I fell off the wagon in a big way during September. Everyone here was sick at the end of August, just in time for the school year to begin. It took about 3 weeks to fully recover from the plague that descended upon our house, and even then it took a while longer to get back into the swing of things emotionally. A shortage of sleep certainly didn’t help matters and the dog makes sneaking in those middle of the day naps difficult to time.
I did take photos for week 35 (End of August) also, but they’re over in the flickr set, not posted here. Similarly, I’ve posted one of the 184 or so pictures I took during September that is going to count for that month and placed it here for the 30th’s slot. See, I took lots of pictures last month, just not spread out over the course of the month. Looking back, you can see how she’s losing her puppy looks (she’ll be 8 months next week!) and posing in what our son calls her “Majestic Golden Retriever” look.
One quarter left, only 12 more weeks really. I can do this! Stay tuned to see what the rest of the year holds!
What you see below are links to my flickr set for the photos I’m posting for this challenge. Click on any photo below to go to flickr and then you can navigate through the set with the “Previous” and “Next” arrows at the top.
Back to school, a plague upon our house, what else could go wrong? Kind of a variety of subjects this week. Some with the dSLR, some with the iPhone. Even played with Photoshop a little with one of them. Can’t believe this week will be September already!
What you see below are links to my flickr set for the photos I’m posting for this photo challenge. Click on any photo below to go to flickr and then you can navigate through the set with the “Previous” and “Next” arrows at the top.
What you see below are links to my flickr set for the photos I’m posting for this photo challenge. Click on any photo below to go to flickr and then you can navigate through the set with the “Previous” and “Next” arrows at the top.
It’s been a busy couple of weeks here as we try to get ready for going back to school. It’s hard to believe both kids will be in high school this year. The dog is still stealing my time as well as the show. I’ve found it very difficult to remember to pick up my camera most of the time, so I haven’t had much choice in what I have managed to shoot each day. It’s pretty bad when my mother had to remind me that I haven’t remembered to post these recently either.
What you see below are links to my flickr set for the photos I’m posting for this challenge. Click on any photo below to go to flickr and then you can navigate through the set with the “Previous” and “Next” arrows at the top.
Apologies for not posting in such a long time, but we’ll combine the last three weeks of photos into one post. I’ve been taking them, just haven’t had time to post.
Week 29 of our 365 Photo Challenge
Olivia loves the pool as you’ll see. Lots of pictures of her being goofy. It’s difficult to keep her out of it once she’s got her mind made up. She got stuck on the slide once, but hasn’t accidentally or purposefully gown down it yet. That will be a huge surprise for her when she does.
Sun: Jul 15, 2012
Mon: Jul 16, 2012
Tue: Jul 17, 2012
Wed: Jul 18, 2012
Thu: Jul 19, 2012
Fri: Jul 20, 2012
Sat: Jul 21, 2012
Week 30 of our 365 Photo Challenge
I spent the majority of this week in Anaheim, CA at the Romance Writers of America’s National Conference. This was the hardest week to remember to take photos. I don’t like most pictures of myself, so I don’t think to take them with other people either. I should have. I’m kicking myself. The ones I did take came out crappy on the iphone, but that just means I need to practice with it more. As you see the one day, the only photos I took were of presentation slides. Oops. I also found out that DH’s camera is a month ahead for the date, so that made for weirdness when I tried to upload everything.
Sun: Jul 22, 2012
Mon: Jul 23, 2012
Tue: Jul 24, 2012
Wed: Jul 25, 2012
Thu: Jul 26, 2012
Fri: Jul 27, 2012
Sat: Jul 28, 2012
Week 31 of our 365 Photo Challenge
Recovering from RWA12 and starting to gear back up for school starting in 3 weeks. Lots of stuff to do and plan and organize. So yes, lots more puppy pictures since she’s taking over my life and takes up huge chunks of my day.
I’m going to stray a bit from the typical Tuesday Regency Primer post, today. Last week, I attended the annual National Conference for the Romance Writers of America. The day before the official conference started, my online chapter The Beau Monde held its annual mini-conference which included breakfast, a general meeting, a variety of workshops. But the best part of the day was the Beau Monde soiree that evening, complete with refreshments, period dancing and card tables.
I managed to miss the breakfast and general meeting but made it for Candice Hern‘s workshop on Accessories in Regency Era fashion prints for everything from bonnets and caps to ridicules to muffs and shawls. I loved how it was organized by year and we got to see how the styles changed over the years. Everyone was laughing over the bonnet brims that looked like mail boxes around 1807.
