What have we been up to so far this winter?
Lego. Lots and lots of Lego.
Walking in the sunshine on New Year’s Day.
Jumping in muddy puddles.
Deciding we like the bath again because it means wearing goggles.
Watching the snowflakes fall and cover the ground.
Snuggling with our friend Zebra.
Playing in the snow with friends and making a snowman.
Here’s what all that looked like.
November
As 2012 comes to a close, I’ve been sifting through a lot of photos in an effort to get them organized. I always find it fun to take a look back at what I’ve been up to over the course of a year. Time passes so quickly, I’m thankful I have so many photographs to serve as reminders of all the little things and big things in my life.
Taking inspiration from Susannah Conway, I thought I’d share with you a few of my favorite images from the year. A chunk of these are shots from my iPhone, the camera I always have with me. As I went through these, I realized I was experimenting A LOT with photo apps on my iPhone. The early part of the year is characterized by a complete lack of consistency in the style of shots from my iPhone as I tried just about every photo app I could get my hands on. Now, I’ve finally gotten that out of my system. And my photos thank me.
This year also saw the return of Polaroid into my life. It takes patience and practice but when you get it right, there really is nothing like a Polaroid. I’ve really come to love these dreamy images. I sold my first fine art image at an exhibition earlier in the year. And it was a Polaroid.
And those of you really observant folks will have noticed that I no longer have my Instagram feed or links on the site. After the confusion surrounding Instagram’s changes in their terms of service, I’ve decided to stop using it. Yes, they’ve backtracked on what they initially changed but the fiasco made me re-evaluate the benefit I was getting out of it. In the end, I just felt that no matter what their terms, my photo sharing time was better spent elsewhere. And as I peel back the onion that was Instagram, you’ll see fewer photos shared directly on Facebook.
So where will I share my photos? Here of course. And also Flickr where I have been and continue to be. On Flickr I enjoy connecting with other photographers in various groups and find inspiration from iPhone, DSLR, and Polaroid artists. And now they’ve got a great new iPhone app for managing my photostream. It’s just a better fit for me all around.
Enjoy.
Things have been a little quiet around here. And, I have more than one person comment “Are you OK? You haven’t posted many updates lately.”
Well I am OK, it’s just that with me still on the mend from surgery I just haven’t had much mojo to get out and do. And there’s really not a lot of interesting stuff to write about or take pictures of from bed. But, the good news is that I’m starting to come around and feel much better. So, I thought I’d share just a little glimpse into what we’ve been up to lately, even if it’s not very much.
Newly Minted 3 Year Old in His New Big Boy Bed
Up on See Saw at the Playground
Riding Mr. Dinosaur at Peppa Pig World
Driving Grandpa Pig’s Boat
The blog has had a facelift, AGAIN, as it was time to freshen things up a bit. I’m also reorganising things to make room for some new content. Stay tuned for more on that.
Also, I’ve learned that Google has plans to drop its FeedBurner service which is what I’ve used for RSS and Email subscriptions. While Feedburner may still be around for a while, I thought it prudent to migrate to something else. So what does this mean and how to you keep getting updates? If you were getting your updates by email, you shouldn’t need to do a thing as I’ve moved you over to the new email feed. If you were subscribed with RSS and want to keep getting updates uninterrupted, you will need to subscribe to the new feed. It’s super easy. Just click here.
Of course you can still keep up with me on Twitter or Facebook as well. Really whichever way works best for you.
It’s that time of year again. Pumpkin time.
And, as I wrote last week, nothing symbolizes the taste and smell of Autumn better than my beloved Pumpkin Spice Latte. Finally now available at Starbucks stores in the UK.
But, as much as I’m excited by this news, the reality is that I’m not going to Starbucks everyday. Plus, we’ve got a brand new fancy latte / espresso / cappuccino maker at home so it just seems silly to go anywhere else to buy coffee. But what about the Pumpkin Spice Latte? Does this mean I have to go without all Autumn?
Well, thank goodness, no. Yesterday, the lovely Creature Comforts posted a collection of delicious pumpkin recipes. Given how much I love pretty much anything made with pumpkin, I immediately want to make and eat all of these. But, check out number 16, Pumpkin Spice Latte Syrup. A quick scan of the ingredients revealed that I had everything I needed in the house. Woo hoo!
So this morning, I got to work making my Pumpkin Spice Latte Syrup. It was quick and easy. My batch made about 12 oz of syrup, certainly enough to last me most of the season. Maybe next time I’ll get some fancy bottles to put it in instead of the random jar I found. Wouldn’t that make a nice holiday gift?
How did it compare to Starbucks? Spot on. Delicious. No need to head to Starbucks anymore to get my Pumpkin Spice Latte fix. Just put a little of my homemade syrup in my mug, press latte on my super-duper latte machine, and top with a swirl of whipped cream. Yum. I’m even going to tell myself that this is healthier than the Starbucks version as it’s homemade with real pumpkin.
And, because I had plenty of pumpkin purée left over, I also made the Simple Pumpkin Pie Bars because they looked yummy, easy, and I had all the ingredients in the cupboard. I may even like these better than pumpkin pie. They’re that good.
The house was full of pumpkin goodness today. And that made me smile.