It's A Girl!!!!

This was the first birth I have attended and I was there as the official birth photographer, something I would like to do more of in my career. I was on call for the last two days while the mother was in labor and tonight I was there from 9:30 PM until 5:30 AM. The baby was born by c-section at 1:28 AM so I was not able to see her actual birth but this is her immediately after. Hundreds of really amazing pictures and an overall wonderful experience. And, a lovely lovely way to end one great year and begin a new one. Happy New Year!

Borderline

A long day spent waiting...waiting...waiting... I am at the hospital today to attend and photograph my first birth. I thought this photograph was symbolic of the process of waiting for the baby to be born. One minute, no baby, the next minute, baby! One minute, there's just a couple. The next minute, they are parents. But none of it happens until the baby arrives... And we are all waiting...

Mountains

The morning sunlight hit the mountains just right so I just had to drive straight to the view and shoot it!

Helpful

We were snippy with each other this evening because I am stressed out (about tomorrow) and he is stressed out (about me being stressed out). I really needed something to shoot for the project but couldn't think of anything. So after arguing about it for a few minutes I made him pose for me with some nice comment, somthing along the lines of "Well then just get in here and HELP me already". He said he never helps me think of a shot but this should prove that he's wrong.

Fergus

An Accident I Like

Boxing Day

A simple shot, an easy one to overlook, but I like it because it's in keeping with my thoughts from here and I found it interesting that once when my sister came to visit she jumped in to help fold laundry and it became my photo; today my mother did the same thing.

Scenes from Christmas Morning

I had many great pictures of my mom, J, and the kitties celebrating Christmas Day but the top one of my mom's very genuine expression of surprise summed up the feeling the best for me. I went on a very long and surprisingly difficult quest to get her this present (a Washington Redskins sweater) and she was very surprised and loved it. We had a really nice Christmas although I still felt that she spoiled me and gave me too many things.

Christmas Eve

On Christmas Eve it's nice to have a warm and cozy house and the delightful company of friends waiting for you to arrive.

Wrapping Presents

My mom wrapped up all the presents that she brought us today. I love to wrap presents so when I was a kid I got to be "in charge" of wrapping anything that wasn't for me (my mom probably thrilled that this meant she didn't have to do it AND the kid stayed quietly occupied for hours on end).

Ribbons

This year I made some fabric ribbons from my sewing scraps so that they can be reused over and over again.  I am trying to cut down on all the paper waste and garbage that Christmas creates.  Next year I am aiming for an all-fabric-wrapped Christmas. I hope what it lacks in the fun of tearing and ripping it will make up for in the awesomeness of a garbage-free holiday.

Mom

My mother has arrived for Christmas. She hates for me to take her picture. But, I am determined to try to take at least one every day that I get to spend with her. It really bothered me after my Dad died that I had blips of a road or a plant on a day I knew I spent with him. I could have had another wonderful image of him and who he was but I didn't take it. I am trying harder now.

La Cote

Lovely nautical-themed French creperie for lunch. I have only been once before but I really like it there. Wish I could bring myself to order in French...perhaps next time. A crazy day of running around, driving around, errands and obligations. Been gone from the house from 9:30-6 PM which is very unusual for me. Oh well, some times you just have to do those things. At least I got to sit for an hour at a French crepe place.

Contemplating the Toilet

So, since I am blogging backwards in time, this would have been the first post where I admitted to working on toilet training the cats. It's embarrassing to confess that out loud, in public.

It's been a couple of months now since we started and we progressed slowly from raising the litter box to the height of the toilet (to get them used to jumping up), to putting it on the toilet, to doing away with the litter box and putting a small bowl of litter in the toilet (shown here).

Mushroom is so smart that I feel like at each step he gets it instantaneously and we could probably just say "Mushroom, we'd like you to use the toilet from now on." and he'd say, "Ok. Why didn't you just say so!?"

But, alas, poor sweet Fergus... He is not as quick as Mushroom is. He is having some troubles adjusting. After trying to push him a bit too far this weekend I am now having to take a step or two back to wait for him to progress again.

I liked these shots because the first is just classic Fergus and in the second he appears to be contemplating the litter-toilet situation. Hopefully this will be one of those good marker-in-time-photos that I can link back to once the potty training has been successful and the idea of scooping a litter box is a thing of the past!

What? I like it in here!?

Cats!%$!?!

Enough

Ok, I have to stop with the out-of-focus Christmas lights shots. Seriously. Enough! I don't remember what I did all day on Sunday but I believe I was sewing and listening to music while J cooked. That sounds plausible anyways. T&M came over for dinner to help extend the weekend and we polished off a couple of bottles of wine and talked about marriage.

