it's banana bread... get over it. {and why i'll never be a food blogger}

i thought i'd be adventurous and make banana bread this last weekend. in doing so, i discovered something significant about myself...

it's safe to say, i'll never be a food blogger. 

that's right. i'm fairly certain i'll never be the author of one of those chic food blogs with its dreamy photography that you love to visit and plan on following so much that, surely, it will magically turn you into the best chef you never imagined you could be... by sheer osmosis, if nothing else. nope. that's not me.

let me count the ways...

first, i'm just not a master at photographing the preparation of food, nor the final product. i either have to cook or photograph. i can't do both. it's the cold, hard fact that i'm learning to accept.

i look at some of these food blogs and think "how in the world do they do it?" as i picture them working magic all around their kitchen, camera in one hand, mixing spoon in the other, while everything else just falls into place all by itself... ingredients, picture-perfect work spaces, ambient lighting... all that stuff just does its own thing on its own... something like those various inanimate {in the real world} objects that dance around in the animated beauty and the beast story.

or... maybe these commoner-turned-pro cooks are hiring professional teams of photographers and stylists that make everything look like a feature spread in martha stewart living. i don't know.

i just know this. while my camera dials are getting covered in flour and oily finger prints, i take rushed, blurry photos, made even blurrier by the jiggling of my camera because i can't stop laughing when my husband {who said banana bread is for} walks through the room, sees me clicking away, and responds to what he just witnessed ever-so-nonchalantly as he exits with two succinct statements...

"it's banana bread. get over it."

bahahahahaha!

{i guess that's the second reason why i'll never be a food blogger... i don't take ridicule well.}

at that point, i just sort of gave up and thought, "yeah... who am i trying to kid? or impress? i will stick to just making banana bread."

third, even if i could take fabulous food pictures, i'm just not a natural in the kitchen... at all. {although, i did make a mean pasta with tomato sauce and cream cheese concoction for dinner the following night!} seriously, though. it would be quite an irony for me to show-and-tell any potential readers how to make something in the kitchen while attempting to come across as though i know what i'm doing... when, in reality, i'm so much closer to the man we know and love as mr. brady in the clip below than i am to martha stewart... clumsy and a little bit of a kitchen dork.

even if by some small miracle i could ever come up with my own unique book- or blog-worthy recipe, or if i could modify someone else's recipe to make it the most delicious version out there, i'd still not be very savvy in the kitchen... when it comes to the actual making of this imaginary wonderful dish.

i'm just not sophisticated with the whole thing. it's an awkward site, to be sure. i'd love nothing more than if i looked like the chefs on everyday food while i cook... so calm. so quiet. so neat. with me it's stress and mess.

this is just the beginning of how messy i was by the time i was done. yes... that's what aprons are for. i know. but trust me. even an apron wouldn't save me from the disaster zone i can create when you give me a bowl, a spoon or two, and a plethora of dry ingredients.

i had to include this photo of mr. b, too... because it illustrates just how nice my hubby is under all that humorous sarcasm. he acted as a stand-in for my photo so i could get the focus just right on my timer self-portrait above. what a guy!... and all he wanted was some banana bread, poor thing.

well... just to further show how unsavvy with food-blogging i am, i forgot to take a picture of the final product... my sweet baked bread all fancy-like, sliced up and sitting on a pretty plate with a perfect beverage by its side. but that said, it was delicious banana bread, and there just aint no time for photographing delicious banana bread! there's only time for eatin'!!

anyway, like i said earlier, if you want a glimpse of what it looks like when i'm in the kitchen, watch this...

haha. typical brady bunch cornball cheese. but appropriate for my in-the-kitchen post, as we are going for a very similar aesthetic in our mid-century modern kitchen to what you can see in theirs {swooning over that avocado green mixer they had!}. in fact, did you notice those boomerang countertops in my photos above? i'd absolutely love to replace them someday with something just like what was in the brady kitchen {but my backsplash will be white subway tile, i think}.

thanks to the retro renovation blog i've been following recently {with all it's fabulous tips on mid-century modern restoration}, i know that particular laminate color is still available. squeal!

