Gratitude in 100 days…can I do it? Yes I can!

Well, at least I hope I can!

I've been seeing a lot on social media about 100 days of happy (or happiness) and people are IG'ing images with the hashtag, talking about it on the US Today program or posting about it on Facebook.  I thought it was a pretty neat idea but it didn't really resonate with me, not sure why. I just remember thinking this seems like a cool idea, then promptly moved on to whatever it was I had been doing at the time.

I want to be happy, and I will be the first person to tell you I don't feel happy all the time. Wish I did, don't know why I don't. I've got everything in the world to be happy about. Its just that I seem to be a negative Nelly, just thinking about what could go wrong or is wrong…most of the time.

So, what comes before happiness or can help make you feel better, happier? Gratitude. To me, gratitude is at the heart of happiness. In order to be happy you must feel grateful or blessed or something, right? Right.  I think what I've been missing is gratitude, real honest to goodness gratitude.  The kind where you feel grateful and thank God (or, whoever for you) for it, looking upward and think how lucky you are and how wonderful this moment is.

But sometimes its hard to feel gratitude. So. Very. Hard. And then little by little its hard to be a completely positive person, hard to see the good side in so much stuff that should be easy to see the good in. And thats me. I can find myself being negative from the start, occasionally passing it off as being cautious, which it is. Or sometimes as just being grumpy. Which it can be. Or tired, which it lately often is. Or just not negative but not completely happy.  But its also just not feeling enough gratitude for all the good and wonderful things in my life, in me, in the world…in pretty much anything. There shouldn't be any need to feel this way, but I do sometimes, other times often and I want to change it.

I want to be a better person. A much better person.
SO, here I go.

Gratitude for 100 days and lets see if I can't completely turn myself around.  I'm going to thinking about something to be grateful for daily, I'm going to ponder it and be thankful. I'm going to feel and live the gratitude. Its going to be hard, it already is :)  And did I forget to mention, I'll be showing you my daily in photos. Now I'm already doing a personal photo a day and a July challenge but I'm hoping to tie the other two into this one….

Wish me luck and I'll let you know how I get on!

After a hiatus, I'm back..

It was a big decision, close up shop and start again, or just keep right on going and tweak as I work out what I want to do?

I chose to tweak and see how things turn out. If they don't, then close this baby down I will. Who needs this floating if no one reads right? Right? I can hear a distinct echo out there, I'll pretend I don't for now.

Over 2 years has passed since I was last here with you. In that time I was preparing for a new baby and welcoming said baby and then getting my head around having said baby in the house.  Now? Now I'm working out how I fit into my new life as a stay at home mum and previous librarian. I have several hobbies, have taken up sewing now and am continuing to knit.  I always seem to be dabbling in other various craft activities but that'll  need to stop soon unless I can somehow make money. I only resigned a short time ago so I have time to work myself and my family out, however part of it is about working out who I now am, now that I'm not a librarian I mean.

After over 15 years in the industry, I called it quits to stay home with our baby.  Right when there seems to be a lot (and I mean a LOT) of discussion about good mums vs. other mums, can mums have it all, does working mean having it all, if you stay home with your baby are you giving up on having it all manner of things work and staying home and mum and parent related.  The decisions you make are hard enough without having all this blowing about in the background. Period.

I get quite angry and frustrated listening to all of this. There is discussion on some social site or morning news or other avenue talking about the pros and cons, always with people saying in the end 'why is it up for discussion?' and 'this doesn't happen to men'.  I just want to put my piece in (except feel that wading in is just adding fuel to any fire and quite frankly, my point of view kind of goes against doing what I'd like in this instance!) and say, stop talking about it then. Just stop. And then no one will have anything to discuss about it, no one will feel as pressured to put their view forward and get stamped on later for doing so. It won't be a newsworthy item. Just let people make their decisions based on what is best for them….who cares what the reasons are? They're usually private and up to each family. I know I have family who don't understand why I'm doing what I'm doing, especially as financially it may be difficult for a time. Our reasons are our own and our child is only young for a short time and like everything we've decided to do up till now, it may be a bit different to what you're doing, but it works for us.

