Sometimes something sweet is the only thing to cure a severe case of the Monday blues.
I had to have not one, but 2 of these sweet treats to get my through this day.
So today I am grateful for the coffee mecca Starbucks and their little red cup of joy.
What are you grateful for today?
How are you doing checking all those gifts off the holiday list? Have you started yet? I am proud to report I’ve started for this year but am no where near being done! Hopefully I can make your gift giving a bit easier this season with my weekly suggestions from now until the holidays.
Last week you might remember I featured mini albums from Memolio. And if you’re quick you still have some time to enter to win a free one!
This week I want to introduce you to one my favorite places on the web! Have you ever stopped by to see The Pioneer Woman, Ree Drummond? If you have not you really need to get over there right away!! (but not until you’re done reading this post of course…) I originally stumbled upon her website because of her simple to understand photography tutorials. And her photography editing actions for Photoshop. And her photography, period.
She is definitely a photography inspiration!
But, that is not all she has on her website.
She also cooks!
And Ree recently published the most amazing cookbook I have ever purchased.
Just like her photography tutorials, her cooking tutorials are easy to understand. Easy to prepare. Step by step. With vibrant pictures!
For someone like me who hates to cook (and hates to bake even more), this definitely gives me inspiration and hope.
Today I am thinking about whipping up some homemade salsa.
And maybe some guacamole too.
And definitely some Migas! Yum!
Is your mouth watering yet? This would be the perfect gift for any at home chef. The experienced cook will love Ree’s easy recipes and beautiful photographs. The novice cook will enjoy having the step by step illustrated directions.
Another perk of this book? The insights and musings into Ree’s life moving from single city girl to wife of a rancher in the country. All with beautiful full color photos.
If you have not checked out the Pioneer Woman website I HIGHLY reccommend you head on over there. And you if think this book would be the perfect gift for someone in your life you can easily pick one up at Amazon.com (today it’s only $14.55!)
Happy shopping!
Today The Calmer and I played aunt, uncle, and babysitter to Alexander. It was a gorgeous seasonably warm November day which made it the perfect opportunity to get outside. And of course my camera came along for the excursion.
Today I have a lot to be grateful for.
The beauty of nature.
The childhood imagination.
And laughter.
We laughed a lot today. ♥
I hope you have as much to be grateful for today as we do. Don’t forget to share your gratitude and you could win your own memolio mini album of photos next week.
I never intended to turn November into the month of gratitude. It just sort of happened and it feels right. November is the right month for appreciation. Don’t you think?
Gratitude just sort of fell from the sky into my lap this week.
Have I mentioned that I am loving working with textures as of late?!Today I joined the 30 days of gratitude group on flickr. A photography project where I’ll be posting a photo a day on flickr for the month of November of the things I am most grateful for. Don’t worry I won’t post them here everyday. The daily bloggings will be coming to an end after today. I think. I’ve just been so inspired this week I’ve wanted to share it all with you! I hope you don’t mind!
But I digress…back to gratitude.
Today I am grateful for you, my blog readers. And so is Memolio. Remember them? They sell these cute little brag book albums with your images!
Memolio and I are so grateful for you as a matter of fact that they are partnering with me to reward 5 of my lucky blog readers! I am totally loving that I get to have a contest to show my gratitude for you and I hope you’ll enter.
Now on to the most important question.
What do you get?
The 5 winners will each receive a gift certificate to create their own memolio album of 24 of their images FOR FREE! All the winners will have to do is visit their site, upload 24 images, tweak the layout, and voila! memolio will ship the winners their album speedy quick (maybe even in time for Thanksgiving!)
How do you Enter?
I think its pretty easy, and you can increase your chances by following the simple steps below.
To Enter:
Good luck! I can’t wait to see who you want to create these little album gems for. Comments will be closed next Wednesday November 11th and winners will be announced next Friday November 13th right here on the blog so stay tuned!
November is the perfect month to celebrate gratitude. Which is exactly what Shutter Sisters is doing this month via their One Word Project. They have teamed up with Memolio and an organization called Epic Change for their Tweetsgiving. You can find more information about that exciting collaboration here.
I have decided to celebrate gratitude along with them this month.
I am grateful for a lot today.
Yesterday I had coffee with 2 of my favorite ladies.
And this baby.
Meet Danny. Isn’t he just the happiest, cutest, I want to pinch your cheeks baby EVER?
And this baby’s mom is a totally amazing woman.
Just trust me on this one. Sharon is truly amazing. And she’s an even more amazing mom.
You might also remember these guys from not too long ago.
They were there too. Keeping busy as you can see.
Lexi is another fantastically amazing woman. And her son Alexander is super cute. And super smart!
He is only 3 (almost 4, but who’s counting?) and he LOVES puzzles. And he’s good at them. REALLY good. Even ones with 100 pieces. Go Alexander!!
And he’s so proud when he finishes one!
Lexi, Sharon and I have been friends for over 15 years. Yep, 15. Time has sent us in many different directions. We’ve each had our share of joys, successes, sorrows. And no matter where the wind blows us we have always been there for each other. In person. On the phone. Via email. Flickr. Twitter. We’ve stayed in touch. We’ve laughed. We’ve cried. We’ve been silly. And the common thread that binds us?
Coffee.
Starbucks Coffee.
Somehow all roads always lead us back to our regular coffee dates. Where we can talk and talk and talk. About anyone. And anything. Our date last night was a long time coming. It had been over 3 years since our last Starbucks gathering. Alexander was the size of baby Danny at our last meeting! But this date was just like the others. It felt so right. And so relaxed. And so needed. I am so glad to have these amazing ladies (and their amazing children) in my life.
That is why I am grateful today.
What are you grateful for?
Kindness Meditation
May you be healthy and happy;
may you be peaceful, prosperous and well;
may you be free from inner and outer harm;
may you overcome difficulity with grace, courage, and determinantion;
may you love and be loved.
~Unknown~
Happy November! Can you believe it?
I surely cannot.
In my world, November = the official start of the holiday season. It’s time for the mad dash to Christmas. The weather is getting colder. Parties to attend. Decorations to hang.
And gifts to buy.
I don’t know about you but I’m always struggling meticulous with gift giving. I want to find the perfect present for everyone. And I always wait until the last minute. ALWAYS.
Sooooo, in order to hopefully make your holidays (and mine!) a little less stressful I am going to be offering weekly gift giving suggestions. All reasonably priced and with a photography twist of course!
Today I am going to introduce you to a really cool website called memolio.
I stumbled upon this gem of a website a few weeks ago. Based in the Netherlands they have adopted a new way of photo sharing. A memolio contains 24 business card sized images printed on durable plastic and bound together into a cute little book. Each memolio costs about $23 (US currency).
I decided to put memolio to the test and printed 2 books.
My favorite color images
My favorite black and white images
My first concern with the site was that these babies were being printed and shipped form the Netherlands. No worries though. They came within a week of my order! I was very impressed with the level of customer service and the quick turnaround time.
My second concern was with the image quality. Unfortunately, the printing really is not professional grade. There was some color bleeding. Not a huge distraction though.
I give the memolio high marks for it’s compact size. They’d make amazing brag books for weddings, children, vacations, events. The possibilities are endless.
So go check out memolio now and get creating! I’d love to see what you come up with so stop back by here and share if you decide to try it out.
Thank to those of you who expressed your support as I muddled through a rough week. I am feeling much better for those of you keeping track. And really, who can be sad on Halloween? It’s such a fun holiday!
I am currently having a love affair with textured photos. At first the idea of texturing a photo seemed so complicated. A long process. One not to mess with. But then I discovered Ishtexture on flickr. And suddenly I wanted to know how to add texture! If you have a basic knowledge of Photoshop it really isn’t too hard. I even have a link to a little tutorial to get you started if you want a new obsession like me!
I love ishkamina’s textures because she has many fun ones to play with.
Ones that sparkle.
And shine.
They are sure to brighten anyone’s day!
So here’s a little sparkle and shine on this Halloween.
I hope yours is as bright and hopeful as mine!
The buzz around Shutter Sisters this week has been all about positive self talk. Feeling alive. Feeling empowered. I am trying. I really am.
But sometimes pain and the hurting just feel right. So if you don’t mind I am going to mourn for a bit today.
This week I miss her. A lot.
Have you ever gotten that raw mind numbing feeling? Where you’re just going through the motions but not really all quite there. Where every little negative comment or statement seems to set you off into an angry tirade or a bawling mess? Where your rational mind is thrown out the window?
That’s me this week.
Longing for her. Wishing for the pain to end. Waiting.
Maybe its the weather. It’s been rainy. And gray. The seasons are changing. You can feel it. You can smell it. You can see it.
I feel a lot like the trees this week.
Stripped.
Delicate.
Raw.
Hopefully the sun comes out soon so I can be lifted out of this funk. It’s been an exhausting week.
The answer to the question “What’s cookin'” 9 times out of 10 in our house is nothing. Cooking isn’t really my style. I much more enjoy choosing the lazy convenient route of a local restaurant where someone will do the work in the kitchen for me. It’s not that I can’t cook, I just hate the amount of shopping, dishes, and leftovers that are involved when there are only 2 of us in the house.
If anyone wants to come over for dinner I will gladly cook for any/all of you! I love finding and making new recipes but only when there are more then 2 people to share the final product with. And I am pretty darn good at cooking. Just don’t ask me to bake. That’s a whole other story entirely!
But I digress….
Unfortunately the theme for this week’s Best Shot Monday is “What’s Cookin'” and since there was absolutely no cooking or domestic activities going on here tonight I had to take a different interpretation on the theme besides the obvious. This evening in my house what I have cooking is a relaxing night on the couch with my favorite Calmer and 2 furbabies.
Last week I had the pleasure of introducing you to my beautiful boy Vincent through the eyes of my Lensbaby. This week, meet Ebony, through my amazing 35mm/1.8 portrait lens. She’s a pro at cooking up a relaxing evening with the rest of us.
