This is the last of the Cow Parade posts. It's been months since I first took the photos, but I've really enjoyed going back through them and re-discovering each of the cows!
Second to last cow parade post!
Here are more of the cows. I plan on 2 more posts and then that should be all of them! Enjoy :-)
Here's my latest update for the Support Your Local Library Challenge. I'm not really good with doing reviews, so the links are just to where you can purchase the books. I have enjoyed those I've read, though!
Here's my updated list:
1. The Billionaire Next Door by Jessica Bird
2. Mouth to Mouth by Erin McCarthy
3. 7 x 9 = Trouble! by Claudia Mills
4. Out of Order by Betty Hicks
5. Science Fair by Dave Barry & Ridley Pearson
6. Triple Trouble by Lois Faye Dyer
7. Valentine Frankenstein by Maggie Twohill
8. His Brother's Secret by Debra Salonen
9. Kiss and Tell by Suzanne Brockmann
10.
11.
12.
I feel like I'm farther away from my goal, but I guess I'm pretty close. If I finish all of the books I have currently checked out (which I've had for longer than I should have taken), I'll be done and even over the quota!
And still more cows! Enjoy :-) There are even more to come later on!
More cows from the La Jolla Cow Parade...
I decided to dedicate this post to just one cow from the parade. It's my mom's overall favorite and one of my favorites as well. To get all the detail, I took quite a few shots close up.
I'm not done going through all my Cow Parade photos, but I do have some of them ready, so I figured I would post them in parts over the next week or so. Here are the first of the bunch!
Just to warn you, I only had one day to get as many of the cows as possible and the light wasn't great. I just had to do the best I could. I am including the official names of the cows given by the artists. The only sad thing about them is that the charity auction was canceled due to poor ticket sales. I wish I could afford to buy one, because there are quite a few I really love!
I ate lunch at a local Panera today and heard something disturbing. A lady next to me was on her laptop (free Wi-Fi access at Panera) talking on her cell phone. The problem? She was talking to a rep at a credit card company about an error on her credit report and she verbally gave her social security number... twice! Then she went on to give her full name and address. Hopefully the other diners at Panera with us are not identity thieves because she'd would have made their job so easy! I probably wouldn't have paid any attention except her SSN starts with the same 3 digits as my sister's area code, so I thought she might be from Boston.
I'm usually paranoid anytime I have to give out my social security number. Even when I'm on a cell phone at home or in my car, I worry someone will somehow get it. I hope those of you reading this are more aware of your surroundings when relaying any personal information. With identity theft such a big problem these days, it pays to be careful!
So summer school kept me incredibly busy and I neglected this blog and my daily photo blog. I've finally caught up on my daily photo blog, but I still feel bad for neglecting this blog. It's been on my mind, but I just haven't had time to post! I do have ideas for upcoming blog posts, though. Once I get my act together a bit more, I have more updates about my reading challenge. I've been reading a bit more often lately. And I'm finally catching up on my Cow Parade photos (yes, I know I've been promising them for ages!) For today, I'll leave you with these shots of some interesting cars that I've taken recently.
Okay, so if you remember, I took on a couple of challenges regarding my reading habits as New Year's Resolutions. I decided to keep better track of the actual books I read in 2009. And I decided to join the Support Your Local Library Challenge as well.
It's been way too long since I updated my efforts, so I wanted to give a report. I have been tracking the books I've read (even though I haven't been posting them here). I will try to post a list when I figure out how to easily export it from the database I've been using to track them.
The main purpose of this post is to update the status of my Support Your Local Library Challenge. I've discovered that my local libraries are pretty small and have limited hours (out of the 3, none are open on Sundays). I have made a few trips and read some books, though! After browsing the adult section, I was drawn to the juvenile section, so a lot of these are more young adult/juvenile fiction books. Here's my updated list:
1. The Billionaire Next Door by Jessica Bird
2. Mouth to Mouth by Erin McCarthy
3. 7 x 9 = Trouble! by Claudia Mills
4. Out of Order by Betty Hicks
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
I'm not quite half-way there, but hopefully over the summer months I can catch up!
I went out to the Otay Ranch shopping center with my mom today. I got lots of different pictures of various things, so it was pretty hard to decide which one to use for my daily photo journal. I decided to post the rest of them here!
I hit the road to visit my parents in San Diego. There are so many places along the drive that I'd like to stop to take photos, but it's not exactly safe most of the time. In fact on my way back to Avondale from my spring break visit, I decided that what I really needed was a camera mounted on my windshield (maybe on the other side of the rear-view mirror?) so I could just click a button and take a photo!
