We’re expecting another 12 to 18 inches of snow today. It’s looking like a snow day tomorrow. 
Photo by Amy Oattes.
Bring it On
Posted by Nancy on February 9, 2010
Posted in Winter | Tagged: self portrait, snow, Winter | 2 Comments »
Digging Out
Posted by Nancy on February 7, 2010
We got 2 feet of snow again on Saturday. This time I went outside to help Keith shovel, since Kyle never showed up. (Something about him not doing any manual labor…i don’t know.) 
Anxious to take some pictures, I drug this bench out to the street and got this shot for Bench Anyday. I would have tried to find more props but it was late in the afternoon and the lighting wasn’t great, I didn’t have much time left to set something up. My friend Patti was outside shoveling her driveway when I heard her say….”What the hell is she doing!? You gotta love her.”
Which made me laugh.
Keith just shook his head and rolled his eyes at me, but I did catch him smiling.
Posted in Bench Anyday, Self Portraits, Winter | Tagged: Bench Anyday, canon digital rebel xti, self portrait, snow, Winter | 2 Comments »
Saturday Morning Memories – Chapter 4
Posted by Nancy on February 6, 2010
DINNER WITH THE BARTON’S – (Shooting Peas & Other Things)
If there was one thing you didn’t do at my mother’s dinner table, it was joke around. So, of course, we joked around. My brothers got a kick out of making me laugh at the dinner table, (always behind my parents’ back and always when I was drinking so that I would gag.) My brother, Jeff was a “see food” kind of guy. He would shove the rest of his dinner in his mouth, get up to take his plate to the kitchen, stand behind my mother, open his mouth and show me his food. I would laugh and gag. By the time my mother turned around, he was gone.
The favorite, however, was shooting peas (or some other vegetable) at the ceiling off the ends of forks or spoons. My brothers showed me how to do this while my mother was in the kitchen. I have no idea where they came up with this “dinner sport”, but when you’re five years old, it’s the funniest thing. I think their mission was to teach me how to do it, so that I would get caught. I wish I could remember my mother’s reaction when she walked back into the dining room and saw me shooting food off the end of my fork, but I can’t. I do remember getting in trouble for it though.
Posted in Saturday Morning Memories | Tagged: canon digital rebel xti, depth of field, Family | 1 Comment »
Friday Night
Posted by Nancy on February 6, 2010
I got together Friday night with Amy. She came over with her Nikon and two of her antique cameras. I absolutely love these things, I definitely want to start my own collection. We were discussing what we can photograph in the snow, since we’re apparently getting 12 to 18 inches today. The next thing you know, it’s 8:30 p.m. and we’re at her parent’s house digging through their attic looking for an old wooden sled. We found it, along with a few other things from the garage that her mother was more than happy to give us. We filled up a box of stuff that we thought we might be able to use outside in the snow. We got so caught up looking through the garage, that when we left we forgot the freakin sled. So back we went to get the sled.
I took a quick look outside this morning, I’m guessing we have about 8 inches so far, and it’s supposed to snow most of the day. Vinny slept over a friend’s house so they could go sledding today, that means I have to help Keith shovel.
Ugh.
Posted in Photography | Tagged: camera, canon digital rebel xti, depth of field, hobby, Kodak Brownie, Photography | 1 Comment »
Waiting for Spring
Posted by Nancy on February 4, 2010
The first of my February self portraits.
I’m longing for Spring, it’s freezing cold here. The only good news is we’re supposed to get a foot of snow on Saturday. While my husband is dreading it, I’m looking forward to it. I do love the snow. I’m sure I’ll be “playing” in it with Amy. Lots of photo opportunity.
Happy Thursday.
Posted in Flowers, Self Portraits | Tagged: 50mm, canon digital rebel xti, Flowers, self portrait | 6 Comments »
100 Photos
Posted by Nancy on February 3, 2010
I’ve decided to join 100 Photos over at Flickr. I’ll be taking 100 photos throughout 2010 concentrating on adding more color to my images. Please see the 100 Photos Blog to read more about this project, there’s also an icon on the bottom left side bar that will take you directly to the blog.
