Tuesdays with Matt - Being Present

Today's tip from Matt hits close to home.  I struggle with this constantly: being present.  I get so distracted by what's coming next or what I have to do tomorrow that I often forget to enjoy and savor today.
That's one of the reasons that I LOVE Fat Mum Slim's Photo-a-Day Challenge - it helps me to STOP every day at least for a moment and think about my surroundings and just everyday stuff.It's easy to remember to photograph a child's birthday party or a special occasion, but taking pictures of everyday things like the grass outside or something you wore today is not usually what we think of when we photograph.  Capturing everyday moments and subjects is such a fun, creative outlet for me.  And it helps me to be present.
Check out Matt's video for his suggestions on how to live in the now:

Thanks for stopping by - have a wonderful day!
Disclosure –  All opinions stated in this post are entirely my own opinion.  See my full disclosure statement here.

A Month in Photos: March 2012

Some of my favorite photos from March:

Elliott enjoying the chocolate frosting from his birthday cake.

Sophie wants her cat treat right now.

Elliott with his new Mario Party 9 Wii game.

Jon teaching Elliott to ride a bike.

Jon celebrated a birthday this month.

My favorite snack: chocolate-covered espresso beans.

Elliott at his birthday dinner with Emma, Ethan, and Grandpa.

And I had a great time with Fat Mum Slim's Photo-a-Day Challenge for March!

Here's the recap:

| Up || Fruit | Your Neighborhood | Bedside | A Smile | 5 PM | Something You Wore || Window | Red | Loud | Someone You Talked to Today | Fork | A Sign || Clouds | Car | Sunglasses | Green | A Corner of Your Home | Funny || Before/After | Delicious | Kitchen Sink | Moon | An Animal | Breakfast || Key | Your Name | Trash | Feet | Toy | Where You Relax |

Thank you for stopping by!I'm linking up to:

Let's Finish Up March

Really?  It's April?  Then we'd better finish up the March Photo-a-Day Challenge!
March 29: Feet

My daughter has been dancing since she was 2 years old.  It's her passion and the effort she puts forth is evidenced by her ballet slippers. (Don't worry, she has new ones now!) 

My mother-in-law had this amazing portrait made as a Christmas gift for me this past year.  When Emma was 3 years old, we had her portrait taken of her looking at her reflection in this mirror.  My mother-in-law had the brilliant idea to have Em's photo taken present-day and have it digitally copied into the original.  Stunning!  And tear-jerking, really.  To see how much she's grown and realize how much time has passed.  This is a gift I'll always treasure. 

March 30: Toy

Angry Birds is a bit of an obsession here at our house.  I've tried to play the game a few times but I really couldn't figure it out didn't like it.  My son loves the game and chose Angry Birds for his birthday party theme.   He just celebrated his 7th birthday this past week!

 

March 31: Where You Relax

When I feel like relaxing, I sit here at my desk, lean back in the chair, kick my feet up on the desk, and read or play Words with Friends.  That's where I relax when I'm at home.
My favorite place in the whole world to relax is Stein Erikson Lodge up in Deer Valley.  My husband and I were lucky enough to spend a weekend there last year and it was incredible.

This is the view from the hot tub on our balcony.  Yes, you heard me right.

And while Jon's tearing it up on the slopes, you'll find me right here by the fire,sipping a Cosmo (or a coffee) and reading a nice cozy mystery.
Wow, just talking about it relaxes me.

Thanks for stopping by and have a fantastic day!

Photo-a-Day Challenge Update

Boy, I don't know what it is, but I have struggled with the photo challenge prompts these last few days.  I'm participating in Fat Mum Slim's Photo-a-Day Challenge and until this week I've felt like I was able to creatively interpret the prompts.

I guess I have photographer's block?  Take Sunday's prompt, for instance: breakfast.  My usual breakfast is a bowl of oatmeal with a little bit of milk in it.  I'm not sure how to put an interesting or creative spin on oatmeal.  I suggested to my husband that we go to Sunday brunch somewhere, envisioning beautifully presented buffet tables and a ton of photo ops for the prompt "breakfast".  But really that didn't seem fair.  :)  Besides, part of the appeal of this challenge for me is that it helps me capture everyday life.  And everyday life for me, for breakfast, is oatmeal.


