Spurred

Earrings, A Cat Banner, & Lights Bokeh Lights

There’s only two more digests after this, and I’m eager to wrap it up because it means I can start a new project. (I think five months off is enough recovery time, don’t you?) I’ve also been making minor adjustments (and will continue to do so) over the next few days (more like weeks if my track record proves anything) to the site design. They are changes I meant to do when this design was new, but was too busy doing client work that I just didn’t get around to it. Now I’m making time!

FAVORITE Even though it didn’t stitch properly, I love the “Habits” photo because of the crazy light bokeh from the tree and then again in the reflections.

NOT SO MUCH The very first photo for the prompt “Street”. I had so many good ideas but I just didn’t get a chance to go out on the street like I wanted to. One of the downfalls of having a good word on a busy day, I guess.

BEHIND THE SCENES The book featured in “Historic” is one I picked up at a second hand shop in Rochester, New York. I love it so much it sits on my desk now.

“Street” Dec 5th (Day 339)

No snow…

“Ice” Dec 6th (Day 340)

Here’s the video.

“Habits are cobwebs at first, cables at last.” Dec 7th (Day 341)

The photo stitch on this didn’t really turn out very well, so it makes the living room look tiny, but I like the rest of it too much to care!

I’ve always wanted to feel okay (and not panicked) if someone decided to randomly stop by the apartment, whether to drop something off or to come in for a cup of tea. However, that’s kind of hard sometimes when you live with lots of people. Even if you break up the chores, sometimes they don’t get done, etc, so when Tom and I moved into this apartment together I was excited that my (sometimes overboard) cleaning desires could be put to good use. It’s habit for me to clean up the dinner dishes while I’m waiting for the meal to cook, and Mondays I wake up by mindlessly vacuuming. These are just parts of my routine. Just a few days ago our super asked us if he could show our apartment to his bosses, and I didn’t have to do anything except open the door. Fifteen minutes a day insures the apartment is spotless all the time. Ah, cables at last indeed.

“Rainbow” Dec 8th (Day 342)

A beautiful cat banner (and holiday card) arrived in the mail from Peregrine.

“Bird” Dec 9th (Day 343)

Cover of my 2012 planner!

“Historic” Dec 10th (Day 345)

This Singing World
An Anthology of Modern Poetry for Young Children
Printed December, 1928

“Button” Dec 11th (Day 346) & “Crunchy” Dec 12th (Day 347)

“Silver” Dec 12th (Day 348)

I don’t wear earrings because when I do unfortunately they must be sterling silver or 14k gold otherwise my ears become very sensitive and itchy. Mega bummer.

Christmas Decorations, A New Tree, & Rochester In The Morning

It’s kind of weird seeing the Christmasy photos popping up in my digest of the Spurred project, as winter is the last thing on my mind right now. No ma’am, I’m ready for the warm weather that the weatherman has promised! Last night we had a thunderstorm (I believe it was actually Atlas’s first)- and instead of hiding like our other cats did during their first, he sat at the window and watched in curiosity. Of course he did.

Favorite My favorite photo of the bunch is “Cool”, because it was a struggle to get that sucker to stitch properly! I’m not that tall so to try and get a stich without changing the angle was a little hard!

Not So Much My least favorite is probably “News”, again because I just didn’t put that much effort into it. It could have been a lot better. I will always give kudos and totally respect those photographers who pump out an amazing work of art every day for an entire year.

Behind The Scenes Our awesome friends in Rochester have a crazy assortment of board games, and this really spurred on our board game obsession during Christmas. The photo for “Natural”, of board game Dead-End-Drive is a game we actually played. I was the cat and the old lady and in the end it was down to Tom and me. (I won.) It was so much fun!

Happy Friday! (Less than 30 days left on the Spurred project digest! What project should I do next?)

“Everyday” Nov 26th (Day 330)

Atlas bathes us every day. I try not to let him bathe me because my hair is longer and I don’t want him to choke. Doesn’t stop him from trying though, the cutie.

“Childhood” Nov 27th (Day 331)

My favorite is “The Snowman”.

“Package Nov 28th (Day 332)

I pulled the Christmas decorations out of the box in which they were packed.
Stitched together from 8 images.

“News” Nov 29th (Day 333)

Tom and I won NaNo!

“Fun” Nov 30th (Day 334)

Someone clearly had fun poking around in the fireplace today.
Oh, Atlas, my little explorer.

