Sunday, January 30, 2011

Shadow

Has anyone seen that new Mentos commercial? The one with the spider? Brian says the girl in it is me. I say that's right, and also that the spider in it is EVERY spider in the whole world. They are evil. Scary and evil.

Anywho...

Last night Brian was having some fun with a flashlight, making shadow puppets. I fully enjoy having such a goofy boyfriend. He is constantly making me laugh with his silliness.

120/365: Pup
Friday night we headed to to Irene for a little get-together game night with my family. My parents taught Brian and me how to play Pitch, a card game which I grew up watching the "grown ups" play. They'd always offered to teach me, but I didn't think I would understand it or even LIKE it. (In my mind, it was just people throwing cards on the table and somehow making a game out of it....?) But it really is a fun game, and I'm glad I finally know how to play it. I'm seeing lots of late-night card playing in my future, especially on holidays. We also played Cranium, which is a blast, but took FOREVER. Ended up leaving Irene and heading back to Madison at 2:00 in the morning. I almost hit a deer - It was standing right in the middle of the road. (I think they're suicidal, really.) But my sleepy eyes and tired mind acted quickly enough to avoid granting its deathwish. Gotta love those late night drives.

119/365: Dad shuffling cards. (something I'm nearly incapable of doing.)
Later today we're heading to Sioux Falls to do some grocery shopping and what-not. Then I've got some homework to finish up. Not a bad weekend we've got going on here.

(P.S. - I typed the title of an old Asking Abby song in this post somewhere. Who can point it out??)

Friday, January 28, 2011

"I'd be boo-ing, because they only scored 30 points"

Whoa, whoa, WHOA...Shaun White didn't make it into the Snowboard Slopestyle finals?? What is going on in the world? Crazy stuff. Oh well...He's still my favorite US Olympian. =P

Time to announce the photo and winners of this week's "Too Close" Tuesday shot. We'll do it this way:

Here's the original photo:


Annnnnnd a little farther out:


Still nothin? Want to throw a guess in here before you scroll down a little more? No? Ok, here's the answer, in photo form:

Drumroll.....



IT'S MY SHOE!! Congrats to the winners who guessed correctly:

#1) Amanda B! (you're listed first because you actually left a comment here with your correct guess and that makes you the most awesome)
#2) Ashley! (she facebook chatted me her answer)
#3) Emily! (she told me at the game last night)

YAY! It's pretty awesome having more than one winner, and especially more than one person guessing. Hehe...Tune in for next week's photo.

How about some shots from Dustin's game last night?

Starting lineup high five!

Layup brought to you by Dustin.

Nice jump shot by Greg.

Ethan...Look at the height advantage there!

The five starters taking a break.

118/365: Starters subbing back into the game. ALMOST missed this...So glad I caught it just in time.

And a few extras from the night:

Cheerleaders watching the boys warm up before the game.

And a shot from the girls' game. I think this is pretty cool.
Both teams won their game. The boys won by 38 points! It wasn't the most exciting game, but it was pretty fun to watch them just dominate.

A few of my photos ended up in the local newspaper. I haven't seen it yet, but people have told me they look great. Even though our paper is super small and it doesn't take much to get something in there, it's still a cool feeling. I'm going to send a few of these over to them, too. I do enjoy sharing my shots! =)

We're headed home tonight to hang out with my family for a bit. Sounds like we're just getting together and playing cards and having fun. And I am SO EXCITED about this warm weather. All the ice and snow on the roads is melting and today I grabbed a handful of snow and made a snowball and threw it at Brian. Until now, the snow has been WAY too cold to stick together so snowballs were nearly impossible (however, ice clumps were readily available.) I want to go make a snowman now! And it's warm enough to do it in a t-shirt!

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Gesture

Know what drives me crazy more than anything else in this world? People (COLLEGE STUDENTS) who still don't know how to use the different forms of "their, there, they're" and "then, than" and "to, two, too," among others. IT'S NOT THAT HARD!! I truthfully have no idea how people can make it to college and still not be able to use them correctly. Absolutely, one-hundred percent drives me insane.

