my best photo

Today is the last day of May and the last day of May NaBloPoMo. Thirty one days ago I started this daily blog prompt centered around photos. One reason I joined the blog prompt over at BlogHer was that I had not been writing much for an extended period of time, for personal reasons. My focus was elsewhere, and I couldn't seem to focus on writing, photography, drawing or painting.

Today's NaBloPoMo prompt is: your best photo. I thought about that one for several days now. It is hard to pick out my best photo. I thought about all the photos I had taken that I felt demonstrated an increase in my skill as a photographer. Then I thought about what is important for me to share with my photographs, and the answer came to me.

Plain and simple, I think the most important thing I can convey as a photographer is emotion, or the story I am trying to tell. I chose this photo to share. It was shot quickly, not the technically best photo I have ever taken, but I see it now, and I feel strong emotion wash over me. It is a photo of my daughter holding my granddaughter's face in her hand. In Maddie's eyes I see pure love. And I know, because I took that photo, that the love in Maddie's eyes is mirrored in her mommy's eyes, and felt through the touch of her hand.

Total devotion and love of a child for her mother, and a mother for her child. Unplanned and blurry, this may be the best photo I have ever taken. It is certainly one of the most important moments in my life. Captured now, forever. That is the magic of photography.

Life, lived moment by moment, photo by photo. Shared. Experienced.

My best photo.

...life, lived, is your best photo... ~cath
i am @jonesbabie on twitter

epic fail, with joy

Last August I decided I needed to go back to school.  More specifically, I decided to take a class in wound/ostomy/continence care, to pursue certification as a WOC nurse.  The program I chose was a graduate level class with a year of knowledge crammed into a semester.  Online.

I almost hyperventilated as I sank more money than I could imagine on something I would only experience through the computer.  I am comfortable with a computer.  That wasn't the issue.  It was that I spent the better part of 9 years without much time off, and working 2 jobs (or more) while attending classes.  I survived, swearing I would never go back to school.  EVER.

Then I did this.  I struggled with a new set of rules and regs, screwed up a few times, had a hard time focusing to study (recommendation was 2 hours a day...I think I might have studied 2 hours a week). I felt like any minute I would fail.

But I didn't.  I made it through lectures.  Made it through proctored finals (3 times) when some kid would ask me for my ID, and search my room (using MY webcam) for any lurking cheat sheets or dust bunnies that looked suspiciously like cheat sheets.  The first time I went through the process, I felt violated.  By the third time. I was ready to take the test naked if I could just GET FINISHED.

I also foolishly signed on to the NaBloPoMo December daily blogging challenge TWO DAYS BEFORE MY FINAL FINAL.  The thing I neglected to think through was that if I didn't pass that last test, the whole semester was shot.  That's right.  It was all or nothing.  So I wrote and posted on my blog those first two days.  By the 3rd day, the day of my final, I had been without sleep for long enough that I was delusional and thought I didn't have to study much.  Translate that to mean that I procrastinated... painting my nails, coloring my hair, and waxing parts of my body I had no business waxing, until 2 hours before the test, when panic finally set in and I studied.

And passed.  And crashed after it all.  For days afterward I was a zombie, until I woke up one day and realized several things.

1. I was finished with class.  I HAD PASSED.
2. I was going to miss being able to fart out loud and drink a glass of wine while taking a live class.  
3. I had failed at the NaBloPoMo daily blogging challenge.  (Again.)
4. I still had clinical practicum to complete before the class was truly, really completed.

Clinicals in January and February.  Jacksonville, here I come.  Brace yourself.

EPIC FAIL, with joy.  The best is yet to come.

...life is good. find your joy.  ~cath
find me @jonesbabie on Twitter

joy, revisited

As the day drew to a frustrating end I headed out of town toward home, then realized I needed to return to the office and leave something I had forgotten to take out of my portfolio.  My stress level rising as I thought about the FINAL final I would be taking online tomorrow, I was grinding my teeth in aggravation.  Already late to my study time, I was beginning to fume.  I looped back through town, taking short cuts on side streets to save time.  I topped a small hill and suddenly looked up, jamming my brakes down, coming to a halt in the middle of the street.  I suddenly remembered the prompt for the NaBloPoMo blogging challenge this month: JOY.

As I gazed up, I saw the beauty of the setting sun reflected on the billowing clouds, and felt my jaws and shoulders relax.  That perfect moment of joy, when you see a sky you know will never be exactly that perfect again.  The joy of being alive and present in the moment.

