Tag Archives: photography
Ya’ll, seriously, my life is in bloom.
I wanted to show you how I covered # 5 on my Self-Promise List. I spent time with my family for my mother’s birthday. As you can see my nephew was making beautiful water glass music using his spooned fist. As I type this, I’m surrounded by azalea bushes that are beginning to bud and pink. I couldn’t help and try something creative tonight and with eggs, no doubt. This is my first-year blowing out the egg goo and painting shells instead of dunking them into dye. I got a tutorial on alisaburke.blogspot.com. She’s a spectacular blogging artist who has all kinds of egg design techniques featured here.
A few years ago I felt like I wasn’t doing enough because I wasn’t traveling the world. All of my friends were going to these fabulous places, learning all new languages, posting pictures of buildings older than any civilization today and I couldn’t be anything but jealous. Instead of being happy for these lovely and daring friends of mine, I was a bitter belly. Luckily, at 25, I look at these pictures and think my life couldn’t be any better. Thanks for being a part of that on this blog. : ) Happy Thursday Night and Spring Break!
Yes, that is a James Joyce mug. I picked wisely when getting coffee at brunch.
My nephew is better at my phone games than I am and my mother is the most beautiful woman I know.
Needle ball in the azaleas.
I have this tree in my yard without the slightest clue of what it is. I’m obsessed with it’s flowering pattern. Any biologists or gardeners that want to help me out?
I know this looks like a first grader created it, but it was fun while it lasted folks.
I tried branching out on my own creative genius and it worked.
I call this: Pin-up Pantyhose Easter Egg.
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10 comments | tags: blooms, buds, Easter, easter eggs, flowers, happiness, joy, learn, learning, mom's birthday, nephew, paint, painted, photography, spring, spring break | posted in Photography, Project 365, Travel, Uncategorized
Guys, my blog has been sucking. Don’t worry, this week there will be book reviews and bookgasms and bookishness. I’m finally getting used to my schedule of taking classes and teaching classes and grocery shopping.
LET THERE BE BOOKS!
289:
Sunday Drive
This week is going to be a drive through my small town.
290:
Wires & Land
This is one of my favorite places on my drive home. It’s where the farms are mixed with a bit of wire.
I read this poem this week and it’s what reminded me that I can find something beautiful in something ugly.
Valentine for Ernest Mann – Naomi Shihab Nye
You can’t order a poem like you order a taco.
Walk up to the counter, say, “I’ll take two”
and expect it to be handed back to you
on a shiny plate.
Still, I like your spirit.
Anyone who says, “Here’s my address,
write me a poem,” deserves something in reply.
So I’ll tell you a secret instead:
poems hide. In the bottoms of our shoes,
they are sleeping. They are the shadows
drifting across our ceilings the moment
before we wake up. What we have to do
is live in a way that lets us find them.
Once I knew a man who gave his wife
two skunks for a valentine.
He couldn’t understand why she was crying.
“I thought they had such beautiful eyes.”
And he was serious. He was a serious man
who lived in a serious way. Nothing was ugly
just because the world said so. He really
liked those skunks. So, he re-invented them
as valentines and they became beautiful.
At least, to him. And the poems that had been hiding
in the eyes of skunks for centuries
crawled out and curled up at his feet.
Maybe if we re-invent whatever our lives give us
we find poems. Check your garage, the odd sock
in your drawer, the person you almost like, but not quite.
And let me know.
291:
Shower Curtain Light
Ignore the claw marks. That would be my kitten, Fromage. She not only likes cheese, but curtains, blankets, decorative chairs, etc.
292:
My little town involves their secret cuddles.
Secret Canoodling!
I can’t help but take these photos.
They should be on that new Animal Planet show dedicated to cuteness.
293:
Slash & Burn
This is good for the harvest. This is good for the harvest. This is good for the harvest.
