226/365

Of course day 226 would be the day I travel... and for some reason, I really don't apparently look outside my window before leaving the house. So needless to say, when I went downstairs to leave with my last-minute items (computer, phone, etc), I was shocked to discover that it was snowing... decently.

I only had to have a 5-6 hour drive that day to another state. And no one had plowed yet... streets were slick and a windshield wiper wasn't working properly.

Needless to say, I had a slower start than intended but at least it stopped snowing about halfway there. Thank goodness.

224/365

Day 224 - Merry Christmas!

Spent the early morning hours with some friends at Midnight Mass (my first ever) and the afternoon with my family working on our holiday tradition, the puzzle.

This is my first Christmas tree, taken with manual focus for a different look.

223/365

Christmas Eve, spent watching KO in "White Christmas" and then hanging out with her castmates in the evening, including SB and LL. What a lovely time.

222/365

Day 222 was quiet in comparison to previous days. It was a day of sorting, packing, having dinner with the roommate and puzzle time with the family.

I'm leaving tomorrow for another job. Don't quite know the internet situation. The 365 project will continue... but there may be gaps in posting...

221/365

Day 221, thanks to aforementioned friend, her group and I got a 'backstage' tour of the A-B Clydesdales. We met Jake, who is 22 hands tall, and 16 of his other Clydesdale pals. It was amazing. Those are some beauties. This is Jake's eye.

220/365

Day 220 involved a 'backstage' tour of Busch Stadium, courtesy of the Head Trainer. I'm not so lucky to be well connected on my own. A friend of mine was in town, touring with a show, and she had the connection. I was just tagging along. It was great fun. This friend, KO, is a HUGE baseball fan (Red Sox) and she was like a child in a candy store.

219/365

Three kinds of cheese: swiss, sharp cheddar and pepperjack. These three cheeses make a very delicious homemade mac and cheese that is beyond tasty. YUM.

218/365

My favorite time of year are the holidays, where I can make my favorite sugar cookies with my favorite sprinkles.

217/365

This pictures and many others, detailed in a previous post, were well worth the deep chill this photographer received while capturing aforementioned photos.

Up close and personal with a snow leopard, without actually being, well, up close and personal with a snow leopard.

216/365

Meet Mudge, the first St. Bernard I've ever met. Mom and I took the pups to a place where we could give them a bath and dry without much of an issue (like shower doors or slippery counters). Mudge's mom was trying to wrangle the 160 lb dog on her own and Mudge was stubborn. So I lent a hand. Me vs. Mudge. I won. Or rather, we won.

I don't think I want a dog this big, but Mudge was pretty adorable... even if she wasn't totally happy about getting a bath.

An Afternoon at the Zoo

December in St. Louis seems like an unlikely time to go to the zoo, right?

Wrong.

Apparently zoo animals like the 40 degree weather. Except for the bears. The bears were sleeping. The zebras were on crack and chasing each other around and making all sorts of noise. The male lion roared several times (in impatience? in hunger? or as attraction to his potential mate?) as well as one of the tigers. The two lions played with each other and climbed trees. The Malaysian Sun Bear played with a plastic hoop. The sifakas flirted with a blond. The humans froze.

And I learned that a black panther is not a breed of its own, but rather a large black cat. Specifically of jaguars, leopards and possibly cougars. Some of those lovely spotted cats have a gene that causes melanism - which means that they appear almost all black but appear to have their breed's markings. Kind of the opposite of albino, I think.

Since there were at least 2900 pictures taken, and whiltled down to about 150, I *only* uploaded about 80.

I'm hard pressed to pick a favorite, but I will have to for the photo of the day. But not for this post... here are some of my absolute favorites of the entire bunch:

A bouncy zebra:



A lion portrait:



A curious sifaka:



An impertinent African Lion:



A beautiful snow leopard:



A beautiful Amur Leopard:



Heard a lion roar:



That's one BIG cat in a tree:



Why does he look so guilty?



A skidding lion:



Check out the rest here.

215/365

Reflections of Christmas lights on a parked car... tis the season...

214/365

This year for Hanukah, I received the book "Hello, Cupcake" and the ingredients to make "cairn terrier 'pup'cakes". The funny thing about this whole story is that I saw this book years back and pointed it out mom. Like at least 3 years ago. Both of us forgot about it until she rediscovered it and got inspiration.

Day 214 was National Cupcake Day, so mom and I obeyed and made pupcakes. They're more difficult than we imagined but we had fun and they all seemed to look dog-like but not like the perfect ones on the cover.

We've got plenty of cupcakes left over to try and try again... there are some really great designs in this book.