Anyway, just west of El Centro, the road winds through these rocky hills. The rock formations are so interesting, especially on the way down (from San Diego to El Centro). Unfortunately, there are no pull-off areas on the road down hill (and the roads each direction are totally separate).
On the road uphill (from El Centro into San Diego), however, there are many stops and pull-off areas. Why? Well, with the long, constant incline, it seems cars have a tendency to overheat, so they created a bunch of areas along the way where you can pull off the road and get water for your radiator.
The trip was a pretty dusty one (due to high winds), but once I got to the uphill climb outside of El Centro, the sky was pretty clear. I decided to pull off the road at one of the radiator water stations and take some photos. I was pretty careful, though, because I know it is still pretty dangerous. I stayed well off the road and didn't take any photos anytime a car was within sight.
I had more photos than I could use for my daily photo journal, so I figured I would post the photos here!
Once again I have been a very bad blogger. I got the flu and it all just went down hill from there. I've been thinking about my blog, though! I have pictures to post, and will make sure to do it soon.
I also still plan to post my Cow Parade photos, but I still haven't gotten through them all. Stay tuned!
Check out this great contest thanks to HelenKay Dimon, Jill Shalvis, & Alison Kent.
I would so love to win the Sony eReader, wouldn't you? Make sure to get your chance!
It's definitely spring around here! Everything's in bloom and I love taking photos of all the plants and flowers. I'm still getting used to all the differences between the plants in Arizona and Southern California.
I used this cactus in bloom for one of my daily photos, but I had the other photos of the Ocotillo plant that I love as well, so I'm posting them all here.
Enjoy!
I had jury duty this past Monday. Arizona is a one day-one trial state. I called the night before, and they told me I didn't have to report at 8:00am but I did need to call at 11:00am to see if I would have to report. I thought that was a bit odd, and others (who were more familiar with Arizona jury duty) thought so too. Evidently it was just an extremely busy day because I did have to show up in the afternoon (12:45pm).
They called 6 panels (one of 50 people!) in the first 30 minutes after I checked in, but luckily I wasn't one of them. Normally I'd like to serve, but it was a bad week (and as I'm a teacher, a bad time of year period). So after a couple hours, I got released.
I noticed some photo ops on the way in, but I had left my cameras in the car because I wasn't sure if they'd be allowed in the court building. Since I got out early, I walked the 5 blocks to the parking garage (we had just missed the shuttle), got my camera, then walked the 5 blocks back to the courthouse. The light wasn't the best, but I got some interesting shots. I hope you enjoy them!
Before I left San Diego, I spent a day (in different segments) with my mom going around La Jolla taking photos of the Cow Parade Art Exhibit. You can read more about it here (http://www.cowparadelajolla.com/).
It's something that's taken places in other cities before, but it's new to San Diego (the exhibit runs from March 15 through June 15). Basically, 40 local artists got blank white cow statues that they were able to alter to fit their vision. Each cow is sponsored by a local business as well. At the end of the exhibition, the cows will be auctioned off and the proceeds donated to charity. I have a few favorites, but nowhere to put them, so I won't be bidding, but I enjoyed photographing the ones I was able to get to this time around :-)
I took a ton of photos, and this week is insanely busy for me, but I'm posting to say I will have them up hopefully sometime this weekend! Stay tuned for my Cow Photography Parade...
My mom loves garden sculptures and accessories, and it makes the yard interesting. Here are some photos I've taken this week of two pieces she bought separately that she has together out on what used to be the back lawn (my dad gave up watering it when the rabbits had eaten most of what was there though there is a bit of grass left).
I've been walking around my parents yard taking photos quite a bit this week. I've also ended up with lots and lots of pictures! Some of them I've used for the daily photo, but most I haven't. Below are some ice plant flowers that I've captured throughout the week. Most are during the day when it's been pretty bright (almost too bright), but one I took as the flowers were just closing up for the night.
I'm home in Bonita visiting my parents this week during my spring break from school. Yesterday in the afternoon, I tried taking my book outside to get some reading done, but that didn't work out so well. I first got distracted taking pictures of the flowers in bloom.
Then Sophie came out to join me. Since she doesn't see well, I watch her to make sure she doesn't get too close to the pool and fall in (which she has done before). She purposely gets close to the pool because she likes to drink the pool water. When she got tired of me telling her she was too close and shooing her away, she wandered off around the side of the house.
I thought she was going to eat some grass (her second favorite thing to do in the yard), so I followed her. Boy was I surprised when I followed her to the pool pump and saw her stick her head into the container collecting the water leaking from it. Here are a couple shots I got while I could:
As I think I've mentioned before, I am fascinated by the moon. I've been experimenting with moon photos even without a better telephoto zoom lens. Someday I will get that zoom lens, but it may be a while. The economy is part of it, but I've also been thinking of getting a new camera, and I don't want to buy a new lens and have it be incompatible with the new camera (since I'm thinking of switching from a Canon to a Nikon).
