Scavenger Hunt Sunday

It felt good to pull my camera out again today and be a little creative. I really should not wait till the last minute to do these but it seems I work best under pressure. :)

{Stacked Up}

A deck of cards all stacked up.

{Winter Wonderland}

I pulled this one from the archives. We don't get snow here in SoCal unless you go up to the mountains and we haven't made it up there this year.

{Sweet}

A cute little container with all the ingredients for marshmallow hot chocolate.

{Hole}

A hole in the center of a lifesaver.

{Frozen}

Another one from the archives.

The flower fadeth...

Chilling Out

Before I got married and had a child I was a neat freak. I mean freaky neat! You wouldn't find a crumb on my floor. All my bills and receipts were organized. There was never a dirty dish in the sink. Water spots on the counter? Unheard of!

My life is the complete opposite of that now. Getting married started the drastic change as..well...the hubs is....the opposite of me....to put it nicely. :)

I am slowly coming to grips with it, but the hubs knows that I can only take it for so long and then look out. He stays out of my way on those days as I plow through the house, throwing things away, (You best hide your keepsakes or they will most likely be tossed) organizing, cleaning, just basically making my house liveable enough that I can stand it.

Though I have a spontaneous side to me, I am also a creature of habit. Baby girl and I have pretty much the same schedule each week with alternating activities and I don't always handle hiccups in it very well, depending on what that hiccup is. I have a hard time picking a day to plan things with friends, because I like to stick to my schedule. Weird, I know.

I am the same way with my blog. I won't participate in certain challenges that I have to dedicate a post to, because it doesn't fit in with my weekly posts. Completing my 365 project was a total relief but it has now affected my OCD tendencies.

Writing this very post is not  part of my blogging ways. I post pictures. I host a contest. I write about my interviews with strangers. I write tutorials. I feature guest bloggers on my Sunday series. If only it were that simple. I feel like if I am going to write a tutorial, I need to write a tutorial every week and it needs to be on a Tuesday. If I am going to do my Sunday series, I don't like having gaps between the weeks, so I feel like I need to have all the posts lined up before I even post one. If I am going to post another "What's Your Story?" I don't post it when I meet these people, I feel the need to post one weekly on a Monday, not whenever it blows my hair back to do so.

I don't even know why I am writing all this. I guess basically I am just trying to tell myself to just chill out and blog when I want to blog. Post when I want to post, not when it falls in line with my self-restraining schedule.

I need to blog for me and not just for my followers. Being me and being real will attract followers who follow my blog because of who I am and not what I think people want to see.

So this year my goal is to strive to blog for enjoyment without the pressures I put on myself last year. To let this blog just be a creative outlet for whatever brings me happiness. So you may see some randomness here and there outside of my normal posting schedule but that's okay. It's just me chilling out...

SHOOT. EDIT. SUBMIT.

We had some wonderful entries this week! So many that it's a shame we don't have space for those that were runner ups. You all definitely made our job difficult this week narrowing down the winners, but these are the ones we finally decided upon.

You'll Shoot Your Eye Out

This photo definitely tells a story and sparks your interest. Very good use of space and depth of field to illustrate that story.  I could see this photo on the cover of a book. {Kim}

 Pieces of Contentment

What an incredible mix of colors and depth of field. The horizon looks like it stretches on forever. Amazing lighting and details. {Misty}

Miggyhood

 This photo captured that look of sheer joy and adoration in a new mother's eyes.  Plus the expression on the baby's face is priceless. The light is wonderful and the composition is fabulous.  {Kim}

Photos by LeAnne

This was my personal favorite this week. It looks like a painting. Gorgeous lighting, textures, selective cropping, and colors. Just incredible! {Misty}

Congratulations, winners! Grab your button!

<center><a border="0" href="http://throughaphotographerseyes.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://i885.photobucket.com/albums/ac55/markdayton58/FPotWeek/mktop5.jpg"/></a></center>

And this week's #1 winner is:

Marits Hagekos Og Litt Til

I love the light in this shot, the texture, and the composition.  It is beautiful. {Kim}

Congratulations on being chosen as this week's #1 photo. Grab your button! You will be in the running to win a fabulous prize at the end of the month.