...not that we are trying to go for an exact replica of the brady bunch kitchen. but i do love that color for a counter.

and who knows? maybe, just maybe, orange counters can magically turn my food preparation works {and the photos of them} into master pieces.

or..................... maybe orange counters can't do a darn thing for my kitchen skills, and my creations will still bring on the deflated failure-flavored wahnah-wahnah-wah, wahnah-wahnah-wah, wahnah-wahnah-wah that they always have.

but i'll still have pretty counters!
;•)

how to get the librarian look on a dime and other awkward things

i'm doin' it, oh yes i am! 

finally going to attempt to follow along with the daily prompts {for taking daily pictures} over on project life 365. i've always wanted to do a 365 project, but i'm usually too undisciplined in my personal, just-for-fun picture-taking pursuits. with me, it's either feast or famine. and lately, it's just a whole lot of pictures of isaac, because he changes daily and i want to freeze each and every minute stage in time so as not to forget a single detail.

but i'm hoping to stretch more outside that comfort zone and get back to looking for a photo in every corner and pocket of life on a daily basis. daily prompts from others who are coming up with the ideas so that you don't have to can be a big help when you're burnt out or when you find yourself too busy to be intentional about it.

enter, PL365!
{middle.of.week.9.oops.better.late.than.never}

i finally perused the daily challenges page on their site yesterday, after having discovered PL365 a couple weeks ago. i saw that the prompt word {or challenge} for the day before was "blue". totally bummed that i missed that one, because i would have had some fun taking pictures of something blue for my initiation into the project. the first thing that came to mind was my vintage, faded robin's-egg-blue desk fan... a most photogenic inanimate object if i ever saw one!

"nook" was yesterday's prompt, which also had me wishing i had stopped by the site a little earlier {not that i can't still find a nook to photograph or break out that fan just for fun}. but when i saw the prompt for today, i knew today would also be a good day to start. the photo challenge for this first day of march was "you_today". 

challenge indeed!

you see, i don't like doing self-portraits {and it would have to be a self-portrait, as one of the rules for submitting to this project is that you have to be the one to take the photos}. i used to like making self-portraits. and i genuinely love when other photographers do self-portrature. but i've found i have a tough time with them when it comes to my own these past few years. in 2012, i even tried to join a self-portrait community of other women photographers doing a year of monthly self-portraits and sharing them in a flickr group. it was called in the picture... a collaboration to encourage those of us who are not too comfortable with self-portrature to get past that fear of switching to the opposite side of the camera.

but i quit after month-one or -two, i think. i did not at all like being in front of the camera anymore. it feels way, way, way more safe behind it. and i never found i could be quite as artistic and expressive with it the way others could {probably because they took the time to do something more creative with it than just holding the camera up to a mirror. snooze}. so i gave up. {see my last post, and you'll know i love to be expressive and artistic with other people in photography. just not with myself.}

so the idea of doing one today had me almost ill. but i made myself do it anyway, because today was a good day to start. 

you see, i just got new glasses, and there are some people {ehem... stacey, just to name one}  who have asked to see a photo of me wearing them. {this is the first time in my life i've ever owned and needed glasses, and i think they're curious about what it would look like.}

so i thought it was perfect timing... i would do a "you_today" self-portrait of glasses-wearing me.

here's what i came up with...

went the blurry route, first. less flaws and more mood. right?

thought bubble: "okay. it's all well and good, but people won't be able to see the glasses, and that was the whole reason for doing this."

take two...

i'll try the serious look.

thought bubble: "nahhh. i feel goofy... anything but serious. i feel like laughing. or crying. i feel uncomfortable! and i certainly don't do serious."

take three...

okay, how' bout artsy-fartsy?

thought bubble: "ooooor... how 'bout you just give this whole thing up, because you know you look nothing like the fresh-faced, young blonde in the photo-advertisement you saw at the doctor's office where you picked out your frames. you look a lot more like {insert the names of every stereotypical nerdy librarian character you've ever seen in the movies... except rachel weisz in the mummy, because you only wish you looked like her, nerdy or not!}."

