Fun with Perspectives

Rob drove me to the reservoir this morning to find my inspiration for the image of the day on the Ordinary Matters project. While I found my Day 5 image, I also had fun playing with the focal point of this image using my macro lens. In each photo, the focal point on the leaves changes. These were shot with an ISO of 100 due to the sunny conditions. (Clicking on the photo will aid in seeing the difference as well.)

The unveiling!

So Allie and I kicked off Ordinary Matters two days ago! We're both striving to produce one photo a day for a year. Allie contacted me with the idea, and we both agreed it would be fun to see what we could come up with every day. We agreed not to tell each other what we're planning to photograph, so it's as much as a surprise to us as to the blog reader. I hope you enjoy what we come up with!

I've been tagged!

I've been "tagged" – a great way to introduce yourself to other bloggers. AllieArt tagged my blog, so now it's my turn to tag a few other bloggers.

Here are the rules:
Link to your tagger and list these rules on your blog.
Share seven facts about yourself on your blog – some random, some weird.
Tag seven people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
Let them know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blogs.

Here are my seven random facts:
1. I love the smell of tomato plants. It reminds me of my childhood and puttering around with my grandpa in his garden.
2. My day job involves writing and designing for children readers.
3. I drink way too much coca cola.
4. One of my favorite books is "Into the Forest" by Jean Hegland, and the last book I read (leisurely) was The Good Good Pig, by Sy Montgomery-- back in January I think. (Eep!)
5. I am happiest when I have a day free to spend with my husband. (I get very protective of these days since we're both so busy!)
6. I used to paint-- a lot. My best piece was a reproduction of Georgia O'Keefe's Red Poppy.
7. I want to get a past life reading done. I went to psychics after my mom passed, and I was told I was an "old soul."

Here are the seven people I'm tagging:
Irrational Ravings
Green Baby Art
Nicky's Magic Rainbow Dreamings
How to Disappear Completely
Ramblings By Judi
I want to Taglia-tell you something
What I Made Today

This was hard for me to do-- so good luck to the next lucky seven! :)

October Goals

I can't believe we're halfway through the month already. OK here's my latest "Think Positive" exercise:

I'm hoping to reach 700 hearts by October 31 (an impressive number given that I'm at 617 right now) and to hit 60 sales by the end of the month! I'm hoping for a steady increase throughout the holidays.

Allie and I are also planning to unveil a new project very very soon! I hope to be able to provide another update in the coming days! (If not hours! Oo! The suspense!)

NaNoWriMo!

I'm excited to confirm that I will be back for my second year of NaNoWriMo! For those unfamiliar with this crazy long acronym, National Novel Writing Month is a world-wide competition to write 50,000 words from November 1 through November 30. Last year I only made it to 26,476 words-- still a pretty good feat, considering my plot line was weak.

This year I plan to focus on my mom as inspiration for writing. I'm hoping that helps the words come a bit easier!

Good news :)

Allie from AllieArt featured my barred owl -- along with many other talented photographer's birds -- in her thoughtful post last Thursday. Please check it out here! Thank you Allie!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Now, for a dirty little secret... OK not so dirty and not so little! We've pinched our pennies and upgraded to a new camera!!
It's 15 megapixels! The ISO ranges from 100 to 12,800! The instruction booklet that arrived with the camera is a little daunting, but I think we're both up for the challenge. And we have a wedding to attend this weekend so I can't wait to break it out for romantic shots!



*Camera photo from Canon Press Release.

I [heart] apples

Just some photos from a day of apple picking.