MR's 365 Project

Day 79 - Cherry Blossoms

2010-03-21T07:08:00.001-07:00

The cherry trees are in bloom.

Day 78 - Dress Print

2010-03-21T07:07:00.000-07:00

I've been breaking out the spring clothes for work. This is the print on one of my spring/summer dresses.

Day 77 - Paperwork

2010-03-21T07:05:00.001-07:00

This is cropped, but this is SOME of the paperwork I need to sort through.

Day 76 - Soda Bread

2010-03-21T07:02:00.000-07:00

Soda Bread

4 cups flour
2 tsp each: salt, sugar, baking soda
2 cups buttermilk
2 tsp milk

Sift flour, mix dry ingredients, add wet ingredients, kneed 3x, place on greased cookie sheet, score top with an "x", coat with buttermilk, bake at 450 for 25-45 min.

Day 75 - Tulips

2010-03-21T07:00:00.000-07:00

Tulips on the dining room table - kind of a blurry shot

Day 74 - Shamrock

2010-03-21T06:56:00.000-07:00

A random St. Pat's decoration

Day 73 - Tablecover

2010-03-21T06:53:00.003-07:00

Day 72 - House Guest

2010-03-14T12:17:00.001-07:00

This little guy has moved into our deck roof. I was thrilled. I think he's really cute, but I know squirrels are destructive and he can't stay. ::sigh:: I'm not sure how we'll coax him to relocate. Moving the bird feeder will probably be a good start.

Day 71 - Ohm

2010-03-14T12:14:00.000-07:00

This is a Tibetan Ohm symbol. I picked up this necklace a few years ago at an offbeat shop in the city.

Day 70 - Baggy Jeans

2010-03-14T12:12:00.000-07:00

I have a thing for bell bottoms. No idea why.

Day 69 - Throwback

2010-03-10T15:13:00.000-08:00

This came from the ATM this morning. I was surprised. I haven't seen one of these in a while.

Day 68 - Yellow

2010-03-10T15:10:00.000-08:00

I love the color of these flowers.

Day 67 - Buds

2010-03-10T15:02:00.000-08:00

The trees are budding.

Day 66 - Sunlight

2010-03-10T15:00:00.000-08:00

I just liked how the sunlight hit the fence

Day 65 - Surprises 3

2010-03-10T14:59:00.000-08:00

I didn't bring my camera to the retreat, so I had to catch up with three photos when I came home. My husband surprised me with vases of flowers, a clean house and dinner in the oven when I came home on Sunday. So I tried to catch up with photos as soon as I got home. Days 63, 64, and 65 will be shots of the flowers he bought.

Day 64 - Surprises Two

2010-03-10T14:57:00.000-08:00

Day 63 -Surprises One

2010-03-10T14:54:00.000-08:00

Day 62 - Wear and Tear

2010-03-10T14:52:00.000-08:00

Our deck needs some TLC when the weather improves

Day 61 - Quiet Time

2010-03-10T14:50:00.000-08:00

Relaxing on the couch

Day 60 - Branches

2010-03-10T14:48:00.001-08:00

Branches outside of my window at work

Day 59 - Faith

2010-03-01T16:54:00.000-08:00

One of my older cousins requested to be baptized. His parents raised him outside of the Catholic faith. What's unique about the situation is that this cousin is autistic and took it upon himself to start walking to his local neighborhood church on Sundays for mass. He talked to one of our aunts and asked what it was he could do to "do what everyone else does". And so the process of phone calls began. I'm not sure why he decided to go or what he experiences when he's at mass. The priest in the church was happy to oblige. Until his mom called to ask if they would be open to baptizing him the priest only knew him as "the big guy who sits in the front row". He was beaming and grinning ear to ear on Sunday.

I'm not a particularly religious person, but I do believe in a God, and I think he presents himself to different people in different ways. My cousin seems to have experienced him (her?) in a way I have yet to encounter. Maybe one day. Maybe not. I'll know whenever that time comes. For now, I'm just proud of and happy for my cousin.

This is a picture of a piece of one of the stained glass windows in the church.