294:
Children’s Section of The Country Bookshop
I went to get the next book in The Wildwood Chronicles because it’s written for 24-year-olds and fifth graders. I happened upon this chalk door, (like a gate into the secret garden). Don’t worry, I didn’t break the seal of childhood by selecting a chunk of chalk and scribbling a 24-year-old heart onto the door. I really wanted to though, maybe next time.
PS. This is The Country Bookshop in Southern Pines. Their motto is “Bringing the World to Southern Pines.”
295:
“We like big bird….with ranch & hot sauce.”
Political voice in small town America.
296:
Poe looks dashing in blue.
Somehow, I managed to mix Lewis and Edgar in one Creative Writing Club flyer.
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26 comments | tags: big bird, books, cats, community, cotton, country, creative writing club, edgar allen poe, farming, fun, lewis carrol, literature, mitt romney, naomi shihab nye, people, photography, poe, poetry, politics, project 365, slash and burn, small town life, wires | posted in Photography, poetry, Project 365, Travel, Uncategorized
Instead of doing this by day, I’m just going to show you how pretty the wilderness is, and history, and standing on a mountain graffitied with love stories.
I believe these are days 222-229.
First, we went to Floyd, VA.
Floyd Arts & Yoga
We spent the week(ish) in & around Fairystone State Park. At the top of the mountain is Floyd, VA. We met bluegrass and yoga there. I’ve never been a yoga gal – my mom does sun salutations every morning, but I’ve never started. I want to go back to Floyd and say hello to the mountain using my body, folding my legs and arms, bringing my face up to the sky and thanking the world for such wonder. Thank you, Floyd.
Bob White Covered Bridge
Virginia is for lovers, standing in the clear of the creek, brushing bare toes against skipping stones and being a shadow in the oval space of an open door.
Lover’s Leap, VA
Had to take the honorary chaco’s shot. Walking the world in strapped sandals, talking to cows through the metal fence.
Nancy’s Chocolate Warehouse
What’s a stop to the mountains without checking out the local goods. Truffles are my weakness, they even have a cute name. It’s like you want to tie a bow to them and hang them on a Christmas tree branch.
Mabry Mill
One of the only places in the US that still makes millstones. A little history mixed with a little literature never hurt anyone, in fact the two go hand in hand.
My favorite photo from Mabry Mill
I used to believe that my dolls wanted to look out the window if they weren’t turned towards one another and having a conversation. This doll has dreams of wrapping her scarf tight around her neck and climbing through a soft yawn.
My very first winery.
I’ve never been a wino, but definitely a whine-o. I love the grape bunches. They remind me of kings and girls with large green leaves fanning the sweat from their foreheads.
Not sure where we are, just some wild adventure.
“All our wisdom comes from the trees.” All our our longing comes from the water.
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18 comments | tags: birdhouses, blueridge parkway, creeks, fairystone state park, fairystones, floyd, grapes, leaves, lover's leap, mabry mill, philpott damn, photography, Trees, virginia, virginia is for lovers, wild, wilderness, wine | posted in Photography, Project 365, Travel, Uncategorized
You know how this goes; photos of my week that usually end up being 7 pictures of my cat.
Day 192:
Skype Date
He’s cute when he’s that far away.
Day 193:
Ms. M’s 9th Grade Room
I present to you, the first shot of my empty classroom. I have two wall size windows. That means in a few short weeks twenty-five kids will be zoning out to highway sounds.
Day 194:
Headboard
Two months ago I started this project. After too much nonsense to even type here, I painted it peach when I thought it was white and stenciled these lovely Martha Stewart delicates onto it. You can’t get much more 24 & girly than that.
Day 195:
Fur Homie
I iz adorbs?
“Call Me Maybe” Side Pony
This reminds me of summer camp.
Day 196:
Loudest. Raindrop. Ever.
I was in the underbelly of a bridge when a circus-act raindrop splattered on my window. I kid you not, it was the gunshot, firework, elephant, tornado, of raindrops.
