Day 12

so this is day 12. i'm starting to realize that i lead a very boring life, seeing as how i get to work before the sun comes up and am home when the sun goes down. and every other picture besides when i was in new york is of objects around the house. i mean, candy buttons? such is my life. i'm gonna say that it gives me the opportunity to practice on mundane things before trying to shoot really important things. i often look at other photographer's websites and other bloggers pictures and wonder if i will ever be as good or as interesting as these other people. i read this other blog, http://littlebeachbum.wordpress.com, and she lived in miami for her contract job, and now is up and leaving for montana for another job. she just looks like she has an incredible life and sometimes i get incredibly jealous, plus she's a fantastic photographer and beautiful to boot.

this is a kissing crystal with mistletoe. apparently whoever kisses under it is promised strength, love blah blah.

Dear Hubby....

i would like this for new years...yes, even the ice swan.

and this monstrously cozy looking throw and chaise....

(all images from ikea blog)

thank you honey!

***NYC and Christmas Extras*** + Day 11

so here we are at day 11. i figured i'd add some extra pictures too, from christmas with the in-laws/nyc/ and at my mom's.

my beautiful garnet ring from my hubby...i'm amazed that he actually listened...

stella at the in-laws...she was soo not interested in any of this present thing.

mother in law opening her presents...



father in law doing the same..

awww...

this was in pa...she got 8 new toys for christmas and couldn't decide which one to play with first.

my first attempt at street photography...it sucks i know. i have lots of work to do.

hurrying back from Macy's!

times square!!

a lonely bike...with all its wheels! ( we saw another bike that wasn't so fortunate)

not sure what street this was looking down...but such great buildings!

i'm sure this is a famous cathedral..but my favorite part? the taxis!!

ice skating at rockefeller.

kind of a crappy dead-on picture...but it is "the tree."

my mom and step-guido at lunch.

the cherry bomb..that little green thing? an extra shot of rum...

radio city!! the rockettes were amazing!!


so that was my christmas. a jumbled up mess of a week, but i saw both parents, both step-parents, a step-brother, my sister and her fiance, both parents in law, a korean santa, a mexican minnie mouse, the rockettes, snow, a week off work, and more cookies than i care to count.

it was one of the best christmas' i can remember...i hope everyone had as joyous a day (week) that i did!

Days 3-10

taken between Boaz, AL and Cullman, AL

love these adirondack chairs in my mom's back yard.

my mom's pretty christmas tree.

outside times square...

my first attempt at bokeh...i'll get better, i promise.

christmas morning...she's got her jingle bells on.

candy buttons...i've only ever seen these up north. i love them.

our auburn ornament....

so far, so good...still keeping up with it. hopefully, the updates will come more like one at a time instead of all at once, because honestly, i think day 7 and 8 are switched.

and for the life of me i can't remember what day was what last week.

i hope everyone had a very merry christmas!! i'll post some more NYC pictures later that include my first attempt at street photography.

Days 1 & 2

(our christmas geekery....oh there are stella pictures. trust me, you will see them later.)

so it's only day 2, and already i've sort of cheated. i've used my coolpix instead of my nikon. but in all fairness, sometimes it's a pain to get that camera out and to attach the lens and all that. but i do have two pictures and i am trying...give me credit for that please....

our stockings by our fireplace.....

we had christmas with the in-laws this weekend. this lovely drink is from that. oh and check out the little reindeer wine charm. instead of the rings that go around the stem, these have little suction cups on them. they are so cute. my mother-in-law always finds the cutest things!

365 Photo Remix

so, i've been watching people do this 30x30 remix (30 different outfits with 30 different articles of clothing), and decided that i want to do something similar to this. i could never do this 30x30 thing. i already hate everything in my closet, so doing something like that is completely out of the question. but since i have neglected my photography hobby for dancing, i'm going to throw myself back into it, and give you all a different picture for each day of the year. i'm going to start with this tomorrow and go through december 18th of next year. wish me luck, because i could quit by day 20.

Invite me Please!!

please let me be invited to this dinner party. i want to go to this beautiful place with purple balloons. (perhaps i would remove the giant goose?). i will be waiting patiently for my invitation. thanks, laura.

(image from ikea blog)

A Little Birdie Told Me...

God help us all. The apocalypse has come.

