Black and White Wednesdays

I really struggle with black and white conversion, so this is a great challenge for me.
Long Road to China (which sidebar, is originally an adoption blog - inspiring!) has a weekly B&W photo challenge.
This is a photo from April I recently tested my conversion skills on. I personally am drawn to how light and airy it is. I tend to go for high key conversions, either lots of white or lots of black. What do you love about black and whites?

for more great black and white photos, check out:

In a Yellow House: Travel

This week at In a Yellow House, the photo challenge theme is travel. This is something I love to do, but to pick 1 photo? Oy.
I have flogged my favourite photo from Hawaii a lot, so let's give Mexico some love.
This was taken on the beautiful Isla Mujeres (Island of Women) in the Riviera Maya of Mexico in December 2005. It is a few miles off the coast of Cancun, but it might as well be another world. This is our happy place. A margarita, the lapping waves, gorgeous sunsets every night and live bands on the beach.

no settings, as this was with my P&S back in the day.

To dream of your next great destination, visit:

Sweet Shot Tuesday

Over at My3Boybarians, its time for Sweet Shot Tuesday (yes, I know its Wednesday, sue me ;p)

Here's K looking all contemplative watching some boys play in the street.

settings: 1/2000, f2.8, 400, 50mm
edited in GIMP - curves adjustment and slight sharpen for web

for more beautiful entries, visit:

Alphabet Gallery: L

Managed to snag another letter for my slowly growing alphabet library. This weekend I captured "L". What do you think?

settings: 1/320, f/5.6, 400, 50mm
cropped slightly to cut out other beams, adjusted curves, converted to B&W and sharpened slightly.

The Paper Mama: Talented

Paper Mama is holding a photo challenge and this week the theme is talented.
Here is K getting her brush on, at just over 12 months old. She is obsessed with clean teeth!

See more talented kids at:

Simplicity Photo Challenge: Selfie

Simplicity is another blog with another photo challenge today. This week she has set the challenge of self-portraits. I took this one  few weeks back while walking with K. I was attracted to the fish eye detail of the large side view mirror on the bus. I love a bit of distortion!

for more entries follow:

Shutter Love Tuesdays: Father's Love

Its Shutter Love Tuesdays over at Trendy Treehouse! And they are celebrating Father's Day with a little love for all things daddy-centric.

Here is a recent fave of MH and K:

look for more daddy love here:

Skinned Knees: Silly

Woohoo! Found yet another photo challenge :)
This is a new one, being offered over at Skinned Knees
The theme for this week is SILLY! That is easy for me. My husband is a ham, and my daughter is his mini-me. I have to admit, I feel decidedly pedantic when I sit by the two of them. I cannot compete. In honour of that, I present to you this. Which one is the real baby???

For more great entries, click the linky:

In a Yellow House: Nature

I am going to have to make a list of all these photo challenges!
This week at In a Yellow House, the theme of the week is Nature. I have just the shot I think!

For more great entries, visit:

Macro Fridays

I can't help it. I see my buddy Ashley entering a photo contest, and I have to do it too!

She pointed me in the direction of Macro Fridays, from Blogging from Bolivia. Thought I would throw this delectable entry out:

For more great entries, go to:

Daddy's Girl

IHO of the Shutter Sisters' mini photo contest, a picture of a daddy and his Daddy's Girl:

POTW: Green

POTW this week for my photo board had the theme green. I exhausted most of my green photos earlier, entering the Pioneer Women's "Green" theme. My favourite is actually used as my header for this blog, so I went into the archives and pulled this one from our trip to South Carolina. I just love how lush the swampland is.

for more great entries, check out the POTW blog.

I Heart Faces Challenge: Play

Play is the name of the game (har har) over at I Heart Faces this week. I feel like the submissions over recent weeks have really kicked it up a notch, and to be honest, I find it hard to feel like I stack up. But, I can't grow if I don't push, right?
For this one I went back a bit in the archives. This was last August, so K was 8ish months? She wasn't walking yet, but was nearly there. We took her out with us for an easy 9 holes, and got her to begin practicing. We figure if she turns pro, she can keep us in the lifestyle we wish to become accustomed to. Michelle Wah (sp?) watch out!