tip:

if you ever want to go to a costume party and don't have money to spend on a fancy costume, just wash your hair, don't do a thing to it, throw it up in a messy bun {which is the mom-do i sport ehhhhverrry siiiiiingle day}, and borrow my glasses. you're set!

i think i may even have a few librarian-esque dress suits you could wear from my collection of vintage pieces.

it's safe to say that i gave up on trying to be artistic or aesthetic at this point. by now, this was all just an opportunity to poke fun at myself and my thinking that i could do something effective with this.

and when those thoughts came across in my facial expressions too, i clicked away... 'cause this, friends, is the real me. and i think this just might have been the best shot of them all!...

or maybe this one...

=)

i never thought of myself as one of those family portrait kind of people... but then i started a family. now i think it's going to be a tradition of ours.

i had not planned on posting this photo {taken on the beach in florida last april}, but tonight i saw a family photo link-up post on a cloth diapering blog that i subscribed to, and i wanted to link up with our family photo there... so i needed a place to link up to, and this post will be it! 

we've had a more recent family picture {one of my favorites} taken by my mom on mother's day. but this one was a little more planned, and when i set the camera up to have it shot, i had a framed print or hanging canvas print for our home in mind.

here is the one i would have liked to use {except as a sepia like the above shot}...

especially since isaac is looking at the camera here. but our legs are cut off in it and isaac's got his finger in front of his mouth, so i decided that the other one would be better for it.

anyway... if you read a couple posts back, you might remember me saying that i was working on some small projects around the house. this was {still is} one of them. i actually had originally intended to some sort of d.i.y. with it. i had heard about an idea of transferring photos to pieces of wood, and i really wanted to try it with this photo. someone gave me this link that shows a video on how easy it is to make one. it also provides a link to a detailed step-by-step tutorial on how to do the transfer. this was in response to a request i posted on facebook for suggestions and ideas, saying that i wanted to try this process out to save on the cost of ordering a print from one of the photo canvas companies.

after having asked about it on facebook, a former co-worker of mr. b's and mine wrote to tell me that the company he now works for can and does print photos on canvas for a very, very good price {even lower than costco} and that he'd be happy to print mine.

so i had to take him up on his very generous offer. the only thing is, now i will have to have the canvas stretched/attached onto a frame, as i am only buying the flat printed canvas. by the time i pay for shipping costs to have the canvas mailed and the framing, it might turn out to be what i would have paid at costco or some other place like that... although, i hope not. we'll see.


regardless, i really wanted to have it hanging in our home... this photo {which i am very happy with} that shows us all together and reflects how grateful and content we are to be a family... and one that was taken before isaac turned a year old. that was important to me, because i'd really like to have a nice family portrait taken during each year of his life, so i am happy to know we did not miss out on his first year.

anyway, i'll be sure to post again after it arrives and gets framed and hung, so you can see how it turned out.

until then, it will be here for me to view and to make me smile. and as long as it's here, i figured i would link-up to autumn's family photo link-up.

by the way {in case i ever do try it}, has anyone else every transferred one of their photos to a sheet/block of wood yourself? i'd love to know how it turned out!

scavenger hunt sunday {i had so much fun participating last week, i'm doing it again!}

{in fact, i'll probably just make this a regular thing.}

this time,

we're looking for routine, music, technology, our style and mismatch.

i thought i'd start off with my style {if you can call it that}.

i always considered myself fashion-conscious before baby... even during pregnancy {which was so much fun to get creative with!}.

but i have to say, post-baby, it's an entirely different story.

i rarely try.

i don't think it will always be that way.

but as long as i'm nursing and he's teething/drooling and needing to be fed by someone else,

i'm not going to put too much effort into what i wear...

it's just gonna get messed up anyway.

so one can usually find me with my hair pulled back,

wearing a head band or scarf,

 and sporting relaxed, comfortable clothes that are often mismatched.

