Spencer

The holidays have been so good to me this year; I've overindulged and regretted nothing. Here's my handsome man Spencer, he's got a clouded eye and a floppy tail from a previous and more difficult life but has the best spirit I've ever seen. Love this guy!

Headache.

There's nothing more conducive to finding relief from a headache than a camera being shoved in your face (note the sarcasm here).

He's a good sport about it though, which is why I love him.

Testing, testing...

I finally got around to buying a manual flash for my camera. I'm just playing around and testing it out right now, and am already kicking myself for not getting one sooner. No longer am I limited by the depressing lack of sunlight in the winter. This changes everything!

Cows of Sarasota

Well, it's been ages since I've logged on to this site. I completely give up on the 365 project. Chalking it up to a great learning experience and moving on.

I had the pleasure of spending some time in Sarasota, Florida a couple months ago and fell in love with the wide variety of animals. Seemingly unending species of birds were everywhere; we were able to swim in the ocean and float just a few feet away from giant pelicans (well, I think they're giant, they are probably completely normal in size). Cows were usually accompanied by small white birds, but the birds took flight each time I approached so I wasn't able to get a shot with them included.

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After living in the downtown core of Toronto for a couple of years this was quite possibly the most refreshing way to wake up on a Saturday morning that I've experienced in a long time. I'm still close to the city but the air quality is so much better I can hardly believe it. Being right on the subway line but feeling as though I come home to a cottage each night after work? This is living!

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I haven't completely given up on this thing yet! Feels like this project is slowly dying, but I'm stubborn enough not to give it up totally. One thing I will never get tired of is taking pictures of my cute kitties, here she is in all her glory.

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The scent of new beginnings is in the air...life is constantly in flux and seems to keep getting better and better. My mission as of late is to become more empowered to make decisions for myself that lead to concrete results. It feels good to move forward in a direction, in any direction, and to appreciate all the small steps along the way.

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One of the things I love most about summer is the ability to be outside at night and remain warm and comfortable. It helps to have some takeout wine too :)

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I'm happy with today's post. It's a little strange and has no reason whatsoever, but I like it in a sort of abstract kind of way. I've never been good at coming up with concepts for artwork, and so I really appreciate those artists who create work with reason and meaning. However, I don't think it's the only valuable way of creating. Back in college for fine arts we were pushed so hard on coming up with concepts that the actual work itself hardly mattered. As long as you had a sob story behind your solid blue painting, you got an A+. I'm so glad I can now create art for my own reasons without having to please a particular person's point of view.

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I felt like doing something a little darker than usual. I never thought I would say this but I'm starting to get tired of so much sun, where are the clouds this year? Poor trees outside are so thirsty. Speaking of trees I am extremely excited to be moving in two months, far away from all this city concrete and back into some nature. I can't wait to wake up in the morning to the sights of nature rather than...well, let's just say rather than the beautiful sights and people downtown Toronto has to offer.

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My baby girl enjoying her new toy. We bought it as a distraction for her while she heals from a bite wound caused by her brother kitty. I'm sure he didn't mean to hurt her, and I'm just glad the wound is on her back where she can't reach. Otherwise she'd be in one of those plastic cones. Poor girl.

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I wish I could say this was a new photo, but it was taken back in March. The worst thing is I actually have new stuff on my camera but I currently cannot find the cord to upload anything. It's not much of an excuse since I haven't really torn my apartment apart looking for it, it was more of a casual look around, but it's still annoying. I may have to just buy a new one because sometimes I'm lazy like that.

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Yes, the long weekend is here! I'm so lucky I get to head out to a music festival with my favourite ladies tomorrow and I've been looking forward to it for weeks now.

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It's getting harder every day to keep a good balance between work, exercise, household chores, family time, socializing, etc. I've almost called it quits with this blog pretty much every week, but for some reason I just can't give up on it. 365 days will technically be up next month, and I'm not quite half way through. I don't think it matters anymore though, if I can persevere with this project regardless of how much I've "failed" so far, at least I can learn some lessons along the way. The experience itself is always worthwhile (I hope!).