Anyway, here are a few shots of the moon that I've taken over the last week or so (some during the day and some at night). One day I'll get that perfect moon shot under perfect conditions!
Click here to enter The Riding On Instinct contest!
Jaci Burton is holding a contest for the release of her new book, Riding on Instinct. Feel free to check out all the details by clicking on the link above :-)
I can't believe it's been over a week (closer to 2) since I've posted here. I know I've been busy, but sheesh. I've been playing catch up a lot over at my Daily Photo Journal as well, but I've still been taking my photos daily.
Anyway, I've had quite a few good photos that I haven't used at my daily photo journal, so I'm going to post them here shortly. Hmmm...Maybe I'll even set them up to post on different days!
I had lots of "left over" photos from my daily photo journal this last Saturday, so I figured I would post them here!
To Walk Very Far by Flaminio PonzioI've been taking a professional development class out at Paradise Valley Community College on Thursday afternoons for the last few weeks (with 2 more to go). I've found that I really look forward to my project 365 Thursday's because there are so many great things to capture at PVCC. This week I had a few too many to choose just one, so I'm posting the one I chose to represent the day at my Daily Photo Journal (http://michellebphotojournal.blogspot.com) along with my others here.
Enjoy!
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Sorry about the lack of posts lately! I've been really busy and then tired when not busy. I've been trying to get some more Monday Music Mania posts together, but haven't been too successful to finish before Mondays the last few weeks.
Anyway, last weekend, I went to see Summer compete at the Scottish Highland Athletic Games here in Phoenix and it just so happened to be the Women's World Championship. Did I mention Summer was the reigning World Champion (twice over) going in? Well she won her third and will (hopefully) be going for her 4th a year from now! Woo hoo!
Anyway, I'm not great at people photography, and I was pretty far away for a lot of these photos, but I figured I would post what I ended up with anyway. Enjoy :-)
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As I mentioned previously, Summer and I went to the Chocolate Festival in Glendale, AZ on Saturday. We had quite an adventure! It was pretty crowded in the main area where all the booths were, so we ended up going to take a tour of a candy factory first and by the time we got back it was a little less hectic at the booths.
Here are some photos I took while wandering around Downtown Glendale and the Chocolate Festival. There are things I didn't get this time that I'll be going back to get some time soon!
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I've been taking tons of photos again thanks in part to my taking part in Project 365. I truly agonized over what photo to choose for the day the last few days, so as I suspected when I started this project, I have lots to post here!
These are some random shots from my week last week (most of which didn't make it as the photo of the day). I'm going to devote an entire post to the Chocolate Festival that I went to with Summer on Saturday, but it probably won't go up until Tuesday or Wednesday. For now, enjoy these photos!
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Sorry this post is a little late. I forgot to set it to post in advance. This week, I decided to focus on music in Spanish. When I took advanced placement Spanish in high school, my teacher had us listen to a song every day (a different song each week) to become more immersed in the language. At the end of high school, Liana, one of my friends who was in the class with me, surprised me with the best gift ever: a mix tape with all of our favorites from Spanish class! She borrowed all the tapes from our instructor to make it! We had quite an adventure in that class. I still remember a crazy story we made had to write to incorporate all of our vocabulary lessons one week about needing help because a barracuda bit someone and we ended up getting a ride to a hospital on a motorcycle. Ah those were the days :-)
Since tapes have become obsolete for the most part, I've tried to re-create my mix tape digitally. While I haven't come close to finding them all, I did find quite a few. I also added in some Mana favorites from their album that I bought when I saw them in concert at age 16 and from La Ley who I discovered more recently. Enjoy!
I've definitely been getting not so subtle hints today that it is time to put my Christmas decorations in storage. Not from people, but from music. At work, I listen to Launchcast radio and at home I've been listening to iTunes. I don't have all that many Christmas albums on my playlists compared to other music and I've heard probably 10 today!
The decorations are down for the most part, but not packed up. I've been so busy with work and grading even on weekends that I just haven't felt like dragging out the storage stuff from the garage. It's time I suppose. Sigh...
I absolutely adore Disco music. I think it's my favorite genre of all time. My favorite parties in college were the disco themed parties. I don't know why I love disco music so much. Sure I was born in the 70s, but I was much to young to get into Disco then. I'll have to ask my mom if she listened to Disco a lot while she was pregnant with me.
