An Awesome View of Life

  Pride and Joy! Today our family celebrated our youngest's college graduation.  She choose not to "walk" but did get herself a cap and gown so we could take pictures and make it look official.  Afterwards the entire family headed to Annie's for burgers and shakes.   I am so very proud of this young woman.  She worked hard to keep it all together and graduate in 4 years.   The picture below is her showing off her outfit which of course is the Gopher maroon and gold.  I see my mom in all of my kids but in this picture Keia reminded so very much of her.  Now on to the next chapter of her life. I  love her more than she will ever think I do.  (:

Flawed? This beauty allowed to snap several photos.  Even very, very close up.  Do you seeing the missing part? Climate Kids  website states this is an Oregon Swallowtail found of course in Oregon.  But we live in Minnesota?  Hmmm...

.  Tiny bubbles. This photo opportunity was spotted in the kitchen as I was flying through to take a different photo.  This GREEN tumbler has been sitting on the table all day with more and more bubbles appearing as the day went by.  I a lso love the napkin holder background.   The photo I eventually took turned out pretty cool as well.  Maybe, I'll share it another day. ha! And I wasn't really feeling bad about myself in my post last night.  I just saw how much better my photos can be if I have time and it ticked me off.  Thank you for all of the love, support and encouragement.  So very glad so many of you enjoy my creativity.  

Come fly us. Baby took one shoe with her when we went outside today.  She hates walking on our pebbly patio barefoot.  But bee-lined it to the grass, brushed off the bottom of her feet and started flying helicopters.  The shoe was still there long after she went home.  It just looked so cute surrounded by helicopters.  (:

Shadowed. Just a sliver of a shadow on this flower and the shadow belongs to me.  I thought I had moved far enough away so I wasn't creating a shadow but apparently not.  And apparently I wasn't observant enough to see it and take another photo.  Oh well, its still a pretty flower. (:

Are you crazy? We had a duck couple wandering through our neighborhood this afternoon.  I grabbed my camera and stood in the rain on the very wet doorstep in stocking feet.  As the ducks waddle past on the other side of the street, the male stopped and looked straight at me.  I'm pretty sure he had that "Are you crazy?" look in his eye.  ha!  We were lucky today and all of the really heavy rain missed us.  We had either a constant drizzle or a steady rain.  Another very productive day. 

Floating along... Several of this pieces of grass and reeds floated past on the lake.  Some large like this one and others were much smaller. Not sure what this is about so if any one can explain?

Raindrops keep falling... It has been raining for the past couple of days.  I am loving it, even if we spent the day at the lake in the rain.  Its dark and cozy and good weather for either doing nothing at all or getting tons of stuff done in the house.  More rain tomorrow.  We'll see if nothing or everything gets done.  (: I took 5 or 6 shots of this puddle trying to get the best shot of the rings the raindrops were making.  This was the first one I took.  ha!

Awesome! Located in the historic Lyndale Theater  LynLake Brewery  has the right idea for the weekend.  This place is the coolest brewery.

Purple. The above photo is a tiny branch of our purple nine bark bush caught in the sunlight.  Love the background in this photo. Below are the purple calla lilies planted today.

The Green One.

The one behind. I'm having a tough time explaining this photo.  Not sure why I always feel I need to explain but...  The darker leaf is actually the shadow of leaf behind the one in front of it.  ha!  I love how you can see a couple of holes in the shadow as well.  I only shot these leaves in black and white because they looked a bit more intriguing. P.S.  The "green" photo actually turned out pretty cool but I liked this one best.  (:

Just... Just simple.  Just lovely.  Just peaceful.  Just green.  Just nature.  Just makes me smile. Just.

Details. When I took this photo I was waiting for the light to change so I could cross the street.  There was a guy waiting as well who told me "That's a really strange thing to photograph."  I find this to be a very fascinating photo.  Look at all the details. Try to see what I saw. (: This is Monday, May 18th's photo.

Droplets We have had wave after wave of rain today.  It is much needed so no complaint here.  Besides, I love days like this.  So, in between showers I wandered out and took a couple of shots in the backyard.  My favorite "go to" place for photos.  Not! Love the colors in this little volunteer tree.  Love the rain drops in the very center even more.

These shoes... are what most of the female competitors wear.  If you don't know what I do for a business check out my website  Cherry Bombs Attitude Gear . Last night and most of today I had a "woe is me" attitude.  A series of events over the past few days have made me want to throw in the towel on the business.  Just close the site down and be done.  Competition in this business has increased by 1000% over the past few years.  This is not an exaggeration.   Locally, my sales are almost non-existent.  Due mostly to my belief that my reputation would always win out over anyone else.  So, no more woe is me attitude.  Tomorrow is a new day and with the help of my Social Media Marketing Director and my two Special Advisers things will be a changing around here. We will continue to grow our national image as well.   Okay, I vented and feel much better.  Not what I want for this blog but sometimes you have t...

