Project #7 EARTH HOUR

Here is the photo of my town from a viewpoint halfway up a mountain, during Earth Hour ( March 26, 8:30 pm to 9:30 pm)

My kids and I made a mini adventure out of it,.  bringing along a thermos of hot chocolate and fresh baked cookies to watch the sight before us.  We were hoping to see the majority of our town dim thier lights in honor of the occasion.  We waited patiently and expectantly. Initially it seemed to me to be quite alot of lights on still (really, how could all of those possibly be just street lamps?) , and I admit my heart was heavy with disappointment as I drove back down into town 
However once in town I began to notice that while storefronts and commercial businesses still had lights on ( hotels, restaurants etc) a surprising amount of residential properties had either dim lights or no lights on at all!
I was hopeful.

So I took a drive through a few neightborhoods in town, and my hope grew to excitement. Wow! People were actually taking this seriously this year!  I even saw one really big fancy house completely dark, with a tent in thr front yard that glowed with the light of what could only be a lantern of sorts.  I was so thrilled! I wanted to stop and take a picture, until I realized they might think I was some strange lunatic for taking a picture of them in their tent, hehe =)

As I drove home I started to laugh about the irony of the fact that while my house was sitting appropriately dark, I wasn't doing the environment any favors by spending Earth Hour DRIVING around in my VEHICLE the whole time! Doh!  Rookie mistake! 

Next year I think I will just leave my car and walk around taking photos of tents in people's front yards, haha.  I"ll wear running shoes just in case I get mistaken for the paprazzi and have to make a run for it.

I just want to say how proud I am of all the thoughtful residents of my small town tonight!

Hot chocolate, Cookies, and Awesome Looking Tents,

-J

Luck of the Irish?

WELL!! It appears that dear ol' Saint Patrick doesn't love me as much as I love him!  The luck of the Irish was definitely NOT with me yesterday, heh =)   Despite my attempts to be festive by baking green cupcakes for the holiday..

and YES!!! \those are marshmallows from Lucky Charms cereal on top , hahaha =)
My day was actually going along pretty well, until....lunchtime.  You know those days that seem so typically ordinary that something out of the ordinary is ridiculously overdue?   Yeah.  Well I backed out of my reserved parking space in the back alley behind my office, and
SMACK!
 Accidently swiped the car that had passing behind me and had stopped just a few feet past, (in my blind spot). It wasn't their fault, they had stopped to let another vehicle back into the alley in front of them.
Anyways....
As irritated as I was with myself, I had to be thankful that nobody was hurt ( I was backing out slowly) and the damage was minimal and superficial ( just some scraped paint on both vehicles). BUT STILL!  Awwwww man, there goes 13 years of accident-free driving and thus-earned super-low insurance premiums!   I mean, if you're gonna wreck 'er, wreck 'er good! Right?  I'm still shaking my head over this one, but I'm not gonna let it get to me, haha. It could have been alot worse, at least my kids weren't with me!
Here is Thumper ( yes, I named my car after the weird thumping noises he makes, hahaha!) with a boo-boo on his bumper! 

Poor Thumper! 
Unfortunately he is going to have to go around looking like this for awhile. While insurance will cover it, I don't want to pay the deductible to have him fixed just yet. I had ear-marked the cash that I had this month to buy new matresses and bunkbeds for my kids, and that's more important than driving a pretty car! haha.  I won't wait too long to get him a new bumper cover and have it painted, but it's going to wait till after my road trip at Easter. I'm done with letting things like this come up and de-rail my already-set plans. And neither should you! 

Life happens. You can either let it throw you off balance, or you can keep your priorites in order, and keep reaching for your goals, no matter what!  My car's somewhat compromised appearance isn't iinterfering with my ability to drive it safely.  If everything happens for a reason, then maybe this was a test.  The big question being:  Am I going to keep my priorites in order, or am I going to let something minor and silly like this get to me?   Years ago I would have let something like this screw up my plans, and I would have been extremely disappointed  that I had to give up my plans. But I've been through alot of not-great things in my life, and (I won't get into it here) it taught me to just let the little things go. Life is too short to let things stop us from getting out and enjoying life!
Thumper is gong to be just fine for a few months with a scraped bumper, and I'm going to laugh it off, and go on a super -awesome, no,  I'm I'm going to go on a,
wait for it.....
 LegenDARY!
road ttrip and take lots of awesome photos to post on here for you guys!

Irish Luck and Bumpers with Boo-Boo's,
-J

Search for Spring Gear Begins Here

While I'm in the process of re-building up my assortment of photographic equipment (after a break in that left me robbed of almost all of it)  I am searching the internets for some really funky gear to haul my current gear around in!
Since I'm always on the run, I hate lugging around more than I need to. Laptop bag, camera bag AND a purse? NO WAY!  I want something to carry around my laptop, my camera,  AND my wallet, keys, cellphone and sunglasses. (with a handy lil' pocket to carry a lipstick as well? hey, I'm still a woman, after all! haha) 
So begins the search.....
I found some awesome, lightweight laptop sleeve/bags, one of which was love at first sight:

 

Laurex 17" Laptop Sleeve w/ Handle and Shoulder Strap

While it looks light and low maintance to carry around, it's basically just a sleeve with a strap.  Nowhere to fit all my junk!  So moving on, I found....

