MCP Project April

These are my challenge submissions for the MCP Project for April. There is a fourth one but I am not sure if I will get it done in time.


This was Challenge #2 which was Bloom and at this time of year, it was harder to select one image from all the "blooming" image possibilities there were out there. I only did an auto correct for light and color, and then added the fuzzy border. The afternoon light was already so great and the flowers speak for themselves.


This second image is one that screams Spring in these here parts...growing up I would just zip my pinched fingers up the step and pop all the little blue balls off. I am sure my mom and Aunt just loved that...LOL. Anyhow, this one also had great afternoon light so I only did an auto correct to balance light and color and then added the fuzzy border. This is for Challenge #3, which was for a Shallow Depth of Field.


The sun peaking through these flowers was awesome and I couldn't help but take advantage of this challenge. This one falls under Challenge #4, Taking a Shot from Below. I tried not to let the sun into the lens itself because it would have wiped out all the detail in the flowers. I only did an auto correct for light and color balance and added the fuzzy border.
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Six Years Ago on In My Words...Utterly Ridiculous

Reading Blog Update

Here is my update for my reads in the month of March. Didn't get as much read as last month and definitely not that great of quality but am slowing knocking out some of the downloads to the Nook Color...
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Six Years Ago on In My Words...Golfing

Photo Projects for April

New month, new photo projects....for MCP Project we have the "challenge plan". For April we have the following four challenges:

* Challenge #1 – Illustrate the following in a photo: Showers/Wet
* Challenge #2 – Take a picture using a shallow depth of field
* Challenge #3 – Interpret the following in a photo: Blooming
* Challenge #4 – Get Low. Lie Down on the ground and shoot above

And for Shutter Sisters in April the words are: Sparkle and Shine.
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Seven Years Ago on In My Words...Me, Myself and I

Twelve Year Old BooBoos

Unbelievably, I fell down like a little girl the other day when we were hiking/geocaching...and I skinned my left knee through my jeans. It took two full doses of OxyClean to get the grass and blood stains out of my favorite pair of 501 jeans.

At first my ankle on my right leg hurt the most and I kind of just walked off the pain, not thinking anything about my left leg. Then at one point, we stopped during the walk and I thought I would check my leg. I pulled up my left pant leg and found that I was bloody and scraped underneath. When we got home, we did the whole first aid thing on it and now it has a nice shade of green added to the mix...

So I head back to workout class next week and I'll have a skinned knee to show off!
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Six Years Ago on In My Words...Getting There

Reading Blog Update

Updated my reading blog with February's books...check it out when you can and let me know if you like any of the books too!!
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Seven Years Ago on In My Words...Procrastination Has Taken Over

Shamrock Run 2012

This was my first 5K in quite some time...and I definitely felt it. Plan was for the whole family that was in town to come down to watch but it is such a huge race, that the traffic to get to it was horrible and my dad and his wife decided that they better head home. It was also drizzling out, which makes for a much worse spectator experience for anyone. So while the BIL found parking, my sis and I got out of the traffic jammed car and started heading to the start area. Time was tight so we had to move pretty quick.

Once we got to the start area, I moved up to behind the runners but in front of the strollers and most of those that were walking. This route started out similar to the one we did for First Run in 2011 but then turned and had a long slow gradual upgrade before turning again back towards the start area.

As I said before, this was a big race...I think 35000 people total (split between the 5K, 10K, and 15K) so besides the massive amount of traffic, there was a lot of activities after the event and lots of participants dress up. I don't wear my race shirts until after I have completed the race, so I wore my green Google running shirt instead. I also wore some green beads and a head band with shamrocks on it.

The route was tough but I enjoyed the scene with so many runners (biggest race for me so far) and everyone having such a good time. There were even a couple of Guiness glasses running along (and I am not sure how they kept from overheating in those costumes). Overall it was a fantastic experience and I would love to the do the race again in the future.
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Two Years Ago on In My Words...Car Crash

MCP Project March Part II

These are my submissions for the other two challenges in the MCP Project for March. They are for Challenges #4 and #1, which are Macro and From Above, respectively.



