Necessities for Hawaii

This is what I have for my trip to Hawaii (I leave in almost 3 weeks!)



I have snorkeling gear, water shoes and a beach cover-up. That should be all I need, right?

because I need a photo

Chloe. On my lap at the computer. She makes it difficult to work, and this photo was the easiest thing I take get today (I forgot to take any photos earlier than 9 p.m.)

Papas & Beer

because almost all celebrations call for good Mexican food.

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poor, sad tree

It's snowing again today. Surprised? Me, either. Good thing we're only going to receive less than an inch of accumulation.

I wanted to document the sad-looking tree in my back yard. Mainly because I want to show you just how beautiful it is when spring hits (and I need a before/after shot.)



I feel bad for our tree right now because it doesn't stand out when you can see the ugliness that is the rental property behind us.

I'm so ready for spring.

on her level

I got down to Chloe's level this evening - I was stretching for something to photograph tonight.


When I look at this picture, I realize that I need to sweep. I also need to figure out lighting and how not to blow out Chloe's coloring in pictures.

Notice her paw, which is stretched out - you can see a couple of her claws. She kneads the floor a lot (and people.) She does it a lot when she's happy (I thought there was something wrong with her when we first adopted her a year ago.) Chloe was pretty psyched I was finally home after a very, very long day.

notice what's missing?

There's no snow in our back yard! There is snow in the forecast, though.

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a warmer view

The view on my way back to work at lunchtime. I wanted to turn around and go home to enjoy the beautiful day!

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a sign that winter is here to stay

Today it was almost 60 degrees outside, but you wouldn't know it by looking at one part of our yard:


The snow will NOT melt!

just brilliant

I finally got out of the house - and I didn't have to trek through the snow to have any fun!

The Brilliant Inventions played at the Grey Eagle (a local music venue) last night and I LOVE them. This photo was shot with an Olympus E-410. (I borrowed my mom's camera.) I use her camera for concerts (which I sometimes shoot for work. Yep, sometimes my job is awesome.)


So, no flash, terrible lighting, and I have a head in the bottom corner of the picture, but I still like it. Oh, and the stage only sits about 8 inches off the ground. They're more level with the audience than elevated.

And because I love them so much, I'm going to add a video to today's post. It's my favorite song by them (Lights You Up) and the quality is poor because Flickr requires video to be under 10MB. Oh, and it was shot on a point and shoot camera. Enjoy.

the great thaw of 2010

I shot this photo while at home on my lunch break.



There's actual grass in our yard - though a good chunk of yard is still covered in a layer of snow. (We have a lot of trees and the sun just can't get through to melt everything.) If you'll notice the bird thermometer on our porch, the temperature was well over 40 degrees! We're supposed to hit 55 degrees tomorrow! That seems almost tropical.

self portrait...kind of

This is one of my photos I took for "You Capture" (which you can check out on Beth's blog - and my full entry on my blog.)



Chloe often sits in my lap while I'm working, and she likes to look up at me so I can rub her head (or kiss the top of her head. She's very sweet...most times.)

the drive home

Sometimes you don't have time to pull out a camera, as was the case on my way home today. I love having my cell phone camera during moments like this.

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curious Chloe

Chloe had another vet visit yesterday. There was a dog in the waiting room, and this is a look we see often - the curious side of Chloe. The look didn't last long, as she wouldn't take the pill we were there to get, and ended up having to get a painful shot.

wet snow

This was taken on Friday (and I was at a red light - no photographing my windshield while driving in the snow, thankyouverymuch.) The snow was very wet on Friday, and I liked how it was melting on my windshield.

Now, if the snow could please go away so I can focus on spring.

my technological Valentine

This was my Valentine gift from my husband. And I think the pink makes it very girly :) It has 16 GB, which is a HUGE step up from my other 1 GB iPod. As you can see, I downloaded the "We Are the World" video...and that's it. I'm good with playing the song over and over!

littering

My cat has a thing about clean litter. She can't stay out of it. And she's often pushing against me to get into her box as I'm cleaning it. The vet thinks it's normal (she's an indoor cat, and cats normally roll around in dirt when they have dry skin or they itch). I think it's pretty gross...and I'm thankful she only does it when it's clean.

a visit to the hair salon

My view from the hair salon at 9:30 this morning. I had my hairdresser cut off four inches of my hair. It was crazy. A full story will probably end up on my regular blog at some point....until then, I really like the salon. And it just so happens that my hairdresser is moving to a new place soon.

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another snow day

This is all we needed for a day out of school (and another day taken away from spring break):



The main roads were fine. Neighborhoods notsomuch.

blizzard warning

This is what it looks like when a blizzard warning is issued for Asheville, NC. This is also the same sky I saw when I heard our schools were being dismissed two hours early. (I called my husband, the teacher, in disbelief.)

I understand the counties surrounding us getting out of school today. They actually have snow. But, really? The sky is BLUE and the sun is OUT!

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Chloe-approved

I finished the small pillows for our bedroom last night. Before I could really make the bed this morning, Chloe decided she was going to rest for a while. So this photo isn't just about the cat...at least check out the pillows I sewed together. Oh, and I made the afghan she's sleeping on. The cat totally approves of all of these things, if it makes her sleeping experience better.

pic of pics

I worked on our room for a little while yesterday. I grabbed this picture of photos we hung (in new frames and everything!) You can even see the green paint, and it's not washed out or beige like it appears in other photos.

Most importantly, let's focus on the Bahamas pictures and pretend we're there on this cold, gray day.

Playing with fire

This is Stephen, one of the former photographers at my workplace. He left last Friday, but because of the weather, we had to postpone his going away gathering. It was held this week at another co-worker's house. I watched another photographer taking pictures of the fireplace, and thought it was such a great idea that I stole it. (The idea, not the picture.) The only lights in the house were the small Christmas lights, candles and the fire in the fireplace. Obviously, no flash was used again.

footprints in the snow

Footprints in the snow in front of our house. They started at the sidewalk and ended at the tree.

silhouette

Chloe makes another appearance on the blog. We're getting hit with another winter storm and I found her watching it this morning. With the flash, the photo was rough. When I turned the flash off, though, I thought it was pretty with the snow in the background.

my day.

another meeting.

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she likes to help

I promise that tomorrow's photo won't be of Chloe. (Though, it may include her.)

a crafty night

I made this pillow last night - no points for creativity on my part, though. First, the photo isn't that exciting (except to me, because we have a new bed, new paint color AND new pillow?) and my sewing projects generally consist of square pillows. I can't sew anything other than straight lines.

Oh and I'm making two more square pillows this week - they match the larger square pillow. I told you. No points for creativity.

visit to the vet

Look who had to go to the vet this morning....

...she was not happy. This was a look inside her carrier when we got her to the vet's office.