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I was so excited to finally get around to uploading photos of my nephew to my computer, only to find out that most of them were slightly blurry. So disappointing. I was trying to catch movement in low light settings, not a good idea. This shot was the best one I got, the focus is a little off from the eyes, but I'm posting it anyway because he's so ridiculously cute!

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Everyone is interesting in their own way.

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I really like this shot because of the motion blur. You would think I was trying to get this effect on purpose, but in reality we had had a few too many glasses of wine and I was just randomly taking pictures while walking back home from the park. Completely accidental, but sometimes that's the way things go.

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I love dandelions so much, they really shouldn't be considered weeds. They make grass more interesting to look at, but perhaps I'd think differently if I were tending my own yard rather than living in this concrete city.

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Babies! I was sneaking behind these guys for quite a long time, trying to get close enough for a good shot and cursing myself for not carrying my zoom lens on me. I didn't want to stress them out by getting too close, so I ran ahead and hid in a bush waiting for the right moment. It passed quickly but I'm happy with the result.

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This is my beautiful friend, taken while enjoying a picnic in the park and a plastic cup of wine. Classy as always.

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A very friendly visitor up on our rooftop patio, she was gorgeous!

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Patiently waiting for the train. I remember the excitement when I was a kid, as the long trains would go by my sister and I would wait eagerly to see the red caboose...it's too bad they don't have them anymore, I must be getting old!

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The beach is that way...

This is one of those times when clicking on the image to enlarge it is a good idea to see detail. The room was a bit dim so I had to use a high ISO and wide open aperture in order to get shots without using flash. The result is a bit grainy, but I think all things considered it turned out okay.

After an interesting work field trip to the Model Train Club in Toronto, you can expect more miniature train posts to come...

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Today's post is just the result of playing around in photoshop. Composite of a house plant with a shot I took of the television while the movie Amelie was playing.

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I took the long way home while walking after work, and even after almost an hour (it's usually only a 30 minute walk) I didn't see one single thing that caught my interest enough to stop for pictures. Today's post I took over the weekend, I was hoping for so many I would have a whole week's worth of blog posts, but I only came back with one. I'm not sure why, maybe I'm getting bored of seeing the same streets over and over. I think a mini vacation/trip is in order soon.

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I had to save the below photos for today, though they were taken last week. My nephew was in the process of creating a surprise Mother's Day card for my sister so I wasn't allowed to post them until today.

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Spent the past weekend with my mother and nephew, it's nice how relaxing puzzle time with family can be.

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Sometimes a little quiet time can be really healing.

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A friend brought this back for me from Japan, I'm such a sucker for cuteness!

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This cat toy caught my attention, it sort of reminds me of the Lorax.
My cats, however, could care less about their toys, they prefer cheap cardboard boxes instead.

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Beautiful outdoor artwork created by Toronto's local beavers.

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This project has been such a struggle for me for months now, so for today I'm just trying to keep it simple.

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Peek-a-boo!

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Green is my favourite colour, and I can't wait to see more of it going on outside.

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I'm sort of enjoying all the overcast weather this weekend, it creates an interesting mood in the atmosphere.

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Good boy!

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My best friend, my love, my partner in crime :)

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These flowers give off a really strong fragrance so it's hard to keep the cats away from them. Not that I'm trying very hard...after all, they have as much of a right to enjoy them as I do.

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I'm on a two week break from work starting tonight and I'm looking forward to jump starting this project back on track (hopefully). Today I've got some flowers overlooking the highway, who knows what tomorrow will bring??

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I was walking home from work and saw this amazing sight from all the fog rolling in off the lake. I didn't have my good camera with me but at least I had my little snapshot and was able to get a couple of nice shots.

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Caught some really cool fog and sun combinations just an hour ago. The bottom photo came straight out of camera with no editing, save for a small crop. The sun was actually much more intense in tones than the camera captures, and I'm so grateful I live in a west-facing apartment so I can see these sights on a regular basis.

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My husband and I enjoyed the weather last weekend (as did most people who weren't working, I'm sure) by taking a leisurely walk by the river. The extreme sunlight made picture-taking near impossible, but this dog was being really cute nipping at his owner's ankles, and I think it qualifies for a post.

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Busy and messy.

Just like my life.