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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26Jan2012

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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3Jun2011

A Walk in the Park

Posted in Isabella/Munchkin, Photography, Work and Professional Life by teamtradermom

I didn’t have much time in my schedule today to get out for lunch. However, I had to get out of the office. The sun was shining and I had a 2 hour call looming ahead of me. The only way to get through it was with a Diet Coke and some vitamin D. So I ran out for a quick sandwich (roast beef and cheddar on an asiago bagel with veggie cream cheese. YUMMERS!) and decided to eat it in the park. I ate in my car because it was a bit windy and I didn’t want my napkins and stuff blowing everywhere.

This was the view from my car.

There was a group of ladies there wearing matching blue shirts that said VOLUNTEER on them. They were walking around picking up the trash. I wanted to tell them thank you but I didn’t. I thought it though.

As soon as I finished my sandwich, I headed out for a quick walk. It’s a small park so the walk took me only about 15 min (with many stops to take pictures).

There’s something very haunting to me about empty playground equipment. I actually did a whole series in college on it. One of my favorites.

I came upon a lot of fallen limbs. We’ve had many days of rain and storms and the poor trees can’t take it anymore!

The walk was nice and peaceful. The only people I ran in to were the volunteer litter ladies (hey they should get shirts that say THAT!). The sun was bright and it was warm but I enjoyed the fresh air.

There’s a nice little creek that runs through this park. It was much more full than I’ve ever seen it, thanks in part to all those storms.

There was also a lovely little bridge. It looked like it had recently been rebuilt because it was all bright and pristine. Almost too clean!

Overall the park was great, though there were some signs of wear and tear.

I was hot and sweaty by the end of my walk so the A/C felt amazing! I cranked it up baby! Then it was back to the office for meeting after meeting. I was ready to chill when I got home but Isabella wanted to go to the park so we loaded up the stroller and headed out!

She was looking sharp in her shades!

She had a lot of fun on the teeter totter. When we got home, she asked me for some juice so that she could “stay hydrated.” That’s my Little Genius!

Now I’m off to paint my toenails with the new nail polish I bought today (OPI’s “It’s Totally Fort Worth It”) while watching Sex and the City 2. I know, I know. I’ve heard bad things too but hey, they’re my girls so I have to watch it. So what if I’m a couple years behind….I also plan to polish off a banana split made with Bunny Tracks ice cream. Huzzah!

Have a great weekend!

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20Mar2011

Time to Shop!!

Posted in Blog Stuff, Photography by teamtradermom

I finally got all my artwork categorized, photographed, organized and put up on this blog!! I’m so excited to share it with all of you! Please check it out!

View all my artwork here or by clicking the “Art For Sale” tab in the header!

22Feb2011

You Capture: the letter “L”

Posted in You Capture by teamtradermom

The latest You Capture assignment was the letter “L”. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to take pictures of things that start with “L” or actually of the letter “L” itself. So I did both! Once I got in to it, I had a lot of fun. Believe it or not, there aren’t as many “L” words as you might think just lying around so I really had to keep my eyes open.

We’ll begin with pictures of the actual letter itself that I saw on everyday objects:

“Luck”

One of my co-workers had his last day at work and someone brought in a “good luck” banner. I liked the colors in it and this close crop made it really interesting.

“Luna”

My Luna bar (“Nutz over Chocolate” of course)! Again, I cropped it in tight to put the emphasis on the “L” and on the woman kneeling down. Ended up being a cool image though I wish I’d had better lighting.

“Lysol”

Everybody’s favorite germ killer! I’m glad no one was around the office the day I shot this one. The Lysol can is in the bathroom and it took a few shots to get it right. Had someone walked in, I would have looked really weird…

“Playtex”

I know, I know…that doesn’t start with the letter “L”. But it does have an ‘l’ in it and this particular font, and the way the “l” sits between the “p” and the “a”, was really interesting to me. Cropped in close like this it looks like eyes. Reminds me of an owl.

Now for the photos of “L” words in action.

“Lap”

Isabella sitting on Grandpa-pa’s (CJ’s dad) lap reading a book. She loves her books and she loves her Grandpa-pa!

“Laundry”

Would you believe me if I told you this wasn’t staged? Well it wasn’t. She threw a bunch of toys in the laundry basket, then climbed in herself and curled up with her puppy. I wish all laundry was this fun to pick up!

“Loll”

On our way home from her cousin’s birthday party, Isabella fell asleep in the car. When I opened the door, I found her just like this, with her woobie lolling out of her mouth, ready to fall out. LOL!

“Looking”

Looking out the window with Grandma (my mom), watching some neighbors walk by. She was talking away, naming all the things that she saw. So cute!

There you have it! The abstractionist in me likes the word images because they’re different and edgy. But the sentimentalist in me likes the people shots because, well, they’re of Munchkin, my favorite subject in the whole world!

You know, I was going to try and type this whole post using mostly “L” words but gave up after I couldn’t even get through one sentence. Like I said, “L” words aren’t as common as one might think!

Later!

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