If you happen to be one of these people who doesn't know basic English (and yes, I mean BASIC...you should have learned this stuff in elementary school,) take a look at this: LEARN SOMETHING!!

Whew...Sorry about that little rant. More will probably end up here, as long as people are still being dumb. Stay tuned!

On a positive note, how about some photos?

117/365: Another sunrise shot. This morning before I left for class I shot a whole bunch of these. This may not be the BEST one, but it is my favorite. I actually love the sort of faded, softness that the bright sun created.
This afternoon, in an attempt to work up some creativity for sketching, I looked through my newsprint pad which is full of quick gesture sketches from last semester's figure drawing class. I decided I liked a few of them so I took some photos and here they are!

"Wrap the figure"

A bit out of proportion, but I still like it.

I like the comments from my prof. Considered photoshopping them out, but that changes my feelings for it. Ha!

I think this one is my favorite. So simple.
I enjoyed that class a lot. Didn't think I would, but I was in the class with some really great kids, one of them being a best friend of mine. Also helped that it was taught by one of my favorite professors here. (However, I have a few of those. Ha!)

Today I decided that one of the only reasons I want the snow to melt away is so that I can get my shortcut across the grass back. Right now it's under 3 feet of snow. Makes my walks to school quite a bit longer than they need to be, since my lack of boots makes it impassable. (I do still love the snow, though!)

I think we're going to be lazy tonight and order pizza. We're allowed a few of those, right?

Check out yesterday's post to make a guess at the "Too Close" Tuesday shot!

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

TCT

Today's "Too Close" photo is PRETTY EASY! Then again, I think I always say that. I will post the answer later in the week. Good luck!

Hint: It's something near to me at almost all times. The colors MIGHT just give it away.
Last night we were trying to think of something good to make for supper. Brian wanted something "like hamburger pie, but not hamburger pie." I asked Traci and she suggested taco pie. So I got the recipe from her and it was SO YUMMY. Thanks, Traci!! =)

Also am using it for yesterday's photo.

115/365: The photo makes it look like a big pile of mush...But it tasted like a big pile of TACOS!! Mmm!
Off to a meeting. =]

Sunday, January 23, 2011

FOOD

I have spent my day with Brian, football, Illustrator, and a book titled "Readings in Contemporary Rhetoric." I have been reading and trying to wrap my mind around what's going on in that book, but it's not so easy. I am going to have to treat this class the same as I did Accounting last semester. Pay attention, take notes, do the homework, and come out with an A. Or, possibly not. But I will try my best!

Brian got back to SoDak on Friday (which, I know, you are all aware of because it was all I could talk about last week.) Jason, Ashley, and I went to pick him up in Sioux Falls and had a late lunch together. His plane flew directly over us when we were driving to the airport. It was a pretty cool experience. Would have been cooler if he had seen us, too. Oh well.

It is nice having things back to "normal" around here. Making dinner together, especially. I never really bothered to cook for myself, so now that Brian's back I can make some MEALS again. It's exciting!

Which leads into today's POTD:

114/365: Mmmmm!
Tonight we made this deeelicious buffalo chicken mac & cheese. Brian suggested it for tonight after mentioning that his friend Brent told him about it. So I found a recipe online (HERE!) and we adjusted a few things (used shells instead of macaroni, omitted the celery, and added a drizzle of blue cheese) and it turned out GREAT. Brian gave it a "Top 5" rating, which is pretty huge. I'm not a ginormous fan of spicy stuff, so I didn't eat a whole lot of it, but it tasted pretty excellent. I would definitely recommend this to anyone who likes buffalo flavored stuff.

Anywho...Back to school tomorrow. (I say that like it makes for a long day for me. In reality, I have class from 9-12, 3 days a week. Yes, I am going to get a job to fill in the rest of my time, don't worry.)

