Mini-Me

(f1.8, 1/160, ISO 500, OCF camera left)

The first thing that came to mind when I read the subject for this "mission" was my husband and son. Cameron loves, loves, loves his dada. He tries to shadow him in so many ways- from the way he laughs to what he's wearing that day. I also have Cameron sitting in Ryan's shadow. It doesn't count as a people shot if it's not of their face, right?? LOL!

{CC}

Someday I'll Be Prompt

TRADITION

My family is Awesome. We are a bit Crazy. When you get the bunch of us together.... you might want to have a camera ready, you never know what will happen! I am not sure how this tradition started, but somewhere a long the line a crazy relative who had a pair of super ugly chartreuse socks and decided that someone else should have them. So, they got passed as a gift. That person decided that someone else should enjoy the loveliness of the socks, so they got passed again. Then someone went to Goodwill, found a matching ugly cardigan and added it to the things to pass around. Then my grandma gave me this ugly purse, and it started making it's rounds too.
To me this is just a really fun tradition. This tradition been going around our family for over a decade.
Right now I have in my possession this lovely purse. I am deciding who needs it next. What is the most fun about this: Nobody knows who has what, until you actually get it! It's wonderful to open something so ugly and full of love!


SHADOW

My little sweet Maggie is a total shadow. She is a mimic of everyone, especially her sister. If Alli is being silly, then Maggie is being silly. If Alli is upset by something I said, Maggie is upset at me because I made Alli upset. If Alli is exploring and causing mischief, so is Maggie.
She is so much fun to watch and observe. My hope is that when she's a teenager (and when she's an adult too), she'll shadow good virtuous women, full of faith and love.

A Kiss

Well I have actually been trying to stay away from photoshop (not that I don't like it, but I've just been trying to learn my camera well enough to just take great photos), But with the Theme for today I couldn't help myself! I instantly thought of Peter Pan. And this might not be what was meant by shadow, but it was still fun for me! Kennen loved playing with her shadow while I took some snapshots. I got lucky today, we usually don't have much chance for shadows around here, (there isn't much sun in WA).
(CC)

Catching Up: Self-Portrait, Comfort, Dream, and Tradition

So I just joined this week and already I'm behind. I told Rachel that I probably won't be able to do all of the challenges in a timely manner, but I'll try my best to keep up. I had to cheat just a little bit. I took all of the pictures, but I didn't take them all this week. Some of the pictures are taken with my Nikon S3 (the best point and shoot) and others with the Nikon D90 (that my husband got me for Christmas and I am still trying to figure it out). Here goes:

Self Portrait



This was such a hard picture for me to take. Not just because I don't like pictures of myself, but also because it is really hard to take a picture of yourself. I ended up taking it with a self-timer on my point and shoot. Can I just say that I felt like a psycho sitting in my back yard smiling at a camera with no else around? The lighting was horrible.

My Comfort

This is my kittie Ani. She is the cuddliest little cat and before my husband moved in, she was my constant companion. Even now, when Rod is away for work, she comes and cuddles with me. It is a huge comfort. I like this picture because the red ribbon around Ani ties in with the red flowers behind her. I also like that you can see the detail in her whiskers.

Day Dreaming

My dream is to spend my days traveling. Because I didn't have any trips this week, you will have to settle for a picture from one of my last trips. I like this photo (even though it is a little dark), because the the fog lifting and the overcast sky add mystery to an already mysterious location.

(Non) Traditional

Most of my traditions center around holidays and annual parties, none of which were happening this week. Instead, I took a picture of my husband's latest meal (mussels and oysters). Growing up my family was very set in traditional gender roles. The women (me and my stepmom) cooked and cleaned, and the men (my dad and brothers) took out the trash and mowed the lawn. I always hated that my mom, who also worked full time, had to come home and make everyone dinner too. It didn't seem fair. So when I met Rod, I was amazed that he not only knows how to cook (really well), but he enjoys it. He also doesn't mind doing the dishes or cleaning. Again, this picture is not the best, but as you can see in the background, everyone was waiting to eat.

CHALLENGE: Shadow

TOUGH CHALLENGES THIS WEEK??? I don't know about you, but I am loving it! Since my mom is here, I let her give her input and this is the word she chose. Fun, huh?

So, let's see what you have! As usual, let's have pictures posted by SUNDAY NIGHT at midnight (I will be on top of it this time!!)

