Ugh! Paint Colors

I got a bee in my bonnet to lighten up the paint colors in my house. I thought I would tackle the rooms that I am in the most...kitchen, dining room and living room. Because I'm me and I knew the look that I wanted, which was calm and airy, it took me all of about 5 minutes to decide what paint colors I wanted. My honey and I headed to buy the paint the next minute and we painted for the next couple of days and voila it was done.

Now usually this system works for me. It really has for years but this time it didn't. First of all I have always gravitated to earth tones but I did a 360 and went with cooler colors. I actually like the calm blue in my kitchen but my living room is a huge mistake to me. I thought the color was gray/white but it is really gray/blue and while it is a great color it does not work with my furniture. So me and my very patient honey are going to be repainting. I chose another color and instead of deciding in 5 minutes I bought a pint to test it out on my walls. I have never done this before but I am clearly a little gun shy. What do you think?

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Oopsy daisy

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I am grateful that paint is such an easy mistake to fix.

Everyone needs to see the flowers

Now seriously, I don't mean to make anyone upset or depressed. It is just simply the facts. While most of the country is buried in snow, the bay area in northern California is at its finest. The morning blanket of fog and gentle rains that are considered our winter, turn our usual golden hills into a rich velvety green. The mustard flowers blanket those hills adding their yellow onto an already perfect canvas. Groups of wild daffodils line our freeways as if we are driving in the middle of someone's own expansive garden. Everywhere I go ivy and moss crawl up the trunks and gnarled branches of the trees. I pinch myself every season I live here but winter in California is truly exceptional.

When Becky's thrive project was on color I knew I needed flowers. My sister Tiffany every winter calls me and says, "I am flying out to see you--- I need to see the flowers." We go every year to the same place on the way home from the airport. She literally runs for the beautiful planters and puts her face right in the middle of the primroses. She then states matter of factually that she will now be fine until spring arrives in her neck of the woods.

I of course headed to the same spot yesterday afternoon with little Charlie. I let him play in the fountain as I conspicuously snapped away. So here's a little reminder from me that spring will soon be here.

I do have to leave a little disclaimer here--- even though the weather has been near perfect as of late, I have to deal with earthquakes. Two weeks ago I was woken up by 5 earthquakes. They were small but extremely unsettling. I bet bad weather suddenly looks appealing... right?

I am grateful for Charlie and flowers!

Simplicity

When I headed over to Becky's blog today for our next challenge in the thrive project it was simplicity. How fitting for so many reasons. What a wonderful word....simplicity. I love the way it sounds and what it means. Life is seriously nutty. But if I consistently remind myself to simplify, I find myself enjoying the small moments. The quiet moments that would have got lost in the shuffle. Maybe it is something as fleeting as my child's smile or laughing at their silly joke. I don't want to miss these things but unless I remember to simplify chaos will reign and before I know it another day is done.

Well now I know the same thing applies in photography. Don't clutter your backgrounds, pay attention to your subject, and tell a story with your photo. I used to only take pictures of people. As I have tried to branch out and look at things in a different way, it has lead me to take pictures of anything and everything.

A few years back I found this beautiful little nest in my topiary. I loved the little birds handiwork. What a beautiful, delicate nest this mama carefully made for her babies. It reminded me that as mothers we all have built a little nest for our babies. Some day they too will fly away. Love the moment...simplify. After the nest was abandoned I gingerly brought it inside as a reminder that today I still have my children under my wings. It will not last forever. Cherish them and simplify. So today it was fitting that as I walked around the house looking for something that meant simplicity this is what I settled on. So here is my picture for the week. Thank you again Becky for your explanations and for your project. I have loved to see what the challenges mean to everyone. It has been such fun!

Now for some technical stuff. Please help. I shot these using lots of different white balance settings. What white balance do you generally use? The auto setting or one of the others? On another technical note my aperture was wide open for these but how do people keep track of their shutter speed. I was on my canon's manual setting but I have no idea what shutter speed I was on. I just looked at my meter to make sure I wasn't over/under exposed. If you happen to stumble on my blog please leave a comment and let me know. Thanks so much!!

(Just as a side note I bought the eggs to put in my nest in a darling boutique in San Francisco. I had three but alas I found it smashed in a thousand pieces in my living room. )

After I took my picture of my nest I headed to Costco for my ridiculously long list. It was not long before these darlings caught my eye and I placed them in my basket. I just couldn't help myself. When I got home and put those perfect colors in my white kitchen, I just sat there staring at them... simplicity. So I added this picture too. :)

I am grateful for small reminders that consistently remind us to simplify so that we can cherish what is most important.

Just Playin'

I was playing with my camera and I had some pretty cute kiddos to shoot. How about those blond nieces of mine? They don't get any cuter than that!

I am grateful for cousins!

A Gift: Lines and Contrast

Ever since I was a little girl I dreamed of going to France. I know I guess we all do to a certain extent, but I grew up loving all things french. My Dad knowing this, told me and all my siblings, that if we learned french he would take us to Paris. Here is my ticket and I was thrilled.

I lived in Toronto, Canada when I was 10-13 yrs old. In the public schools you had to take french. Perfect...here's my chance. But we moved back 3 years later to America and french wasn't offered until high school. Yes! I get another chance. Here we go again but this time around I am not as motivated. I actually didn't care about learning french. I forgot my dream.

Now it's off to college. I remember my dream again and I am going to learn french. The only thing that could of gotten in the way of that dream was a boy. The most wonderful boy I had ever met. The most wonderful boy in the world. I was in love. I had many dreams but they were all different now and none of my new dreams included going to France. I married my love and all of my important dreams have come true.

Two years ago my wonderful dad remembered my childhood dream. I was going to France for 2 weeks with my 3 siblings and our spouses. I was 38 years old and I was flying on a plane for France. When we got to Paris we immediately felt the gravitational pull of the Eiffel tower. We couldn't get there fast enough for the Eiffel tower is the sign. The ultimate sign that I was in Paris. When we got there a huge storm blew in and I mean huge. We all just sat there huddled around with our umbrellas. Then the storm was over. In its wake it left the most beautiful rainbow. I cried. It was a gift.

When I saw what Becky's challenge at farmgirl paints for her thrive project this week, I remembered my gift. I remembered the intricate lines of that incredible landmark. I remembered its dark colors against the gray sky and I remembered the rainbow. I remembered that because of a camera, I was able to hold onto this memory forever. Thank you Becky for your explanations and your challenges. They have really gotten me thinking and trying. I am so grateful! So here we go again and this is the picture for the week.

Thank you Dad for making so many of my dreams come true...I love you!