Saturday, January 22, 2011

Sunrise

I have been awake for WAY too long for a Saturday (Got up at 7:00 this morning!! It's SATURDAY!!) Definitely ready for bed, but posting these real quick.

113/365: My sister got me this very cute wax warmer pot for Christmas. Finally picked up (FOUND) the little cubes of wax for it so I started it up yesterday and it is AMAZING! Not only is it really pretty, but it makes my apartment smell sooooo good! Love it!! 
112/365: One good thing about having to be up at 7:30 on weekdays, I get to see the sunrise through the trees. Definitely need to catch up on my sunrise viewings. I love sleeping through them WAY too much.
111/365: One of those "late night, no shot" photos. Yep, it's the moon.
AND in case anyone was wondering, the "Too Close" Tuesday photo is of.........

A puzzle. WOOOOO! Did anyone guess right?? Doesn't look like it. Hm. But yes...The photo is 4 corners of a puzzle put in place. Too difficult??

Hopefully next week's will be a bit easier.

There may be a longer, more update-ish post in the near future. Or not. You'll just have to keep checking back to see! Ha!

Thursday, January 20, 2011

110

I have a crock pot of chili going right now. It smells soooo good and I can't wait to enjoy some of it tonight. Since it's always best when it's a day old, I made sure to make it today so that Brian can have some of the aged stuff tomorrow when he gets here. Ha.

More people need to guess on this week's "Too Close" shot. Let's go, guys!! I'll even link you to it - JTL

Here's yesterday's photo:

110/365: SHOES!!! Probably won't see me wearing those a whole lot anymore. Old Vans are soooo comfy, but those are just a little too worn out for me.
And another photo, just for fun...

PEAS!!
I love veggies probably more than a normal college student should. And peas are definitely one of my favorites. Mmmmm!!

Don't have much to say today. Just wanted to post these up today.

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

JTL

You all will be happy to learn that I drove today and had zero awkward moments at a stop sign. However, I did avoid that 4-way stop and took another way home instead. Just to be safe. =) (And I will probably avoid that 4-way stop until all the snow melts off the road. Could (and probably will) be months until then.)

Annnd it is Tuesday!

Here's today's "Too Close" shot:



This is actually my second choice for this subject. I figure the first one I chose would have been WAY too difficult. If you'd like to see that one, as well, just let me know and I'll post it cuz I think it's pretty cool.

Also, today's Photo of the Day:

109/365: JTL - Story below
A few summers ago, my friends JD and Matt and I took a quick one-day trip down to Omaha to see two of our favorite musicians play a show together. After the show we stuck around outside the venue for what seemed like FOREVER, but it was really only an hour or two. Finally, once the majority of people gave up waiting and it was just the three of us and another group of about six standing around, the artists came out and we enjoyed one very long intimate conversation with Mr. Kevin Devine himself. One of the most incredible experiences ever - meeting and conversing with someone whose voice is constantly heard through my headphones. WOW....Anyway, to be honest, I was mostly looking forward to meeting Jesse Lacey, someone who I'd idolized since I was a young high schooler. After chatting with Kevin for a good 2 hours, we finally merged over to the other group, where Jesse was sitting with them. We all talked as one big group for a while, then started to disperse.

Before we all went our separate ways, we had all the artists sign our shirts (mine, I had purchased after the show.) I also made sure to ask Jesse if it was OK if I got a hug from him. I remember he came around to all of us and asked our names and shook our hands and after I told him mine, I said "I just want a hug!" ....Yes, I was THAT person. He must not have thought it was too creepy because I definitely got my hug! (I often tell people it was the best hug of my life, but that's not entirely true. Brian's hugs are way better. "Awwwwww!" Shut up.)

ANYWAY...That was one very long story just to tell you that the signature above is from Jesse Lacey and it was one of the most memorable nights of my life. =)

(To my friends doing their own 365 Project: This is a great photo for those days when you are feeling uninspired and are looking for something quick!)

GUESS THE TOO CLOSE TUESDAY SHOT!! I'll reveal the answer later this week, along with the winner!

