Introducing Butterfly

Not that I don't already have enough chaos in my life and not that I don't struggle each and everyday to try and keep organized and remember to feed the dog, I went and added more chaos to my life this past weekend.

We adopted a cat!

I grew up with cats - I don't ever remember a time in my childhood without one.

Shortly after I was married, we got a kitten and then another. And then due to allergies, we had to give them away (the doctor told him "Your allergies are so bad, tell your wife it's you or the cats". Guess I made the wrong choice.)

So this weekend I went to the shelter to check out a young cat I had seen on Petfinders.com. She was a perfect little kitty and it was too hard to walk way, especially with a four year old pleading "Can I have her Mama, please?" over and over.

The name she came with is just right - Butterfly. The older one spent all summer chasing and catching butterflies, so it ties the two nicely together.

She seems to have has no problem adjusting to her new surroundings yet. They weren't very sure of her age, but I'll find out when i take her to the vet for some shots. She's definitely young and frisky and tiny. She will stay an indoor cat, and I'm toying with the inhumane act of having her declawed.

She has made herself quite at home.

Feels Nice to Be Sought After

You probably read the title and thought I meant being sought after by a boy. Nope. Well, yes, a boy, but not like that.

Let me explain.

Last week I had a missed call from a number with an area code that I was not familiar with. No message left. Shortly after I received an email to my old account from a recruiter I connected with several years ago when I lived out of state. And then today I received yet another call and decided to answer.

Said recruiter asked if I remembered him and then said he had a job opportunity in Chicago that fit my skill set. I told him to keep me on his list, but that I was happy in my current position.

I remember back in the day when all my coworkers in consulting got contacted by recruiters all the time and I never did. Now that I have that company I left Michigan for on my resume, I'm often flagged as having a "special" skill set.

And you know what? It feels nice to be sought after, even if I have no intent on looking for a new job or moving again anytime soon.

P.S. So happy there is a proper Blogger app now :)

Under Water Mile

Well hello there little blog. I've missed you. Yes, I know I still owe you the rest of the 30 Day Photo Challenge pictures. But you see, I have yet to start editing pictures from my brother's wedding at the beginning of October. And I have a baby who hates to sleep. And my to-do lists at home and work are several miles long.

And speaking of miles, I decided to follow through with the Detroit Free Press marathon this past weekend that I signed up for back in January. Never mind that my training was no existent. I honestly only went out on two short runs all summer.

I knew going in to the run Sunday morning that I really was rather stupid. C'mon now, no training and 13 miles ahead of me? My goal was not to seriously I injure myself. And I promised myself that if I made it across the finish line (which I barely did) that I would never again commit to a run without properly training. (I did a lot of walking, a bit of jogging, and some running).

I kept praying for rain the day of the race, in which case I would have bailed on my dear friend who signed up with me. But no such luck. She picked me up at 5:30 am and off we went.

I had always wanted to do this run because you start in downtown Detroit, run the Ambassador Bridge over to Canada, run a few miles there, and then run in the underwater tunnel back to the U.S. So it's an "international" race that includes a mile long stretch under water. Not sure of any other races that can say that.

So the race is over. I hurt like hell the last few miles. But I'm glad I did it. I learned that I will never, ever do a race again without training first. And I'm hoping this is the kick-start I needed to get back in to running again.

Another New Blog?

I've been relatively quite on this blog.  My intentions were, and still are, to keep this blog free and clear of the events of the past year or so.  And that leaves me in a bit of a predicament, because I often feel like I do need to b!tch about those things that irritate me beyond belief, just to let them out, no matter how petty they may seem.  And when I sensor myself, I am left with not much to say.

I've been talking to my therapist a bit about my inner B!tch (and yes, that is with a capital "B").  Besides continuing to work with her, she said my options are limited - get an exorcism (and she said she's Jewish and doesn't know any priests) or start up a blog or a diary and write out all my b!tchy thoughts instead of running the risk of being a true B!tch to someone.  We are aiming for Nice Girl here. 

So with that said, I think I'm going to start up another blog.  Random, I know. And really, do I want to maintain another one?  I'll give it a go.  It will be under a pseudonym.  If people want to follow me there, great.  If not, no worries.  I will be using it as "therapy" to exorcise that B!tch in me.  I'd love to eventually get some of my gifted-writer friends (in real life and blogging friends) to guest post anonymously with some of the things they'd love to get off their chest.  Writing is great therapy, and sometimes a girl just doesn't want to sensor.

