Looking through the lens
So much more than can be seen
With the naked eye

I’m combining my own Hotlight and Haiku Friday because I’m being all artsy-fartsy today. I love writing haikus and limericks (although my limerick ability has been pretty shoddy lately - I use up all my naughties spitting out prose these days) so I thought I’d join in all the fun that everyone has on Fridays.

Back in January (y’all, it’s the end of February! - we’re going to survive winter, I think), I asked for your favorite photography site. I am a frustrated photographer. I don’t have the right equipment (I carry around a point-and-shoot or [shhhhh] my phone). I don’t have Photoshop. I am too impatient.

But I love to browse through blogs where those with the gift use their photographs to share their lives with us. Thank you all who sent me these links.

Enjoy!

Clik&Clak (thanks to Lyvvie) - A beautiful site with music tied to the photos. Make sure you travel to the blogger’s other site From Belgium with Love - where everything is sepia-toned.

Lawstude’s Journeys (thanks to Dizzy Ms Lizzy) - photos from a law student traveling all over the world.

Dry Reading (thanks to Amanda) - an absolutely amazing site with beautiful photos from Craig Hickman and others. Tips and software (check out his weather guy and his D- program) also included.

All Eyes on Jenny (thanks to Lys) is the personal blog of Jenny Frazier - a young Bostonian working in PR. Her photography portfolio is amazing.

Brenda Eckhardt Photography (thanks to RC) - Personal and Senior High School portraiture. Beautiful work.

Intimate Photography by Amelia (thanks to Mouse) - a new blogger (Jan 2008). Go show her some love!

And my personal favorites:

Meghan - Xan and River’s mom is a gorgeous woman with a beautiful family and amazing talent.

The Pioneer Woman - Another Ree (hence sometimes I comment as “the Other Ree”). Who almost went to Chicago in black pumps. Instead she stayed west with Marlboro Man to take pictures. And raise punks.

—- Y’all?  I’m giving up my day of REST for you.  Today is Blog365’s day of rest since it’s Leap Year.  If you’re wondering why your feed readers are actually a little calmer today, it’s because every other crazy ass who joined up to blog all year is taking today off.  But not me.  Because I promised you a Blogolution.  Yea, yea, you know.  —-

She is steep my friends. But I’m getting there. Slowly, but ever so slowly.

Here’s one thing I definitely learned (besides the fact that I have the patience of a gnat’s lifespan).

No FTP capabilities from you-know-where, so during business hours, all I can do is post. I can’t fix. Which means that the fact that my old template had a 700X200 header and this one has a 750X200 header? Can’t be fixed. Until tonight.

Updated:  Apparently, I also have the brain of a gnat because I remembered that I don’t have to ftp the graphic for this template.  Therefore, ta-da! Fixed.  

Do you know what that does to someone as anal as me? And I’m not even thrilled with the darned theme I’m using. Ack.

And no plug-ins can be added. Until tonight.

So, what am I doing? Getting my post in for the 7th day of WhatthefuckamIdoing Blog365 so that if I completely lose my mind tonight, I can, at the very least, say that I’ve accomplished 1 thing.

In the meantime, remember the suck-ass snow?

This was a picture from outside my office window on January 2nd - a mere 5 days ago.




This is the same view today.




—- It’s 57 degrees outside. And Oh Mah Holy Hell. There’s something yellow and shiny poking through the clouds. —-

Like NaBloPoMo didn’t almost kill me. Like I need more to worry about during 2008. Like you all WANT more of me during the coming year - I’ve decided to go ahead and get committed commit myself join Blog365 - Version 2008. I’m not sure whose brainfart brainchild this was, and I can’t promise that you won’t be overloaded some days with camera-phone snapshots, but I’m going to do my best to write every.single.fucking.day (although I think I get February 29th off - must go read rules again.)

So, if you’re as stupid idiotic excited about this as I am, head over to Blog365 and sign up. Please make sure you add me to your friends list, too, because Gawd only knows I’m going to need some company in the padded room at the party.

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In other news, the tree is down and with Shortman out of the house today at a practice for his BPA tournament this Friday (yes, there will be suit pictures - and that reminds me - make that boy an appointment for a haircut tomorrow! done.) - my darling Mr. Hot is doing a top-to-bottom cleaning. Yay! He may get some……cookies!……tonight.

We also bought this for the living room. In this picture you can see (barely, if you squint) on the left side of the television a little two-shelf thing that the cable box sits on. It (the cable box) used to sit inside the television stand (behind the frosted glass doors), but it was “too hard” to change the channel unless you pointed the remote directly at the little infrared eye thingie. (Remember, when you say “too hard”, make sure you’re saying it in the whiny voice of a 16 year old 52 year old three year old.)

Since we don’t keep the tree up year-round, in place of the Christmas tree, imagine a 6 ft. tall silk ficus purchased before Franks Nursery & Crafts went belly-up.

The plan is to move the ficus to the other (left) side of the television, and put the ladder bookcase on the right side of the television with the cable box on one of the shelves.

I’m hoping it will make the room appear bigger when you first go in it, open it up some. Provided we get it together (without a murder being committed) and everything rearranged sometime this century, a (camera phone) picture may be posted here.

And really y’all. That’s about it. It finally stopped snowing (I think we’ve had about 9 inches since yesterday morning). There is blue sky showing. I’m back in the office (and yes, I’ve even managed to catch up on email since everyone and their freakin’ brother was out for the past week!) - and it’s quiet. There will likely be some new work landing on my plate soon (which, duh, another reason I shouldn’t have committed to Blog365) and it may involve some traveling (hey! duh! another reason to commit to Blog365 - travel always brings blog fodder.).

—- Now, don’t forget your submissions for the first Hotlight post - bling will be forthcoming (yes, I’m out of control with the bling - it has to do with my compulsive creative gene). —-