Journey - Photo Challenge

Happy New Year!
May 2013 be your best.

Signs: Photo Challenge

Perhaps this is not as inspired as some, but in terms of signs that speak to me, I guarantee you that the Dairy Queen sign always gets my attention.  As a kid, my hometown Dairy Queen lured me with lemon-lime slushy whips and plain hot dogs with cheese ala Gary, the best owner ever.  Today, I live in a city of 40,000 but the Dairy Queen down the street knows my husband's voice when he calls to order.  Oh, how the Queen is a siren swaying my husband and me to the bad, but tasty side! :)

Cold Photo Challenge

Photo Challenge:  Cold.  Prickly.  Freeze your tookus off kinda weather.  

I'll be inside if anybody needs me. :)

Photo Challenge: Orange

Fresh(man)

letterman sweater

with a basketball sidekick

and... hopefully me

Just a little haiku with my orange pic for this week's wordsmith challenge.  Nothing like a feel of the 50's to make my day!

August Photo Challenge Day #28 - Look Up

Day #28 - Look up!  One of the benefits of living in Bellevue is getting to watch the air show from my lawn chair.  Gotta love the feeling of Top Gun flying overhead.

August Photo Challenge Day #27 - Ombre

Day #27 - Ombre.  I could spend hours taking pictures at the Iowa State Fair.  LOVE these flowers.

August Photo Challenge Day #26 - a good deed

Day #26 - a good deed.  It never fails that I get roped into helping with Christmas Eve services since my dad is usually in charge of some portion of it.  Christmas will forever start with my hometown church and this view.

August Photo Challenge Day #25 - glasses

Day #25 - Glass.  Nothing a girly red drink can't make better!  Always ready for some retro grenadine-type drinks!

August Photo Challenge Day #24 - Ruffles

Day #24 - Ruffles. Yeah, there's not a lot of ruffles in my world, except for the chip kind!  But I do love this ruffled ornament a friend gave me.  It gives me a smile and a Merry Christmas every year.

August Photo Challenge Day #23 - Summer Love

Day 23 - Summer Love.  Probably not what others think of.  Maybe you think of horny teenagers mackin' outside the movie theater or the Dairy Queen, but people there's nothing I love more about summer than flip-flops, tanning weather, and lazy days doing whatever the Hell I want!  Oh, baby, that's summer love!

August Photo Challenge Day #22 - Silence.

Day #22 - Silence.  It's always quietest when someone's pouting...

August Photo Challenge Day #21 - Imagination

Day #21 - Imagination.  I just have to say that I know few examples better than the Bellagio Hotel's seasonal flower displays.  How can you not love and be impressed by a ladybug made out of roses?  Gor-ge-ous!  These people come up with the most amazing ideas and then to make items on a huge scale out of flowers and candy is just phenomenal.  Props to them!

August Photo Challenge Day #20 - Red

Day #20 - Red.  I couldn't begin to decide which picture to go with, but there's something about this that feels futuristic, daybreakish, and ballsy - lol.

August Photo Challenge Day #19 - Fear

Day #19 - Fear.  I think this is what we call brotherly love!  There's always a certain amount of fear when dealing with siblings. :)

August Photo Challenge Day #18 - Aspiration

Day #18 - Aspiration starts in your childhood.  Sometimes on the playground.  Sometimes reading in the closet with a flashlight.  We all have dreams.  Sometimes we see them through to fruition and sometimes, we keep them to ourselves on the backburner.  We see people win American Idol, Super Bowl rings, and gold medals, but it always seems to be a long road.

August Photo Challenge Day #17 - One

Day #17- One.  That's one mean kind of heel!  Pretty sure it could kick Mondays to the curb and stomp a man's heart into the ground.  Gotta love the power of one.

August Photo Challenge Day #16 - Sweet Treat

Day #16 - Sweet Treat.  Nothing like a birthday cupcake. Actually though, if you wanna talk sweet, you gotta talk that adorable little girl behind the candles.  It's always good to be the birthday girl!