The afternoon light was so awesome, so on this one I only did a balance for light and color and then added the fuzzy border.



This one too...great afternoon light just like on the grouping I did for the Shutter Sisters project. I did the same balance of color and light and added the fuzzy border as the first picture.
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Three Years Ago on In My Words...Observations

Shutter Sisters for March

This is my submission for the month of March to the Shutter Sisters One Word Project. The word of the month is Gather and I thought this little grouping of the first signs of spring were perfect. I took this in beautiful afternoon light so I only did a color and light balance and added a fuzzy border.
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Four Years Ago on In My Words...Snail

Silent Secretary Project

I haven't posted about this here, but I am working on a project to transcribe my great great grandmother's journals (the ones that I have) onto a blog called A Silent Secretary. I named it this because that is what the diary books she wrote in are called. The blog used to be on Blogger but I had to move it to Wordpress in order to get the dates to work the way I wanted. Anyhow, I try to get a week or so transcribed over each time I work on it so I can get it all up there quickly.

So today, I decided I was going to get at least a week done (I actually ended up doing three weeks). I came to the end of a month and realized that the diary has a little section of info at the beginning of each month that is kind of cool. So I went back and added the little info sections in to each of the months I have completed so far. In the process of this, I realized that there were little mottos and/or quotes at the top of each page, so I went back through all the entries (over 100 so far) and added the little mottos/quotes in.

It took a lot of work but I am pleased with the additions and I hope the readers of the journals are too!! Please check out the beginning of each month for the new info.
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Five Years Ago on In My Words...Lunar Eclipse

MCP Project March

So these are my first two submissions for the March challenges on MCP. These are for Challenge #2 and #3 which are Natural Light and "Transition", respectively. I am going to see if I can get the other two challenges in as well, but I couldn't find the opportunity for them today.


On this one, I did an auto correct for light and color, and then in GIMP, I bumped the brightness a bit, bumped the green and blue hues a bit, and added the fuzzy border. I loved this little flower sitting all by itself and the detail in the petals.


On this one, I loved that the blooms weren't all open yet and the color went from white to green. The afternoon light was great too! I did auto correct for light and color, and then in GIMP, I bumped the brightness, bumped the green hues, and added the fuzzy border.
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Six Years Ago on In My Words...Nice and Easy

$1 Million Lotto Winner Continues To Collect Food Stamps

All I can say is WOW! How does this happen? How does she even qualify her actions? I have to wonder if there is enough brain power here to even sustain human life...now she is all over the national news...no hiding from that!
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Seven Years Ago on In My Words...Parking Peeve

MCP Change Up

So I was checking into my photo projects to find out what the theme words are going to be for the month and found out that MCP's Project 12 has changed to a monthly challenge format with several challenges to promote a bit more photo taking. I am excited about this....will give me a bit more flexibility since I already have the Shutter Sister's project that is a "once a month" thing based on a theme word.

Another change is that the images are going to be back on Flickr instead of hosted at our own blogs or third party sites. I am glad for this in some ways because it is easier for me to just have both projects on Flickr, but I also liked the traffic I was getting to my blog from the project as well so....

Last month's theme for both projects was Leap and I just couldn't come up with anything...I am hoping that this new format will motivate me to take a few more pics this month.
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Last Year on In My Words...Elmer Byrd 1911-2011
It has been almost a year since my grandfather died.

Books Can Commit Suicide Too

I saw this image ages ago on Pinterest and thought it was hilarious, and then after hearing a segment on NPR about how a study was done that actually showed that viewers were not as smart after watching the show as they were before, I just had to find the image again so I could share it...

According to the research I have been able to find, the image was part of a PSA that Random House was promoting last year.
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Seven Years Ago on In My Words...Art Dilemma

Popcorn Math

Okay...I know I didn't stick with my math major in college in favor of switching to biology but I am pretty sure the math here doesn't "add" up. According to the top of the label each bag makes 12.5 cups, and a serving is 5 cups popped, but then in the lower section, where it refers to calories, it says that a serving size is 1 cup popped....so which is it? This would seem to indicate to me that the actual calorie intake of a serving size is 100 calories if you only eat about 1/2 a bag. This of course is still super small...I just think it is funny to see the discrepency on what is by law supposed to be an accurate label.