Day 197:
Genetically Modified Deerbunnie
Found only in the forests where Deliverance was filmed, we present to you here, the deerbunnie. It is a cute, furry, white-tailed species known to have a twelve point antler rack nestled just next to its floppy ears. Scientists are performing tests in New Mexico and have found that the deerbunnie prefers off-key banjo music. Tune in here for further details.
Furlock Holmes
This is what Jasper thinks of me reading my poetry aloud.
This is his bed and he will have no rhymes, line breaks, or stanzas interrupting his beauty sleep. Some good alliteration done in a British accent is however, always welcome.
Day 198:
Corn Determination
The look of pure corn determination. The inventor of odd poops: my nephew and his cob.
Pre-Frat Comb Over
Jack was trying to look like Pa pre-bald spot.
(Yes I did just figure out how much fun the strike-through can be).
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12 comments | tags: 9th grade, banjo, banjo music, cat, classroom, deliverance, elephants, furry animals, jack, jasper, nephew, photography, project 365, raindrops, skype | posted in Photography, Project 365
Here we are, another week. We’ve already well surpassed the halfway mark for the year. That means resolutions are starting to crop up in those funnel clouds of our mind. Is funnel for tornado and funnel for cake spelled the same way?
Day 185:
Photobooth
Photobooth is really where I take all my cat’s model photos. However, I decided to have a moment in the spotlight with this #heygirlhey self-portrait.
Day 186:
Beach Front
After taking this photo we watched a drunk teenager fall right on his butt off that life guard post. Don’t worry, we helped him up. He did still hold onto conspicuous drink in his hand though, good catch.
Day 187:
Grease Lightning
Catching Lightning at Fort Fisher.
Spudnick the lightning bolt.
Bird Model
Surprisingly enough, this bird wanted his photo taken. First he stood on the no-parking sign which was completely ironic (if you have my humor) and then he stood right in front of the car headlights from behind us. He wanted me to get this shot. He’s looking debonair in his blue sky glare.
Day 188:
Psychedelic Independent Bagel!
4th of July Parachute Show
Raleigh Downtown was a complete bust after this shot.
I may not have fireworks…
but I have the landing angle.
Day 189:
I said a bird, bird, bird,
bird is the word.
Day 190:
Cat Model
Look for him in the next Fancy Feast commercial, darling.
I prefer human showers.
Day 191:
Yep, that one’s mine.
Oh, you mean kids go to Marbles (kid’s museum) to actually play in the water works section. My nephew just goes to make strange noises into the hand drying equipment. He also refuses to only dry his hands.
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18 comments | tags: 4th of july, bagels, beach, birds, cassie, cat lady, cat model, cats, independence, jasper, july 4th, lifeguards, lightening, nephew, photography, photos, project 365, roses, seagulls | posted in Photography, Project 365
Can you believe it’s already summer solstice this month? And that 4th of July is sprouting these white tents filled with explosives for thirteen year old boys to use in their neighbors driveways. Ahhh the terror, must make more lists.
Day 170:
Construction
Sometimes even the ugly things about cities can be beautiful. PS. See that blue and yellow umbrella through the crack of metal, I crave those hotdogs in my sleep.
Day 171:
Red Hair, Don’t Care
Mom took a box to my hair earlier this week for extra highlights. She’s a natural red head, and due to my weird brownish blondish hair with red highlights sometimes I need a quick spruce up. I think of it like I’m a flower who needs to be watered. Corny?
Day 172:
No big deal, just licking museum tools that other kids touch all day.
“Oh, you don’t want me to lick this giant magnifying glass at the end of a museum day that other people have to use, and believe me, have used, all day. Oops,” – my nephew.
Day 173:
Chivalry
I’ve always been that girl who says “I don’t want flowers because they just die.” Why was I that girl again? Flowers die in the prettiest ways because they bloom and thrive first. These roses are “Mount Everest” roses and they die looking like paper with black creases in the petals. My boy knows that even my flowers need to be bookish (Hah).
