30/365

Pretending it's spring...

29/365

SMACK!

28/365

A day off school laying around on Mom and Dad's bed...

27/365

Lily wrapped in Grandma's dresses.

My mother-in-law stitched this quilt out of her old dresses when she was a young girl. We're not quite sure of the story, but we believe she and several friends would have pooled their dresses for more variety.

It's so 40s in it's colors--I just love it! Thanks to my sister-in-law, each sibling has a piece of this quilt to hang in their home. I haven't gotten around to that yet, but I do love to take it out and look at it every now and then.

I did take this photo yesterday, but wasn't feeling great last night so I postponed the posting of it until today!

26/365

My mom came over to visit today. My kids LOVE to see Grandma (and Grandpa, and Aunts and Uncles...). Lily is no exception! The kids especially love sitting down and sharing their yearly photo albums with anyone who will sit with them for more than 5 minutes.

I have several photos of my mom and Lily from today's visit. This particular photo was my husband's least favorite because of the angle. I, on the other hand, sort of liked the angle, but wished I had included a bit more of the book.

I'm using this Project 365 thing to stretch myself and my photography skills. Chosing to look at things from new angles is one of the ways I chose to stretch (both literally and figuratively!)

25/365

These flowers are in my grandmother's pitcher. I love everything about it--the color, the knobby texture, the shape....

24/365

Preschool children banging their homemade drums and holding the tail of the dragon in our own version of a dragon parade! I love how happy they all look! They really got into it--except Lily--Lily chose not to participate :(

23/365

22/365

Date night at Ruby of Siam. I always order the same thing at Thai restaurants. Today, I swore I would try something new. I looked at the menu for items that had the "recommended" symbol. This was one of them. It looks weird, but it was delicious! It's called Moo Sarong.

21/365

We are officially ready for our Chinese New Year party!

20/365

First daytime nap in months...

19/365

How seriously cute is this little redhead that came over for a playdate with Lily today? Her personality is even cuter!

18/365

So at 7:30 p.m. tonight, I realized I had forgotten to take a photo for today.

I had a crazy day today--my dog was sick (multiple times), I had lots of errands to run for a Chinese New Year party at Lily's preschool next week and a friend stopped by for lunch. I told myself I was not going to obsess over this photo-a-day challenge and decided to just let it go.

But at 7:35 p.m., the kids had an impromptu dance party. I grabbed my camera and rather than fidget with the settings set it to the automatic "sports" function hoping it would capture the movement.

It captured the movement, but the ISO is something like 3200 and the photo is grainy and noisy. I'm really tired of taking photos in the dark. It's dark outside and it's even darker inside--even during the day!

Is it too much to ask for a little sun around here?

17/365

Technically, this is not the best photo, but I love it! We took the kids to the Planetarium today and I love the view of the city skyline from just outside the museum. The kids did NOT want to have their photo taken because it was cold and windy (this is the Windy City after all!). It's pretty clear that they were cold and it's also clear that they were humoring me!

Half hour later, they were ice skating outside without any regard for how cold, rainy and miserable it was.

16/365

Playing Pictionary at Grandma and Grandpa's house. The word was "pelican." Yes, that's right...pelican.

15/365

Cousin Mila

14/365

The Chicago River on a bleak winter day...

13/365

Tiny Teacup

12/365

Last month, Lily said she wanted to be a teacher when she grows up (this made my math-teacher husband ecstatic!). Last week, she told us she wanted to be a firefighter--that was until we were in Home Depot, the ear-splitting fire alarm went off, and the firemen came rushing in with their axes! Today, she wants to be a pediatrician. Tomorrow...who knows?!

11/365

10 years old and tired of Mom's camera pointed in his face...

10/365

Lily with Great Grandma's RED lipstick! I love that she put the lipstick on OVER the remains of a milk mustache!

I entered this photo in I Heart Faces weekly contest. This week's theme is "smile!"

9/365

8/365

Lego Minifigure Marches

7/365

Every year at about this time (nearing Chinese New Year), I pull out the big China picture books. Today, I found Lily flipping through the pages, looking at the images of her beautiful place of birth.

Lily is in an "I know Mom" stage, so when I pointed out a few places (i.e. the Great Wall), she said "I know what that is Mom. I know all about China!"

6/365

Before I started Project 365, I knew that I wanted to take a picture of the lions that flank the entrance to the house on the corner of our street. Whenever someone comes to visit us, I always say..."look for the lions and then you'll know you are on our block."

I took lots of photos of the lions today, but I didn't like any of them. I tried black and white...sepia...color...actions...nothing really did it for me. Then I cropped one of the photos really tightly around the lion's face and the detail really stood out.

I did a bit of internet research and found out that lions guard the entrance to many buildings in Chinese culture. They are a symbol of wealth and prosperity and ward of evil spirits.

5/365

While I am a bit relieved that the kids have gone back to school...someone else is feeling a little sad...

4/365

Santa has washed his suit and hung it by the fireplace to dry...another holiday season behind us. Every year, they seem to pass by more quickly...

*Santa clothes knit by Laura Kochevar of Felt Inspired--visit her Etsy store at http://www.feltinspired.com/

3/365

I started to take ornaments off of our tree today and I found this guy hanging on one of the branches:

A few weeks ago, we all visited my good friend Laura at her apartment (the kids think apartments are REALLY cool). We decorated her tree and baked cookies. I commented on this ornament because he is a little Costa Rican dude (a "Tico") and Laura and I served together in Peace Corps Costa Rica--20 years ago! This little ornament brought back many memories of Costa Rica, coffee season, and a simpler, more spiritual Christmas.

I don't know when she snuck this little guy onto our tree, but what a fun surprise to find him hanging there today as I start the process of taking down the tree! Thanks Laura!

2/365

Chicago Style Hot Dog--mustard, relish, tomatoes, onions, pickle, celery salt--NO ketchup

New Year's Day at Extreme Trampoline

We celebrated New Year's Day at Extreme Trampoline. We bounced for two hours. I thought it was funny that when we got back in the car, Sam said "I still feel like I'm bouncing." It was really fun--the boys are already planning birthday parties for July and next December!

Since I'm still learning my new camera and couldn't figure out know how to take multiple photos in rapid succession, I had to use the automatic "action" mode. As a result, everything was set automatically and the super high ISO resulted in super noisy photos. But these photos capture our bouncy day--this outing is HIGHLY recommended!

1/365

January 1, 2011
Extreme Trampoline