I found this error on all the different microwave popcorn I found so it is "industry-wide". My theory is that the law regarding the labels really only applies to the item in its uncooked state and since they have no idea exactly how much popcorn will be popped out of any given bag with any given microwave, they have to estimate that part and are not held to the law. It still is fun however to make fun of the label...
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Three Years Ago on In My Words...Peek-Boo
Definitely missing our furry friend...

Pub Table Balance

Went out to a pub the other night and while coming back from the restroom, I noticed that there was a pile of coasters on the floor....at closer examination, it seems they were being used to balance a table. I just couldn't pass up the photo opportunity...
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Four Years Ago on In My Words...Toenail Woes

Contagion

Just watched this movie on disc from Netflix....can I say, I will not be touching my face as much and will be upping my sanitizer use in the next few days...LOL.

I thought it was pretty good...really opens your eyes to how fragile the human system is, and how quickly something like this could spread.

They talk about Kowloon being the most densely populated place in the world (we stayed in Kowloon when we visited Hong Kong), and they also reference the casinos in Macau, another place we visited. That was kind of cool.
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Four Years Ago on In My Words...My Soup

Off To The Gym

So, today I am back at the circuit class...which is awesome because not only do I desparately need the endorphins, I need the motivation to get back on the exercise routine. I haven't been eating badly at all, but I know that the exercise is key for my piece of mind. I have a race in less than a month too, so I really need to get some training in, even though a 5K is not that long of a run.

I have been slowly working on other projects which is good, but I think when I am getting regular exercise, I am even better at knocking out the To Do list.
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Six Years Ago on In My Words...New Digs

Google's Valentine Doodle

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Seven Years Ago on In My Words...Squirrels, Squirrels, Squirrels

Reading Blog Update

I was able to get my reading blog updated with my reads from January and also created the year end for 2011. Check it out if you have time!!
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Four Years Ago on In My Words...Ebi Filet

Healing

My leg is getting better. The heat and ice thing has really sped up the process and I know this, but for some reason refuse to follow it at first any time I hurt a muscle. I am not sure what is wrong with me on that regard...LOL.

I am hoping to exercise a bit tomorrow, probably just a short flat walk (maybe at the track), and then work back up to things. I have circuit class on Tuesday and I plan to go, but will take it easy on the leg stuff so I don't reinjure it. I am looking forward to getting back to full capacity so I can run in a 5K in March.
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Six Years Ago on In My Words...High School Meme

Frustration

Somehow, this past week, I pulled the quad in my left leg. Problem is, I don't know when I did it, and it probably wouldn't have been as bad as it has been, if I had started doing the right thing about it right off. At first, I thought it was my hipflexor and it was spasming/cramping everytime I put any weight on it, so I tried to stay off it and when I did have to walk, I would modify my gait or stance (which comes with its own host of problems). My back started hurting because I was holding my leg up off the floor.

Super Bowl Food

We had the best food for the Superbowl... homemade guacamole, queso and buffalo wings. Top that with some good beer and a fun game and you have a pretty decent afternoon.

I didn't get a shot of the buffalo wings, but I am having some of the leftovers for dinner tonight. They were awesome, and my BIL did a great job of grilling and saucing them up.

I am actually getting hungry writing this and it is making the job of coming up with anything else to say very difficult.
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Three Years Ago on In My Words...Happy Endings

Update Fail

So, I guess in December Barnes and Noble came out with an update to the OS on the Nook color...you could go to their site and connect your Nook and download it manually (which a lot of people complained didn't work that well), or you could just wait and it would update itself when you were connected to a WiFi spot. My Nook Color is on the WiFi network I set up, but no matter what I did (short of manually downloading it), nothing seemed to trigger it to update.

Photo Projects

I can't believe it...both photo projects are using the word Leap for the month of February.....I could use the same picture for both projects but I am going to try to see if I can come up with two pictures. I have to assume this means February this year is a Leap Year (which I didn't realize). That has to be a good sign, right? Just makes the Year of the Dragon that much more interesting!!
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Six Years Ago on In My Words...Fashion Angst

Template Change

I decided that my old template was a little bit too hard to read without scrolling up to the light areas (because of the image) and a couple of my fellow bloggers have recently changed to white clean templates and I decided to give it a go...I might change up the header image again, but for now, I think I have something that works for me.

