P52 {7} - True Love

Honestly, I wasn't feeling very inspired by the "True Love" prompts this week/month. Everything seemed so cliche, but I made it work.

True love, my little family of three...as interpreted by artist Auntie Agatha.

Sometimes I wish I had a macro lens. But I have other gear lined up first! Anyway, as CPAs, Doug and I © numbers. *snort* Even though he called me a nerd for taking this picture. And then didn't even notice 5.31 is our anniversary. Jerk!

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P52 {6} - Drink Up

Ok, so this may be your first, second, third, fourth sneak peek into Mia's party by now. But it was fitting for this week's Project 52 theme of Drink Up!

I'll have the full party post for you soon, I promise!

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P52 {5} - Shadows

I tried killing two birds with one stone this week: P52 shadows and E for the A-Z Challenge.

E is for Elephant.

Like an African Safari. Or Lion King? What do you think? It's like the inverse of this elephant.

And here's my setup:

I played around with Mia's circus toy, 2 foam boards and a flashlight. I noticed that the elephant's shadow was sharpest when the flashlight wasn't pointed directly at it. The shadow was more crisp with the center of the flashlight off to the side. I played around with placement of the flashlight, elephant and foam board until I got tired, considering it was 2am! And it was extremely post processed just for fun, because it was a silly subject anyway.

Come back tomorrow to see letters A, B, C and D!

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P52 {4} - Self Portrait

This week's Project 52 prompt was self portrait. Mine's not very creative, but actually looking decent for a picture, using my tripod and getting an in focus picture counts as effort, right?!

Since I don't have a remote, I went back and forth using the good ol' timer. To finally get a shot that was in focus, I had to have Doug stand in while I focused, set the timer, then pushed him out of the way to pose.

Mia also wanted in on the fun. She's going to be so excited when she gets a camera for her birthday! Stay tuned for birthday party details over the next few weeks.

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P52 {3} - I Dreamed a Dream

Despite the snow storm last weekend, my entire extended family from Seattle to Florida made it safely into Chicago. In between getting each family's picture with Grandma, I made this photograph.

The beautiful picture she's holding is her nursing graduation photo when she was 21.

Without this strong woman, we (5 kids, 8 grandkids and 6 great-grandkids) wouldn't have this. very. house. to make three generations of cherished memories.

I'm not sure that 44 years ago when she immigrated here, she could've dreamed of the life she was building for all of us.

Next week's prompt is self portrait. Easier said than done!

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P52 - {2} Made With Love

After seeing this week's Project 52 prompt, I knew that I wanted to photograph the baby blankies knitted/crocheted by my Grandma. I think every one of my Grandma's great grandkids, all six of them, has one or two blankies. Before I knew when I'd have kids, I was afraid that my Grandma wouldn't be around to make my babies their blankies, considering she'd be nearing 90 years old by then. But lucky for me, I had Mia shortly after I got married and Grandma was still healthy enough (at 87!) to whip up some beloved blankies.

She even gave me a blue one for my future boy. Not that I'm pregnant! Just that she knew she wouldn't be able to make one when the time does come (a few years from now!). I get most of my crafty genes from my Grandma and hope that my kids will treasure these blankies as much I we do!

Kap kuhn ka ya-tuat! My smart little Thai baby.

I'm so glad we're having an impromptu family reunion this week where all of Grandma's kids (5), grandkids (6) and great grandkids (6) can spend time together - for the first time! The baby cousins weren't born/conceived yet when we got together for Grandma's 85th birthday. I'm ready for lots of good food, late night card games where the adults try to take our money {Rummy!}, and mini cousins running around!

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P52 {1} - Resolution

Unlike most bloggers, I didn't look back at 2011, pick my favorite posts/projects (just pictures of Mia), reflect on the past year, nor write out resolutions for the next. Not that I didn't want to. Unfortunately, I just never sat down and took the time to do it (off to a great start, huh!?).

However, I plan to participate in Project 52 at my3boybarians and Project 12 at mcp actions. And by participate, I mean actually thinking about the photography challenges and really pushing myself to execute all of them.

Here's to week/month 1 - resolution.

Let's see if I can get the past three years worth of photos into albums, yikes. Just like getting my craft closet organized, sorting thousands of pictures into physical albums is a daunting task that I continually put off.  

I always gave my Mom a hard time for having my childhood photos in plastic bins in the basement. "Why is it so hard to sort and put them in albums? Ugh {eyeroll}" On more than one occasion, I'm realizing why my Mom didn't do things the way I thought she should've. Because it's not. that. easy. Just another lesson learned when you get older/have kids. Sorry, Mom!

Here's to a new year!

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