Here are just a few of my favorites. Note I excluded Kool & the Gang since I devoted a previous Monday Music Mania just to them...
Create a playlist at MixPod.com
Wow, it's been a crazy week. I've been busy at work, and believe it or not, I've actually been going to bed at a normal hour-- like before midnight every night so far this week!
Anyway, I've been taking my pictures daily and I finally got them uploaded and posted to my daily photo blog ()-- well through yesterday anyway. Today's photo will have to wait.
I found myself taking quite a few photos on some days this week, so I thought I'd post them here. Enjoy!
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Here are some shots of the turtles in the pond on campus near the building where I have my classes:
Okay, I still can't seem to get away from my childhood memories theme. I started out doing a disco themed Monday Music Mania, but got sidetracked when I got to my Disco Mickey Mouse songs. While they are "disco," they are just not quite the same as the other disco songs, so I decided to make my favorites from the album into a Monday Music Mania of their own!
I loved this record (yes, I owned it as a record) as a child. A few years back, I was able to locate a used CD on half.com for a reasonable price and snapped it up! I know they're kind of cheesy, but I still love listening to them and singing along :-)
We stopped taking regular family ski trips once I reached junior high since it was just too hard to keep me out of school for so long and have me keep up with assignments. We did take one last trip during our winter break when I was in 8th grade though. We went to Whistler, British Columbia just before Christmas and then we spent Christmas in Oakland with my dad's brother and his family. And that year, we actually flew.
Back then, we could listen to portable electronic devices (a walkman for me) on take-off. So I listened to my new Babyface album "Tender Lover" on the plane and an in the car on the drive up to Whistler from the airport. So naturally, any time I hear the songs on that album I think of that trip!
Here are some of my Babyface favorites, including many from "Tender Lover."
I usually don't watch the commercials on TV because I watch everything delayed and fast forward through them. I have caught a few recently though. Here are a couple of my favorites:-)
I can't believe I haven't posted here since Monday! How time flies. I've been taking my daily photos for my photo journal and have been pretty good with posting them to my Daily Photo Journal blog (or at least catching up every few days).
Today, I had a couple of photo options for my daily photo and my favorite ended up being just a piece of the Ocotillo Fountain. Here is the fountain and the close up of the top of the glass sculpture that I chose as my photo of the day:
I've also been meaning to post this photo for quite a while. I took it at a little Mexican restaurant my parents frequent in San Diego. I hadn't seen one like it before though I'm sure they're out there!
Lionel Richie is another artist that brings back memories of those same ski trips that I posted about last week with the Quincy Jones playlist. The actual album we listened to was Can't Slow Down, but I've added a few other of my Lionel Richie favorites.
And I realized I'm not the only one who has memories of these two albums. I'm actually writing these posts and creating the playlists ahead of time while I'm home for Christmas. Just now as I was playing the music, my dad said to me "Remember we used to listen to this as we were driving to Park City!"
Anyway, enjoy the Lionel Richie playlist. There will be one more ski-trip-memories playlist next week and then maybe I'll move on to other memories :-)
I've been back in Arizona now for a couple of days. The first couple days back are always the hardest. I miss having my parents and Sophie around, though I don't miss not having much privacy and the constant allergy issues I seem to have when I'm around Sophie.
I have a few photos I took at the end of my trip that I didn't use for my Project 365 Photo Journal, so I'll be uploading them here. I decided to start with Sophie and her crazy antics.
We adopted Sophie from another family who originally got her in Hawaii. It's obvious that she loves the tropics because she craves the sun and being warm. She likes it so much that she'll do just about anything to stay warm in the winter. Now, keep in mind my parents live in San Diego so it's not like it's snowing outside.
Anyway, when she just can't get warm enough, she likes to burrow or hide under covers, blankets or anything that will keep here warm.
Here's a few pictures I took of her burrowed under a blanket on my parents bed. Obviously, you can't see anything but the lump, but she's there. We can always tell by the way the covers are disturbed and the lump. Also, if you touch call her name, she'll often meow at you from under the blanket.
The night before I left, I caught her trying to burrow under the blanket on my parents sofa. After her first try, she gave up because the blanket was falling off the sofa. I picked it up and she tried again, but she gave up because I think the leather under the blanket wasn't warm enough for her. I was able to catch a few of her tries as shown below:
She was not a happy kitty there at the end. Poor Sophie.
I heard about Project 365 at Angie's blog earlier today (well, yesterday now) and thought it was a great idea! Basically, the project challenges those involved to take a photo every day for 365 days and post them somewhere online. Read more about the project here (or by clicking on the project name at the beginning of the post). I'm joining in a few days late, so I had to go back and take photos that represent my first 3 days! There's still time if any of you would like to join.