It took a bit of tweaking of gadget sizes and moving things around (since my old template was only two columns and this one is three), but I think I am happy with it. Seems a little "newslettery" but I like it. Of course this means that I am going to be mixing it up on my other blogs as well...they probably won't all end up looking like this one but for the ones that are hard to read, I will moving to something a bit more legible.
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Three Years Ago on In My Words...Tea Is Your Friend

January MCP Project 12

My submission for the MCP Project 12 for January. The theme is Resolution and my running is my resolution for this year...rain or shine! I didn't do anything to this image other than add a fuzzy border and the regular auto correct for light and color.
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Five Years Ago on In My Words...Observations

Maru Is At It Again

I just can't help myself. I am sure he is chasing a bug in between the mirrors but he is just so damn cute!!



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Six Years Ago on In My Words...Truth Or Dare
You want to play????

More Lost Inconsistencies

1. Okay, here are a few more for you...there seems to be an unlimited supply of tarps. I mean everytime there is a new character added to the camp, someone gives them a pile of tarps to build their hut with. I mean, was the plane carrying a cargo hold full of tarps???

2. John's dad has him go into a bank and open a safe deposit box that he has never signed a signature card for. You can't just walk into a bank with a key for a sdb and open it without being on the account (unless you have a death cert for the box owner).

3. They apparently get supply drops from the Dharma Initiative, even thirty years after the initiative has ceased to exist but yet you never see where all that trash goes....I mean, cans and boxes of food and you never see where any of it goes. Now of course, they could be burning most of it, but still, all that metal and glass is not going to just burn up in a camp fire and it isn't like they have this huge incinerator somewhere...

Photo Project Beginnings

It is a new year and time for both photo projects I participated in last year to start again...the one that was every week has modified to only be once a month and won't be using the Flickr group anymore but otherwise they are both the same.

MCP Project 12 is the one that used to be weekly and has changed to be monthy. This is a link to the post you can sign up with and you can upload pics on their blog rather than using the Flickr group like last year. I will probably use my blog as my hosting location for this one.

Shutter Sister's One Word Project is the second one. This one has always been a monthly themed project and it continues to be. They will also continue to use the Flickr group for their hosting which is fine with me...I almost always make a post from my image for the month either way so it doesn't necessarily matter where the image is hosted at. The theme for January is your own word...a word that signifies something for you and you can post your word and your intention to participate on this post.

I am excited to start taking some shots and getting some ideas brewing in my head for both of these projects.
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Three Years Ago on In My Words...Futenma Shrine Visit
I am bummed that I can't do this this year, but am excited that a couple of my friends are going and plan to help me out with some new stuff!!

A Year In Review

First sentence of first post from each month....in some cases, this is going to be an image for me because I think some posts don't have sentences of worth...(they just describe what I did to the images for the project).

Lost Inconsistencies

I am rewatching the Lost series on Netflix streaming...and it is kind of cool to watch again when I know the story because you can see some of the foreshadowing that ends up part of the storyline later on, but there are inconsistencies that drive me nuts...

1. They wash their bodies off in the same pool of water that they drink from in the caves. No one would ever do this...it would contaminate their drinking water supply.

2. They never address the fact latrines need to be set up. This would have been addressed in real life almost immediately or it would have become very disgusting and unhealthy very fast.

3. Locke, who has been in a wheelchair for 4 years and never hunted before he started to with his father prior to the kidney transplant, somehow is this all knowing outdoorsman. I guess this can be written off to the "island"...but I still find it irritating.

4. In episode 25 of the first season, they carry Locke onto the flight (before the crash) but don't seem to be very concerned about the fact that he might need to use the bathroom at some point...I know that some people in wheelchairs wear bags for this purpose, and that could be the case here, but the fact that they don't even ask.

