Day 365 {Dew drop hammock}

I had a posed shot of a champagne flute to toast the end of the New Year and the end of this year's 365 picture a day project, but like what happened so many times this year........it was the unplanned, unexpected shot that won out.

Thank you to everyone that has followed and commented on my photographs this year. I have appreciated your support and encouragement.

I have become addicted to this project. Even on the days when I didn't feel like taking any pictures the drive to get up and snap a picture of something, anything, was stronger than my desire to skip it.

So cheers to a New Year and 365 days of more fabulous shots.

Day 364

Day 364 {Rain....sort of}

Ok, it was more of a drizzle! This was the shot I took as I drove to pick up Reid from the movies. This was just a test shot. I didn't even look through the veiw finder!

Day 362 and 363

I can't believe that this year's 365 is almost over! I have put all of this year's shot (with the exception of the last few weeks) in several collages. If you want to see them head over to my other blog: One Crafty Mama.

Day 363 {Holiday lights}

My favorite part Christmas are all of the lights. The girls and I went over to Coronado tonight so we could look at the lights of the Hotel Del before they are taken down.

I managed to get some fairly decent shots despite the fact that I forgot my tri-pod. Even though I tend to prefer close up shots, it is times like this I wish I had a wide angle lens.

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Day 362 {Bokeh effects}

The other day I was cruising my list of 365 bloggers and ran across the mention of another 365 blogger that had a tutorial on how to create this really neat bokeh effect using a cut out piece of paper over your lens.

Unfortunately I couldn't get the right ratio with my lens so you can't see the total effect (the lights should look like snow flakes). Go here to see the killer shot he created!

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For those of you that asked........we did not get a new cat!

Day 356 thru 361

Day 361 {Shopping the sales}

The girls and I went to the mall so that they could spend some of their Christmas money. As we were leaving the two of the were plotting how they could convince me that we needed to stop at the Humane Society on the way home (and buy them a new cat).

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Day 360 {Me and my shadow}

This entire week has been filled with last minute, end of the day shots. On this day I ran outside to take a picture of the sunset (which wasn't spectacular) and instead took a picture of my shadow trying to take a break from the busy holiday season.

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Day 359 {Go ahead, make my day}

Grandma bought the girls marshmallow guns for Christmas. This was Reid's one and only chance to pelt me with marshmallows. If you look carefully you can see the marshmallows just above the left side of her head.

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Day 358 {Christmas PJ's}

We have a tradition of giving the girls new PJ's on Christmas Eve. For the past few years I haven't been able to buy the girls matching PJ's (much to Reid's delight) because Reid was no longer a kid and Kate was. But this year I was able to find an XS adult that I knew would work for Kate. The only way Reid allowed me to take pictures of the two of them together was if I promised not to post them on my blog.

So I give you the Bee....who is always happy to appear on my blog.

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Day 357 {Welcome to the 70's}

Another late night shot!

This is of the ceramic Christmas tree my mother in law made back in the 1970's. Isn't it awesome? Something tells me that a few of you had one of these tree's in your past as well??

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Day 356 {Reid's ornament}

Here is this year's Hallmark ornament for Reid. The reason she has a Lion King ornament was because we saw the LK musical back in October. After seeing it Reid became a little obsessed with wanting to watch the cartoon versions. We couldn't find the tape of the original LK and let's just say she drove me a little bit crazy asking me where I thought it was!!!

Day 352 thru 355

Day 355 {Ocean Beach}

After a few hours of ice skating/shopping the girls and I took the pooch down to the beach.
This shot was taken at 3:30 with a storm rolling in. I changed the white balance setting to tungsten to get this blue hue to the shot. I really like the way it came out.

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Day 354 {Gingerbread House tradition}

Every year the girls make and I make a gingerbread house (from a kit). This is our group effort.

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Day 353 {A beachy Christmas tree}

Today was an absolutely perfect southern California day. 70 degrees and warm! This is a shot of the wonky Christmas tree on the beach where we went for a late breakfast.

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Day 352 {Noooooooooo}

Getting ready for my Girl Scout meeting I ended up dropping about 1 million beads all over the floor of my garage. Thank goodness I had just swept, so the floor was relatively clean!!

Day 347 thru 351

Day 351 {Kate's ornament}

Every year I buy the girls a Hallmark ornament. I try to find an ornament that reflects some interest they had that year. Kate has been begging for a membership to Club Penguin and she finally got one (thanks to Grandma) for her birthday.

I think I scared the salesclerk at the Hallmark store with my squeal when I saw a Club Penguin ornament. It was perfect!!!

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Day 350 {Good Listener}

Molly is the best listener. Here she is on the car ride to pick up Kate, listening to me complain about how I spent 3 hours Christmas shopping and didn't find anything.

I also told her how I left three stores in disgust because they didn't have enough help and there was no way I was going to stand in a line 20 people deep.