which is why...

i prefer the first photo, but i put this one in to show how unmatched my ensemble is.
i wanted to do something else with the mismatch prompt, though,
as something else came immediately to mind to shoot for it.
but i'll get to that one in a bit.


next up... routine.

it's interesting, to me, that i was never disciplined about taking vitamins myself on a daily basis.

it was always sporadic... whenever i happened to think of it... never routine.

but as soon as i became responsible for another person {isaac},

i became very disciplined in sticking to a daily routine

of giving him his vitamins...

every morning, with breakfast.

he loves them!

if he could, i think he would just drink the entire bottle down.

i only hope that, despite the fact that i am still not consistent with my own vitamin-taking,

he will pick up on the habit of me giving them to him every day

and continue to take them after he is out from under my "reign". {*wink*}

speaking of isaac...

i know i've said it before, but i can never say it enough... i adore watching these two together. i always think my son is so sweet and forever cute in my eyes. but as soon as he is in the arms or on the lap of his dad, he becomes the most precious sight to behold... both of them really. it's not one or the other. it's the love you can see between them. i melt. mr. b. is such a good dad... so giving, so interested, so fun and so patient. it was actually his idea to get the guitar for isaac for christmas. and i'm so glad he thought of it. i'd be most glad if isaac followed in his father's musical footsteps. so far, i think he has.

now back to mismatch.

like i said,

i thought of this as soon as i read the prompts for this week.

i've never owned an entire set of matching dishes of any kind.

but for some reason, that never appealed to me.

i think it's because i would never be able to commit to just one style.

plus, i love vintage things... dishes are no exception.

so when i find antique glassware that i love,

rarely does the entire set remain in tact.

usually, it's three here, one there...

or as is the case with the second glass from the left,

it's one or two passed down to us by family.

if i ever had a dinner party

or hosted a brunch,

this is what the table would look like... mismatched.

and i have to say, i don't think i'd do it any other way, even if i could.

okay.

one more.

i wish it was mine.

but it's not.

it belongs to the company that i am doing this temp project for.

it's sad, but this laptop is twice as fast as my archaic desktop mac that i am blogging on at the moment.

i bought my mac used... and that always has a down side... namely that so much is outdated.

i'm hoping to upgrade in the near future.

if i get more temp jobs, i'll be able to!

fingers crossed.

for now, i will enjoy this one... even if it is only for work.

this one can follow me around... the couch, the dining room table, the bed {in my pajamas!}, the office.

i love it!
i'm like a kid in a candy store... at christmas!

and i'm pretty sure i'll cry like a baby when i have to give it back.

{*frown*}

but i will live.

and i will work that much harder to get one of my own after having tasted the sweetness this apple.

that wraps up my scavenger hunt.

did you hunt this week, too?

i hope so.

i'm going to be checking out some s.h.s. posts of others.

it's so much fun to see all the different things others do with five words each week.

hope your weekend was grand.

happy week ahead!

{don't forget to click this little guy to see a bunch of others' takes on this photo scavenger hunt.}
 

jillian michaels fit i am not. but if i had to choose, i would rather have my baby boy... with flab and stretch marks to show for it

it's simple, really. since giving birth to le bebe over eight months ago, i've had to come to accept that my body will never quite be the same as it used to be... sometimes reluctantly. but fully, none the less. i don't just say so from a body shape perspective. there are other things besides shape that have changed by having a baby. for instance, between four and six months postpartum, i lost SO much of my hair {freakin' hormones!}, especially around my forehead, and it greatly affected {thinned out} my hairline... so noticeably that, now that it is growing back in, i look rather funny... all these short little hairs sticking straight up. i don't care, though. i'm just happy they grew back at all.

i don't mean to paint a picture that i was any kind of runway model before i had a baby. and whether i was or wasn't is not the issue. it's more about things changing from how i have always known them to be. i've never been big on change. so having been accustomed to so many things about myself and seeing them change whether i wanted them to or not was/is not always easy. there have been times i did not feel like myself... not comfortable in my own skin. and i'm just now getting around to being used to the new me.