Anyway, drop me a comment if you want to follow along or if you want to guest post. 

Photo Challenge: Days 16 - 22

So I'm a little behind in posting my daily photo challenge pictures.  What I've found the most challenging is actually taking the picture on each and every day, and not holding off and trying to take four days' worth of pictures on one day. 

Here's a re-cap of the past week or so.

Day 16 - Long Exposure
I've never taken a long exposure picture.  Ever.  Man, this is something that could be so much fun.  Next time I'm headed to a carnival, you can be sure I will take along a tri-pod and my camera as the sun is starting to set so I can get a picture of a big ferris wheel with its lights spinning round and round. 

Sadly, my subject wasn't as exciting, but I did have fun practicing!  This is out on Michigan Ave (not the Magnificent Mile Michigan Ave) a block from my house.

Day 17 - Technology
Last week the baby threw my phone down the stairs.  The phone was out of warranty, but the nice people at Apple replaced it for $80 anyway.  And then just the other day, I dropped my phone smack-dab on the pavement.  It had a case on it.  But it just landed perfectly and shattered.  The nice people at Apple could fix the screen for $100.  And since I'm holding out for the next generation of the phone, I opted to walk away with damaged-taped-up phone in hand.  I ordered a kit from eBay for $11, and will have my techie neighbor help me fix it.  I went over two years with the same phone, and in the course of one week, damaged it twice.

Day 18 - Your Shoes
Weather was crappy and dark, so I bumped up my ISO as high as my little camera would go.  And my little model was MORE than willing to put on a pair of high heels to help me out.  She actually tried to walk in them too.  She did a better job than I do most of the time.  As a side note, I tried wearing these to work a few times, but they kill my feet.  I only wear them when heading out for the evening with the girls on the rare occasions that I get out.

Day 19 - Something Orange
I tried to get an adorable little picture of the baby's bum in one of her orange-colored cloth diapers, but it was too dark in the house on Day 19.  So I took a picture of some pumpkins at the local farmer's market a few days later.  I love fall! 

Day 20 - Bokeh
Funny, I always manage to achieve Bokeh when I'm not trying.  But when I actually turn on my camera and try to achieve it, I had some issues getting what I wanted.  Should have done a little refresher on this one before I turned the camera on. (For those wanting to be in the "know", here's a good definition of bokeh.) 

Look close, and you can see a bee on the flower.

Day 21 - Faceless Self Portrait
I don't have a remote and have yet to master the timer feature on my camera. So faceless and somewhat wordless.

Day 22 - Hands
Hand models we are not, but I love that this is me and and my girls.  And trying to get a 13 month old to hold her hand down while asking a four year old to do the same and trying to snap a picture all at the same time was rather interesting.  The whole social experiment lasted less than 40 seconds.

Day 15: Silhouette

Day 15 - Silhouette

I haven't tried to take a silhouette picture in quite some time, so I had to read up on it again.  I took The Older One out to hunt for bugs and frogs this evening, and I attempted to practice on her.  But she moved too quickly for me and was way too interested in hunting something down.

So I moved on to a subject that was a little more cooperative - a bunch of weeds. 

Day 14 - Eyes

Day 14 - Eyes

The eyes of my sister Amy. Can you see that she wears hard contact lenses?

Day 13: Yourself with 13 Things

Yourself with 13 Things

Let's be honest, today's photo challenge had me scratching my head a bit.  As I sat down this evening to catch up on a little work at my desk, I saw a bunch of little sticky notes.  I quickly pulled off 13 of them.  I started to write the first things that came to my mind - what I need and want to do and be.  It took me less than 13 seconds to write them out.  And then I decided to be silly and stick them on my face :)

Day 12: Sunset

Sunset

We almost didn't have a sunset this evening.  The rain clouds were abundant, and The Older One said the rainbow we could see was touching the ground at the one end. (Sadly I didn't have my camera with me when we saw the rainbow).

Days 9, 10, and 11: Love, Memory, and Blue

Day 9 - Someone You Love
Too easy to post pictures of the girls, so I persuaded my mom to sit in front of the camera for me.....cast on her arm and all.  Thanks Mom, I love you!

