Day 30 of the 30 Day Challenge: Self portrait

What I have learned throughout this challenge is too lengthy and boring for this caption.

But I will share what I posted yesterday on my Facebook wall with you all: By the time you get to my age, if you haven't developed hobbies or bad habits, you haven't lived at all. 

Cheers to all who stopped by and made me smile with their comments and attention. It was far more than I could have expected. May you live and prosper in both your hobbies and bad habits....and may you continue sharing them with me via this very cool medium of Flickr.

So, what's next? 

Can you hear me exhaling, what a relief the challenge is over!

I set up the picture and my daughter said, "why don't you try different gestures with your hands." And I thought to myself, "oh, no you didn't."  So here I am trying to explain to my soon to be 16 year old how I learned to flick the finger in second grade using a pencil interwoven in my fingers.

Ahhh, precious childhood moments shared with offspring.

Day 29 of the 30 Day Challenge: B&W

"He sometimes ran a purple ribbon through his typewriter and gushed where he should have dammed." -T.E. Kalem

Well. Sure. Today is a good day for taking pictures with my son and selecting and editing with my daughter while we wait for my oldest daughter to come out of Physical Education class. Then we will go to my mother's house to celebrate my birthday. 

Today is a good day to be born, as were three good friends of mine. My BFF turned out to really be my BFFL (pronounced 'buffel,' according to my baby girl) as I have known her for three decades and well, I think she is now more like my sister. Talking of which, her sister's birthday is today as well. Must be something in the air, water or some geographical phenomena that all the June 29 birthday people I have ever met I have become friends with. Ah, well. That is my story for the day. Have fun, peeps!

I have had a most wonderful day.

Day 28 of the 30 Day Challenge: Flowers (pottery)

The plan was to buy the perfect bloom to photograph for today's challenge, but as I looked around, I realized I am surrounded by flowers and flower motifs throughout the house. And this is what I found, sitting on my dining room table all along, just patiently waiting for me to notice.

The name for this type of pottery is Talavera, but as in everything, there are many variations out there. I cannot afford the high end versions much the same way that I cannot afford Wedgewood nor any other kind of brand name earthenware or porcelain. At $25 to $50 USD a plate, even these colorful plates become cost prohibitive once you start calculating an entire set for 30 people.  But from time to time, I spoil myself a little and pick up inexpensive pieces from here and there.

The green lidded pot at the top is probably from the 1960s or earlier, it is something my mom found for me at a garage sale. The other two pieces are inexpensive vases (with tops) that were mass produced, but they retain that gorgeous cobalt hue that I love in dinner ware. The little brass tray with green inserts and the tiny incense holder are probably Indian. The silver tray must be about half a century old or more, it belonged to my grandmother.

I am really inspired now, I will miss doing the challenge once it ends.  That much I have learned.

Day 26 of the 30 Day Challenge: Closeup

And soft.....
Almost didn't make this Sunday's challenge, but I did! 

This is a closeup of a fabric and feather flower that my 15 year old daughter wore on her hair on the day of her confirmation. They asked her to wear 'white' and she translated it to mean 'something white' therefore choosing a tailored black dress with a white shawl  and flower on her long tresses.

Had anyone at the church protested, I would have been ready to support my daughter's individuality tooth and nail. Everything was fine. And she looked incredibly beautiful as a young adult asserting herself through her own definition of style.

Day 25 of the 30 Day Challenge: Pink

I once read that Ann Richards kept her house decor in rather muted tones. But about her clothes she said "I wear the colors around here."

While my house may not be a shrine to minimalism nor to the mod whites of the 60s or the pale shabby chic of the 90s, it remains rather muted when compared to some of my clothes. Hard pressed to find something pink in my house, for I am not a girly girl of the bubble gum palette nor do I subscribe to much Hello Kitty wares, I headed to my closet where I had recently bough this incredibly comfortable linen shirt in a most glorious 'rosa Mexicano' (bright pink) hue. 

Behind this image, you really can't tell, is the door that leads to my tiny home office. I am still in the process of summer cleaning and had placed a mirror in the next room but facing my door. As I came out one day, around 4 pm, in the mirror I saw the light hit my pink blouse and knew this was going to be my challenge picture. 

I must have taken about 20 pictures before I got a quasi-decent focus. Honestly, I think I need glasses, but that's another story. Ultimately it ended up taking me those 20 seconds that my camera allows for selfies to get this one done.

I applied a mask to the vertical center with the gradient tool in PS and a lens blur on the sides. Whatever, as long as it qualifies with the pink challenge.

And that's my story.  Happy pink day :)