a beautiful day in the neighborhood

For a while, I didn't really pick up my camera. I didn't shoot, I didn't edit, I didn't blog. Now that I've decided I want to keep blogging, I find myself having a hard time putting my camera down.

One of my favorite subjects to shoot is a still life. It's not normally the type of thing I find myself gravitating towards but this is a special exception. It's a vase of flowers--some silk, some dried--on the windowsill in my mom's bathroom. That window always has the most glorious light and I find myself shooting the window and its flowers frequently. They're never the same twice.
I decided to put my nifty fifty on my camera and just take a few shots.







Once I had finished in the bathroom, I thought I would take advantage of the gorgeous sunlight and shoot a little bit around the neighborhood. As I walked out, I realized that it was raining. A beautiful golden hour sun shower... that's the making of a rainbow.









I saw a stain on the sidewalk and stopped to take a picture of my bag in the cloud. When I looked up, I saw a full rainbow spanning the sky.





I kept following the rainbow, trying to find a new perspective and make as many shots as I could before it faded away.





Eventually the sun went behind a cloud and it was back to watching it rain.

But oh, how lovely indirect sunlight can be!


I had forgotten how much I love this. I really did miss taking photos and I'm glad I'm back. After all, someone needs to appreciate beautiful (rainy) days in the neighborhood!

I'm back with no tales to tell

It's been a while since I posted and I feel like One Thousand Words Home has been in a bit of limbo. I didn't announce I wasn't going to be blogging because I didn't plan to be gone. I hope that some of you stuck around and checked occasionally for an update.

I lost my love for blogging a few months back. I also haven't really been shooting much either. Work's been time-consuming, I've been knitting like a fiend, and Relay for Life prep has been eating away at what little 'downtime' I have.

I don't know how frequently I'll post or what caliber my posts will be but I love this blog and I want to keep it alive. I'm coming up on my 4 year anniversary here at OTWH and I'm proud of that.

I didn't want to just jump back into the swing of things with Relay so you're getting these instead.


On Easter Sunday, a Mickey Mouse balloon drifted into our backyard and that's where he stayed as he slowly deflated.


Before I gathered him up and tossed him, I decided to take some photos of 'Crime Scene Mickey'.

a season of lights, a season of love [project 12]

December, Challenge #1 – Decorations are popping up everywhere – Capture a photo of a favorite piece of Christmas decor

I have a love affair with icicle lights. It's kind of hard to tell but these lights glow purple-ish.

December, Challenge #2 – Christmas is full of traditions – Take a photo representing the word "tradition"


December, Challenge #3 - The Christmas spirit – Capture a photo of the Christmas spirit

I made a Christmas tree during Hanukkah cookies.

December, Challenge #4 - Twas 2 days before Christmas, and all through the house… - Snap a photo of your Christmas wish

December, Challenge #5 - Happy New Year – 2013 will come in with a bang – Take a photo representing the number '13'.




I waited and waited but nothing I thought of for a "Christmas wish" sounded right to share with you. So I'm not. Project 12 is done and I had a good run. This year, my photo project is less public: I'm trying to make a photo book for the year and actually print all the photos I've taken of Doug and I (mostly Doug).

a Hanukkah tradition

This year, due to somewhat crazy schedules, we didn't get together to make Hanukkah cookies until last night. The (belated) Hanukkah party is tomorrow! Things have just been busy around here.

I didn't make very many cookies last night so I don't have a lot of photos to share. If you want to see lots of yummy, sugary photos, please see last year's post.


However, this year is special because I found a dinosaur cookie cutter in the bin so we have sugary Steggies!



Doug also decided to make speech bubbles, but he hasn't put the message in yet.

I also found a shooting star in the cookie cutter bin and somehow ended up with this. It reminds me of the "The More You Know" star.

rainbow morning

A few minutes ago, I got a text from my mom saying "rainbow to the west." So I ran outside with my camera in my pajamas to take pictures.