today's commute to work {and play} + some photo cards {so it's sort of like two posts in one}

i found it sort of ironic that today's project life 365 challenge was "daily_commute", because mr. b. stayed home today. so it happens that both our commutes look like this today... a walk up and down the hall from room to room. thus my shot of a view from the end of our hall where the bedrooms are, looking down toward the dining room on the other end. it was taken at about 10:00 this morning. YES!... we slept in!

normal tuesdays would have mr. b. getting up at 5:00 am to get ready for work and the twenty-minute commute that gets him there, and they'd have me typically in the scene pictured above. but today is a rare, though quickly trending, treat. his hours have been getting cut on-and-off as of late. thirty-hour weeks when they're slow. back up to forty hours if the work load picks up again.

it's not so grand for the bank account. but it's a big blessing in disguise in regards to getting some work done around the house, because it means an extra day off. saturdays and sundays slip away much too fast and sometimes get filled up with activity outside the home {like last weekend when our entire sunday was spent with friends and family at brunch and dinner out and house-warming visits in between}.

so we cherish his extra days off because, as is evident by the unpacked box in the hallway and the not-yet-hung artwork and framed photos leaning against the walls, we still have lots of settling in to do.

in fact, this very hallway is the one spot we've picked to work on today. our project is to tackle the hall closet {see door knob in shot above}, painting white the inside walls and covering the shelves in hopes of transforming what was once a terribly dark, mint-ish green color to bright white like a linen closet should be.

just like the landscape outside that is currently getting covered in what will end up being around ten inches of snow, this closet is getting a major white-wash. so how appropriate that the photo prompt for today should be commute-related. my every-day is waking up and walking down that hall to make my coffee for the day, then trekking from room to room to work on things that need to be done. sometimes that entails chasing isaac down the hall when he's trying to get away from me or running towards me after hearing key words like "diaper change" or "bath-time".

but today, this hallway is not merely the "roadway" that gets me to work. it's also the destination.

before the painting began, we emptied the shelves and removed them, opening up the tiny room to something quite enticing to a little toddler boy... a little fort or secret hide-away. it even has two step-like shelves built into the floor, so isaac felt compelled to climb and use them as a reading nook while dada got the paint tray ready.










didn't i tell you? awful green, no? couldn't wait to get that thing painted over with layers as bright as our snowy lawn.

* * * * *

speaking of the white-wash outside, it's the reason mr. b. chose this tuesday for his day off. {how nice that they at least get to pick which day they want to take off when hours are cut!}

last week, when we got a significant snowfall, i got the car stuck on three different up-hill streets in our neighborhood, including ours. our front-wheel drive is no good in this weather. terrible handling... the worst of any car we've ever owned. i am so glad that he is able to be home safe with us today and not having to deal with his normal drive in what would be a most abnormal, long and potentially dangerous commute.

anyway, in celebration of the beautiful snow that it coming down so swiftly outside, i thought i'd re-add a few of my favorite shots from my photo-walk post a few days back, but this time with quotes i found about snow or winter. i've been working on these for some potential photo-cards that i've been asked to make for a friend's boutique. these are rough drafts, as some of the typography will likely change. but it's a start...

















no winter quote on this one. just a quote i love...





this next one obviously won't be a card. i just wanted to make a "moving picture" and thought i'd add it too.

in case it's difficult to read, the above quote says "there is a privacy about it which no other season gives you. in spring, summer and fall people sort of have an open season on each other; only in the winter, in the country, can you have longer, quiet stretches when you can savor belonging to yourself." ~ruth stout

here are a few more photoless quotes i thought worth including because they made me smile.

~

"to shorten winter, borrow some money due in spring."

~w.j. vogel

"i was just thinking, if it is really religion with these nudist colonies, they sure must turn atheists in the wintertime."

~will rogers

"winter is the season in which people try to keep the house as warm as it was in the summer, when they complained about the heat."

~unknown

"winter is the time for comfort, for good food and warmth, for the touch of a friendly hand and for a talk beside the fire: it is the time for home."

~edith sitwell
{yes!... i quite agree!}

~

well, as long as i'm at it, i thought i'd also post my favorite photos of the two friends i went on that photo-walk with.

carrie's...   

amy's...

we now all have our photos from the walk added to a group pool on flickr.

it was so much fun to see their shots... many that looked much like mine {because we all had the same idea}, but many that were so different too. those were the shots i'd see and think "why didn't i think of that?" that's what makes this fun!

finally, i am adding a shot they each took of me as i was photographing that day. i've converted both to black and white, but loved each of them even when they were still color.




i so loved the way carrie's shot is composed. and i'm smitten with the way amy caught sun flare in the background of her shot. two really great shots that i'm really honored to be a part of! it's fun to see what you look like while taking pictures... a rare window to a view we never really see as photographers. so i was glad they took these. we all had fun with shooting each other shooting that day.

* * * * *

well, now it's 5:00 pm, and the shelves are done... almost. everything is painted. but it wasn't all work and no play. i took time out here and there to do this post {which i started shortly after i shot my "daily commute" photo}. and then there's isaac...




pretty much all he did today was play. his starring role?... the lamp that came alive.

with that, i better get back to work before the boss hubby fires me! i've still got three more shelves to cover with contact paper. then i'll finally have a place for all our blankets and sheets and such. hooray!

but before i go, would you like to see the {almost} finished product?...

a much-improved transformation, wouldn't you say?