What does this word mean to you? Let's see you push yourself and really experiment!!

OH, and one more note of business--with the labels--it's a pretty easy once you get the hang of it. I know we have had some stray words in there, so I will clarify how it works just in case anyone isn't sure.

Each time you post, you should put a label that says your name (ONLY your name) and then another label for the challenge (ie...tradition, self-portrait, etc.)

So, for example, on my post this week it should say:
Rachel, Shadow

Make sense?

K--now let's get those creative juices flowing and see what you can come up with this week!!

Tradition

I really struggled with this post.(my excuse for being late) Most of our traditions we so are holiday related. I tried to take some other pictures of some other little traditions we do, but these pictures kept coming back to me. They were both taken in December. Had, I known what I know now with my camera I think they would have turned out alittle better. I couldn't decide between the two pictures so you get both. :)

Tradition 1. This a new tradition. This year we took the kids on the Polar Express on the Grand Canyon Railway. They had so much fun, and even Cris and I enjoyed it. So this will be our new tradition to go with them every year. I love this photo mainly because of the magic and excitement that is in it.

This is a tradition that we have done for the past 3 years. This is Winkle, our elf that visits every year starting Dec. 1st and leaves Christmas Eve. He reports back to Santa every night and tells him weather or not the kids were good that day. Sometimes he even brings the kids a small toy or goodies back from Santa. And he also brings them their Christmas jammies on the 1st so they can wear them throughout the month. If you want to learn more about him go to this link, http://crisandleannmossfamily.blogspot.com/search?q=winkle .

The kids love this tradition the most!!!

CC

Tradition--game style

Shanda and I were definitely thinking along the same lines! I took this yesterday afternoon but didn't have time to put it on until this morning. I am sorry I am officially breaking the mission 24 rule and posting late! My mom is in town and we were busy busy yesterday with the kids during the day, and stayed up WAYYYY too late sewing. But I took it!! :)

My family is loves to play games. For the first couple years my husband and I were married we had the tradition of giving each other a new game for every gift-giving holiday--Valentines Day, birthdays, Christmas, etc. We have a great collection now and love to pull them out and play.

And I love the part of the Hi-Ho Cherry-O box that says "When it's time for us, nothing else matters." So true...

Game Night!

Anytime my family gets together, be it Holiday or other, we have a game night. We like to stay up until late playing cards, or dominoes. I have 10 siblings, and it's rare that we ALL get together at one time, but if we ever do, you can bet we have a big game of Shang-hi going on.

This was a hard picture for me to get taken, because I haven't been feeling that well and I am behind in school, but I managed none the less. It's by far my LEAST great looking picture, and I wasn't able to touch it up any in photoshop because my photoshop isn't working right now, but oh well. it gets across the point I wanted to make, and I like the composition of it. I wanted to have aces, and kings and queens...but sadly, my little girl has hid most our cards we do have...I was able to scrounge up these ones. So they will have to do...at least there is ONE queen in there.

CC

Ice Cream Anyone?

OK, sorry there is not much to this picture but TRADITION turned out to be a hard one for me. Although I do like the curvature on it and the way "Rocky Road" is the only thing in complete focus. In my family growing up, we always had ice cream in the freezer. There were eight kids so it was usually the big buckets of ice cream. And still to this day you cannot go to my parents house without being offered a bowl of ice cream. All the grandkids know that this is the grandma and grandpa's house with ice cream. I was shocked when I got married and my husbands family rarely had ice cream. So apparently it is a Smith tradition and like a good girl, it's one that I will be carrying on!

CC

Don't Forget the Love!

I love to bake -- probably too much! My girls have been helping me since they were big enough to sit next to me on the counter... and they always add their special ingredient. The LOVE! Their sweet little fingers have wiggled over every cookie, cake and pie adding in our traditional ingredient that makes all the difference. Even my hubby plays along, telling them, "Wow! I can tell you put extra love in this batch!"

This is my sweet Caroline. I went with black and white with this one because the colors were just too crazy and distracting from what I wanted to show.

CC

Read-a-holic's Welcome!

I had to do my thinking and pondering about this BEFORE checking all of your posts for this topic because I didn't want to be swayed.

I thought a lot about things our individual families have done for traditions that we have continued, but none of those things felt right. Also, many of our traditions focus around holidays; I wanted something more generalized.

Then, I realized that one of our most treasured traditions is something I hadn't thought of because we do it so often.