so i chose to write out how i really feel when it comes right down to it... literally write it out, right there on the part of me that changed the most. i had quite the basketball belly before issac decided to make his entrance into the world. so it's not a surprise that it would not quite bounce back to what it was.

an easier-to-read view

there are some that might think, "why would you even weigh the two together... the value of having a child against the cost of the physical changes it imposes?" well, truth be told, i found that the bliss and ecstasy of having your own baby makes you blind to any negative feelings in the beginning... anything like "ughhh, i feel so large 'cause i don't fit in any of my clothes!" or "boy, do i look tired when i don't sleep much for months on end!"... even "yikes, i'm going bald!" but after a while, when the day-to-day sets back in, the blinders fall off and you start to once again recognize your appearance. again... it's less about what i look like, and more about how i feel. and i just don't feel myself... my old self. i guess that's because, in reality, i'm not.

of course, this is nothing new for the plight of a mom and the sacrifices she makes {of which the apprearance-related sacrifices are the least}... literally giving up her body for another. but it's new for me. and at forty, i think i'm not bouncing back the way some of my younger friends have after having babies... even after a second or third! and i don't have the luxury of being pampered like some of the celebrities you see who look exactly the same a few weeks after having a baby as they did before.

so i'm learning to embrace this new me. in a society where women are ridiculed for having "mom butt" or "teacher arms" {you know... that flabby, jiggly flesh on the underside of your arms that wiggles when you wave? ohhhhh, yes... i have it!}, it's difficult to look at myself and say, "you're just fine the way you are. this is how it should be." i have to force encourage myself to be content {even happy} with the new me and accept the changes. all so much easier said than done. 

don't get me wrong. i don't excuse myself from living a healthy life. i need to eat healthy and exercise more than ever before. and not for my appearance, but for my level of energy and strength to raise a son. so embracing is different than excusing. and i think that is where lots of women get hung up after a baby... the ones who slowly let themselves go. i hope i won't embrace so much that it becomes laziness. i could see that happening so easily with me.

i look forward to the warmer weather, when this will all look a little different, because i'll be more active again, and no matter what the clothing sizes say, i'll just feel better. {by the way, i don't own a scale, and never have. i'm not obsessed with a weight number. it's simply that i don't feel like myself, and that is bound to happen when you can fit in only about five percent of the clothes you wore a year and a half earlier.}

well, i had not meant to write so much. i know it's probably difficult to see just where my thinking ends up in all of this... am i okay with the new me? or am i not so much? i'd say, a little of both. even when i'm not okay with it, i know this... my comfort level or lack of comfort in my own skin is worth it. i would not trade what caused this new me for anything in the world. and quite frankly, i would do it all again and again.

like i wrote on the photo above, the minute i saw christy's prompt for in the picture in february at the beginning of the month, this immediately came to mind. now, today is the link-up party on her blog, and i had to scramble to quickly get some self-portraits done for it, so i threw it all together at the last minute in order to participate. but the thoughts i've written have been on my mind a lot longer.

i know that the majority of you who read are women, and i'm guessing several of you are moms. so i'm curious how you got through this part of being a new, first-time mama. i'm guessing i'm not alone.

. . .

you can see more "write on" themed self-portrait work from other participants here.

happy celebrate love day

“being a full-time mother is one of the highest salaried jobs... since the payment is pure love.”

