Day 152, 31 May 2012 - Something beautiful

Hello!

Day 152, the 31st day in May, saw me searching for a photo of something beautiful. The problem is that I've been sick with a cold for two weeks, and I'm not feeling like looking for beautiful things. This is the lovely thing about this photo challenge. It forces me out of my self-absorbed misery to look for nice things around me. :-)

I played with Marble Cam today.

The photo I actually chose was this one.

Mmmm, yes, I think it's beautiful. The photo is actually a detail section of one of my sofa cushions. I love those cushions. My Mum sewed them for me.

Here are the other two photos.

A bit of an abstract. A detail part of a painting in our house.

And a photo I've published before, in April, of my local war memorial, but this time in Marble Cam.

Pretty, isn't it?

I've had a lovely May. Tomorrow we launch into June's photos. Woo hoo!

:-)
Michelle

Days 149 - 151, 28 - 30 May 2012

Hello!

I'm actually posting the last photos of the month on the last day of the month, it's a miracle! This is the end of the fifth month that I have been taking a photo a day. Seven months to go... or will I just continue forevermore???

Day 149, 28 May 2012 - The weather today
The weather started with a clear blue sky in the morning, but I didn't capture that properly. Then I would have no idea what the weather did all day, although the wet pavements when I left work in the evening indicated it had rained. I caught a picture of the sky on our way home in the evening, and it was worth the wait.

Here are my other two photos from the morning. In the first one, the sun is peeking around the side of a building up the street.

And here is the second.

Both of these photos are looking up Ann Street in Brisbane from the corner of Creek Street.

Day 150, 29 May 2012 - A number
I've been wanting to photograph this number for several weeks. Today's theme was perfect for it. And the subject was perfect for me to try out my new iPhone app "Marble Cam". 280 Adelaide Street, Brisbane.

Day 151, 30 May 2012 - Your personality
My personality? What? How do I capture THAT in a photo? LOL! I drew a doodle and water-coloured it.

I'll leave the interpretation up to you. ;-)

:-)
Michelle

Days 146 - 148, 25 - 27 May 2012

Hello!

Quick ones tonight, just catching up!

Day 146, 25 May 2012 - Unusual
Unusual is that it is the very end of autumn with winter days away and our rose bush is covered in buds...perhaps it is really spring?

Day 147, 26 May 2012 - 12pm
12pm saw us in the car on our way to ballet lessons.

Day 148, 27 May 2012 - Something sweet
This camellia caught my eye, and I think it is perfectly sweet.

:-)
Michelle

Days 142 - 144, 21 - 23 May 2012: Canberra

Hello!

I traveled to Canberra for work this week. It was a bit chilly down there. I survived. Lucky I own a woolen overcoat.

On my flight down, I saw this:

It was late afternoon. The clouds were very interesting for the whole trip. I loved these wispy ones. This was getting close to Canberra and I was about to switch my phone off again.

Driving from the airport to my hotel, I saw this:

It was such a pretty sunset. When we drove past the Australian War Memorial, I saw about 10 photographers lined up on the steps with their cameras looking back towards Parliament House. They would have got some awesome shots this evening, the light was magical.

Day 142, 21 May 2012 - Where I stand
Where I stood was in my hotel room, out of my shoes, and about to unpack my bag.

Day 143, 22 May, the theme was PINK. There wasn't any pink to be found this day. I was in a work conference all day and at a work dinner all night.  What I did find was FROST, on the car, in the morning.

That slowed us down getting out of the carpark on our way to breakfast. :-) It was about 2 degrees celcius (35F) by 8am.

Day 144, 23 May 2012 - Technology
Before I get to my technology shot, here is a little view of Civic in Canberra.

I love these buildings. They have such straight lines and feel so ultra-modern, stark almost. But the streets are clean and quiet, and there are trees. In summer they have gorgeous flower pots hanging along the street.

Most of the trees had lost most of their leaves already. Winter is only a few days away!

And here is my technology photo, at the airport on my way home.

The tarmac. Oh, the sunset was gorgeous. I was itching to get outside and check it out, but I would have missed my plane!

And here is a tiny taste of the awesome sunset. Unedited pic from my iPhone.

Those two little specks of light are the moon (above) and Venus. Pretty hard to capture on an iPhone, and my camera couldn't cope with the reflections on the plane window. I had my phone pressed against the window to get this one. That line at the bottom of the picture is the plane engine.

