I don’t know the word for a contest with no prize, but I need your help.  Now’s the time if you’re a regular blog reader (even if you’re just a stalker – aka the readers who don’t comment) to help me.  My friend Stacy took the following photos for me today for a support letter that I need to write to raise money for my trip to Ethiopia (in March!!!!).  I can’t decide which one to use.  You vote & I PROMISE I’ll use the one with the most votes.  Simple as that.  Leave a comment & all you need to do is say #1 or #2.  And go give Stacy some love & tell her thank you for me for doing this on such short notice (and for letting my kids play Wii while she did it).

#1

#2

Thanks friends!  And let’s say voting ends…um…Sunday.

AHHHH!  I’ve got less than an hour to blog!  Today has been fun, but busy.  I got a head shot from my friend Stacy (which required extensive grooming on my part), took the kids to lunch as a treat, prepared our lovely babysitter, Lauren, drove to Alexandria, and attended the DC Spread the Love Tour with Justin & Mary Marantz, got locked in the garage, had to walk umpteen blocks to get cash to get my car out, & finally made it home!  Let’s say my day was filled with a good deal of prayer!

Anyway, about the photo above:  This is our youngest daughter, Brooke.  She’s 2 and a half & has been in her own “big girl” bed for about a year now.  While we don’t tell her she can’t come out of her room in the morning, she has usually sat in her room calling for us when she’s ready to get up.  Well, today she opened her own door & surprised me in my room while I was getting ready.  She came in with her eyes all glazed over from sleep, her mouth & nose all crusty, and carrying every toy she could fit in her tiny hands.  Then (after a quick diaper change), she spread out on the floor and watched cartoons on the TV while she woke up.  This is her deep in thought while watching Peppa Pig.  What could she be thinking?

A side note on this 365 thing, or more some personal ponderings that I could get your imput on:

1) what if there is more than one thing I do in a day that I want to share a photo about?  What do I do?

2) what if I shoot an image really late & want to share it, but I know it’ll be too late – is it okay to share the next day, or is that cheating because it wasn’t taken that day?

I guess I’m learning as I go along.  Thanks for stopping by!

Well, it seems that Christmas is officially over.  How do I know this?  When I went to Target to get an ornament storage  box & was greeted by bathing suits at the top of the escalator it was a pretty solid indication.  Bummer! 

This photo is a small part of the Christmas cards we’ve received this year.  I’ve always wanted to display my cards in some creative way, but having no fireplace mantle, I wasn’t sure what to do.  We had originally bought this red felt snowflake rope stuff to put around our Christmas tree, but Josh bought a ginormous tree & the rope barely made it half way down.   Emma & I decided to drape it along the ceiling with push pins & tie our cards on it.  It’s been great for the girls to be able to check the mail each day & hang up new cards from friends & family.  Thanks so much for sending us your cards this year.  We’ve loved getting a glimpse into your lives!  I am going to keep this snowflake rope up for a few more weeks just to remind us of all of YOU!  (ps – if you didn’t send us one & still want to, get that sucker in the mail, pronto!).

On a camera related note, I’ve been practicing Amy Wenzel’s advice & moving my focus points to where I want the focus to be instead of focusing on a spot & reframing my view.  It’s super neat!  Just a small trick, but I like trying it out.  I’m not too fast just yet, but I’m working on it.  I need to learn my camera’s buttons by heart first!

Photos I’ve been looking at:  My friends!  I’ve been following my friends & fellow photographer’s 365 projects.  Here’s a few:  Heather Grace Photography, Stacy Richardson Photography, Stevie T Photography.  If you’re out there & starting or continuing a 365 project, or a 52 week project, let me know!  I WANT to see it!  Thanks!  That’s all.

If you or someone you know is getting married in 2009, and you already have a date chosen, you can win a free wedding photographer courtesy of my wonderful friend, teacher, and fellow photographer – Stacy Richardson! Visit her blog for details…but hurry, this contest has a deadline! Below are just two of her STELLAR images. She’s great at photography, and super easy to work with (trust me, I’d know!). So write your greatest love story, submit it, and wait for the winner! Good luck!

Copyright Stacy Richardson Photography

Copyright Stacy Richardson Photography