~mildred b. vermont

.  .  .

i could have used any number of quotes about a mother's love today. but i chose this one for a reason... for the past eight months, being a full-time mama has been my only job. but on monday, i start a "real" full-time job. this one, however, will pay me in dollars instead of love.

yikes! i'm a bit nervous. i have not worked since october of 2010.

more details to come. in the mean time, i'll be here trying to enjoy my last few days of "freedom".

and today, i'll do it while celebrating love. i'm convinced that true love does not stand alone. it lives and breathes only when accompanied by sacrifice and gratitude. becoming a mother is probably the thing that has most revealed this to me. but in being shown this through motherhood, i now recognize it in others... and it is how i know they truly love.

does gratitude and sacrifice live with love in you and in those who claim to love you? i hope so. if not, i hope you will find that kind of love and strive to love that way, too.

and i hope you have a lovely day.

makeshift monday

after yesterday's change o' plans,
i decided to make this a chore-filled monday.
{it's what playpens were made for!}
but then i realized...

the laundry
and dishes
and piles of clutter
and sticky cheerio snacks stuck in the carpet
and stacks of paperwork
and messy countertops
and unread e-mails
will always be there...
certainly to return,
even if cleaned up or cleared away for a time.
but isaac... he will not always be
seven and a half months old.
he will not always be learning to walk
or just beginning to talk.
he will not always be my little peanut.
and those toys will not always be scattered across my floors.


so i put the chores away
and decided to get some playing done.


and by the time i shifted gears,
the sun came out from behind gray winter skies
and the hubby came home early
{half of a sick day}.


mondays can be quite lovely sometimes.
even when you least expect it.


{although, this might make for a very long tuesday.}

i'm in... the picture

so i made a daring decision to join urban muser's project for 2012 called in the picture. i say daring because, although i love the art form of self-portraiture, i am not at all close to feeling comfortable being in photographs... whether taken by others or myself {in which case i have more control over how the photo portrays me}. but the reasons i don't feel brave enough are also the reasons i wanted to join. i won't get into them now. i'll wait until the next time i participate in the selfie link-up party on urban muser's blog {or maybe next week?}.

i missed the link-up party yesterday, but it's only saturday morning, so i thought it's still okay to join in. i had taken some self-portraits yesterday after trying to get some spontaneous shots of issac with me playing on the floor. but i was not finished with the processing in time to submit them for this week's round {except for the blurry shot above}. so i'll post them later next week.

instead, for this week, i submitted a recent self-portrait shot... my book photo that i posted last week and used for my first texture tuesday submission.

the in the picture theme for january is a piece of me... a perfect way to start out for someone who is a little bit afraid, uncomfortable or shy to look at themselves through the lens. that's me. so christy encouraged us to shoot just "a piece" or only part of ourselves... whatever we feel comfortable with. {by the way, you have got to see her ultra cool floating-in-air selfie!}

anyway, the prompt theme made me think back to this shot that only shows my hands. it was not meant to be a self-portrait, but rather just to highlight the wonderfully worn pages of my vintage book and convey a theme of open. but the photo was there, it was fitting, and i had not yet taken self-portraits for this week, so i submitted it. i'm getting a lot of mileage out of this photo {a convenient thing to do, for time's sake}!

in fact, i have been asked to submit it to a gallery showing... so excited about that, but i need to get it printed and framed first.

okay... that's it. the level of comfort that i can muster for selfies today is a mysterious level... in a blurry shot and a hands-only shot. but a little mystery never hurt anyone, right? maybe by next friday, i'll get braver. i'm looking forward to a year of exploring this project.

you can check out the first round of s.p. images by several others here... some who were more brave than i... some who, like me, went with a more mysterious approach.

if i crack it open, i just might find some quiet there... and i might even reach page two hundred and ninety-nine

post updated 1.17.12 to participate in today's...

so i saw a photo similar to the above shot that i took
while i was on pinterest the other day,

and i thought to myself,

"i really want to take a photo like that."

so i did.

i honestly like the one i saw better.

but i like mine, too.

they are different in their own way.

but very similar, as well.

anyway, it was the vintage book in the original photo

that had me searching my book shelves for one of my own.

sometimes i am tempted to buy vintage books
solely for how charming they look

and how they might transform

a table or shelf...

or even an entire room.

but if i did that, i would have more useless clutter than i need

or already have.

so when i buy vintage books,

i try to purchase ones that are actually about

something that truly interests me...

something i would read,

whether the pages were old and perfectly worn or not...

whether or not the cover was frayed

or skin oils from hands that held it had seeped in to give it that oily sheen.