My husband and I read to each other out loud. He does great voices, I don't fare too bad myself.

Since we have been married we have read approximately 80 books out loud together. In addition, each of us has read books personally. There is no question as to where our 2 1/2 year old gets the propensity to sit on the couch and pore over books!

This is a picture of just the books I could scrounge up that we own that have been laying around the house, so there are no where near the number of books there that we've read.

Also, the books are arranged on our bed, which is our favorite place to read, and, as a side 'tradition', there are generations of quilters in my family, and I pieced the quilt they sit on.


CC

Self-Portrait

Hello Everyone, I'm Candace, I did my first post yesterday, before my self-portrait, but only because I hadn't yet had enough time to squeeze in actually applying some make-up and making myself picture ready!
A bit about myself... I am twenty-nine...for another 44 days, but who's counting? I hate to admit, but leaving my twenties is scaring me a bit. I have two beautiful children, Emma, who is four, and Noah, who is eight months old. I was a sixth grade english teacher before my children were born, but now I'm very lucky to have my dream job... a stay-at-home mom. I wouldn't trade this time watching my children grow and blossom for anything in the world.
My husband got me a Nikon D60 for mother's day last year, four days before my baby boy was born, and ever since then, I've taken about 10,000 pictures of my children and photography has become a passion of mine, but I'm definitely not a "photographer", just a girl who really likes taking great pictures! I know very little about the settings on my camera, I use the auto mode entirely too often, but I'm actively trying to wean myself from it and learn more and more each day. I'm really hoping through completing these challenges and getting feedback from each of you that I will become more proficient in using my awesome camera!
Also, I hope you don't mind, but I'm really enjoying visiting each of your personal blogs after I read the comments that you've left for feedback on my posts here, so if you get the occasional, or even frequent comment from me, don't be surprised! :)

Breaking Tradition

My husband comes from a long line of lousy fathers. I've never met my father-in-law, and probably never will. But my husband and his brothers are breaking that "tradition." They are all fiercely dedicated family men, and I'm grateful for their examples and ability to rise above the past.

Traditional Kokeshi Doll

When my family lived in Japan several years ago (my father was in the Air Force), my parents encouraged us to enjoy the culture of the area. The Japanese are rich with culture and tradition! We visited the Big Buddha, we attended ice festivals and salmon festivals and snow festivals and all sorts of festivals, we visited Tokyo, we ate Japanese foods in Japanese restaurants and from street vendors, and we basically had a wonderful time there. We also collected quite a few souvenirs. I have a scroll doll, a Morioka Horse, health balls, and this traditional Kokeshi doll. I chose her for my picture because she's so pretty, and I love all the intricate little details. My mom has an entire collection of these darling little dolls.

Monday Night Reading

(f 1.8, 1/250, ISO 500, OCF w/ SB800 camera left)

One of our traditions is reading This book every Monday night. This book (and tradition) was passed down from my husband's family. I also choose a vintage type processing for this reason.

I had my oldest son sit on his bed holding the book on his lap. The room was completely dark- off camera flash was the only lighting. I had his feet in most of the pictures but because of my wide aperture they were out of focus. They were too distracting from the main point of the picture so I cropped them out. If I had to do a redo I would stop my Ap down so they would have been in focus. I also had to manual focus because I had no light.

{CC}

Nemesis

My scale has traditionally been my number one nemesis. I dreaded seeing what number would pop up next. But lately that has changed. I started working out in earnest right after Halloween. The last time I worked out regularly was over three years ago and I got sidetracked after we moved. Now that my son is 2, he's able to go to the drop-in care at the gym with no problems (before I was at the mercy of whoever happened to be working). I found an exercise class that I absolutely love (yay jazzercise!) and yoga is now offered on the alternating days. I've been trying to focus for the past 10 months or so on eating well. I avoid red meat for the most part and I try to eat fruits/vegetables at every meal. Now, I'm not very successful, but I do try. Since November, I've lost 26 pounds. Some of that weight loss can be attributed to stress from my personal issues, but I'm determined to keep it up. I feel so great after I attend class. I've made some new friends and I've gotten out of my comfort zone.

