Photos of the week

1/18/10
The purpose of this photograph was to capture the essence of elegance portrayed by an extra dining room chair up against the wall under the painting. Anyone who watches any type of design show on television has seen the unused chairs up against the wall by a piece of art. I guess had I been a magazine photographer, I would have spotted the outlet in the photo and hid it by positioning the chair leg in front of it. Lesson learned :)


1/19/10
I thought it might be interesting to try and capture the precarious position of the pup's toys. They are stacked in our log rack by the fireplace. Brody loves to go in there and raid the toys.

1/20/10
I knew what I wanted to photograph this day, but never took the time to actually take the picture.

1/21/10
Earlier during the day one of my AP students was telling me how many books she had on her bookshelf. It got me thinking that perhaps an angled shot that captured the different sizes, would be interesting. This would a shelf of one of my many bookcases throughout the house.


1/22/10
No photography ideas this night, so I took a photo of the norm that is seen in my kitchen each night-stacked dishes.I liked how the light was bouncing off them casting a shadow. Do you see them?

1/23/10
Yesterday was my favorite photography day this past week. I just couldn't choose one photograph to share with you, so I'll leave you with several favorite captured moments of this gorgeous day.




Hopefully my photography has inspired you to pick up your camera and not only capture those special moments, but everyday life as well.
See you next week!

Week in Review

Now that school is back in session, between teaching during the day and then virtually at night, I just can't find the time to upload my photos each day as I did over our break. So, I'll be posting them as a week in review.
1/10/10

A picture of my favorite room in the house, my studio.
1/11/10

I had read somewhere that if you wanted to pick up the curvature of something to find the straight line and use that as the edge of your photo. I did that here, but I'm not too sure how successful it was in relaying the curve of my storage unit. What do you think, can you tell?
1/12/10
Sadly enough, by the time I realized I hadn't taken a picture on this day it was the next morning. I think from now on, I'll grab my camera as soon as I arrive home from school so I don't get sidetracked and forget.
1/13/10

Again, trying to pick up the shape of an object. This is my ab machine and the curves are really defined, which is what I was after in my image.
Here is another shot I thought may work.

1/14/10

Keeping the same theme: shape. This is on my dining room table. It is a glass container that I fill with potpourri. My focus again was the shape of the glass container, imagine my surprise when I first saw how beautiful the flower looked in this shot. I just love it!
1/15/10


These were my beautiful tulips right before their petals began to fall on my table. I saw how gorgeous they looked with the light coming in from the window that I couldn't resist snapping these. I couldn't choose just one to share with you, so I've posted them both for your enjoyment.
1/16/10
As I was grabbing my camera yesterday, I spied this in my line of vision. Any guesses as to what these are?

1/17/10
Today it's actually warmer and sunny outside, so I decided to venture out for my photography. Since all the pups wanted to go out as well, I found this on my side yard in my husband's pile of scraps from his shop.

The bent metal caught my eye; I find it to be very interesting.

That's it for this week's photos in review. I hope you're still picking up your camera and capturing that shot which could become a memory of a lifetime.

Beforehand I was covering the shivering baby with blankies (old towels) while in his "bedroom" (pen).

I couldn't pass up this adorable photo opportunity, what a cute little face he has with those soulful eyes.

January 10

My ds's Beagle, Brody, does not respond well to this cold weather we are experiencing, so being the great "grammy" I bought the poor, cold baby a sweater. What a chore that turned out to be since I had no idea how much the boy weighed. I turned to another patron at PetsMart who happened to have her little pooch donning a sweater very close to the one I had in my hand. She assured me it would fit him, so the purchase was made. Here he is in all his warm, cozy glory sporting his new duds.

Happy Day! January 5th photo lost, but now is found.

I was uploading recently taken photos and realized the "lost" photos were still on my camera :)

Here is the original photo from January 5, 2010.
I have so much ribbon that I thought taking a photo from a different angle would hopefully be a fun look.

Is that frost in Central Florida?

I woke to this on the ground; a rare sight here in the Southern State. I was playing around with my aperature seeing how I could capture the shadow of our orange tree on the fence. I think this photo turned out quite well.

I can't believe this!

I inadvertently deleted my photo taken on January 5. I am using a new program on my computer and my finger slipped. DRATS! I really did take photos.
Here is my photo for January 6-this is something that is always seen on my desk.
Just a few books I've been utilizing to help plan my next semester at school.

January 4 Photo

Today's photography goal was to not only capture the texture of the piece, but the upward curve and tassles. This ties back the shower curtains in my main bathroom. I just love the richness of the color and the texture of the rope. I wanted more natural lighting so the rich browns wouldn't be washed out by the harsh light.

January 3 Photo

Today many shots were taken, more than I anticipated, but the one photo I was trying to learn how to take is this one. This is a portion of one of our pieces of art in the dining room, and I was trying to capture the texture as well as the different heights of the colored pieces.
Okay, I just can't resist sharing with you this fave photo I took of my girl this afternoon. She was in the backyard with my husband playing with the frisbee. Believe it or not, this shot was taken through my window pane in my dining room.


Sorry, I couldn't just choose one; she's just too darn cute.
Tomorrow I'm headed into another smaller room in the house hoping to capture that perfect shot.

January 2 Photo

Believe it or not, it was cool enough last night in Central Florida for a fire. I tried to capture the flames coming off the log. I have been shooting in manual mode in hope of learning more about the capabilities of my camera.

