372 Year of the Ox

 

For the first time we moved here, I couldn't watch the space needle fireworks from my balcony. Fortunately, the office has an absolutely perfect view. The rest of the night wasn't half bad either ;-)

It's gonna be a good year.

371 Blue, Blue 'lectric Blue

 

Macro! J sent me on a mission to take pictures of blue things around the house, which I did. This is my favorite. The others are here.

370 Behind Air

 

Back to work today... then we went to E and C's place to drink hot buttered rum and play Word Blur. I couldn't love this game more :-)

369 I Still Got the Remedy

 

Totally coincidentally, I went to Remedy today, just like I did three days in to this project last year. I took a bunch of other pictures too, but I like this best. I also got tasty tea and time with T.

368 Stereoscopic!

 

In case you were wondering, this is what it looks like when you take a picture of a 3D movie. I wanted to take one through the silly glasses, but... yeah. For the record, Bolt was adorable and Todai was tasty. Also, my tiny little tank of a camera still works despite its overnight stay in the freezer last July.

367 Renewal

 

Here we are, more that 10,000 pics later, starting year two. Thank you to everyone who follows this blog for your support (and occasional comments)! Special thanks to anyone who waited patiently for me to fiddle with my camera or suffered their visage to be posted here on the intertubes for all to see. It's been a wonderful experience, documenting the year and becoming a better photographer... and now I've got a bunch of fancy new toys to play with, so I'm gonna keep going.

Since I started the project with a self portrait, I thought it would be fitting to do another one. Here's me, one year later. And as you may have noticed, the blog also got a facelift today. Enjoy!

366 Catsmere

 

I was playing with the (EF-S60mm f/2.8) macro lens J gave me for Christmas tonight, and I decided it made sense to get a detail of the cashmere scarf he also gave me. The lens is amazing and the scarf is warm, cozy and wonderful... and Marlowe agrees :-)

ALSO OMG THIS IS MY 366th PICTURE.

365 Just Fondue It

 

M and K joined J and I for Christmas Eve fondue. I honestly intended to take a ton of pictures of the spread (which was sumptuous, to say the least), but I was too busy going nom nom nom. But look! A chocolate spoon!

364 Piece of Center

 

Since we couldn't be with them for the holiday, J's parents send us a gorgeous centerpiece to put on our table. It's a welcome splash of color and life into the otherwise frozen world. Can you tell I'm finally getting a little bit of cabin fever? Tomorrow, we venture downtown, snow or no snow.

363 Couch Cozy

 

Look! It's not snow! I have taken more pictures of snow than is reasonable for someone of my upbringing... but most of it has been more "experimenting with new camera" than "this will be a great photo." So instead, you get the Roo and 'lowe, being cuddly. Also, this is the first image I post-processed using Bibble.

362 Snow More

 

Seriously, how much more snow can we get? This is the view from my front porch tonight, as I don't go to the airport to catch a flight to Boston for Christmas like I was supposed to. At least we have rum cider and plenty of food.

361 I'm an Angel for Sure

 

So much snow! Around 1am we decided to go sledding. Tons of other people had ths same idea- people were everywhere, sharing their make-shift sleds and giving each other boosts down hills. It was amazing fun... and I got to ride a snow scooter! As a last hurrah, I fell down in the front yard and made this angel. As deep as it is, I didn't even come close to touching grass.

360 Nesting

 

We ventured out of our nest, through the snowy wonderland that is Seattle.

359 Home Again

 

Desipite the snowpacalypse in Seattle, our plane managed to land and I got home safely. While I did take lots of pictures in the airport, they're mostly me just playing with different features of fancypantscamera (who I think might be named Julio). I took this one of J when I got home, mostly just to show him how cool the camera is, but it turned out nice enough that I thought I'd post it. Yay portraits!

358 This is a Test

 

...of my fancy new camera! This is actually the first picture (unedited, even!)that I took with it in my hotel room in San Diego (where I had to go for a meeting today/thursday). C also happened to be in town, so he got to give me the camera in person. Did I mention that C is the best ever? He has lots of good karma coming his way... and now I owe it to him to take a billion fantastic pictures :-D
Anyway, I took this using a 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 lens in full manual mode with no flash. I am amazed that I finally understand all the variables enough to get this nice of a shot all on my own! More to come :-D

357 Roo'Phoned

 

Gave J his Christmas present today... an iphone! Of course I had to fiddle with the camera and of course the first pic I took was of the Roo! Annoyingly, this is a vertically-oriented pic, so I had to crop it small to fit for a potd, but here it is anyway :-)

356 Line Up

 

C and E dragged the bunch of us out into the cold and to the Bottleneck tonight for fancy beer tasting and I actually liked ALL FOUR of the beers. It was totally worth it :-)

355 Snow I Didn't

 

Today was a reminder that i do not possess the following:
a snow shovel
an ice scraper for the car
salt (for snow melting)
patience with snow or pets covered in snow

354 S'now Lie

 

Just when I thought I wouldn't get snow for my birthday, this happened. That pretty much means my day was perfect. *contented sigh*

353 Fire Hazard

 

Tonight was my birthday eve and to celebrate we had a Salon of Shame party. I laughed almost TOO hard. The cakening happened right around midnight to mark the beginning of the last year of my 20s.
[I did take pictures on this day, but this one is actually courtesy of Eva. Thanks Eva!]