Joy.  Pure, simple.  And I will share my moment.  Through my photos.

  

...life is good. find your joy.  ~cath
find me @jonesbabie on Twitter

joy

Here I am, after not writing much for most of this year.  Not that I haven't had thoughts.  I've just had a busy year.  A new position at work last January (not so new now) and things happening along the way that just made me feel at times like a voyeur gawking at my own life.  But here I am, December. Almost the final hour of the year, and I decide to make a last hurrah.  Which means I probably won't have much to say this month, and will blather on about something or other to try to meet the BlogHer NaBloPoMo goal of posting every day.  (AM I CRAZY? I shout at myself inside my head....probably. I reply).

We will see.  But I am going to share a moment of my joy with you tonight.  Sunset from my front yard as I arrived home.  (Well, I was trespassing to get this shot, across the road in the neighbor's yard.  Luckily, the only dogs they have don't eat humans, just lick them to death.)

Somehow, sunsets just always quiet the turmoil in me.  Like this one tonight:

...life is good. find your joy.  ~cath
find me @jonesbabie on Twitter

papa's got a brand new tide

#ad

Be sure to read the details at the end to find out how you can take advantage of a special P&G promotion.  Then click on this link and check out the P&G website! Tide Pods Spring Meadow

When BlogHer and Proctor and Gamble asked me to review a product for a new estore P&G is launching, I was on board all the way.  First, because I love shopping online.  I'd rather shop online because it saves gas (that increasingly precious commodity), and time, which leaves me free to do other things I love.  When I found out I'd be promoting Tide Pods Spring Meadow, I was excited to be included.  This is the first time I have ever promoted anything commercial on my blog, but it's a great way to start.  Here is how I came to discover Tide Pods...

The first time I saw them, I was not impressed, and I wasn't impressed the second time or third time I passed them in the stores we frequented for our shopping.  Stevie Wonder would ask each time, "do you want to try them?"  And I would scoff and say, "of course not, it's just a gimmick."

What am I talking about?  Tide Pods of course.  Spring Meadow scent to be specific.  

Until the day he brought a container of them home after doing some shopping while I was at work.  He was the first one to take the plunge, and being Stevie Wonder, it was a rough start.

When Stevie loaded the washer and then threw one in on top of the clothes, he noticed a few minutes later that it was floating.  That was when I asked the question that always gets me the evil eye.

"Did you read the directions?"

No, of course he hadn't.  Without a word to me, he read the directions, lifted the clothes on one side, and shoved that little pod down under.  He checked several times to see if it was floating again, but it stayed under and never came up again.

I was wondering how well it would clean the clothes.  It was a tiny bit of detergent after all.  Then I noticed that the clothes smelled really clean and fresh.  I've been a Tide girl since way back, and knew my mum loved it.  When Stevie and I married, he told me I couldn't use Tide because he was allergic to it.  Being young and in love, I believed him, so for years we used other detergents.  Then those neat little pods came along and Stevie just couldn't resist them.

We are on our second container of them now.  I love the ease of just being able to throw one in.  No spill, no mess, and most importantly, no measuring.  The directions say to use two for heavily soiled clothing, and that does a spiffy job on those stinky sweaty clothes Stevie Wonder piles in the laundry after working in the garden or doing yardwork.  Tide still does the same marvelous job on our laundry that it did when I was growing up, only in an easier, more convenient way.

Thanks for shoving me forward into the Tide Pod generation, Stevie Wonder.

Now for those special details:
1. If you purchase between now and August 31, 2012, you will save 10% off your order.  Not only that, but you'll get free shipping on orders over $25!
2. There are a lot of great Olympic themed bundles and deals right now on the P&G website.  Proctor & Gamble is a proud sponsor of the US Olympics.
3. In order to get the deals, you must shop by clicking the link at the top of this post, or clicking on the link here Tide Pods Spring Meadow.  Yes I get compensated for it, but you get the savings, and that's the sweet part.
4. Share, share, share!  Share the post, and ask your friends and family to check the website out.  Tell them to click the link, check the post, and enjoy the savings.

What are your favorite P&G products?  How do you feel about shopping on the internet?  Since this is my first blog based promotion, please let me know what you think in the comments below.  The feedback also goes to P&G, so let's hear your thoughts!  And thanks for being the best readers in the blogosphere! :D  

...life is really good. ~cath
  find me @jonesbabie on Twitter