photography•books•wanderlust•motherhood•life
‘Tis the season for bokeh!
I love capturing holiday lights in their many forms. San Antonio is big on decorating for the holidays; there are plenty of lights around the city this time of year. I love seeing them on the twisty oak trunks. It’s so beautiful at night, and makes an ordinary scene magical. I hope you are all enjoying the lights this time of year!
See what Melisa’s lights look like here.
We are balancing out last week’s post by visiting what after school looks like this week.
Our routine goes something like this: we almost always talk on the phone with my mom after school for about 15-20 minutes. I then give my daughter until about 4:15 to do whatever she likes. Then we start homework. Each week we get a homework packet on Monday, and all of the assignments are due on Friday (with the exception of math, which is about 20-25 problems due the next day). I really love this system because we can get most of the homework done early in the week and then just have the math to finish every night. By nature, my daughter is probably more of a procrastinator than I am, but we are working on that!
After homework, we have dinner, take a shower, watch TV, read and then go to bed. And that’s pretty much our after school routine! I’m looking forward to a week off next week for Thanksgiving!
Click here to find out what Melisa’s after school time looks like. I’m sure it’s busy!
When the light filters through flower petals, they almost seem to glow. I love seeing flowers and plants lean toward the sun, as if they love the way the warmth and light feels on their face, as we all do. This is a summery image, taken on a sunny autumn day at a Botanical Garden. These flowers are quite tall, and really beautiful; a lovely gift on a gorgeous day.
Photographers participating in The Serenity Project try to convey a sense of peace and calm in their images each month. Please continue the circle to see what brought my talented friend, Iris Nelson – Metro Phoenix Photographer, some serenity this month.
“Spread love everywhere you go. Let no one ever come to you without leaving happier.” ― Mother Teresa
Can you imagine if we all went through life spreading happiness? What if we all did everything with the intention of love in our hearts?
I try to keep an open mind to this concept. Of course, we all have our bad days, but helping and encouraging others always comes back around.We never know what anyone is going through on any given day. Even small acts of kindness can make a huge difference in someone’s day. Sometimes we never know how we have helped or impacted others, but every now and then they will let us know. We are all connected and it’s worth it to be kind.
We are finding the last of the dandelions in our yard, but we aren’t letting them go easily. Maybe I’m crazy, but I never mind if my daughter wants to blow the seeds around the yard. Wildflowers are a small gift and I always think of her when I see them.
A Thousand Words is a collaborative photography project. Our photos and posts are influenced by a different quote each month. Please continue to Chris’ post to see how she interpreted this month’s quote.
Like most of you, our mornings during the school week are busy. School here starts a full hour earlier than it did for us in Arizona and that has been an adjustment. Gone are the days of leisurely breakfasts and watching The Today Show before leaving for school. These days we head out a little before 7 AM. Fortunately, my daughter has always been a morning person and I don’t have to fight with her too much about getting out of bed. Our “hustle” happens at the 10 and 5 minute warning marks. I don’t like to feel stressed and rushed in the morning; it’s just not a good way to start our day. I try to give us plenty of time to get to school and not worry about being late.
I bet Melisa’s mornings are busy too! Click here to find out what her family’s morning looks like.
The truth is, I get a lot of alone time these days.
Of course, “alone time” isn’t always “me time”. Alone time often means running errands, grocery shopping, laundry folding and all the other little tasks that somehow make up my days.
I love getting pedicures, taking photowalks, working out, taking a yoga class, or hiking when I find myself a pocket of free time. One thing I really love to do that feels completely indulgent and a perfect way to relax is go to movies by myself while my daughter is at school. I don’t do this as often as I would like, but as the year is winding down and the Oscar-worthy movies are starting to come out, I will try to go more.
Reading is something I make time for every day. And if I can have a cup of chai tea or coffee with my book, it’s all the better.
How does Melisa treat herself? Click here to find out.
“I’m so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers.” ― L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables
(Full disclosure: would you believe I have never read this book?!)
For the past six years, we haven’t lived in a four seasons-type climate. At this point, I am more used to maybe two seasons: we’ll call them hot and less hot. BUT, I still think of Autumn as the best season. Fortunately, we recently traveled to New Mexico to visit my mother and attend Balloon Fiesta. We had some beautiful fall weather there! I do believe October would be my favorite season, if I lived somewhere where a true “October” existed. What a perfect time of year- crisp air, leaves changing, cool nights, warm afternoons. Sign me up!
I am thrilled to be a part of a new collaborative photography project, A Thousand Words! Every month we will have a new quote to interpret with an image. Please follow the circle to Alyssa’s post to see how she captured this month’s quote!
One of the many things photography has taught me is to be more mindful and observant of my surroundings. I think photographers are always taking images in their mind, whether they have their camera with them or not. It’s nice to slow down on walks and notice the small, beautiful details that are around us. On a recent early morning walk around my neighborhood, I saw a few of these little mushrooms in my neighbor’s yard. My neighbors may very well think I am completely nuts when they see me crouching down on their sidewalk to take a photo of a mushroom or flower, but that’s OK with me. I’m perfectly fine being the “crazy photography lady” in the neighborhood. I don’t have a dog to walk, but I love taking my camera for a walk.
Let’s find out what Melisa discovered on her neighborhood walk! Her post is here.
You all may have noticed we had to take a little break from our project last week. That’s totally on me– our computer completely died on me last week! To be fair, this was a long time coming; the computer was elderly. After several hours on the phone with Apple, we were able to get it working again, but it became very clear that the computer was on its last legs. This led to us buying a new computer this past weekend. Good news, we are up and running again!
Anyway, this is how we roll these days, in a RAV 4 Hybrid. I seriously love this car and plan for my daughter to inherit it and learn to drive on it one day. We are a brand loyal family apparently, when it comes to computers and cars (and cameras!).
Click on over to Melisa’s post to see how her family rolls.
We certainly had some wild weather this past week! Fortunately, San Antonio wasn’t hit nearly as hard as predicted by the hurricane. We got some rain and wind this past weekend, but fortunately not much in terms of flooding or damage. One nice side effect of that is the weather has cooled down, particularly in the morning. This morning it was in the 60s! For the past few days it’s been sunny.
While we were lucky in San Antonio, my heart goes out to those in Houston, as they were affected much worse than predicted. The flooding images coming out of Houston are heartbreaking and unbelievable. If you are interested in finding ways to help Houston, here is a great resource.
Head over to Melisa’s blog to see what’s happening on her side of the country!
I really like the front door we have at this house! The glass panes are pretty and let some nice light in. Across the street, my neighbor has a nice garden with a fountain and a beautiful crepe myrtle tree (you can see some of the pink blooms through the window in the photo). The architecture in this neighborhood is pretty typical of San Antonio I think. We live on a hill and most of the houses in this neighborhood have steps leading up to the front door, some of which are spiral-type staircases. The movers were very happy to see that our house just had simple stairs. I’m sure that’s challenging enough for them though! I’m looking forward to discovering more outside our front door by taking some walks around our neighborhood once it’s a little cooler. We’ll enjoy walking around the neighborhood at Halloween and Christmas.
And here’s a bonus image of the other side of the front door, taken on my daughter’s first day of school.
Please head over to Melisa’s post to see what’s outside her front door!
This week our theme is the sky.
We went to the zoo this past weekend and I noticed a cluster of birds in the sky. They were all spiraling around and I wonder what was beneath them on the ground. What were they circling around? Or were they just soaring because they can?
I am looking forward to seeing what Melisa’s sky looked like this week! Click here to find out!
Eileen Critchley 