Day 168 Macro Lens Envy

I am seriously considering the Canon 100mm f/2.8 macro lens as my next purchase. I have some serious macro lens envy when I see people post photos taken with that lens. If I just could have had that lens when I stumbled across this spider web!!! Unfortunately, it's just not in my budget right now so this will have to do :)

Day 167 Best Yet

James' cross country meet was at the golf course in Spring Valley, MN. This was his first time running that course as he was sick with the flu last year. Beautiful rolling hills on a gorgeous fall day...the perfect day in fact to get his new personal best time! James finished the course in 20:30 shaving another 13 seconds off from his previous race and previous best time! This wasn't technically the best photo, but I liked the backlighting halo that made their bodies stand out from the dark trees.

Day 166 Cherry Blossoms

I love them in the fall...until they drop all over our yard!

Day 165 Towel Bars

Yes, another 3 1/2 year stalled project. When we moved into our house there was an abundance of towel bars in the bathroom. 4 to be exact...in our tiny tiny bathroom...wall to wall! It was overkill, not to mention they were ugly! We removed them almost immediately. We FINALLY picked up some new ones and Brian installed them. I didn't know something so simple would make us all so happy!

Day 164 Out With The Old

A home project 3 1/2 years in the making. We finally got rid of the ugly ceiling fan in our bedroom. It was brass and had a huge globe on it. The globe diffused all of the light so we eventually had to take it off. Not long after it got broken...oh shucks! We've been looking up at this ugly light for far too long.

This is the new version! It even comes with a remote in case we are too lazy to get up and shut the light off. I LOVE IT...and Brian didn't even electrocute himself installing it :)

After installation came celebration! Happy 50th birthday to Kevin Clay! He was enjoying every minute of it! (And btw, the title of this post does not apply to him!)

Day 163 Octoberfest

Can you think of a more beautiful setting for Octoberfest? This is downtown Rochester, MN in the Peace Plaza that runs just east of Mayo Clinic. 100 beers to sample...not sure how many we accounted for, but it was a great time!

Day 162 Flood

The rains came and they stayed! Up to 10 inches fell in the area. We were in the 5-6 range. This is a picture of the Root River that runs through the park in town. It was drastically over it's banks. In the distance you can see the tree damage from the big storm that ripped through town last month. We were actually the lucky ones. Towns 30-40 minutes to our north were devasted by the flooding. Schools, homes and businesses were destroyed by the water and major highways impassable. Those not directly affected by the flooding suffered with sewage backup in their homes. It was very sad to see the pictures and hear the stories. My prayers go out to all those affected!

Day 161 Fall

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

Day 160 Perks

In keeping with the wine theme, this was part of a nice little gift from one of the doctors that I work with. A case of wine :)


On another side note, The Minnesota Twins baseball team just clinched the A. L. Central Division!!!! Go TWINS :)

Day 159 Shallow Depth Of Field

Just a little practice with my 50mm 1.4. I started with a more closed aperture of F4.

Then shooting wide open at F1.4. Only the face on the label is in clear focus.

Again at F1.4 for a more obvious effect as only the very top of the wine bottle is in focus.


On a side note, it was GREAT seeing my good friend Tracy tonight. She is my favorite wine connoisseur!

Day 158 Sharks Shots

Of course the party lasted WAY past midnight. Who had the bright idea to break out two bottles of tequila??? Not me, I was the driver :) Bedtime at 4:30 AM.

Day 157 Sharks Party 2010

Every year we have an end of the season party for the Stewartville Racine Sharks Amateur Baseball Team and their families. We have played host the last three years, but thank you to Ike and Megan for volunteering this year (our neighbors also thank you, as the party gets a little loud!) It's always nice to get back together with our "summer family" for baseball talk, food, drinks and the traditional broken bat burn. This is Ike and his friend attempting to light the fire. Do not try this at home!

Day 156 Mr. President

It is the 100 year anniversary of Orthopedic Surgery at Mayo Clinic. As part of the three day ulumni/anniversary celebration, there was a ceremony of appreciation honoring President George Hubert Walker and Mrs. Barbara Bush. I was lucky enough to be in attendance for the private party. Unfortunately, I was still on the clock so I didn't get any photos of the event, but it was fun just to be there! After speeches from President and Mrs. Bush and a couple of high ranking Mayo Clinic officials, there was a social with cocktails and hor'devours for past and present Orthopedic staff.

Day 155 Inappropriate Gift

My son had a nice birthday dinner with his paternal grandfather's family.

Pizza, balloons, gum and a GIANT KNIFE! Seriously?! He's just 14 years old!

Day 154 Blank Post

Yep, I am going to have to come back to this one from last Wednesday. Pretty sure I lost the image I was going to post from my computer :(

Day 153 Personal Best!