Floored. When you spend most of your weekend manning your business' booth at a bodybuilding competition there isn't much time for photo taking.  At least ones that aren't of bodybuilders (I have plenty of those over the past 16 years).   This one was taken while squatting on the floor attempting to get photos of shoes.  Everyone seemed to be in such a hurry so I just un-zoomed the lens and started shooting.   There was some amount of intrigue when I downloaded this photo so it become today's photo. Good enough reason in my book. ha! Also, after typing this I realized I have never taken a photo of a bodybuilder for my 365 Project.  At least not that I remember.  They've been a part of my life for a really long time and haven't made it on my photo blog.  Sad.

Puddle Images While looking out the sliding glass door watching the rain I spotted these marvelous reflections in the puddle just outside the door.  So I opened the door and snapped a handful of puddle and drips photos.  I love the drip photos as well.  And you can make any kind of comment you want about drips.  ha! Loving the rain.  It is much needed and who doesn't need a dreary day to kick back and relax?

Mirror, mirror in the window... A day spent in the city is always an awesome day.  This photo could be one of my more favorite photos. EVER.  I wish I had taken a bit more time and taken multiple angles but do love this one as it is. The layers of reflections -- the sky, the outline of the building across the street, the red car and myself reflected in the window.  The details of the building across the street, the red car and myself in the mirrors.   My favorite part of the photo is how my reflections in the window and the mirror as well as the top left corner of the building kind of complete each other from one reflection to the other.   This photo makes me smile!  

Out of the shadows. Busy day with baby and business.  The sunshine outside was very deceiving.  But walked around the yard long enough to snap 20+ shots.  The sunlight kept flashing across this branch of apple blossoms.  I took 3 or 4 shots but this one was my favorite.  

The business of making posing suits... Most of the last several days have been spent mass producing my men's posing suits.  I can't even begin to explain how tired I get of them.  And how tired I am of the mess. To not totally lose my mind - the headphones go on and the online version of sirius xm radio keeps me occupied for several hours.   Only a few dozen more to put together and several hundred to finish.  Then I get to start all over again. Yay!  

Happy Mother's Day! Too pretty.  (: A bit of rain on my Mother's Day gift.

Helicopters - soon.

Are you looking at me? Just too cute!  This is Friday's photo.  We babysat the Baby last night and I've been super busy today so just getting a chance to post this.

Pretty in Pink Last night in my blog I said my yard would look and smell so pretty today and it does.  This is a blossom from one of our crab apple trees.  So very pretty.  Just a bit of today's rain remains on these blooms.

All pink and white. By tomorrow my backyard will smell and look beautiful!  Love the pink in the buds.  Love the sunset lighting as well.

A different look. This is my "go to" thing when I can't find time to do real photos.  However, I took over sixty photos today and this is the one that made me smile the most.  At least after the 20+ of the baby. Of course all of those made me smile. (: But this is a different look.  I know I've never taken a photo of this bush when it is blooming.  I didn't even know it bloomed.  Normally, I get the fall or winter version with the pretty red leaves and berries. What I love the most about this photo is the layers of colors - which are all the same.  That's what made me smile.

Long and winding road... Went for a quick walk with my daughter in our local nature center after dinner.  There wasn't much scenery because they have been doing controlled burning to get rid of the underbrush.  And the gnats were horrible!  But good to get out and walk.

Bits and pieces: A Red Green Moment Love, love my Red Green Moments. (: This is just the various seeds from our maple tree.  Our patio and furniture stay a disaster for several weeks. This was yesterday's photo and I swear I had posted it.  Busy day yesterday so who knows.  Getting old AND senile.  hmmm... This is Sunday, May 3rd's photo.

By the light of the silvery moon. Beautiful full moon last night.  The backyard was lighted by such a beautiful silvery light.  Yesterday was an awesome day.

Burning. This is a black and white photo of our bonfire.  I thought this was pretty cool looking.  (: This is May 1st's photo.

Just pretty. This is April 30th's photo.

Sprinkled. This is April 29th's photo.

In a row. Steps to East River Road on the U of MN campus.  Only one week left for my darling daughter.  This is Tuesday, April 28th's photo.

Blowin' in the wind. My favorite wind chimes.  I love the deep sound of these chimes. This is Monday, April 27th's photo.