As someone who is easily pressured, swayed by others minor opinions and quite frankly an anxiety ridden sheep I'd really prefer not to discuss it too much as I second guess our choices. And I shouldn't have to. I should be able to feel confident and comfortable and enjoy our decision. Mainly my fault I know, but my genuine wish is that people start to be a little more open to other people and the way they live. Maybe a pipe dream? Perhaps that is how other people deal with the different-ness of others, by discussing them and they way they live? In which case I take it all back and continue discussing…in the meantime, I'm working on confidence and accepting my own decisions a little more :)

So, hopefully you'll hang around while I/we find our way forward and as I find out my place in my family and in the world sans-library job.  More on that next time…

Its all gonna be ok!

Fiona

Daily Images...

I'm not sure if I've mentioned, but I entered with allll my other challenges one that involves me taking a photograph a day.  I've found it 'challenging' though not so bad as some of the themed ones.  They both push your mind in different ways.

Photo a Day is a continuous slog, a daily reminder to take a photograph of something that if possible, signifies what I've done during my day, sums it up.
Friday Photos and Paint the Moons 'Let's Do 52' are theme based and so each week I'll try and set up a photo if I can or take more time than I'd have with the Photo a Day to look at exposure, ISO, aperture etc. etc.  I have to say though I do work on those things, but there are many days that a snapshot is all I'll get.

Anyway, I'll post a photo or two occasionally to this main page that I've submitted to the photo a day challenge.

Also, I should give a nod to the fact that its Easter (or Passover if you're Jewish) at the moment and a very religious time - or chocolate filled depending on your leaning and/or faith.

The break we've had from work during the Easter period has been great...its given me a chance to catch up on some of my editing, playing and photo taking.  Amid visits from my family and a scrumptious dinner with my friends it has turned out to be a rather full weekend.  I've found I caught up with some Facebook stuff, some Flickr work and now adding another post and photograph here.

As I've caught up with friends new and old, its a good time to acknowledge all the inspiration and support we or I in this instance, receive from our friends and family :) I especially, am very lucky that I have people around me who are interested in photography and I'm part of an online community on Facebook with Paint the Moon and the people on there are so helpful, so giving and so supportive.

So if you're one of the people I speak to about photography at all, I thank you :) If I've spoken to you, you've given me feedback or commented on images I've loaded somewhere then I do want to say thank you for taking the time, being available and for your gift :)

Picture It!

As yet I haven't caught myself up to date with posts and images here on my blog but I have been going through and sorting my photos, thats a start :)

In the interim, I saw this Epiphanie post on Facebook with a chance to win one of their gorgeous bags...who wouldn't want to win one I have to ask? Anyway, my entry is below...variation on some of the other umbrella/parasol pictures I took recently.

Enjoy.

I entered the Epiphanie Camera Bags Picture It photo contest. http://bit.ly/xN3Pqc

Well, it's been a while...

Again, so long between posts its really quite scary. I think I've spent so much time dedicating myself to photography, origami and other things this year I seem to have forgotten my poor old blog, which was really the impetus for many of these things.  It was the turning point in my online social presence.

I'm enjoying the social atmosphere on Flickr, though like some other people I've come across, I sometimes yearn for constructive criticism to help me out.  People are so nice.  I do understand though, I'm one of the nice ones. Unless you know someone personally or something 'REALLY' stands out, its hard to say, "wellll, I feel that you've oversharpened just a little and could have whitened that area up a touch"..because who am I to judge? I'm self taught, I don't follow all the rules and my images are very mediocre.  Its all personal opinion really, thats all it ever is unless you're a professional...and even then I assume part of what they say when they're passing opinion is personal mixed in with technical knowledge.

Even after saying all that, I really have learnt a lot already and its only something like, day 069/366 (because thats how I think now that I'm participating in a photo a day challenge) :) And people still find ways sometimes of saying things that make you re-think an image or when you look at what others have done you think, WOW, I should try 'new' angles sometimes as opposed to the regular or not be so consumed with shallow depth of field...which I CANNOT get enough of :)

This image was taken for one of the challenges I'm participating in but I've now started up an NQR or Not Quite Right set in Flickr.  They're images that I processed, took for a challenge but one of the other images won out in the end by a whisker. I took this image after seeing other people highlighting elements of an image, using rule of thirds and as I mentioned previously, I LOVE BOKEH! 