Day 58 - Sky

2010-03-01T16:50:00.000-08:00

Ok, This picture is really from Sunday. I spent Saturday on the living room sofa grading papers and projects. After the hours of grading I grabbed a quick shower and was off to a family party. I completely forgot to take a picture. ::sigh:: I made up for it on Sunday and took several shots that I really like. Here's one of them, the sun peeking through some clouds on a gray winter morning.

Day 57 - Bread

2010-02-27T05:38:00.000-08:00

This is my first attempt at a traditional "white" bread. I changed the recipe a bit to 2 parts all purpose flour, 1 part whole wheat flour. I was happy with the result. This is a shot of the texture of the top of the bread.

It was on a blue plate, if that explains the weird blue glow in the bottom right corner.

Day 56 - Snowflakes

2010-02-27T05:34:00.000-08:00

The snowflakes that fell were large enough where you could see the shapes and patterns on most of the flakes. I tried to capture one of them. Unfortunately, my camera isn't that high tech. But you can still make out the shape.

Day 55 - Outside Pets

2010-02-24T16:31:00.000-08:00

We have a window with a storm window that won't close. We inherited it from the previous home owners and haven't had the money to fix it. Mourning doves have taken to building a nest in it. I love it. They come in March/April, spruce up the nest they left last year, and they seem to lay two sets of eggs in the Spring/Summer season. Because they're in the window we get to watch the babies come and go, and the tree by the window provides an opportunity for flying lessons. When I let the dog out this morning I saw one of the doves. Now, if this is the same dove that's been coming for a few years now, or one of her babies, I have no idea.

Even cooler (to me) is that last year some sparrows built a nest in the same window on the opposite side. There didn't seem to be any issues with the birds sharing their real estate. And at one point they both had young ones in the nest at the same time who were chirping at each other.

The doves seem to be comfortable with our peeking at them from time to time. However, the sparrows are a bit less enthusiastic about it.

We've already discussed possible versions of nesting boxes we could try to hang from the window should we ever get the money to replace it (and the 5 other second floor windows and 5 large first floor casement windows that need replacing).

Day 54 - Fuzz

2010-02-23T15:53:00.001-08:00

No "buts" about it, he's my best bud.
(waiting for the groans...)

Day 53 - Tulips

2010-02-23T15:50:00.001-08:00

Supermarket tulips I picked up for a pick-me-up

Day 52 - Ganache

2010-02-21T17:19:00.001-08:00

Brownies (from scratch) topped with chocolate ganache

Yeah, it's been that kind of week.

Day 51 - Words of Comfort

2010-02-21T17:15:00.000-08:00

Sharing a prayer

Day 50 - Is it spring yet?

2010-02-20T14:07:00.000-08:00

I saw this little guy from my classroom window. He looked hungry and a bit overwhelmed by the snow so I threw what was left of my morning bagel to him.

Day 49 - Random Licsnce Plate

2010-02-20T14:05:00.000-08:00

A random license plate I saw while driving to work.

I'm not sure why it's so small. I've taken pictures with my cell phone before, and they're typically larger.

Day 48 - Grief

2010-02-20T14:02:00.000-08:00

Mourning the loss of a student

Day 47 - Cold As Ice

2010-02-20T14:00:00.000-08:00

Icicles hanging from the porch

Day 46 - Vase

2010-02-17T18:53:00.001-08:00

I went to lunch with my mom and they had this vase on the table. I liked the way the shadows of the leaves looked like a pattern on the vase.

This is a cell phone shot. The colors were really faded when I downloaded the picture so I used "auto contrast" in Picasa to pick them up a bit.

Day 45 - Working Hard

2010-02-14T17:13:00.001-08:00

A horse posing for a photo in the city.

Day 44 - Cookies

2010-02-13T19:52:00.000-08:00

Cookies for Valentine's Day

Day 43 - Little Bird

2010-02-12T18:59:00.000-08:00

I found this necklace while out shopping with my mom earlier this week. I thought it was cute. It reminds me of spring, and it makes me think of the Bob Marley song, "Three Little Birds".

(This is a cell phone shot, cropped in Picasa.)