Monday, January 17, 2011

Stuck

I had quite an embarrassing moment today. After a quick shopping trip at Sunshine (milk, ground beef, chicken, and pop) I headed back to my apartment. There's a 4-way stop along the way, and once I stopped there, I COULDN'T MOVE!! My tires just couldn't get any traction in the snow/ice, and the stop is also at an incline so I was almost rolling BACKWARDS. There were two cars behind me, waiting. I had to wave the others at the 4-way to go ahead of me, while the cars behind me were honking. It was sort of a disaster. At one point I had to open my door and wave the cars behind me to go around (oh yeah, my driver side window doesn't work)....Finally one of them did, just as I remembered that I have 4-wheel-drive. I clicked that on, and *problem solved!* It was quite ridiculous, though. So, if anyone reading this happened to see that...I'm sorry for the odd inconvenience...Wasn't my fault! Anywho...I did make it home. But now I'm going to have to remind myself of that beautiful 4WD option that I have. Duhhhh.

If you couldn't guess from the above paragraph, I am now back in Madison. Don't really start classes until Wednesday, but I've already got some homework so I've been working on that today. I have a feeling this semester is going to be tough. Lots of designing and reading and testing to do. I suppose going out with a BANG is the best way...? Hope so. I already know I will be so happy and relieved when May arrives.

Brian will be here on Friday, and I'm very excited about it. A lot of the reason is because I'm excited to eat some "good-for-me" meals again. I've never cooked good meals for JUST myself, so I'm not sure exactly how to do it. Ha! Tonight I made myself a frozen pizza. Maybe some mac & cheese is in the near future, as well. Thursday I'm going to whip up a batch of chili so Brian and I can enjoy that when he gets here on Friday. =)

Anywho...Some photos?

108/365: I mentioned my ginormous change collection on facebook today and decided it would be perfect for today's photo. I'm very interested in finding out how much money is actually there, but I want to keep this pile as long as possible and continue to add to it. Maybe we'll never know!

107/365: Ever wanted to see the inside of a snow-drift? This was pressing into our balcony doors when I got here yesterday. Today Traci scraped some of it down, but we decided that it might actually be keeping this place warmer, so most of it is still there.
106/365: A shot from Saturday's basketball game. We lost, pretty horribly, but put up a good fight. Aside from Dustin, these are two of my favorite players, Sam and Greg. (Actually, that's not true. MOST of the team is my "favorite" players. Aside from a few.......)   
105/365: PLAY-DOH! (I actually had to Google it to find the correct spelling. Ha!) This is green, pink, white, and black play-doh mixed together. Can't resist that color combination! Not the best photo - the focus is off, pretty terribly. But I like it for some reason. I think it's just the colors. Halle helped me with this shot. She held the little flashlight so I could get in closer. Did a great job! =D
Time for some more homework.

But first, I want to mention that I think the movie Twilight would actually be ALRIGHT, if the acting was better and/or Kristen Stewart didn't do that twitchy head-shake thing while blinking super fast. Drives me CRAZY! Sort of saddens me that she takes a ton of quality out of this movie. Blah....

Anywho, homework time!

Friday, January 14, 2011

104

Is anyone ready to find out what this week's Too Close photos were?

#1 is the edge of a newspaper
#2 is a $1 bill
#3 is a cupcake
#4 is salt

Melissa Jean had two of the four correct. She was close with the other two, but not quite. She wins nothing, sadly. Wish I could actually give prizes out for these things! Perhaps someday....(but don't hold your breath)

We've got my three nieces here tonight. They're all running around in princess dresses that Hal brought. They are adorable! (but also very loud and tend to start fighting as the night goes on...Ha!)