“Different” Dec 1st (Day 335)

I put up my old Christmas tree but the lights and a few branches had been damaged in the move across the border so after a few hours tearing my hair out trying to get it to work, we brought home a new one. We like it much better because it has pine cones!

“Cool” Dec 2nd (Day 336)

We brought home a new (artificial) tree this year, but we re-used our older ornaments. I’ve always wanted to have three or four “themes” to rotate in between every year, and this is a very “cool” tree, so we’re thinking next year we’ll do warm tones: perhaps bronzes and reds.

“Natural” Dec 3rd (Day 337)

In early December we went to visit friends we met online and spend the weekend at their apartment. It’s always scary at first, wondering if things will be different when you actually meet in person, but meeting these two was like meeting up with our best friends from junior high. As exciting and as natural as can be.

“Grey” Dec 4th (Day 338)

A grey morning from our weekend in Rochester.

A Lot Of Red In November

If I seem quiet over here it’s because I’ve been working really hard to get this next little batch of actions ready for you photographers before spring really hits and melts right into summer. (And before work starts picking up for me.) Life for me lately has been packed with busy, but filled with good stuff too like tea, yoga, really fast showers, and detoxing from the day with television shows. Tom has also been working on a play, so Saturdays are spent all day at his dad’s doing laundry while they work, bike rides, and now that the weather is nicer: photo walks.

“Sound” Nov 18th (Day 322)

I wish I had more time to play! (I also wish I would finally get around to bringing home a ukulele and viola!) Though I recently just downloaded the Garage Band app and have been in heaven tinkering with making music in my spare time (Ha, what spare time?) – I actually made the looping track used in the video of my latest hair tutorial. Pretty neat, huh?

“Numbers” Nov 19th (Day 323)

Here in Canada there’s pretty much a monopoly on the internet/telephone/cellphone providers. They charge an arm and a leg for service (and charge per bandwidth, which shocked me silly when I first came from the States) and cancellation of your contract early can be up to $400! (Actually a bill passed here a few weeks ago to cap that to $50! Thanks, Ontario!) So back in November we were switching our service over to another company and we had a few days where we were without a phone line because our old company was just that awful.

“Memory” Nov 20th (Day 324)

I find I have fun doing a double exposure of a photo taken one year previous on the same day. I thought for “memory” it was fitting. (Photographers can grab a free double exposure action.)

“Short” Nov 21st (Day 325)

I’m 5’4″, but I still love wearing flats, even though I often feel short.

“Welcome” Nov 22nd (Day 326)

I have a little cupboard with tea and desserts stored just for when we have guests come over. In Ireland Tom’s family greeted you at the door and immediately offered a cup of tea and cookies, no matter how brief your visit. When we came back I realized it was something I wanted to do as well.

“Heat” Nov 23rd (Day 327)

Cozy socks and the baseboard heater.

“Unfamiliar” Nov 24th (Day 328)

For Thanksgiving (we celebrate Canadian & USA) this year I took a risk and cooked something I’d never tried before, crossing my fingers and hoping it turned out all right. It was delicious, and now I’m craving some!

“Grain” Nov 25th (Day 329)

4 Photo Stitch

Only 44 Days Left

On Sunday Atlas turned a year old! We haven’t had him that long of course (we didn’t bring him home until the very end of July) but I still can’t believe he’s been in our lives for almost nine months. And thank you so much for all of your lovely & supportive responses about my hair, I’m really really happy about it, and I’m still working through replying to you all. (And I will!)

“Reflection” Nov 10th (Day 314)

Taken on the Minolta SRT200. I make sure to meter for the scene before the shot, but then I remember my skin is like a lighthouse sometimes and will probably botch it up anyway. (Do you see my reflection in the top left?)

“Inside” Nov 11th (Day 315)

Sometimes my heart is heavy thinking about how the cats will spend their lives “trapped” inside our apartment/house and not have the chance to venture outside, but in a city as busy as this we can’t let them wander out on their own. I take Morn out for walks on occasion since he spent a great deal of his kitten hood outside, but sometimes I wish we had a nice backyard where he could explore without a lead.

“Delicious” Nov 12th (Day 316)

Mmm, tofu scramble.

“Sticky” Nov 13th (Day 317)

Part of going to the theatre for us means preparing our own snacks, but it’s one of the few times where we go all out and make favorites otherwise deemed unhealthy. Here I’m making dough for our own pretzel dogs!

