Find beauty Day 4

Given all the rain and wind today it was difficult to find anything really beautiful. Usually I love the rain but today I was not feeling wonderful so the rain and wind were just dreary. So since outside was not beautiful and inside the house is a mess, I turned to an old standby. I went looking for beauty in my PSE organizer.

I did not have to look far to find this panoramic shot I took last weekend at the beach and stitched together in PSE.

And this

And this one too.

Oh and I can't leave this one out!


I love sunsets and am getting better at photographing them. Add in a visit to the beach and you have the makings of a beautiful shot. These shots give me the warm fuzzies just looking at them. It is fun to share them with people so I did. The last one was one of my Christmas gifts to my Dad. I love to look at these shots because they bring back wonderful memories of time spent with my family in one of my favorite places. I hope you enjoy them too.

Until tomorrow......

Find beauty - Day 3

The beauty for today was the simplicity of the day. DS and I spent the day just hanging out. I did laundry and dishes. He and I played on the DS, or rather he watched me play because he likes that. We read books and made lunch. We played on the Wii. It was a quiet, beautiful day.

Find beauty

Yikes it is getting late and I need to get my person to bed but then I remembered that I had not blogged today. Double yikes!!

The beauty I saw today does not include a photo. Well I am sure I have one of the subject but usually she has a child clinging to her that is not my child and therefore I can't post them here.

Obviously, this post is about a person. She is my son's preschool teacher. Nearly every teacher I have ever known, including my own parents, have been beautiful, wonderful people but preschool teachers and kindergarten teachers hold a special place. I mean really, I love my 4-year-old but to voluntarily spend 2.5 hours 3 times a week with 20 of them and then the other two days a week with 16 3-yos? Good grief! She is amazing! She truly loves each and every one of her students. She is so patient and kind. She works so hard and the kids really respond to her. She cracked me up today. Due to snow and ice the week before winter break was to start, school was canceled extending break for an extra week. Ms. Dianna was almost as giddy as the kids to be back at school. It was hilarious and endearing all at the same time. I am so glad this special lady is teaching my child.

Find beauty

As noted in yesterday's post, this month's blog challenge is to blog about (and capture with our cameras) all kinds of beauty. Today I was playing around with the camera trying to capture the images needed for the 52/365 challenge in the photography forum at scrapshare. This challenge is hopefully going to teach me how to get more from my camera. Really it is geared to those with digital SLRs, something I endeavor to have someday, but I am going to do the best I can with what I can.

So today I was playing around trying to capture the images for this weeks assignment which is to use all the auto modes our camera provides. I have one setting that is for "snow/beach". I know I used it yesterday but I am not sure which images are a product of it because I played around a lot trying to capture the beautiful colors and such.

So anyway, I was trying to find things to photography around here that I would not be embarrassed to post for everyone to see. Given the dreary January sky and post holiday clutter that was more difficult than one would imagine. I did get a good shot of flower my cousin gave me for Christmas. This used the completely auto setting on the camera so basically I pointed the camera and pushed the button. I know that flowers are an easy source of beauty but I really love the colors of this one. The paper whites will be out soon too so if the big blooms last that long, this will be really showy for a day or two.

It is now time to head off to bed because tomorrow reality returns with the kids going back to school. I have pulled preschool duty because Matt has a presentation to do at work. There goes my quiet, no kids home, Monday morning. Oh well, another one will come around next week.

January blog challenge - Post 1

It is time for a new blog challenge.

This challenge is issued by Tracilouwho at Scrapshare. From her blog:

A Contest, Looking ahead to 2009!

As you may have noticed, I've been participating in Sheri's (MidniteScrapper) month long blog challenge. This was her second month of hosting and she's done a spectacular job at it. I think that all participants have appreciate the little kick in the pants that it's given to our blogging. Well, January, I will be "hostessing" the challenge. I've been spotting a lot of beauty around me lately, snapping pictures whenever I can. Mostly inner beauty with the kids, beauty in nature... just the kind of thing that makes you stop in awe at God's creation. A lot of it is stuff that I don't have time to really scrap but it definitely brightens my day to be looking for the beauty even if I don't have a purpose for the pictures. Everyone always complains about how gloomy January can be, in the aftermath of the Christmas glow, so it's important to focus on the beautiful aspects too. My Theme for January will be a Search for Beauty. This beauty can be a combination of both inner and outer beauty and will include a photo contest too. The rules are as follows: Part 1: Blog daily about the people/places/things you find beauty in. A post can be a tribute to a special person that is or was beautiful to you. Or a post about something beautiful in the world around us. It could even include a beautiful plate of cookies that you bake, or a drawing hanging on your fridge. The challenge will run from January 3rd - January 31 Part 2: Post 3 pictures each week showcasing beauty. I'm not going to give you weekly categories this month because I want you to feel free to snap and post photos as you search for beauty.

Note: There will be 2 separate prizes for this challenge, one will be drawn out of the people who blog daily successfully, and one will be drawn from the people who post 3 photos each week. You can win one, or even both, but you don't have to participate in one to win the other, etc. Photography/Writing skills do not play a part in this contest so please jump in and participate even if your posts are short and sweet and photos aren't the best quality!

We went to the beach today on a whim. Mom called and asked if we wanted to join her and Dad in a day trip to the coast to play on the beach and have dinner to celebrate their wedding anniversary. Their anniversary was actually the day after Christmas but they finally got around to considering dinner out today.

We decided that a beach trip sounded like fun so we quickly gathered up extra clothes and cameras and jumped in the van. We met up with the parental set and tried to ignore Dad's grumpy, I-don't-really-want-to-do-this-today, attitude. After establishing our next meeting spot, we turned the vehicles toward Newport. After arriving in town, Princess smarty-pants (DD12) and I ran into Wal-mart to get my mom a roll of film (yes she still lives in the dark ages of film photography) and some sand toys. The film was an easy find but the sand toys were nowhere to be found so we improvised. We bought some cheap plastic measuring cups and plastic freezer boxes to use as scoops and buckets. It was the best we could do and it turned out that they worked pretty well.

There is beauty everywhere at the beach. There is beauty in kids getting down and dirty in the sand. There is beauty in the many facets of sand, sun and water working together. Today, there was also beauty in family togetherness. Here are a couple of examples:
My parents and DH. My mom and DS building "dribble castles".
My mom and two DDs walking back to the car.

And one of my many sunset shots.

We had such a pleasant day. The coast in January is unpredictable but the weather was beautiful and perfect for an afternoon excursion. Dinner was a wonderful seafood meal at Gracie's Sea Hag in Depoe Bay.

There is never a better excuse to go crazy with the camera than a trip to the beach.

Blog Challenge: Choose Joy

Well, I did not quite make it all the way with this challenge but I feel good about what I did get done. That was the point, to choose joy each day. I choose to find the joy of doing as much as I did and letting go of the fact that I did not complete it all.

Tracilou, another Scrapshare sister, has issued the challenge for this month and I will post the details in my initial post tomorrow. It is a photography challenge. I love it.

With the new year there are lots of challenges starting up. I am narrowing down my choices and deciding what I truly think I can accomplish this year. Of course in addition to scrapbooking/art challenges, I will also be working on weight issues, healthy eating issues, home care issues and parenting issues. I am looking forward to the new year and choose to find the joy in the possibilities.

Happy New Year everyone.