Day 20

This one was hard for me. I have quite a few pictures that I have taken and I adore. Over Spring Break this year we went to see some of our best friends in Arizona. On the trip back we decided to stop at White Sands because our kids had never seen it. I was SICK!!!! Super sick, the kind of sick where you walk 5 feet and then cough for an hour and nearly pass out. But I decided to be a trooper and I wanted pictures of my kids playing. They ran off and left me though so I walked slowly and took some fun pics anyway. This one is probably the coolest thing ever! 

Day 20 - Fave Photo You've Ever Taken

I love how my foot prints look raised instead of being impressions. Just the right sunlight at the right time and I got lucky with a cell phone camera. No filters, no cropping - just luck. 

I did this in the first place because of a picture I took back in college when I was in a photography class. I had taken pictures of my footprints in freshly fallen snow with an old 35mm. I know I have the picture somewhere but I can't find it. My plan is to do it in mud too and then have all three framed and hang it in my future house in the mudroom...the present house is tiny and has no mudroom ;)

Of course I have a lot of favorites, I think those of us who seem to be passionate about all manor of things tend to have a lot of favorites. This is just the one I am choosing for today.

Day 19

Story of my life!

Day 19 - Imperfect

Laundry everywhere...constantly!

Day 18

This is where I think I might be crazy. I had always just done this and never thought it was weird until I actually had to type the words...

Anyway, this is 

Day 18 - Something We Don't Know About You

I have my books on the shelf chronologically by publishing date, and by author. I also had dust jackets on all of them...yes I am a geek. After I typed those words when I posted to Instagram I thought it sounded a tad creepy. I went to my room and started taking off the dust jackets and restyling the shelves. I can't go completely the opposite direction with this and I have too many books for my shelves to be technically "beautifully styled" but hey...they are BOOK shelves right? They are supposed to hold books ;)

Sorry about the light flare...these shelves are on either side of a window seat in our master bedroom and it's difficult to photograph them during the day. After doing all the restyling I was told that because nothing was alphabetical that no one would've known about my sickness because the shelves didn't "look" like I was OCD...oh well ;)

Day 17

Day 17 - In Your Bag

My bag is usually horribly messy and has receipts, gum wrappers, and a few hair bands tossed in. Luckily though, I had just cleaned it out. I also have this obsession with orange tic tacs...it's probably like my sickness with puffy Cheetos or maybe I just have a thing for orange stuff who knows!

Day 16

We didn't go to any stores or do anything particularly interesting today as far as shops and scenery go, but we did spend time with family over the weekend. This is my husband's aunt's backyard. To me it was the perfect 

Day 16 - Out and About

They have a great backyard and it's awesome to sit in and just relax. That was much needed!

Day 15

I cheated a little. Yesterday while I was at my parents I happened to look ahead because my mother seems interested in what I am taking pictures of for the challenge. I saw that it was yellow and had to take pictures while I was there. I like yellow...my husband does NOT, so as a result of that we don't really have any yellow in our home. My mother LOVES yellow. Her entire master bedroom and bathroom are done in shades of yellow, gray, cream, and rich dark woods. My mother also has a love of glass and dishes, a love that I share intensely! She has some gorgeous pieces and a few of my favorites are yellow.

My mother has 6 of these glasses and a pitcher that matches. Vintage of course, she got them in the late 60's and has had them my whole life! She uses 2 of these glasses in her master bath and they are fabulous

Day 14

When the week seems longer than you ever expected you sometimes count down the minutes until you're off work. It was one of those weeks people, and this was Thursday! Friday's aren't usually too bad though so I was excited that today's challenge was 

Time

My living room clock the second I was off work! I was excited, can you tell?

This is my other favorite thing to do with time in our house. This is my daughter's hourglass given to her by her great Aunt Vicky. We use it almost daily to time what Jade is doing. However, it's not flowing as freely anymore and occasionally gets stuck! She loves it though so it isn't going anywhere for a long while!

Day 13

Day 13 ~ Art

I painted these walls in our small hallway a few years ago and I just adore them. To me, stuff like this is art.

An Escher that my brother gave me hangs above my kitchen sink and makes me smile when I have to stand there for hours doing dishes.

