But of course

Up at four am, drinking tea today. I even managed to get my daughter out of bed just before the bride appeared.

Loved the smile that slipped across Kate's face when the crowd cheered as they were declared man and wife.

On course

Today was a good day for getting back on track... The busiest singing week of the year is over. It was quiet at work because the two guys who cause drama weren't around. I ate pretty well (I switched back to taking Tamoxifen at night a week or two ago because it made me SO HUNGRY. Wtf. ) An to top it off I went for a run after work in a light rain. I can't explain why I love to run with the rain misting on my face, but I do. It felt so good to run without measuring minutes (a la couch to 5 k, if you've ever done that)

A little confession... Yes the car was moving when I took this picture. You can't really tell, but I was rolling over to 50000. (hmmm, have to change the name of the blog?) But anyway,
I was driving w one hand and resting my iPhone on the steering wheel with the other. Don't arrest me.

Photo of the day

I call this "one step forward, two steps back" because work can feel that way sometimes...this is the stairwell outside of the office that I share with a handful of people who may or may not be crazy. Or maybe it's me that's crazy. At any rate I often make a quick phonecall here if I don't want the Droids hearing me nag my kids about the laundry. I liked the Escher effect I managed to stumble into. (my intent was just a spiraling pattern.... Oopsie!)

Edited with PhotoStudio iPhone app

Happy Easter

Busy busy this week... My daughter has friends over tonight and they had some fun with eggs...

Spring

I'm working on my garden... Seeds are starting to sprout in my family room. I will move them out to the porch when it stops getting so cold at night.

Spring rushes in

Spring came about as suddenly as winter crashed down. I am always scrambling right around Easter - I have a ton of extra singing to do. I had rehearsal last night and I will see all of them again Saturday, Sunday (twice- mass and our Tenebrae), Tuesday, Thursday, good Friday, Easter vigil, and then on Easter Sunday. Yeahhhhhh.

I'm a little worried about keeping that schedule, I still get tired more easily than I would like. Also, sometime during mass on Easter Sunday my voice will crack and I'll be done. I will go home and snore silently on the couch while my son makes pancakes for me and that will be my big "Easter brunch".

I also have a whole pocketful of people to worry about, in one way or another. So the bright colors and buds popping up everywhere are doing their best to shake me out of my distracted clouds; I am doing my best to stop and take them all in.

Here's a riddle

See if you can guess how my day is going...

So...

Stanley is home and trying to get his strength back. Next week is our choir's busy week with palm Sunday, tenebrae, holy Thursday, etc. I made him some food... Meatloaf and Ziti and chocolate cupcakes.

My nephew had his confirmation this past weekend. I was his sponsor so I spent eleven billion hours at church, between retreats and rehearsals and yada yada, but I was so happy to do it. He asked me last year while I was sick and I was surprised... I thought it would be his other aunt. Yay, me.

Blue

This is another shot with the Instagram app. It's the open sunroof of my car...glorious. Like sweet sticky candy. I kind of was going for an "am I on an airplane?" feel so hopefully I achieved that.

Today was a beautiful day weather-wise, but not so much for some people I love.

My beloved Stanley, the organist for my church choir, is in the hospital. I am hoping he gets out soon... But he is 83 and smokes and had the flu and had breathing problems....I can't even bear the thought of singing up there if he's gone.

But its not all about mememe... (but hey, it's my blog, so just give me a break, ok?)

Ps: my girl, Liz- I am pulling for you to see blue skies again soon. You kicked ass once and I know you can again.

Instagram

(see full image)

Lots of caffeine... Did I mention that? 

I normally take a photo with the regular iPhone camera app (this save it to my camera roll automatically- I've noticed that sometimes if you leave an app at the wrong time you lose the picture if you don't remember to save)

Then typically pick an app somewhat at random, and just start applying filters. This is Instagram's gothic filter. I am finding myself converting pics to black and white often lately. I think I am drawn to the simplicity.

Clicktap

So, last year while I was sick I developed a habit of buying camera apps. (And using them: I have over 1500 photos. Hmm. ) This is not meant to show off or to brag; it is merely to illustrate my problem of "collecting" too much of a good thing and my love of photos. It was a tiny way to pamper myself on days that chemo kept me on my sofa. I can take a photo and tweak it endlessly with these apps. Color effects, aging, frames, adding blur or taking away color: So much fun. And yet... Now I have so many that I don't really use some of them very often. Then I forget how they work and which ones will barf if I try to put the photo on Facebook.

Stupid iPhone, I also can't have them all on one tab unless I nest them in sets. I hate that. (Shhhhhhh. Don't tell my phone I called it stupid... Why can't we scroll down on a page though, seriously???)

If I really wanted to do some spring cleaning I'd drop the lower set (but wait, this photo is *made* with strip design, so that won't do... And sometimes you really DO want to take most of the color out of a photo or send a vacation snapshot as an epostcard)

The middle row on the top I might be able to part with..in a dire emergency. But tiltshifting photos (blurring out most of photo in square or round shape ) is pretty darn fun.

This is the train of thought I rode tonight thanks to tooooo much caffeine. My one good idea is to force myself to rotate and use a new one on my home screen each week, to take a minimum of three pictures a day and really see what the app can do.... yeah... Let's see how long that idea lasts.

Reflections, pt 2

The only spot of color is the school bus, vanishing. Blink and you'll miss it, just like your baby's childhood.

iPhone photo / Lo-Mob app

Reflections, part 1

I am taking an online photography course. I get a weekly assignment ... I haven't really had time until now but the YEARBOOK IS DONE so ... (I logged over 50 hours just on the lifetouch website... Oy... Now I get my free time back.)

This week's assignment is reflections... I shot this at a stop light. Rain on car windows makes me kind of sad. It's supposed to be rainy for a while too... No change in sight.

I edited this with the Lo-mob app and have another version to share where you can just barely see the back of a school bus driving away t in the mirror. It sums up how I'm feeling as my son's last year at this school rushes to a close. This fall I will have two high schoolers. The years have flown by, and here I am.

Plans

This afternoon I will once again try to convince the universe that I have a green thumb. I am going to start some flowers and herbs and see if I can't have something nice for my porch around memorial day. Last summer having flowers hang all around me was sweetly comforting. (....but someone else grew them from seed! )