Terri Meets Texture

I've been totally texture happy the last couple of days. It started with a nagging boredom of paintshop which rapidly progressed to being able to process a pic without putting forth any effort or thought. So I decided to mix it up a bit.

Yesterday I set out on a little adventure to a historical area in town. My goal was to find different objects around town and capture them in different ways. I played with aperature. I worked different angles. I laid in and played in puddles. I had a fantastical time.

Here are just a couple of the images. The rest will be posted on my photography blog.

1/52 Off the Beaten Path

Thanks to an awesome chick who goes by the name of Ashley, I've been invited to take part in a 52 week photography project. Along with several other partners in crime whom I've grown to know and love over the past 3 years, I will be refering to a list of 52 themes for my inspiration. If anyone wants to join in on the journey, you can find the list of themes in my blog role entitled "Chat This Picture of the Week."

This weeks theme was "Free For All"

I was driving home today and saw what I thought was a fire hydrant in the middle of an enormous field. I figured I was seeing things and kept driving. I made it about a block or two before my curiousity demanded that I turn around.

It was a nice little hike and I thought at least a dozen times I was going to encounter some sort of critter who would eagerly gnaw off my flip-flopped feet.

Sure enough, in the middle of this field there was a fire hydrant. Not sure what it's there for and I really don't care, it was placed in an imperfectly perfect spot.
It looks waaaaaaaaay cooler over on my photography blog, seen in it's entirety if ya wanna take a gander:

www.tyoungphotography.blogspot.com

My List For 2009

*disclaimer* not my image :)

So I've never been one to make resolutions. Directly translated, resolution is to make a firm determination. I am not one to be firmly determined about anything, therefore I set goals. I've done this for a few years now, in an attempt to become a more well-rounded versatile human being. It took me a while to compile this years list. I had to be careful. Factoring in school and my job as Mommy and Wife, I'm stretched pretty darn thin as it is. That being said I still wanted to challenge myself, be realistic and above all have fun!


I present to you, my list.


1) Learn how to tie 20 different knots, and know what situations call for which knots

2) Learn how to shoot a bow and arrow

3) Volunteer 2 hours of my time every month to a different organization

4) Learn how to dance the salsa

5) Take a course in American Sign Language

6) Learn the story of 5 homeless people in an attempt to not be so disgusted everytime I encounter one

7) Read a different magazine every month, front to back...one that I would typically never think to pick up

8) Attend a photography course

9) Learn a new word every day, and how to properly use it in a sentence. (Made easy thanks to dictionary.com)

wanderlust \WON-der-luhst\, noun:
a strong desire to wander or travel

10) Learn to juggle 3 balls

11) Learn how to make 10 International food dishes

12) Learn 10 things involving vehicle or home repair

And a bonus for the hubby...take some golf lessons and buy a set of clubs :)

Wishing Everyone...

"May your troubles last as long as your New Year's resolutions."

Can You Spot the Imposter?

I've been doing head-swapping and cloning like nobodies business! Is it terribly obvious who has been erased in?

Tuesday Randomeness...and a GIVEAWAY!!!

So we finally completed the process of wiping our poor computer clean. I'm convinced it was suffering from something far more powerful than the bubonic plague. About 30 hours, a dozen disks and 100 restarts, we have a fully functioning computer.

As much as I was looking forward to this break from school, I am already counting down the 21 days until we start back up. I've been going to school for so long, I think I've become institutionalized. I feel all out of place when I'm not going.

So I was looking at my blog statistics over on Google and last night I hit my 10,000th blog hit. I'm both thrilled and bummed by this achievement. I have visitors and even regulars from as far away as the Czech Republic and Greece, almost 500 visits from Germany...and yet the same 10 people comment. Granted they are 10 wonderful marvelous spectacultar peeps, but I'd really like for some of the others to come out of hiding. So in order to coax y'all out of hiding, I'm going to tempt you with prizes :)



I've got a bag full of all sorts of fun goodies, and I promise I will make it worth your time for responding. It is totally gender neutral, so don't shy away if your a guy. A winner will be chosen at random thanks to random.org

All you need to do is answer this question:

"My New Years Resolution is..."

What are you aspiring to accomplish, achieve or attain in 2009?

You have until January 6th 2009 at 5 p.m. Central time. Winner will be posted that evening. Good luck, and can't wait to see your posts!

Finally, a Family Pic

And it took amazing effort let me tell you. Turns out if I whack my head repeatedly with a sharp stick, Kaitlyn will laugh a good bit and occasionally look at the camera. This is nice, because I was running out of random ridiculous noises and phrases to say in order to get her to look my direction.

If you look closely, you can see my stick :) For those of you who don't know, hubby has a 10 year old daughter. She is the best big sister in the world, and we were so happy to have her for the holidays.

And hubby and I took a few shots while the kids were running around. I processed these a lil' different then usual, there was a nice patch of light shining through the balcony.





(To see the full version of this, please go to my photography blog: www.tyoungphotography.blogspot.com )





Here is a shot I did this morning on my new floor set-up. Still have no idea what I'm doing with the speedlite. If anyone has any advice, please feel free to dish :)




Well that's plenty of pictures for now. Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend!