Looking for Inspiration

I am kind of in a creative slump right now, but I keep on keeping on, trying to work myself out of it. One thing that always helps is seeing this sweet little face...even when this face is up in my face at 3am because it needs to go outside.  No matter what she does, it is impossible to get upset with Piper because she is such a happy and lovable little girl.

Today's Capture Your 365 prompt was open.  You know you are still in the slump when you take a photo of an outhouse as a daily photo.  Lol!  But, as the quote says, you never know where you will find inspiration.

I will also share here the link to my Tuesday in Texas post on Sifted Together.

Change Is Coming

As I mentioned in my post a few days ago, one of the many reasons that I have not been consistent in my writing here is because I am writing two other blogs.  I "met" Tracey almost three years ago through the Capture Your 365 community.  I say "met" because we have never met in person.  In the sharing of our daily photos in the CY365 forum, a connection formed between us.  Our communication moved from CY365 public gallery comments to personal email and text messaging.  In a nutshell, we discovered that though on the surface our lives appear very different, we actually share many common interests and experiences.  Two years ago, those commonalities led us to start writing a blog, Pixels, Plates, and Lols!,  together.  In it we discuss friendship, photography, and a lot of food.  This is another one of those people stories that I was talking about yesterday.  We wanted to find something we could do together to celebrate and nurture our friendship.

Tracey lives in Michigan and I in Texas.  We can't decide on a whim to go out for coffee, do lunch, or go on a photowalk together, but we can share our individual thoughts about and experiences with coffee, lunch, our cameras, and many other things with each other and with you through our blog posts.  Writing together is our way of sharing a long distance friendship.  And let me say, we have had A LOT of LOLs, both publicly and privately.  I think I can speak for both of us when I say blogging together is super fun.

As I sit here writing these words, I have just hit publish on our last post of Pixels, Plates, and Lols!.

Don't worry!  All is good with Tracey and me! Just as 2016 is coming to an end and 2017, with all of its possibilities, is about to be birthed, so our first blog together is coming to an end and something new for us is about to be born.  Though it was kind of sad knowing that when I hit "Publish" it would be the last time for Pixels, Plates, and Lols!, I know that things change.  Thankfully for us, this change is good thing!

I hope that I have figured out an effective way to balance my collaborative writing with Tracey and my personal writing here, but don't be surprised if every now and then there is a bit of "sharing" between the two blogs. Lol!

If you are interested in following us on our new adventure, I will share the details here as soon as I can!  If, while you wait, you want to read the detailed story of how we became friends and starting blogging together, here is the link to our very first post on Pixels, Plates, and LOLs!. 

Enjoy!  And thanks for reading.

32/365-3 February Selfie; "I Heart"

"Love Yourself"

My attitude about the monthly selfies has improved greatly over the past twenty five months.  Unfortunately, I ran out of time and light on this one; this is what was left.

31/365-3 One Done

"761, 25, 31,1"

This photos marks 761 days or 25 months straight of taking a photo a day.  It is photo number 31 for the 2015.  It is also the first month where I have been successful at loading all of daily photos into the Collect app on my phone.  And, I have uploaded my photos to Persnickety Prints to have my January photos printed as Project Life cards.  I am anxiously awiting their delivery!

27/365-3 Nourishment

"Body, Mind, and Spirit"

It is important to make sure body, mind, and spirit are all well-nourished.  This was taken on a beautiful 80 degree afternoon...in January!  There is something wrong with that, but I'm not complaining.

26/365-3 Movement

"Playing Nicely"

Well, today was an epic fail all the way around - technically and creatively.  The start of the spring semester has really messed up my photo taking routine.  I decided that I better be prepared for my classes tomorrow so it was dark by the time I got to my photo.  Most nights, the cat sits and waits for the dog to round the corner and then takes a paw to her and much motion ensues.  I was on the floor waiting.  Tonight it didn't happen:-)  The one time that I needed them to not play nicely together they decided to behave like civilized young ladies.  Oh well...win some, lose some:-)

319/365-2 Give Thanks for the Beauty of Nature

"Perseverance"

After a morning rehearsal, I "took the day off."  I didn't do anything today that resembles work in any way...no work for school and no household chores.  Right now this feels really good.  Tomorrow when I have to do laundry and prepare for school next week, I may be sorry for my day of irresponsibility, but right now I am feeling pretty darn good!

It was cold and wet here today.  I didn't have much inspiration or much incentive to go looking for the beauty of nature.  Truthfully, I am in a serious creative rut.  The best I could do was wander out into the yard hoping to find something.  Amidst the wash of brown that is our yard, I did notice this lone bloom on the Mexican Heather.  The pink really stood out against the non-color that surrounded it.  

I wish that I had the same will as does this little flower to persevere against all odds.

204/365-2 The Number 3

"Three Is Company"

I forgot to post this yesterday...probably because I was not happy with the results.  I had a vision of how I wanted this shot to look and I just couldn't make it happen.  Oh well...

The shirt sums up perfectly how things roll at our house.  It is even funnier because Weber bought this T-shirt on our honeymoon when we visited Dog Mountain.  From day one the dog has been in charge.

139/365-2 Where I Stand - May

"Questions"

Today was my first day of my summer break.  I turned all of my grades in Friday afternoon, but today was the first day that I should have gone to work that I didn't.  It was a pretty awesome day!

I got up with Weber and for a change, I made breakfast and his lunch.  When we both leave in the morning, he does both of these chores because I am much slower with my morning routine.  After he left, I sat on the patio with dogs, drank another cup of coffee and wrote my morning pages.  I promised myself a sabbath day today; for the most part, I had that.  I did have to do a few work-type things this morning, but they only took a couple of hours.

Weber had a training meeting today, so, as it turned out, he was able to come home for lunch.  That was a nice and unexpected treat!  And after lunch?  A nap!  It was awesome!  I haven't had an afternoon nap in a long time.  I am fairly sure that it would not take twenty-eight days for that to become a habit.

This evening I took some photos; we went out for Thai food to celebrate Brooke's new job; we went to Target and then came home and watched my all-time favorite movie, 84 Charing Cross Road.

My calm day has given me the opportunity to think about those things that I need to do and want to do during my time off.  I have a list.  I don't know that I will accomplish it all, but I am looking forward to trying!

Summer break is off to a good start.

88/365-2 Lucky

I am not doing well posting from my iPad while away from home.  For whatever reason, the photos are not sized correctly for tha app I am using, though they are the exact same size that I usually post from my desktop.   Also, there seems to be no way to format in my usual manner.  Oh well, I have more important things to worry about so for now it is what it is.

This photo only minimally has anything to do with the day's prompt of lucky, but it was my favorite shot of the day so I'm going with it.  Perhaps I was luck that it was gray and rainy thus making this image possible:-)

"Peering at a Pier"