Day 174:
Escazu Homemade Chocolate Popsicles
So, Raleigh has this chocolate shop. And that’s the end of that story.
Day 175:
Scrabble Earrings
I made new earrings last week for my future English Teacher status. If you would like a pair, I can definitely make some – I have a few extra scrabble beads and would be happy to send them out. Just email me if interested.
Plus, here’s a poem:
Hymn to the Neck
|
|
| by Amy Gerstler |
|
Tamed by starched collars or looped by the noose,
all hail the stem that holds up the frail cranial buttercup.
The neck throbs with dread of the guillotine's kiss, while
the silly, bracelet-craving wrists chafe in their handcuffs.
Your one and only neck, home to glottis, tonsils,
and many other highly specialized pieces of meat,
is covered with stubble. Three mornings ago, undeserving
sinner though she is, yours truly got to watch you shave
in the bath. Sap matted your chest hair. A clouded
hand mirror reflected a piece of your cheek. Vapor
rose all around like spirit-infested mist in some fabled
rainforest. The throat is the road. Speech is its pilgrim.
Something pulses visibly in your neck as the words
hand me a towel flower from your mouth.
|
Day 176:
Bugs are totally stepping up their fashion game.
This moth has it goin’ on, sister.
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12 comments | tags: construction, earrings, escazu, hair, me, moths, museums, nephew, photography, photos, project 365, raleigh, roommates, scrabble | posted in Photography, Project 365
This week was probably my least inspired week while participating in Project 365. My mother had to literally carry my family outside and make me take self-timer photos of us in the front yard. Last night, the deer ate all my mother’s impatiens leaving the sad little stems withering at the edge of our garden plot. Funny thing is, just yesterday I learned that deer are the only animals around (squirrels and bunnies) that eat flowers right off the stems. I wonder what a flower tastes like, I only ate mud pies as a child.
Day 155:
“She saw something awful in the very simplicity she failed to understand.”
― F. Scott Fitzgerald
All the men in my life have green thumbs so they’ve taken to sharing flowers. It adds new meaning to the idea of bringing flowers to a date. These are the gerber daisies from the boy’s front yard to the pot on the side of our house.
Day 156:
The fun Jas and I have with photo booth. Thanks Steve Jobs. Love, Cat Lady’s everywhere.
There are girls in bedrooms that are hyped from the gym and craving eggs, but all they have is cats.
Day 157:
Sunday Church
My mom is a photo-pusher. She’s an enabler of photo albums, cluttering a house with pictures of people you love, and making my dad and I pose near blue hydrangeas and in our “Sunday best.”
Day 158:
Cupcake Shoppe
Cupcake Shoppe Register
My dear friend Catie and I walked all the way up the giant Glenwood hill for these delectable treats. I just love the smell of bakeries, and this particular Cupcake Shoppe has my favorite bronze old-time register. I had a salad for lunch so I decided to just go ahead and coat my nose in buttercream. My mom sighed and said, “Oh my God, did you eat that this week?” when she saw this photo. I’m still a rebel at twenty-four.
Day 159:
Jinger’s stampage
Australia: Society of Stamp Counters
“Here’s the mail, it never fails. It makes me want to wag my tail. When it comes I want to yell – MAIL!” – Blue’s Clues
Day 160:
Hope.
Read small printed caption for details. All this industry and roots still grow.
Day 161:
Laundry Day
Not only does he enjoy climbing into the dryer, but he also likes the feel of warm jeans. Don’t we all?
