Sunday, February 5, 2012

Day thirty-six - I love...sun photography

There's a rule out there somewhere...about shooting into the sun.  

I don't really like being told that I can't do something. Generally, when someone says, "you can't do that." I respond with, "watch me!"  

so...

Seattle - August 2007

Louisville - April 2011

Seattle - September 2010


Minot, ND - January 2011

Seattle - December 2010

Seattle - December 2010

Saturday, February 4, 2012

Day thirty-five - I love...birds

again, sorry Kaci.

here are a few of my favourites of the bird photographs I've taken:

Port Townsend, WA - June 2009


Cincinnati Zoo - August 2011

Mukilteo, WA - June 2009

Abilene, TX - April 2010

Abilene, TX - April 2010

Abilene, TX - April 2010

Abilene, TX - April 2010

Port Aransas, TX - March 2009

Friday, February 3, 2012

Day thirty-four - I love...close-ups

over the past several years, I have been honing my photography skills. bit by bit.

I've discovered three things about myself during these photo-taking sessions. wait...four. I've discovered four things about my photographic abilities.

1. I think I have some talent when it comes to taking close-up photos - and I don't use a macro.

2. I seem to have a strange penchant for bird photography (sorry Kaci.)

3. I love straight-into-the-sun shots - especially the sun bouncing off of the water.

4. and. I love laying on the ground next to very tall buildings and shooting straight up.

today...close-ups








also, I apparently like photographing the fungus.

more pictures tomorrow. Birds. Kaci, don't read this tomorrow.

Thursday, February 2, 2012

Day thirty-three - I love...surprise cake

I have been craving chocolate cake the last few days.

and this afternoon, my sweet Suzanne came back to the office with three slices of wonderful cake.

I said, "what kind of cake?"

"Italian Creme, (something else I can't remember) and Chocolate"

"Ooh. I would like the chocolate, please."

The thing is, it turned out to be even more spectacular that I first thought, because not only was it chocolate cake. it was chocolate cake with white chocolate cream cheese icing, a layer of dark chocolate ganache AND a lovely thin layer of raspberry puree jelly!

and lately, I have been completely obsessed with raspberry chocolate combinations. Bliss!

Suzanne is great! she brought me chocolate cake! (singing...a la Bill Cosby)

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Day thirty-two - I love...this reaction

This may be the cutest, sweetest, most adorable thing I've seen in a long time.

I'm sure there will be those who are incredibly annoyed by this, but this is my blog, my Things I Love, and today...I love this.

LOVE it. Lurve it. Louvre it!

Kristen Bell - Sloth

this is so damn precious.

and fyi...I would react the same way if someone brought me an African Elephant for the day. so there ya go.

Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Day thirty-one - I love...The Ballerina Project

I have loved dance since I was tiny.

I first started dancing when I was three. Hula. :) My mother and I both took Hula lessons.

I always loved dancing on stage...unless, of course, it was a song I hated and then I stood with my arms crossed stubbornly and refused to dance. shaking my head at my teacher who tried to get me to perfome "no. I don't LIKE this song!"

That only happened once.

When I was 8 I started taking ballet. I didn't like some of the disciplines, of course, I wanted to Pirouette and leap across the stage, I wanted to be lifted high into the air by my own personal Cavalier...but discipline is part of what makes a beautiful dancer, and so I practiced my positions and I listened carefully when my Ballet Mistress would instruct us through each move.

I wanted to be the perfect ballerina.

In junior high and high school I opted for dance in place of regular P.E. - I learned a little bit of jazz, and some modern dance. I collaborated with my classmates to choreograph our routines to be performed for recitals, school pep rally...and every time I stepped on stage I felt completely at home. 

we moved a few times before I graduated high school...dance was not offered in the small towns we moved to...dancing kind of slipped away from me over the years and turned into...holding my two toddler nieces in my arms while dancing to "Red, Red Wine" - holding my baby boy in my arms and dancing in the living room while Bob Marley sang from my radio - dancing barefoot under the stars at Iroquois Park while Victor Wooten played on stage...

and while it's still dancing...god do I miss the stage sometimes.

and I absolutely LOVE this...The Ballerina Project. because when I see these photos, my heart swoons and in my head I see myself dancing.  

Monday, January 30, 2012

Day thirty - I love...Trees

I have loved trees as far back as I can remember.

I was always climbing. I would climb tall trees and hang out in their upper branches, snuggled in among the leaves, watching the world go by below; hidden in my sevret place in the treetops. I climbed small trees and nestled in between the speading curves of their trunks.

Perhaps they assumed they got the best of me when I broke my arm at age 7. But really, I knew it was not the plum tree at fault, it was the silly bee who decided he wanted the same plum I wanted. and the fault of the ground...for meeting me at the wrong angle. The fault was not on the tree.

I used to have dreams that I lived in a tree. Not a tree house, but actually IN the tree.  the huge wide trunk was my door, and once opened, it led me down a flight of stairs and into the earth, where the roots wound around and formed a bed for me.

Trees are magical to me. breathing, loving entities. 

It's really no wonder that one of my favourite books is Shel Silverstein's The Giving Tree. it makes me weep a little every time I read it.
Me + T