with my imagination, and I was able to draw a shaky breath and look away from the door.  Hand over my heart, and chuckling at my ridiculous imagination, I turned back to my computer with suddenly nothing to say.

Now let's see if you can go to sleep without nightmares.

Day 132: Bananas!

Some bananas.

***Warning, the following rant should, in no way, be taken seriously.  Don't think I'm super depressed or need uplifting words of encouragement.  This is pure hyperbole and sarcasm****

I spoke too soon.  I'm dead bored again and hating this stupid project again and wishing I had thought of anything...ANYTHING more creative that a stupid closeup of stupid bananas.

That's all you're getting tonight.  I'm going to bed now, to stew over the ridiculousness of my situation.  Not that anyone is reading this right now.  My hit count is ridiculously slim tonight - 5 people in one day?!?  That's probably not even accurate.  It's probably one person who was catching up on 5 days.

I know.

I've got problems.

:D

Day 131:

A Halloween decoration.

Technically, this is not an old thing.  I bought it 4 years ago for a school project, but I was staring at it today thinking how it would photograph well, and I decided to put it in anyway.  I really wanted to get a shot of an old person to add to my "old things" theme this week, but I couldn't bring myself to ask any older people if I could take their pictures for such a thing without making it sound like an insult.

So, here we are with yet another object from my house.

At least it doesn't feel as banal or hackneyed as it did last month.  I think these themes are really helping me find my focus right now.  But as any of you with ADD will be able to attest, that won't last long.  I'll soon have to find some other gimmick to keep me engaged in this project.  And I'll find one, because I'm too invested to back out now! :)

Day 130: Old Reliable

An old truck outside the State Street Grill in American Fork.

I've passed this old truck a half a dozen times in the past month, and every time I want to stop and take a picture of it.  Today was the first time I actually did it, and I think that's only because my sister was driving.  I don't know why I always chicken out when I want to get a picture of something truly cool, but it happens all the time.  It's one of the reasons I end up with so many pictures of things around my house. :)

I aged the photo quite a bit to get this look, so I should point out that the truck is much better off in person.  But this is how I see it in my head.  Old, rusty, and full of character; this truck speaks to me on a level that no one else could.  It says experience, bad treatment, age and neglect don't render something completely useless.  But rather, it renders a thing more valuable because of its staying power.  When other, flashier cars would have been sent to the scrap heap decades before this one if they had undergone the same treatment, this car became art.  

Day 129: Memory Lane

Some old photos.

It's funny how these things get started.  I pulled out an old photo album tonight to take a picture of it (the ugly red thing in the photo above), and 2 hours later I was surrounded by piles of photographs and photo albums with stiff limbs and a head full of forgotten memories.

I always assumed that my love of photography started when I first discovered the digital camera back in 2002.  But after looking through the stacks and stacks of old photos that I've taken over the years, I realized that my love of photography began long before that.  I have entire photo albums of pictures I took when I was no older than 10 years of age (probably younger).

Somehow this realization about my love of photography makes me feel a little more credible as a photographer.  I guess I always put myself in that category of people who bought very expensive DSLR cameras on a whim, and instead of calling it a hobby, go around telling people they are "professional" photographers just because they have a nice camera.  But now I can confidently say that I've always had a love of photography, and that it's not an expensive whim that I'll get bored of soon.

This thing will last.

Day 128: The Power of Sharpie

Nothing says Security like a hastily scrawled, 5-inch high, "Keep Out!" sign in Sharpie on the door to your garage.

I love everything about this house.  The peeling paint.  The random folding chair next to the garage door so old, it has to be hoisted up by hand using a handle that seems to be falling off.  The randomly-placed, tiny reflector circles to mark when to stop your car, in case you missed the giant white wall they're stuck to.  The boarded-over windows-turned-cork-boards with butterfly decorations on them.  And although it's not in the picture, the tiny "Proud to be an American" bumper sticker above the garage door that was only legible when I zoomed in to the highest setting.

But, I have to say my favorite part about this house is the "Keep Out" sign written in Sharpie directly on the garage door.  It was made all the funnier when I noticed the For Sale sign in the front yard.

I think they may be sending mixed messages here.  "Buy this house, please! But stay away from it!"  What do they say to interested buyers when the want to have a tour of the place? "Sure you can look at it.  From the curb.  Now git!"

Awesome.

Day 127: Deja Vu

A view of ceiling at the Tanner building at BYU.

Before you start freaking out, let me just say that I realize this isn't a picture of an old thing, but I will explain.  Well...there's not much to explain.  I took this picture tonight when I was at BYU for an institute class.  I wasn't planning on using it for my picture today, but I didn't have time to take any other pictures.  Plus, I have a story to go with this one.

Here's the story:
When I was 19 and going to school in Virginia, I had a very involved dream full of meaning and significance.  When I woke up I wrote the whole dream down and the impressions I got from it.  The basic gist was that I needed to slow down and enjoy life, and that I needed to be patient.  The dream had such significance for me at the time that I have never forgotten it.  I can still picture the scenes from the dream when calling it to memory.  So tonight, when I walked into the Tanner building to go to institute, I was shocked to see that the interior of the building is identical to a building in that dream from 10 years ago.  What's even weirder is that in my dream I was trying to find my institute class, but kept getting lost in the huge building.  So, 10 years later, never having stepped foot in this building before, I was having flashbacks from this dream with the identical scene and identical circumstances.  The only difference was that I found my institute class tonight, and in my dream I never found it.

So, I guess if you think about it, this picture still follows the theme of Old Things, because it is a picture of a dream I had when I was just stepping into adulthood and waiting for my life to begin.  Now I'm almost 30 and I'm still waiting for my life to begin...I'm just a little more grown up about the way I wait. ;)

Day 126: Ring My Bell

An old hand-sized bell from my parents.