Day 42 - In the Kitchen Again

2010-02-11T17:22:00.000-08:00

Homemade chips to go with pizza (from homemade dough)

Day 41 - White Out

2010-02-10T16:39:00.000-08:00

One of many, many pictures of record breaking snow

Day 40 - Here We Go Again

2010-02-09T18:10:00.000-08:00

Snowflakes falling at the start of our newest storm.

Day 39 - Muffins

2010-02-09T18:07:00.000-08:00

Cinnamon muffins baking in the oven.

Our neighbor lets our dog out during the day while we're at work. He's kind enough to trade his services for baked goods, so I try to keep him supplied (even if it's from a box mix).

Day 38 - News

2010-02-07T16:33:00.001-08:00

News I LOVE to see.

Day 37 - Winter White

2010-02-06T05:21:00.001-08:00

8 am, 12 hours after the start of the storm. At the moment we have over 17" of snow. The news just upgraded our snow totals to a prediction of 20" - 28" inches of snow (They originally said 12"-14") before the storm leaves the area later today.

I'm still in PJs and not ready to venture out, but here is a shot of the snow as seen from my front door.

Day 36 - It Begins

2010-02-06T05:16:00.000-08:00

The news stations have been watching a storm for the last week or so. It started sometime after 8pm last night. This shot was taken just about four hours after the snow started.

Day 35- Love is Tweet

2010-02-04T17:57:00.001-08:00

Cheesy title, I know. I saw these at Target weeks ago and snapped a pic today. They're connected at the beak by a string. If you pull them apart they buzz back together and "kiss". I LOVE them, but know they'd just collect dust on a shelf somewhere. So they stayed at the store, but they still make me smile when I see them.

Day 34 - Dust

2010-02-03T18:10:00.001-08:00

Just a dusting of snow this morning.

Day 33 - Relief

2010-02-02T13:09:00.000-08:00

Nausea relief...usually.

Day 32 - Gluten free at Target

2010-02-02T08:50:00.000-08:00

A friend of mine has "issues" with gluten. She's never been officially diagnosed with Celiac, but she claims to have digestive issues with foods that contain wheat, flour and/or gluten. Recently, my uncle's wife was diagnosed with Celiac, and we've heard from family members that speak to each other (there are very few) on my mom's side that two people on that side of the family have recently been diagnosed with Celiac.

I had a month long migraine headache a few years ago. My primary care physician and a neurologist wanted to treat the problem with antidepressants. I've been down the antidepressant road before, and unless it's 100% medically necessary for survival, I'll never take them again. What bothered me more than the knowledge that I would most likely regain the 40lbs I lost after stopping them (gained 30+ while taking them) was the fact that neither doctor knew how or why the antidepressants worked on migraines. I did some online research for possible causes of long-term headaches. While reading I stumbled across the term "gluten migraine". From what I read at the time in adult-onset Celiac the digestive symptoms are not always present, but brain lesions can form, causing headaches. I asked for the blood test for Celiac, she humored me and ordered it. Thankfully (I love carbs too much to deal with the diet changes), it came back negative. At the time it seemed like I was reaching for a diagnosis, but after hearing the news that two people on my mom's side of the family had been diagnosed, I'm glad I pushed for it.

Anyway...the photo...

I've mentioned before that I love baking, and with Celicac on my radar I've been noticing more and more gluten free options on menus at restaurants and on shelves at grocery stores.

I saw these baking mixes at Target the other day and thought a photo would make for an interesting post.

If you're curious, I tried the brownie mix when my friend came for a visit this summer. They were flat and very chewy, almost sticky. They were also difficult to cut and in my opinion were lacking in that "brownie" taste. However, if left with the options of no brownies ever again or these brownies for a treat once and a while, I'd go with these. I'm curious to try the cookie mix, but it requires gluten free vanilla and I've never seen that in the local supermarket.

Day 31 - View

2010-02-01T15:13:00.000-08:00

A view from our hotel room.

Day 30 - Bubble Lamp

2010-02-01T15:10:00.000-08:00

This is a close up of the lamp base that was in our hotel room when went into the city for "date night" this past Saturday.

