Snow and Tell

I just finished a weekend in which I worked over 12 hours. I finished the deliverable on which I was churning, and decided to take the evening "off". I read about 45 posts about snow. To make myself feel better about my lost weekend, I thought I would mention that tomorrow is forecast to be 45 F and sunny.

In other news, I just found the app Instagram last week. Why did I not know about this before? I am totally obsessed. If you have an iphone you should be too. In fact, go download it now (it's free) and then tell me so I can follow your pictures.

Walks

I have been hearing a bit from my mother that I am not posting enough pictures. So:

I took Ian and Mira on a couple of walks last week, downtown and around the neighborhood. It was super fun (and not raining!) though at some point Mira always insists that I carry her.

I love this because it reminds me of some photos of me at this age.

No walk around the block is complete without a snack cup.

Mira remains exceptionally hard to photograph. She never sits still for a picture.

Proud

I was fiddling with some piece of my blog the other day, and clicked over to the color photos page. Scrolling slowly through the pictures, I felt something unexpected: pride. Not only are these photos that I like, but I feel good about them as a photographer. In fact, this is one of the things I am most proud of from 2010. I feel a little strange writing that, given that I know so many fantastic photographers. But what is honest is that while not always as technically perfect as others' work, my photographs strongly reflect my personality and point of view. Looking at these color photos gives you a little glimpse at how I see things. I have the urge to explain the me in each picture, but I will let explanation go for today.

January (Orange)

February (Gray)

March (Brown)

April (Pink)

May (Purple)

June (Black)

Despite my good feelings about this project and my pictures, photography is something I have mostly put aside as the demands of work and family press on me in mostly wonderful (but still noticeable) ways. I want to pick up my big heavy camera and wander the streets or chase after the little oddities I see. (Strangely, the documentary Exit Through The Gift Shop kind of intensified that urge. If you have not seen it I urge you to check it out.)

I still have the eye, but I don't have the time. I have been limited to doing what I can with the iphone camera (and its wonderful apps), but I still yearn for more camera time. I have decided to buy a 50mm lens with some birthday money that came my way and was a little sad I hadn't already gotten one in time to take to SF last weekend. No matter. (But if you use a nikon slr and have a 50mm you like, tell me about it. I am still looking.)

July (Red)

August (Green)

September (Yellow)

October (Blue)

November (White)

By the way, I didn't forget December. This was always envisioned as an 11 month project, as I figured I might be kind of busy in December. Good thing I didn't have any sense of how busy, or I might never have started this. 

Laugh Now

On my last day off with the kids I took Ian and Mira on some errands and then out to lunch. Ian sought out this graffiti covered wall.

I so love that Portland graffiti says things like "laugh now."

Ian was so taken with this wall that when our lunch arrived he did not
want to sit down.

And yes, he is wearing purple pants with pink hearts. Wearing them well, I'd say.

For my pal Ellen, while it is still her birthday*

Happy birthday to one of my favorite people!

(This photo would only be better if you were wearing a fake mustache)

 *I would have posted earlier but we were at a lovely dinner at her brother's place, enjoying wonderful food, charming company and my animated attempts to pantomime due to laryngitis. I am sure the prosecco made that last part seem totally hilarious. 

I could eat them up

Little Mama, Kitchen Edition

I think I may have mentioned before that when I was a kid my mother would sometimes say of herself, "I'm just a little mommy." It usually came up when she could not meet some demand as my sister and I wished (which is to say, immediately and perfectly). As an adult I understood that my mom was telling us that she was a real (and like everyone, imperfect) person and my sister and I should cut her some slack. 

I sometimes employ the "little mommy" moniker. Ada is too young to really understand what it means, but tonight we had the following conversation:

Ada: You are a little mama and Papa is a big papa.

Me: Oh yeah?

Ada: Yeah, that's because he is big and you are smaller than him. And you can't cook.

I'd argue with her, but then I might be expected to hold up my end of the cooking duties around here.

Not Dead, Just Older

In November and December I worked myself like crazy on some projects that ended with the close of 2010. I have a lot more to do, but for a moment I have a little breather in which I am not working every night after the kids are in bed, and not feeling compelled to check in on email even when I am with my family. After doing a little work (that needed to be done, and done by me) on the first day of my vacation, I put down the blackberry and didn't pick it up again until Sunday.

It was very relaxing, if you don't count the normal chaos of life with three kids, which feels like this, in a good way:

Oh, and I turned 39. Here is my birthday self-portrait:

I am still sorting through pictures, but will try to post some others soon. Even some taken with an actual camera, maybe.

Oh, and lest you think we did not enjoy the rest of our holiday, evidence that Ada was in a good mood:

and, in one of my prouder moments, my almost unspeakably awesome contribution to Chris' extended family's Christmas Eve white elephant exchange:

In case you can't read the text, it says: 40 Individual Intimate Moments with Joel and Kathy Davisson (issued by SxveOxrChrxstianMxrriage.com).