365 Photo

Jaunary 1, 2010 Photo

This is the year I am carving out the time to accomplish those "Oh, I'll do that sometime" things I've always thought I'd get to, but never have. I've had my Canon Rebel xTi for more years than I'd like to admit, and this is the year I will learn more about the capabilities of both camera as well as photographer. I am passionate about sharing my view of the world through my camera lens, thus my 2010 goal to take a photo a day.

My photo to springboard my idea is one of my fave subjects, my pooch Sasha. Here she is in all her beauty perched on their "doggy" sofa as she guards her domain.

My Word for 2010

I was visiting another scrapbookers blog and came across this idea that was originated by Ali Edwards.
I've decided "Enjoy" is the perfect way to define
what I need to actively do more of this New Year. Just a few ideas for my word:
Enjoy knowing that perhaps I really am teaching my freshman "Something" this school year.
Enjoy the time dh and I have right now, who knows what the future economy will bring.
Enjoy the peaceful times knowing that in years to come there will be noisy, but adorable, grandchildren filling the rooms with nonstop chatter and laughter.
Enjoy the extra love given to me by Brody, ds's pup who currently resides with us.
Enjoy the commraderie shared on ScrappinMojo.
Enjoy the learning process by taking a photograph each day.
Enjoy the individuality of all those I come in contact with each day.
Enjoy my love of writing by taking the time to begin again this year.
Just enjoy daily life by slowing down and marveling in the wonder of it all.

If you'd like to read more about this concept visit Eli's blog at aliedwards.typepad.com.

I hope I've inspired you to come up with your own word for 2010.

Teenagers

You've definitely been one, and maybe you've even raised or are raising one-who are these hormonal creatures we share not only our space with but our roads? They want to be independent, treated as adults, yet they teeter back and forth between adolescents and adulthood within seconds. How do we help our teenagers get through these awkward years unscathed? I haven't discovered a way, except to be there for them to pick them up when they fall, dust them off and encourage them to continue moving forward.

Scrapbooking the Day away

I've finally decided to put the school work down and do what I enjoy the most-scrapbooking. My afternoon has been spent playing along with my members at We're having our annual Fall Festival online crop this weekend. How fun to have our mojo members come up with fast scraps/challenges and games to join in on our crop. If you haven't been over to the site before, head on over and play with us tomorrow from 10-4 EST. There's something going on every hour. See you there!

Hitting my head against the wall

Have you ever had a day when no matter how hard or many ways you try, you just can't get your point across? This happened today with my freshman. I spent all class period, 80 mins., trying to teach them this grammar concept. How many different ways can one teach a concept, I mean really? After modeling three different ways to figure out how to obtain the answer, I ran out of ideas. Here's hoping at least half of my 33 students understood today's lesson. Guess I'll find out tomorrow when we grade their work. You ever have a day like this?

Which Are You?

Call me a prude or old-fashioned, but I think everyone should Always be on time. If you say you're going to arrive at a certain time, please show up a few minutes early or be exactly on time, but this arriving almost an hour past the witching hour drives me absolutely crazy!
So which are you? Are you like me and arrive a few minutes early, or are you one of them that is always late?

"New"

This is the first word chosen for a photography challenge I've decided to begin with two other aspiring photographers.

My interpretation of "New"

A newly turned leaf which we rarely see here in the deep south.



My son's dog Brody, who has adapted a "new" behavior. He has learned to just ignore the camera instead of walking toward it as he did when he first came to live with us.

Ultimately the Decision is Mine

Any educator can relate. Should I or not? There is always so much to do: plan, grade, grade and grade some more. This is MY day off from work, but I know I must share my time even though it's forced.
The decision is mine or is it? I can't help seeing those 60 some odd faces of my AP students wondering what they scored on their last timed write.
So NO, the decision is NOT ultimately MINE.
Who says educators have it "Easy"?

A Year in the Making

The money exchanged hands so long ago, but the anticipation has been building as the time drew near. An excited buzz filled the air as the release date got closer. Screen shots were shared, talk of new trailers and strategies flowed through the fiber optics.
Once the actual day arrived, hundreds of fans swarmed the shops anxiously awaiting the witching hour.
I'm sure many households were abuzz with excitement last night and into the wee hours of the dawn as mine was. My guys (my husband and son) were playing until 4 AM and amazingly are up again this morning at 8 AM ready to play this phenom they lovingly refer to as COD Modern Warfare 2.

What's the Purpose?

What is the purpose of you writing on a blog? Do you hope to attract a plethora of blog followers? Who would make up that group of followers?

I posed this very question on my sbing site and most of my members said to offer prizes on my blog, but wouldn't that only attract a certain group of people? And honestly, if you've scrapbooked for any length of time, you've experienced the shopping euphoria where all is well in your world because you've just purchased the newest releases. So then I ask, "Why would you want more "stuff" when you already have so much already?"

Not only am I an avid scrapbooker, but I enjoy writing and photography as well. So wouldn't I want these people to follow my blog too?

After asking myself these questions, I came up with the following answers in terms to my own personal blog and why people would follow it:

I think people who follow certain blogs:
*enjoy your style of writing
*can relate your experiences to their own lifes
*hope to learn something in relation to their own hobbies
*just want to be entertained

Through the reading of my blog I hope my audience gain a few laughs, learn a few new things, view situations from a different perspective and learn not to take life too seriously.

Ask yourself this question and see what answer you come up with. Who would you like to follow your blog? What is "your" purpose for keeping a blog?