213/365

These are manila folders. I've already been accused by the vocal majority of one about this being a 'boring' 365 picture. Well, for crying out loud, inspiration can't hit me every single day. Some of my days are boring. In fact, a lot are. Plus I'm trying to restrict myself to having it do with something I've done that day if I can't come up with something I've seen.

So the truth is, day 213 was primarily about taxes and receipts and the like.

The whole point of the 365 project, other than to chronicle a year-in-the-life, is to try to help me take more pictures.

I think it's working. 213 days down, 152 to go.

212/365

You haven't seen this face in a little while. Tom and mom and I have been going to Borders and raising funds for the organization they volunteer at by giftwrapping books for holiday shoppers. Apparently, many people prefer to wrap their own but Tom sure is a charmer and raised at least half of today's funds on his own. By just being his cute self.

211/365

It's a holiday tradition in our household - doing a puzzle. This year's puzzle is a 2000 piece beast, that is currently being worked on the fabulous puzzle table top that my mom and I built for dad.

Note, it may takes us at least six months to do this puzzle...

210/365

The first night of Hanukah is always the best.

209/365

It's holiday wrapping time... do you know how hard it is to find non-holiday themed paper? Everything is Christmas. Very little is Hanukah. And even less is neutral winter.

208/365

Meet Fred and Max, my constant companions in childhood. Actually, Fred was my all-time constant companion... and you can tell. All of his stuffing is in his rear end and his neck is all floppy because all of the neck stuffing has migrated south to his rear. Max was bought to replace him. I recently had a fit of nostalgia and was thinking of them - and did some research on them. They're apparently not made anymore and there's also many more Le Mutts out there. I've only met one other person who has a LeMutt.

So when I was home recently, I dug them out of storage and said hello. Also said hello to many of my other cherished stuffed animals.

207/365

Meet Jack, my BFF (i'm not a fan of this term, but it's appropriate)'s dog. He's absolutely adorable and he cuddles pretty well. He's a comic in his own right and he very patiently waited for me to get up on my own unlike one of my own dogs who breaks into my room when I stay at my parent's if I'm not up by her time table. He dreams like a champ, and it's almost even cuter when a larger dog sleeping (mine are 15-20 lbs, not 50 lbs).

I can't wait to come back and visit again, and of course, play with Jack. Do you think he misses me?

206/365

This is Tai Shan, the former baby panda of the National Zoo. I say former because a) he is now a teenager panda and b) because he is leaving. He needs to go back to China and help breed other pandas. Since I was in town and he was leaving soon, I decided to pay him a visit. Ordinarily, I'd be peeved that he was sleeping while I was there but this pose is just too cute. Too much bamboo and he is sacked out like a little kid.

I adore pandas.

205/365

Mmm... chocolate. These chocolates are from Biagio, a fine chocolate establishement hidden in Dupont Circle. My roommates and I spent too much $ there, but it was well worth it. YUM. They're not your ordinary chocolate, that's for sure.

204/365

This amazing work of art by Leo Villareal is called Multiverse, and it's made of LEDs, a Mac Mini and electronic circuitry. Located in the moving walkway between the East and West Buildings in the National Gallery - it is a constant moving light project. The LEDs go on and off in patterns. We were so mesmerized by them... and of course, I took a million and one pictures (more to come).

It was supposed to only be up until November 2009, but it was still up in early December, maybe it will become permanent.

203/365

Yup. that's the White House. Enough said. Later in the week, look for more pictures from this night which included a visit to the National Christmas Tree.

202/365

This cutie is named Leo and he was trying to be my best buddy. He purrs like a motor on an expensive foreign car and is an absolute 'lovebug' as WS, his mom, says. He makes me wish I wasn't allergic to cats because he was pretty darn adorable. Unless he was picking a fight with his big sister, Nova, for no good reason.

201/365

I love the DC Metro - even if I get lost on it the same way I get lost on most public transportation. Of course, I'm not a daily user and I know there are many many complaints about it. Nevertheless it makes for cheap and easy transportation!

200/365

All packed up and ready to go... on vacation this time!

195/365-199/365

195/365



Happy Thanksgiving!

196/365



Apple pie, second only to mashed potatoes as my favorite Thanksgiving tradition. We had a second night at our house since we went to a friend's for the actual day.

197/365



My best friend and I had dinner on Day 197 where we stuffed ourselves with sushi and then watched a few holiday-themed episodes of our favorite show of all time: West Wing. It should be illegal for a show to be that good in its early seasons.

198/365



Day 198 was the first of four gift-wrapping days for charity. My mom and Tom participate in a local group called CHAMP which has both therapy dogs and service dogs. This is the paw of Fred, one of the Service-Dogs-To-Be. He's a goldendoodle and he's HUGE. This is a paw of a four-month-old!

199/365



The topper on my very first Christmas tree ever.

#75 - Complete

75. Have a photo published somewhere other than flickr or my blog.



This picture was published in the Houston Press, a local independent arts paper (similar to St Louis's Riverfront Times) in their review of "Falstaff". Opera in the Heights also submitted my photos to the Houston Chronicle, but as far as I can tell, they never made in the paper. I was out of town at the time and the one paper I had a friend pick up, didn't have it.

I'd love to have been published in the Chronicle, but I'm pretty darn proud of being published in the Houston Press.

I'm thankful for the opportunity to have shot their dress rehearsal and to the opera company for choosing my photos to be a part of their press package.

Happy Lists: A Year In Review

A year of Happy Lists, from late 2008 to late 2009. A lot happened in the last year.

I've been asked if I'll continue. Most likely. I think that I'll probably post them when I can/want to versus weekly. Life's going to get kind of busy soon so I don't want to make promises that I can't keep. My 365 project is my priority right now.

Happy in review:

Week 1

Week 2

Week 3

Week 4

Week 5

Week 6

Week 7

Week 8

Week 9

Weeks 10 and 11

Week 12

Week 13

Week 14

Week 15

Week 16

Week 17

Weeks 18 and 19

Weeks 20 and 21

Week 22

Week 23

Weeks 24 and 25

Week 26

Week 27

Week 28

Week 29

Week 30

Week 31

Week 32

Week 33

Week 34

Weeks 35 and 36

Week 37

Week 38

Week 39

Week 40

Week 41

Week 42

Week 43

Week 44

Week 45

Week 46

Week 47

Week 48

Week 49

Week 50

Week 51

Week 52

#49 - Complete

49. Start Assignment: St. Louis.

When I started to get into photography more seriously as a hobby, I joined a group in Houston called "Assignment: Houston". Every month, there would be a new assignment. A color. A theme. An event. Everyone could submit up to 3 photos into the pool along those themes. There were newbies like me to outright professionals in the group. Everyone has a slightly different eye. I've learned so much from them.

When I knew I was moving to STL, I started researching St Louis flickr groups, and noticed there was nothing like Assignment: Houston in St. Louis. I asked permission from the founder of Assignment: Houston to borrow her idea and adapt it, and she gave me her blessing.

After participating in a meetup.com meetup at the Botanical Garden, I bounced the idea off my walking companions and they seemed into it. So I adapted the rules for St Louis and started the group. The initial invites were for three people.

Today, Assignment: St. Louis has 37 members, including me. We've had three assignments so far and I love what I'm seeing. I think we have varying levels of photographers in the pool and I love seeing St Louis through someone else's eyes. I haven't been able to participate in the themes since the first one, but I love seeing what the group comes up with. The response has been positive. I'm looking forward to it becoming a more active group/community with meet ups of our own and/or more interaction.

184/365-194/365

184/365



Maya, being uncharacteristically calm and sleepy. I think she knew something was up when I started packing. I'll miss this cute little face!

185/365



After flying all day, it was nice to be welcomed home by my parents and my pups. This isn't my greatest picture of mellow Tom, but I was tired...

186/365



I'm not quite sure how this started, but it's a roommate tradition now. Every time there's a big event (starting school, starting break, coming back from a gig, etc), we give each other Trader Joe's Dark Chocolate. This is one of the yummy bars awaiting my arrival. I like these kinds of traditions.

187/365



It's a little chilly here in STL, and these super-soft slippers keep my feet nice and warm.

188/365



One of my holiday card options - I figure its not too much of a giveaway since not everyone will get one of these.

189/365



LA, who got me hooked into Twilight, and was gearing up to leave STL/USA for Germany, wanted to see this movie. At the 'last minute', we decided to see if there were any tickets left for the midnight showing. Not quite sure why, but we did. And there were. The first movie was re-released into theatres as well and we decided to see it. Probably not a bad idea as it killed time so we didn't fall asleep before the midnight showing and prevented us from being in too many stupid long lines. However, this was my first and last midnight showing. Rabid and screaming fans (of all ages from tween to adult) are just not my (or LA's) cup of tea. It was an experience and the movie was worth it. Let's hope she's back for the next one...

190/365



Sometimes you find beauty in the most unexpectedly places. This is Weldon Springs, MO.

191/365



This is Eli, LA's dog. I helped LA get last minutes details together/pack/sort/etc. Eli doesn't like his picture taken too much but he obliged for a few cute photos.

192/365



Here's my lovely Pippin, who gives me a great big smile. I love this pup.

193/365



I really don't like mushrooms unless they're disguised. My roommate found a great stuffed cap recipe that makes them tasty to me.

194/365



Hands down my favorite crackers ever. Thank you, Trader Joe's for stocking these delightful snacks.