Merry Christmas!

A picture from Christmas eve:

It was looking like a white Christmas, but the foggy kind of white, not the snowy kind. The sun was peeking out from behind the clouds a little bit. (Drive a few miles in any direction and you'd be out of the sun again.) The holidays, even with my kids out of town, remain a warm and wonderful time for me. I feel at peace. And I'm thankful for so much right now, and the clarity with which I can see all the wonderful things around me is itself a gift.

Christmas Fun

We celebrated Christmas this morning since the kids leave for North Carolina with their father tomorrow. Since I still haven't really figured out my new camera, I didn't get too many shots. Here's a silly one of the kids together.

Peace

I love the look on Jasper's face. I've detailed before how hard it is to capture this boy. Now that I've captured something that I love, I find it hard to say why I love it so much. The enthusiasm? The pure joy? Julia's hand trying to steal the show? Nah, not the last thing.

I'm so excited

I ordered a new camera. It's on the UPS truck now. I'm on pins and needles waiting for it. : )

Holiday card picture

Several years ago, when the Jim Carrey movie version of The Grinch came out, my brother bought me a nearly life-size Grinch. (I *may* have a *thing* for Mr. Carrey. At least I used to.) I loved it instantly. It has been part of the picture that gets sent with the holiday card every year since then. This year is no exception. This is not the shot being sent with the cards, but a close runner up. I love how the kids are playing with the green guy. The second shot is what the Grinch looked like when all the photos were done. Is that a smile on his face, or a look of acquiescence?

Fun surprises

Maybe nifty is a better word? While hiking in Kickapoo, Nav and Mar spotted two faces in the trees. Not the faces that you can buy at any store these days, but nifty, fun ones. Ones that make you feel special just because you get to look at them. Because you found them. I don't think I would have spotted them had I been hiking by myself. Both were spotted when someone turned around to talk to someone in the back. The whole day was wonderful. There is so much more that I could say about what was so great about today. This day. But this might be one of those times where it's better to just roll up all the wondrousness (is that a word?) and keep it to myself.

Places I've been

Well, this map had me a little disturbed at how little of the world I've traveled:

And this one had me feeling a little bit better at how much of the US I've seen:

And both make me think about the places I'd like to go. This list is long, so I should get started soon. Besides a full tank of gas, a change of clothes and a hundred CDs, what else does a girl need?

Nov. 26 update: I see that I missed a couple of states that I've been to when I made the map. I realize that this little factoid isn't all that important. Don't know why I'm bothering to make this note. Also can't quite figure out why I'm not erasing it. Cause then it wouldn't be me?

doing better

I don't have a handy photo to express that I'm doing better, so instead I'll revisit a calm, peaceful memory. Vermont. 2001. Summer. Vermont is on the long list of places that I want to get back to, but there are also so many places I haven't been where I'd like to go first. First? I don't know. This life thing sure can be confusing sometimes.

disturbed

This is how I feel. I got some disturbing news today. Well, the news itself isn't disturbing. It's my reaction to the news that has me feeling like this picture. And I need a drink.

badge

Why did I do it? Peer pressure? Other people were doing it. Any way around it, when I finally got around to doing it, I had decisions to make. What picture to use? I have more current pictures of myself at this point in my life than I've had at any other time, and that's not saying much. I still struggled. Finally decided to go with an outdoor shot, seeings as how I be lovings the outdoors so much. You can't even really tell it's me unless you know me. And, somehow, that makes sense. Then I had to decide what to say. Another struggle. Obviously, it somehow needed to be about me. And I have no idea what to say about myself, so I went with the obvious things about me that anyone would know without even having to ask. Without even really knowing me. And that too makes sense.

Holy cow, it's November already!

Where the heck is a picture to celebrate? The election is past. Do I have a photo for that? Why, yes, now that I think of it, I do.

Me with my I Voted sticker. There were people coming back to get their sticker if they didn't one when they scanned their ballot. Dedication? I'm not unhappy with the results of the election, by any means, but I don't understand how the general populace can be so fickle. What do they want? How do they think that making a major change in Congress can fix that? If they don't see the change they want happening in two short years, how will that change/effect the election in 2008? Not trying to be political. My days for sitting around discussing such things for hours seem to be behind me. Why is that? Why the heck am I even thinking about such things right now? All I really meant to write was that November is bittersweet. It brings so many great things, plus the promise of December, an outside chance at snow, and tons of yummy food, but it's the end of October. Need I explain that? Doesn't everyone love October?

October 30, Monday

The weather was perfect yesterday. I love fall. The colors turn warm. The temp cools down. And the day was practically begging me to get outside. So I did! I went to Kickapoo state park and hiked for a few hours. It was such a leisurely hike. The air smelled of moist earth, drying leaves and, maybe my sniffer is a little off, but I'd swear it also smelled like wet dog. Parts of the hike had me ducking down real low, or climbing up high. I had to bust through a few spider webs as well. And, can I say, I'm breathing deeper right now just thinking about it all. This is by no means the best picture from the day, but I do like it. My thought process while taking it was something like this, "I'm mighty hiker woman. [bang chest here] Watch me climb over fallen trees with no problem." Then when I jumped down off the tree, I almost twisted my ankle. Thank goodness for totally rocking hiking boots!

Jack

Obligatory jack-o-lantern shot. L-R, Julia's small one, with only a few eyelashes, Jasper's small one, mine, which is supposed to look like a ghost, but I didn't shave enough of the outer layer off yet, Jasper's big one (I love the eyebrows!), and Julia's big one, with lots and lots of eyelashes.