So, with hopes that I'm not away for so long next time and that perhaps with a long weekend looming in Australia, I'll be able to get this blog up to date with some of my images :))
Please take a look at my Flickr account if you're interested to see everything as not everything will be posted here.

Cheers

xx

All Natural - Wk 1 005/366

http://catchingthelightandthemoment.blogspot.com.au/p/lets-do-52.html

All Natural - Wk 1 005/366, a photo by fionamahomed on Flickr.

Well, I'm a littttllle bit behind on my posting both for the blog and even for my images. I need to catch up.
Thought I'd do this one as a trial and see if I could load through Flickr to get my back up to speed.
N., my dad, my brother and I went to the Den of Nargun, a beautiful place of Indigenous significance in East Gippsland. So much to see and this gorgeous spider (which we later watched catching a moth and spinning him into the web) was one of them.

And because I can't move this post to where it should be, then I've created a link :(

Meeting the Challenge...

Today marks day 2 of the new year and day 2 of my challenges.  We'll see how I'm going on day 16 or more!
So far the only daily challenge I have is my reading challenge/s (which haven't completely been confirmed yet) and my Origami challenge.  This one seems to be turning into a photo a day as well, but its only day two.  I can see potential is all.

This evening I submitted my photos for the two '52 week' challenges I'm participating in.  Let's Do 52 with Paint the Moon and Friday Photo 2012 both on Flickr.  I need to either submit these with space between or find a better way to post them, but for now, the photos are below.

I also seem to be having trouble still with putting my Flickr images in this blog so will have to manually insert. Once I have it ironed out I'll paste the link :)

Infinity - Beginnings - FP2012

Love - Beginnings - FP2012

002 - Penguin - Origami-A-Day

Challenges - FP2012 and Let's Do 52

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to you and your family and hope your 2012 is a safe, memorable and blessed one.

I’ve made a couple of resolutions this year, my first time ever making resolutions.  I’ve always thought them a little silly and why wouldn’t you just change things or do new things when you want to??  Despite my best efforts and despite that fact that New Year’s Eve is often an odd time for me I am constantly ‘romanced’ by the newness of New Years Eve and the ‘romance’ of the thought of a brand new year about to begin full of promise, full of mystery and full of a second chance if you will.

This year has been no different with a very full and BIG 2011 I felt I needed to make some resolutions, although they’re more like challenges to help me get through.  My challenges are all about getting the most out of my year and living it to the full, participating rather than sitting back watching and complaining rather than what I see some ‘resolutions’ being about, changing yourself and trying to be a better person.  I try to be a better person all the time, I try to be a better version of myself, especially after I’ve done something that isn’t the best me.

So…this year I’m fully engaged with my two blogs, although if I was really smart I’d have just created one and I’ll probably end up merging them.  I know I should have created pages but I’m an indecisive sort of person and I like the two things I’ve started, I like the different look of each of the blogs and I wasn’t sure how it would work, considering one is fairly focussed on my reading challenges, love of books etc and this one is dedicated to my journey with photography.  They’ll merge, I know they will and this post will probably be on both of them 

The remainder of my challenges are below…stick around and see how I go with them.

•  participate in a reading challenge
• be more social on twitter and good reads/library thing [links to the right  ]
• participate in a photography challenge [or two, i've signed up for two and seem to have created a new photo a day for myself, well it hasn't happened yet but I see it happening and think it will be cool!]
• complete a unit of my study…if i don’t finish soon it will deflate me!
• complete my origami calendar

I know there are a lot, and boy it will be a big year of challenges and doing and participating! The challenges will require me to participate and be social and put myself out there.

So, if you’re doing any challenges or creating resolutions, I hope you do well and would love to hear about them.  I’ll of course post updates to these on here.  Again, wishing I only had the one blog, but I sooo love the names of my blogs…I can decide later, right? I don’t have a following so maybe thats what I’ll need to do.

January 1 2012 - Dove

Holiday Bokeh

Another entry for I Heart Faces, this time just because I loved learning about bokeh and its my new favourite thing.  Will be attempting it everywhere I go.

I especially love this photo, you've already seen it.  Oh, and the stars at the front are from the head of my santa :)
Some of the others with little characters were a little blown out and I'll have to work on that next year.  In the absence of christmas cards with myself and N, bokeh lights will do :)

And so that was Christmas...