So, as you can tell, I need a pedicure. Hubby gave me gift certs for Christmas for one and I haven't gotten around to it yet. I debated on posting the one with my weight illuminated in bright blue on the screen and decided it was a little TMI. Plus, I kind of like that you can see my reflection a bit in the screen... CC

Musical Traditions

This is my violin. It was my life in high school and it was what led me to meet my now husband when I got to college. I was concert master and he was principal viola. Music is a big part of our family. Niether of us play as much as we used to but we hope to be able to pass our love of music on to our children. It's something that is important to us and something we want to make a tradition as each of our children gets older.

As a picture, I turned off all of the lights in the room so that my not so pretty black blanket would disappear in the background. I'm not a pro by any means- lights on, lights off- that is my technique so far. Thanks to you guys though, I hope to keep getting better.

CC

Tradition of Faith

I took my camera with me today, hoping I'd see something that said "tradition" to me. When I saw the sun shining on the temple, and the gorgeous blue sky, I stopped the car!

This picture means tradition to me for a couple of reasons. First of all, it used to be a tabernacle built in the early 1900s. It has been here for a century, as a gathering place for the saints in this area. I think historical buildings and places are full of traditions. Also, it reminded me of a talk by Elder Uchtdorf a few conferences ago when he spoke about a tradition of faith... the faith passed down to us from our ancestors. I have many examples of faith in my life, from ancestors who came from England for the church, and lost children along the way, to my grandparents who have served four missions all over the world. I am truly blessed to have such steadfast examples in my life, and I hope to continue the tradition of faith in my family for generations to come.

CC

Let's Pretty Up!

My older daughter and I spend some time nearly every morning, doing her hair cute, painting nails, playing with my own makeup, or just dressing up. I wouldn't have called it a tradition a few months ago, but both she and I look forward to this time when I put her little sister, Lizzie, with her own toys and Evie and I have our own time. I really enjoy the things we do together, these pretty things, especially. This particular tradition, of doing her hair, became more important to me last month, when she got a haircut. (Read: butchered her hair with a pair pair of scissors TWO times within two weeks.) I felt like I needed to try harder to make her look girly, though she's cute no matter what. I love spending the time with her, and she loves to tell me what to do, like what color ponytail or which bow or how many we use. I hope to continue this with Lizzie one day (like when she HAS hair) and it can be each girls' own, mommy-daughter time.

CC

Toon! Toon!

That's what little Ava says EVERY, SINGLE MORNING as we walk downstairs together... she needs her morning Car"toon" Fix-- it's like a drug! And let's be honest here, it's MY DRUG of choice too; one and a half hours of solid, blissful Me-Time to brush teeth, make breakfast, check emails/blogs, make morning calls, and maybe, just maybe, get dressed!

Now, I am WELL-AWARE that this is more of a morning routine- but I chose this particular "tradition" because of the actual MOVIES. My hubby and I are movie-lovers and when we got pregnant, we decided to make a TRADITION of buying a movie for this little unborn person every month along the way... we then extended the tradition to her first 6 months too... then 8, then 10... you understand! We've just barely started slowing down (since by the time she's 5 years old she'll have 70 movies... and that's just wrong!)

This is what I imagine Ava sees when she looks up at her collection, taps her chin with her little finger and says, "Hmmmmmm...." like it's some heartbreaking decision every time (even though we all know she'll pick Little Mermaid or Lady and the Tramp... she's fixated!)

Tradition: Beautification

I read this challenge and was completely stumped. The only things I could think of are more routines than they are traditions. Then I found I needed to take a picture of something for my personal blog, and realized it would be (or could be) perfect for "tradition."


I cross-stitched this for my daughter's nursery. I bought the kit around 18 months ago, and it inspired the theme for her entire nursery. For months, I searched for a simple black square frame that would fit it without being too big. Finally, I found one. It was still big enough that I needed a matte. I didn't want to pay for a custom size one, though. So I stewed over it for a few weeks. Finally, I realized that I could make one myself by gluing cardstock to a cereal box, and that's exactly what I did.

I use this for "tradition" because women have long had a tradition of creativity and beautification in their homes and lives.

About the picture itself: this isn't in the nursery. When I finally put up the rest of the decor in Julie's room, I will have my husband hang this on the wall then. It will go against a bright lime green wall. In the meantime, this picture is taken in my living room. I love the color of my living room walls, but they always look really weird in photos. Sometimes tan, sometimes green, sometimes mauve. Because there is glass in the frame, I had to try several angles to get good lighting and exposure without getting my reflection in the glass (or the reflection of everything else in the room). I finally set up a giant cardboard box to block reflections but still allow good, natural light.