March 25: Breakfast

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Monday's prompt was "key."  Again I was not feelin' the creativity here.  So I just set down my keys, zoomed in, and clicked.  Done.
March 26: Key

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When I'm getting my hair done at the salon, I always indulge in the guilty pleasure of reading the entertainment and gossip magazines.  I love to look at them, but I don't read them regularly.  Only at the salon, the dentist, or if I'm flying on an airplane.  Yesterday, I had a hair appointment.  And I was on the lookout for a fitting way to capture the photo challenge prompt "your name."
March 27: Your Name

I think "Duchess" looks very good in front of my name, don't you? ;)
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And speaking of the entertainment and gossip magazines, today's photo prompt is "trash."  This was another tough one.  Feeling uninspired, I grabbed my iPhone and snapped a picture of the trash in my car.
March 28: Trash

You know, they say that you can learn a lot about someone by their trash.  (No, I'm not talking about the "Caution: I'm Hot.")  I'm talking about the coffee and chocolate.  Now that's everyday life.

The Moon, a Zoned-Out Cat, & the Kitchen Sink

The photo-a-day challenge prompt for Thursday was "kitchen sink."  My plans were to post my kitchen sink photo along with "before and after" pics from our kitchen remodel.  BUT...there's been a slight change of plans.

I have entered a contest over at This Old House - the "This Old House Reader Remodel Contest 2012".  We love the television program This Old House and watch it regularly.  When I heard about this contest I thought it would be fun to enter our kitchen remodel for a chance to win a 2012 GMC Sierra truck.  So enter I did!  The catch is that the photos that I submitted had to have been never published online.  So I can't put them here on my blog or my entry is disqualified.  What I can do is give you a link to see my entry as soon as it is published on the This Old House website.  I'll let you know when it's been posted!  Until then, here's my photo challenge photo for Thursday, March 22:

When we remodeled we put in a Blanco sink which is a granite composite sink (80% natural granite) and practically indestructable, resisting scratches, chips, and stains.  It is awesome!
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Yesterday's photo prompt was "moon."  I really wanted to photograph the moon yesterday, but there was too much cloud cover and no moon to be found.  I was a bit worried too about getting a good shot of the moon.  My previous attempts have left a lot to be desired.  My best moon shot so far is from August 2010 when I was camping at Bear Lake with my family.

The moon is just hard to photograph!  I'm not using this photo for yesterday's prompt because part of how I'm interpreting this challenge is to submit photos that I've taken that day.

So with no visible moon, I took a picture instead of one of my favorite children's books: Guess How Much I Love You by Sam McBratney.  It is the sweetest story about a daddy bunny and his son, each trying to measure their love for the other.  The final line in the book is "I love you right up to the moon ---- and back."  I have very fond memories of my oldest son telling me (after he learned about the word infinity) that he loved me "to the moon and back times infinity, Mom."  ♥

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Today's Photo-a-Day Challenge prompt turned out to be really easy!  I knew that for the "animal" prompt I would photograph one of my two cats.  I got my camera and laid down on the floor near them and waited.  I caught Sophie when she was totally zoning!  

One of the blogs I read regularly, Simple As That, has a link party every Sunday where you can share photos that celebrate "the simple moments and simple joys that make you smile each week."  This photo of Sophie does just that.  I'm linking it up to Rebeccas's {Simple Things Sunday}.





There are some changes coming to Hello, New Day in the next week or so, so stay tuned.  Until then, thanks for stopping by, and have a wonderful day! 

Mmmm Mmmm

     Today is my husband's birthday {Happy Birthday, Sweetie}!  Birthdays around here always include really good food.  So it was fortuitous that today's Photo-a-Day Challenge prompt was "delicious."
Breakfast was a rich, chocolatey doughnut with coffee.

It was really like eating cake for breakfast.

Lunch was my daily green juice which, even though it's healthy, is delicious.

Dinner was at Outback Steakhouse and included one of their loaded baked potatoes.

 
Dessert was carrot cake cupcakes from Aimee's Home Cookin', my friend's catering company.

Each cupcake has just a touch of the homemade cream cheese frosting inside as well as on top.