352 Pssht.

i've got nothin.

351 Eye Love Him

 

J and I went to noodle ranch for dinner, then stayed at work until almost 1am. <3 him.

350 Original Flavor

 

Had a tasty dinner with T tonight, then we tried the new Vivace, which we both agree isn't quite as good as old Vivace. New T is definitely as good as old T though.

349 Sparkly!

 

Downtown is festooned - FESTOONED, I say - with sparkly lights. This is looking up at the big treet outside Westlake. (I also finally got some pretty shots of the Macy's star, but it's picture a day, not pictureS a day ;-)

348 Black Trumpet

 

Took R to the market today. Took pictures of fish and veggies. And fungus, here.

347 Gormulated

 

The mask we got in Venice, now mounted on GORM in my bedroom. I didn't 'shop this or adjust the color at all - the green light is from the star lights hanging on the opposite wall. It was almost totally dark in the room at the time. I'm impressed this came out as well as it did.

346 Have a Seat

 

Tree full of chairs in Fremont. J and I took R to Brouwer's for beer and mussels, where he taught us to eat them "properly" and otherwise abused our good nature. I'm still scheming ways to keep him here instead of going back to the UK on Monday.

345 Deja Vu

 

The NocNoc is so dark all the time that I have to take pictures of stuff that isn't moving... which is why this pic looks so much like the other one I took there a while back. P and I had Umi then watched the SinnerSaint girls strut their stuff with G and later M. It was fun, though I was super tired and low-energy.

344 Hai Guise

 

After the [work] holiday party, a whole bunch of us went to SSP and watched Mr.Fitness bleed all over everywhere. It was pretty gross, so I'm posting this happy pic of S and J instead. I took it from the balcony at King Cobra.

343 Salon of Shame

 

...is where I went tonight and where I took this picture. I went with G to see LR read and we all laughed so hard we almost wet ourselves.

342 Chili Monday

 

C and E came over to the MoJ tonight to drink wine and eat J's fabulous veggie chili. We also played Bohnanza (which is a bean-themed card game) and learned more than is probably appropriate about bean economies.

341 Shoots & Ladders

 

This looks like something my drawing teacher would've set up to force us to draw something really complex. It also looks like a gorgeous fall scene on a gorgeous foggy fall morning, which is what it is. This is down near Cafe Flora, where we took R for cheesy grits. Then I carted him off to Woodinville for wine tasting.

340 My Home Depot Away from Home

 

We went to buy some screws and a replacement peg for a bookshelf. With that mission accomplished, we were able to finish the last bit of furniture I needed for my room... and I actually got to unpack. OMG.

339 Blue Bowls

 

Why yes, it is another picture of artfully arranged cutlery! Apologies for the lack of inspiration lately.

338 The View From My Plate

 

A very thankful thanksgiving! With many tasty foods (so many colors!) and wonderful people.

337 My Spoon is Too Big

 

Thanksgiving prep day!

336 Root Foot

 

I have no idea why I took this picture, but I didn't take any better ones, so here it is. <3 roofeet!

335 Placeholder

334 Grainy

 

J, R, C and I went for a walk by the lake because it was a gorgeous day. I got to play with C's Big Boy cameras and took a few good ones myself.

333 One of These Things

 

J, A and R at the merc. Despite how it looks in this pic (which I took with R's tiny and adorable camera), R was actually in the room and is not a cardboard cutout.

332 Pretty Pretty Princess

 

...is G.

331 Devs Playing Poker

 

Poker tournament at [the job's] game night.

330 Umi

 

We took visitors C and R to Umi Sake House for dinner... where we ate tons of sushi, all of which was fabulous. One of the rolls you see here contained salmon, strawberries and mango. F'real.

329 21st

 

I went out in search of ice because it was cold enough for it outside... but instead I stuck the camera on a treestump and took this one of the few remaining leaves still on trees.

328 Kali Dancers

 

At Get Loweded. These ladies are "The Hands of Kali" dancers and they put on a damn good show. Overall, it was tons of fun showing R Seattle's idea of a good time. :-)

327 Say Wa

 

J and I went on a mission to get bagels on this misty morning and ended up by the lake. the bagels were tasty too!

326 Awwwww

 

I didn't mean to post another picture of Marlowe today, but I didn't take any others (and this is super cute).

325 Chrevtastic

 

C and E wanted to be my photo of the day. I was happy to oblige :-)
(shame about the red eye)

324 Fridge Cat is Watching You Snack

 

I actually opened the refridgerator intending to get the bottle of wine out... but Marlowe had other ideas. He actually does this all the time. I think he has aspirations to be the little guy who turns the fridge light on and off when he grows up.

323 Blue Ideas

 

I don't even know. Blue lightbulbs, bubble wrap and a bit of black chiffon scarf that happen to be sitting on top of the chest of drawers in the dining room.

322 Phoenix Setting

 

Sunset through the windows at the airport, Seattle bound.

321 Good Morning Phoenix

 

While waiting to be picked up in the morning. Palm trees and sunshine in November. Seriously.