{Capture Your 365: The "Let's Celebrate " Blog Hop}

Welcome to the third {CaptureYour365} Blog Hop of 2012.  It's celebration time.  We've managed to document one half of 2012 through our daily photos. That's no small accomplishment. I know I'm feeling pretty good about it,  how about you?

I made the commitment to take one photo each day as so many of you have. Are we motivated? Yes. Do we sometimes lack inspiration? Yes. Do we enjoy torturing ourselves? Most definitely. I'm kidding about the torturing part.  For me, this is a labor of love.  I love my camera and using it everyday makes me happy. There are days when I get stuck but I find something to photograph and I look ahead towards tomorrow. I love my family and my life is a good one. I know that there are things I'm photographing today that I will be happy to look back on 10 or 15 years from now. 

I'm big on making photo books. I make one for each of our vacations and always do a "Year in Pictures" book that includes holidays and other special events. For me, taking photos and leaving them sit on my computer is a waste. I love being able to pull out a book and be reminded of a trip we've taken  or remind myself what went on in 2005. I turned my first P365 project into a Shutterfly photo book.  I digitally scrapped the pages for each week, using a template, but made the mistake of spending way too much time 'decorating'. This project should really be about the photos and the journaling, not so much about making fancy layouts. This year I decided to go simple. I purchased my template set from {Wild Blueberry Ink}, chose some basic papers and a color theme and got started. This is making it easy for me to keep current with my P365+1. I've decided to incorporate my "Year in Pictures" book into the P365+1 photo book. I still allow myself a little 'decorating' on the 'special event' pages so I can get the urge to digiscrap out of my system. Keeping it simple is working for me. I know I'm going to love getting my book in January 2013.

{Project 365+1: Week 25}

{A special event page}

Next stop on the Blog Hop is Katrina's blog, otherwise known as my second home on the 'net. If you started here with me, make sure to go back to the beginning. There's too much good stuff to miss. Here's the list:

Kathleen - Taking Pictures, Enjoying Life
Kelly - but for the Grace of God
Karen - Random Reflections
Me - The Sweetest Dreams
Katrina - Capture Your 365

Thank you Kathleen for doing the organizing again and a great BIG 'thank you' to Katrina for bringing us all together in the {CaptureYour 365} community. You ladies inspire me everyday. 

{Capture Your 365 Blog Hop}

Happy Monday! Welcome to my little world and {Capture Your 365's }second Blog Hop of 2012. I can't believe we're a little more than a week away from 100 days of P365+1. Time has been flying by and I'm still enjoying taking my daily photo. I've especially liked the prompts for LEGO week.

Now that the summer's coming I'm hoping to get more photos outdoors. I love setting up my bird feeders and watching all the different species feed together. This year's plan is to work on my macro photography. Up until now I've only been practicing on minifigs....not that I mind. They are very cooperative.

I decided to share some of my favorite photos from the past three months.

Snow Leopard at the Bronx Zoo.

Busy sewing on a rainy Saturday

A message from my boy.

Willow Tree figurine.

The next stop on Capture Your 365's  Hop is Kathleen's blog. Stop by and show her some love. Oh, I can't forget to say thanks to Kathleen for organizing the Blog Hop again and a BIG thank you to Katrina for bringing us all together. You all are inspiring, wonderful people.


Kelly - but for the Grace of God
Joscelyne - ohscrap
Suzanne - Suzanne's Adventures in Quilting, Photography, Computers and Life
Sharyn - Live from Tormville
Abbie - Happie by Abbie
Me - YOU ARE HERE  The Sweetest Dreams
Kathleen - Taking Pictures, Enjoying Life
Katrina - Capture Your 365

{ "Show Us Your Favorite 2011 Photos" Blog Hop }

Happy New Year to everyone at {CaptureYour365} ! And, thank you to Kathleen for organizing the first {Blog Hop} of 2012! It's also my first Blog Hop ever!

Before I get to some of my favorite shots from 2011, I'd like thank Katrina for her inspiration and for creating a place where we all can connect, learn and be inspired by each other. So many of you are incredible photographers and I'm always looking for new ideas and for ways to improve my {photography}. My first {P365} spanned 2010-2011. I only had two months left in my P365 when CaptureYour365 was born. I'm looking forward to spending an entire year with all of you, sharing little snippets of my life and hopefully learning something along the way. One of my favorite quotes is from Ralph Waldo Emerson... "Life is a journey, not a destination." I can't wait to share my journey with all of you.

So, here's some of my favorites from 2011. I hope you enjoy looking!




One of my favorite Santas. The bokeh courtesy of Katrina's "Capture Your Holidays" class.

 


Walking the neighborhood after one of our snowstorms. I'm in a photo!

 


Randomly piled hearts. SOUL MATE jumped out at me. It's how I feel about my husband.

 

I love snow and I love snowshoeing in Rocky Mountain National Park. We'll be there again this upcoming March for another snowshoeing trip. For me, there's nothing like being in the mountains.




Another photo from Colorado joins my group of favorites for 2011. This is St. Malo's, also known as The Chapel

on the Rock. It is an amazingly beautiful church located in the mountains of Colorado.

 


This is a photo of my son and his younger cousin. We were in Florida for my other niece's wedding.

These two have been the best of buddies since they were babies.

The expression on her face makes me smile.






This photo was taken at the Planting Fields Arboretum in Oyster Bay, Long Island. They have a large collection of orchids. I'm hoping to work on macro photography in 2012.



One of my favorite places to take my camera is the zoo. In April, a lot of the animals are still in their

winter habitats. I can always count on the polar bear to be out. This day he was

entertaining us with his yoga moves.



 


My final favorite of 2011 is of my sweet daughter and her calf Millie. This was taken in May, one week before

she graduated from the University of Connecticut. She's attending the

University of Tennessee College of Veterinary Medicine with the plan to be a large animal vet,

specializing in dairy cows. The city girl who loves cows...

 

Hop on over to the last stop on our journey, Kathleen's blog Taking Pictures, Enjoying Life. If you've started at my blog first, here's a list of everyone participating in the first Blog Hop of 2012:

Kelly- {But for the Grace of God}
Katrina- {Capture Your 365}
Gabi- {Gabi Rytirova}
Me- {The Sweetest Dreams}

Kathleen- {Taking Pictures, Enjoying Life}