Dog Days of summer...

I have two shots from today that both fit that title! First is from playgroup...outside...in the blistering heat...ok, I'm being dramatic. LOL I looked over and saw Erin and Max and thought this was a lovely shot!



The 2nd is one of my all-time favorite clients. Her name is Abby and I have been petsitting her for almost 6 years. Her owner just got remarried and is on his honeymoon and tonight was my last petsit. Not just for this trip, but probably for a long time since his new wife will watch Abby now when he leaves town. Hopefully I'll still see her on the occasional family trip b/c Savannah & I are going to miss her dearly. She's the sweetest little thing!

Pure, unabashed joy...

These two were my favorite subjects today. They were both having so much fun that it was impossible to resist taking their picture. They're both so used to Karen and I that when they see the camera they'll usually pose for us, lol. It's really too bad that I couldn't capture their squeals and giggles to share with you- their joyful faces will have to do. :-)

Bingo!

Last day of the summer library program today...




and I caught this driving to a petsit this morning...

Dinner...

I haven't grown tired of the tomatoes yet! Tonight was BLTs... YUM!

Bliss...

Disney countdown...

We put up or countdown chain for our Disney trip today. In exactly 2 months (62 days) we'll be headed to Orlando- we can hardly wait!!

Karen sent me these cute links to make the chain. That's really just the tip of the iceberg for what she's done to help me prepare for this trip. Thanks to the PLETHORA of Disney knowledge she's shared with me this is going to be one of our best family vacations ever!!

I saw this today and it reminded me of the book we are talking about at book club on Tuesday night!

Mmmmm...

My birthday dinner grilled to perfection by my sweetie. <3

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HOPE!!!!

BLUE

I've been painting. Not sure I love the color, but Rey picked it and I guess he gets to make a FEW choices around here! LOL

ooops

I really did take a few shots yesterday, even in though it was hot, but I'm not feeling very well and I fell asleep last night early and slept all night! This is Katy, another client.

Vegetable garden...

These are from my garden! :-) The big, beefy, dark red one was my dinner- the ones we picked today will need a few days to ripen in the window. I fully expect to eat tomatoes until my mouth is sore!!

I babysat for my friend today, this is where I kept her child most of the day...



(disclaimer: JUST KIDDING! He went in there of his own free will!)

Birthday girl and a kitten...

Seashells from the seashore...

I am soooo uninspired- still waiting for my lens and not really wanting to take pictures of much in the meantime. Tonight I was actually off to bed, had kissed the kids goodnight and everything, when I realized I hadn't taken a picture today! So, I wandered aimlessly around my house, hoping something would catch my eye. I took a few boring shots, some of the kids (of course) and then settled on the bowl of shells from Dauphin Island that sits by the sink in the bathroom.

rainy day

Just plain neighborly...

One of the great things about my 'neighborhood' is that most of my neighbors have gardens and they love to share. Our tomatoes from our garden are almost ready but in the meantime we have cucumbers- which I've always thought taste like summer!!

Barn

Isn't that a word? I'm too tired to look. I didn't get the shot I kept seeing in my head each day as I pass this, but I do like the light that was coming through on the trees!

Pointe shoes...

Kya got her first pointe shoes a few weeks ago. The shoes don't come with the ribbons or elastics attached so we had to do it ourselves. Kya's dance teacher feels that if the girls are mature enough for pointe shoes then they are also mature enough to sew on their own ribbons. This is part of the reason that it's taken so long- it took a few tries for us to get it right. But tonight we did it- mostly she did it, with a little support and encouragement. :-)

Y'know, I just couldn't come up with the words to describe this picture! LOL

Birthday dinner...

I was honestly having a hard time taking pictures today. I ordered a jazzy new lens yesterday and every shot I thought of I wanted to save for the new lens, lol. So, today you get another 'day in the life' shot. Last Saturday was Robbie's birthday, my dad's is Tuesday, my mom's Thursday, and mine next Saturday. Tonight we had dinner with my parents to celebrate them all. :)

This picture demonstrates why I'm excited to be getting a new lens this week (happy birthday to me!!!). I had to have a very shallow depth of field in the dark room to prevent blur. Even with a tripod any movement from the people being photographed would have created blur. So, I have some people in slight bokeh instead of blur. My new lens will be better in low light because it has a larger aperture and will also help with blur caused by me thanks to the Image Stabilization.

Argh!

