Guess what?  We played a new game tonight & I WON!!!!  TWICE!!!!  Yeah, sorry to brag, but I’m on this 3+ month Settlers of Catan losing streak & just needed to win.  My brother & sister-in-law (Matt & Emily) bought Mom this new card game called Bullet.  It even comes in this cool tin shaped like a bullet.  They taught us to play tonight at the joint January Birthdays Party  for Josh, Bert, & Laura and it was so fun!  There’s character cards, like in CLUE, where you are either the Sheriff, the Renegade, the Deputies, or the Outlaws.  The goal is different depending on your character.  It’s like a western mixed with a card game.  Kinda hard to explain, but not hard to explain that I WON!  Okay, I’m officially done bragging. This shot is of my sheriff’s badge & some of my cards.  It was so fun!

Photos I’ve been looking at: Josh Mazgelis at JMaz Photography.  He responded to my iPhone App giveaway and I usually check out all of my blog commentors’ websites.  He’s doing a 365 too!  It’s so neat to look at others 365 ideas & see what their days consist of.  Thanks for the blog comment Josh & thanks for the feedback on my App!

Um, who else thought it would STILL be snowing here in Maryland at 5 o’clock?  I didn’t!  The snow is still coming down strong.  And then a quiet knock came on the front door and hello Robin & Chris!  What a welcome surprise!  Robin is my sister-in-law & Chris is her love.  They came by just to check on us & clean off the car.  Aren’t they sweet!  I made them pose for this photo before they cleaned off the car.  We tried to do the pose like the farm, his wife, & the pitchfork, but it was kinda cold.

Happy snow day!

Hear that rumbling?  It’s my very full stomach from my girls night out at Cheesecake Factory.  Ahhhh…such a great night talking with girlfriends, eating yummy food, & just enjoying time with other adults.  Thanks Laura, Colleen, Jessica, & Karen.  I needed it!

*ps – this is Colleen’s cheesecake.  I can’t have it, so I thought I’d photograph it.

I got it in my head a few weeks ago to photograph the moon.  But whenever I would go outside to capture it, there would be clouds, or rain, or snow, or just no moon!  Plus, I have no idea how to photograph the moon!?!?!  So, my husband, in his infinite wisdom, said, “Why don’t you Google it?”  It turns out that is a very good idea.

The above photo is the end result!   The only “post-processing” I did was to crop the image to make the moon larger & sharpen the picture.  Here’s my settings:  ISO 100, f/11, 1/160th of a second, 200mm.  Presto!

Photos:  Tasra Mar.  I have mentioned Tasra’s site before, but I really enjoyed her post this week about post-processing.  She talked about how NOT to have to fix things in post, or on the computer, after you’ve taken the photo.  I LOVE this because it means less work on the back end for me.  Now I know, some of you may think I take the photos & they are magically the way they appear online.  However, that is far from the truth.  I typically spend several hours after a session or wedding choosing the best photos & editing them.  Getting the shot great straight of the camera is one of my 2010 photography goals.  Quality over quantity.

A simple post with a simple thank you to:  my husband for watching the girls, hot water heaters, 2 capfuls of Elmo’s watermelon bubble bath, & a Cinderella loofa.  Ahhh…..

Photos I’ve been looking at:  All the images of the new iPad from Apple’s Keynote presentation.  What are your thoughts on this next new thing?