Christmas, like everything comes and goes so very quickly. With the blink of an eye gifts are opened, family has been visited and you've all but moved on to the next stage of the year, the end of it, the celebration and making of resolutions.

It all happened to me too.

Christmas was great this year, celebrating again with both N's family and mine (at different times) and visiting with family we hadn't seen for a while.

I tried to take some bokeh of our Christmas tree but I just wasn't feeling it...sometimes you just don't do you?

Hope you've all had a safe and happy Christmas...New Years is right around the corner and hope that sees everyone safely making it into 2012 too :)

2012 is the year of challenging myself.  I'm looking at participating in some book group or reading challenge, you can check out how I go on my new blog Catch the Reading Bug and I'll also be participating in a photographic challenge or two.  At this stage I'll be doing a 52 week challenge.  Will of course post links once thats sorted!

Happy New Year and hope if you're making resolutions (this is my first time) they work out well for you and you don't over extend yourself.  I've never thought they were about that, more about resolving to be a little better or do a little more or grow a little.  Not about damaging who you are or how you feel about yourself.
Good luck!

Images processed etc with Paint the Moon's whimsy set and watermarking action.

FaLa La L a Laaa La La La Laaaa or Carols by Candlelight...

Last Sunday was our local Carols by Candlelight on the green....
N and I shared dinner at the local 'wonderful' Indian restaurant where we really lashed out and ordered something completely different.  YUMMO! The evening there was polished off with a latte (me) and a complementary port (N), again YUMMO!


We got to the Carols, within close walking range with 1/2 an hour to spare before the big fireworks.  We got to hear Santa talking (he may have also delved into the complementary port elsewhere) and heard the final song this year before the fireworks.  In fact, there was some silence, at which point everyone wondered whether it was time to leave and whether there were in fact no fireworks this year.


The fireworks came, I got to sing a few bars of  most of the songs (or the other way around) and got to try out my night time photography skills, of which there are very few.  I need to obtain myself a tripod, but I did okayish, in that I had fun, you can see colours, and make out Santa in one or two of the shots.  I played around a lot with the manual settings, very scary but you can always delete your shots, right? I went completely manual for the first time, and wished I'd read fully or memorised the piece on DPS about fireworks! Silly me!! I'll definitely read it again before New Years Eve because the very first hint is about a tripod! :)


I'm loving their new piece about bokeh too, can't wait to try that one out.


Need that tripod before Christmas so I can take my annual photo of N and I....

Frames are by Paint the Moon

I Heart Faces Photo Challenge - Furry Friends

Ok, this is my very first entry into a challenge and I'm VERY nervous and VERY excited to participate. I need to start somewhere right? Rigg....hhhtt?
This is a completely nerve wracking experience because I don't know that my photos are good enough, but I've finally decided that its the fun of participating and learning as I go....its always about learning for me, especially since the new camera arrived.

So....with that in mind, here goes.  This week at I Heart Faces the challenge they've set is for 'furry friends', of which I have one.  A very cheeky, yet very adorable lop eared bunny, who will actually answer to the name, 'Fudge'.  He was so yummy and multicoloured, in the brown sense, when I first got him...his name had to be food related in some way cause he was so yummy I could eat him up.  And Fudge is such a delicious name!

Enjoy!

Ready for Take Off

Midnight train...

Friday night is generally a quiet, come home from work and relax kind of night, and tonight hasn't really been any different. Came home, late, and lounged for a short time before N queried the nights takeout. Friday night is takeout or dine out night, more explicitly no cooking night.

Pizza and an evening of movies on the television lay ahead.

I've spent much of the night reading eBooks I'd downloaded and playing games on my iPad, my new best friend, or new best device. I've also explored online book clubs...there have to be some but they're surprisingly difficult to find. I shouldn't be too surprised though I suppose, when I wanted to locate one in my local area a while ago, when I was living 'back home', I couldn't find one. Or to be precise, I couldn't locate one that would take new people.

There are one or two twitter groups I've seen, though the ones I've stumbled across are themed, ie hisorical fiction. Which is fine, I love hisorical fiction, I'd just like to look at all my options before I commit.