He did it! He got his personal best 5K time and over all finish at the Dover-Eyota cross country race on 9/14/10! James finished in 45th place with a time of 20:43! Way to go little man! We are all so proud of your hard work, keep it up :) Also, a little thank you to the Nelson family. They saw me taking pictures of the other four and offered to get one with me in the picture...that never happens!

L to R: Me, my fiance Brian, Brian's mom Pat, James and Brian's dad Jim. Jim is the head cross country coach for another school in our area...we won't hold that against him, but it's nice to hear his booming voice cheering James on too!

On a side note, only 6 months ago James was shorter than Pat (center), but he's grown at least 6 inches since then...sheesh!

Day 152 In The Personals

I may be a bad person for even posting this, but this was the ad that was in the Personals section of my local newspaper. How sad is that?!

Day151 Downtown Rochester

James and I headed into Rochester for an urban photo practice session. It was fun to do something a little different.

Fun with texture! First time I have ever tried applying texture to a photo.

Finally starting to warm up to the idea :)

Leading lines

I like this one, but is the arm chop too distracting?

Day 150 September 11th

Where were you September 11, 2001? I had just finished celebrating my son's 5th birthday the day before. I woke up on a beautiful Tuesday morning to an image of a burning skyscraper on every TV channel as the first plane had just flown into the World Trade Center. I watched in horror as the rest of the events unfolded that day and feared for our own safety. I cried for the families who lost loved ones that day. My grandfather was admitted to St. Mary's Hospital to only find out later that he had stage 4 pancreatic cancer. How quickly our lives can go from joy and happiness to immense sadness and helplessness. It's a valuable lesson to appreciate life, thank God for every day you are here and always tell your family how much you love them!

Day 149 Fourteen

Happy 14th birthday to my son, James! I can't believe he is that old already. He shares his birhday with his great grandma so it's even more special.

His day didn't start off the best as he overslept, but it was quickly made better by chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast and a birthday announcement on the radio. After CC practice, he got to share rice crispy treats with his team. Then he picked Buffalo Wild Wings for dinner and his favorite aunt, Jill, was able to join us. Yep, he kicked my butt in Big Buck Hunter again and filled his belly with lemonade and wings. Then Jill took him to the store for sweets before heading home to open presents. As if he didn't have enough food already, we celebrated with his favorite, cheesecake! He got some great gifts including this Sidney Rice jersey (hopefully he will recover quickly from surgery and be able to play this year.)


Happy birthday James!

Day 148 Montgomery

James' cross country team participated in a HUGE meet in Montgomery, MN...36 teams and 226 runners in the boys varsity race alone. This was the mass of runners coming down the hill at the start of the boys 5K.

James, wearing race bib 641, in the mass of runners.

Looking ahead

Doing a great job

Determination

Close to the finish

A job well done! James shaved 25 seconds off his time from the previous race and finished with a time of 21:11. He was so glad we were there to cheer him on. I couldn't be more proud!

Day 147 Early Birthday Gift

Every varsity athlete needs a customized sport bag, right?! James saw an ad in our local paper advertising backpacks with names embroidered on them so he told me he wanted one for his birthday. I told him he had too many backpacks as it is. Little did he know I had already planned on buying this duffle bag for him. He got it a couple days early so he could use it for the first away cross country meet of the season. It works great for all of the stuff he needs to carry. He loves it!

Day 146 Eighth Grade Mug Shot

Oh, how time flies, *sigh* James started 8th grade today. He was selected to be a WEB leader so he had to wear his shirt to school. Also, he cut his hair off last week because he didn't like the way it hair flopped on the top of his head when he runs for cross country...funny kid :) Here's to his last year in the middle school...hope it's full of learning, fun and personal success inside the classroom and out!

Day 145 Long Exposure

I have always wanted to try this so I headed over to the interstate right before dark to capture some light trails. This was my first attempt, but I am definitely excited to experiment some more!

Day 144 Pineapple

Brian has been on a pineapple kick so he purchased this with the good intention to grill it up, but he waited too long...a little past it's prime :(

Day 143 The Power Of Post Processing

I completely loved this photo from the start, but I must admit, I blew it. Completely underexposed :( I didn't let that stop me! I have been busy working on trying to improve my photography skills. I may not be perfect, but I am constantly learning so that these mistakes become less frequent. Any photographer will tell you that you need to get the photo right straight out of the camera first, but sometimes that doesn't happen. So after a quick PSE class this is what I was able to do with that awful picture. It's a keeper!

Day 142 Photo Packaging

All packaged up and ready to go!

Day 141 Race Day

My little guy made the varsity cross country team! Here he is with his team before the first race of the season. He's in 8th grade, the boy in gray is in 9th and the other 5 are seniors.


A double rainbow appeared right before the start of the race...must be good luck!


Brian cheering James on!


Sprinting down the home stretch with some of the girls team cheering him on!


The tradition continues...Coach Parlin, James and Brian :)