<center><a border="0" href="http://throughaphotographerseyes.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://i885.photobucket.com/albums/ac55/markdayton58/FPotWeek/mkwinner.jpg"/></a></center>

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Well, it's time for you to submit your entries! Be sure to grab the button below to include on your post.

1. Photo must be taken this week.(Sat - Fri)

2. Only one entry per person.

3. "Shoot. Edit. Submit." button or a link back to this contest must be on your post in order for it to qualify.

4. Link only to your blog post not your main blog url.

 (If you submit a photo you are granting us permission to copy and paste it onto our blogs if you win.)

<center><a border="0" href="http://throughaphotographerseyes.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://i885.photobucket.com/albums/ac55/markdayton58/FPotWeek/mkbutton.jpg"/></a></center>

By the way, if you haven't already, be sure to go meet my awesome co-host, Kim at Mom Tried It.

I just can't help myself...

Being the proud mama that I am, I just had to share this picture of my baby girl. LOVE!

What's Your Story? - Ep. 2

I met Bill while out for a hike with the hubs and my baby girl. Bill was out bird watching with a couple of his buddies (of whose stories you will hear about in future episodes). The hubs, baby girl and I had gone for a short little hike because the hubs, being a bird nerd too, wanted to check out some birds he had heard were in the area. Baby girl and I were playing down by a pond throwing some sticks in the water (the ultimate excitement for a 2 year old). We were just heading out when we crossed paths with Bill and his bird nerd cohorts. The hubs said he wanted to check with them to see if they could confirm a bird ID down at the pond, so I played around with baby girl while we were waiting. Then it occurred to me...the hubs had already met these gents so the door was open for me to start chatting with them too.

I'm sure Bill thought I was rather strange when I started asking questions about his personal life outside of their birding conversations. As I continued to pry show interest into his personal life, I figured I better tell him about my project. His interest peaked when I told him what I was doing and he was then so happy to share his story with me...

Bill has lived here in SoCal for 50 years out of his 70 yrs of life so yeah, I would consider him from SoCal. Out of his 70 years he has spent 60ish of those years birding. His interest in birds was peaked when as a kid he would watch his grandma feeding birds in her yard. His love of bird watching only grew from there and he was able to dedicate serious time to his hobby when he retired from his job as a district manager from a bread company. Twice in the last year he has traveled to Arizona just to see one particular bird. That's some serious passion right there!

When I asked Bill how long he has been married he chuckled and asked "which time?" Pausing for a moment he told me he had been married 22 years and this one was definitely a keeper. I found out later his wife is a psychologist and thankfully tolerates his random bird trips. Bill's justification is that he could have worse hobbies. *chuckle*

I asked Bill to tell me one little known fact about himself as well as one piece of advice. His little known fact: In 'another life' he would have loved to have been a chef. Since his wife still works, he has taken over all the cooking responsibilities at their house. What a good husband. I should have tried to get us a dinner invite. :)

Bill's words of advice: "Spend as much of your life as possible outdoors." I concur, Bill.

Meet Bill:

Hawk Watch

Every year, a group of biologists and other bird specialists get together to host a Hawk Watch that runs every Saturday for about 2 months. It gives the public a chance to come in and see some amazing birds up close, ask questions, take pictures and observe birds in the wild.

It's a big hit for bird nerds, families and photographers alike as we get to take some awesome photos and learn some interesting facts. They used to be allowed to trap the birds and showcase them to the public before tagging them and releasing them but that is no longer allowed. They are only allowed to capture them for research purposes but not for showcasing them to the public as that then falls under the term "recreational". Thankfully there are many avid birders and biologists out there that have their own birds they are raising and they brought them in to show us today. We got to see a kestrel, a peregrine falcon, a red shouldered hawk, a red tailed hawk and a couple different kinds of owls. Pretty amazing creatures. Pretty amazing Creator!