So, here it is midnight and I'm about to get back on the train, metaphorically speaking. Soooo, let me know if you are in a great group or know of one. I've always wanted to be in a book group, just never happened I guess...

P.S. still waiting for that bag, or any sign of the bag, or news of the bags whereabouts! Concerns that it will be a 6 week delivery are looming.

The ghost of Christmas past...

I'm participating in Virtual Advent this year for the first time and I've had a lot of fun reading everyone's stories/traditions and then reminiscing about the things my family did. 

I guess I've been thinking more about what I did do with my family than what I currently do because to me Christmas was really alive with the whole 'santa' thing when I was younger - something I don't think I'm really into for kids now. 

It's been a nostalgic trip down memory lane for me and I just can't select one tradition to talk about this time, but guess I'll need to try.

My earliest memory of Christmas involves the tradition of our Christmas or Santa sacks and books; there are always books :)  Each year my brother, sister and I would help mum decorate the Christmas tree to the tunes of various Christmas carols and each of us trying to ridiculously out sing the other...or grumpily tossing away knotted lights and tinsel, depending on the mood at the time and the state of the decorations from last years pack up.  We'd then stick our heads into the linen cupboard, calling out to mum 'Where is my sack? Did you put it away, where did you put it?'.  Mum would patiently (or not, depending on the mood) come and help or call out the viable places the sacks may be hidden.  At this point you might be wondering why why didn't go into a drawer or perhaps away with the decorations each year? Who knows, it would seem more logical and it would indeed have been easier.  Many a cross word was spoken trying to locate them amongst a years worth of table cloths, summer and winter sheets, doona covers, vacuum cleaner and everything else that was stuffed away in there.

Eventually they'd be located, each proudly holding up our sack (or pulling it off a sibling stating it was ours, depending on the mood) and triumphantly marching it over to the tree and laying it underneath.  Always for me, imagining what might be laid inside by Santa, and if indeed I'd been good enough this year for his visit.  There was always a scuffle to place your 'sack' in the best position, and that being right at the front of the tree.  And you'd better watch out if you tried to lay on it or move it to watch the television...I'm starting to think we were quite territorial!  Oh, and mum finally realised that our names on things was a very safe option, so our sack eventually had these printed nicely on the front :)

There was always a lot of waiting, a lot of will the sack have something in it Christmas morning and what would that be?  Eventually Christmas Eve and as we grew up Catholic, there was always midnight Mass...and what an extravaganza that was! So much singing, the nativity and it would bring you that much closer to Christmas day.  Maybe that will be a focus for next year :) The first year I really remember I got up during the night to make a trip to the toilet, just down the hall.  I didn't turn on any lights, and stealthily as I could, made my way over to the tree.  I knew exactly where my sack was....quietly as I could I knelt down and stuck my hand inside...it was so full! There were things spilling out on the ground!  I put my hand in as far as it would go and felt the outline of a book, I smiled (at least I remember smiling), wondering with excitement what book it could be.  I knew if I turned the light on my mum would wake up, a light sleeper, and I'd be in trouble and the sack would be taken away...a threat to keep us in bed.  I dared feel inside the other sacks and can't really remember what I felt inside, but was awed by what I could feel and my mind going crazy trying to work out what was inside.  Knowing, but not completely knowing all the detail.

I went to the toilet, crept back to bed and was still VERY excited the next day when I finally got to see what I'd only felt and imagined the night before.  

I did this nearly every year for many years...always going out, sometimes getting caught.

What I remember and love was the mystery, the placing of the 'sack' under the tree and always receiving a book in that sack.  Even though for years I stuck my hand inside with excitement, I never knew what was really inside until the next day.  

It took a long time for us to stop placing our sacks out under the tree....we were well into our 20's, no one wanting to give it up, because Christmas just wasn't the same without it.  It didn't matter if there was anything inside, it just mattered that the sack was placed out.  Again, we continued to receive a book as part of our gift and again, this continued....actually I was well into my 30's before this stopped and only because mum found it difficult to choose books for us.  

I'm lucky and on the years we choose to do the bought 'gift' thing rather than something else I seem to always receive a book from someone.  I think if I didn't receive one I'd have to go out and do it myself, because it just isn't right to go through the next few days without a book to relax with. 