Dang, when I lay it all out like this it's a good thing I had the juice, right?
And it's a good thing birthdays only come once a year.......er......actually they come five times a year in this family.
Well.....of course there's also Mom's birthday, and Dad's, and oh.boy.  No wonder the scale never comes down much.  ;)
Any one of those photos could've been my photo for today's "delicious" prompt.  But it was mid-morning, and I was enjoying a cup of coffee, when I looked up and saw my little jar of chocolate-covered espresso beans. 
Delicious!

And since they're not as familiar as a doughnut, or juice, or baked potato, or cupcake I wanted to photograph them for my prompt.  In fact, I just discovered them about a year ago.  (Yeah, I know...how did I, coffee-lover that I am, not know about these little gems?  I dunno.  Don't get out much, I guess.)  I went to a local coffee bar that had just opened and they put these espresso beans on top of each coffee cup lid as a garnish.
Boy oh boy, I'm tellin' ya....a hot, fresh cup of coffee just can't be beat.  Or couldn't until now.  Try eating a chocolate-covered espresso bean before sipping that hot coffee and you'll see what I mean: delicious!

If You Don't Like the Weather...

     You know what they say about the weather in Utah:  if you don't like it, wait a minute.  This seems especially true in the springtime.     This morning we woke up to a bunch of snow on the ground.  Knowing that today's photo prompt is "before/after", and knowing that the snow doesn't last very long this time of year, I put on my snowboots and schlepped outside with my camera at 9:18 a.m.     Three hours later (12:28 to be exact) I went back outside to get my after photo.

 "In the spring I have counted one-hundred and thirty-sixdifferent kinds of weather inside of four and twenty hours"
Mark Twain

LOL

     Remember my boys' Super Mario Bros bedroom I showed you a few weeks ago?  The instructions that came with the Blik-brand decals that we put on the walls were pretty funny:

Today's photo challenge prompt: "funny"

  I applaud the companies that dare to add a little humor to their otherwise mundane literature.
T-Mobile's G1 phone has a Quick Start guide with some really funny instructions also:

Source

Who couldn't use an extra chuckle or two?Have a great day, thanks for stopping by, and may you laugh often!

A Little Corner of Home

"Having someone to love is family.
Having somewhere to go is home.
Having both is a blessing."


This is one of my favorite little corners of the house
(today's photo challenge prompt is "a corner of your home.")
This corner reminds me of the wonderful blessings God has given me
and for which I am so very grateful.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

 

     I've used Photoshop Elements for a couple of years now, but really just for organizing my digital photos.   In the past I would try to tweak photos but usually wound up frustrated.  Cropping a photo was about as far as I got.

     Then, this past week, when I was once again playing around in the program, something "clicked".  In my brain!  Suddenly the whole "layers" aspect of the program made sense to me!  I was amazed at how I could manipulate a photo.  I think that first day I spent three hours absolutely glued to my computer and used Photoshop to transform a Times New Roman asterisk (y'know, this: *) into this rainbow-colored, 3D flower shape:

     The photo above of the Shamrock and Irish Blessing is my photo-a-day challenge photo for the prompt "green".

     Remember the shamrocks from my St. Patrick's Day Decor post?  I love the green glitter on them, so I photographed a close-up of the glitter:

     Then I used Photoshop Elements to create a shamrock shape from a copy of this picture which I then layered on top of this glitter background (after I blurred the background).  Finally, I added text and voila!  An image that is both festive and very green!

     Thank you for stopping by and have a fun, fantastic day!

Sunglasses

     I used to have a pair of Maui Jim sunglasses.  They were my favorite sunglasses ever, partly because they were high quality, but mostly because they have the word Maui in them.  ;)

     I have a hard time seeing in sunglasses.  I don't like how they shade my vision (how dumb does that sound?)  The only time I really wear them is when I'm driving, and then only if it's really sunny.  I have a few different pairs now, but none as cool as the Maui Jims.

Yep, you guessed it.  Today's photo prompt is "sunglasses".

When I think of sunglasses, I think:

Audrey Hepburn
As Holly Golightly in Breakfast at Tiffany's
Source

Jack Nicholson
"With my sunglasses on, I'm Jack Nicholson.  Without them, I'm fat and 60."
Source

Tom Cruise
As Joel Goodsen in Risky Business
Source

Bono
"I'm the Imelda Marcos of sunglasses."
source

Hmmmm...see a trend here?  Must be a celebrity thing.