Montevallo (And A Flower)

Hello hello hello! Yesterday's trip to the University of Montevallo was tons of fun, and I found out that as a GRC student, I'm eligible to take a free class this summer! Whoot! Here are the few shots I got on campus. We were supposed to have a walking tour, but it was raining!

One of the brochures they gave me... I like the purple and yellow swirls:

There were many of these chandeliers in the dining hall where we had lunch. I remember being there several years ago for a dinner where my mom received some sort of award.

Finally, a nice picture of our tulips. (This was taken at home, obviously.) And I even got the perennially (haha) unphotographable red one in the background!

Part of a handout from our Gifted Ed coordinator. The first question it said I should ask myself is "Why do I want to go college?" Um... that's why.

At lunch we had FANCY Jello! (And yes, Ms. Tina, I know what Jello is made of.)

These photos are actually of my Emily-twin's Jello, since I started eating mine before I remembered to take pictures.

Today I took only 2 photos, both of this beautiful Tropicana rose in the front yard. When I got home from school, the light was hitting it perfectly:

Today is day NINETY; that means there are only 10 more days until day ONE HUNDRED! Any ideas for a special shot to commemorate the day?

Mostly Macro

See what I did there? It's alliterative. Mrs. Nolen would be proud. Say, what day is it? Tuesday? Sure doesn't feel like it. Anyway, the photos!

This is what Sunday looks like when you spend all evening editing an old image to upload as a filler and realize at the last minute that you haven't taken any actual photos THAT DAY. So before you plug your phone in, you grab this sorry excuse for a shot:

Monday rolled around, and I felt that it was time for another sheet music shot. This didn't make the cut for the day, but I like it. It's a song we haven't begun working on yet, called "A Symphony of the Heart" or something to that effect.

It struck me long about fourth period that this necklace could make some pretty awesome photos, and by seventh period I finally got around to trying it. First, atop my journal:

Then (I LOVE this!), hanging out of my new black purse:

Purse strap, pencil, and journal. Just playing with the focus.

The zipper pull on my purse. At one point in my life, I knew what "YKK" is for. Alas, I have forgotten!

Lele, of "Into the Unknown" fame, is taking AP history this year, so she's pretty much constantly studying.

The necklace hanging from my purse so inspired me that I had to try dangling OTHER things, like earbuds.

This is TERRIBLY photographed, but I wanted to show you guys the cover that Benji designed. It's not like, the OFFICIAL cover or anything - just an idea. But I kinda like it! (He seems to have a thing with circles.)

I had to ask Brian to move his (rather large) feet so they wouldn't be in this shot. It's the eleventh grade literature textbook under a desk.

I'm in Honors Pre-Cal, so we did these a few weeks ago, but a friend of mine is in the regular class and they've just started them. She finds these little graphs annoying, but I like them.

Another book heart, I know. This is Heat Wave by Richard Castle. (It's put out by the people who write the TV show! I really enjoy it.)

Betsy's jacket string was dangling from her backpack after school today:

Just a close-up of my purse strap. I like the braided detail:

I was going for a heart, but this came out more like a spade! Anyone for a game of cards??

That's all for today, folks. See ya tomorrow, when I shall have some lovely university shots. (I'm going on a field trip with the other gifted and talented students to the University of Montevallo.)

Camp (and Jello)

Happy Sunday, everybody. Here are Friday's and Saturday's photos.

First, the Jello. I love it when we have Jello at lunch, especially red.

My hands are way too shaky for this to ever be in focus.

After school we came home and had about fifteen minutes to finish packing for camp. Then we headed over to a fellow Girl Scout's house so her mom could drive us there. Their yard is a photographer's dream!

Andreia thought I was odd for taking this one... but honestly, I'm used to that by now!

This pine cone is ENORMOUS! It's like, six inches tall!

I like the dark feel to this one... and that mysterious red light intrigues me. I think it's from the car.

When we arrived at camp, after unloading our bags, my troop decided to take a walk to the nature center and hang out on the dock out back.

There were many interesting plants growing nearby, and lots of spiderwebs!

This is Lake Alice, at sunset. Beautiful, eh?

Me being who I am, I couldn't ignore this cute little nail.

More macro. What can I say? It's my favorite!

This hinge looks like it's barely holding on.

The sky was so pretty, and how could I resist those bare trees?

Dinner time! We roasted hot dogs, and then marshmallows for s'mores.

The younger girls really enjoyed cooking over the fire, and they were quite content to let me take pictures!

Fast-forward to breakfast, where Kirsten discovered this gem among our fruit selection. It looked like three strawberries fused together!

These were growing on the driveway up to our cabins.

The gumballs were everywhere! Betsy tells me this picture is freaky, but I like it.

In the morning, the water was very calm and allowed me to get this pretty photo of the bridge to Seminole Island.

And there's me, hanging over the edge! I love to play with reflections.

This was on a ladder at the climbing wall. I've never made it past about 8 feet before, but yesterday I made it all the way to the top - over fifty feet! I was so proud of myself.

Around noon, though, the sky started getting darker and the wind picked up.

My group was supposed to go for a hike, but we didn't want to get caught in the rain.

So we just took a little mini-hike on a shortcut we know from the pool to one of the lodges.

We made Kelsey go first, to clear the spiderwebs from the stairs!

After a little while, we made it back. We were staying in Creek, because another camp program was using Chickasaw.

Our final activity would have been a craft. They were making headbands with all kinds of cute beads and buttons to decorate.

Our troop leader wanted us to leave early, though, because if a tornado warning was issued (and we were already under a watch by then), we wouldn't be allowed to leave camp.

So Betsy and I just spent a little time watching the younger girls work. Some of them had a real eye for color!

When I got home, I discovered that our dogs had had a little too much fun with Clifford the Big Red Dog. This is poor Clifford's ear...!

This falls under the category of no-story-here-I-just-thought-it-was-pretty. It's the cup we use to scoop dog food.

This was actually taken this morning. I know it's blurry but it's so cute! Mr. Baggins, Daisy, and Frank all piled into the same bed next to the dryer.

That'll do it for now! See you all later with more fabulousness.