Day 12 - Something that overwhelms you

The first thing that jumped into my head when I read the topic today was my housework! I was never a particularly tidy person and now that I am responsible for tidying up after small children it often gets totally out of control! But after taking a few photos it just felt like the blog of shame. Ha ha

Anyway it got me thinking and I realised one of the reasons that it gets so messy is that we just have so much stuff! Without even trying its so easy to buy into the idea that you need more and more and you forget you have to find a place to keep it. My job for the day was to sort out the pantry and as I was doing it I noticed photos of our sponsor children on the fridge - it suddenly struck me as pretty ironic! This gave me the following idea...

It was actually quite hard to make it look cool with the photos in the pantry and they definitely look better after a bit of cropping and enhancing.

I guess it can be pretty overwhelming thinking about all the issues in the world and what we can do to make a difference. I am fortunate to live in New Zealand where my first world problems are caused by to much stuff. I think its important to remember we didn't choose where we were born but we can choose what we do with it. And I am happy for the reminder today that there is more to life than just housework and tidying!! 

This is me in Zambia in 2003 - this trip changed my life and my views on what is important in life. 

Day 11 - Something that makes you smile...

I'm purposely trying to not make this blog all about my kids. But it's not always easy because as a stay at home mum my life pretty much revolves around them! Yesterday (when this blog was suppose to be posted) they were driving me pretty crazy!! But this morning my two year old has taken all her clothes off and is playing happily naked and I have to admit it makes me smile! Kids are so awesome and fun and innocent and crazy and full on. Someone said to me this week that the days are long but the years are short and I have a feeling they are right!

Anyway one of the things that I love about being a mum is the way you get to see them learning things right in front of your eyes. I had forgotten how amazing it was until recently when my baby all of a sudden noticed she had hands! She stared at them for a few days and now has started trying to hold and grab things. The intense concentration makes me smile. It's like you can see her little brain trying to figure out how to do it.

So for my photo today I wanted to try and capture the look of concentration so I wouldn't forget just how cool it is! Not totally happy with my efforts - I'm definitely better at taking photos of things that don't move! 

Wanted to also get a shot of the toy in focus and Milly out of focus but she wouldn't hold the toy in the exact right place - come on Milly! Ha ha

Day 10 - Your home

We live in a little rental house that is great for us but not really anything to look at! Its pretty run down and dated. So today I decided to take photos of some of the details and textures found in our home. I like the top two the best. 

I had to include these photos of our carpet and wallpaper as we look at them everyday and as such they have become a big part of our home!

And lastly one of the outside of our house and our wild backyard!

Day 9 - Someone you call friend

I was going to take photos of all the foods that I consider my "friends" today but then read the title again and realised it said someone... I assume that means it has to be human! It might sound a little sad that I consider food my friend but I'm going to blame it on all my food restrictions while feeding my baby! So here is my compromise. Strawberries are my food friend, Brendan is my best friend and Evie is just so cute so she makes the cut too!

Day 8 - A gift from someone

Today's topic was easy for me to choose what to photograph. My awesome brother in Canada gave us Auckland zoo passes this year for Christmas and we love going. We go most weeks. What I love about it is that every time we go we get to see different things. And there is no pressure to get around the whole zoo at once. Today's highlights included seeing the baby giraffe feeding from its mum, a beautiful peacock spreading its feathers, two kea's sweep past only meters away and the hippos swimming.

While it was fun taking pictures of the animals it was quite hard to get really cool angles because of the fences and distances you had to shot from. They also would move! So all the shots ended up being straight on pictures and needed cropping afterwards. Still I'm pretty happy with the outcome (and have to give credit to my husband for several of these shots too). Thanks babe.

Day 7 - Your guilty pleasure...

I had a bit of fun with this topic asking people what they thought my guilty pleasure would be!

My mother said it would be having two long hot showers everyday if I could - my husband quickly piped up that I would use a fresh towel every time and then leave it hanging on the door (I have to confess there were three towels hanging on our door this morning.... they know me well).

My darling sister in law had plenty of suggestions when I asked her. Some of them I won't repeat! The one she was most right about is my obsession with always having my drinks in a large glass and filled right to the top... can't stand it when the tide is out!!

The guilty pleasure that I thought of was spending far to much time on facebook instead of doing my housework!! Ha ha

Don't think my photos are going to win any awards today! I have been lacking a bit of creative inspiration the last couple of days. I am keen this week to try and extend my skills a bit more maybe by playing with light, shutter speed and getting my camera off auto!! We will see how that goes!

Day 6 - Sacrifice

I didn't really like the topic today and didn't have any inspiration for a good photo idea! So my photo is something I have thought would be cool to try and capture for ages. One thing I love when I'm having cuddles with my two year old is the way I can see myself reflected in her eyes. Today I got my husband to see if he could capture that image and this is what we got.

If you enlarge the photo you will be able to see me in her eye! I'm pulling a bit of a funny face as was trying to get her to look at me and not the camera so it would work. This does tie in with the theme I guess because all parents make a lot of sacrifices for their children. It can be hard sometimes but then it is all worth is when you gaze into their trusting eyes. That was cheesy eh!

On another note I think its interesting doing this photo challenge and finding out what kind of things I really like taking photos of. I really love refections of things in other images. I also really like images of the sky. Fun times!