Snap Photo Challenge

At the beginning of 2012, I was remembering good ol' Myspace... I think some people still have a Myspace actually, but I cancelled my account over 5 years ago.  Well, I was remembering the photography contests I used to participate in.  I remember one was called Shutterbug.  Made me think about how I missed being "forced" to take photos...

Good ol' Instagram came along and gave me a reason to start taking more photos again.  It's exciting to share photos, getting "likes" and comments and I also love looking at all the other amazing photos that other photographers post.  I soon noticed that some people were creating "Photo-a-day" challenges.

how.fun.is.that?

I joined and tried to keep up with the totally random daily challenges.  It was fun but there was no satisfaction or recognition in it really.

so...

I thought I'd try my hand at creating my own contest... but, in Facebook instead...

On February 16th 2012, I created a page called "SNAP PHOTO CHALLENGE"

I rounded up a bunch of my snap happy friends and got them to join and little by little I've picked up a few more people here and there.

I have to say, if you don't already know, I have a short attention span when it come to little projects.  I jump from one thing to another in a matter of months.  I have actually stuck to this for 16 months! I post a new challenge every Tuesday and Friday and the members of Snap Photo Challenge vote for their favorite picture and the one with them most votes, wins.

wins what?

Well.... nothing.  Well yes... they win recognition.  I find that that is just enough to keep them motivated to continue participating.  That and well, I think they enjoy being competitive.

Here are some of my favorite photos that I used as an example for some of the challenges:

2012-02-21 Challenge: Automobile

2012-03-16 Challenge: Architecture

20132-03-20 Challenge: Macro

2012-03-23 Challenge: Texture

2012-04-24 Challenge: Book

2012-04-20 Challenge: Water Drop

2012-04-27 Challenge: Music

2012-05-01 Challenge: Things You Love

2012-05-11 Challenge: Mom

2012-06-05 Challenge: Black & White

2012-09-14 Challenge: Web

2012-10-12 Challenge: Orange

2012-10-19 Challenge: Candy

2012-11-09 Challenge: Reflection

2012-11-27 Challenge: Hand

2013-02-08 Challenge: Morning

2013-04-12 Challenge: Wings

2013-04-19 Challenge: Vanishing Point

2013-04-26 Challenge: Swing

2013-05-24 Challenge: Small

2013-07-26 Challenge: Night

2013-07-30 Challenge: Baby

I hope to continue on strong with this fun project of mine and I hope more people continue to join and participate! :)

Goodbye 30's...

We've had some really good times,

We've had some really bad times.

I cried a lot,

but I laughed a lot too.

I've given in to some things,

and I've fought harder for others.

I've learned that turning 40 is not old,

It's mature and can be quite sexy!

I'm learning to forgive myself,

and to be honest with myself...

I've learned to stand up,

and speak up!

I've learned that experiences hold more value,

and materialistic things fade.

I've learned that I love "giving",

but that doesn't necessarily mean that "I'll be getting".

I've learned to let go of the bad in my life,

In order to make room for the good...

I've learned that when I'm not at my best,

My family suffers...

I've learned to live intentionally,

Not to just "exist"...

I've learned that turning 40 brings me freedom,

and some things aren't as important anymore...

I've learned that it's okay to be me,

and people can either love it or leave it.

I've learned that forgiving others,

Feels so much better than holding grudges.

I've learned that no matter how nice I am,

Some people may not like me and that's okay...

I've learned that acts of kindness,

go a long way.

I've learned that failure sucks!

But not trying is worse...

I learned I have the power to BELIEVE,

and the choice to be HAPPY!

So CHEERS to me! I've reached the top of the hill...

I think it's time to make my way up a mountain!

Disconnected

We were about a block away from home yesterday when I realized I left my phone charging on the kitchen counter.  We were on our way to a movie and then to get some dinner so I knew that I'd be without it for quite a few hours.  My hubs offered to turn back... We were only one block away.

I had a quick flashback to when there were no cell phones.  We'd leave our home and be completely disconnected from everybody that wasn't with us.  I also thought about how that made it possible to be completely, undividedly, dedicated to the person/people you were with... no distractions, no alerts, no posts, no emails, no games nudging you to take your turn....

"Nope," I said to my hubs.... "I.don't.need.it"

My cousin's hubby told me about a fun exercise he heard about... Go out to eat with friends and everyone puts their cell phones in the middle of the table.  Whoever gives in and picks up their phone first, also picks up the tab!! LOL! I thought that was a brilliant idea!  My hubby, yeah, not so much...

