Life In Photos #34

Some snaps from the last couple weeks in January.

Static electricity is the best.

He fell asleep with his tongue out…it was so cute!

While snapping photos for A Day In The Life, I snagged this gem which was her face upon waking from nap and seeing me in the doorway with my camera at the ready!

These were taken from out our playroom window – there was a squirrel party going on! They were climbing all around, right next to the house, and it was hilarious. I love squirrels! Unfortunately the little miss was napping, but my cat enjoyed the heck out of it.

And now a few shots from the ‘snowmageddon’ this past week. Luckily, where I am in NH didn’t get swamped too badly. Only about 10 inches of snow, and it was all super light and fluffy. Perfect for playing in (though terrible for snowman/fort building). Plus, since everything in the entire state pretty much shut down in preparation, the hubs got a free day off from work so we got to spend it as a family. Woohoo!

I love trees in the snow!

Her favorite part of winter is nomming the fresh snow. It’s hilarious.

This is my favorite shot from that day. I love the snow in her lashes, and in general that magical wondrous look that little kids get when they discover something to be fascinated by.

Life In Photos #33

It’s been awhile since a Life In Photos update, and truthfully, it was a much needed break. I love photography dearly, but trying to take pictures enough for a post every week was becoming tedious. Lately, I’ve just been snapping when the mood strikes, or if there is something specific I want to try and capture.

Since it’s been quite a bit since my last post, I’ve actually got lots of photos to kick off my first Life In Photos of 2015! Hope you enjoy some snaps from my daily life (daily life = daughter, kitties, and outdoor adventures).

She picked TV time in the morning one day, and cozied right up.

These two have been buds since she was an infant. He puts up with all her snuggle antics.

We spent New Years with our best friends, and I just can’t resist snapping pics of her new little man when I’m there!

A chubby squirrel in a tree during a recent snowstorm. This picture isn’t as crisp as I wanted; I really need to work on steadier hands. I took this from my living room window with my zoom lens haha!

Her favorite part of snowstorms? Catching snowflakes on her tongue, and eating the fresh snow.

A cute crow couple! Or maybe BFFs? Either way, they stayed together the entire time they were in the yard, moving from tree to tree.

I adore this shot, the main reason being I took it using manual settings! I managed to get the bird in silhouette, with that wing detail peeking through, and I love the light gradient from the clouds.

And lastly, a selfie! I almost never snap selfies unless they are for a specific tag on IG, but we were outside in the snow, the day was just so lovely, and I felt so incredibly peaceful as the snow was falling down. I wanted to capture it! So I just held up the camera to snap a shot. And funnily enough, I actually love this photo of myself. It was an entirely unplanned picture, yet it captured the moment beautifully for me.

Life In Photos #32

I have a few fun shots to share this week!

I just love the way snow looks on the pine trees. So wintry, and oddly cozy looking even though it’s so chilly!

Visited with my BFF and her new little man was wide awake when I arrived! After snapping a few shot, I then snagged him and proceeded to have hours of snuggles.

I was playing around with my manual settings and ended up with this shot, which I love. His peaceful face, the tree in the background – it just gives me that Christmas magic feeling!

My mum’s yard always has some form of animal in it as she puts out food scraps all winter for them! A variety of birds, squirrels and chipmunks, deer, and others are always about. I snapped a pic of these blue jays and then did some partial black and white edits. I just love how the blue pops on the snow! I’m glad these turned out since I shot them through my mum’s door window (the blue jays quickly got perturbed with me). 😉

Hopefully I’ll be able to get some deer shots sometime!

Life In Photos: Newborn Photoshoot

I’ve been thinking a lot about my Life In Photos series lately. I do love it. I love sharing the snippets of my life even if often they are just pictures of my kitties and daughter. However, I have come to realize that I don’t want to do it every week. I think I’d like to scale it back a bit, and only share shots I really enjoy or ones I’m really proud of.

Photography has always been a hobby of mine; I love to document things through photos. That has only expanded since getting my first DSLR camera last year. But I by no means consider myself a photographer in a professional sense. I adore taking photos, and taking them for other people. I love capturing moments for people. But, it’s not something I want as a job. I do it for fun, for the love of it.

Today I’d like to share some photos I took for my best friend. She just welcomed a new baby boy on November 12th, and on Friday I went to do a little newborn photoshoot of him and his big sister. I’m really proud of some of the shots!

This was literally the first shot I took. Sometimes the magic just happens haha! He is such a relaxed baby boy, and he loves to be on his belly!

This was my favorite shot of the two siblings together. The light is a little extreme, even after editing, but it’s grown on me.

This is kind of a strange shot, with a lot of it in silhouette, but I love it! I did another edit where I took the windowsill out and the whole background was white but I ended up not liking it, much to my surprise. It just didn’t look grounded and ended up seeming as if the hands were just floating there. I wasn’t a fan.

The is the same pose as the above photo, but from the other side with the light shining on the little man. Part of me wishes the background were different, but at the same time, I’ve embraced it. The table with it’s few pieces of clutter gives it a personal touch in a way. This is their home, not a studio, filled with love and joy for their new expanded family.

