Always, Alli

Right now I am watching Clean House. The episode is “The Silvas” where the information given to me is “The sixth season begins with Niecy and her team confronting a dad whose clutter is so bad that his wife left him.”

I’ve seen this episode, so I know the colors Mark picks, the tears the grandma spills, the ballet bar the daughter gushes over, and the loudness of Niecy Nash as she ends the episode.

But I paused on the show because the young daughter looked familiar.

Turns out, the daughter is Cassie and I recently caught her audition on MTV’s Legally Blonde The Musical: The Search For Elle Woods. Not that I schedule time to sit down and watch MTV ever, but I saw her and thought “she looks familiar.”

And today, I was able to put the two together. Now I know… and knowing is half the battle.

Technorati Tags: Clean House, Cassie Silva, Elle the Musical, MTV

Well, it finally happened, and it is finally mine. I am now the proud owner of a Nikon D40. I now have a digital SLR camera, and I’m running with bigger dogs now.

The camera arrived on Friday and as soon as the battery was charged, I had it in my hand and was shooting as fast as my finger would let me. And when I looked at the pictures, I knew I have a lot to learn.

Which is why I think I have some reading to do.

If you have a Self Portrait to share, please post it on your blog and leave a comment on Midlife Musings, our gracious Self Portrait Sunday host.

Technorati Tags: Self Portrait Sunday, self portrait, Nikon D40, digital photography

I just finished my to do list for the next two days… and it doesn’t really include a lot of online time. I am pretty good at surrendering to the timesuck of the laptop and ignoring other household duties. What happens is a paralyzing guilt that keeps me from writing because I know there is so much offline stuff to do. And then nothing, not even blogging, gets done.

So tomorrow I plan on grounding myself until I finished laundry, the Roomba in Fuller’s room, and kitchen prep.

Maybe I’ll have some posts to write when I clear the clutter in my kitchen.

There are times I take pictures without ever looking through the view finder or LCD screen. Last week when Fuller and I were making cookies, I was really concentrating on making sure Fuller wasn’t getting shell in the egg yolk. Off to the side I had the camera in my hand, finger on the shutter, and pressed away.

When I saw this, I knew it was a keeper. I love the focus on the egg, with the fuzzy details of Fuller breaking his first egg.

For more Best Shot Monday pictures, head over to Tracey’s blog and check out the comments. You will be wowed.

It’s been a while since I have done a self portrait Sunday and I figured I would try my hand at telling a story for Shutter Sisters and their “At Home” contest.

I intended to take a picture of me laying down on the couch, resting like I usually do on a Sunday afternoon. I often fall asleep on the couch, and I thought the self portrait could reflect something like rest. It is what we do at home, especially on Sundays.

However, Fuller was up, saw the camera, and wanted to see himself in the camera. So, you see him peeking behind me, interrupting my attempt at a timed self portrait. But what you don’t know, is today I tried to take a nap (without the camera) and I didn’t get anything more than ten minutes because Fuller didn’t want to have his nap today. I guess no one told him it is a day of rest.

Got a Self Portrait to share? Post it on your blog and leave a comment at Midlife Musings, let us see your pretty face!

Technorati Tags: Shutter Sisters, self portrait Sunday, rest, at home

I got behind on posting my book reports for keeping up with my New Year’s Resolution of reading one book a month. But! I am happy to say I have been keeping the resolution, having read one book in March and two books in April.

My book for March was Home to Holly Springs by Jan Karon. My mom sent me this book. I have read most of the Mitford Series, which feature Father Tim and his supporting cast of parish crazies. Home to Holly Springs is about Father Tim and his journey back to his boyhood town and discovering/ remembering the way it really was when he was growing up. He meets old friends and learns some shocking family secrets which make him a stronger and better man.

I enjoyed the book and look forward to more by Jan Karon. I might go back and pick up the Mitford Series again. They are quick reads, so they might do well in for lakeside reading.

In April I managed to read two books. The first is Tao of Fertility, which I already reviewed and was well received. The second book was Certain Girls by Jennifer Weiner.

Jennifer Weiner’s first book was Good in Bed. I read it and fell in love with her writing. I have read all of her other books, including The Guy Not Taken, a book of short stories.

I was excited to learn Certain Girls was the follow up to Good in Bed, picking up the story of Cannie Shapiro thirteen years later. Her daughter, Joy, is struggling with adolescence and is a second voice in the telling of their story.

The plot is a lot of teen angst, with some parallels from the first book. I found the dual voices to move the story along at a good pace. The ending was a real tear jerker, so if you decide to pick it up (and I think you might like it, even if you didn’t read Good in Bed) don’t say I didn’t warn you.

I have a book I am working on for May, so I might be able to get that review up sometime in June. But, I am up for suggestions on what else I should read in the future. My mom, sisters, and I usually read the same book during the summer and are currently looking for something. A Place Called Canterbury by Dudley Clendinen was at the front of the list when I last checked.

Anyone else have any suggestions?

Technorati Tags: book review, Jan Karon, Jennifer Weiner, Dudley Clendinen, summer reading

Here is a little game for our Thursday morning. In honor of USA Network’s new original series In Plain Sight I want you to watch this video and tell me where our family is moving.

Did you guess yet? Leave it in the comment section.

It’s totally made up, so don’t worry, I’m not really fighting crime and moving my family away from our friends and family. But the TV show “In Plain Sight” is coming to USA Network on June 1st and I am excited. I will now have something other than Food Porn (aka the Food Network) to watch Sunday nights. I like cop-type shows with strong women types as the lead. And I really like Mary McCormack, who was awesome in The West Wing.

Since I moved around a lot as a kid (different elementary school every year) I have an inkling of an idea of what it means to start over. So, I’m interested to see how folks do it when they are in serious danger. And who knows, maybe someone will be called to testify against ring of office supply thieves.

Technorati Tags: USA Network, In Plain Sight, Mary McCormack, witness protection

Your Slogan Should Be

Alli. What’s the Worst that Can Happen?

I found this slogan generator at New York Chica and thought I would try it out. My slogan: “What’s the Worst that Can Happen?”

I’ve been dealing with fear issues lately. At Mom’s Group when we journal and write out our prayer cards, one of my continual confessions is about fear. And yesterday I had a rather panicky afternoon after a phone call with my husband, where old fears were brought to the surface to plague me for a while.

Maybe I need to adopt this slogan to help me move away from areas where I am fearful. Because really, what is the worst that can happen?

I’m enjoying the warm weather recently and confident it will be sticking around to make Summer proud. Before I left for the weekend I did a quick clothing swap, pulling out my complete Spring/ Summer wardrobe and throwing my Fall/ Winter clothes in a pile on the floor.

I need Mary Poppins to show up, snap her fingers, and make the pile disappear into storage bins. Then the storage bins could magically float up into the attic so I didn’t have to climb the stairs.

Until she shows up, it looks like I will be working on that tomorrow.

but I’m not going to bother right now. We got home from our trip about an hour and half ago and it was nice and all, but the words just aren’t flowing from my finger tips.

I’m looking forward to when we go back at the end of the June and I can do this: