Knicker Bocker Bear

30 Day Photog Challenge

Day 6:  Childhood Memory

Meet Mr. Knicker Bocker Bear.

I ♥ him.

A lot.

It shows.

His nose is ripped and frayed.

His head has been re-attached several different times.

And very inexpertly I might add.

I still think he's the most gorgeous thing.

I was a painfully shy child.

(Sometimes I am a painfully shy adult, but I digress.)

I use to get lost all the time because I was too shy to ask for help.

I once wet my pants in the 1st grade because I was afraid to interrupt the teacher to get permission.

I cried on the school bus when someone other than my sisters sat with me.

Once I got so upset, the bus driver let me off at the jr. high, and my parents were called to come get me.

Ok, I think you get the idea.

Mr. Knicker Bocker was my best friend growing up.

He always made me feel better.

He never minded that I was a socially awkward mess.

He loved me for who I really was.

The me the big wide world rarely saw.

He's always been with me.

Even at 40 years of age, he has a special spot in my home...

and my heart.

I often pray my children don't have the same shyness I did.

That I can raise them to be braver and bolder and just plain happier that I was.

If not, I know my daughter for one has a special friend all picked out.

Meet Mr. C.T. Bear.

He's well on his way to being aggressively loved.

I ♥ him too.

Golden Oldies

30 Day Photog Challenge

Day 5 - Someone you ♥

Well, talk about a no brainer.

This is one of my favorite candid shots of my kids.

My crazy beans!

And yes, I suppose I could put a shot of J here as well.

If only I had a good shot.

Or a recent good shot.

See, the thing with J is that he's been ill the last 3 years.

The docs have been stumped.

They have settled on fibromyalgia for a diagnosis.

I still don't know if I agree with that.

But I do know that recent snaps of J reveal his misery.

He looks tired and in pain.

He rarely smiles in them and if he does it's one of those forced smiles.

Those smiles make me sad.

I use to make myself crazy trying to help him feel better.

But over time I've come to realize if he doesn't want to do the work to feel better, any efforts on my part are fruitless, hopeless, and utterly useless.

I wish he knew how much we all miss him.

But all is not lost.

Sometimes we still get a flash in the pan.

Color me happy!

30 Day Photog Challenge

Day 4:  my favorite color

It's been a long time since I've thought about what my favorite color is.

Well, maybe not that long.

I do have little children and they like to ask questions of that nature...

Maybe I just haven't had a permanent favorite color for a long time.

My tastes are changing every day, 

nowadays.

So, what is my favorite color today?

Green.

The lusher, the better.

Doesn't this green just do something to your insides?

It takes me to another place.

A calmer place.

A happier place.

I've got my head in the clouds...

30 Day Photog Challenge

Day 3:  Clouds

First, I totally forgot to take any pictures of clouds.

So I had to go do it today.

In a rush.

Accepting whatever random cloud happened to be floating up there.

\

It was quite a shock to realize how much I love taking pictures of clouds!

♥♥♥

I am not a landscape photographer.

I take after my mum, I like pictures of people.

Or animals.

While I can appreciate a great picture of a pile of rocks,

I am not motivated to take pictures of them myself.

Or to invest the time to get GOOD at taking said pictures.

But I couldn't just pick one snap for this day.

Now wasn't that fun?

If I go missing for hours at a time...

I may be out taking cloud pictures.

:)

Who is that fat woman?!?

30 Day Photog Challenge

Day 2:  What I Wore

Okay.

Holy God.

This was hard!

I don't know how you blogger chicks do this weekly.

We had Pre-K orientation at the primary school for my middle child.

We rode the bus and met his teacher and checked out the classroom and met some of his new friends.

It was fun.

He had a blast.

Then it came time to take my photos.

How the hell does one take a full length picture of oneself?

I tried several methods.

Finally landed on the self timer.

And, of course, the beans had to be in the shot too.

:)

But I must tell you this brings up all my reverse body dismorphic quirks.

(I know, there's probably no such thing.)

But I tell you, I get dressed and look in the mirror, and I think I look pretty good.

Then someone (and yes, this time that someone was me) takes a picture of me.

And I am left scratching my head...

Who is that fat woman wearing my clothes??

I swear, when I looked in the mirror, I didn't see her.

I can't be the only one who is weird like this.

Can I?

Self Portrait

30 Day Photography Challenge

Day 1:  Self-portrait

So this is a picture I took of myself a few weeks ago.

I chose it because it shows where I am in my life at the moment.

I just turned 40 this year.

(gulp)

My SIL brought these feathers to a family reunion...

For the "teenage" girls.

Her exact words as she was busy giggling.

My response?

"Leave me alone.  I'm having my mid-life crisis!"

So I may not be young anymore.

I may not look as cute in feathers as the kids do.

I may have left my cool days far behind me.

It doesn't matter,

I still feel like I'm young and cute and cool.

;)

30 Day Photography Challenge

I saw this challenge over here.

 I think I'm going to give it a go.  I really do enjoy taking pictures (not that I'm very good at it, but I still enjoy it!).  Plus I'm not doing so well on making regular posts on my blog.   Not that I'm losing sleep over that, but that's a whole other story.

Ready, set, go!!