CC

Baby Pictures

Hi, I'm Candace. I just joined this awesome group yesterday and I've yet to post my self-portrait, but I wanted to go ahead and complete this challenge.

My current favorite tradition is monthly baby pictures. This picture is of my 8 month old son, Noah. He's our second child and with our first child, Emma, we did monthly pictures with her to document her monthly growth and changes, so of course, this tradition has continued with our precious new son. We have these pictures organized into great oval frames (one per child-- it documents the whole first year). These frames were the first things I purchased for each child upon learning of my new pregnancy, so they are very special to us and will always hold great meaning for our family.

I'm so excited to be a member of this group and I look forward to learning from and getting to know each of you!

Pledge Allegiance...

Okay first I want to tell you why I chose this as my tradition. This morning I was thinking about what I could do, and I decided that I didn't want to do a tradition that was so personal to just me, but could be for everyone. And then I went to hang my flag outside and that's when it hit! The Pledge of Allegiance!!! A Tradition that is dying! Why would we do that, this tradition has been passed down for generations. I learned it in school, said every morning before starting class. And now I don't even think it is allowed (correct me if I'm wrong!) I do know one thing and that is... its a tradition that I will be passing on to my children!

And now, on to the picture. I took this in the morning sun. It was great light for the bright colors. I laid down on my porch and zoomed way in on the portrait setting, and no flash. I know that isn't saying much in camera speech, but I'm slowly learning! Sorry to go all Red, White and Blue on you!!

CC

Junk.

{18 mm, f 3.5, 1/400 s, ISO 1600)

I know this isn't the most awesome photo, but I like it for some reason. The darkening around the edges is not post processed- it is exactly as it was when I shot it, which I like. The only post processing I did is in photo shop, opened a curves layer and raised the RGB up a little from the center, which lightened the photo because it was a little dark. You can do that in LightRoom and photoshop elements as far as I know, so give it a try! :)

So the story behind this photo. I come from a LONG line of junk collectors. Both of my great grandmothers passed away and the cleaning process following both their passing was unbelievable. Junk, junk, junk. Some of it had absolutely no meaning, but it was mixed in with the significant things. Looking back, I think I made a realization at that time that I want my home to be filled with "meaningful" rather than "what was she thinking"!

My grandmother is no exception-- this photo is a shot of her kitchen wall. The tip of the iceberg, if you will. The one bare spot in her whole kitchen is shown in the photo. A lifetime of acquiring has created a home stuffed to the gills with meaningless crap.

My mom, gratefully, is not as bad as my grandmother, or great grandmothers, but she still has way too many things. She knows this, she'd like to purge and get rid of the "stuff"... but what if she'll need something she's gotten rid of later, down the line?! Well, at least my mom is an awesome decorator and has made it work in her home so it is actually a cozy fun place to be rather than a cluttered display of junk.

I thought of the word "tradition" when I took this photo because it seems it's almost a tradition in my family to collect junk and keep it even when you don't need it. The train stops here, folks. All my life I have been drawn to the kitschy, crazy knick-knacks and I've collected up the wazoo. I have little doo-dads from yardsaling with my Grandma when I was 5... I've made it a goal to purge NOW, get rid of the junk I do not need, and anything I buy or acquire in the future will undergo a strict do-I-need-this check list. So I don't plan to eliminate all that is not necessary- there is something to be said for a functionless thing here and there, sometimes those little knick-knacks DO have meaning to us, and the fun and funky vintage decor is just awesome but there is a point where it is TOO MUCH STUFF! :)


ps. sorry this is so long... i'm a rambler as i'm sure you'll see in future challenges...

CC

Tradition-Family Pictures

 

We have one major tradition and that is we take a family picture every Thanksgiving, everyone dresses up, but this year we went for the more casual look. We try to find a different spot every year. There have been some years where the kids cannot all be there but this year we were very fortunate to all be together for Thanksgiving...so we found this park in Spokane with an awsome rock bar-b-q so this picture was taken on the opposite wall of the bar-b-q pit. It is fun to look back in scrapbooks to see how all the kids have changed thru the years. So this is the Cunningham family in all our glory!

Challenge: Tradition (and a few reminders)

This one might be kind of tough...but I am anxious to see what everyone comes up with! :)

Wednesday's Challenge is: TRADITION

What does this mean to you? How do YOU interpret the word?

Let's see what you've got! As always, let's aim for all your pictures to be submitted by THURSDAY at MIDNIGHT...