Need Air. Must breathe.

I haven't been feeling quite like myself lately. I'm still laughing (maybe too much?), and still enjoying so much of the things around me. But things that normally don't stress me are taking a toll. I'm hoping to get outdoors for the better part of the weekend. I'm certain that there are other things that I've been putting off doing that need to get done. I'm also certain that they'll still be there, waiting for me, after I've gotten outside and worn my hiking boots down a little, and breathed in some clean air. Since the weekend is still a day and a half away, and since it will probably be Sunday before I can really get away, I'm holding on to this, a memory from August:

Obi Wan

Seems like I never really snap a lot of good pictures of Jasper. He's always in motion and as soon as I pick up a camera, he's gone. He doesn't avoid the camera, he's just always moving and doing and humming and singing. It's hard to capture his kindness, depth, and humor in a picture. (How do you capture humor, anyway? I know it when I see it.) On Sunday, October 15th Allerton Park in Monticello, Illinois held their first Pumpkinpalooza. We met up with some friends and had a great time. Before the friends arrived, Jasper grabbed a stick and was drawing maps on the ground that tracked where all the people he loves live. For a split second he looked up at me and I got this picture.

Ghosts

We went to the Pumpkin Patch in Arthur on Saturday and picked up a few gourds to paint like ghosts. Sunday we painted them white, Monday morning we added faces, and here's how they ended up:

From R-L, Julia's, with it's cute eyelashes and happy smile, Jasper's, with the speech bubble "BOO", and mine, scared silly.
Jasper's is a cyclops:

And Julia's has an extra eye, plus a tail (?):

Added on 10/26: Julia asked me why I laughed when I talked about the smile on her ghost. I explained that most people don't put smiles on their ghosts and I thought it was really cool that she had done something different. She seemed okay with that explanation, but was disappointed that her ghost wasn't scary. She said that she had tried really hard to make scary eyelashes. How much do I love this girl? And Jasper, making a cyclops ghost?! Wow.

Brownies

At work they have a birthday lunch every month. When it's your birthday, you bring in dessert. So tonight I'm making brownies for tomorrow's birthday buddy lunch. I don't think I've ever made brownies before, so we'll see how they come out. They have mini peppermint patties in them! I liked the way the flour was swirling into the cocoa/sugar mixture. . .

Birthday Flowers

The Birthday Bunny delivered a balloon on my birthday, and Beth and Amit gave me these flowers:

Ah, Aging

When my big brother turned 30, I got him a t-shirt that says "I'm not 30. I'm 29.95" When I turned thirty, guess what was gifted to me? Well, it's been a few years since I turned 30, and I've held on to the t-shirt, waiting for someone turning 30 who was worthy of the family tradition. And here's the someone (who's having just a little bit of crisis about his upcoming birthday in November):

On the road

On the way up to the Madison Children's Museum. I turned the camera around to take a picture of the kids while I was driving, and here's what I found when I was finally able to look at it:

Kids' photography

Julia took this picture of Jasper. They laughed and laughed when they saw it. I can understand that. It makes me smile.

This picture was taken by Jasper. He took about 15 shots of various things around the back yard, and this one is my favorite. Very artistic.

September 4, Monday

Driving up to the Kenny Chesney concert the weather was beautiful. The sun was shining for the first time in about a week. The fields were green. And I was feeling great. I guess it's not good to take a picture with a phone while driving, but there weren't any cars around, so I think I was only putting myself at risk. It was worth it to capture a serene moment in a serene day.

Urbana Sweet Corn Festival

I think this is the 30th year of the sweet corn festival. I can remember going to it as a kid, but most of it is fuzzy. The only clear things I remember are the crowds of people and the delicious corn. I certainly don't remember a big, walking ear of corn. My kids have no clue what to make of this thing and really don't know why I wanted to get their picture with it. :) I also can't recall getting a tattoo as a kid.

August 23, Wednesday

I was tired enough to fall asleep at 6:30 tonight. Since I still had a lot of things to do, I decided that I should go for a walk to perk myself up a little bit. When I walked down the street behind mine, I saw the corn field, looking so beautiful. The stalks of corn were bright green and the tassles of the corn looked orange under the light of the setting sun. I didn't have my camera with me, only my camera phone, so this is the best thing I could capture.

August 22, Tuesday

I took this picture last night while wandering around downtown Champaign. I had just walked past a jewelry store when I looked back and noticed this cat sleeping on top of one of the display cases. I turned off the flash on my camera for two reasons--not to wake the cat and not to simply get a reflected flash off of the window. It worked for the latter reason, but not the former. The cat woke up anyway, and in perfect feline fashion didn't seem pleased to have anyone paying attention to it. I wonder how many times I've wandered by the cat without noticing it?

August 21, Monday

Julia is so awesome. She cracks me up. Her smile, her laugh, her walk. She just tickles me. I imagine that as she gets older, she'll hurt me to the same degree, but for now I love how campy she is. She spots the camera and goes nuts. She runs through a series of about 6 poses. Some involve sticking out her tongue, most involve a tilt of the head, and she definitely has to move her whole body around.

Tada

Starting now, I'll be better about carrying my camera with me, taking pictures, and then uploading them in a timely manner. This will be similar to my flickr space, but with more commentary (when the occasion calls for it). Stay tuned for pictures.