For more great entries, follow the click through:

Trendy Blog Award

What a delicious treat! Jae over at 525,600 Minutes nominated me for a Trendy Treehouse Blog Award. Jae is always enjoyable to read because she keeps it real - she is capturing the candid, sweet, never to be be repeated moments of her daughter's journey to adulthood. Thanks Jae!

Here is my shiny badge:

Here's how the award works:

• To receive this award, promise to share this with 10 other BLOGS that you think are Trendy too. 
• Post about your award in your blog. List your Top 10 Trendy Blogs. Share with them.
• Leave a link to the Trendy Blog Button. Tell them they need to give this award out to 10 as well 

Here are my nominees. In no particular order:

1. Jenny over at What the Blog?.
Jenny has one of the freshest voices in the blogosphere. She makes me laugh and cry on a daily basis. Plus she turned me onto Goodreads, my newest obsession. Love her.

2. Nicole over at My Life as a Martha Wannabee and Girl Photography.
Nicole is excellent at reaching out to other bloggers, and I am so happy to return the favour. Early on in this blog's life she featured me on her blog and i have been looking for a way to do the same back. She has sophisticated taste, a culinary curiosity and a great eye.

3. Katie at Confessions of a Real Librarian.
No one can resist Katie's bubbling personality. Nor her "Patron Stories" installments. Plus if you love to read, she has the inside scoop for you.

4. Trina at Look at the Birds.
No holds barred glimpse into life as a wife, mom and mom-to-be living in a cabin in the woods. She has some great giveaways to go along with her salacious storytelling.

5. Amanda over at the Meyer Twins.
What's more fun then raising one baby? Raising two! Follow Amanda as she blogs about life with twins

6. Shelby over at Eat, Drink, Run.
Think athletes can't be foodies and wine connoisseurs? think again! Shelby combines her three great loves into one tasty and inspiring blog.

7. Susan over at Project Balancing Act.
She has an etsy addiction like me. She also convinced her husband to tie die their crib sheets. We could practically be BFF's.

8.  Type A Images.
Captures a vintage other time feel to her photo shoots. I want to a) have her shoot my life everyday as my personal biogragher and b) live in her big Victorian house and steal all her awesome Etsy dress finds for K

9. That's Damn Good.
I love food. So does Echo. Therefore I love reading about the food Echo cooks (and its good - I have tried several of them!).

10. Lotus Land Mom. 
Another voice from the wilderness, aka the Canadian Pacific Northwest. How does one raise two boys and still maintain a love of manolo blahniks? Read and find out!

Shutter Love Tuesdays: Pets

Tuesday appears to be photo challenge day! Over at Trendy Treehouse, Tuesdays are Shutter Love. Today's theme is "Pets".
My first children have been somewhat neglected since the Bean arrived, but I have managed to capture some sweet moments with them. Here is one of my recent faves of my girl, Arwenn. Sunning in the window, as usual:

Check out more lovable furbabies at Trendy Treehouse:

I Heart Faces Challenge: Barefoot

Its Tuesday, and that means I Heart Faces weekly challenge! This one is for funesies, but that doesn't mean its not serious business. They are hoping to raise awareness about a wonderful charity, Souls 4 Soles:

About Soles 4 Souls: Soles4Souls is a Nashville-based charity that collects shoes from the warehouses of footwear companies and the closets of people like you. The charity distributes these shoes free of charge to people in need, regardless of race, religion, class, or any other criteria. Since 2005, Soles4Souls has given away over 7 million pairs of new and gently worn shoes (currently donating one pair every 9 seconds.) The shoes have been distributed to people in over 125 countries, including Kenya, Thailand, Nepal and the United States.

So the theme this week, is Barefoot! This is great, because one of my favourite things is photographing feet. Mom thinks I am obsessed :)
Since its a non-competition week, we can post more then one photo. Here are two of my recent faves.

K showing off her new rainboots:

K and her cousin S frolicking together in the grass. I love how they are stepping in unison:

check out more wonderful entries at: