right now

I'm listening to The Secret Keeper by Kate Morton.

I'm trying to learn how to get the results I want with my Polaroid.



I'm roaming around my yard with my 100mm macro appreciating spring.

I'm eating an otter*pop, feel like a kid again.

I'm thinking about my friends and how I can help.

I'm watching the puppy run circles in the yard.

I'm caught up with project life -- love this weekly project.

I'm preparing watermelon for our canyon cookout tonight.

I'm mending a few of Megan dresses.

I'm expecting the girls home any minute.

I'm wishing this cold sore on my lip would hurry up and heal already.

I'm loving the overwhelming fragrance of the blossoms.

I'm getting back to running in the early a.m.

I'm eating a carrot.

I'm debating weather to start of vegetable garden -- our pesky ground squirrels are making me think twice.

I'm using the last of my amazon gift cards.

I'm loving this day.

lucky enough to lose

I don't know how long I can do this, he said. I think the universe has different plans for me & we sat there in silence & I thought to myself that this is the thing we all come to & this is the thing we all fight & if we are lucky enough to lose, our lives become beautiful with mystery again & I sat there silent because that is not something that can be said.
~storypeople

The weight of this storypeople hit me like a ton of bricks and sat with me for a long while after. I love it when quotes, talks, movies, and books make me pause and give me reason to sit in the quiet for as long as I need. I have a million thoughts filling up my head right now that I long to share and no time to share them. Instead I'll let storypeople do the heavy lifting and say good night for now.

good night.
xo

52 photo project | week 11 | in the garden

this weeks prompt gave me the perfect excuse to step away from all my "have tos" and find much needed peace and clarity in my surroundings. i don't know why i don't think to go explore more often--does the trick every time.

52 photo project | week 03 | i found it on the ground

I admittedly did cheat this week, I took this picture a long time ago, but I thought it was ok because I can say with certainty there is sidewalk chalk that has again weathered the winter months tucked away under the brush.

Seeing it now puts a smile to my face. This is proof that children are here, happily imagining, busily creating, getting lost exploring, and enjoying the outside world. I love it here.


go here to learn more about the 52 photo project

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just a quick reminder for those who are participating in the 12of12 challenge that tomorrow is the 12th.

peeling away the layers

My dear friend Eryn came to visit me yesterday to talk photography. I was looking forward to seeing her, I only have a few more months before she leaves me again, but was hesitant about the rest. I guess you could say I haven't been motivated at all to do anything creative, let alone taking photos. It's a good thing she came and gave me a big kick in the pants--I needed it. She has always been good at pulling me out and making me do things I don't want to do, like blind dates. Oh the story I could tell about the two of us, but that is for a different day. Suffice it to say, this woman is good for me.

Turns out she wanted to discuss my process. Why I take what I take? Funny, I'm not even sure I know myself. I think that's a hard thing to try to explain. Back in the day I bet I could have explained it easier, but now it's something I don't even think about it. It's very intuitive, second nature, and I think that's why, besides the fact that I'm roaming around in nature, shooting has the ability to calm my troubled heart. It feels very peaceful.

It was hard at first, to talk through what I was seeing and why I was drawn to certain things--the shape, the color, the lines. She had to keep pulling it out, encourage me to talk while I shot. It's not that I didn't want to share it's just that it didn't feel natural. I think I must have kept falling back into my groove because she kept laughing at me when I would move on without a trace. Eventually we were both doing our thing in my front yard, peeling away the layers as the morning heat up, and I felt like me again.





















Afterward when I saw what she captured I wondered why on earth she came looking for advice from me--the girls got skills. I hope you know that Eryn. Now it's my turn to kick you in the pants. Thank you for getting me out there.

xoxo

\ˈmāk-ˌshift\ : a usually crude and temporary expedient : substitute

When I woke up this morning I found a pile of shoes stacked up by our back door and no red box to put them in. Wondering where the box went, thinking first of course what my girls had done with it, my eyes were drawn outdoors to something red.



It took me only a few seconds to register what I was looking at and realized, this is Adam's trap for the skunk. A red wooden box held up by a potato masher with a string tied to the end. On the other end is fastened a folded yellow post-it note with peanut butter on top. I would go into how ludicrous I think this is, the first being how trapping a skunk 6 feet from the house is never a good idea, but I think you can see for yourself this was not a well thought out plan. Oh, but I love him for trying.

He may not have caught our skunk, which was most likely for our benefit, but I will say, he did manage to start my day off the best way possible...with laughter. And that's really all that matters...right?


Have a great start to your weekend.
xoxo

while i wait

There are times I have a book with me to fill the passing of time while I wait, but it's always more enjoyable to wait with my camera. Took these at 9am yesterday while waiting for our swim car pool to arrive.

sorry so many photos, had a hard time choosing...

mystery plant

They found random seeds in the yard on Saturday and wanted to plant them to see what would grow. Megan was certain it was a watermelon seed, Tess wasn't so sure. They did agree on one thing though, it needed a marker so they could keep an eye on it.

monocromatic

I went looking for color. I'm thinking maybe the key in the bleakness of January is to have a fresh bouquet of flowers livening up my house. I've struggled more this January with the grayness and I've realized it's color I've been missing.

Strange though, when I went to edit my photos, it was the richness of the textures and not the colors that spoke to me.

Saturday morning

I took the kids in the backyard to play with a bubble machine that shoots out thousands of bubbles a minute. The girls had such a great time dancing around playing I had to get out my camera. I had a lot of fun just snapping away. I took about 400 photos in a short period of time (thank goodness for digital). Lucky for me the girls had dressed themselves in decent cloths since I was not planning this. Anyway, I put these storyboards together of some of my favorites. Click here to see more.