I like so many, but this was favorite shot from the day. He is just so serene and peaceful in his mama’s hands, and I love his little hands in there too.

I could share more, but those were my favorites of the day. I’m hoping to expand on my photography gear and skills with the coming year (in fact, there’ll be a post on that tomorrow!) so Life In Photos will definitely still be kicking around, just not every week.

Life In Photos #31

A very small (and child-centric) photo post this week. The last few days I have felt quite awful (ironic as I’m getting my flu shot tomorrow!) and I didn’t snap too many other pics this week. Luckily my little seems to be doing fine, and Halloween wasn’t interrupted!

My little was so excited Eli let her pet him for a few minutes! He tends to stay away from her, but lately he’s been warming up quite a bit!

We finally got a new bookshelf for the living room!! YAY! The project is still only partially complete as now we need a smaller shelf for all my little’s books, and then we can transfer our old bookshelf to our bedroom. Even though it’s still a work in progress, I’m so excited to have a new shelf, and have much more organized book storage than the massively over-crammed system we had going on before.

And of course, pics of my little in her costume! She had a blast trick or treating and I’m so glad the weather stayed ‘warm’ for it. By warm I mean mid 40s, which is pretty good for late fall New Hampshire, especially since today it never crept above 35. Anywho, she loved her costume! This was the first year she picked what she wanted to be 100% on her own, and she was not disappointed. I think she made a very good ‘queen riding a unicorn’. 🙂 I love how the front hooves of the unicorn move when she walks, so it looks like the unicorn is walking too. All in all, costume success!

Clockwise from top left…

1. We had our first D&D session last Sunday and it went great! Plus, I finally found a use for this notebook I love. I play a Druid, and she rocks. 😀
2. Eli was much obliged to participate in snuggles for National Cat Day last Wednesday!
3. The hubs and I had a day together for a round of Christmas shopping, and we were planning to eat out for lunch. The day was so nice we decided to literally eat out, and snag our TGI Friday’s to go so we could have an impromptu riverside lunch date.
4. The little and I attend a once a week nature/environmental class and last week we got to see the pet turtle devour a worm! They kind of just glom it in like a big thick spaghetti piece. Enjoy that mental image. 😉

Today has been a day of sickness unfortunately, but it has been really nice to just laze around with my little (the hubs is judging a Magic event today!). I hope your Halloween and weekend were excellent!

 

Life In Photos #30

It’s been a rather off week on the blog! I missed yesterday’s 5 Fandom post, and only put up one other post during the week! Yikes. I’m blaming the five days straight of rain we had. Ugh. I don’t mind a rainy day, but a full week of rain just makes me want to sleep until it’s over. Also, because of all the rain, I hardly took any photos this week. I find that when we’re around the house I take so many fewer pictures. Looks like I need to get back in the swing of things next week!

Last weekend (before all the rain showed up!) we took a walk around the neighborhood. I love this tree! My little just couldn’t resist the giant leaf pile waiting at the base and had to take a running leap.

She spent so much time lining up all her stuffies just right and really wanted me to snap a picture! So cute.

We whipped up some sugar cookies and then had a decorating party yesterday! She liked spreading on the frosting, but sprinkles were definitely her favorite part.

Clockwise from top left…

1. Our jack-o-lantern turned to mush already (curse you, rain!) so we had to snag a new pumpkin for our little. She picked painting instead of carving, and made this free form ladybug.
2. I let my little pick out one of those quarter prizes from the grocery store machines, and she got this grow-in-water lobster. It started out so cute and quickly turned terrifying haha! It looks like a face hugger from Alien.
3. The finished products of our cookie decorating!
4. I have been doing SO much plush sewing! I’ve since finished getting all of Princess Luna’s pieces cut out, and started her stitching.

Today we are having our first D&D session with the group we put together! I’m excited. It’s been about ten years since I’ve played D&D, and I can’t wait to jump back in. Hope your weekend treated you well!

Life In Photos #29

A week ago we went to the Sandwich Fair and my little met the most content, relaxed bunny I’ve ever seen in my life.

We also saw this absolutely fantastic breed of chicken. New life goal: attain afro chickens.

While reading outside one afternoon, this teeny tiny little bug landed on my book and, even after some gentle prodding, refused to budge. I had to blow him off to avoid smushing when I turned the page!

We took a walk at sunset and I attempted to have an impromptu photoshoot with my little…after a million silly faces I gave up. Sometimes it’s just not happening.

However, walks at sunset are now my new favorite thing as the fall leaves just look so extraordinary! So while the photoshoot with my daughter didn’t work out, I did get some fun fall themed shots!

I found an excellent reflective window (see below for the fabulous schoolhouse said window is from) which made for a fun selfie! I like how the cobwebs and window dust almost give it an old photograph feel.