104/365: BBALL
Last night we went to another one of Dustin's basketball games. It started out pretty scary. By the beginning of the 2nd quarter, the Eagles were down 3-20! They fought their way back throughout the entire game and ended up winning by a whole TWO points! Dustin scored the game-tying 3-pointer with about 30 seconds left in the game. Then his teammate got fouled and rocked both his free throw shots, which brought them up to win the game. It was a nail-biter!! I couldn't imagine being a basketball coach...I'd get WAY too worked up and probably get into big trouble. I don't know how they do it!

Dad fixed the brakes on the Explorer, so hopefully I can drive a little less scared now. That's some exciting news, tell ya what. I'm heading back to Madison on Sunday...Super excited to sleep in a BED again! I've been on my parents' living room couch since December 17 (minus the week I spent in Cali)...I'm tired of feeling like I'm in the way, and I'm ready to roll around in my sleep and not worry about falling. =P Once the basement at home gets finished, we'll have some more places to sleep. I'm pretty excited for that day.

Brian comes back to SD next Friday. ONE WEEK! I can't wait. I am very ready to get back into my school life routine. This semester should be busy and full of creativity and hard work - My favorite!

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Self

My Christmas break is going to last about a week longer than everyone else's. Since I only have classes on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays this semester, and because Monday is a holiday, I am taking Friday off so that I can stick around at home and catch a few extra basketball games. Otherwise I'd be going up to Madison for ONE day of classes all week. I emailed my professors and they both seem cool with it (first day of class is usually just "read through the syllabus" day, so I don't think I'm missing much.)

Today I prettied myself up a bit and had a little self-photoshoot. I wanted to do more, but the lack of a tripod makes things difficult. I have to pile boxes and other objects to get my camera at the right height for the photo, which gets frustrating after a bit. Also, a remote would be INCREDIBLY helpful. Someday I'll have those things and everything will be just a tad easier. I know one of the worst excuses in photography is "I don't have the right equipment"...so I tried to make it work with what I do have. Making things happen because of hard work and not because of the "right" equipment is a pretty great feeling.

Anywho, here are some photos from the past couple days:

Oh! Also take note of the little logo on my photos. I felt super inspired after seeing someone's logo, so I grabbed my pen and created my own. Took me about 5 minutes. Ha! Sometimes good things happen quickly. What do you think?!

103/365: My little photoshoot. Sunlight is such a great friend.
102/365: One of my "Too Close Tuesday" photos. Shot it yesterday. (Take a guess as to what it is in the previous post!)
101/365: WELCOME HOME! Shot this out Kim's Exploder window while she ran in to the bank after picking me up at the airport. Gotta love that SD snowfall, after being in sunny Cali for a week.
The rest of my day/night will consist of making/eating supper with my family, and working on the logo for Something Clicked Photography. Creative days are my favorite.

Also, I am super proud of my boyfriend. =) Just wanted to throw that in here.

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Too Close Tuesday!

Since I've been horribly neglecting my Tuesday posts, which actually seem to be the most popular, I've decided to throw in a few extras for today.

So here are FOUR new(ish) shots...Can you guess what these are photos of??

#1)

#2)

#3)

#4)

Think you know what they are? Leave a comment with your guesses, along with the photo's number. I will reveal the answers in a few days, so keep checking back. =) Good luck!!

(PS - Derrick, you are not allowed to guess numbers 3 and 4, since you saw me take the photos. Ha!)

Monday, January 10, 2011

BIG ONE!!

So here we are. I made it back to South Dakota safely. Hearing the weather report made me a little nervous for the flight, but I knew that if we were unable to fly out today, I would be able to stay in Cali until Friday (I'd miss a day of classes, but oh well)...So the idea of a cancellation wasn't so bad. =P

We had one incredibly busy week, it seemed. I feel like it lasted longer than a week, just because we did a lot of stuff and were constantly going somewhere.

Ready for some photos?