Because it will be a daily thing, I've decided to start a separate photo blog (http://michellebphotojournal.blogspot.com/) for that project. I'm still planning to use this as my primary blog (both for photos and other regular posts). Knowing me, if I have to take 1 photo every day, I'll end up with a ton more that I can post here. I just didn't want to confuse the posts at this blog with my Project 365 posts.
In 2008, I really neglected my photography. I think it was the first year my camera bag actually had a chance to gather dust! And I've always wanted to keep a journal, but I'm just not good at writing every day. Hopefully by participating in this project, I'll end up with a great photo journal of 2009 and even the years after that.
Again, if you'd like to follow my Project 365 photo blog, you can find it here (http://michellebphotojournal.blogspot.com/).
If any of you decide to join in, please let me know!
For those of you who've read my Monday Music Mania posts or my other ramblings on music may have noticed that I tend to associate songs with memories. When I listen to a certain song or album, it brings up very vivid memories for me. I don't know why it is that certain memories get cemented to certain songs and albums when I listen to them many times. Anyway, for me music is a complete experience beyond just listening. I not only listen, I enjoy, re-live memories, and often times sing along :-)
Anyway, the reason for my ramblings is that for the next few weeks, I plan to focus my Monday Music Mania posts on artists/albums that bring back memories from childhood, particularly those from winter times.
This week's spotlight is on Quincy Jones. When I was in elementary school, my parents took us out of school for 2 weeks after our winter break to go skiing (of course we'd take all our homework along). Instead of flying, though, we'd drive from San Diego to Utah or Colorado. One of the tapes (yes, tapes) we listened to a lot during those long car trips was Quincy Jones's The Dude. I included some of my favorites from that album (along with one other) on this week's playlist.
Enjoy!
I saw this over at Anne McAllister's blog (well, via Google reader really) and thought it would be fun to do. You all get to learn more about me and I have something to blog about!
I won't tag anyone in particular, but feel free to do it. Let me know if you do decide to play along so I can come read your list :-)
THE 99 THINGS MEME
Things you’ve already done: bold
Things you want to do: italicize
Things you haven’t done and don’t want to - leave in plain font
1. Started your own blog.
2. Slept under the stars.
3. Played in a band.
4. Visited Hawaii.
5. Watched a meteor shower.
6. Given more than you can afford to charity.
7. Been to Disneyland/world.
8. Climbed a mountain.
9. Held a praying mantis.
10. Sang a solo.
11. Bungee jumped. (no way with my fear of heights!)
12. Visited Paris.
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea.
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch. (not really sure on this one, but I'll leave it as something I'd like to do)
15. Adopted a child. (I'm undecided on this one)
16. Had food poisoning.
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty.
18. Grown your own vegetables. (I have a black thumb)
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France.
20. Slept on an overnight train.
21. Had a pillow fight.
22. Hitch hiked.
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill.
24. Built a snow fort.
25. Held a lamb.
26. Gone skinny dipping.
27. Run a marathon.
28. Ridden a gondola in Venice.
29. Seen a total eclipse.
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset.
31. Hit a home run. (not that I don't want to, but I doubt it will happen if it hasn't already!)
32. Been on a cruise.
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person.
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors.
35. Seen an Amish community.
36. Taught yourself a new language.
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied.
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person.
39. Gone rock climbing.
40. Seen Michelangelo's David in person.
41. Sung Karaoke. (if I can ever get up the nerve!)
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt.
43. Bought a stranger a meal in a restaurant.
44. Visited Africa.
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight.
46. Been transported in an ambulance.
47. Had your portrait painted. (I don't think I could sit still long enough)
48. Gone deep sea fishing. (I'd like being on the water, but skip the fishing part)
49. Seen the Sistine chapel in person.
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris. (I learned things are much farther away than they appear from the top of the tower)
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling.
52. Kissed in the rain.
53. Played in the mud.
54. Gone to a drive-in theatre.
55. Been in a movie.
56. Visited the Great Wall of China.
57. Started a business. (again, not sure about this one-- maybe with my photography)
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia.
60. Served at a soup kitchen.
61. Sold Girl Scout cookies.
62. Gone whale watching.
63. Gotten flowers for no reason.
64. Donated blood. (needles and I don't mix)
65. Gone sky diving. (don't think so, though I'd rather do this than bungee jump!)
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp.
67. Bounced a cheque.
68. Flown in a helicopter.
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy. (for how long???)
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial.