ALSO--we have had a lot of newbies this week!! WELCOME!!! If anyone HASN'T posted a self-portrait already, PLEASE DO SO!! Even though the challenge is technically over, we would all love to meet you and put names and faces together.

PLEASE REMEMBER A FEW THINGS:
-LABEL YOUR POSTS with your name and the challenge name!! This helps so we can sort through the massive amounts of posts we get going in here...which is wonderful!

-CC means the poster is open for critique on their picture.

-One more thing...I understand that commenting is not always possible ALL the time, but please be considerate in this department. I noticed it is a lot of the same small handful of people commenting over and over...but yet there are over 30 members of this group. Part of participating is giving feedback now and then to your fellow photograpers. Please keep this in mind.

Thanks everyone for contributing! This is so much more amazing than I ever could have imagined when I started!

DREAM - Sunny & Warm

Ok, so better late than never!! I had some technical difficulties with my computer/camera not wanting to work together and upload my pictures - but I DID have my picture taken and ready on time! :)

So this has been my dream the last few months - ok, longer than that - but REALLY the last few months. I want to get away SO bad and get away someplace that is warm and sunny (I live it UT - it's cold and snowy and I am tired of it! I HATE being cold!) and this picture (a pic taken of a pic from a calendar!) has it all - nice sandy beach, gorgeous blue water, and sun, sun, sun! For now it is just that - a DREAM, and though I know that it will not be reality for us any time this year, I will keep on dreaming of the day that it is!

Not a barbie...

Well I don't think this picture really screams Erin or what I like to do, but at least it looks like me! I heard about Mission 24 from a very good and long time friend (Shanda, great pictures). I actually know two childhood friends on this site, so it is great to see that we all still have something in common!
I am a happy wife and mother of three. I have two that are in diapers still and I fear that there will be no end to the diaper duty! My family are my usual guinea pigs for my pictures. I really enjoy photography, ever since I got my first camera in the 8th grade, yeah what a beauty! I don't have an extraordinary camera now but it gets what I want done! I'm using a Sony Alpha (Sony bought out manalta and this is the old manalta camera) I wouldn't say that I'm a photographer, I'm just a person that likes to take pictures!

Dream of Peace

When I was little all I wanted to do was be heroic, and do amazing things. Now I think maybe my son thinks the same thing when he puts on his super hero cape and zooms around the house saving his sisters! And how convenient that he was wearing his daddy's hat in this. Who I Dream of coming home safely, every time he leaves for his heroic duty!
I still have yet to do a self portrait, but I'm afraid its going to have to wait till after lunch time!

Portraits and Dreams

Hi, I'm Jenny, here in today's "self portrait," taken to display the scarf I just knitted. In a nutshell, I am an artist and a stay-at-home-soon-to-be-mother. I recently aquired a Nikon D-40 (thanks hubbie!), and would love to use this blog as a means for better understanding my camera and refining my photography skills (photography being a lifelong hobby of mine). I look forward to taking on these Mission 24 challenges and getting some feedback on my pictures!

And as it seems that "Dreams" is the latest challenge, I'll explain how this picture covers that as well. My biggest dream in life is to be a successful wife and mother, and in this picture I am 1 1/2 years happily married and 6 months pregnant, and thus am in the beginning stages of my dream journey. And with that, my mission on this blog has begun!

I'm still dreaming......

This photo represents a few dreams wrapped up in one.
1) I have a small apartment. My "scrapbooking room" is actually my dining area. Yep... This monster shelf is parked right next to my kitchen table. We usually don't eat at the kitchen table because it's always full of 'scrap-crap'. My dream is to get a nice big house with a room dedicated to my many hobbies.
2) My mother and I have talked for a quite a few years about opening a scrapbooking store/quilting store. My mom would do the quilting side and I would do the scrapbooking side. People with the passion of both hobbies will LOVE it! The only problem: She's in Idaho, I'm in Ohio. Some day it will happen. Just not today.
3) I dream of having un-interupted scrapbooking time. No kids, No husband. Just me, paper, and a nice book on tape (or friends would substitute nicely!).