Getting back to last night... The movie we picked was Jack Reacher starring Tom Cruise.  I don't love the dude but I really do enjoy his movies.  So, then, I guess that means I like him...?  Oh and I do have to make a note that I checked the parent guide in IMDb and I wish I would have read it more carefully because I really felt guilty about taking Ethan to see that. (Ethan is 10yrs old)  About half-way through the movie, I made him dim the light on his 3DS and play video games for the rest of the movie... (and no, nothing distracts him when he's playing video games so it was fine)  I thought the violence should have been scored more at an 8/10 not a 6/10.   Lesson learned... ok!  No spoiler here really, just that the character, Jack, talks about how he is completely disconnected from everyone and everything.  He lives his life, day by day with no cell phone or computer and feels that he is the one who is "free"... and the rest of us are not free at all.  I gotta say, in my opinion, he's right!

Okay so I wouldn't want to be completely disconnected like Jack Reacher.  I like my phone and I like my computer and I like feeling connected to some people on a daily basis.


Question:  Being that I was only a block away from home... if it was you, would you have turned back for your phone?  Have you ever been "disconnected"?  For how long?

Canyon Lake

The end of summer vacation is nearing! So bummed! I feel like I ran out of time to do things with my boys.  The weather forecast for yesterday read that we were going to be having thunderstorms.  The weather is kind of tricky in Arizona.  They might say we are having a storm and it'll sprinkle for about 5 minutes and it's done.  Mother nature loves to leave us longing for more!

I'm an Arizona native so I know that a few clouds doesn't mean a thing! We packed up some lunches and headed to Canyon Lake.  It's been years since I've been there on a weekend.  It's gets packed pretty quick and we got a late start but we were fortunate enough to score the last picnic table under one of the ramadas.

Watching the kids splash around in the water brings back so many memories of my childhood.  My parents used to take me there before my little brother was born (we are 8 years apart). I've always loved the water and I was never fearful of venturing out a little deeper than I should.  My mom would get so scared so my father decided to tell me that there were sharks in the lake and they would get me if I went out too far. That story stayed with me until I was 19yrs old when my hubs (he was my boyfriend at that time) laughed and told me there were no sharks in this man-made lake! I felt like an idiot.  Daughters always want to believe what their daddy's tell them.........

 We arrived around noon yesterday, just in time to eat our lunch.  It was slightly cloudy until about 2pm.

More clouds started to roll in and it started to get a bit windy.  The boys didn't seem to mind at all because the waves picked up too!

After a couple of hours of swimming and unsuccessful fishing, we decided to head out when we spotted some lightening east of us.  I was hoping to get some good shots on our drive down the windy mountain before the rain caught up to us.

My goal was to get some daytime lightening shots.  I pulled over when we got by the beautiful Superstition mountains just outside of Canyon Lake.  The sky to the west of us was glowing light but the sky to the east of us was quickly turning black.

I waited here for about 10 minutes, hoping for some lightening........ Score!

Drove down a little ways and ran across this little church... it was starting to rain, lightly, but the rain drops were huge!

You can see here that the rain was sweeping its way across the Superstition Mountains as they are hardly visible anymore!

Monsoon season in Arizona is so beautiful.  Besides the Fall season (which doesn't last very long), I have to say monsoon season is definitely my favorite!

What's your favorite season where you live?

Such-a-Quitter!

Yes I admit it! I'm a quitter... or, is it considered quitting or just putting it on the back burner til it peaks my interest again?

What am I talking about? Everything.... photography, painting, drawing, sewing, crafts, jewelry, cooking, fashion, nail art, scrapbooks, pretty much everything artsy that I've jam packed my craft room with. When I discover something new, it completely envelopes me and shortly after, I'm moving on to the next thing. But I do have to state, that eventually I circle back to my other hobbies.

 

So here I am, attempt number "Quatro" at blogging.  I quickly grew annoyed by my other blog's name.  I hated saying it and I hated having to spell it out.  I also think it was hard for people to remember.  I wanted it to be simple and I decided that I didn't want my name in the title of my blog.  I needed a new name and there is one that has stuck with me for the past three days... Hello Monday.  How did I come up with that?  I get a bit impatient when I get an idea. I'm not the type of person that says, "I'll start Monday" or "Maybe next Monday".  Monday's always seem to be the best day to start something for most people even though it's the most hated day of the week.  Fortunately for me, I'm a SAHM so I can start any day... So today, is my Monday!

So out on a limb I go!  I'm posting to nobody and hoping that somebody finds my little corner and becomes my first new follower.

I promise to share with you my roller coaster life with photography projects and jobs, art projects, new discoveries, holiday crafts, and everything in between.

Cheers ;o)