August Photo Challenge Day #15 - Striped

Day #15 - Striped.  I'm all about color.  Me and the M&M store have the same love.  Of course, I like my stripes to be vertical, not horizontal; a fat girl's motto. lol.

August Photo Challenge Day #14 - Yellow

Day 14 - Yellow.  Nothing says "game on" like fluorescent Nike hightops ala our niece.  Sure, I have lots of pretty yellow flower pictures I could use today, but today it's not about the pansies!  Forget the Jordan Airs. We have Fly Carley shoes instead.  And for all my co-workers headed back to work today - GAME ON!

August Photo Challenge Day #13 - Relaxing

Day #13 - Relaxing.  At our house, we want people to be comfortable.  We like everybody to feel at home, relaxed, fed, and happy.  Guess that even extends to our wildlife.  Even the rabbits make themselves at home without a care in the world.  Mr. Bunny is all stretched out and ready to watch TV. lol.

August Photo Challenge - Day #12 - Freedom

Day #12 - Freedom.  I know there are more things I could have done with this theme, but being a girl living in a military community, I couldn't help but use this picture.  It's one of the many I take at the Veteran's Day parade every year.  Bruce Springsteen had it right - born in the USA!  And very thankful so many people fight for my freedom every day.

August Photo Challenge Day #11 - Collection

Day #11 - Collection.  This, my friends, is quite a collection.  Thankfully, it's not mine.  When it came to collections, I thought about a picture of cattle because my dad collects them and jokes that as long as he keeps them spread out my mom won't know how many he has.  However, I guess I'm different because I really don't collect anything other than the bajillions of photos I've taken and pages of writing I've written.  Guess that's why they all complain about buying me Christmas presents. lol.

August Photo Challenge Day #10 - Dreamy

Day #10 - Dreamy.  When I hear the word "dreamy," I instantly think of Marsha Brady and her version of dreamy.  For me, that has to be my husband who I happen to think is completely adorable when he sleeps.  He assures me there's nothing dreamy about him, but my boy takes awfully good care of me.

August Photo Challenge - Day #9 - Behind You

Day 9 - Behind You.  Okay, I'm sorry your mom caught you because of this picture, but I understand! Sometimes, you've just gotta look.  Even Michael Phelps wants to know who's behind him.

August Photo Challenge Day #8 - Awkward

Day #8 - Awkward.  So I have a million better, more enjoyable pictures of the baby deer in my yard, but none of them said "awkward" like this one.  It almost pains me to post it.  It is just so structurally incorrect that the perfectionist in me can hardly take it.  (I know you're all shocked by that piece of info - lol.)

August Photo Challenge Day #7 - Sparkling

Day #7 - Sparkling.  In the cattle world, the trend is to pay a fortune to wear sparkly belts.  I can only assume it's to make the calves look better. lol.  However, what I love most about this picture is the imperfection.  See if you spot it.

August Photo Challenge Day #6 - Change

Day 6 - Change.  I struggled with this one, but right now, the corn in the Midwest is changing quickly.  The drought has taken its toll, and farmers are dealing with the fall-out.  Although I no longer have to worry about the corn crop, there's something about a field of corn that brings me the peacefulness of home.

August Photo Challenge Day #5 - Hometown

Day #5 - Hometown.  I really didn't have a picture that did my hometown justice, but what I do always keep in my heart is a love for Oakland, Iowa and the good people that volunteer and come together as a community.  Living and breathing small town life will always be the cornerstone of my world.  If you ask me where home is it will never be where I live now.  It will always be the place where my parents raised me to have good Christian values and an opinion of my own.

August Photo Challenge - Day #4 - twisted

Day 4 - Twisted.  For me, the ropes twisted together to make a halter instantly comes to mind.  Years of my life have been spent showing heifers so tame they sometimes put their own halters on when ready for their fan and hay.  Four generations have passed through that gate to grab a halter and are interwoven because of it.

August Photo Challenge Day #3 - Round

Vegas, Baby!

my haiku of the day inspired by book bindings -

What Men Want: The House

on Mango Street, Perfect Fifths,

Baseball in April...