I hope you enjoyed my little work trip.

:-)
Michelle

Days 139 - 141, 18 - 20 May 2012: Things I made

Hello!

Day 139, 18 May 2012 - Something I made
I made this frame for my Mum for Mothers' Day. I didn't finish it until a few days after Mothers' Day, oops! I really like how it turned out.

I was tagged for #9ofpride on Instagram, and this is what I came up with.

19 May was supposed to be A Favourite Place. My favourite place is being at home with my family. I couldn't figure out how to capture this in a photo, especially since my family were all over the place and never together, so I missed the day.

Day 141, 20 May 2012 - Something I can't live without
Well, I just explained how hard it is to catch my family sitting still enough for a photo. So I went for my second thing I can't live without... pizza!

This  photo makes my pizza look very YELLOW. I promise it wasn't that yellow. It was probably the lights and my dodgy editing that made it this way, LOL!

And an extra random photo, my daughter, on the floor, of course...

:-)
Michelle

Days 136 - 138, 15 - 17 May 2012: Love, Book, Snack

Hello!

Day 136, 15 May 2012 - Love
I met my husband 19 years ago. We became friends. Then we started dating. Then we moved in together. Then we got married. Then we had kids. Our love continues to grow.

Day 137, 16 May 2012 - What I am reading
The Time Traveler's Wife is a great read. It is taking some concentration, though. I keep getting a little lost and having to read back to see where I am up to!

What I like about this photo is that it was taken on my lap, sitting at the train station. I really like how it turned out. :-)

Day 138, 17 May 2012 - Snack
I don't really snack, so this was a challenging photo to find. I decided at the end of the day to have a hot milo before bed, and added a few sneaky marshmallows, and I remembered to take a photo.

:-)
Michelle

Day 135, 14 May 2012 - Grass (and trees)

Hello!

Still in catch up mode.

Day 135, 14 May 2012 - Grass
I didn't get to take my photo until the very end of the day, and at that stage I was nowhere near any type of grass. I had to collect my daughter from swim squad, and found the astro turf beside the pool as my subject.

In the morning, I had taken a photo of a TREE, but forgot the grass topic for the day. This is a Qld Bottle Tree.

They're amazing trees. These particular ones are in ANZAC Square in Brisbane City.

:-)
Michelle

Catch Up! Days 132 - 134, 11 - 13 May 2012

Hello!

Woo, life can get busy sometimes! I do keep taking my photos (although I've missed a couple of days recently), but I sometimes don't get enough time to pop them in the blog...

Day 132, 11 May 2012 - Kitchen
I used to make my pizza dough in my bread machine. My bread machine wore out and broke down. I make pizza every Friday. I'm currently mixing the dough in the mixmaster and finishing it off by hand. A bit more time consuming. We love pizza in this house, and I really dislike chain pizza (Pizza Hut, Dominos, etc). I like Italian pizza - thin crust, few toppings, delicious! In fact, many years ago I lived in London (England) and worked in a pizza restaurant (Pizza Express for those who know this chain of restaurants). For each shift I worked, I got fed a meal. I never, EVER got tired of pizza. This picture is my dough just as it was popped aside for rising.

Day 133, 12 May 2012 - Something that makes me happy

My girls gave me pyjamas. They were so cute. They had a little tear in the sleeve, so I had to take them back. :-(  And there were none left in my size. :-(((   I have a credit, and I am going to go back and buy another pair that the girls choose for me when the new stock comes in. I love Peter Alexander pyjamas!

Day 134, 13 May 2012 - Mum
Mothers' Day! I had such a great day. Hubby made a delicious lunch and did EVERYTHING for me, all day. My girls made me a gorgeous bath with music and candles and then left me alone to enjoy it. Aahh! A perfect day. This was my card from hubby.

It cracked me up! Neither Mum nor Dad roles are easy, fun, and carefree all the time, but it is nice to think they are sometimes!

:-)
Michelle

Day 131 - 10 May 2012 - Favourite word

Hello!

10 May's theme was a favourite word. It took me forever to think up this idea. I looked everywhere, all day long, for my photo. In the end I sat down with my watercolour pencils and drew my word for myself.

I'm not an artist. This took me about ten minutes. My daughters liked it.

One day I am going to learn how to draw flowers.

:-)
Michelle

Day 130 - 9 May 2012 - Everyday

Hello!

Theme for 9 May is Something you do every day. It took me all day to come up with this one, too! Gee, my imagination is being stretched by the Photo a Day challenge! Or perhaps I'm just suffering a mental blank for ideas? :-)

Every day I feed the dog.

:-)
Michelle

Day 129 - 8 May 2012 - Smell

Hello!

The theme for 8 May is A smell you adore. When I read this I thought of frangipanis, fresh bread baking, custard kisses (yoyo biscuits), jonquils, freesias, roses, freshly mown grass, clean babies, the beach, rain... Mmmm, well I had none of these to hand. We are in autumn here in Australia so the spring flowers are about four months away. The frangipanis have just lost all their leaves, and there certainly isn't a flower in sight. Our lawn is in need of a cut, but certainly not fresh cut this week, LOL!

It took me a day to find a smell that I really like. And I do adore this smell, too - fresh, strong coffee.

Edited in Snapseed using Grunge filter. My work desk wasn't that pretty a background...

On my walk out for lunch I passed ANZAC Square, so I thought I'd share that with you while I'm here.

They sky was odd on 8 May. It was really pale. It wasn't cloudy, but the blue stayed pale most of the day.  In ANZAC Square amongst the palm trees are a number of very old bottle trees. I'll take some close-up photos of them for you one day.

:-)
Michelle

Day 128 - 7 May 2012

Hello!

The theme for 7 May 2012 is Someone who inspires you.

I had a think about this. I know a lot of people will choose celebrities, or people they don't know but who have done amazing things, or survived amazing events, but I wanted to choose someone who is close to me and really inspires me daily just by being themselves, not by circumstance.

I have two people who inspire me, all the time, every day.  My two daughters are the lights of my life. They are clever, they are brave, they are kind, they are generous, they are fun, they are musical, they amaze me, they make me laugh, they make me want to do better, they make me want to be their role model, they fill me with love. (And one of them just got me to dance in the middle of writing this post).

This photo shows one of the things that inspire me about these girls. They help each other. They protect each other. Even when they are fighting with each other, if they feel that someone else is being unfair, they will stop their own fight to protect the other. Their love for each other is inspirational.

On this day, we had an amazing, spectacular sunset. The previous night's sunset was subtle. This one was the exact opposite. Instagram was FULL of Brisbane sunsets on 7 May, it caught everyone's eye. I am sharing the progress from beautiful silver sky to bright orange. None of these are edited, so you get to see what my iPhone camera saw. I was TOTALLY wishing I'd taken my big camera to the park with us...

These four photos were taken over about 20 - 30 minutes as we walked home.

 When the clouds turned silver, I was already in awe.

 Then they went a little orange and I thought this may be all the sunset had to offer.

 And then THIS happened. It was brighter than this looks. BRIGHT pinks and oranges, and the clouds were leaving purple shadows on the clouds above, and then behind that the blue sky.

My Instagram photo is this one. I boosted the colour a little to show what I saw with my eyes.

And because I've already added a million photos, one more from this day. Coco the spoodle.

:-)
Michelle

Day 127 - 6 May 2012

Hello!

The theme for today is You, that is ME. :-)  Lucky you, you get to see another photo of me...

I think I'm getting better at self-portraits on the iPhone, what do you think?

On 6 May we were blessed with a beautiful, subtle sunset, which I will also share. I was walking the kids and the dog down at the park when the sky went a beautiful pink. I boosted the colours slightly, but this is pretty much what it looked like.

I love that the orange and pink merged into the deep dark blue of the evening sky.

:-)
Michelle

Day 126 - 5 May 2012

Hello!

Today's theme was Bird. I had only recently taken a photo of my budgie, Sunny, so I didn't want to photograph him again. When I looked outside, there wasn't a bird in sight! So I chose to photograph Sunny's feathers. He's molting, again.

:-)
Michelle

Day 125 - 4 May 2012 - Fun!

Hello!

The theme for 4 May was FUN! Who better to demonstrate fun than a four year old at play?

Or how about a four year old at swimming lessons?

I certainly had fun editing this photo. It still makes me giggle. This is the look that you get when you say "Stand over here in front of the pool so that I can take a photo of  you."

:-)
Michelle