From A Japanese Restaurant

I'm playing catch up with the #POTW52 / Photo of the Week challenge. The concept is simple - take two photos a week, using the month's prompt as a guide. January's prompt is Black and White, which is probably why I'm behind. I find it hard to visualize Black and White while shooting.



I'm not quite sure what makes a Black and White photo "work" over a color photo, but I chose this one because of the varied shades of light illuminating the scene. We just sat down to dinner at a local Japanese Restaurant and the place was nearly empty. Five minutes later and these empty tables were full. It's a no-frills place when it comes to decor, but the sushi was delicious!

[sushi picture taken with my iPhone / Instagram]

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Captured While it Lasted

Last week's snow is all gone today, washed away by rain and warm temperatures [55 degF yesterday - didn't see that predicted by the weatherman]. If you ever think that tomorrow will be a great day to get the camera out and take a picture, think again. It may be all gone tomorrow.

No more of this:


Or the white background on this one:


What's keeping you from capturing a bit of beauty today?

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Coming Out Of the Snow

Some dead plant branches sticking out of the snow, I converted the photo to Black and White, then to a pencil sketch using Topaz Adjust. Finally, I added a black/white oil paint texture. Not my usual post processing, but I thought I'd try something different for the POTW52 challenge.

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The 2012 Family Calendar

Every January I put together 8x10 composites for our family calendar. I always felt I was "running behind" because I set the calendar to start on January. Last year I got smarter and set the starting month to February. But it's now the middle of January, and I still hadn't started on the calendar.
Until today....
Somehow I managed to get the composites done in one afternoon.



The slideshow will scroll through all the months. I created the composites in Photoshop Elements, using elements I've found on the internet.

I am also linking to Mary at Little Red House and Mosaic Monday. I hope you have a great evening.

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Winter Is Here - A Photo Scavenger Hunt

I'm participating, for the first time, in Ashley Sisk's Photo Scavenger Hunt. Each week, there are photo prompts to look for. For some reason, I actually remembered some of the prompts, and with the recent snow, was able to get some shots. This week we have Stacked Up, Winter Wonderland, Sweet, Hole and Frozen.

Stacked Up:


Winter Wonderland:


Sweet:



Hole:


Frozen:


This scavenger hunt was easier than I though - all the photos were taken yesterday, in the house or in the backyard. I think the key for me is to write down the prompts and have them in the back of my head while I am out and around. I hope to participate more in the future!

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P365+1 - Week 2 in Instagram

Saturday morning, I stretched after a short run:

I have to admit, I almost never take time to stretch, unless I am in some sort of group fitness class where the instructor runs through a stretching routine. Well, this morning I was still sore from a soccer game from Wednesday, so I took that extra time to stretch.

Sunday morning - the first group run:

I've officially signed up to run my first marathon in April. Because it's my first, and because there is a great local training program, I signed up for it. Today was the first run with the training group, and while I don't like running on Sunday mornings (because I'm normally in church), I decided to go in order to meet the pace leaders. It just happens that I know the leader for my pace group (the guy in orange). We had a great 12 mile run.
The photo is fuzzy because when I run, I put my iPhone in a plastic baggie, and I took the picture without thinking how that would impact the camera lens. I really wasn't going for an arty look, LOL!

Monday afternoon - at the orthodontist:

This should be my daughter's second to last orthodontist appointment. In two weeks she's scheduled to get her braces off (FINALLY).

Tuesday morning - my daughter's breakfast:
\
I'm a pushover and make her breakfast and lunch every morning. As for the "coffee", I take my coffee, pour her about two ounces, then add 8 ounces of hot water. Then she adds the flavored creamer - a lot of it. Oh, and my coffee is 1/3 regular, 2/3 decaf. I think she just likes the creamer....

Wednesday night - indoor soccer:

The reason why I can't walk up the stairs on Thursday.... Somehow I signed up to play on a women's soccer league. I can run long distances, but I will tell you that sprinting and kicking require a different set of muscles because I am so sore! I know my legs will adjust in a couple of weeks, but for now they are in pain. Oh, we lost tonight's game, but we're getting better.

Thursday - Winter's back:

Our first Winter Weather Advisory which resulted in several inches of snow, which then blew around due to the 30 mph winds. Welcome to winter on the prairie. The 60 degF temperatures we enjoyed on Tuesday are but a faint memory now.

Friday - Lunch break:

I passed up a lunch invite to a local Mexican restaurant. I ate there yesterday and I needed to eat my healthier salad.

Are you doing a P365+1 this year? Using the iPhone and Instagram has made it so easy. I hope your week has been a great one and enjoy the upcoming weekend!

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Ruby Red

Well dang, somehow the post I wrote last night got nuked, and I don't really remember what I wrote, other than I posted this picture of a freshly poured glass of wine:



Linked to This or That Thursday:


We're under a Winter Weather Advisory today, and I hope your weather is nicer than ours!

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