This year, my family has decided to donate to charities of our choice instead of purchase gifts...so two of the Christmas traditions I've lived with won't happen.  That's ok though, Christmas isn't about the material or the receiving for me, its about family and giving and remembering.

Hope you've enjoyed this lengthy trip down memory lane with me and take a look at the other participants on Day 7 of the Virtual Advent tour.

A selection of books received in my Christmas sack

The bag lady...

Well, that's just what I feel like at the moment...that or the book lady.

I am like a mad thing downloading ebooks onto my new iPad; just in case I'm anywhere and need something to read.  At this rate, I could live for 2 months on the books I have stored and I'm still hungrily searching for more. I've just remembered a few that I have stored on my old laptop, they will of course need to be retrieved to help my virtual library grow.

And the bags, well I haven't exactly accumulated those, but I've been madly searching and researching and looking into and investigating the best, most reliable, most long wearing bag for me.  There are just so many on the market, how does one decide? There are special lady bags, there are backpacks, there are lens bags and sling bags, bulky bags and well, anything else you could imagine really.  Such a nightmare for someone like me really, but in the end, I just wanted everything.

I couldn't of course get everything, I'm on a limited budget and had some birthday money.  What helped tipped the scales was the fact that a wonderful friend got me an e-voucher for Kelly Moore, who makes the most gorgeous bags.  It was either a Kelly Moore or Epiphanie, again a most gorgeous set of bags you ever did see.  So, I've gone with Kelly Moore bags for the moment, because there are always more birthdays and more Christmases and more special occasions in the world.  And if all else fails I can save.  I now have to wait, so the waiting game begins.

I now wish I'd paid the extra and gone for extra speedy delivery, because quite frankly I'm having a really a really difficult time waiting and its only been a week.  I'm checking USPS everyday (or 3 times a day if I'm truthful) and it seems to rarely even move. :( Of course sad face, this waiting is very difficult indeed.  So stay tuned for the bag, I expect to post a picture as I'm super keen for it to arrive.

Have a good weekend and keep yourself sane if you can (I know how difficult that can be) :)

Source: kellymoorebag.com via Fiona on Pinterest

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

1st of December today and it's quite amazing to watch the year hurtle towards its end.

Christmas decorations have been in stores for months, however everyone is now starting to put up their trees and home decorations. I need to start thinking about gifts, but really feel like its too far away. Who am I kidding? We all now it will get ever closer until I'm running in a mad panic the night before.

I'm really enjoying my iPad, amazing birthday gift of gifts it's brought me endless pleasure already, just days into its life with me. I've got books galore stored within, games and a handy notepad. It'll never leave my side again :)

It's been a huge week...both at work and my personal life. In the last few years im left wondering why so many things happen to people around this time. It feels like the time of year when things should sail along for everyone.

This week at work we lost someone dear to us and are still reeling in the aftermath. It will take a long time to recover, but one of the things I realize is that we lost more than a colleague and friend; we've lost someone who strings many threads together in the community, someone who has ties everywhere, someone who you could always see just there. Someone who will never be forgotten and we weren't even aware we'd have tobe ready to say goodbye to.

And that's only half of the story really... The week has continued, as it does and other things have arisen to keep you going on. Even though there are those who wonder how they can, if they should or whether it's irreverent to do so.

I've not taken any photos lately and for various reasons am determined to do so this weekend. I also feel the need to capture the image of something, because after all that's what people are left with. The memories and the images that will last, or hopefully last. Let's hope my next post is more cheerful :)

Source: diycrafts.blogspot.com via Alli on Pinterest

It's my party and I'll cry if I want to....

I love birthdays, in so much as to say I love having them, love the suspense and the mystery...but I dislike parties.

That's fine though, I'm not having a party this year and haven't had one for many years now.  Its a rarity I have to say.  

Today IS my birthday though and I've been 'Appled' up even more than I was before with a cracking gift from my gorgeous - I've moved into the realm of the iPad. I love it.  I knew I'd love it. And now I can't stop loving it.  Today I spent all morning setting it up and playing with it, only to be late to see actual people :)

My family made a special trip down to see me.  A beautiful surprise was that I didn't realise everyone was coming, how special do you think I felt?  I just feel like the luckiest person in the world right now....I have so many people who love me, treat me well and wishing me the best.  You really can't expect much more from life than that.  And really, everything else is insignificant isn't it? This is what really matters, this is what really counts.