The collection I have put together over our sofa in the living room. A large portrait of our children walking at sunset in the autumn, a DIY photo letters plaque I made, a wood mounted version of Van Gogh's Almond Blossoms that I adore and received as a gift, and 2 small canvases that were painted by my Grandfather's brother of their house and their school house. 

Day 12

Day 12 ~ From a Low Angle

The majestic Slate - our gorgeous Great Dane, just waiting for his prize in the kitchen. Yes, he is very big!

Day 11

My children are taking swim lessons this summer and are having a ball! The entry to the pool is just so cool looking to me so I had to use it for my

Day 11 ~ Door

I also have to throw in some cute little pics of the kiddos swimming ;)

Both kids up and under the water 

My poor sweet Dylan did so good for being so terrified of the water!

Jade is a fish! She loves it so so much and does better swimming under the water than above. I also adore all these fun iPhone photography apps. I find this one particularly fun with my kids and their activities!

Days 8, 9, & 10

Sometimes children, projects, and just life in general get in the way of my blogging. So, because of that, today I am blogging a TON of things. I did manage to stay on track and actually take my pictures on the appropriate days...but blogging them as well seemed to just slip past me.

Day 8 ~ Six O'Clock

My Father's watch and a couple of my mother's rings. I get a little sentimental sometimes just looking at how they have things in their house. It's a good home and feels like home to many and that is the greatest joy to me. You know me and those 'little things' They are my favorite!

Day 9 ~ Your View Today

In my father's workshop

He's working on a kitchen

And I'm working on a drawer. I will have a full blog on this piece in the future...maybe 2, because it's a ridiculous story! But, the workshop was my view for 6 hours that day...

Day 10

As I've mentioned before, my mother is one of the greatest cooks ever!!! The best part of this weekend was the Sunday family lunch with them. It was amazing!

Day 7

Drink

Ahhh, chocolate whey protein...mid morning snack of champions. I thought about taking pictures of pretty glasses filled with lemonade or yummy coffee in a vintage mug, but the reality of it is I drink this stuff daily in an effort to be healthier...it's part of my life. I also love that you can see piles of laundry stacked up on my couch reflected in the lamp base - more reality ;)

Day 6

Today is a favorite of mine. I LOVE hats! I love wearing them myself, my daughter was made for hats or hats were made for her, and I just love the whole idea of another accessory. This one is special because my husband bought it when he was in Ireland. He never wears it because he's more of a baseball cap kind of guy, but he lets me wear it and I love this hat. I felt that it deserved more than one little picture. 

Hat

Day 5

Today was appropriate for me. Before I even knew about the photo challenge I had made an appointment to come here. It was awesome that today the assignment was:

Sign

I love the letters and the colors in this sign. It's bold and fun!

Day 4

Simple and sweet today. One of my favorite things of Jade's is her crystal crown my mother gave her when she turned 5.

Close - Up

Day 2...and 3

Some days you just don't have the time to breathe, much less blog. I'm on the backside of another dance recital weekend for my daughter so now I can breathe. It's always a crazy time and pretty stressful...I can't even begin to imagine how mothers with more than one child in dance or a child that is in more than one performance do it! I applaud those of you that do, I'm exhausted. Never the less, I did manage a quick trip to the gym on Saturday in between shows. 

As you can see, I pretty much had the place to myself. It was perfect for my day number 2 of the photo challenge.

Empty

As for Day 3, no one in the world makes Sunday lunch like my mother. It is always followed by some sort of fabulous dessert. Whether it's rich and decadent or simply fresh fruit with fresh whipped cream, it's incredible. So day 3 is "in my bowl" instead of 

On Your Plate

Most definitely worth the picture!

June Photo Challenge

It's my first photo challenge! I'm excited, I have always wanted to do this but I don't have a fancy camera or anything, though I do have a little fund going for one. I thought that because of my lack of a decent camera that my pictures would be lacking or lesser in some fashion. However, with the help of Instagram and a few other lovely little iPhone apps I feel that I might finally be in the running ;)

I found out about this particular challenge through a couple of fantastic people I follow on Instagram who do this all the time. They are much more fabulous than I am at both finding awesome things to take pictures of and taking the pictures...but hey I aspire!

Morning

Enjoy!