March 6th

Wednesday, March 6th, 2019

Like I mentioned yesterday, the sun’s position in the sky is beginning to make significant progress.

I’m actually able to see the sunrise from bed again!

Finn enjoys it too. 🙂

February 13th

Wednesday, February 13th, 2019

Not the most artistic photo by any means, but it’s real life.

Colt’s “I’m dying I’m so hungry it feels like I haven’t eaten in dayssss feed me my supper” routine has really hit its pinnacle.

February 5th

Tuesday, February 5th, 2019

I attempted to photograph a self portrait with Colt today and it was just short of a disaster, so here’s one of just him instead.

Colt is a pretty laid back cat. Not much scares him, and if something does he’s quick to forgive and relax again. He’s got about one of the sweetest faces, and in real life he rarely looks alarmed.

…..except for when he’s in front of the camera and then he proceeds to put on his freak face. So add me in the mix and it looks like my presence is pure torture for him. He even looks somewhat terrified in this picture and I’m not anywhere near him.

It’s one of those weird things. Oh well, it adds to Colt’s hilarity 🙂

January 22nd

Tuesday, January 22nd, 2019

Have you ever played hide and seek with a cat?

If you haven’t, you’re missing out.

KB is the queen of hide and seek, and we played it a lot this morning.

Stephanie and I are tag-teaming kitty sitting this week while Tanner and Christine are in Cancun (lucky ducks), and this morning I packed a bag to hang out over there to get some work done (kitty sitting perk: Wifi!). I intended on hanging out for a few hours, and once I had settled in and essentially ignored her for a bit, her interest was peaked – she decided I wasn’t so bad, even if I wasn’t mom or dad. Giving her her food this morning definitely helped my case. 😉

Then it was like a light switch – she brought me toys, stood on my laptop because I wasn’t giving her enough attention, snuggled, and baited me into those many games of hide and seek.

She won most of the time. I’d have a bead on her and be ready for the victory, and then I’d pounce and she’d be gone – she would already be behind me. I shouldn’t be surprised because she is a cat, but she got me every time.

January 13th

Sunday, January 13th, 2019

This sweet babe has been attached at the hip to us ever since we got home.

While it’s endearing and sweet, it’s also gotten to be a bit annoying.

But he’s cute, so I’ll forgive him. 😉

January 1st, 2019

Tuesday, January 1st, 2019

Here we are my friends. Year three.

What does that mean for me here?

Not much really. We’ll just keep chugging along and see where life takes us.

Last year, I added in the challenge of self portraits (some with pets too), and while I don’t normally enjoy being in front of the camera I actually I really loved taking self portraits.

I gave myself really loose parameters – I believe I hoped to do one once a week – and I know there were some times that I went much longer than that, but I also enjoyed that side of it too. The idea that I kept myself accountable to completing them, but I didn’t hold myself to a strict timetable. I did them as they felt right and felt necessary, which was perfect.

And having self portraits with my animals? Treasures for sure. Especially after losing Burke this spring; I used the tool of self portraits to work through grief (the day he died), but also to bring comfort and joy back to my heart when missing him (seeing his interaction with me from the camera’s viewpoint). It makes looking back a little more bearable when I’m in the image with him.

So I believe that will be another project I bring with into 2019 as well.

One thing I may add to my self portrait venture is throwing Paul into the mix. I have some great images of the two of us that I took both last year and the year before, and I treasure them. There’s a place for selfies, but I always come back to the images of us from my actual camera. So maybe trying to do one of Paul and me once a month? Paul, what say you? 🙂

I’m not making any personal goals or resolutions this year, not sticking to any particular theme of growth. Perhaps just continuing on with this project is goal enough.

I guess you’ll just have to follow along, and we’ll find out together!

December 28th

Friday, December 28th, 2018

I don’t normally title my images for this project, but today’s image begged for one:

”Life with Cats.”

If you live with indoor cats, you probably either just laughed out loud, or smiled fondly and nodded along. Why you may ask?

Because cats are weird.

That became very very evident to us within 24 hours of our boys coming to live with us. They sleep in weird positions in weird places, one minute they demand for you to pet them and the next it’s offensive that you even looked their direction, their hunting instinct can turn in and off in mere instants (like when they see toes under the covers), they have a very strange obsession with boxes, their idea of deep love is slow blinking at you from across the room, and their habits can be befuddling (like the way Colt gets offended when you shower or go to the bathroom without him).

Unlike most dogs, they’re independent. Which is what I love and appreciate about them. They never fail to make me smile with their goofiness, and they add so much light to our home.