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21 comments | tags: australia, cat, cats, cupcake shoppe, cupcakes, dad, daisies, faj, garden, gym, impatiens, jasper, laundry, letters, mom, mud pies, penpals, photo booth, photography, photos, plants, project 365, steve jobs | posted in Photography, Project 365, Uncategorized
Day 148 | Monday
Built in 1888. Part of the National Seashore
Here’s what the blurb at the national seashore said: “Can you believe the building in front of you is the one in this photo? It has had many lives. Built as a Life-Saving station in 1888 it was absorbed into the newly created US Coast Guard in 1915. The next year the Coast Guard moved it 70 feet to make room for a new station. From 1919 through World War II it served as a barracks for naval radio navigation operators. Finally, in 1957 it was sold as surplus and moved here, where it became a residence. After years of service as a lifesaving station it seems only fitting that the building’s life has been saved too, preserved as part of the national seashore.” (Thanks Amy for taking some of these photos too).
When I was away for Memorial Day we visited an old town on an island near Cape Lookout. Years ago it was evacuated due to Hurricanes. The only problem with making the residence leave, and later move was that their hundred year lease was not up yet.
Day 149 | A Tuesday
Kindergarten Report Card
In rummaging boxes for paperwork about my life (ah, bank companies) my dad found my kindergarten report card. It seems my love of reading started at an early age.
Day 150 | A Wednesday
He isn’t always a poser.
Sars got me a cat lady shirt on impulse. The only way to wear a cat lady shirt is to hair it up with cat mane, thus, this happened.
Day 151 | A Thursday
Doing my first pinterest DIY
Yep, I’m one of the 1% that is actually creating something off of pinterest. I’m also planning my wedding, my floral arrangements, tomorrow’s outfit and breakfast, my future bathroom design, and how to do a “summer bun.”
Earlier this week, I had to teach my teens what “it’s” meant, rather than “its.” I also had to teach them how to spot a fragment and a run-on. It was two hours of one-on-one tutoring using a 2009 EOC test.
I’m angry with my teens for being rowdy and not paying attention in class. I’m angry with those stupid grammar workbooks that teach students NOTHING. (I know because I had to use a few throughout high school and then teach myself grammar basics in college just to be able to write a functioning paper). And, I’m angry with educators who haven’t engrained the differences between there, their, and they’re to these students. (Please ignore my use of “and” as a sentence starter, I like to write like I speak).
One of my teens writes poetry in his free time; he loves English. Why does he have an F?
Day 152 | A Friday
Inspector Gadget
We went to the new wing of the NC Museum of Natural Science and it was probably the coolest (and I use that word lightly because it makes me want to put my thumb in the air and yell, “rad!”) museum I’ve ever been in. I saw an actual dinosaur bone, and an actual chip of Mars. We studied enlarged germs while Jack asked what they all did (most of them ate things…).
Sludge Scientist
Magnifying the tubes of sludge.
First genetically modified pet in the US.
These are glowfish. Scientists took the glow gene from certain corals, and certain jellyfish and injected it into these tiny finned creatures. If anyone ever asks you what the US has given the world, announce with pride, “THE GLOWFISH.”
Day 153 | A Saturday
Stanky Leg
My cat with half-kangaroo feet.
Day 154 | A Sunday
Mirror, Mirror on the Wall, Who’s the Fairest of Them All?
I bought a new mirror at the flea market yesterday. This doesn’t show it off at all, but rather my evil queen face. I saw Snow White and the Huntsman yesterday and you should see it. Every girl can relate to an evil queen who has been “ruined by men.” Are we all not unhinged at one point?
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28 comments | tags: amy, cape lookout, cat lady, cats, DIY, EOC, glowfish, jack, kindergarten, magnifying glass, mirror, nc museum of natural science, nephew, photo, photography, pinterest, project 365, reading, sludge, snow white, snow white and the huntsman, teaching | posted in Photography
Sorry I’m a day late. Vacation without wi-fi is a wonderful thing.
This is my week in instagram:
My Week in Instagram
There’s the squirrel-body pen holder to sign up for a concealed carry class.
The boats we took out by Shackleford Island.
My cat posing like a boy-toy on the bed.
Hatchback the Hermit Crab of the Cape (I think that could be a comic book title for the nerdy by the sea).
Pictures from Billy’s boat shop where he builds boats that look like whale skeletons, all ribs of wood.