This old schoolhouse is right next door to my apartment, and I have always found it to be so creepy! Definitely creepy in a good way, though I wouldn’t be caught dead near it at night by myself. I definitely want to come back here in different light and take some photos – it just screams haunted house to me. Although I don’t know when it was originally built, it has been in use since the 1800s. It was restored back in 2011, but the inside has so many class photos from the 1800s and 1900s which to me just adds to the creep factor! Chalk it up (HEH schoolhouse pun) to too many horror movies.

I think this is my favorite edit of the day. I really wish I could get that chain link fence out of there, but my PS skills are just not that good. However on the whole, I love the light hitting the tree leaves, and the paled out school house in the background.

Clockwise from top left…

1. Eli sits like such a proper gentleman kitty sometimes!
2. I’ve started the My Little Pony plushes for my little for Christmas. Coming along nicely!
3. We made some yummy fall Rice Krispie treats. This was my first time making them – I used to hate them as a kid!
4. Drafted four more patterns of plushes for Christmas presents. So much to do!

We were originally supposed to do our yearly family photo shoot today, but it is a cold and rainy mess outside, so that’s been postponed! Instead, a day of lounging and playtime awaits!

Life In Photos #28

Sunsets up in the mountains are so beautiful.

We had our first class for the fall session at Prescott Farm this week (read my thoughts on the spring class here!) and my little had to get in some bird watching before class began.

SQUEE!! Look at that little face!! This was the first time I’d ever seen a praying mantis so up close (one of my friends had it on her leg!). It started out all cute and innocent looking….

…..but then got quite grumpy and started air boxing haha! Cranky praying mantis.

We decorated for Halloween at the beginning of the week including decking out my little’s room with pumpkin lights.

And in my favorite news of the week, my little miss is no longer afraid to carve pumpkins!! In previous years, we’ve always had to paint pumpkins as she insisted that we couldn’t carve because “it would hurt the pumpkin!” which I actually thought was totally adorable. Plus, shocker, I love to paint so that was a plus! But this year, she wanted to make a jack-o-lantern! It was a team effort – I gutted the pumpkin, she drew on the face (with a bit of help for the teeth 😉 ) and then the hubs carved it. I really wish it hadn’t been so dark so I could have snapped a pic of her face when we first lit the candle. She thought it was amazing!

Clockwise, from top left.

1. I made mini apple crisp pies! There will be proper photos and a post coming soon!
2. Edgar loves to snuggle on the arm rest of the couch.
3. Made three batches of homemade tomato soup – yum!
4. More shading on Mr. Cumberbatch here. There’s even more done now (you’ll see on WIP Wednesday) – he’ll be complete soon!

Today we’re off to a fair, and I can’t wait to take more photos!

Life In Photos #27

We revisited this area again with the hubs, and it’s my new favorite place. It’s so beautiful year round, but especially in the fall.

Since the hubs was with us he actually snapped some pics of me and my little!! A very rare thing. Big open field = we must play chase. My last sundress wear for the season – it was randomly 80 degrees a few days back. Really, fall?!

My two favorite people. She was so excited to find a mouse hole at the base of the tree!

We visited my dad this week and found this amazing bug on his deck. He was moving pretty darn slowly as it was a very chilly day. I just love the beautiful iridescent blue color! I haven’t looked up what type of bug it is yet, so if you know clue me in!

This last picture cracks me up. My little had just woken up from nap (she has been partial to napping on Big Bear lately) and the first thing out of her mouth was, “Take a picture of my feet please, Mommy.” Can do my love, can do.

Clockwise from top left…

1. I turned that lovely bunch of ingredients into my first homemade spaghetti sauce! It turned out really well!
2. I got my new Harry Potter spell Unsponges in from Nature Junkie. I just love her Unsponges!
3. I made apple turnovers with our fresh picked apples. That night I had one for dinner. And one for dessert.
4. Fall crafts took over this week!

Life In Photos #18

This is a pretty quiet week in photos! But, I spent the majority of this week sick so there was much less picture snapping and much more nap taking. Luckily, I started feeling better on Friday and now am pretty close to 100% again!

We practice sorting geek style in this household! The hubs gives our little all his valueless Magic the Gathering cards and she has quite the collection at this point. We love to dump them out and practice sorting them into piles by not only color, but different background and edging patterns as well. Or she’ll pick the subject (usually, animals) and we sort them out. She loves it!

Oh, Eli and his banana. My kitty Eli has always had a weird obsession with our little’s play food. He loves to bat it around (while ignoring most actual cat toys). He is fixated on the banana, which I find hilarious because he is actually terrified of real bananas! If you set down a banana peel near him, he flattens his ears and body, and tries to slink off as sneakily as possible. It’s so strange. So I guess he must show his dominance to the evil plastic banana.

I snapped this pic of my little watching Milo and Otis one rainy afternoon and I just love it. She looks so grown up. I still call her my baby, the hubs and I both still say things like, “Who will watch the baby?” or “The baby’s sleeping”, but she is definitely not a baby anymore. Damn you parenting cliches and your absolute truth!

Hope the weekend is treating you well!
We’re off to see Guardians of the Galaxy today and I CAN’T WAIT!!!