Like this afternoon, when I went to make our bed after washing the sheets. I walked past the door of our master bathroom to Finn conked our on our bath mat. He has never slept there before, and giggled to myself and I shook my head at him because it’s always something.

After thinking about it, I realized that we have an air vent that comes out there, so he was laying on our memory foam mat in front of the warm air. Smarty pants.

I started photographing from the ground, but was unhappy with the results. That’s when I realized that I usually look down at him, so to get an accurate account of what was happening, that’s what I needed to do.

The clean, bright whites contrasting the dark mat and dark spots of Finn’s coat was perfect. Including the mirror in my composition was on purpose; the reflection makes you stop and think about what’s happening. It gives you pause and I liked that. Had I not included it, the image would’ve felt too “easy.”

Do you have cats? Where is their favorite napping spot?

December 13th

Thursday, December 13th, 2018

I was doing some work on my website tonight when I looked over and basically melted into a puddle.

I love having happy animals, so seeing moments like this are so fulfilling for me. Happy boys, happy brothers, relaxed and content to spend their evening on the couch with me (and each other!).

So much love for these goons.

November 28th

Wednesday, November 28th, 2018

Want to know a funny little fact about Paul and my marriage?

We don’t have designated sides of the bed.

At home, Paul always sleeps on the left, and me on the right. If we’re not sleeping in our own bed though, that isn’t always the way it is.

Paul insists on sleeping on the side of the bed that faces the door. So at home, that means left side. At a hotel or AirBNB, that may mean right side (On top of all other things he is to me, protector is definitely near the top of the list).

Why does this even matter? Well, because that means I always get the window side, and this morning when I opened my eyes to this amazing sunset (with Colt looking on, haha!), I was in awe and thankful that this was what I woke up to.

Quite the way to start the day.

October 29th

Monday, October 29th, 2018

It’s National Cat Day, so here’s a snapshot of the two felines that light up our lives!

October 13th

Saturday, October 13th, 2018

If you haven’t seen Ferdinand, what on earth are you waiting for?!

I don’t have favorite movies; in fact, movies aren’t really my thing at all. I prefer TV shows for their ongoing plots and character connections.

But I love Ferdinand. The messages throughout the movie are those of authenticity, individuality, kindness, and belonging.

Ferdinand was born a fighting bull. He was the outcast because all of the other calves wanted to fight and win honor in the ring of the Matador, but all he wanted was to take care of his flowers. After his dad was chosen to fight the Matador, and ended up not coming home, Ferdinand runs away. He finds a beautiful new home full of flowers, joy, love, and peace. I don’t want to ruin the movie, so I won’t say specifics, but he does have to confront his past again as an adult, and it’s all about his journey.

My absolute favorite part of the movie, and really hit me as the most important (I remember I felt like it hit me over the head), was when Ferdinand helped a friend and after being thanked, he says “Oh, its ok. Anyway, it wasn’t a big deal.” His friend simply replies: “Well, it was for me.”

I could watch this movie on repeat; I just love it.

And as an added bonus, anytime I turn it on, Finn LOVES to watch. He doesn’t do this with any movie except this one. So that’s saying something.

September 13th

Thursday, September 13th, 2018

At our house, we’ve come to accept that our cats have favorites.

Finn is my cat, Colt is Paul’s.

The love still flows all ways, but it’s still fairly obvious that there are preferences. When Paul leaves for a trip, Colt gets all mopey while Finn turns on the charm. Finn is my best buddy; it’s almost like he knows Paul is gone, so he steps up for me. He’ll follow me around the house, he’s more vocal, is a major snuggle baby (he’ll nap in my lap!), and slow blinks at me a lot (how a cat conveys contentment and love, so I always slow blink back 🙂 ). He’s still happy when Paul comes home (lots of head bunts and deep purrs), but not like Colt is.

Colt flops and cries and purrs and head bunts and rubs all over him. Paul leans down to pet him, and Colt leeeeans into his hand, closes his eyes…and smiles. No joke.

So while I love them both equally, I have a little soft spot in my heart for Finn. Especially since he isn’t usually a fan of when new people come to visit (cue the flee and hide), so it makes me appreciate his love for us even more.

I was cleaning the house this afternoon, carrying totes downstairs into storage, when I walked past our guest bedroom. The side of the bed closest to the window has always been one of Finn’s favorite napping spots, so much so that we put a special blanket on the bed just for him, but for some reason today it really made me smile.