So, I pull into my clients driveway this morning and see the most beautiful sight! A Doe and her two fawns. I grab the camera and followed them around the house, but immediately knew I had made a terrible mistake. I had my 35mm lens on, no zoom to it at all, so I just shot a ton and prayed. As I suspected, the pics aren't very crisp when cropped (which I had to do), but we live and learn, right? I wasn't about to pass up the opportunity to post a shot of them though, they were so beautiful! Next time I'll have the right lens on...but how to predict something as random as this? No clue.

A day at home...

Record heat kept us in the house for the most part today. Thankfully we have plenty of fun things to do, including making up our own games with flash cards.

Ugh

I don't know if it's the heat or what, but I feel ill and I'm off to lay down. I'm dedicated though and I did actually use the camera for about 2 seconds today to take a shot of some curriculum I'm trying to sell. So, that's what you get!

Ideas please!!!

So, Karen and I were getting together pretty regularly and having fun with 'Disney Days'. We'd pick a movie as our theme and plan decorations and food to go with that theme. It made for some great pictures and was fun for a while but the same old stuff gets boring after a while. So, we thought we'd ditch Disney Days for a while but we still want to get together and give Kya and Savannah the chance to play (and for us to gab, lol). We thought it might be fun to have 'Picture Day' instead and try to find some places where we can meet up to take pictures and the girls can also play. We get together at parks and pools on a regular basis with our homeschool group so I'd like some ideas for cheap (FREE is best) places to take the kids that will also offer some fun photo ops. Lets hear it folks- we need LOTS of ideas!!

Since Hope got to post a picture from last night that I took, I get to do the same! This shot captures how we are most of the time! LOL! Thank you for taking it Hope!

Mothers and daughters...

Okay, I admit it... Karen took the top picture of Kya and I together- but she used my camera! You get two today because while I don't generally like having my picture taken (that's why I'm the photographer) I love this shot of us together. Thanks Karen. <3

The second picture is all mine. S, taking her turn to share her blessing with each girl as her daughter looks on and takes it all in.

Blessingway

Tonight was our last night for our Mother/Daughter class and to celebrate we had a little ceremony. It was wonderful and I got some nice shots, but my favorite was from before when Savannah let me take some pictures of her with the wreath of flowers we made for her head. She was trying so hard not to smile!

Carousel...

We went swimming again today, the colors of the towels caught my eye, so I snapped a few shots before putting the camera away...it was too HOT for photography!

Parade...

Tonight the parade kicked off the annual fair in our little town. For the first time in a long time there were actually floats instead of just hopping in the back of a pick-up. It was HOT but still a pretty good parade.

back to raw...

Everyone might not know this, but I'm a raw vegan. Well, I HAVE BEEN for over 5 years, but this past 6 months or so I've eaten all kinds of things that aren't raw and aren't vegan. Not only have I put on a ridiculous amount of weight, but I feel bad. The reason I went raw to being with was b/c I was having some health issues. I'm remembering now why I chose this path and I want to feel good again!

So, this morning I went running and instead of just having salad all day long, I made some yummy raw treats and pulled out the food processor and placed it back on the counter. Here is my dinner tonight, it's my version of raw spaghetti. It would be even more like spaghetti if I had a spiral slicer for the zucchini, but they have been banned from the house after I sliced open a finger with one! This was yummy, I ate up the whole plate!

They're with the band...

Tomatoes

Here are some of my pretties, there was actually one single red one yesterday that I promptly popped in my mouth!

Another kid pic...

We've been hanging around the house for a few days now and there just isn't much to shoot... so you get another kid pic. *shrug*

An evening alone

This is all you are getting tonight, a shot from where I sat at Benton Park having drinks and an appetizer with my husband! We SORELY needed a night alone and although we didn't have the money to stay out very long, we did get some time together and are off to watch the boob tube and enjoy the rest of the evening...

My hobby...

I have a few hobbies but reading has been with me the longest. Robbie built this shelf for me a few years ago as a Christmas surprise (my favorite gift from him ever!) and I have repeatedly filled it. Some books I cherish and keep but most get passed along when I finish. A few times a year I will empty this shelf of nearly all the books but inevitable it will be filled again. There always seems to be a theme- last year it was full of educational philosophy this year there is lots on spirituality. This is why I love books; they'll go with me on whatever path I'm currently traveling.

This is my GREAT nephew...I'm a great Aunt?!?!? That's bizarre...I'm too young to be a GREAT anything. LOL. This is from yesterday, I'm behind a bit but still posting every day!