Photo A Day Challenge

I'm so thrilled that I found this. I saw the list on Pinterest and went to Fat Mum Slim's blog to find out more about it (she's so creative). It has been such a fun challenge, and I only started participating half-way through the month! I even convinced two of my shutterbug friends to participate, and I hope to convince more! I posted all of my photos on Instagram and Facebook. I had hoped to post a collage on here (still hope to), but Instagram has been having some problems as of late (stupid storms), and Printsgram is not working. Hopefully it will soon. So... if you want to see my photos from June, you can view my public album on Facebook.    


So, July is tomorrow. Tomorrow!! Where has the summer gone? If you want to join in the challenge, I have posted the list for July below. I'll continue to post my photos on Facebook, but I think I'll also post them on here as well. Here are the instructions on how to play. Basically, you take a photo based on the prompt of the day and post it to either Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or Pinterest. Make sure you use the hashtag #photoadayjuly so others can find your photos. I love to see how others interpret the prompts. Thank you, fat mum slim, for your inspiration!


Now it's your turn.  Get creative and get snapping!

Drafted

Fulfilling childhood dreams, two Mizzou Tigers are NBA bound.  Kim English to the Detroit Pistons and Marcus Denmon to the San Antonio Spurs. Best wishes, guys!

Once a Tiger, Always a Tiger...

Photo credit: Mizzou Athletics

Perfectly Imperfect

Today I saw the above graphic on Pinterest.  It's a quote from Magical Thinking: True Stories by Augusten Burroughs.  I haven't read the book.  I just looked up the quote (Googled it, in fact) because I wanted to know who said it.  I like to know the who behind the what. Sometimes it gives the quote more meaning, or some cases less meaning, when you know who said it. Didn't change my mind this time. 

Random thought: I'd like to read his book Running with Scissors.

When I first read the quote, I pointed directly to myself and agreed wholeheartedly.  I am absolutely flawed, yet my intentions are good. Most of the time. I try to keep a person's best interest in mind when making my decisions.  I may make the wrong choice, but that's only because I'm flawed.  

Choices. Good intentions. Flaws. 

In light of today's political events, I felt compelled to post this graphic as a reminder....

We are all perfectly imperfect.

Coffee Morning

What a morning!  First, I made myself get up early and go for a run. Weatherbug sent me a heat advisory alert on my phone for today, so I knew I had to get out there this morning.  I felt slow and sluggish, but a slow run is better than no run.  But before that, my daughter had come into my room complaining, crying actually, with ear pain.  Poor thing.  I hate it when my kids are hurting.  So I had already made the decision to stay at home from work. Armed with the knowledge of a long and relaxed morning ahead of me, I was pokey when I got home after my run.  Too pokey apparently because just as I was about to turn on my precious Keurig for my necessary cup of morning coffee... the power goes out.

Folks, this could be classified as a state of emergency in my house.  Momma must have her coffee!  It isn't a good morning until after I have had at least one cup.  Raise your hand if you're with me here.  Now the long and relaxed morning has been replaced with a long, irritated and cranky kind of morning.  Daughter with ear pain and Momma with coffee withdrawal.  My son and husband are wisely nowhere in sight.  Time ticks on....

Not much time ticks when I give up.  I announce that a trip to Starbucks is in definite order.  I still have a balance on my gift card that I received for my birthday.  I'm going to put it to good use.  I could be there and back with my hot cup of Joe in less than 30 minutes.  And everyone will be much happier. Because when Momma's happy... everyone's happy.

Then my husband says... "how are you going to get your car out of the garage?"

Oh, no you didn't!!!  Did he just ask his caffeine deficient wife that question?  I groan...  No power = no door opener. Well, that will not keep Momma Bear from her coffee.  With determination swelling inside of me, I march downstairs to the garage.  With all the strength I can muster in one hand and my cell phone acting as a flashlight in the other, the door is raised.  And a choir of angels sing.... Ahhhh!

The drive-through line is extremely long, of course, but I will not be stepping out of my car. I'm still in my workout clothes, you see. I've had no shower and am wearing no make up. Patience, I must have. After the longest ten minutes ever, I place my order. Relief is near. And as I pull up to the delivery window... a text arrives from my husband letting me know the power is back on. Perfect.

Well, that's OK. It takes my Keurig at least a couple of minutes to brew a cup, and the nice lady at Starbucks has just handed me my skinny vanilla latte.  The drive home was long and relaxing.  And now it's a coffee morning.

New Tunes Tuesday

Maroon 5's new album, Overexposed, was released today.  I had to gave it a listen via Spotify.  If you don't know what Spotify is then you need to click that link and download it now!  It is music on DEMAND.  Millions of tracks for you to listen to at any time.  Perfect for a music lover like me.  You simply search, click and listen.  It seriously helps me get through the long work day.  


OK, back to Maroon 5...


For me, music is just as much (if not more) about the lyrics as it is about the melodies.  My most favorite songs tell stories, make me think, or evoke an emotion.  The melodies enhance that feeling.  Unfortunately there isn't much of that on this album.  I will say I'm not a big Top 40 person and that's exactly what Maroon 5 is on this album.  Having said that, there are plenty of catchy beats and riffs to the tracks.  I would classify it as "riding in my car with the windows down" kind of music (pretty perfect for summer, actually).  The one exception would be "Sad".  It's a song full of regret and uncertainty of the future.  Adam's voice, the unique sounding voice that it is, sounds really wonderful with just a piano.  I can picture the emotion behind the lyrics.  Some would call it boring.  I say take his words as advice and a warning... "I'm kicking the curb 'cause you never heard the words that you needed so bad... I'm so sad."  Don't end up sad.  Tell 'em how you feel.


The rest of the album is very dance-club ready and very "Top 40" like their first single, "Payphone".  I could listen to "The Man Who Never Lied" a few times.  In fact, I have.  It has a really cool beat that I could run to.  Same with "Love Somebody".  The last track is a country version of Prince's "Kiss" which lasts way too long for over 7 minutes (a lot of guitar in the middle).  I pictured a cheesy line dance at a wedding when I listened to it.  


Overall, I'd give it a B-.  I wouldn't add it to my music library, but I could see myself streaming some of the tracks on Spotify during a workout.  I'd be interested to hear the opinion of a true Maroon 5 fan.


Listen to any new tunes lately that you would recommend?

New Things

Welcome! This is my first blog post ever. And I'm pretty excited about it. I turned 40 this year. Pretty big deal, right? I thought it was. So I started a countdown on Facebook called "forty things I learned in forty years". I posted one thing I learned each day for forty days. I had a lot of fun with it. I mean, a LOT of fun. So I thought... maybe I'll try blogging.

But what if no one reads it? That's my biggest fear. So I'm glad you're here.  

I think I will end each post with a question back to you based on the topic. You know, to get a conversation going. Sound good? (that wasn't the question)

So what new thing have you done this year?