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Day 10 - Childhood Memory

When I was four, my grandfather passed away.  I have a few memories from that time.  I remember seeing my mom sitting on the edge of her bed with her face in her hands.  I remember asking her what was wrong, and she said she was very sad.  I also remember being at the funeral home.  I don't remember much other than a big crowd of people and I was near a doorway.  My mom tells me that I blew a kiss to my grandfather at the funeral. 

And one of the other memories I have is wearing a little aqua dress with an applique on the front to the funeral (there is a picture of me with all my siblings standing in our yard before the funeral, me in this blue dress with a short dutch-boy haircut).  Over the years, whenever it was time to clean out my drawers of clothes that no longer fit, I always shoved that dress way in the back.  And then it made it into my "save" drawer of all sorts of childhood trinkets.  And then it made its way into a box in the attic.  It used to have a tie around the waste, but over the years it disappeared. 

Although it may not be the prettiest dress of my childhood, it is the only one I held on to.  The Older One fits in to the dress perfectly right now.

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Day 11 - Something Blue

I have a "Bottle Tree" in my back yard.  It's filled with blue bottles that I've collected as well as some of my family members have collected over the past few years for me.  I still have a few more empty nails that need to be filled.  I've seen big, beautiful gardens with several different colored "trees" throughout them.  I think that was my vision when I started the project many years ago.  When the sun hits the bottles just right, it throws great blue prisms on the ground below.

Day 8: A Bad Habit

A Bad Habit

Okay, so out of all the items in the 30 Day Photo Challenge list, this was the day I was least looking forward too.  I dragged my feet with doing today's assignment.

I feel like I'm standing here naked!

Hello, my name is Brooke.  And I'm a picker.  Not as in garbage picking.  More like face picking.  Any small type of blemish on my face, and I go after it.  It's gross.  It's an awful habit.  I've done it forever.  It probably started out when I actually did have acne as a teenager.  And over the years it's simply continued as a stress outlet.  Like someone biting their nails.  A nervous habit of sorts. Only worse. And honestly, you can look at my face and tell just how stressed I am by how much damage I've caused to my face.  It's my own stress-barometer.  Sometimes I don't even realize I'm picking away at my face.  And other times, I'm in the midst of my own personal crisis, and I can't keep my hands off my face.  (Talk about needing therapy!  You might just find me on My Own Strange Addiction on TLC one day.)  At the moment, I'm a little stressed.  You could say I've been that way for the past few months.  And thanks, but a rubber band on my wrist for me to snap as a means of determent just doesn't cut it.

Day 7: Fruit

Fruit

Peaches, to be exact.  A favorite of The Younger One.

I had the foresight to bring my camera with me as I left the house this morning.  I knew I had to stop at the grocery store on my way home from work to at least pick up milk and bananas.  The market I stopped at always has the nicest fruits!  You should see the size of the raspberries I scored.

Day 6: From a Low Angle

From a Low Angle

OK, so I kinda already stink at this 30 Day Photo Challenge in terms of really challenging myself.  I had several ideas in my head of what I might want to photograph from a low angle, including my kiddos on their swings.  But alas, the day got away from me and next thing I know it's almost 11:00 p.m. at night and I have yet to pack up my computer bag for work tomorrow.

So I just looked for anything in the house that might work.  And I landed in the laundry room again.  This is an item that I've never been able to part with.  And trying to subscribe to the anti-hoarder philosophy that if something means so much to you that you can't get rid of it, then you must properly honor it by displaying it (not burying it in another pile or a box on an attic).  So I tacked this up in my laundry room a while back.   (I think I say "so" way too often).

What is it, you ask?   Good question.  Nothing much but a few memories, which is often nice when doing the mundane task of laundry.  When I moved back from my year abroad many moons ago, I packed up so many books and papers and shipped them back home.  One of the boxes I packed just couldn't bear the weight of everything in it.  The wonderful people at the German Post Office (Deutsche Bundespost) stuffed the dilapidated box into this burlap sack and shipped it overseas to my home.  I was quite surprised when it landed on my doorstep. 

Now, every time I walk into the laundry room and look at the old burlap sack, it fondly reminds me of the days I spent in Germany as a carefree student. 