Tote Couture Quilted Laptop Case

The front pocket is perfect for all my personal crap,  but still no room for my camera! But look how pretty!  I  love the color and zebra print oh-so-much! I think maybe it would be okay to carry around this one on days I don't have my large SLR camera on me? ( nowadays I always carry a small digital camera for photo "emergencies" that I could easily fit in this bag with the rest of my stuffs)

My other option is to find a camera bag that will fit my camera and junk, sans laptop.  THAT would be okay as well.  I don"t usually need both my laptop AND my camera with me at the same time anyways unless I'm travelling.. Dare I go that direction instead?

Just when I began to think it was my only option, and that the elusive all-in-one bag was merely a practical daydream...

...I found it.

 The ultimate in all-in-one convenience, that doesn't scream "I'm a camera bag, steal me!" and is modern, funky,  and definittely not-your-dad's-camera-bag!

I like the bright orange red and black one on the right!

And! And! And! It's big enough to fit my laptop - and- my camera -and- all my other junk!

Yippee!

Now if only I can invent a way to strap a portable tripod to the side of that thing.!  =)

My New Neighbors!

As I left the house this morning to drive my kiddies to school, I met my newest neighbors, who just happened to be waddling around in my front yard! Upon my return, they were still quacking about, so I figured they might be hungry. I grabbed a few bread loaf ends and my camera and ran outside to snap a few pics of these cute little dudes (and I think the third one is a gal).

I wish I could keep them as pets!. I'm hoping they'll come back again, so I can get a few more shots. I was pressed for time this morning, and they wouldn't stay still, although they did let me come surprisingly close to them. I was only about 2 feet away when I took this photo, absolutely no zoom lens required! But as you can see, they were on a fast-paced mission .

I have a busy rest of the day ahead of me, so I better make like these ducks and fly! Oh ,who am I kidding, I'\m more likely to waddle back to my office.

Visit your neighbors today, and wish them a happy Monday!
Or just feed them bread and take their picture, hahaha

And the Winner Is,.....

Okay here it is folks!  AND THE WINNER OF THE 1,000 VIEWS GIVEAWAY PRIZE IS.......


Drumroll please........

hempfaery   !!!!

Well, it was pretty good odds this time around, given that the odds were 1 in 4, hahaha! I was hoping alot more people would enter, but I realize the wasn't a while lotta time for this contest. But hey, there's always the next one!
ANYWAYS

Congrats to hempfaery! Yay! I will contact you via email to get an address of where to send your prize. Don't forget that you only have 48 hours to respond with your mailing address, or I'll have to draw a new winner.

 And to everyone else, I wish you all a good night! i have had a ridiculously long day. Full of surprises ( good ones, don't worry) but it's been a long day so I'm off to dreamland. Just wanted to make sure I posted the winning blog first!
Good Night all!

Sweet dreams =)
-J

GIVEAWAY Contest Details

AAAAAAAARE YOUUUUUUUUU READYYYYYYYYY? 

Continuing on the Milestone theme, since my 1,000 page views milestone is what inspired this particular giveaway in the first place,  I thought, why not give away something that others can use to celebrate their own milestone's, and preserve their own memories?

Introducing......
The uniquely handpainted.....

MILESTONE MEMORY BOX!

Tra-La-Laaaaaaaa~

This little beauty was a little treasure I discovered in a local shop that has all sorts of brillant,unique gifts and things! I'm not sure that it's intended purpose is that of a MILESTONE BOX, but the writing on the outside with the inspiring quotes made me feel like it should be one!   I have one at home that I store all kinds of precious milestone memories in. Some ideas you may want to include in yours could be photos, concert tickets, a wine or champagne cork from a first date or an anniversary, the tassle from a graduation cap, and any other sort of milestone memorabilia that you want to keep safe and in one place.  This particular peice of art was hand painted by Canadian artist Rhonda Kullberg, from Brendan, Manitoba.



CONTEST RULES:

1. You must be a member of my facebook page: Janice Evelyn - Photographer. If you aren't already, you can click on the link below, then click on the "Like" botton at the top of my Page.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Janice-Evelyn-Photographer/19822367477

2. You must post a comment below this post. The comment qualifies as your "entry" for the contest.

3. The winner will be chosen at random on Friday, March 11, 2011 at 6 pm. Pacific Standard Time.

4. Once chosen, I will contact the winnner via email to verify a mailing address he/she wishes to have the prize sent to.  The winner MUST respond back to me WITHIN 48 HOURS of the date of the closing of this contest (March 11, 2011) or a new winner will be chosen.

So there you have it folks!  And to all you guys out there who kinda scrunched up their noses when they saw the somewhat "girly" prize posted here, you know that Mother's Day isn't too far away?  This could make a lovely gift for your mom, grandmother, or your lovely wife!

Happy Contest Day!

-J

1,000 Pageviews and Giveaway News

OKAY EVERYONE,  I have some exciting news! Since I started this blog back in November of last year (2010) the blog has officially reached a milestone - as of today, it has OFFICIALLY REACHED OVER 1,000 PAGEVIEWS!  Yippeeeee! Okay, it may not be excitng for you, but for me, I am constantly wondering "does ANYONE read my blog?!!!!! "   hahaha.
So because I can't possibly give each and every one of you a hug, I'm offering a huge heartfelt THANK YOU to all of you for all of the love and support you've shown by visiting my blog, and to celebrate this wonderful MILESTONE, I am going to be having a GIVEAWAY CONTEST!!!!!  I want this contest to be open to ANYONE from EVERY COUNTRY around the world.
So,
 What am I giving away you ask?
 wait for it......

wait for it.....

.....because I'm going to fall asleep typing right now, so rather than mistype and screw up the entire contest, I will post the details and contest rules tomorrow by lunchtime!
WATCH FOR IT!
And visit my blog a few more times, hehe =)