retinal perspectives

if you are willing to risk your camera and shoes

first, wade into the surf.

second, wait for a particularly good breaking wave to approach.

third, turn your camera on and hold it just above the water - facing the wave. (as with almost all of my photos, i like aperture priority mode, aperture open as wide as possible, focus or zoom set as near as possible.)

fourth, start snapping photos, and don't stop until that wave practically hits the camera.

fifth, run to shore quickly before your legs get soaked.

it is loads of fun and you can get some great photos. (it is also why i like rain boots at the ocean.)

i have at least two other groups of photos from this set but i am so so so in love with them that i must find them each a quote.

i believe i can fly

{see last week's post for the back story}

this week, i am celebrating my silliness. i do love that i can make myself giggle on a daily basis.

i invite you to join in by acknowledging and celebrating something that you appreciate about yourself. feel free to share something you want to celebrate in the comments, so i can celebrate with you. (you can also whisper it into the wind, and i will celebrate with you in spirit.) and if this is not for you, that is ok too. i like you either way.

ode to joy, volume 47

{my attempt to capture 52 photos that represent joy - my word for 2010}

a magical long weekend on the coast with friends. many there in person. the rest there in spirit.

pure joy.

holiday magic

i made holiday cards for my etsy shop! and for me!

wheeeeeeeeeee! i am so excited to send out my cards. (speaking of which, who is this strange person who has her holiday cards done already? who is she and what has she done with me?)

today (every day) i offer up a prayer of thanks

"Wake at dawn with a winged heart and give thanks for another day of loving."

- Kahlil Gibran

it feels good to whine when you're sick

the pup is sick. he hasn't been sick since may (kind of a record) so i had forgotten how un-fun it is. i don't like it when my beloved pup feels miserable and nothing i do seems to help him feel better. the only things that really perked him up today were the kittens at the vet and the kitty at the pet store. and the extra long petting session, at least until i got near his tummy. ah well. tomorrow is a new day.

(by the way, this is atlas on his very first day of life with me. he was six months old. it's no wonder i still call him puppy.)

last week

i found the church with the red doors again. i still think these are the best doors in the whole world. partly because they're red. partly because the design reminds me of pictures of the devil's pitchfork. mostly because they're just fabulous.

let's talk about you

you know my semi-regular celebration posts on mondays? well, the thing you don't know is that i started them with a specific intention in mind.

what i wanted to do with a celebration series was to invite you to celebrate you. i wanted to invite you to find something you appreciate about yourself that you could acknowledge and celebrate. we spend so much time focusing on what we think is wrong with us that i wanted to help tip the scales in the opposite direction.

except it felt wrong to extend an invitation for you to celebrate yourself unless i could do the same for myself. and i couldn't. in my last celebration post, i really tried. i found something that i thought i could celebrate about myself and i wrote a post. the entire time i was writing it, i felt sick. so, i deleted the post and celebrated autumn leaves instead (totally worth celebrating, just not the point).

today, i am trying again.

today, what i want to celebrate about myself is that i am learning to remember that i am not all one thing or the other. i am not this or that. i am this and that. that seems an excellent place to start.

i invite you to join in by acknowledging and celebrating something that you appreciate about yourself. feel free to share something you want to celebrate in the comments, so i can celebrate with you. (you can also whisper it into the wind, and i will celebrate with you in spirit.) and if this is not for you, that is ok too. i like you either way.

p.s. the winner of the giveaway is julie m. thanks to everyone for playing - and for all the chocolate ideas!

ode to joy, volume 46

{my attempt to capture 52 photos that represent joy - my word for 2010}

catching up with a friend over a yummy lunch and dessert.

pure joy.

it's a giveaway!

on monday, i went and picked up 5x7 prints of some of my favorite photos. afterwards, i walked around the neighborhood with my camera and pup (hence these photos).

i plan on adding the prints to my etsy shop later this month but i was so excited to see them that i thought i would do a giveaway in the meantime. yay!

i'm not sure what print i'll give away yet. it might be this one, or it might be another one. it'll be a fun surprise.

if you're interested, just leave me a comment! (if you want to leave something specific, i'd love to know your favorite kind of chocolate.) i'll draw a name on sunday evening.