Day 5: From a High Angle

From a High Angle

This was a very pretty little rose in the front yard of my sister's friend's house.  So I admit, I didn't get very creative on today's challenge.  What I lacked in creativity from an angle advantage, I tried to make up for with a fun little overlay. (The bokeh in the background was not artificially added in - I'm not that skilled in PhotoShop....it's the cool rocks that were in the garden with the rose bush). 

Day 4: Something Green

Something Green

Take a gander into the girls' play area, and you are immediately immersed in a technicolor dream.  No shortage of bright colors here.  This just happens to be a super soft green frog The Younger one received from Grammy on her first birthday.

Day 3: Clouds

Clouds

Today was not the day to be shooting "clouds" in my neck of the woods.  The morning started off without a cloud in the sky.  Then it got very hot, very humid, and very hazy.  Later in the evening, it was just plain overcast as a storm was rolling in.  No good clouds to capture.  And I thought it might defeat the purpose of the project if I Photoshoped some in.

Day 2: What I Wore Today

What I Wore Today

It's actually what The Older One, The Younger One, and I all wore this evening at my sister's pool....our swimsuits!  I dislike the smell of chlorine, so the girls got baths before bed and the swimsuits all got a wash too.

I work from  home on Fridays, so what I actually wore during the day while sitting at my desk was a boring pair of black capri pants, white t-shirt, sandals, and a black hat.  No make-up.

Day 1: Self Portrait

Bedtime with The Younger One

I know I should not rock her to sleep.  I know she should learn how to fall asleep on her own.  I know.  I also know she will only be this little for such a short amount of time and one day she won't want anything to do with me.  I'm soaking in all the baby moments I can before they are just a fond memory.

30 Day Photo Challenge

It's a new month!  How about a little inspiration for my new blog with a commitment to a 30 Day Photography Challenge?  You with me?  No? Well, that's okay.  You can live vicariously through me.  I may not post my photo each and every day, but I sure am going to try my darnedest to take a photo each day.  Some of these certainly will be a challenge!  Let the creativity begin......

This was a fun find on Pinterest by my blogger-photography-iheartfaces buddy. Thanks for the inspiration!

Guilty Pleasures

I have a few simple guilty "me" pleasures, one of which is getting pedicures on a regular basis during the summer months.  Nothing better than having your feet scrubbed and your legs rubbed, all the while getting a chair massage and letting your thoughts drift away.I tend to go with darker colors and once in a while may opt for a french pedicure.  Somewhat boring, but always predictable for me.  So how could I resist at my last pedicure when the lady asked if I wanted a little design on my big toes?  I was reminded that it's fun to step away from "predictable" now and again.  Oh, and I can't help but always want to call them "pedicares" as that's what The Older Kid always calls it.

A Post Where I Complain About

A few months back, I signed up for the Detroit Free Press Half Marathon.  My thought process was that if I signed up for it and paid for it, that would surely be all the motiviation I needed to train for the run.  Nevermind the last time I signed up for this half, I didn't train at all and it was money thrown out the door.  This time around is going to be different, right? 
Right.

I decided to take a look at the calendar today as I had this nagging feeling that I should have started training by now.  And, um....yeah.....I'm a few weeks behind schedule already.

The last time I actually ran a half marathon was two and a half years ago.  I wasn't working and had all the time in the world to train.  I only had one kid.  When I started training, I had a full 14 weeks to train and I was about 20lbs over my goal weight (which I happily lost during the weeks of training).

This time around, I'm working full time.  I have two kids.  I'm a single parent.  I have 8 weeks to train (10 weeks is ideal), and I'm now 30lbs over my goal weight.  I have a lot of things counting against me this time around.  And I feel like my heart is only half in it because of this.

So I went for a very quick run at lunch.  My knee immediately started hurting (due to the extra weight I'm carrying).  I couldn't get my darn running app to work on my iPhone.  And then my headphones got a short in them.  Let's not talk about my heart rate monitor sitting in my closet that needs to be sent in for maintenance.

But I'm determined to do the race. Even if I have to walk more than half the course.  Even if I get frustrated that I'm not as fast as I once was or as thin as I once was.  Even if I will be constantly reminded of my personal best time that is not within reach this time.  There will always be another race to train for next season.  And at the end of the day, at least I'm getting my big ol' booty moving again.

And I can't wait for the day that I get that runner's high again!

Half Marathon April 2009

Look Up

Keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot see the shadow.

It's what sunflowers do.

~ Helen Keller