Happy Easter!

Hi there, folks! Happy Easter. I hope the Easter Bunny brought you chocolate, and jellybeans, and Peeps. Oh gosh, Peeps. *drools* Anyway... photographs. Some Friday and some today, but none yesterday - even my project photo was taken with my phone.

Aw!! Frank is just too cute. (As for Aunt Sherie's legs? ...)

I thought these would make a pretty cool desktop background:

Maybe this would, too. It wouldn't focus the way I wanted, though (what else is new?).

The dry, brown bits here used to be pretty pink flowers. *sigh*

Bird feeder! It's kinda blurry because I apparently quake for no reason and NEED A TRIPOD.

The sunlight on these leaves... *blissful sigh* It just takes my breath away.

Frank seems to be totally unaware that he is being photographed...

...but what's this? Has he spotted us?

Yes. Holy crap. Run for your lives!!

Gaaahhhhh I love this so much. If it weren't for that stupid challenge that I hate more and more every day, this would DEFINITELY be my project photo for the day. Remind me to use it as a filler soon.

And now we're on to Friday! (I do them backwards sometimes just to keep you guys on your toes.) The theme Friday was "nature," which made me so so so happy. Spring = awesome nature photos!

 I've seen shots like this before and while I don't think mine is nearly as good as some I've seen, I do like that one little petal sticking out the wrong way.

Stupid camera, even with the exposure compensation turned all the way down, it still makes red things look bad.

Another shot taken with my desktop in mind:

This cute little wild flower was growing in the front yard, though I doubt it's still there after mom mowed.

Until tomorrow, mes amis! (When I must photograph something that makes me sad... *sigh*)

Pseudo-Friday!

There's no school tomorrow, so today was a bit like having Friday come early! My 30Days challenge today was to sneak a picture in class, which I utterly failed to do. I kind of forgot about it until sixth period, during which I was at the National English Honor Society induction ceremony. And then the ones I took when I went back to class weren't exactly snuck. Sneaked? I like snuck. But I kinda did it! Look!

Here's a strawberry - I had to redo my first strawberry shot with a lower exposure compensation because cameras in general seem to fail at red stuff.

This one WAS sneaked. Emily hates to have her picture taken, but her fingernails are so cute! Clouds! :D

Benjamin, one of the 53 new members of NEHS, wore his bow tie for the occasion (and his Doctor Who button, of course).

I have another version of this shot where Ben is making a normal face, but I like this one better. The other people in the picture are Kasey, who is rather short, and Sam, who is rather tall. And yes, that is a Sonic Screwdriver in Ben's hand. I love that boy. :)

That last one was taken with the "Museum" setting, which I use for everything because it tends to white balance the best, but for this one I switched to Portrait - and boy, am I glad! The colors are a lot warmer in this shot, in which the aforementioned trio are joined by Brian and Mareth.

So, no school tomorrow! My challenge is to photograph NATURE, which is going to be a breeze. I'm glad I'm doing this challenge in the spring! Look out for a multitude of flower photos!

A Lot of Shoes and Junk...

 Thanks, Betsy, for the title. :D

I'm not feeling very wordy today, so my descriptions shall be brief. Behold, Monday through Wednesday:

Billy's shoe. I kinda freaked him out by taking this.

It's Sara - OVEREXPOSED! We were at the honor roll reception.

I was supposed to photograph hair products yesterday, so here's a lame photo of my shampoo.

The postmark on a letter from Princeton. They want me, but I'm leaning toward Yale.

I eventually gave up on the shampoo and started photographing this flower.

Today we had an induction ceremony for French Honor Society (there were FIVE WHOLE new members!), so we had cake. Holy snood, I love cake.

Today's object: pets. Here's Daisy...

[random interjection of Betsy's shoe... I should post this on the project site for Monday...]

...Frank...

...and Sassy! She's so cute.

There you have it. Tomorrow is Thursday, my favorite day of the week, and then there's no school Friday. Hooray!

A Day at the Fair

Well, the Spring Fling. Ben took me on a date today to the local elementary school where they held a sort of carnival-type deal, complete with sketchy seventies-style rides and sno-cones (I had a cherry one!). It was so much fun! This was the first day I've felt upset that I'm doing the 30 Day Challenge, because it so limits what I can photograph for the project site. But I can still share the awesomeness here! Enjoy:

The challenge item for today is "your lunch." Betsy made this wonderful mac and cheese dish, the recipe for which she found on a soup can!

Look at the tastiness...

This ride is apparently called The Bullet. Those two cars are free to spin upside-down as the whole machine goes round and round. It was kinda scary but mostly I kept my eyes closed. :D

Ah, the Scrambler. The first time we rode this, Ben sat to the left of me, and because of the forces of the ride, he was constantly thrown into me. So the next time we swapped places and it was a much pleasanter ride! That's Ben's ear in the corner, by the way. :P

The sky was absolutely beautiful today! And it was downright HOT. Summer is on the way!

I totally thought this climbing wall looked like a Dalek (from Doctor Who), but Benji didn't agree. You just have to use your imagination!

 
This would have been the photo I uploaded to the project site if I didn't have to do the mac and cheese picture. Ben and I had a great time on these swings - I haven't swung in ages. It's so freeing!

Back to school tomorrow, when I must photograph shoes. That, I can do. Adios!

Flowers, Foliage, and Phones

Darn you, phone, you ruined the F thing I had going on.

This one I actually took on Thursday evening right before I went to bed - a sweet little rose in a vase by our kitchen window. It has since opened a lot more!

Mom's students brought her some beautiful flowers this week! I borrowed this little bud for some photos.

The scratch remover tool in Paint Shop Pro is my new best friend!

This is the stem of the little flower, in a drinking glass.

The leaves on this oak tree really grabbed me as we left to shop this evening. The photo in no way does nature justice!

And... my phone. Today's "30 Day Challenge" objective is to take a picture of your phone, so... here:

That's the popular page (mobile version) of the 365 Project website:

Now it's nine o'clock! Wow! We were out all evening shopping for prom dresses, and I found a really pretty one! No pictures, though, in case you're reading this, Ben. You'll have to wait for prom night!

Photos, Prom, and... crap, what else starts with P?

Let's get down to business! Here are the photos I took yesterday and today:

Today's challenge was to take pictures of the cups from which I drank, which taught me two things: I don't drink nearly enough, and my cups are totally boring. On the plus side, my nails are awesome.

Emily offered me her fancy water when she heard I was photographing drinks:

I kinda forgot I took this yesterday... it's the cover of my new journal. It'll make a good wallpaper on my phone, I guess.

Halfway cheating here by posting the same pic I put on the project site today... except I majorly edited that one! This is the original, straight out of the camera. Crummy place mat and all. (Sorry Mom.)

Well, hello Benjamin! He showed up at our magazine meeting this morning and told me that my request had been received and was about to be granted. I had no idea what he was talking about...

...until I saw the tie. I told him to wear a tie because he'd look totally snazzy.

And look! It's true! By the way, this sweet boy asked me to the school prom today! :D I can only hope he'll look half this awesome that evening.

Ooh, time for Grey's Anatomy! Finally I'm going to catch it live and not have to watch it on hulu.com! It's a freaking miracle! See you guys tomorrow, or the next day... whenever. :)