Word of the Day - Photo Inspiration 2/28/12

Today's Word of the Day:
Prolific [pro·lif·ic] adj.  Producing abundant works or results: "Aprolific writer."

The number of projects my three year old brings home from preschool is prolific.

Word of the Day Photo Inspiration - 2/27/12

Today's Word of the Day:
Insidious [in·sid·i·ous] adj. 1. Working or spreading harmfully in a subtle or stealthy manner: insidious rumors; an insidious disease. 2. Beguiling but harmful; alluring: insidious pleasures.

Beguiling but harmful? Sounds about right LOL

Word of the Day Photo Inspiration - 2/26/12

Today's Word of the Day: 
Stipend [sti·pend] n. A fixed amount of money paid at regular intervals as a salary or to cover living expenses.

I get paid in coffee ;)  This is my daily stipend in a giant yellow coffee cup.

Word of the Day Photo Inspiration - 2/25/12

Today's Word of the Day:
Secular [sec·u·lar] adj. 1. Worldly rather than spiritual. 2. Not specifically relating to religion or to a religious body: "A secular book."

My Kiddos rockin' out to some secular music.

Word of the Day - Photo Inspiration 2/24/12

Today's Word of the Day:
Embellish [em·bel·lish] tr.v. 1. To make beautiful, as by ornamentation; decorate. 2. To add fictitious details to exaggerate the truth: "A fanciful account that embellished the true story."

My son will be four years old this coming April.  Lately he has started to embellish his stories a great deal.  I have no idea where he comes up with half of the things that come out of his mouth ;)

Word of the Day - Photo Inspiration 2/23/12

Today's Word of the Day:
Voracity; Voracious [vo·ra·cious] adj. Consuming or eager to consume great amounts of food; ravenous. 2. Having or marked by an insatiable appetite for an activity or pursuit; greedy: "A voracious reader."

I think she's going through a growth spurt....she's been especially voracious lately.

Word of the Day - Photo Inspiration 2/22/12

Today's Word of the Day:

Vociferous [vo·cif·er·ous] adj. Making, given to, or marked by noisy and vehement outcry.

Don't let him fool you....this little guy is as vociferousas they come!

Word of the Day - Photo Inspiration 2/21/12

Today's Word of the Day:
Indigenous [in·dig·e·nous] adj. Originating and living or occurring naturally in an area or environment. "The cactus is indigenous to Arizona."

Not sure if these qualify as indigenous, but they are the prettiest weeds in my backyard ;) LOL

Word of the Day - Photo Inspiration 2/20/12

Today's Word of the Day:

Prognosticate [prog·nos·ti·cate] tr.v. To predict according to present indications or signs; foretell.

If the weather forecast is correct, I prognosticate a week full of outdoor fun with the kiddos.

Word of the Day - Photo Inspiration 2/19/12

Today's Word of the Day:
Clandestine [clan·des·tine] adj. 1. Kept or done in secret, often in order to conceal an illicit or improper purpose. "The CIA maintains clandestine operations in many countries."

Hmmm...looks like a clandestine operation to me ;)

Word of the Day - Photo Inspiration 2/18/12

Almost forgot to do this today!

Today's Word of the Day:

Attenuate [at·ten·u·ate] v. 1. To reduce in force, value, amount, or degree; weaken: "The layoffs attentuated the company's sales forecast."

These scones really attenuated my will power ;)

Word of the Day - Photo Inspiration 2/17/12

Today's word of the day had me stumped for a bit.  It almost made me wish we had a hamster...almost ;)

Today's Word of the Day:

Nocturnal [noc·tur·nal] adj. Occurring or coming out at night: A Nocturnal lifestyle.

The only "me time" I can find (without leaving the house) happens at night after everyone else is asleep.  I pour myself a glass of wine and watch things like "What Not to Wear" or pretty much anything with "Real Housewives of..." in the title.  It's my guilty pleasure :)

Word of the Day - Photo Inspiration 2/16/12

This one was all too easy ;)

Today's Word of the Day:
Arduous [ar·du·ous] adj. 1. Demanding great effort or labor; difficult: "An arduous undertaking." 2. Testing severely the powers of endurance; strenuous: "A long, arduous, and exhausting war."

.....I always tell myself I'm not going to let the laundry get out of control like this.  Folding all of this was arduous to say the least!

Word of the Day - Photo Inspiration 2/15/12

At first I had no clue what to do for today's word of the day....then I ended up with two ideas, and I couldn't decide which one fit the word better.  Funny how that works ;)

Today's Word of the Day:

Antithesis [an·tith·e·sis] n.pl. 1. Direct contrast; opposition. 2. The direct or exact opposite: "Hope is the antithesis of despair."

For me chocolate is the antithesis of fitness ;)

This one shows the direct contrast of the kind of footwear I wear now to what I wore before having children ;)

Word of the Day - Photo Inspiration 2/14/12

I wanted to try to make today's photo Valentine's Day related, but the word was a little tricky.  I think this works...

Today's Word of the Day:

Oxymoron [ox·y·mo·ron] n.pl. A phrase in which two words of contradictory meaning are used together for special effect, for example, “wise fool” or “to make haste slowly.”

...get it?  It's not a real heart ;)

Word of the Day - Photo Inspiration 2/13/12

This was an easy one ;)

Today's Word of the Day:

Precocious [pre·co·cious] adj. Manifesting or characterized by unusually early development or maturity, especially in mental aptitude. "A precocious child."

:)

Word of the Day - Photo Inspiration 2/12/12

Today's word of the day gave me a good excuse to play around with Photoshop Elements ;)

Today's Word of the Day

Ethereal [e·the·re·al] adj. Characterized by lightness and insubstantiality; intangible. "Her fragrance lingered in the room, an ethereal reminder of her presence." 2. Highly refined; delicate. "Ethereal beauty."

Word of the Day - Photo Inspiration 2/11/12

Today's word was a little tricky, but I managed to figure something out...

Today's Word of the Day

Episodic [ep·i·sod·ic] adj. Happening at irregular intervals. "He has Episodic migraines."

I'm so glad that my husband bringing work home is only an episodic occurrence.

Word of the Day - Photo Inspiration 2/10/12

The word of the day had me stumped for a bit.  I tried to get one of my kiddos to make a face for me to fit the definition....but no one was feeling very expressive today LOL.  Then it just kind of hit me...

Today's Word of the Day:

Effusive [ef·fu·sive] adj. 1. Unrestrained or excessive in emotional expression; gushy: "An effusive manner." 2. Profuse; overflowing: "effusive praise."

 I couldn't decide who was more effusive ;)

Word of the Day - Photo Inspiration 2/9/12

Today's word of the day has always made me think of trees.  Mostly because I've only heard it used to describe a type of tree ;) 

Today's Word of the Day:

Deciduous [de·cid·u·ous] adj. Not permanent or lasting; ephemeral. "The fire created a deciduous outlook for the company."

I thought about finding a deciduous tree to take a picture of, but decided to try to find something else.  Here's what I came up with.

Ruby found a nice little patch of sunlight to lay in this morning....but it kept getting smaller and smaller as the morning went on.  Once it was completely gone she kept going back to look for it.  How do you explain to a dachshund that patches of sun are deciduous?  ;)

Preschool Projects Photo Book

When my son started preschool this past August I was really looking forward to all of the artwork and projects that would be coming home with him each day.  I have saved each and every project that he's made, and I realized recently that there is no way I can keep this up for the rest of his time in preschool.  On the other hand...I couldn't bring myself to part with anything he's made (like the cute fireman's hat he's wearing in the photo to the left). 

The solution to this conundrum?  A photo book of all of his projects!  Today I took pictures of each piece of artwork that I have saved so far.  Then I created a "Preschool Projects Photo Book" folder on my computer.  For the rest of the school year I'll take pictures of the projects he brings home.  Then at the end of the year I'll be able to create a hardbound photo book of every single project he's made.  I already have an adorable photo of him on the first day of school to use as the cover :)

Now....I have to admit that I'm still going to hang on to a few hard copies of the projects he's made.  I just can't part with some of them ;)

Word of the Day - Photo Inspiration 2/8/12

So it's looking like the word of the day might get a little tricky sometimes.  I was sooo tempted to cheat and just pick another word ;)

Today's Word of the Day:

Pedantic [pe·dan·tic] adj. 1. Characterized by a narrow, often ostentatious concern for book learning and formal rules: "A pedantic attention to details."

Luckt for me I just read a book with a character that could easily be described as pedantic.  So here is my photo of the day....

Fingers crossed that tomorrow's word is easier LOL

Word of the Day

I had every intention of doing some sort of picture a day or picture a week project this year.  Somehow time got away from me and I've made it half way into February without starting one.  It's kind of hard to play catch up on two and a half months worth of pictures, so I decided to try something different.  It might end up being a little more complicated in the long run...we'll see...

Here's the plan.  I'm going to use a Word Think - Word of the Day as my inspiration for a daily photo.  I'm telling myself it will be a great way to boost my vocabulary and my creativity.  Another bonus is that I can't cheat and look ahead to find out what the next word will be.

I'll be honest...I'm not sure how this is going to go.  It could be an epic fail in the making. I think it will be a good way to really challenge myself.  A reason to pick up my camera every day and hopefully get my creative juices flowing.

Today's Word of the Day

Vexatious [vex·a·tious] adj. 1. Full of annoyance or distress; harassed. 2. Causing or creating vexation; annoying. "Her ex-husband put her in a vexatious situation."

The mess my children made in the livingroom caused a vexatious situation today LOL

What's My Motivation?

Not too long ago a friend of mine brought up the subject of future goals and dreams.  A simple enough subject right?  I thought so too....until I realized that I didn't have any personal goals or dreams.  I could list hundreds of goals and dreams I have for my children, for my marriage, and for our family as a whole.  Somehow in the three and a half years that I have been a mother I have ceased to think about myself as an individual with PERSONAL goals and dreams.  Sad right?  It had me pretty freaked out, but I tried to make myself feel better by saying that someday (when my children were older) I would have time for my own goals.

It was weeks later that I realized that a dream had already started to take shape.  It had been there for a while, but I just kept trying to put it out of my mind.  This realization came when I took some family photos for a friend of mine.  She was thrilled with how they turned out, and told me to be ready for requests for my services from her friends.  As flattered as I was with this praise, I know that I am not a professional photographer.  There are so many things I need to learn before I'd be comfortable with taking money from anyone.  Not to mention the fact that photography only fits into my life as a hobby right now.  However, someday there will be room in my life for more than just a hobby.

An just like that....goals and dreams out the wazoo ;)  I have a lot of little goals that I'll roll into one....over the next year I want to learn as much as I possibly can about photography and photo editing.  I already take thousands of photos of my family every year (snapaholic might be an understatement), so I should have plenty of practice.  I hope to use this blog to share what I'm learning with other "snapaholics".

My dream is to someday make my living as a natural light photographer.  I can't think of anything better than helping families preserve precious moments in time.  Who knows?  My dream might come true....it might not.  Right now it's just nice to have one :)