71. Eaten Caviar. (ewwww)
72. Pieced a quilt.
73. Stood in Times Square.
74. Toured the Everglades.
75. Been fired from a job.
76. Seen the Changing of the Guard in London.
77. Broken a bone.
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle.
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person.
80. Published a book.
81. Visited the Vatican.
82. Bought a brand new car.
83. Walked in Jerusalem.
84. Had your picture in the newspaper.
85. Read the entire Bible.
86. Visited the White House.
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating.
88. Had chickenpox.
89. Saved someone’s life.
90. Sat on a jury.
91. Met someone famous.
92. Joined a book club.
93. Lost a loved one.
94. Had a baby. (again, undecided on this one)
95. Seen the Alamo in person.
96. Swum in the Great Salt Lake.
97. Been involved in a law suit.
98. Owned a cell phone.
99. Been stung by a bee.
This year, as one of my New Year's Resolutions, I've decided to keep better track of the actual books I read in 2009. I'm going to try to post which books I've read at the end of each month.
I've also decided to join the Support Your Local Library Challenge as well. Since I moved to Arizona, I haven't even applied for a library card which is really quite amazing for me since it's usually one of the first things I do when I move somewhere new. I think this challenge is a great way to get better acquainted with my local library!
Since things tend to get crazy quickly for me, I'm going to start off small and do the 12-book challenge. I'll post the books here on this post as I read them!
1. The Billionaire Next Door by Jessica Bird
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12.
Happy New Year (a day or so late!) I'm still home in Bonita for the holidays, but I go back in just a few days. I can't believe how fast time flies.
Anyway, since I've been home for a while, I've had to do laundry. With all of us (my sister, her boyfriend and me), I had to finish the load of towels my mom started before I could finish my own load. The second I walked in from the garage, Sophie, our cat came walking down the hall. She absolutely loves laundry fresh from the dryer (especially dark clothes which she gets her light hair all over!) And we've noticed that no matter where she is or what she's doing, she knows exactly when the laundry is coming out of the dryer. We call it her clean laundry radar.
And given the chance, she will sit on the laundry as you fold it. Sophie (being her usual self) followed me to the master bedroom where I went to fold the towels. I knew she was going to try to sit on what I folded so I purposely started with a big towel (a pink one that you can barely see behind the basket) that she could sit on. Here's what happened while I was folding the other towel for her:
Did I mention that she gets very territorial with laundry? If you try to take it away from her, she makes this throaty growly noise and often tries to bite you. So instead of moving her, I ran for my camera :-)
And here's one more of her that I took on Christmas:
She loves to be warm, so my mom bought her a warming bed. It's currently on the fireplace (and not plugged in). She slept in it a lot since all the people took over her usual spots (on the sofa or in the chair with the nice warm blankets).
Once again, I've decided to start up with my Monday Music Mania posts. I have a passion for Disco Music, but if I just had a Disco Week, the list would be ridiculously long with repeat artists (especially this one). So I've decided to focus this week on Kool & the Gang. One week down the road I will probably have a Disco Week though:-)
I love Kool & the Gang more than words can say! Their CD Emergency is the first CD my dad bought and I still have it to this day. It's also one of my favorite albums. I once had the chance to see them in a reunion concert with JT Taylor, but it conflicted with my summer school class when I was in college. Being the good student I am, I went to class. I've also regretted it ever since. I did get to see Kool & the Gang a couple times after that, but both times without JT Taylor, and it's just not the same (no matter what other people claim!)
Anyway, here are some of my favorite Kool & the Gang songs:
Create a playlist at MixPod.com
In the spirit of the holidays, I thought I'd do a Holiday Favorites edition of Monday Music Mania. Of course since it's Tuesday as I'm writing this (and Wednesday by the time I post it), it's sort of a special Non-Monday edition.
Anyway, here is a playlist of some of my favorite holiday songs (some of them may be just 30 second clips due to copyright issues):
Since I sent out my holiday letters, I realized I pointed people here to my blog to see photos of my new house. Those I have posted, I posted a while back, so the posts are a bit buried. I wanted to post some photos of my Christmas decorations (not much but I'll add to it every year!) so I figured it would be a good idea to post some additional house photos to my blog
It was hard to get good shots with the lights on, but I gave it a try. And I apologize in advance for the glare in the flash photos and the messiness inside (in the kitchen especially).
In the spirit of the holiday season, Samhain Publishing is giving away lots of great prizes in a month-long contest! I love the holiday season and contests, and this combines two of my favorite things.
You can win some great prizes. They're giving away 2 Kindles, books (yes, Dad, more books that I have nowhere to put, I know), and lots of other cool stuff. Samhain is my favorite ebook publisher, so you know I'll be entering as much as I can :-)
Be sure to check out all the details over at Angie's blog by clicking here or on the picture below!