34th And Wallingford

On my way out tonight, across town, to see some friends I haven't seen in a very long time. As usual when any social obligation comes up I generally don't feel like going. But, when I do, I end up having a nice time. I stayed later than I planned because we were all happily chatting away. Still, it was nice to come back home to J who waited up late for me.

Self-Portrait

J's company Christmas party tonight...the first one at this company that I've been to though he's been working there for nearly 3 years now. I got my hair fixed up so it wasn't totally dead straight for once and I really liked it. The most common thing I heard at the party was "You really do exist!" since after 3 years people were beginning to believe he had made up this mysterious "wife" that never appeared in public.

Green

It's been raining and storming and hailing terribly for about three days straight. Today was the first dry day in a long time so of course it makes sense that I have a raindrop shot.

Up Early

Sunrise.  Dirty Windows.

Obligatory Christmas Bokeh II

This was shot after already being in a warm bed, in the dark, contacts out and glasses off, having taken a sleeping pill, ready for sleep...but since my new-found-re-dedication to the project I had to do something to keep the hot streak of 13 days going! This is as festive as I can get for Christmas really, two strings of indoor lights and a small tree. I can't see storing all the stuff you need to decorate and the idea of getting up on a ladder outdoors to hang lights on roofs and trees and bushes just seems ridiculous to me (although I think people's house look pretty when they do it). Please note the current attempt to keep Fergus away from the tree. I have parked the dreaded vacuum cleaner directly in front of it to scare him away! It's been moderately effective so far since I have only had to back the threat up 3 times by actually turning it on.

Green Market

Late this afternoon, I decided my chocolate craving had gone far enough and I popped down to our mini-town to get a chocolate ice cream cone at Walter's. While nearby, I decided to stop into the Green Market which is our closest food market but it's a tiny, adorable, organic, expensive food market! So it's great for last minute things (like a beet to roast for dinner or a delicious salted pretzel) but not for real grocery shopping. Still, it's a cute neighborhood place and I hope it stays in business.

Morning Light

Somewhere around 8:30, beautiful warm morning light began pouring in. The light is good here.

I love the way our old living room looked, but this place is so much better for us.

Later today, Fergus was eating the Christmas tree again when it all toppled to the floor and in the process he broke my new-to-me vintage blue bowl. :(

Blurry but Beautiful

I like this little fake tree we are borrowing. It's pretty and just the right size for our house.

Today's big accomplishment was that I made myself a new pair of pyjamas from an old pair of J's pyjamas, which I also made. Or, as I was giddily saying all night "I made pyjamas myself from pyjamas that I also made myself!" The fabric is rather masculine but at least I feel thrifty and clever (if a bit boyish) wearing them.

Tree!

I finally decided to get festive and put up some Christmas lights and a little tree. I borrowed the tree from a friend since we don't do one every year and I don't want to store one. Fergus will not leave it alone! He wants to chew on the fake branches! This cat is going to be the death of me. We moved it to a few different locations hoping to find one that would outsmart him but alas... You'll note the pretty blue bowl has yet to be smashed into a thousand pieces...

Warmth

No matter where we move this lamp to, it doesn't take him very long to find it and figure out how to sleep under it.

Obligatory Christmas Bokeh I

The houses across the street this year are a lot more festive than last year's. It's kind of nice to look at and it's beginning to put me in a Christmas mood.

Barley Tube

I am sewing again, or starting to. Today I took three attempts to make the world's worst draft stopper (akak barley tube) before it all got cut up and put in the trash (the fabric, not the tube). Who knew it would be so difficult to find a pattern or instructions for a double draft stopper? I couldn't find anything online so I had to reason it out myself. These are my handwritten instructions. Also, I kept singing "Barley Tube, Barley Tube, does whatever a Barley Tube does! Can it stop a cold draft?  I dunno cause it's not done. Baaar, leeee, toooo, ooob!" to the tune of Spider Man. I'm a freak, I know. I've decided to start being more myself in this blog.

Toothbrushes

A good checkup for me today, yay! Also, a late night shot just to keep my current streak of 5 days going.

Untitled

The one and only frame I shot today.

Cat in a Quilt

He didn't exactly crawl under the quilt entirely on his own but he was too tired to do anything about being covered up and photographed.

Toast Pillow!!

Today the awesomest thing ever happened. Michelle spontaneously invited me to go to the Urban Craft Uprising. I said, "sure!", but didn't plan on buying much in my current state of minimalism. It's a huge craft fair in the Seattle Center so it's like going into a school auditorium filled with craft booths...times 1000!

When we arrived I said to Todd, "Let me know if you happen to spot a booth called Wunder Thunder!" We browsed around for a few hours and as we were nearing the end, Michelle tapped me on the shoulder and said, "I think you'd like that toast pillow over there!"

I turned and (probably) exclaimed something and then (possibly) shoved some old ladies and pregnant women out of my way because nothing gets between me and my mega-quest for THE TOAST PILLOW!!! I had seen this pillow a year or two ago and had always loved it but I was in hardcore purge mode and it was a little pricey so I always passed it up. But I couldn't stop thinking about it!

And just a few weeks ago I went looking for it again since my mom had asked me for one more small item to add to my Christmas list. Sadly, when I researched the Toast Pillow...I found out that it had been discontinued despite a cult following and there would be no more made. :( I don't have to tell you what my face looked like when I read that (see above).

So, you can understand why I basically screamed, ran to the Toast Pillow, grabbed it, handed the Wunder Thunder people my credit card, and then jumped up and down like a crazy person shouting "Oh my god, oh my god,oh my god, TOAST PILLLOW!" for the next 5 minutes. They thought I was insane, Michelle probably thought I was having some sort of seizure, but well...when the stars align to bring me something adorable that I thought was impossible...you know me.

Morning Moon

Up early. I love being up early.

Sparkly Things to Cheer You Up

Worked today, newborn session, little girl. I kicked ass and left on a total high feeling great about myself and how awesome I am. If only that feeling could last (at least in small measure) for more than a couple of hours! I wore this ring today on my right hand. I love this ring even though it's not really my style. It was my Aunt Irene's (I believe) and putting it on makes me feel a little bit sparkly throughout the day. I suppose that's like most of my various Aunts' jewelry.

Break

Well, there you have it folks. My largest break from the photo-a-day-project since I started it. November in general was not too stellar. I just didn't care. But, when I realized that I had missed an entire week...well...

I will make an effort to keep doing it, whether I care at the moment or not. Because ultimately, I'd rather this journal paint as complete a picture of my daily life as possible.

Today, December 2, I went to the thrift store and even though I wasn't looking for this, I scored this awesome mid-century-looking blue bowl! I bought it as a treat to myself and because I thought it was a great thrift-store find. On December 13, Fergus broke it while trying to eat our Christmas tree. So, it had a very very short life in our house and never even got used. Sigh.

Thanksgiving

We had the world's most low-key Thanksgiving holiday EVER. So today I suppose I am thankful for being able to run the turkey trot for the third year in a row, spending the extra time this week with my husband, stress-free holidays, simple food, and two good friends to share it with.

A very small part of me missed the big production of it all because it doesn't really feel like we had a "Thanksgiving!" You know? But I am sure there are still many years ahead that we can do the whole stressful production and then I will be writing about how I wished we could just stay home and eat dinner!

Why?

Yesterday we didn't leave the house. Today we ventured out for ice cream, of all things! We needed it for the apple crumble for tomorrow's Thanksgiving.

Snow!

We woke up to the mostly lovely dusting of snow. It was a surprise, well to me at least since I don't watch or read the local news any more. I told J that he should work from home but he was good and trudged in anyway.

Fast forward 8 hours and there were 6 inches of snow, it was the most freezing cold night with howling winds, and he was stuck at the office because all of the Seattle roads were a complete nightmare (from the snow, ice, and the drivers on the snow and ice!)

After today, we had a lucky week and were "snowed in" all the way up to the Thanksgiving holiday. So even though we were both working at home, it was so nice to have him here all day.

Vancouver

It had been three years since I'd been to Vancouver and it wasn't until after we got home this time and I looked up my old blog posts that I remembered that I had been sort of "meh" re: Vancouver the last time we went. Apparently since the Winter Olympics were held this year, the city's homeless problem has gotten a lot worse. It had a very different feel to last time. There were aggressive drug addicts begging everywhere and lots of places that should have been fine made me feel unsafe. Walking the streets was not very relaxing. Last night after dinner, we were asked by a man to go into a convenience tore to buy him some bread and peanut butter. We couldn't say no, and I was happy to buy him food, except that the process made me really nervous as my NY instincts told me this was just a setup for some terrible mugging. It worked out ok though. But all night and day I walked the streets very nervously and clinging to J's arm which I never really did except on occasion in NY.

Vancouver

New favorite shot in a long time! J and I took a one night super mini vacation up to Vancouver. There was snow on the drive up and snow in the city when we arrived so I was a bit of a nervous wreck. Went to dinner at an amazing place, Salt Tasting Room, and I had corned beef (for the first time) and a vin jaune that were both revelations!

Last time in Vancouver