After that, came lunch and Delilah Marvelle (she of the A Bit o’ Muslin blog fame) was our keynote speaker. Her story was amazing and emotional, but while I don’t think there was a dry eye in the room, she also inspired and encouraged each of us to work through our struggles and convinced us that they can only make us stronger, as people, as writers.
After lunch, Isobel Carr’s presentation was on How Clothes Worked, and included a bit of show and tell. She passed around a pair of stays, which really were nothing more than a long bra/foundation and were much softer in construction than I had originally imagined, except for the busk (the ivory, bone, or metal insert that insisted on correct posture at all times). When we got to gowns, the static photo of an apron-front or drop-front gown with its multiple layers and numerous ties proved too much for pictures and a simple verbal explanation.
Delilah volunteered to be dressed in one that Isobel had brought along. Her white dress caused a few to remark how she already had her chemise on and would be perfect for the part. The inner bodice pieces tied in the front in a double-breasted fashion. Then, the front of the gown has two long ties that go around the back and tie in the front, but get tucked inside the front of the gown.
Finally, the part hanging down like a bib at that point, would be pulled up over those ties and the inner bodice pieces and pinned into place. This, Isobel explained, was most likely the type of gown worn by ladies who needed to dress themselves and the most easily lent type as it was very forgiving in matters of size, although length was more of an issue for Delilah than anything else. If you see the dress in pictures from the soiree, another member, Suzy Kue, is wearing the dress. She’s much taller than Delilah and said she was taking notes on what all she could and couldn’t do while wearing the stays with the busk under the dress.
That evening, we regathered for a soiree. As all good ton events must be, this was quite the crush. A dance mistress was brought in to teach and lead several country dances while a string ensemble played in the corner. Several tables were set up around the room and multiple games of cards ensued. A table of refreshments was also provided, and thankfully not a drop of weak lemonade was in sight.
Actually playing whist against three other humans instead of computer AI’s was exciting. Next time, I definitely need to be able to describe the why’s and how’s of strategy while playing, otherwise it’s a bit much like a modern game of SlapJack to see who had the highest card and take the trick. But all in all, it was a fantastic experience to be surrounded not only by over 2000 romance writers, but to mingle, rub elbows and socialize with that many Regency Romance writers who all had similar knowledge and appreciation for the genre.
Please excuse the excess of puppy exuberance this week. It was Olivia’s first week home, so naturally she was our focus this week. She’s such a sweetie and definitely spoiled rotten already. She is sleeping in her crate at night, not with us, although she does demand cuddle time before getting in her crate for the night.
What you see below are links to my flickr set for the photos I’m posting for this challenge. Click on any photo below to go to flickr and then you can navigate through the set with the “Previous” and “Next” arrows at the top.
This week for our How I Write series, my accountability group is talking about guilty pleasures, both in our regular lives and in our writing.
Guilty pleasures shouldn’t be ignored. Indulge in them, because there’s a good reason that you like them. It doesn’t matter that no one else gets why you like it. They don’t have to. What matters is that this activity feeds your soul, your muse or your happiness. Ignoring them means cutting off a part of what makes you, well, you.
Everyday Life: Good Quality Dark Chocolate
I’ve always liked dark chocolate. But since my DH and I started following the Paleo Diet and gave up grains, potatoes, legumes and most sugar, we needed to find a treat that was indulgent, yet also had some benefits associated with it. One of the suggestions made was an ounce or so of dark chocolate for dessert. Preferably above 70% cacao to get the antioxidant benefits.
Most times we stretch this a bit and will go as low as 60% cacao for our favorite chocolate bars from Chuao (pronouced Chew-wow!). It’s a fairly local chocolatier with several shops in the local malls, but they are also stocked in our local grocery stores for slightly less. The first time we went in one of the stores they were trying out new flavors. One of those was a chocolate bar with potato chips in it. Oh, did I forget to mention that they’re a very artisan type chocolatier? They’ve got some really cool flavors: Honeycomb, Caracas (a pistachio/almond/hazelnut mix), and Firecracker (one with cinnamon and cayenne in it). Our favorite is the Caracas even though it’s Guilty because it has closer to 60% cacao, but Pleasure because it’s the flavor we like best and it’s not the worst thing we could be eating.
Our other standbys are Ghirardelli bars. They have an Intense Dark chocolate line that’s wonderful. This line ranges from Midnight (86% which is a tad TOO intense for us. It’s more of a gritty than a smooth feeling.), Twilight (72% – not too gritty and above 70%!), Evening (60% – below the threshhold for us except for special treats and we prefer the Caracas from Chuao if we’re going to go below 70%. However, our favorite Ghirardelli bar from the Intense Dark line has to be the Sea Salt Soiree. It has sea salt and almond bits in it, but I had to check the label a couple of times because it tastes just like pretzel bits. Perfect blend of sweet & savory.
There are a few other brands we like… one of them has a wolf on the wrapper and is very environmentally conscious that has cranberries and almonds—Yep, I’m being too lazy to go look it up, sorry!—but the Chuao and the Ghirardelli are our favorites. Our kids can’t stand dark chocolate, but that’s ok… just means we don’t have to share!
Writing Life: Dialogue, Introspection and Character Vignettes
If I can just get my characters talking to each other, I’m usually in good shape. I can always go back around and fill in what things look like, what they’re doing or what’s going on around them later. But once I get them talking, everything else drops to the background and I’m lucky if I get to put in minimal stage directions and blocking as I go. It’s similar to people watching, but more like taking transcription as you eavesdrop on the characters. Guilty because I tend to ignore everything else to run with this, but Pleasure because it’s fun, allows my sense of humor to play, and it feels like the word count racks up quickly.
The flip side of this is when the characters start thinking and want to hash everything out in their heads with long, rambling bouts of internal monologues. Any action stops dead in its tracks and all forward momentum comes to a screeching halt. However, this is where I learn the most about my characters and it seems to be a process I have to go through in order to work things out in my own head. The problem is when I can’t jolt them out of their heads and into their world and into conversations with the other characters. Guilty because it helps me in the long run, but Pleasure because once I get going, it’s hard to stop and redirect, especially if I don’t know where the story should be going next.
I love little set pieces. I’m currently doing a 100 words/day challenge to just get back into the joy of writing for writing’s sake. Of course, what did I naturally slip into? Yup, little character vignettes that may or may not see the light of day. I like playing with character and seeing what I can draw out in that limited space to give you a sense of the person from so little. Guilty because I should be focusing on my WIPs (works in progress) and the characters in them, Pleasure because it’s been fun! It’s different and there are no restrictions other than getting at least 100 words down on a page.
Photography: Flowers & Intuitive Shots
With the 2012 365 Photo Challenge, I figured this would be a good section to include since I’ve definitely been indulging in a couple of guilty pleasures. I have such a wide variety of flowers in my yard here that it’s very easy to get good looking pictures without much planning or effort. One of the things I love to do is to shoot blind. By this I mean, I don’t always look through the view finder or at the screen when I set up a shot. The Guilty part here is that I know I should be stretching my eye and sense of composition beyond the easy stuff and the Pleasure comes in finding hidden little gems like a stray insect or bird I hadn’t noticed in the shot when I clicked the shutter and being surprised by what appears and works.
YOUR TURN: What are your guilty pleasures? In general or in your creative endeavors. What do you do just for the joy of it?
And if you’d like to read what the rest of my accountability group considers their guilty pleasures, you can find their blogs here:
I suspect this will be a very boring week visually for most of you as I documented the preparations we’ve been doing to get ready to turn the Impending Dog into Our Dog. We were expecting to go up to the breeders for a play/training date today, but instead, they asked if we wanted to bring Olivia home. Since we were mostly ready, we said, SURE!!! But you’ll have to wait until next week for picture proof.
What you see below are links to my flickr set for the photos I’m posting for this challenge. Click on any photo below to go to flickr and then you can navigate through the set with the “Previous” and “Next” arrows at the top.
Week 26 of our 365 Photo Challenge. Halfway point!
I can’t believe we’re halfway done with 2012 and this project. I can tell that I’ve slacked off again lately and I need to push myself on a lot of fronts. Only 180-some more to go!
What you see below are links to my flickr set for the photos I’m posting for this challenge. Click on any photo below to go to flickr and then you can navigate through the set with the “Previous” and “Next” arrows at the top.
Weekend pictures bracket this set with photos of Olivia. She should get to come home the 14th of July. Maybe sooner, but more likely that weekend. We’ve been going up to the breeder’s to visit with her I think we miss her more than she misses us right now.
For the weekday pictures, I tried something a little different. I tried to go out about the same time each day so I had consistent lighting and then found different subjects to play with. I really liked how the bird of paradise came out with the back lighting where you can see the individual plant cells if you view it in the large size on flickr. Definitely a very forgiving time of day, right around 6pm.
What you see below are links to my flickr set for the photos I’m posting for this challenge. Click on any photo below to go to flickr and then you can navigate through the set with the “Previous” and “Next” arrows at the top.