Christmas Decorations & House Pictures

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).

Front of the house with Christmas decorations out

Santa close up

Close up of the "Santa Boots"

The outside front entry way with Christmas decorations up

Here are some photos of inside the house I took back in August. I've made a few changes, but most of it is pretty much the same.

The living/dining room area which you can see I use just as a sitting area

A 5 1/2 foot tall nook along the entry way--finally filled thanks to Hobby Lobby!

A metal jazz band sculpture on my living room wall

The Great Room
(the TV & stand that are randomly in the room at the right side are now gone)

The messy kitchen

Here are a few photos from when the landscaping was first completed:




Here are some photos I took of the house when I first bought it (before I moved in):

Holiday Contest: Win a Kindle!

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!

Summer Photos!

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...

Monday Music Mania-- Back Again!

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:

Music Playlist at MixPod.com

Photo Contest & Why Being Sick Stinks...

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!

Why Google Reader is a Bad Thing...

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...

Giveaway Winner!

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

Jacqueline in Atlanta

Congratulations!! I've emailed the winner already.

Thanks everyone for all your kind words about my photos. And remember you can always check out my Cafe Press Shop at http://cafepress.com/michellebphotos

Another Bloggy Giveaway Carnival!

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:

• A Photo Calendar
• 8 photo stickers
• 10 photo postcards

As last time, these are all photos I've taken!

How to Enter
Just leave a comment on this post and make sure I have a way to contact you (either via a blog or email address)

Who Can Enter
Contest open to anyone, anywhere on Earth :-)

Deadline
Contest ends at 11:59pm Pacific Time on Saturday, August 2nd. I'll post the winner on Sunday.

And if you like my photos, please feel free to browse through my Cafe Press Shop (http://cafepress.com/michellebphotos). I have various photo products using many of these same photos there for sale.

Enjoy the Bloggy Giveaway Carnival!

A New House, a Sparky Car, and a Giveaway Coming Soon!

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!

Bad, Bad Blogger!

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!

Front Yard (most of it anyway)

Back Yard (as much of it as I could get in one shot)

Long Time, No Blog

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.