On the Road....Again

As you can see I found some intereting things to do to occupy my time while I let my finger recover. The blog overhaul was the biggest project, it was actually not that difficult thanks to the awesome ladies at Cutest Blog on the Block. The only trouble I had was putting my pictures on in the header, but with photoshop and a patient husband I was finally able to accomplish the feat. We are on the road right now, in Chicago for a few days and then off to the QCA for a few more all to celebrate Thanksgiving. Of course we will be doing this all again in a few weeks for Christmas! Oh well, we are having fun and my awesome husband got us tickets to see Wicked before it closes her in Chicago! I am also taking more pictures as I am almost completly back to normal! Here is the first pic I was able to take without almost crying from finger pain. This is one of my new favorites because I think Lilly looks so much like Jeff here. And this is SOOC, no post processing. Enjoy and look for an update when I get back to WV!

Out of Comission

Many (ok like 2) people may be wondering where the hell I have been. I mean I make a promise to update my blog more and to take pictures and the like, so where have I been. Well I have been taken out of comission for a few weeks due to this.

That is a badly sprained finger. This had made it somewhat difficult to type (though I have adapted) and really difficult to take pictures. It seems my fancy camera needs two hands, even this pic I took with my phone because I could minimize shake. I would like to tell you some heroic story of how I did this, but the truth is much more boring. I fell. I stepped off of the porch to untangle the dogs leash and then I tried to step back on the porch and missed. I was holding the handle of the retractable leash and when I fell it snapped my fingers back. Only the middle one was really hurt, although the other ones are bruised. I also have some wonderful bruises on my knee. Yes I am a clutz. Although I would love a different story, especially considering what finger it is one would think I could have a great story. But neither my student or I could come up with one that makes me look good. Any takers? A prize to the best story on how I hurt my finger...what do you say?

My Play Again

This is a little late, but better late than never. I actually paid attention to what I was doing this time with picnick. I cropped this a bit to focus on the hands and then made the color brighter. I also sharpened the lines and raised the temperature a bit. I actually just got Photoshop (thanks hubby) but realized I have no idea what to do with it, so I will maybe try playing with it next week.

Yes We Can

Yesterday at around 11pm eastern standard time I felt the world change. It stopped, took a deep breath and then continued to turn, bringing the dawn of a new day, a new hope and I for one am glad. But now is the time that we as a people need to come together to work on making our world a better place. Now everyone who knows me will agree that I am one big ‘ol bleeding heart liberal and that is fine I will own that mantle. But I wonder at the things that classify me as such because this is what I believe. I believe that we as a country must remember out history even as we move beyond it. I believe that our founders thought that they were doing something very special and we should always keep that spirit alive. This means embracing people of all ethnicities, religions, classes and ideologies. This means welcoming debate and discussion and remembering that We the People means every last one of us: poor, rich, black, white, purple and blue. I believe we should always strive to be the land of opportunity that was envisioned. This means that everyone has the right to education and healthcare. Now I know that many of these systems are broken and I don’t know how to fix them all, but I know that we have people in this country who do. I believe that no one should die of a preventable disease, and no one should die because they could not afford a doctor and no one should graduate high school without being able to read, or be denied a college education because they cannot pay their tuition and feed themselves at the same time. I believe that we should cultivate relationships with other countries because we truly do live in a global world. I believe that men and women should be paid the say money for the same job. I believe in leaving adult women to make their own choices concerning birth control. I believe that any two adults should be able to fall in love and get married if they so choose regardless of their sex. I believe that I am my brother’s keeper and while you cannot help everyone we can offer a hand up when people need it.
And finally I believe that democracy works, no one can deny that now. But now is the time for us to come together. We have a lot of work to do as citizens and now is not the time for division. We are not all that different and we can celebrate our differences at the same time that we work together. So I ask everyone, even if you did not vote for Obama, let’s give this a try together and maybe we can make this world, this country, a better place when we leave it.

Here's mine

I have been following the Shutter Sisters blog for awhile and decided to give the challenge a try. So here is my self portrait.