NOLA

I'm back in New Orleans for work this week. It's hot and muggy and rainy and sunny all at the same time.

I just love the architecture and style of this city. I had the opportunity to take a co worker around the French quarter for the first time and see their reaction. It was like reliving my first trip.

Here are some pics for your enjoyment.

Project 365 - March!

Third month of Project 365 down! I am enjoying this so much and am so thankful for all the wonderful photos I've taken as a result of this project.

Here are my photos for March:



There's no start or stop time for this project - if the mood strikes you - start taking pictures too! You can post to flickr or the 365 project website. I'm doing both!

I'm looking forward to more - I'm a quarter of the way to 365!

Thank you!

Thank you to everyone who voted for my pictures on the Ravelry site for the Homespun Yarn party!




My yarn photo came in 2nd place and will be made into a card and available at the event! Yay!! I hope to see you all there!


In other photo news - I finished the second month of my Project 365!



It is definitely getting harder to find things to take pictures of. I am so ready for spring and the flowers and the trees and the birds! ha! There's only so many things in my house I can photograph! Maybe winter wasn't the best choice of start dates! Oh well - at least the hardest part will be over! I just noticed that February was a very red/orange/yellow month for me... don't you think? It's cool to see all the photos together like this.

Also - to update you on my Olympic knitting - no I didn't finish my sweater! But I am very close. I have about half a sleeve to go. I blame not finishing on having to rip out about 4 inches of my sweater body due to the fact the yarn I was trying to add didn't match the weight of the previous yarn at all and looked BAD. That's what I get for trying to use yarn I've spun over the last two years! Consistency was not part of the equation when I stated spinning these skeins. Live and learn! But I am close and pictures will soon follow.

Homespun Yarn Party photo contest!

Hey guys! I have some photos up for a vote for the Homespun Yarn party photo contest.

Take a peek and vote for your favs.... mine of course!


Click here to vote for the best yarn photo:





Click here to vote for the best fiber photo:





Click here to vote for the best Animal photo:



Thanks and hope to see you all there!

Week 2 of Project 365

I am still enjoying Project 365 on Flickr. Here are the last week's shots.



I have a feeling winter was not the best season to try to start this! I am running out of ideas already and the outside is not as inspiring as it usually is in the spring or summer. This is causing me to get creative though! I am taking a ton more than one picture a day and just picking my fav. I hope you like this installment.

More snow!

But this time it's managable and beautiful!

We woke up to this winter wonderful this morning!



The dogs had fun... Hurley thinks the entire outside is a giant ice cube - just for him!



Bailey just likes to root around and sniff - acheiving this lovely white beard :)



I love how my daisy pods looks covered in snow - just like little white hats!



Perfect weather to enjoy my new tea kettle!



I bought myself a new green tea kettle and I love it! I was hoping to get one for Christmas but I didn't - so I treated myself to one yesterday. Gotta love green tea! hehe

Seeing in new ways

Doing Project 365 has been very inspiring to me so far. I am thinking about photography everywhere I go. I carry my little camera with me in my purse at all times (no - not my giant Nikon - my little Nikon Coolpix) just in case something cool appears.

As I wander through my day - I have been taking little snapshots of my surrounds. I ate lunch on Tuesday at this cute little Thai place and it resulted in these:

Yummy spicy soup!




And these cool statues on the wall:



Another day after work - I was leaving the building and looked up to see this amazing sky and light on the flags outside my building - a site I've probably walked by "unseeing" daily for 5 years!



I was eating gummy bears when I thought - hey! these would make a cool picture! So I took one:



And how can I not take a picture of my two best guys when they look so cute!





So - my eyes have been opened in a way to the beauty around me. It's been hard to pick just one photo a day for this project but even my "rejects" give me a smile.

Turkish Delight!

I got wonderful mail today! I ordered a Turkish handwoven bath towel a few months ago and it got lost in the mail once, and then the wonderful vendor resent another one. I got it today! I am in love :)




She even sent a lovely bar of soap. I wish you could smell it throught the picture, it's wonderful!

AND I love the evil eye bead too! Did you know that in the Turkish and Greek culture these evil eyes are meant to ward off bad luck?



It was definitley worth the wait. I want to take another shower now!

If you too want this luxurious linen Peshtemal towel - you can buy it from Turkish Bath etsy shop.

Project 365

With the new year comes reflections of the past and wishes for the future. This new year I have two goals.

1. Get healthy!! I joined a new gym in December that is VERY close to my house. I also signed up for a personal trainer once a week. I have found that when I have an appointment to keep I WILL show up. That means at least once a week I will have a tough workout. I hope to go 3 other times each week. That is my goal at least. I've been sick since my birthday - so I haven't made it that many times but hopefully once I feel better I will!!

2. Take a picture every day. I signed up for Project 365 on flickr. The group pool is here if you are interested in what everyone is up to. This is a group where you post a picture that you took every day for an entire year. I've been wantint to do this for a while, and I figured what better day to start than January 1! I will try to post once a week on this blog and share the pictures I took last week. I only have 4 to show so far - but I will try to keep it going all year. Hopefully this will improve my photography and make me more aware of my surroundings. One major challenge is the fact that I have to go to work and often get home when it's already dark! I may have to get creative with my homemade light booth! ... or gasp! Get up early and take some in the morning.

Here are my first 4 photographs of the year.

Hamden lights hon!

Some friends and I went to Hamden in north Baltimore to see the famous 34th street lights. If you've never heard of Hamden of the lights - read this.

Thank goodness we went BEFORE the snow!

The entire street takes part in this tradition.



There's a Natty Bo themed house... can't get more B'more than that!




and a hub cap christmas tree!


Inside this house were even more crazy metal creations!



Yes - those are bras!

I had fun trying out some new photo techniques too!

Here's a holiday light bokeh... or two...






And some swirly pictures that I just love!







I got the idea for the swirly light effect from this article.

Hope everyone is having a great week!

Historic Huguenot Street Photoessay

The Monday after Rhinebeck we visited Historic Huguenot Street in New Paltz, New York. It was about 30 minutes north of Fishkill where we stayed.


Many of the original stone houses still remain from the 1700s. I love this house - it actually looks like a face to me. do you see how the chimney is the nose...



Jolene enjoyed peeping in all the windows:





There was this crazy contraption attached to a well... I wonder how it works:





I think the flowers were a bit confused!



Loved this fire hydrant...



Huguenot street was right on the Wallkill River:






I loved the old cemetary:






There were very old tombstones dating back to the 1700s






The leaves were amazing and we took full advantage of them for our pics :)





Here we are being silly...







After walking around the historical sections of New Paltz, we walked around the cute main street in town: