Light Bright

Posted in House and Home, Photography by teamtradermom

Today I snuck out over lunch to run errands. Namely, buy new clothes that will get me through this interim stage where both maternity and pre-pregnancy clothes are unflattering. I’ve been putting it off because I didn’t want to spend money on items that I view as temporary (oh and they will be temporary!) but since I’m going back to the office next week, I need something to wear.

I think they frown on associates showing up naked. Or in jammies.

I was feeling a tad discouraged because everything I tried on made me look ginormous (or is it those damned dressing room lights and mirrors?). I left the store with a few pairs of jeans that will suffice for now and about 4 shirts…and some Weight Watchers meals.

Upon pulling in to my driveway I was struck by just how beautiful all the flowers in our yard look. For some reason they have really blossomed and popped over the last week and it almost took my breath away.

There were pops of pink and red and yellow jumping out at me, all against a background of luscious green.

I can in no way take credit for any of it either. I do not have a green thumb. My potted plants are lucky on the days I remember to water them. Fortunately we’ve had a rainy spring which has been the main contributor to our gorgeous garden.

I plan to enjoy it while it lasts because I’m sure as we get in to the real heat of summer, many will start to dry up and fade. But boy are they spectacular now!

Funny how the glory of nature can put things in to perspective and make a few pairs of jeans seem pretty silly.

Interested in reading more? Follow these links!

Summertime One Liners | Out with the Old | What I Will and Won’t Miss…

5May2012

Opportunities

Posted in Isabella/Munchkin, Photography by teamtradermom

I decided last night that I need to get back to walking on Saturdays and Sundays. I used to do it every weekend at our old house. Samson and I would rise and shine around 7 a.m. and hit the pavement. We got out of the habit when we moved though.

Well, no time like the present to start again!

Only, Samson can’t go with me for a while since he’s still recovering. Guess I’ll just have to go it alone!

Or at least, that was the plan.

I set my alarm for 6:30, in order to get up and going before Isabella. She usually rises around 7. I got up, dressed and was heading toward the stairs when I heard her talking. I now had 3 choices: 1) sneak away and let her wake up CJ, 2) get her up and skip my walk, or 3) take her with me.

I was tempted to do #1. It would be the easiest. But Ceige is recovering from some bug and he needed the extra sleep. Skipping the walk wasn’t an option as I need to increase my exercise. So, that left #3.

It turned out to be a great opportunity for some lovely mother/daughter time (and is another notch in my belt for wife of the year!).

I got the little one up, changed her diaper and tucked her in the stroller, along with some juice and a Scooby Doo Coloring Book (she’s really in to Scooby right now).

Instead of walking around our neighborhood, we wandered to the one behind us. I had never really explored that one before.

Look what we found around one bend.

A lake so quiet and smooth that it looked like a mirror.

Isabella took a break from reading Scooby to give me a big smile!

There was a walking trail around the lake so we hopped on it. The weather was perfect – warm (but not hot), no wind and very quiet.

Ah.

We walked down to the end and then came back down the other side.

This is the tree that you can see in the background of the first 2 pics.

Then we came upon a big grouping of bird feeders.

I don’t know if these are owned by the people in that house or if they’re part of the neighborhood. It’s a cool idea, though I wouldn’t want to live near them. Could get loud and messy as every one of them had a bird in it.

We also discovered this on our way out of the neighborhood.

Some sort of bridge. Not sure if it serves any purpose. You can’t walk across it. Kinda cool looking though.

There were lots of cool houses too, but I didn’t take pictures of those, you know, for the privacy of the owners.

We came home to some beautiful flowers outside our own house!

I just love this time of year!

We went inside and I made Isabella the cinnamon biscuits that I promised her last night. I made some caramel ones too.

They turned out yumm-o!

I’m so happy that I embraced the opportunity to share some special time with my sweet girl this morning. It’s those moments that are the ones we’ll remember forever.

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9Feb2012

Looking In

Posted in Isabella/Munchkin, You Capture by teamtradermom

Do you ever feel like you’re on the outside looking in? I hate that feeling. Always have. Some people don’t mind it. They don’t feel the need to be included in everything. They’re fine going on about their lives and letting others do the same.

I am not one of those people.

I love the abstractness of this photo. It was taken looking in to the kitchen from through the backdoor. I like how the darkness of my clothing allows you to see in to the kitchen on one side, yet the bright snow pops up on the other side, showing Isabella all dressed up and ready to play. The weird yellow bits in the middle are my Pittsburgh Steelers gloves!

In grade school I felt the need to be in every friendship bracelet making circle. In high school, I was devastated if not invited to a sleep over. In college if someone had a study group or party and didn’t invite me, my world was turned upside down.

That’s just how I roll.

When I first started at my current job 4 years ago, I was put at a desk that was sort of by itself, on the outside of the “pod”. I could hear everyone chit chatting and laughing but was not included. It’s not that they didn’t want to include or didn’t like me, they just didn’t think of it because I wasn’t sitting with them. Out of sight, out of mind.

I hated it. I always felt left out and alone. It took 2 years for me to be moved to a desk within the circle and that was a happy day. Suddenly I knew what was going on. I got the inside jokes and invited out to lunch.

I would much rather be on the inside than the outside.

And so would Samson.

Samson looking in the backdoor during the snow storm. I’m really happy with how the ice crystals are so clear and defined while his fuzzy head is, well, fuzzy.

Maybe I was a Labrador in another life?

As an added bonus, I’ll include some video I shot of Isabella dancing during the Super Bowl half time show. She was standing up in front of like 30 people bouncing away! She wasn’t “looking in” – she was seizing the moment! The other kiddos joined in too! I was so proud of her.

My heart grew 10 sizes.

* This post was linked up to the You Capture challenge.This week’s theme was “looking in”. Head on over to I Should be Folding Laundry to see some more great photography.

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Colorful

Posted in You Capture by teamtradermom

I love color. The more color, the better.

Pixie stick cupcake I made for a party this weekend.

There was a time in college, during my “artsy fartsy” phase when I lived in a black and white world. I wore a lot of neutral colors and my photographic eye only looked for shots that would work on black and white film, because that’s what we had to shoot in. But then I started shooting in color again and my eyes were opened. Color is everywhere and even the littlest things can be beautiful.

Fruit in the blender, ready to be made into a green monster smoothie.

In my weird mind, every color has a personality. Just like every month has a color. I think this comes from grade school. I remember teachers having bulletin boards up for each month and generally, each month had its own color.

January = light blue

February = pink or red (duh)

March = you’ll never guess…ok fine…green

April = pink or yellow

May = pink or green

June = navy blue

July = red/white/blue (color me shocked)

August = orange

September = royal blue

October = orange/black

November = brown

December = red or green

To this day, when I think of a month in my head, I assign a color to it according to the above chart.

Giant balls (heh), streamers and toilet paper flying at the end of the Blue Man Group show!

Color personalities are pretty universal too. Yellow = happy. Red = anger/jealousy/passion. Blue = sad/mellow. I actually consider this when getting dressed in the morning. If I’m in a crabby mood, I’ll pick a brighter, sunnier color hoping it’ll lift my spirits.

Unless I’m also having a fat day in which case black always wins. Always.

Coats hanging in the garage – love the lighting of this one!

My favorite color has always been blue. Not because I’m an inherently sad person but because it looks really good on me. As does red. Those have always been my go-to colors when buying clothes.

Isabella playing on the indoor playground at the mall.

Lately my house has been invaded with pink and purple, much to my dismay. I suppose that’s what happens when you have a little girl. I’ve tried my hardest not to surround her with “girly” colors. I for one have never been a fan of pink. Only recently have I added a few pink items to my wardrobe. I want Isabella to know that girls can wear any color they want! Boys too but let’s face it, it’s harder for a boy to pull off a pink shirt than it is for a girl to get away with a blue one.

Isabella in the car, just before a meltdown.

Sometimes, if I’m feeling lazy or blue (pun intended), I still gravitate back to dark or neutral colors. They feel safe. And easy. Color can be easy too though and it almost always lifts my spirits.

Especially if it comes in drink form.

Pink elephant drink from a girl’s night out on Monday!

* This post was written as part of the You Capture series.This week’s theme was “colorful”. Head on over to I Should be Folding Laundry to see some more “colorful” pics.

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Cold

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19Jan2012

Cold

Posted in You Capture by teamtradermom

I hate being cold. I hate the feeling of ice cold hands and frozen feet. Unfortunately, it’s all too common this time of year in Nebraska.

It never fails, no matter how many layers I wear, that when I climb in bed at night, my feet are solid blocks of ice. I have to tuck them under my legs to try and warm them up. My hands are always cold too. But then some magical mystery happens overnight and I become a furnace. I end up kicking my feet out from under the covers and turning on the fan. Strange.

I’m a cold-blooded person in general. You can find me at work in the summer wearing pants and sweaters/sweatshirts because the A/C is freezing me out. And I always bring a jacket to restaurants and move theatres.

Isabella is not cold-blooded. Just today she was running around the house in short sleeves and was totally fine.

The other night, however, after her bath I decided to trim up her hair while it was wet (which makes it much easier to cut). When I was finished, she proclaimed that her head was cold and she wanted to put her hat on.

She also said that she needed a cookie to warm up. I complied.

Hey, I totally get that logic.

In general, we’ve been spoiled with a nice winter so far for Nebraska. Not too many cold days and barely any snow. Fine by me! Over the weekend we all went to the zoo. It was in the 40’s and a decent day for it (and a family outing to cross off my goals list).

Still, Isabella insisted on wearing hat and gloves with her puffy vest. Plus the super cool sunglasses for good measure. No autographs people.

But our time was due and sure enough, we got snow Tuesday morning.

That’s the parking lot of the gym. I thought it looked pretty cool (Ha! no pun intended), all striated like a zebra. Still fairly untouched by blade or vehicle. But not cool enough for me to linger outside too long.

It wasn’t a lot of snow, but it was enough for me. The wind is what I hate. It blows right through you. And makes for a bad hair day.

The weather people are claiming it’ll be back in the 50’s by Sunday. I sure hope they’re right. I’m not ready for a full out, hard core Nebraska winter. I’ve had 35 years of it and that’s enough, thank you.

Why don’t I live in the South?

* This post was written as part of the You Capture series. Head on over to I Should be Folding Laundry to see some more great “cold” pics.