LeAnn's Dream

This picture was taken on auto mode, and I took a bunch of different angles. They all looked like just snap shots. In this one I zoomed in to make it look a bit more visually pleasing. Not the best shot but it represents my dream.
This can actually represent 3 dreams that I have.
1. Procrastination.... I took this picture this morning. I wish all the time that I wasn't a procrastinator. Better late than never though. Right???
2. A new fence..... Oh, how I wish we could put in a new fence!!! I dream of a cinder block privacy one. But to be realistic, I live on a DOUBLE, CORNER lot. It's just way to much money for us right now. This fence is in shambles the trampoline has blow through it a couple of times, and has been nailed back together by my handyman of a husband. But it keeps the kids, and the dog in, and people out.
3. A garden....This is where I was suppose to plant my garden for the past 3 years, but the procrastination in to play. This year though, this year, I will make my dream come true!!!!
CC

Dream of the Future

OK, I'll be honest. I don't really want my child to grow up to be a doctor- Med school is HARD! And the hours are awful. I'd rather he become a dentist, great pay, great hours, less school. Regardless, I do dream of him being successful and happy. I dream that he will grow up to be a good man, just like his dad.

Sorry it's late, Sundays get crazy over here.

CC

Tina's dream

I love to make bags, and honestly I dream about them. So my dream is to become better and better at it! My other dream is to make my daughter a Easter dress and a cute bag to match! (to bad my daughter is only 15 months, she really wont appreciate the bag!)
Every time I create something out of fabric it makes me smile!

Sorry its late, I made this bag Saturday night instead of taking a picture of my dream I was creating it!

Shanda's Dream

Ok, so I have been sick and haven't had time to get out and take a picture, so I will have to do with one I took last week for my photo class. It's a night shot done with a Nikon N64 film camera (Hence the bad copy here...had to scan it into my computer, then add my signature) I took it at 10 at night, exposed it for 15 minutes, at F8 with a cable release.

I like how it turned out. I LOVE trains, because to me they signify GOING somewhere, and my dream is to someday travel the world. I love to travel. But I really want to go to Europe and take the train around from place to place...visit Ireland, Scotland, France, everywhere in Europe.

I am ALWAYS open to constructive criticism. The good and the bad. Always helps me be better.

A Wish Your Heart Makes

I had fun playing with this photo. I cropped it a bit and played around with the angles. These scriptures are the ones I had before I got married and I set my wedding ring on top of it. My husband and I are going through a really rough time right now and my dream is that things will manage to work themselves out. I've been counseled in various ways that I need to rely on the scriptures and to focus on having the Spirit.

I used my little Kodak point and shoot, no flash, dark room with just the lamp shining down. CC.

Dreaming of Spring

I am dreaming of Spring. I miss the warmth. So sorry this pic is blurry. I am trying to push myself into taking photos in manual mode and it is challenging for me. I took so many picture today and after all was said and done, I didn't like any of them. Anyway, I only chose this one because we have been in an inversion and haven't seen the sun for day and days. Tonight we had a nice little sunset. I think it would look so much better if the grass and trees were green though. Someday, I do want to be a photographer! Ultimately that is my dream!

My "dream big"

This is my son. He is my dream. I am always dreaming about how he will grow, what he'll do when he's older, what he is going to do next to make me laugh. I dream for the day when he will sleep through the night (ha, ha). I dream of the type of "big brother" he is going to be. I look at him and wonder what he will experience in life, and how much harder it may be for him then it was for me. I wonder what is in store for him and how he will handle those situations that may arise and confront him. He is my dream. There is a great song called Dream Big, and there is a line that says.... "Dream big, as big as the ocean. If you dream it will come true.... Dream Big!" How I dream that when he is older and can start carrying those dreams of his own that they will come true. Dream Big, my son!!!

Green Portals & Strokes

I've been behind on the topics, so this is a dual-purpose post.

I find both of these subjects (self-portrait and dream) to be very difficult. This is what I came up with tonight:



These are my eyes, and they are my most favorite feature. They are a green that is very different, and I love having something that is really just ME.

When I used the flash I looked VERY scary, so this picture is what I settled for tonight. (Anyone have any ideas for shaping eyebrows? I've never been confident in that area at all, and obviously need some work!) (And.... this is without any makeup. Sorta scary.)

I am a mother of two boys (2 1/2 years, 8 months), I work part-time, I love being in charge of things, I am have recently taken to exploring allrecipes.com to create different things for dinner, I am gearing up to move (dreading that!), and we are trying to make it with my husband laid off and finishing his last class in school before he gets his Horticulture degree. I feel like this great big hodge-podge of things, and I am excited for contributing to this blog.