I should note that overall, I never did understand what the final episodes of Lost even meant, so perhaps in this rewatching, I will get some clarity in it all...
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Five Years Ago on In My Words...Flooring Time

Week 51 MCP Project 52

This is my submission for Holiday Cheer, the theme for the week. I didn't do anything but an auto correct and then add a fuzzy border to this one. It was classically festive all on its own. It is a cute little Charlie Brown tree if I don't say so myself...
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Six Years Ago on In My Words...No Sense At All

Shutter Sisters For December

This is my submission for the month of December. The word of the month is Savor and Delta just looked too content and relaxed to pass up on this shot. I didn't do anything editing other than an auto correct for light and color balance and then a fuzzy border in gimp 2.6.
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Seven Years Ago on In My Words...Bathroom Kitty
One of the best stories about Chase!!

Freezing Fog

While in town visiting family for the holidays, I came across freezing fog. I had never realized that it could do that and so of course I had to stop and take a few shots of it.

My mom and I had driven from one end of the valley to another that day, and it was amazing the different weather patterns we came across. In one town the sun was shining and the temps were in the 40s, the next we were in clouds but still warmish...lastly, we end up in our home town in fog and temps in the 20s...it was amazing.

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Four Years Ago on In My Words...Mum Lights

Maine Coon Mirror

My mom has this rescue kitty named Delta at her house and she is part Maine Coon, which of course reminds me tons of Chase. She is super sweet, a lot smaller and more delicate than Chase, but definitely has the some of the cutest Maine Coon traits. She has taken to me while I have been here visiting, sitting on the arm of the chair when I am on the computer and giving me her cute little meows when she wants some attention. She has a limit of how many pets you can get in before she gets "over sensitized" and you have to stop.

She is a box and basket kitty just like Chase. Whoever owned her before my mom had her declawed in the front, so she doesn't go outside. She loves to play with string just like Chase, and is easily amused by the any motion of play. One thing that she does that is not like Chase, is she thumps her tail all the time when she is laying down...so I will be typing on the computer and she is beating my arm with her tail while sitting next to me. If I grab onto the end of it to stop her, she meows at me...
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Four Years Ago on In My Words...The Lion Kitty

New Cards

Just wanted to share my new photo cards I got in the mail...since I am not currently in a position to make my cards from scratch, these photo cards give me the option to be creative with my own images in a way that is functional as well.
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Five Years Ago on In My Words...Snowflakes

Brand New Place

I think I mentioned once or twice before that we were painting our house this summer. In September, our tenants moved out and we found ourselves with the right time and temperature to get it done. It has been a long time coming. On top of the house needing a paint job, the entire place needed some TLC because the tenants didn't do any yardwork or maintenance on their own. In fact, they didn't even turn on the sprinkler system (how hard is that) so the entire yard was dried out and overgrown.

Needless to say, my cousin's painting crew and my uncle (who did most of the maintenance for me) did an awesome job and the place looks like new!! I got final pictures this week and the transformation is just amazing.
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Six Years Ago on In My Words...In A Pinch

Week 44 MCP Project 52

Here is my submission for this week....cloudy day so the colors came out pretty nice. The theme is Muted Tones. I only did an auto balance on color and light, and then added a fuzzy border.
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Four Years Ago on In My Words...Caching It High

Halloween Doodle From Google

I thought this was super cute...here is the video of it for those that didn't get to see it in real life...


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Six Years Ago on In My Words...My Downfall, Candy Corn

Dusty and Salami Tsunami Blog

I have this blog in my blog roll...I have loved reading his stuff for years...like his title says, he has been blogging since it before it was lame...me too.

Unfortunately, he is hosted on Wordpress (with a custom domain) and for some reason (even though I actually have a Wordpress login and password), Wordpress hates me and I have not been able to comment on any blog hosted by them even if it is on a custom domain for over a year....and I have no way to tell those that I read that I am having this comment problem on their blogs....grrr. I have tried to use Wordpress customer service and this has not helped...their CS is worse than ours at Blogger...even if you do get someone to answer, they don't really read what you are saying and just respond with canned answers that have nothing whatsoever to do with the problem. I have pretty much given up on commenting on any Wordpress blogs at this point.