Good luck and Happy Holidays!
I know, I know. It's November and I'm just now posting photos from summer (the beginning of June to be exact). I'm telling you, Google Reader and RSS feeds are evil! They suck me in and I read/skim through other people's blogs every day. But it means I rarely visit my own blog and time gets away from me between posts.
Anyway, here are some photos I took on my trip to the Lori Foster Reader/Author Get Together. A few of these photos are from near the hotel (the sunsets), but most of them are from the drive I took into Indiana.
One of my "bucket list" goals is to visit each of the 50 states in the US. Since I'd never been to Indiana and I was just a few miles from the border, I couldn't pass up the chance to visit! Of course, I felt that just driving on the freeway into Indiana and then turning around and coming back to Ohio was cheating. So I pulled out the handy-dandy AAA guide (thank goodness I remembered to go and get the guidebook before I went this year!) to look for places I could visit in Indiana.
Of course I wanted to attend the events of the day, so I had limited time. Luckily I found an interesting destination that was close enough that I could leave after a short time at the book fair and still make it back by dinner (difficult, but doable). That destination was Metamora, Indiana. It was a quick visit after over an hour driving, but I enjoyed it. The drive was scenic too!
One thing I had to deal with that was new to me, though, was the incredible humidity. In fact, after being in the air conditioned car for so long, the first thing my camera lens did when I tried to take a photo after getting out of the car was fog up! It made getting the horse pictures nearly impossible, but I did the best I could.
Anyway, enough rambling from me. Here are the photos...
Most of you who know me won't be surprised that my first stop was the bathroom. I parked close by and happened upon these horses in the field just next to the lot...
After my pit stop, I drove back into the heart of the little town. Here's the post office...
The main attraction of Metamora is the canal system. It's amazing! I got there very late in the day and wasn't able to take a canal tour, but I still had a great time looking around and taking photos. Here are some shots of the canal through the main part of town...
The ducks were everywhere! They cracked me up with their crazy antics. One duck (you can see him in both the above and below photos in the background) just stayed in the water swimming against the current for as long as I watched him! I suppose it's a form of duck aerobics...
At the far end of town was the Duck Creek Aqueduct...
Here are some shots from later that same night but back in West Chester, Ohio at the hotel...
I'm trying to get back into the habit of blogging more regularly, so I figured I would start back in with my Monday Music Mania posts. This week, I thought I'd post some of my current favorite songs in a random play list. I got to thinking about this since I'm giving exams in 3 of my classes this week and I decided to add on a non-math related getting-to-know-you question for my students. The first one I thought of is "What is your current favorite song?" I'm hoping to discover some new music as well as get to know my students!
Anyway, for now, here are a few of my current favorites:
So I obviously didn't get to post the poll about what photo to enter in the "contest" (which is really a show not a contest). I've been trying to fight off a cold, so I've been trying to sleep a lot. I was pretty successful at fighting it off and never got as sick as I have the last couple of times. But between all of my sleeping, I didn't get a chance to post the photos here.
Since I didn't have time to post a poll, I made a frantic email and then call to my parents asking their opinion. My mom originally voted for this one:
(though my dad probably wouldn't be very happy to have this one hanging in a Los Angeles gallery!)
Eventually they both voted for this sunset photo:
In the end, I just couldn't decide so I entered this one as well:
Here are a few others I also considered entering, but ultimately didn't:
Here's the info on the show:
Each year the Los Angeles Center for Digital Art (LACDA) is hosts a show called SNAP TO GRID: The UN-Juried Exhibit. The show is really an opportunity for anyone who wants to show their work in the gallery because all of the entries are shown in their downtown gallery. This year the even takes place from October 9 through November 1.
You can get more information here: http://lacda.com/juried/juriedshow.html
If anyone is in the Downtown Los Angeles area during that time, be sure to check it out!
I'm just as addicted to blogs these days, but because I now read mostly via Google Reader (thanks to RSS), I rarely even visit my own blog anymore! It's so bad. When I used my own blog to follow links to blogs, I could see daily when I was neglecting my blog. Now I can go for weeks and months without realizing that I haven't posted!
I was so excited last spring when I finally understood RSS and how it works, but now I kinda wish I had never heard of it. I've been wanting to post a blog for a while, but keep getting distracted and/or tired. And I still have photos from the beginning of summer to post!
I have a topic now (other than this one), but it may take me until tomorrow to get it posted. I learned of a really cool photo "contest" that I'd like to submit a photo for, but I'm just not sure which one to submit! I thought maybe I'd post my final choices here and get some input. I don't have much time though because the deadline is next Tuesday.
