Sara

Nothing Brings Me Down & Spurred In October

So, if you’re a blogger and you’re reading this, you should go back up your content right now. I say this because a few weeks ago when Dream Host was hacked and a few of my blogger friends had first hand experiences with all the drama that ensued, I took it as a sign and immediately went and back up my website. Because of that, I had a backup of my site when the server had a fatal crash yesterday and my site was down for over five hours. I tend to freak out when my site is down because it’s a situation where I am completely out of control, which doesn’t flow well at all with my INFJ personality, and I just sit anxiously waiting for it to be fixed while refreshing every five minutes. (Even though I’m not. supposed. to. do. that.) But eventually I decided to let go and decide that whatever happened happened, and I felt on top of the world.

This morning when I woke up and restored the site from it’s back up, I realized I’d lost two weeks of posts (and comments), but instead of freaking out I remember I have all my posts saved in RSS readers and comments are emailed to me. So I spent the entire morning sipping delicious tea and copy and pasting my content. I was actually humming while I was doing it. After all was said and done, I permanently lost only the comments that I made, which I plan on remaking, especially in response to your amazing comments on this entry. (If you didn’t see my comment before the site went down, don’t worry, I will reply again because your comments mean so much to me.) And had I been ringing my hands and stressed about it, what would it have solved? Nothing. Nothing would’ve been any different. I have such a hard time of saying “it’s out of my hands” in so many situations, but I’m going to actively try to let go when I know there’s nothing more I can do.

(Click on the photos if you’d like to see them larger.)
“Purity” October 7th (Day 280) “Sentiment” October 8th (Day 281), & “Hair” October 9th (Day 282)
It was almost too perfect that the prompt for October 8th was “Sentiment”. I had to take the chance to photograph my dried boquet that sits on our dresser from our wedding ceremony. Cheesy, I know, and even though it was the first thing I thought of it was the second and third too, so I did it anyway. And as for the hair, I was under the impression Locks of Love did not take dyed hair, but I’m happy to learn I was wrong! They take dyed hair as long as it isn’t bleached. (I may be donating in two months here if I can gather up the courage to go for a pixie cut!)

“Kisses” October 10th (Day 283) & “Introduction” October 11th (Day 284)

It’s hard to believe there was a time when the cats didn’t all adore each other, but when I see this picture and realize it was the first time the three of them had piled together, I smile at how far they’ve come. (Pfft, now Pumpkin and Atlas are super BFFs and I feel left out!) And “Introduction” was about introducing Atlas to the “bath”. It went really well! He only tried to jump in one time, and then never made that mistake again, but every time he hears the water running he runs in to play faux fishing. He isn’t afraid to get his paws wet, either.

“Problem” October 13th (Day 286)

The windows in our bedroom have the worst insulation and it causes condensation to build up on the window sill. I know it’s something I could talk to the building manager about, but I keep forgetting! (And I still haven’t done it as I’m writing this five months later! It doesn’t happen very often (especially since we had such a warm winter) so it was easy to forget about.

“Want” October 14th (Day 286)

Our good friend Will spent a lot of time in China over the years for school and business and he brought home Pumpkin flavored Pocky (delicious Japanese snack!). Unfortunately I’m almost positive it has milk in it (at least the frosting), so I haven’t actually tried it, but I keep them on my desk to remind me of awesome friends.

“Fantasy” October 15th (Day 287)

Haha, oh gosh, this is a photograph of my desktop on my computer. It’s fantasy themed and very special to me. Of course, it doesn’t look like that now because my computer crashed last week and I had to reformat, but I’m sure I’ll get it back to normal in no time.

“Solace” October 12th (Day 285) & “Smart!” October 16th (Day 288)

Really, he’s just enjoying the sun. And for the “Smart” prompt, I managed to snap a photo of Pumpkin doing his “touch” trick for breakfast. All the boys know how to “sit” and “touch” and do so each morning before breakfast!

The Last of September

Tom and I had an incredibly busy, but super amazing weekend. We attended a virtual photography seminar for most the weekend and then spent Sunday evening celebrating Tom’s sister’s birthday (which was actually on Valentine’s Day) with the family. Tom and I both went to bed last night inspired and excited about new projects and possibilities, but when I woke this morning I discovered my computer dead and lifeless, so I can’t work on my new exciting projects today, and I certainly can’t upload any new photos at the moment. Luckily I had this Spurred post started already, so I can still share some photos with you today via my phone, even if it takes forever to type. (Here’s hoping auto correct doesn’t embarrass me.)

My favorite photo is a tie between “Box” and “Brown”! I really like “Box” because I think the moss is interesting, but also because I like the way the box is tilted and the colors (yellow, green, and that tint of red) really stand out to me. And I also like “Brown” because that moment is actually candid. I didn’t mean for Atlas to walk into my shot, and I had no idea he would when he did. My least favorite shot is “Faded” because, I’ll admit, I was really lazy about taking it. (I notice that even when I take shots I like, if I remember that I was lazy about taking them they still don’t work their way onto my favorites list. Am I too hard on myself?)

Stacey asked, “How did you take your self portrait shots of the project and still get the focus right when it’s so small?”

That’s a great question, Stacey! I’ve been meaning to do a tips post for Selfies, but I can still answer your question. A lot of the time I’ll use a tripod (or a stack of books, or table- I think we’re all guilty of that!) and make sure the scene I want is displayed and my exposure is correct, and then I’ll use a remote to trigger the shot. If you try to use the timer on the camera it’s hard to get the focus just right unless you manually set it before hand, since you aren’t in the shot when you press the button and the camera auto focuses. When using a remote, as soon as you press the button the camera will autofocus on you while you’re in the scene, and give you two seconds or so to hide the remote and strike your pose. (Just make sure you’re on the same plane as when you pressed the button so the part you want remains in focus!)

“Box” September 28th (Day 271)

At Kelly & Tom’s wedding, they had candles surrounded by moss. They sat us at Table 8 (!) and gave me the moss surrounding our table in two little boxes to take home and put in empty candle globes I’ve had for a few years now. I’ve been meaning to fill them with moss but never had the chance to find any. But now that I know it’s from Kelly & Tom’s wedding, it’s that much more sentimental.

“Cooking” September 29th (Day 272)

Making chili “cheese” fries for the cookbook!

“Sensitive” September 30th (Day 273)

My favorite soap is delicate on the skin and in scent. It’s green tea mandarin from Tashodi.

“Write” October 1st (Day 274)

“Guilty Pleasure” October 2nd (Day 275)

Pumpkin butter and pumpkin muffins. Pumpkin: the best autumn flavor.

“Faded” October 3rd (Day 276)

I’ve had these shoes for so long! (I also had a red pair, but unfortunately they were destroyed in an outdoor adventure.)

“Down” October 4th (Day 277)

Moved from 7.7 lb weights to 10 lbs!

“Brown” October 5th (Day 278)

Atlas is trying on my shoes.

“Creation” October 6th (Day 279)

The perfect “cheese” sauce.