help...

you is kind

you is smart

you is important

~

and

now that i have your attention

what i really mean is 

"the help"

{not help}

as in 

if you haven't seen this movie

you must

~

i found this quote yesterday and along with telling you that i think you really need to see "the help" 

i wanted to leave you with these words for the weekend

~

"you were born with potential

you were born with goodness and trust

you were born with ideals and dreams

you were born with 

wings

you are not meant for crawling, so don't

you have wings

learn to use them and fly"

rumi

*

happy weekend everyone

and

if you've seen "the help" did you love it like i did

the world is coming to an end....

sorry. that's my melodramatic side coming out. the world isn't really ending.

but it is going to snow

all of these photos were taken in the past two days. while it was 48 and 53 degrees.

that's right. record setting temperatures.

and 

now mother nature, who has developed a sense of humor, is going to dump five inches of snow on us. 

with blowing winds. and a high of twenty.

i don't like snow. did you know that.

anyhow

i have a new toy. it's a polarizing filter. 

i normally use UV filters on my lenses, but my friends at the camera store talked me into trying a polarizing filter on my 70-300. and guess what. i liked it.

i mean who doesn't love a new toy. especially a new toy for a camera.

{insert smile here}

want to know how to get a photo like this. 

first you have to find a weed or a flower that is being highlighted by the sun. 

this weed was highlighted to the point of being completely blown out, so i moved my ISO to the lowest number i could, which in aperture mode was 200. then i stepped down my exposure by one full step and then switched my metering mode to spot metering. 

have you ever met a milkweed, dead or alive, that you didn't just fall in love with.

me either

and

this little guy. well maybe modesty is overrated.

*

these are non-lightroom 3 photos since our computer with that program is having a bit

of maintenance done. oh well.

*

ps...send shovels

hi monday....

thank you thank you thank you

for all the comments left on my last post

~

i was asked what my answer was to my own question and now with some thought

i think i'd have to answer "learn"

this past fall/early winter i took a class at our technical collage and i have to say, as scary as it was to be going "back to school" i loved it. i loved learning something new.

so yes, more learning in 2012 would be a gift

another gift at the moment is our incredibly mild winter. 

40's and even 50's have been throwing themselves at us and nobody {well maybe the snowboarders and snowplow drivers} is complaining.

*

because i'm curious....

finish this sentence: 

"in 2012, i'm going to                          a WHOLE lot more."

*

happy weekend everyone

babies aren't rude...

i've never seen a rude baby, so obviously we aren't born that way. 

so why is it that the adults i run into during my every day errands are. how did they get that way.

is it too much ask for a simple "excuse me" if you walk in front of me, take up the entire aisle with your cart so that i can't move, or run into me. i think not.

everywhere you go around here, someone is talking about the weather. or the lack of.

it has been an abnormally warm and dry winter so far. the birds are not flocking to the feeders, which makes me sad. and i'm not sure who was supposed to eat this corn, but whoever it was, they certainly didn't hoard it. all of it makes me wonder what we're in for the next few months.

we cleaned out our closets over the winter break and i packed my car up yesterday and today and dropped everything off at our food pantry {which gives out free clothes} and the hospice thrift store. 

that makes me feel so good.

and with my word for the year being "reach"

i feel the need to add it in every now and then... just as a reminder

*

at least we were warned...

twenty eleven 

wrapped itself up and walked out on us. just like that.

i swear i blinked and she was gone.

poof. nothing now but a few memories.

~

for the past ten years i've been saving my spiraled desktop calendars

{yep i still use one}

as they tend to act like my daily diaries

~

doctor appointments. lunch outings. visitors. birthday parties. photo shoots. girl get-aways.

weather remarks. travel. meetings. blog notes. dates. flea markets.

everything is documented. for an entire year. 

now times ten.

~

i know some of you journal and i wish i could be as diligent as you are, keeping all my notes, thoughts and ideas in a cool moleskin, but i fail miserably every time i try. so for me, this is the next best thing.

every calendar is different in size and color. they stack haphazardly on a shelf in my office.

but they're mine. they're my life. my family's life.

and

now that time seems to be flying by faster then i ever imagined 

and

my memory seems to be a bit weaker then it was just a year ago

they're cherished

*

as i type this, we're watching the rose bowl. praying our badgers win.

if they do, just so you know, that will be written in RED in my calendar

*

and then just like that.....

hello 2012 

i've been waiting for you

i don't have any huge expectations for you, as that's too much pressure for both of us, but i do hope you walk hand in hand with me as i REACH for what i need. for what i want.

i need to REACH higher and catch my dreams. especially the ones 

that often seem to be just outside my grasp.

~

i need to REACH around those i love, bring them in closer and love them even more. 

~

i want to REACH out to those who need a helping hand

and volunteer more of my time.

~

i want to REACH inward, in a self discovery kind of way, 

in hopes of figuring out exactly who i am and what i'm supposed to do while i'm here.

~

i want to REACH the point of believing, one hundred percent, that i can actually do what i think i can do,

without letting self-doubt sabotage me.

~

but

most of all

i want to REACH for the moon. why not.

i've heard that even if i miss, i'll land amongst the stars

and i think that's a pretty special place to be.

*

happy new year everyone. i hope 2012 is truly a gift for you. 

these photos are from yesterday, when the sky was grey and foggy and beautiful in only the way fog can be.

the trees had a layer of frozen fog covering them, making them sparkle in the darkness.

it was truly a winter gift

*

did your word find you yet. if not here are some that made the final cut for me before REACH was chosen.

allow, cherish, patience, light, fly, open, learn, do, appreciate, connect, embrace, emerge

release, dance, nourish and evolve

*

please feel free to use one if you're stuck