this is one such book.

it's about the life of franz schubert... my favorite composer.

i bought it so long ago,

and except for a couple skim-throughs,

i've not yet read it.

i'm so glad i sought it out and picked it up for this photo.

now, it's no longer out-of-sight, out-of-mind.

and now,

in my efforts to create a new level of quiet in my life.

i think i'll read this book

in place of any time i would have spent watching television.

being the music-lover that i am
and the kind of person that is more stimulated by film than i am by books,
i'm tempted to just listen to some schubert
or watch a documentary about him instead.
but neither of those are sans sound.
and because the one thing about reading that has always appealed to me
{even though i've never been a big reader}
is that it seems to provide a sense of quietness and focus and relaxation,
i am going to force myself to read about him, instead.

at my college graduation ceremony,

the president of the college
{who was also the commencement speaker}

gave this admonition to the graduates...

"always be part-way through a good book."

i think he meant always be in the middle of reading something,

or in other words, be constantly reading books, one after another.

i have not done that.

but {sadly} i've fulfilled his suggestion in another way.

you see, i've started so many books,

only to never finish them.

{i'm just not a reader.}

so i am {pathetically} always in the middle of a good book.

and when i say "middle", i mean way towards the front.

and when i say "always"... well, you get what i'm driving at.

i don't finish what i start when it comes to books.

i recall that in the past,

i have made "read more" one of my resolutions.

but it never really took.

maybe now, though, it will happen...

as a byproduct of seeking quiet out.

wish me luck.

approximately 300 pages isn't too lofty a goal, right?

what about you?

got any books you're planning to read this year?

ghostly

 

if you know me well, you know i am not a very big fan of halloween. don't get me wrong... i used to live for october 31st when i was a little squirt. i couldn't wait to get my hands on bucket-loads of free candy... enough to last me through the next spring! {i can't believe i still have all my teeth.} and i'm not even opposed {for the most part} to dressing up for costume parties {although i don't think i have been to one of those since high school}.

but if i had to give up a holiday or two, halloween would definitely be at the top of my list. i just can't see celebrating things that are dark or creepy or scary or even downright sinister {which is what it seems like a lot of the grown-up halloween festivities have come to be about}. i don't think we are supposed to think about such things. so i'm just not a fan.

that said, every once in a while, i happen to take photos that turn out very ethereal or ghost-like... and those, i am a fan of. most of the time, they are just "oops" photos {like the one above, which was taken at a summer barbeque... i was trying to take a photo of two of mr. b's friends, and the camera did not focus. i love how they look... almost extraterrestrial-esque}. i've been wanting to use this photo somehow in a post for a while. i figured today is as good of a day as any.

then there are the images that i purposefully try to give an ethereal vibe to... like this one:

remember this from last february when i was pregnant?... a self-portrait i took on one of the only days i dressed up throughout the entire pregnancy... after i got home from a wedding. because the camera was on a timer, i thought i'd play around with movement and intended to take a photo that showed that movement. but i had no idea it would look so ghost-like, too.

here is another oops photo i took of my sister a few years ago. this time, instead of the subject moving, it was the camera/photographer that moved. i loved the resulting effect!

these are all so different from each other, but all have an almost eery feel. so, as i said, though i am not really celebrating or acknowledging today's holiday {except for putting isaac in an adorable little bee outfit... i'll try to post some pics of him in it later this week}, i figured today was as good a day as any to post these photos... if not better.

anyway, i guess this isn't really an update... there's just not much new "stuff" to update on. but i thought i'd pop in anyway. i hope you have a great day, holiday or not. may it be filled with lots of treats, and no tricks.

forty things i enjoy taking pictures of

up until just a little while ago, i didn't even know what my list would be today.

so i decided to look at my written notes on ideas for my thirty days of forty list posts. because it's late, i tried to pick a subject that would be quick and easy to do, and it so happens that the best one that would fit that description also goes perfectly with my picture inspiration assignment for the week.

we were to photograph legs... that's right. legs! our own legs, someone else's legs... even chair legs, if we wanted.