And, this is my DREAM category picture:

I have a hard time quantifying my dreams. I just really don't do it. And I've never really had a problem with not dreaming much. Believe me, my husband does it enough for both of us. However, there are parts of me that want to reach out and LEARN or DO, and this is one of those things.

My grandmother was an accomplished oil painter, as were many of her relatives. She produced art that continues to amaze me. I have never felt very talented in this area, but I have never tried. When I was younger I found her painting kit and asked my Mom if I could try, and she got very upset at me. I don't think she realized I was serious, but it still really hurt my feelings. So, my dream is to take an oil painting class.

I hate to admit it, but these brushes are from a make-up kit. I don't even own a real paint brush.

I'm not really looking for criticism on these because I took them in all of, seriously, one minute, so it's just more FYI this time. Thanks for the previous comments, though!

Self Portrait.....

Okay, so this is me, Justin. Like everyone else, I really dislike these kind of pictures. So, a little about me. I am working full time at Mountian View Hospital. I am a Surgical Supply Tech. Basically, I get all the supplies in cases ready for the doctors to use during their surgery. It is a lot of fun, and busy work. On Friday's I do the scheduling for the surgeries, and am kind of the 'run-around' person when I'm not pulling the cases or scheduling. I really like what I do. I am also going to school. Right now, I am doing my pre-requisites for nursing school. I will be able to apply for the LPN program next May. I can't wait. It is so much fun to learn all the different areas that I will be going to go through in the program. I have been married to my wonderful wife for 3 years this year, and we have a little boy who is 15 months, and a second one (a girl) due in May. So, that is me. Busy, busy, busy. Can't wait for a moment to rest when my schooling is done.

Dream Big

My husband is a country boy, through and through, and he dreams of owning his own ranch someday. He even has smaller dreams... owning a horse, having a little bit of land, space... I dream of seeing him every single day looking like this, and being happy. We went for a drive yesterday, to get out of the city. We got out of the car for awhile, and Brandon stood there, listening to the silence... the silence we never hear anymore, living in the "city". (It's a little city, but it's a city, nonetheless!) Keep dreaming, love... don't give up. We'll get there someday.

CC

Dream machine

My sewing skills are meager--really. But to me, I absolutely LOVE to listen to the whir of the machine and feel the pedal beneath my foot. I love the piles of fabric, colors all mixed together...I feel so at peace.

Oh how I dream to be a talented seamstress...to have stacks of fabric and endless time to work on projects!

Star Light, Star Bright...

I dream of the day when my children can grow up in the country, as I did, and not a subdivision with covenants to follow. I look forward to the day when we will be able to move back to Texas and own not just a house like everyone else's, but our dream home in the country with acreage.

(This picture was taken on this last Wednesday after the Ice Storm passed. It is of the dairy farm in our little town. Don't you feel so sorry for the cows?)

Hey I'm...

(if you care... Nikon D300, ISO 1250, 18mm, f 2.5, 1/200 s, in a basically dark room directly in front of the south facing window... I like that kind of info, but I am a certified nerd!)

Hey! I'm Carly! I've had a lot of fun reading through this blog and I'm excited to be a part of it! (thanks Rachel!!)

I'm 22, I have a 15 month old little girl, Stella. I am a self-proclaimed music buff, I love all genres and am rarely without music playing in the background. I'm LDS and I love the gospel of Jesus Christ. And I love love food. Which has led to my new passion- weight loss (I say passion sarcastically!)
My husband and I just took a huge risk and left Eastern Idaho to bring my photography business to my hometown in Eastern Oregon. We're living with my parents for the time-being but it's all good. I have loved photography since I was a little kid and I've been doing portraiture for almost a year now. My website is carlycarlson.com, and my blog is blog.carlycarlson.com. As always, constructive criticism is welcome (and oh-so-helpful!) and I look forward to getting to know all of you awesome women!! (and men, if there are any!)
These challenges could not have come at a better time- I'm ready to be stretched creatively! Let's do this! :)

Keep Dreaming...

My dream is to have my OWN washer and dryer and not have to go down into our ghetto apartment's basement to use the coin-op. That's all I want out of life right now... ha.

This is not at all how I intended the picture to come out. I scouted out the lighting yesterday to find the perfect time of day when the sun beams were shining through the window. And then it was over-cast today, so the lighting was completely different than I'd planned. Grrrr... oh, well.

(CC)