Oh, and by the way, I’ve also decided to create a separate blog for this project so I can easily track my progress throughout the year. You can find it here or by clicking on my icon in the right side bar.
Wish me luck.
Posted in Photography | Tagged: 100 photos | 2 Comments »
The Flickr Bench Craze
Posted by Nancy on February 1, 2010
I’ve joined the Bench craze over at Flickr. I’ve been wanting to try this for a while, but thought it might be a little too much with all of my other projects. So I gave it a test run at the park on Saturday. I spent an hour there Saturday morning, brought my tripod and my remote and gave it a whirl (even though it was, yet again, 18 degrees.) Having been happy with the swing shot, I thought I would go ahead and join Bench Anyday. The original group is Bench Monday, but the rules are take your picture on a Monday and post to Flickr on a Monday. I can’t possibly do anything like this on a Monday, since I’m at work all day, Bench Anyday suits my schedule better. The object is to stand on a bench, or if you don’t have a bench make something up, like I did with the swing, be as creative as possible, for instance, use props to create a theme. It’s a great idea, you can get really carried away with it. I didn’t use any props this weekend, as I’m just starting out, I thought I would keep it simple.
I did this one standing on my coffee table Sunday morning.
It’s loads of fun and I have all kinds of ideas running through my head, but it takes some preparation time. I don’t anticipate being able to do more than one a week, but we’ll see how it goes. Like I said, I can see myself getting carried away with this.
Posted in Bench Anyday, Self Portraits | Tagged: bench, canon digital rebel xti, flickr | 2 Comments »
Vinny Turns 16
Posted by Nancy on January 31, 2010
The X-Box Controller Cake
Well as you can see, this is Vinny’s birthday cake for his 16th birthday. Awesome work by my friend, Master Baker, Cake Boss, Gina Maranzini. I’ve seen her work before, but only in pictures, when I got to her house to pick this up my jaw hit the floor. It’s so much more incredible in person. She did an amazing job (I told her to make me a small one, but of course she didn’t!).
Check out her beautiful work on her website Lick the Beaters.
Thanks girl, the cake was a huge hit!
The color is a little off on the picture, I didn’t notice it until I looked at it from my work computer. That’s because I refuse to use my flash.
I didn’t get to my Saturday Morning Memory story this week. I did have one planned and even typed it out and saved it on my computer, but last week was one of the worst weeks I have had in a long time, nothing major, just a ton of running and feeling like nothing was getting done. I needed a break.
Posted in Family | Tagged: birthday, canon digital rebel xti, Family, Food | 4 Comments »
Saturday Morning Memories – Chapter 3
Posted by Nancy on January 23, 2010
GYMNASTICS
My mother was a gymnast in high school, so of course I had to do gymnastics. I don’t really remember much about it, it didn’t last very long. I’ve been told that during this time, I never walked anywhere, I cartwheeled wherever I had to go. My parents bought me a large gymnastics mat, and my dad made me a couple of balance beams, one low to the ground and one about 3 ½ feet high.
Though I was good at cartwheels, apparently, I sucked on the balance beam….
My mother eventually took me out of gymnastics after falling off the uneven bars and nearly breaking my back. Yet another failed attempt at trying to keep me “girly”. After that, my brothers got good use out of the gymnastics mat. They thoroughly enjoyed rolling me up in it and sitting on it, while I screamed for my mother.
It’s a funny thing, to this day, I can’t stand heights and I am extremely claustrophobic.
Posted in Saturday Morning Memories | Tagged: Family | 4 Comments »
Happy Birthday
Posted by Nancy on January 20, 2010
Posted in Family, Self Portraits | Tagged: birthday, boots, canon digital rebel xti, eggs, Family, Food | 2 Comments »