My Grandpa Haskin died of colon cancer when I was very young.  Towards the end of his illness he stayed at our house and my mother acted as his hospice nurse until he passed.  I don't remember much of Grandpa, and the memories I have are scattered and piecemeal.  But I do remember this bell.

Because he was unable to leave his bed, we gave him this bell to use whenever he needed anything.  I remember him ringing it a lot.  I'm sure he didn't ring it that often, but the ringing stands out most in my memory.  Probably because I loved to run to his room and help him when I would hear it.  He would have me do simple things like turn his TV on or change the channel, or fetch my mom for the more complicated things.  I doubt he would have asked me to do much more since I was only 5 or 6.

I can't remember what Grandpa looked like, or any one conversation I had with him, but I do remember how I loved to help him in my silly way.  I loved to tell him all about whatever was going on in my head and I felt like he really cared.  I'm not sure that is true since I can't rely on my scant memories, as disjointed as they are, but whatever he was like I can be sure of one thing:  I loved my grandpa and I felt loved by him.  I feel lucky in this knowledge since I had so little time with him. And really, I don't think I could ask for more.

When I leave this world, I hope that I can leave my mark in the same way: by making sure my family knows how much I love them.

Day 125: Forgotten Treasures

An old house in my neighborhood.

I've been itching to photograph this house for months, but I've never had the guts to do it.  It belongs to a grouchy old farmer in my neighborhood, and I'm always afraid he'll catch me taking pictures on his property and yell at me.  This house is old, and probably condemned, so I shouldn't have been so worried that he'd be hanging around.  Anyway, when I saw it today, it gave me the idea for this week's theme:

Old Things.

I love old things - antiques - and I love the way they photograph, so this week I'll try to include something of the sort in every shot.  I'm excited to see what I find next!

This doorway reminds me of forgotten things, that once found, become treasured or important once again.  Like old journals or photographs that remind us of our past selves.  It usually brings life into perspective again.  We look back on times when we were really struggling, and we can usually say, "I had no idea how bad it was really going to get."  And we can appreciate how strong we are now in comparison.

Sometimes forgotten things are reminders to think outside the norm again.  Ironically, sometimes they help us reset our thinking and look at life with fresh eyes.

Day 124: Bright Eyes

Jack and Christine.

Well, thanks to all for the supportive comments.  :)  I was being more than a little dramatic last night when I wrote my post, but that doesn't mean that I wasn't still frustrated. heh...

Anyway, I was planning on skipping the whole "bling" idea tonight, but when I looked through the pictures from today and saw this one of Jack I realized I wouldn't have to.  I love taking pictures of children!  I wish I had more opportunity and less inhibitions because they are my favorite subjects. My nephew commented tonight that I could probably make money taking pictures of babies and children, and I responded that it might be possible if I weren't so shy around children who aren't related to me.  Nowadays you have to be so careful with other people's children because of all of the sickos out there who abuse and mistreat children, so I'm always so afraid to approach someone else's child if they aren't family.  Even though I have the best of intentions.

But then again, it seems I live my life by fear, so that's not really news.

Still, I never take as many baby pictures each month that I'd like to because I only have 3 or so nieces and nephews in town that I can photograph.  And I have unspoken rules in my head about how many times a month I can take a picture of someone before it becomes excessive.

I'm so neurotic sometimes.  Ha!

Day 123: All Is Lost

The three-layer cake I made today...with a little bling.

Oh, how I am lamenting my thoughtlessness today!!!  I broke the streak.  

I. Broke. The. Streak.

At 12:09AM I realized I hadn't taken a picture today.  Twelve Oh Nine!  Nine minuets past the deadline, and I was too late. I went ahead and took a picture anyway, even though I technically missed it.  

I'm hanging my head in shame right now.

How could I do this!?!  I made it 122 days without forgetting to take a picture!  Sure, there were close calls, when I remembered mere minutes before midnight, but I always made it in time.  

I BROKE THE STREAK!!!!!!!

I'm so frustrated right now, I don't know what to do with myself.  I won't quit the project;  you could argue that it didn't really count since I hadn't gone to bed yet and it was just a few minutes past the deadline, but I feel like the momentous-ness of the project has withered under my colossal memory lapse.  I will have to work extra hard now for the next 212 days to keep my motivation and stop myself from continuing to slip past the dealine.  I'll be honest.  This is a blow.

I broke the streak!

Day 122: Seeing Stars

Mom's bling. :)

Ok, first thing's first.  That is NOT a cross on Mom's neck.  I did not intend for the lens flare to look like a cross.  Had I noticed BEFORE I downloaded this picture, I would have fixed it.

So....today is the end of month FOUR!  Yay for me!  I'm pretty proud of myself, but also face the next 8 months with a little trepidation.  I'm not sure how I'm going to keep myself interested in the project for another 8 months, but I'll think of something...and probably several more times.  :)

Thanks to the few of you out there who not only read my blog, but comment on it every once in a while.  It always helps my motivation to know that someone out there is interested in reading my (sometimes) pointless thoughts.  And even if you don't usually read my posts, but you just check my new pictures, I appreciate that as well.  Although, I suppose that if you don't read my posts, you'll never see this thank-you so it's kind of pointless.

Anyway, it's late, I'm tired.  So I'll just leave you with this.  My beautiful mother is a great sport for changing into her beautiful dress shirt at my request just so I could take a picture of something sparkly.  And I love how it turned out!  I don't know why, but I always seem to prefer mom in black and white - even when her face isn't showing.  I guess she just has that classic beauty about her that makes me feel that black and white is the only appropriate medium.  :)