Today, when I read Dusty's post, it rang true in so many ways for me because of a recent traveling experience that I figured I would comment (forgetting to check who the host of the blog was)...wrote this long comment and then it didn't post...so I am posting it here...and maybe Dusty will see it someday...hehe.

"Thanks Dusty, great post. You had me laughing out loud several times.

I just recently stayed in a Marriot for a IT conference (where all 250+ of us were staying) and not only did I have a room with two huge beds for just me, I also had 8 pillows on each bed. I would move all the pillows over the vacant bed but the two I needed for sleeping each night and then the maid would move them back the next morning.

It didn't matter that I left my towels hanging up, they still replaced them everyday regardless of mine and the tree frog's wishes.

Internet connections in our rooms were 13 dollars a day (and not covered by the conference holders even though the double bed and 16 pillow rooms were), but we had free wireless in the lobby....so guess where most of the 250+ people were everyday....yep, hanging out in the lobby so we could all have free Internet. I would have traded some of my pillows for the ability to log into my email in my pjs...."

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Six Years Ago on In My Words...Epiphany

Shutter Sisters for October

This is my submission for The One Word Project for October. The theme is You and I thought this was very much "me". I took this shot in some pretty cool afternoon light and added a border and some softglow lighting.
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Four Years Ago on In My Words...Packing Tape Monster
Another funny story about Chase...

Week 42 MCP Project 52

This is my submission for this week. The theme is True Beauty and while I was out for my run, I saw this little daisy on a field of grass all alone just asking to be photographed...the afternoon light was awesome so all I did was the autocorrect for color and light and then a fuzzy black border.
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Two Years Ago on In My Words...Amazing Colors

Oops, Rufus

Don't think I ever shared this little gem I caught one morning in the midst of our squirrel battles when we lived on the East Coast...enjoy!!


Rufus just seemed like an appropriate name for him...
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Six Years Ago on In My Words...Squirrels, Squirrels, Squirrels
More Squirrel Stories

Netflix Listened

Seems like at least one company out there is listening to their customers...


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Three Years Ago on In My Words...Singing

Finished The Blanket

I finished the blanket that I have been working on for my oldest niece and her newborn son. I wanted to do another granny square blanket but wanted it to be different from the one I made last year for my girlfriend. So I did a little bit of research and found a new way to connect the squares. I am not sure I like how it staggers the squares a little bit but I definitely like it better than having to "sew" all the squares together like I have in the past.

This new method is kind of like creating a seam that mimics the granny square style. It doesn't lay completely flat, or at least it doesn't for me. I am sure if I do it a few more times, I will figure out a way that works for me. But overall, I have to say I am thrilled with how it turned out and it is definitely the biggest baby blanket I have made yet. I have it all boxed up to be sent to my niece tomorrow.
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Six Years Ago on In My Words...Comfort In A Bowl

Shutter Sisters for September

This is my submission for the One Word Project for September. The theme is Story. I only did an autocorrect for balance and light and then added a fuzzy border. Fortunately for me, the monthly one is easier to be consistent with than the weekly one so I am doing better on staying on top of this.
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Two Years Ago on In My Words...Insanity

Week 39 MCP Project 52

This is my submission for Week 39. I have been slacking on some of my picture projects but I wanted to get this one up after seeing these cool flowers yesterday. The theme is Man vs Nature this week. I only did an autocorrect for brightness and balance and then added a black fuzzy border.
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Five Years Ago on In My Words...Small Bed Project

Maru Morning

Just had to check into the little kitty to see what he has been up to....never fails to put a grin on my face!!



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Six Years Ago on In My Words...Always Maxi

What Are They Thinking?

Wow, I just read this blog post on Netflix's blog. I added a sizeable comment as well.

They are shooting themselves in the foot in my opinion. For those customers that opt to do both options, it will become a complete and total hassle and they will be better off just sticking with streaming and getting movies from Blockbuster or Redbox...in fact, it is pretty much the same as doing that, even if stay with Netflix, only they will be paying more for it than they would if they were to go to one of their competitors.