“Man Made” Nov 14th (Day 318)

Who doesn’t love a nice romantic gesture?

“Purple” Nov 15th (Day 319)

A run in my favorite (and new!) tights already. One of the downsides to having cats is that they put holes in almost everything.

“Empty” Nov 16th (Day 320)

That empty spot is where we put our leftovers.

“Irony” Nov 17th (Day 321)

Our internet went down and all my prompts are on my Google Calender. So you get pizza.

My favorite photo from this batch would have to be either “Inside” or “Delicious”. I have such a hard time capturing steam normally and I love how barely there, sort of like an accessory. My least favorite photo is “Empty”, just because of the quality. I can tell I was getting really tired and swamped with this project by this point. I’m having a lot more days where I just gave up and snapped something quickly.

Random Tidbit: Back in October I found a blogger taking on a No Trash Project, and I’ve been meaning to apply a lot of it in our home as well. I’d like to see our fridge filled with jars (as if I need another excuse to collect jars) instead of plastic and zip-lock bags.

Stuffed Animals, Hanging Upside Down, & A Flying Tom

I can’t believe it’s April already! (It’s almost time to see the cherry blossoms.) Last week I mentioned that I may have become addicted to levitation photos. All week I couldn’t wait until the weekend so I could try my hand at it behind the camera. Tom was kind enough to jump around looking stern and determined for me while I tried my hand at it.

During November I had a moment of crazy project overload. I was participating in National Novel Writing Month and shouldering a 30 day gratitude project as well as finishing the last two months of Spurred. And I was struggling taking just one photo a day by this point, I can’t believe I made it through all three of them!

“Good things come in small packages.” November 2nd (Day 305)

When this was taken we were getting our bread from a local bakery, but now we use our bread maker instead! (I’m going to try my first cinnamon loaf this weekend.)

“Fur” November 3rd (Day 306)

Hotaru’s “fur” is all pointy from excessive petting and cuddling.

“Portrait” November 4th (Day 307)

Once and a while I like to rotate my photo from landscape to portrait after I’ve taken it to grant a new perspective.

“Small” November 5th (Day 308)

“Pink” November 6th (Day 309)

“Oversized” November 7th (Day 310)

I have this oversized faux flower in my kitchen. It may be corney but it makes me smile every time I see it.

“Morning” November 8th (Day 311)

Three years ago today I came to Canada to be with Tom, till death do us part. Every morning is a blessing.

“Upside Down” November 9th (Day 312)

I just had to.

Farewell October

It’s Friday, everyone! It’s been such a busy week for me (re: taxes) and I’m looking forward to the weekend, but I couldn’t leave you without a Spurred update this week. I’m almost done! I only have November and December left to share with you. And then I have some new projects to share- though nothing crazy, don’t worry, I promised you and myself I’d take a break.

My least favorite photo in this digest is the first one, “Decorations”, because I know I could have done more, but I snapped this photo on my way out somewhere and forgot to take another (read: better) one before the day was done. My favorite is the last one, “Old Faithful”, because I love how stitched photos look like they were taken on a medium format camera.

Kel asked, “Do you keep all your photos after the year is done or just your favorites?”
That’s a great question! And I keep them all! It’s always been on my “to-do” list to get the completed projects in book form, just so I can have it on my bookshelf to look through once and a while. Taking a photo every day is sometimes the best journal, at least for me, because I instantly remember what was going on that day even if the photo wasn’t too “significant”. And it’s even better if there are words attached with my photos!

“Decorations” October 25th (Day 297)

Decorations in our apartment lobby!

“Moonlight” October 26th (Day 298)

“Progress” October 27th (Day 299)

After seeing my last photo of my shelf, Vanessa kindly told me about the little metal leg on the front of the bellow door allowing it to stand straight up and so now it stands without worry of it knocking over. It looks so much nicer now.

“Wings” October 28th (Day 300)

“Fashion” October 29th (Day 301)

I’ll never forget what it was like coming to the Toronto area from little ol’ Traverse City, Michigan in regards to fashion. Where I came from, if you wore jeans that fit and and a blouse you were dressing up. Seriously, every time we visit it’s a sea of jeans and sweatshirts. Not that jeans & sweatshirts are a bad thing, because they sure are comfortable, it’s just because of that I wasn’t used to the way everyone dressed here when I arrived. Ever heard jokes or references to folks making quick drug store runs in sleek yoga pants and make up? Yeah, they do that here. (And this is the part where I admit in a tiiiny voice that I totally do it now too.) Everyone looks like they’ve walked out of a magazine, even in the snack aisle. While it was tricky to get used to (and for the first year I felt like the odd step child no matter where I went) it’s definitely made getting dressed more fun.

“Stamp” October 30th (Day 302)

Our friend Will travels a lot for his work (and pleasure) and sends a postcard from all the places he visits. I keep them all, of course.

“X” October 31st (Day 303)

My Halloween make-up!

“Old Faithful” November 1st (Day 304)

Because it wouldn’t be a daily photo project (at least one of mine) if I went eight days without a photo of one of the cats, right? (This is a 3 Photo Stich!)

The One Without Pores, Pull Ups, and Kitten Atlas

I think I’m hard enough on myself that I’m allowed to say I don’t have any least favorite photos in this batch, whaddya say? I can’t help it, I like them all this time! My favorite photo is probably Atlas & Bob, though I do like “Give Up” too, because I was just so darn set on hanging up that stupid thing. And for “Insanity”, Tom did about ten pull ups in a row without stopping and made it look so easy I thought it would be cool if I tried. I couldn’t even do one. With help.

Gabby asked, “I really like how you did this in a group, but I can’t seem to find anyone doing it at the same time as me. Do you have advice for people who want to do a group project“?

Oh, this project is a hundred times more fun (in my humble opinion) when you have people doing it with you. Doing a project together helps keep you accountable, and makes those days where it’s a struggle to snap a shot much easier. It’s also really fantastic to see your photos side by side with other photographers, and if you’re doing a prompt project it’s neat to see other interpretations. Also, you tend to get close to the people you’re in the project with since you’re sharing a part of your day with them every day for a year.

I’d recommend the Flickr group for these prompts specifically, as well as 365Project.org. While I’ve not used the site, I’ve received lots of recommendations for it- and the best part is that they’re all doing a 365 project!

“Give Up” October 17th (Day 289)

Dated Oct 17th, 2011
I tried to hang up this shelf above my workspace three months ago and the screws were stripped and it toppled right over (luckily there was nothing on it). So it’s been sitting on my desk with my things on it ever since. I’d given up on it until today when I drilled oversized screws in and was able to hang it up.

“Advertisement” October 18th (Day 290)

As a photographer I couldn’t pass up this opportunity to butcher myself in Photoshop. So we have me, with magazine style retouching (I tried to keep my freckles in but none of the tutorials I watched told me how to do the magazine skin retouching while keeping the freckles…), and then grain and black and white to make it seem like an ad.

I keep looking at it thinking it looks terrible, but I guess that’s because I know what I look like and I feel this looks nothing like me. When you flip through a magazine and see a stranger, it’s a lot easier to accept the retouching I think. Oh, and here’s me for real. (At least how I looked on October 18th! I’m back to rocking a fringe now, though.)

“Puzzle” October 19th (Day 291)

Dated October 19th, 2011
Until a few years ago, I always thought I liked to cook. The truth is I liked to make food because there is a big difference between preparing food and cooking. I feel I’ve really only learned the difference in the last year or so when Tom and I became vegan. (I mean that as a comment on myself and not the cuisine because there are fabulous cooks in other cuisines, obviously.)

It wasn’t until that change that I really started to learn food bases, and how those bases fit together to form a meal, and how certain spices can enhance or detract from those decisions. It sounds so simple, really, but it wasn’t. I can actually create a dish from scratch now based on all these flavors I know and before it just wasn’t like that for me. And sometimes when I’m making a meal from this cookbook I’m photographing I wonder how on earth all these flavors can combine themselves to be something so delicious, but they always do. Cooking, truly cooking, is a puzzle I will forever enjoy.

Pictured are the meatballs for the cookbook’s “meatball soup”.

“Wish” October 20th (Day 292)

If our dear house plant Bob could talk, he’d probably take this moment to say, “You wish.”

“Mask” October 21st (Day 293)

“Forgetful” October 22nd (Day 294)

Every. Time. No, really. I can’t have it right as it’s come out of the tea pot because it’s too hot, but then I forget about it and it’s cold, so I warm it up. And forget about it again. Sometimes I’ll pour myself a cup and open the microwave only to find a forgotten mug in there, waiting.

“Insanity” October 23rd (Day 295)

“Vacation” October 24th (Day 296)

Sometimes a mental vacation happens by just taking a walk.

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.