I joined Twitter. (cue the dum dum dummmmm)

i mean did they even need to use the super cute bird that's all blue with his little beak and his feet? oh how i am a sucker for blue birds! so i joined the cool kids and have a twitter account. you can find me if you want. i don't remember my username. already, i'm striking out there. i mainly joined because i wanted to follow john mayer, and because with my blackberry, i can check it out from ohhhh...anywhere?

so as i'm sure my "tweets" won't be earth-shattering news, maybe it'll be something fun for awhile.

until i forget that i have an account. at least i tried.

Thinking & Driving

for my job, i do a lot of driving. i drive pretty much all around central alabama. anywhere from birmingham to montgomery to boaz to anniston to jasper. and i don't mind this part of my job. in fact, it's probably what makes it tolerable.

but you can't turn off your mind when you're driving. there is always a song that will mysteriously come up on your ipod and remind you of certain events. they say that smells make people the most nostalgic, but i disagree.

i think it's music. i pretty much have song that reminds me of everything when i hear it. music can remind me of a certain person or a certain event.

ben folds "the luckiest" -- reminds me of joseph, particularly when i had as my away message (oh yes, i went there) that i wanted cheesecake, and lo and behold, he shows up.

***

"dynamite" (don't know who sings this) --- reminds me of my trip to d.c. we went to this bar with two of sara's friends, and they had a dance floor. it was mostly a club for younger people, so i felt out of place shaking it for 22 year olds.

***

keith urban "raining on sunday" -- reminds me of daniel, the weekend before i left to go to auburn. i got to choose one song to dance to with him, and this was it.

***

jon bon jovi "livin on a prayer" -- of course. reminds me of 2004 auburn/georgia game. well, pretty much associate it with the whole season.

***

bruce springsteen "thunder road", gordon lightfoot "cotton jenny," the doors "riders on the storm" -- all remind me of my dad. he played a lot of music when we were growing up.

***

sorry for the non-picture, non-fun blog. of course this list goes on and on; i have a song for pretty much everyone and every event that has taken place in my life. for some reason, these are the ones that stick out the most.

Furball Firsts

we got stella right around this time last year. she weighed in at roughly 20 pounds. she was incredibly skittish, but oh so cute. so this year we decided she was going to see santa. we had yet to take her to a petsmart or petco to shop, because when she gets really scared, she pees all over the floor. i didn't get to take a picture of my own with santa, mostly because she was so uncooperative even with the petsmart people, but i do have to say that she didn't pee on the floor. and she actually was a pretty sweet dog. here are some pictures of her enjoying herself at petsmart. i absolutely love this dog.

since we traumatized the hell out of her, we compromised with buying a toy.

she liked that part....

she finally noticed that there were bones as big as her head....which she did not get. maybe for christmas.

merry christmas from the james' dog.

TGIF!!

happy Friday everyone!! i'm gonna leave you with something pretty for today! we are going to paint our office a navy blue, build bookshelves on either side of our big window and do this picture display. i love how this looks with all different color and size frames. beautimous!!

(image via Ikea blog)

The Eclectic Owl: mark. Giveaway!

I have been following this girl's blog since she started commenting on Ms. Katy's blog. She has the cutest style and is just simply adorable all around. Anyway, for anyone who reads, she's having a super cool giveaway of mark. products. Check it out.





The Eclectic Owl: mark. Giveaway!

Food Nerd

ok, so i'm going to share a secret with you. i. can. not. cook. i have no desire to learn to cook. if it were up to me, i would eat out every single night of the week. but it just so happens that i married a man that loves to cook. so not only does this save us money, but it saves me from eating hot dogs and/or french toast (more like Chick-fil-a or wendy's) most nights.

so while i do not cook, i do enjoy a good food show. and this is where adam richman comes in.

i live vicariously through this gorgeous human being. if you know me, you know that i pick personality over physical appearance, so the fact that he may have a few extra around the middle means nothing to me. i love the fact that he can go anywhere and fit in. i love the fact that the man can eat 6 dozen oysters. he has taught me what a ghost pepper is (1000 times hotter than a jalapeno...umm, count me out), and that there is a place in atlanta where you can get a pizza as big as a baby.

in case you live in a hole and haven't heard of man vs. food this is what show he is on. it comes on travel channel. he pretty much goes everywhere around the country and the premise for each show is the same. he visits a few local places, and then goes to a place where they have a challenge, where you can get your name on a board or win a t-shirt of some sort.

i wish he would come to birmingham. so adam, if you're listening, and i'm sure you are, come to bham. i'll show you a thing or two about the south.