Once the site separates, I will probably stop the DVD at home option all together since I am one of those renters that keeps a movie for ages (which is not economical for me at all) and adding in the additional cost hikes with this new requirement to maintain my queue and ratings on two different sites will just not be worth it. It will suck since there are flicks that Netflix has that you can't get at BB or Redbox, but oh well. I think this will force me to start watching more as they come out and perhaps eventually they will be on streaming. As it is right now, the movies available on streaming from Netflix are lacking and I tend to mostly stream old TV shows so I don't have to watch commercials on cable television.

I went to their site though, and subscribed to both of my queues via RSS feed so that if I do end up closing down the DVD at home portion of my account, at least I will have the list of movies I want to watch or have been recommended to me by friends.
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Three Years Ago on In My Words...Softie

Too Much Fun...

I don't think it is possible and I think that is what makes Google such an innovative company...here are just a few shots I took on the main campus...examples of how Googlers are encouraged to take breaks from the grind and let their "hair down".


Google bikes are found throughout the campus, no segways here


Typical break area found in lobby


Work off that lunch on the centrally located volleyball court on main campus

Overall, the Googlers seemed like a happy bunch...and I am sure that having lots of opportunities to expend physical energy helps keep the brain energies flowing.
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Four Years Ago on In My Words...Sunday Treats
I miss dimsum Sundays...

Heading To Heat

So this hotel has a great, I mean on par with the one we owned in NC, hot tub outside near the pool. I soaked in it for a while last night and am heading to it in a few mins to warm up tonight as well. The jets are fabulous...super strong and really helped last night after spending most of the day sitting or traveling. Today I got a workout in at the end of the day but really sat most of the day due to the conference and I know it will feel great.

On the plane on the way here, they gave out complimentary Widmer beer...and a snack bag of mixed nuts and pretzels...I was starting to think that airlines didn't do anything for customers anymore but apparently some still do.

When we registered yesterday, we got a few small swag items. I think the blue thing is a travel blanket for the plane or to leave in your car...will come in handy I am sure!!

So far the conference has been interesting and informative. Tomorrow we get to go over to the Google Campus and see some of the other staffers that we work with virtually. It should be awesome!!
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Six Years Ago on In My Words...Travel Karma

Conference Update

Hanging at the conference now...didn't bring my camera into the room so no pics until at least after our first break but I took some yesterday and some this morning.

Had an awesome soak in the hot tub last night which I truly needed. Will get some exercise in this afternoon between the conference and whatever dinner plans we might have. I have finally met most of my other "co-workers" on the Blogger Help Forums which is kind of cool to put a face with the posts now...
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Four Years Ago on In My Words...Dead Gecko Movement

TC Summit

As many of you know, I regularly volunteer for Google on the Blogger platform. Well, this year, Google has decided to have a conference/summit for all of us "regular" volunteers (we are called Top Contributors or TCs for short). They are flying us to their headquarters in California for a two day summit that starts tomorrow. We will get to meet face to face with some of our "co-workers" as well as the Googlers that we communicate daily with via the Internet. We will get a tour of the campus in Mountain View as well, which should be pretty cool.

Google has TCs all over the world, so for some people, this is a free international trip. Oh, did I mention it was all expense paid (unless you stay longer or go outside the summit)? Yeah...so I need to get my butt in gear and get packing so I can catch my flight. We have a little registration social tonight but I might just check in and then head to the gym...I am going to try my best to stay on course with my eating and exercising as well.

I'll update the blog as things progress...I'll be checking into FB and various other spots whenever WiFi is available.

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Two Years Ago on In My Words...Kimono Quest

Self Improvement

So I started on this self improvement kick the other day...not only in the fitness arena (which I have been working on for a while) but also in other ways...most of it is superficial stuff (dying hair, bleaching teeth, microderm abrasion...etc) but sometimes that stuff is the stuff that you need to "see" in order to feel better about the overall picture. It is a self esteem booster when you feel like you are making improvements and seeing results. Right now, I need to see results, I need to feel good about myself, and I hope that this will give me the motivation I need to get some other things accomplished that I have been stalling on lately.

So here is to focusing on me, and getting things done!!!

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Five Years Ago on In My Words...Back On Track