"Water For Elephants"

I just finished the book "Water For Elephants" by Sara Gruen.  It's definately a must read.  The book is about an elderly gentleman named Jacob who looks back on his life as a veterinarian in the circus and his love for Marlena, and Rosie (the elephant).  The book was AMAZING and I am so excited about the movie coming out in April!!

My photo group "111 Pics in 2011" had "book" as a theme so here was my book pic!!

Happy reading!!

Week 3 Challenge - Memories

Week 3 of our themed photo challenge was "memories".

This was my pic for the week:

Here is my memory:

Growing up I wanted to learn to play the piano more then anything.  My Grandpa was an attorney.  He was the kind of man that didn't turn people away if they were unable to pay and would take items as payment for service.  He came home with all kinds of crazy things.  Some that I remember are rings (that we never knew if they were real), books, musical instruments, and a ping pong table.  One day he came home with a beat up old piano.  The thing had been painted many times and had broken keys.  Immediately I put tape on each key that had each note written in magic marker.  I played chopsticks so many times that I thought my mom was going to remove the piano from our house! 

After a few years of lessons on the broken piano, I came home from school to this beautiful brand new piano in my living room with a BIG red bow on it.  I had two pictures of that day.  One is the one shown in the picture and the other was a picture of the piano standing there with the big red bow and note.  Unfortunately, I can't find the other picture so I don't remember what the note said, but I still love the look of bliss on my face in the picture above. 

I will never forget walking in and seeing this piano waiting for me.  Even if I didn't have a pic of myself with it that day, I would still remember the joy.  I still can't believe that my Mom and Grandma did that for me.  Over the years it has survived several moves, lapses of not being tuned, and damage from water and ill temperature while being stored.

The piano now features marker on the wood which I didn't notice until I was setting up the shot (thanks Lucas and Parker).   My hope is that they will develop my love of music and want to play as well.  For now, they are making their own memories by banging on they keys and smiling at me.

This Is Me...

The theme for week 2 of my "52 of Twenty Eleven" group was "This Is Me".  I wanted it to be brilliant.  I thought out shots in my mind, and had a ton of ideas in my head, but I get home from work late daily.  I am tired and look gross.  So instead of something brilliant, you get the good old arm as a tripod self portrait.  The weekly submission is due Saturday night and sure enough, Saturday was the first good hair day (and I had decent makeup on 'cause we were going out).  Sorry about that!

I Wish...

I am doing a weekly photo project for the group "52 of Twenty Eleven".

  The theme this week was "I Wish". 


I wish they would always stay little...

P.S. I tried to do it with Joe's feet too, but his feet are HUGE (really huge) and it looked scary and like I had a foot fetish. 

P.S.S.  I wish you would stay little too, Joe-Joe.

New Year...New Project....

Two years ago I decided I wanted to start a Project 365.  A few of my photog buddies did them and I always loved to see what they would come up with next.  I checked out the various groups and tried to see what would work best for me.  I thought of just a "Photo A Day" or one where I would have to include a certain object in each shot.  For some crazy reason, I decided to do a self-portrait one.  I had JUST had Parker and was home with him on maternity leave so I thought it was the perfect opportunity because I was trying to lose the baby weight and I could show what we were doing each day.  Well, I went back to work in March and after countless awful daily shots, I gave up.  I ended up with a whopping 108 pics and HAD to call it quits.  I was sick of looking at myself and the creativity just stopped. 

This year, my friend Kelley invited me to join a Flickr group called "52 of Twenty Eleven".  It's a weekly photo project with a theme. At first I didn't know how I would feel about being given a theme, but now I am excited.  It will challenge me and I think I need that!  I have to have my first photo sumbitted by Saturday and have already several planned out in my mind.  Now I just need to get at it!  The theme is "I Wish".  I will most likely be posting my 52 week project here as well, so stay tuned :)