Day 29 - On Guard

2010-01-30T06:31:00.000-08:00

Guarding his most prized possession...

Day 28 - Vines

2010-01-30T06:27:00.000-08:00

The vines on this tree caught my attention while I was taking the dog for a walk. Despite the tugging of an excited 75lb ball of energy, I managed to take the picture (though not framed exactly the way I would like).

Day 27 - Glass

2010-01-27T18:40:00.000-08:00

I collect green glass, specifically (when I can find it) green crackle depression glass. My aunt just gave me a beautiful pitcher for my collection. I don't think it falls into the depression glass category, but I like it. It's a pretty emerald color and catches the light. I noticed the color of the glass projected on the table and managed to remember to snap a picture.

Day 26 - Peeking Through

2010-01-27T18:38:00.001-08:00

Keeping with day 25's cloud theme. Here's a shot from early evening.

Day 25 - Clouds

2010-01-25T15:31:00.000-08:00

There was a break the rain this afternoon. I took advantage of the clearing sky and took a quick picture (outside of the supermarket).

Day 24 - Motivation

2010-01-24T14:44:00.003-08:00

For anyone out there, like myself, who is in need of some motivation at the moment.

If you're curious, it's a shot of some "reward" stickers for tests.

Day 23 - Celebration

2010-01-24T08:23:00.000-08:00

Celebrating my husband's birthday.

Day 22 - Red Hat

2010-01-22T15:07:00.001-08:00

My mom and I spent the day together. She took me to an ultrasound appointment in the morning and we browsed a discount "department" store for a bit before grabbing lunch. While wandering the store I found this crazy hat. I thought it was worth sharing. It's not my style. lol. But maybe one of you will like it?

Day 21 - Craving

2010-01-22T15:03:00.001-08:00

For whatever reason I was craving Pistachio Ice Cream yesterday. So I picked up a pint while shopping.

Not the most inventive or best composed shot, but it was a piece of my day.

Day - 20 Doors

2010-01-20T16:00:00.000-08:00

There's a beautiful cathedral about 15minute drive from my house. The grounds are amazing, and the back of the cathedral opens up to a huge open landscape that faces west. You can sit on the built in stone benches, look at the gardens and the grounds and watch the sunset. I took a drive, hoping to catch some pictures of the sunset. Unfortunately, I was too late. The brightest colors had already faded. I did take this picture of one of the cathedral doors to share. When the days are a little longer I'll take another drive and try again.

Day 19 - Baking

2010-01-19T15:28:00.000-08:00

I enjoy baking. At times I do it for the fun of trying something complicated to see if it will turn out. Other times it helps to pass a few hours of boredom. And I use it as a stress relief. I give away most of what I make to family, friends and coworkers. I really wouldn't want to see the scale if I didn't.

Yesterday I had some free time, some extra bananas in the kitchen that were starting to brown, and an urge to bake. So...I made my first ever loaf of banana bread. I tweaked the recipe a bit and added a streusel center layer and topping (no cinnamon, just brown sugar and butter).

This is a view of the bread from above. You can really see the texture of the crumble top. If you look toward the bottom right, you can see the streusel center layer.

As I write this, there's a chocolate chip loaf cake in the oven. Something about fee time and cold weather makes me want to be in the kitchen.

Day 18 - Grading Essays is a Pain

2010-01-18T12:10:00.000-08:00

One of the things I like the least about my job.

Day 17 - Rainy Day

2010-01-17T15:04:00.000-08:00

Just a rainy Sunday.

Day 16 - Saturday Morning

2010-01-16T05:46:00.000-08:00

I was upset that my dog woke me up to go outside so early on a Saturday morning until I opened the door to let him out and saw the sun coming up though some trees. I've taken a few shots like this. For some reason I'm drawn the contrast of bare branches against the sky. I am trying for a variety of shots, but there's something about a view like this that captures my attention every time.

Day 15 - Date Night

2010-01-15T18:04:00.000-08:00

Tonight was date night, take-out by candlelight.

Day 14 - After Work

2010-01-15T15:17:00.000-08:00

Just a quick shot of my view leaving work the other day.