Oh well. Anyway, I haven't forgotten blogland. I've just been busy, distracted, and lazy...
Thanks to all of you who entered the giveaway for the Bloggy Giveaways Carnival!
I used random.org to generate a number between 1 and 45 (since there was one duplicate commenter). The winning comment number is 10 which is
I really had fun with the last Bloggy Giveaway Carnival. Even though I'm insanely busy these days and I'm getting a late start, I can't pass up the chance to participate!
What You Can Win
Instead of offering products from my Cafe Press Shop this time, I decided to offer up some extra photo products from various online photo services that I've ordered over the last year. I had a hard time describing them all in words, so I took a quick photo (sorry for the not so great quality).
The items include:
I can't believe my summer break is almost over! I go back to work in just over 2 weeks for the fall semester. So much has happened that I haven't blogged about, I don't know if I have any hope of catching up. I'm going to at least try to catch up photo-wise (though it's been a while since I last took any photos).
The major difference since I last blogged is that I am now living in my new house! My mom was here for most of July (she just called to tell me she made it back to San Diego) to help me move in. I still have boxes to unpack, but it's been so nice having help! And wow, do I have a lot of crap. I can't believe how much stuff I've accumulated over the years. I must admit a lot of it is books. I'm a book-a-holic, I admit. I'm using one of my 4 bedrooms primarily for my books!
And then I had a fun eventful weekend with my car this last weekend. One of my spark plugs decided to disintegrate and explode the cap off creating a hole in the fire lining of my hood, a dent in the exterior, and a horrendous noise that made me pull over to the side of the road immediately. Thank goodness I did since with the sparks shooting out from the plug wire, the engine could have caught fire.
This was my first major mishap with my car and the first time I ever had to call AAA to have it towed-- a major accomplishment since we (my car and I) just celebrated our 10-year anniversary on July 15! Anyway, I was thankful to not be alone since my mom was visiting. It was after dark, but in Arizona in the summer, that is really a blessing since we couldn't start the engine safely.
We had just gotten off the freeway when it happened so we weren't stranded on the side of the highway. And a Good Samaritan stopped to help (he noticed the missing spark plug before my mom or I did). He told us he had just come from the lake and his boat had to be towed earlier that day so he stopped to help thinking it was karma. I am definitely a big believer in karma!
The tow truck arrived quickly and we got the car home safely. My luck along with my positive visualizations helped along the way. The dealer was open for me to drop off my car on Sunday (a rare occurrence), and I got my car back yesterday and only spent $400 on it rather than the $10,000 of my dad's dire prediction.
All in all, it's been a very eventful month for me!
This week is the Bloggy Giveaway Carnival . I wasn't quite as prepared this time with the all the craziness going on, but I hope to give away at least a little something this week. I hope to have the post up tonight or tomorrow, so be sure to check back!
I've been such a bad blogger lately! And I have so much I should be blogging about. I can't believe it's been over a month since I've blogged. Things have just been a bit crazy with crazy events, visits, and buying my new house. Yes, that's right...I'm officially a new home owner! There have been some issues to work through and time has flown.
My landscaping was completed Wednesday, and since I had to be up at the ungodly hour of 6:45am (for me when I'm not teaching at least), I took some photos of the yard. I'm including the best two so far below.
I have more pictures to post when I get around to sorting through them all and such. It may take a while since I'm planning the big move in the next 2 weeks and well I'm not even packed! Yikes!
Anyway, enjoy the photos and Happy 4th of July!
Wow, it's been ages since I last blogged. Things have been a bit crazy with the end of the semester, getting sick, and trying to work out things with my new house.
I don't really have a plan for this post other than to say I'm going to try to post more. I'm going to try to come up with a Thursday Thirteen this week if I can think of a list quickly!
Hope all is well with everyone.
I've been thinking about buying a house for a while now, and since I moved to Arizona, I can actually afford one! I started looking online back in January and got more serious in the last month. I've gone out looking the last 3 weekends, and last Sunday I found one I really liked.
It's a brand new, quick move-in home. The development is already built and just a few homes aren't sold, so there are some great bargains! And even better, I could literally walk to work if I wanted to (though with the heat here, I probably won't want to most days!)
After showing my parents (who were here visiting) the house and making sure they didn't think I was insane for choosing that one, I signed the paperwork yesterday!
Today we went by to take some pictures, and I thought I would share here at my blog!
It was a little bright when we went by, so the pictures aren't the best. Also, they may be a little distorted because I used my wide angle lens to get as much of the rooms in the pictures as possible.
I hope things go smoothly with the closing and escrow process and that I'll be moving in soon!
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