so... since it's just me and isaac home all day, i did just that. i photographed his legs and mine. the next two shots were what i submitted... as far as new photos go.

but when i went to submit those two photos to picture inspiration, i remembered some other "legs" photos i have taken in the past, and went in search of them so that i could submit them as well {even though you're really only supposed to submit new photos}.

here are the others i submitted {the old shots}.

it got me thinking, "wow, i must really like to take photos of legs... more than i realized." and now you'll see why this theme goes well with the list subject i chose... "forty things i enjoy photographing". "legs" might not have even made it on the list, if this picture inspiration assignment had not made me realize i've taken several before, which made me realize i really like to!

anyway... here is the list. you already know what no. 1 will be.

1. legs
2. flowers
3. people
4. people laughing
5. isaac
6. mr. b.
7. my friends
8. myself {i enjoy and dislike this one at the same time... i'm not a fan of myself in photos, but i try to force myself to be creative with this subject of self portraits.}
9. clouds
10. trees
11. trains
12. power lines
13. the sea
14. windows
15. small things {with a macro setting}
16. birds
17. vintage things {like old suitcases}
18. streets
19. fall colors
20. paths
21. interiors
22. jewelry & clothing
23. food
24. eyes
25. people jumping
26. hands
27. lights
28. signs
29. messages
30. dishes
31. roadsides
32. insects
33. sunsets
34. the moon
35. books
36. records
37. my husband's guitars
38. mirrors and decorative glass
39. little glass figurines
40. chairs

there you have it. i'm pretty sure many of my photography friends also enjoy taking pictures of several things in this list. i don't claim originality here in my list. i just claim variety.

what are your favorite things to photograph?

if you like taking pictures as much as i do, chances are, you will have taken one {or more} today of at least one item i listed. if not yet, i'm sure you will soon. and when you do, i hope you have fun with it like i try to. until i can get back to some of those things, i'll be resting here with my feet up, enjoying the day!

see you soon with another list!

we have a winner!

so it's time to say goodbye to my most recent blog banner {above}

and hello to a new, fresh, springier banner/photo

that represents change and new birth!...

after all, baby-b will be here in two and a half months... at the most.

so, thanks to all of you who voted and helped me decide,

the winner of the spring 2011 blog banner choice

for this photography blog is #2!

...with a pretty overwhelming number of votes

compared to what #1 got.

as i commented on my own post {the one where i asked you to vote},

i was leaning toward #2 if i had to choose on my own.

but i wanted to see what the consensus was out there, too.

i think the comment that clinched it for me

was from tidbits and treasures, who said this...

"i like #2—i think because of the extra depth

the out-of-focus background flowers give the composition"

i agreed!

so, #2 it is!

i really like the yellow flower image, too.

but i like it by itself more than as a photo for my blog banner with text.

thanks to all who voted!

and to kamana's point/comment...
{"2 for me. but i like your current one better!"}...

thank you for saying that.
i really love the "current" {now previous} banner, too.

and it was difficult for me to change it...

for a couple reasons...

one, because it represented this pregnancy,

which i still have ten weeks to go on.

but also, because it was one of the most meaningful banners i have ever had.

but i still just felt the need for a change.

plus, my belly looks absolutely NOTHING like that eight-weeks pregnant self-portrait belly did.

anyway, thanks again, for all the comments and nice things said...

about both photos/banners.

and just so the yellow flower does not feel left out...

i thought i would reuse/repost it

in conjunction with spring colors week 2011

{which, as usual, i am late to the game on}.

i found out about it from merideth on shutter sisters.

she posted her green monday shot last tuesday

and prompted us to post a yellow tuesday shot that day.

i did not get around to it or any of the other colors until thursday,

but better late than never, right?

so, out of order, here are my spring color week shots...

yellow tuesday

{and this time, the yellow won, as it is my favorite of the five color photos for the week.}

green monday

pink wednesday

lavender thursday

white friday

happy {white} friday!

happy spring colors week!