Day 13 - Seeing Stars

2010-01-13T19:03:00.001-08:00

Every Christmas my mom buys me something practical: PJ bottoms, underwear, bras, etc. I'm not complaining. I like practical gifts. Unfortunately, she tends to buy these things a size or three too small. She refuses to believe I am the size I claim to be. To be fair, I do buy most things a size bigger than necessary. I'm not a fan of "clingy". Tonight I took a deep breath as I tried on the PJ pants she gave me this year. She finally got it right and went with a bigger size on these PJ pants. I LOVE them. They're fleece bottoms. The pattern is cute. They're amazingly soft and comfortable. If I could wear these to work I would.

Day 12 - Day to Day Randomness

2010-01-12T17:32:00.001-08:00

Tackling organization one cabinet at at time.

Day 11 - Just Me

2010-01-11T13:13:00.001-08:00

I noticed the shadow on the wall while getting a snack in the kitchen and snapped a quick pic.

Photo cropped via Picasa

Day 10 - Apres le Concert

2010-01-10T12:19:00.000-08:00

The school had an arts concert today. I snapped this before the show.

Day 9 - Young Musician

2010-01-10T04:24:00.001-08:00

We visited family today today. Their oldest is learning to play the violin. She's just starting, but doing surprisingly well. I hope she decides to stay with it.

This photo has been cropped (to keep any recognizable faces off the blog).

This version was edited using Picasa.

Day 8 - A Snowy Start

2010-01-08T16:37:00.001-08:00

We had a bit of snow, just a bit, enough to leave a light coating on the trees without making a mess of the roads.

Day 7 - Too Hard to be Girly

2010-01-07T20:01:00.000-08:00

This is why I rarely paint my nails. The polish chips after a day or two and I'm left with a mess and no time to really seek out the polish remover, take off the polish, etc. And so I have something that looks like this for about a week until I get tired of looking at it.

Day 6 - Sunset

2010-01-06T14:53:00.001-08:00

A quick shot during the last moments of tonight's sunset.

Day 5 - Oh Bother

2010-01-05T18:09:00.000-08:00

A personal animated favorite,

A Christmas gift,
A item from an ever growing collection,
and a reflection of my current mood.

Day 4 - The Grind

2010-01-04T14:34:00.000-08:00

After two weeks of freedom and relaxation, it's time to go back to work. ::sigh:: I wish I could say I awoke this morning rejuvenated, excited and ready to greet the second half of the school year with energy and enthusiasm. Unfortunately, I did not. I enjoy the lack of a schedule that comes with vacation, the extra time with friends and family, longer hours asleep in bed and more time to snuggle with the dog. The 5:45am alarm was unwelcome and will continue to be so. How may days until summer vacation?

Day 3 - In the City

2010-01-03T10:04:00.000-08:00

Today was a therapy day. It's freezing and gray here, more of a day to stay in hidden under layers of blankets than to venture out to a therapy session. Still, I made the trip and managed to take a picture. This is a picture of one of the city streets by the counselor's office.

* cropped and converted to black and white

Day 2 - Morning Coffee

2010-01-02T07:31:00.000-08:00

On weekday mornings I find myself picking up lattes at Dunkin' Donuts. It's quick and easy. I get a few extra minutes of sleep. It works for me. Weekends are a different story. I take the time to grind beans, brew coffee, and I use this mug. I found it at Starbucks (years ago) and bought it with a gift card my husband gave me for my birthday. It's become my mug. More specifically my weekend mug / work-free days mug. I smile whenever I pull it down from it's place on the cabinet shelf. It means a morning of lounging on the sofa, watching television, playing on the computer and sipping coffee.

Day 1 - Roses

2010-01-01T15:24:00.001-08:00

I'm celebrating a successful holiday, a much needed vacation, and a new year filled with potential and possibility. So when I saw this bunch of jewel toned roses (for only $5) while food shopping the other day, I decided to treat myself with what my mom calls an "I love me" gift.

The 365 Project

2010-01-01T15:04:00.000-08:00

I noticed quite a few people participating in the 365 project last year. I decided to give it a try. We'll see how it goes.

What exactly is the 365 project? Click here for more information.