On Monday I actually didn't get a shot ALL DAY. I know, I know....But I was traveling all day and was just SUPER worn out by the end of the day. HOWEVER...As I was lying in bed that night knowing I failed the project for the day, I knew what my photo WOULD HAVE been. So I made sure to get it and just throw it in where it should go. Here it is:

94/365: NEW LENS!! Brian got this 50-200mm for me as a Christmas gift. He is definitely the best and knows the way to my heart. Haha! I was (and still am) super excited about it.
Monday evening when I arrived on California soil, we went out to dinner with Brian's godparents. It was a very fun feast and meeting them was pretty special for me. We came home and I showered and slept VERY soundly due to being worn out and having a very comfortable bed to sleep in. Ha!

On Tuesday afternoon we drove around the area and Brian and I had some good conversations. I love how we always can go weeks or months without seeing each other and then meet up again and can't shut up. Haha...We drove up to Signal Hill because the skies were very clear and we could see the mountains.

Love this one. Thanks, new lens. =)

Los Angeles is way back there.

95/365: I enjoyed this view a lot. Can you believe that green grass in January?!

Our reason for the trip. Worth it. =)

Grabbed this one from the car window.

We had lunch at a Hawaiian BBQ restaurant. Brian ordered this for me...I put my trust in him to choose something I would like...And he most definitely succeeded! I couldn't finish it, though...of course.
On Wednesday we headed to the beach late afternoon and caught the sunset. First we stopped at the yummiest little bake shop and got some sweet goodies. Brian got a police car cookie:


And I got this chocolate chip fudge cup. Mmmm!


96/365: SO PERFECT! If you use your imagination and open your mind, it looks like she's putting ripples into the sky.

So nice. Brian was continuously telling me to shoot the sailboat. So I did. =)

Lots of surfers at sunset. This one was my favorite.
Thursday we visited Universal Studios Hollywood. They had a pretty fun tour and some great rides and attractions. Too bad we didn't see any movies or TV shows being filmed. A lot of 3- and 4-D stuff going on. Aside from getting squirted in the face with water during the Shrek show, they were all pretty fun. Ha!

Here we are in front of the globe. This took quite a while to get our positioning right. Instead of just being smart and asking someone to take the photo FOR us, we made 10 attempts and finally settled on this one. (The one before it is better, but Brian's eyes were closed. Grrr)

97/365: Cutest family ever? I believe so! Look at that coordination!!

Giant gummy bear sucker. (I did not buy this, sadly)
 Funny story here: To get to the "Lower Lot" portion of Universal, they have this series of 5 escalators which are all pretty steep and high. For some reason, we thought it would be fun to take the stairs on one section instead of the escalator. Here's the view from the bottom:

112 steps up.
   
And the view from the top. Yeah our legs were DEAD after that ascent, especially after walking all day first.
Friday we had a sort of "date night"...We did a little shopping (key word: little) and had dinner and went to a movie.

We parked next to a Ferrari in a parking garage. WHO PUTS A FERRARI IN A PARKING GARAGE?!

Crazies. Can you imagine what their other cars look like?

98/365: Sunset reflection on the car.
 Saturday evening we headed to the Huntington Beach Playhouse and saw the musical "Oliver!" performed by area kids and adults. I fully enjoyed it, not sure if Brian did though. Ha!

99/365: The set.



Sunday we drove down to the San Diego area and looked at some houses with Brian's parents. Then we checked out LegoLand, which was very impressive.
SWEET POOL!! (and view!)
I have a TON of photos from LegoLand, but I'll wait for another post with those. It can be an entire post in itself!



When we landed in Sioux Falls today, I realized that I sort of missed the snow all week. I do have a soft spot for our winters here in SD (something about bundling up during the day and cuddling at night is just very comforting) so spending a week away, although refreshing and amazing, was a big change.

I'm staying at D&E's house tonight, since the roads/weather are so icky. Hopefully I'll get home tomorrow and then head back up to MY home in Madison later this week. Praying that the weather cooperates for me. I can stand the cold, but I can't handle the ice!

Welcome!

My name is Denise and this is the home of my Photography 365 Project. Here you will find many photos and lots of words and hopefully something interesting. Feel free to leave comments and kind words whenever you wish. Thanks for stopping by!