Day 141 | A Monday
Someone had inspiration for the gym.
My inspiration is Beyonce dance music, but someone wanted to look like the Mad Hatter, or Hunter S. Thompson after they worked their glutes.
Day 142 | A Tuesday
Model Cat
You know how they say dogs eventually look like their owners and vice versa. Well, it’s true about cats too.
Day 143 | A Wednesday
Where I always end up anytime I travel: A Bookstore
Why do I love bookstores so much? Clutter.
Found a bookstore without a gps (Toes on the windshield, prints in a row of five, and a flap of map folded open).
Bookstores by the Sound have boats, and canoes that float pages to you by the window.
Day 144 | A Thursday
Oh, Sylvia
“I have the choice of being constantly active and happy or introspectively passive and sad. Or I can go mad by ricocheting in between.” — Sylvia Plath
Day 145 | A Friday
My First Book Mobile. Had to document.
“In a good bookroom you feel in some mysterious way that you are absorbing the wisdom contained in all the books through your skin, without even opening them.” — Mark Twain
Don’t worry, I WILL be blogging about this later.
Day 146 | A Saturday
Cape Lookout
“Lighthouses don’t go running all over an island looking for boats to save; they just stand there shining.” — Anne Lamott
There’s so many metaphors for lighthouses. They’re the flashlights to the world before we had an industrial revolution. One thing about me, I’m deathly afraid of the dark. My best friend once shut a pantry door on me and I immediately started crying. Lighthouses are a light to the world when the moon is just a sliver of fingernail in the sky.
Day 147 | A Sunday
Grainy Sea
I’m not even sure who took this picture on my camera, but it’s gorgeous and faded. Tropical Storm Beryl has grayed us.
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7 comments | tags: cape lookout, cats, harker's island, hermit crab, lighthouse, photography, project 365, sea, squirrel, sway | posted in book reviews, books, Photography, Project 365, Uncategorized
It’s week 16 and I’m going to do more than just show my week in photos (we all know it’s about my cat anyway).
My best friend is this amazing photographer who has spent her life in the eye of wanderlust. Right now this means she’s all “mermaid hair, hippie feet.” She just opened an etsy account where you can purchase prints, cards, and postcards based on her Project 365. Keep in mind that her Project 365 is glaciers, mountains, sheep, and seas, definitely not cats. She even had a newborn pig at one point. Her Project 365 can be found here & the etsy shop can be found here. If you’re too lazy to go to these sites here are some of my favorite photos from the last few weeks.
This next one is by far my favorite ever:
If you’re interested in ordering prints, she has a ton of photos on her website and you’re allowed to order any print you want in a postcard, 8×10 or normal folded card. They’re beautiful, even if I’m bias.
Onto my week in photos:
Day 105: Welcome Back to North Carolina
I was walking into TJ Maxx minding my own and killed nature parked right down the row from me.
Day 106: Writing Life
My boss needed a pick-me-up. He went next door to Southern Hospitality @ NOFO and got us glass bottles of soda pop. I felt so 50′s with my pen, stapler and black cheery fuzz.
Day 107: Baby Birds Flew the Coop
Those baby birds with glossed goose flesh over their eyeballs two weeks ago have now grown up and moved out.
Day 108: Caribou Inspiration Board
I go to Caribou to share opinions on the chalk board because I’m a narcissist.
Day 109: Frustration via Tail
My monster only likes a certain amount of petting. You can tell by the frustrated tail how much is too much.
Day 110: Silks & Inches
You think you’ve placed them gently on the sidewalk just out the back door, and then surprise! they’re on your finger.
Day 111: Happy Birthday Daddy!
My brother likes to buy my father odd plants for holidays. A few years ago it was a “Satan” plant and this year it’s a muppet.
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22 comments | tags: birthday, cats, life, New Zealand, photography, photos, project 365, sarah drummond | posted in Photography, poetry, Project 365, Travel, Uncategorized