The fun continued when I got taken out to dinner, a beautiful little spot we'd only been to once before and it didn't disappoint.  Now, sitting back with a chance to relax, be with my 'family' and play with all my little gadgets.

Oh, and last week, after much debate, I bought myself a new Canon 60D, and can I say WOW! Haven't had a lot of time to play with it but today I did.  The sun was shining, life was good and so were the people surrounding me.  I didn't get a lot of time to play, but some of the results coupled with my dad's macro that I'm trialling at the moment made me feel good when I looked at them and good about me.  Enjoy with many more pictures to come in the future with my rockin' new camera! Now all I need is a good back so I can carry around more than just the body and one lens.

Images tweaked with Coffeshop Sunny Pop and Coffeeshop Coffee with Cream, then sharpened and resized with Paint the Moon's Frame/sharpen and Paint the Moon's Vintage Attic frames (I think that name is slightly wrong).  The frames are great, they're just my thing and I'm LOVING them at the moment.  Hopefully the next few days I'll get to play with images, editing and my new iPad! Bring it on :)

A New Addition...

Yesterday we were graced with a new addition...Fudge.  He's a gorgeous, cuddly and loveable rabbit who seemed to just snuggle me right away.  He was happy to sit with me for the longest time when I first met him, and was a champion on the ride home.
We've been super careful with him, tried to make him feel at home and not miss his brothers and sisters too much.  And...he seems to be quite happy here; he won't stop eating and happily gets in and out of his hutch without too much prompting and its only Day 2.


There'll be many more pics to come, but this is the first and only one I've had time to edit/resize.  I've edited using Paint the Moon's Miracle Makeover and The Essentials.


Meet Fudge....

Spring and Stuff

An absolutely gorgeous weekend has made me fully realise that the start of spring really is here and the year has nearly gone full circle.  Amazing how time flies isn't it?


I remember thinking at about the same time last year that I didn't think I'd get to this point in 2011 without some things happening along the way.  I didn't know how I'd get here if they did or didn't.  And now, here I am, with things that have happened that I'd perhaps rather not have and things that didn't eventuate that I wished with all my heart that they would.


But you carry on don't you? Other people have much worse things happening to them or their loved ones and they cope and get by and live and well, carry on.  So how can you not?  Sometimes its good to be reminded of those special people, who never think they're special at all.  They are just living life the best way they know how, not doing anything different, not being heroic and certainly not being special.  


It's not like this year was filled with a nothingness either.  It has been a great year, filled with so much more than I could even begin to go into.  People have let me into their lives, just so I can practice what I love, I have been places, met people and I've done some things I didn't want to do or thought I couldn't, but guess what? I could.  You always can, you just can't give up on the trying.  And me, well, I hate to give up.  I'll complain, I'll kick and I'll scream but I find it very hard to just....give up.


And so, I'm awaiting summer (and my man who is out) with high expectations and desire for great things.    Some of the great things I desire are purely material and I'm hoping to get a new camera bag I've been eyeing off.  Not sure yet whether to get one from Epiphanie or Jo Totes, so many good bags, but it will have to last me for a while.   


I've gotten all philosophical today, I think I enjoy blogging and haven't done it for a while. Not many photos this weekend.  Too filled with outside, being a couple and removing all the old files from my old pc to my Mac and loading some great new actions from Paint the Moon.  I thought about them for a while, there is a great deal going on for the Picture Perfect Mega Set, and went for it today.  The photo below is processed using some of the effects from the action set.  


Have a great week :) 

3 Top Tips I've Heard Recently

Let me just say before I start that these came from ALL over the place on the web and in books, they're NOT my tips. I've read them and think they're super. Unfortunately I can't remember where I read them all

1. Take photographs of things you enjoy
2. Try and take a photo every day. You'll learn to see something in everything. It also helps you work out what you like, how your camera works and know your lenses better (this is one I really need to work on)
3. Use natural light as much as possible, it is your friend. Clouds and wind can also be your friends.

And that's my super quick photo for today, shot on my phone and brightened on instagram. a busy day ahead and not sure I'll get another chance.
Have a good weekend