Would you believe she never once told me that I should have stayed home and walked her for three hours instead? Such a good dog.

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Day 349 {Presents}

I usually wait until the last minute (Christmas Eve) to wrap gifts and it always stresses me out. So this year I am getting a jump on wrapping.

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Day 348 {Good idea gone bad}

I found this recipe online for Hot Chocolate on a stick. I should have added the dry ingredients gradually to the melted chocolate instead of throwing it all in at once, because instead of getting something that resembled frosting, I got something that resembled gravel!!

It still tasted good, but I certainly can't hand out hot chocolate gravel. I may try again!

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Day 347 {Neighborhood lights}

After a very busy day, Reid and I took the dogs out for a chilly late evening walk. Don't you just love this lit train? Christmas lights always make me happy.

Day 342 thru 346

Day 346 {Rain drops on roses}

It rained a lot this weekend so I spent nearly all day on Saturday playing with Photoshop. I downloaded a ton of cool textures from "Texture of the Day" on Flickr. Serious fun!

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Day 345 {The Ugly Christmas Sweater}

Kate had a dance performance tonight and she needed to wear an ugly Christmas sweater for one of her dances. Well, I don't own any themed clothing, so I had to make her something.

It was tacky for sure, but apparently all of the girls liked it and one asked if she could trade sweaters with Kate for the second show! So my ugly tacky was apparently cool!

I added several textures to this shot as well!

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Day 344 {Making the Ugly Christmas Sweater}

The pile of supplies for the ugly Christmas sweater! I applied some textures to this shot as well, but I don't think I like the look. Makes everything look kind of like I found the supplies in a dumpster. :)

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Day 343 {Say What?}

Kate had her Winter concert for Orchestra (she plays the violin) tonight. Afterward we drove through McDonalds for sundae. I didn't get my camera out fast enough to snap the shot of the order screen when the employee goofed up and put down that we wanted 32 sundaes.

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Day 342 {Our Tree}

They tree is right next to my computer desk. My camera was on my computer desk. It was late and I needed a picture!

I can't believe that this years 365 project is almost over!

Day 336 thru 341

Day 341 {German ornaments}

I brought all of the Christmas decorations into the house today. I love opening up the boxes and going over all of our decorations. My favorites are the wooden decorations (pyramids) that my mom has brought back from Germany. These sweet carolers are actually a candle holder, but I wanted to zoom in so you could see their cute faces.

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Day 340 {Christmas tree purchase}

We went out and bought our Christmas tree today. It took Jim and Reid approximately 10 seconds to find a tree they liked.

They made fun of me for wanting a tree that had a straight(ish) branch sticking out of the top of the tree. I gave up and let them pick what they wanted (after being a big baby about it).

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Day 339 {Louis Vuitton}

Oh what a day! Kate woke me up at 2:00 a.m with the stomach flu. She continued to wake up every half an hour until 10:00 a.m. It was brutal.

After vegging out most of the day Reid and I slipped out for a late movie (New Moon). After the movie let out the Mall was pretty empty, perfect time to take pictures. This shot is from the window display at the Louis Vuitton store.

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Day 338 {Running errands}

I was running an errand down by Balboa Park and decided to drop in for some pictures of the Christmas decorations they were setting up for the weekend festivities. This is the tree set up in the organ pavilion. I couldn't decide if I wanted to share the full shot or a close up! I prefer close ups!

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Day 337 {No Dogs Allowed}

San Diego has nearly perfect weather I believe it has rained a total of four times this entire year. The thing that sucks about San Diego is that many of our beautiful beaches only allow dogs (on leashes) during center hours.

Those hours are either really early or late. It really sucks!

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Day 336 {I heart Trader Joes}

If you want snacks........there is no place like Trader Joe's. I am always finding something new there to love. These chocolate hazelnut biscotti are my new addiction.

Day 331 thru 335

Day 335 {Public Art}

Xena and I took a long walk down in La Jolla this morning. This shot is of a cluster of boats that is tied to the backside of the La Jolla Contemporary museum of art.

Tie a bunch of boats together and call it art.

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Day 334 {Where's Molly?}

I thought I heard Molly scratching one of the closed bedroom doors. Nope! What I heard was her trying to scratch her way out of my PILLOW sham. If you look closely you can see the outline of her body standing in my pillow.

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Day 333 {Advent Calendar}

Once again I am at the end of the day looking for something to shot! This is the very first Christmas decoration that I get down each year. It is our Advent Calendar. Every year the girls rotate who takes even days and who gets odd days. The last day contains the star that goes on the top on the calendars tree.

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Day 332 {Rain and Rainbows}

Holy cow......we got some rain. I believe that this is the first time in 168 days since we have had any measurable rain.

I nearly tripped over myself racing outside to capture the rainbow before it disappeared.

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Day 331 {Goodbye kisses}

I just want to say thank you for all your kind words regarding our cat Summer.