i'm sorry...

to all my readers out there. (who are you by the way? i know brea and my mom read this, but you lurkers, let me know you're there.) that was SO off-topic.

i'm sorry because i haven't given you, my faithful readers (hi mom & brea!), an update is so long. but i was wanting to, i just needed to get some photos taken. so here i am. updating...and here's what i have to share...i got an early birthday present from my music man...let me give you some clues....



any guesses? need another clue probably...this one's a dead giveaway...



still not sure...what about this one?



you must know by now, so here you have it....



yep! a bike! not only a bike, but a...



and not only a cruiser, but an...



isn't she sa-weet??? i just love her. and here's one more glamor shot for you my faithful readers...



if you want, when you visit, you can take her for a spin. she rides like a dream....

kite festival

i did make it to the kite festival this year in austin. however it was VERY overcast so the photos i got aren't very brilliant so you only get this one -- see that's downtown austin in the background. and all those little black specs, they're kites!



i did get some good ones of a friends little girl that was there too. she's super cute and occasionally will let me take her picture.

sick kids

i was at my sisters for a short visit and this is the time of the year that the kids get sick. i'm glad i didn't get what they had, but thank goodness they only had it for a short time.

anyway, this is one of my favorite photos from that day:


they obviously knew their photo was being taken, but i just think the lighting and everything just came together. and besides, what's better than being curled up with your mom when you're sick?! here are a couple more of the two of them.

being goofy


i call this one "cocooned"


and here are a few of the younger brother. obviously he was feeling a bit better than his big bro.






hope everyone is over their winter ills. spring is sure to be here soon....

promises, promises

my goal over the next 24 hours is to get the prints live on Fayla's Follies. i promised them last week, and that has obviously come and gone. and now we're 1/2 way through this week, and they are still not up.

they will go up in the next 24 hours. if they don't...well, i'll take complaints :)

here's a sample of some of the prints that will be immediately available -- i will be adding more, but i figured you didn't want too many choices to start out with. decisions, decisions...

UPDATE: they're live -- go check 'em out here!

happy valentines day!

this is what i came home to


and of course, what was the first thing i thought of (other than what a sweet, wonderful man i'm marrying)? that i had to take photos of course!

i won't bore you with all of them, here are just a couple more:



i hope you all had a wonderful valentines day!

food as art

i've started reading this blog on a daily basis and i'm now addicted to it. need my daily dose of ree. a subset of that blog, is her food blog The Pioneer Woman Cooks which got me addicted to chicken spaghgetti. yum, yum, yum. you really should try it. you won't regret it. but also as a result of reading the cooking blog, it's made me realize how pretty food can be. really. look at the photos she has of food. raw chicken looks sorta pretty. go figure.

while i was at my folks place this past weekend, my mom & i were getting food together to bring to a dinner party - kind of a pot-luck tapas party -- i guess this is what retirees do these days. ANYWAY, this is one of the dishes we brought:


i have some comments on this. first of all, this dish. this dish/bowl/whatever you want to call it can make anything look beautiful. except maybe brussel sprouts. or lima beans. but mashed potatoes? wow. broccoli? gorgeous! i bet it might even make liver look good. oh, maybe not. but you get the picture. (side note: mom, i get this bowl when you die, k?) so of course these things are going to look good.

my second comment is what we filled it with. ok. ready? frozen cream puffs. you know the ones, you get them at those big-box stores. and no one wants to admit they buy them, but once you've tried them, you'll never go back. they are manna from heaven. frozen. defrosted. partially defrosted. however you want 'em. manna. i'm telling you. go buy some today if you've never had them before. you'll thank me later.

so what i'm trying to say here is i'm now on this kick of photographing food. watch out.

i did take a ton of photos while i was in NY and NJ, i'll post some more here, and look for some of them to appear as cards over the next year.

a face only a mother could love

what did she get into now?


come on mom, stop taking pictures of me and let me inside. it's cold out here.

wildlife continues to amaze

we went to crosbyton, tx for a quick overnight to see some of my music man's family. it was fun to meet his aunts and uncles and some cousins, etc. everyone was so nice. my favorite photo that i took is of a donkey. yes, a donkey. we went to a farm and they had donkeys. there were also chickens and cows (even a couple of bulls). we had been having so much rain and the day we were to be in crosbyton, they were calling for sunny skies and 79 degrees when we landed. we were in heaven. and sure enough. it was beautiful.

as a result, when we got home (it had been HOT in austin that day) my plants needed a touch of watering. i started watering, and then my watering can appeared to be backed up. i took of the "rain" spout and looked down the normal one. it seemed that there was a leaf in there, but then i looked again. nope. not a leaf. it was two beady eyes peering back at me -- yep. a toad. so i poked it with a stick a couple of times, moved a smidge, poked it some more. still nothing. filled with water the wrong way (water down the spout), still no movement. could it be dead? possible. but still i didn't quit. i banged the thing on the ground, a post, anything i could find. i filled it with water, emptied it. finally, after banging the spout a bit, i look inside and i see legs sticking out of the spout on the inside. YAY! but wait, there are another set of legs coming out of the spout too. and then BOTH of them start climbing back into the spout. WHAT?! there are TWO in there? how is this possible? and how the heck did they jump high enough to get into the watering can in the first place? so many questions.

my banging and water filling continue. and with some diligence, they both (?!) pop out of the spout into the main reservoir of the watering can. and i dump them out. and they weren't small suckers either. well, i'm glad i found them alive. could you imagine trying to get dead toads out of a metal watering can. i think it would have ended up in the trash.

that's all for me. oh and here's the latest cute photo of laila.