January 30, 2010 - The Tutu

I decided to try to take some Valentine's Day themed pictures of Isabella this weekend.  It really did not go well.  She did not want to sit still by the background...wouldn't look at me...wouldn't smile.  When I finally gave up and went into her room to change her out of her red dress, she wanted to wear her tutu.  She was so happy to be wearing it, so I decided to see if she would cooperate better in her tutu.  I also enlisted the help of my husband to entertain her.  It worked!  I got several very cute pictures of her in her purple tutu!

Photo stats

Exposure:  1/100 sec

Aperture:  f1.8

ISO:  400

Focal length:  50 mm

January 29, 2010 - The PJs

Today's subject is again my little Isabella.  I took this picture as I was getting her into her pajamas after her bath.  She is getting to be so independent and wanted to try to put her shirt on by herself.  This is what we ended up with - more of a scarf. 

Photo stats

Exposure:  1/50 sec

Aperture:  f1.8

ISO:  800

Focal length:  50 mm

January 28, 2010 - The Little Vacuum

Today's picture is of Isabella with her little toy vacuum.  The vacuum was gift from my parents for her 1st birthday, but she's only recently figured out how to push it around.  I'm surprised she loves it so much because she is terrified of the real vacuum and insists that I hold her the entire time I'm vacuuming.  :-)

Photo stats

Exposure:  1/50 sec

Aperture:  f1.8

ISO:  800

Focal length:  50 mm

January 27, 2010 - The Big Shirt

Isabella has been very interested in trying to wear our clothes lately.  I posted a picture of her in my shoes a week or so ago and now here she is wearing one of her Daddy's shirts.  She managed to get one arm in and I helped with the rest.  She loved wandering around the house in it and was not happy when I made her take it off to get dressed.  I love our cat Zoe, peeking around the corner at her.

Photo stats

Exposure:  1/50 sec

Aperture:  f1.8

ISO:  800

Focal length:  50 mm

January 26, 2010 - The Elmo Book

Today's picture is of Isabella reading her favorite book - "Look and Find Elmo."  I think she could sit for hours reading and looking at this book.  Right before I took this picture, one of the pages ripped and came out of the book due to the wear and tear it is subject to.  Isabella was very distressed, so I have since taped the page back in until we can find a replacement. 

Photo stats

Exposure:  1/80 sec.

Aperture:  f1.8

ISO: 800

Focal length:  50 mm

January 25, 2010 - The Coke Zero

I arrived home from my work trip late Monday night.  Isabella woke up long enough to try to steal my Coke Zero and run away.  This picture took quite a bit of editing to get even to this point.  I will strive to do better! :-)

Photo stats

Exposure:  1/160

Aperture:  f1.8

ISO:  200

Focal lenght:  50 mm

January 24, 2010 - The Jersey

I'm offically a week behind in posting.  I left last Sunday morning to go out of town on a work trip...I've spent the rest of the week trying to get caught up on everything.  I took this picture with my P&S on the way to the airport on Sunday.  I was busy packing and getting everything set before I left, so I resorted to grabbing the old P&S on the way out of the door.  We are a Colts' family and the Colts' were set to play that afternoon, so Isabella was in her gear.  Happily for our family, the Colts won and are now headed to Miami for the SuperBowl!

Photo Stats

Exposure:  1/250

Aperture:  f2.8

ISO:  IDK for now

Focal length: IDK for now

January 23, 2010 - The Rascal

Today's picture is of our little Rascal (a/k/a Lil' Raz and Raz), Isabella.  Today she was in a very silly mood.  She was quite a tropper and happily ran errands with me for most of the day.  So, when we finally got home, all she wanted to do was run around.  She kept going to the front door, wanting to go outside.  I took her out and got his picture, among a few others.  When I look at it, all I see is Rascal and I love it.

Photo stats

Exposure:  1/160 sec.

Aperture:  f1.8

ISO:  200

Focal length:  50 mm

And the runner up for the day is again my little gray cat Zoe.  Today I caught her sneaking milk from a cereal bowl that was accidently left out after breakfast.  While I know I should have stopped her immediately, I couldn't pass up such a cute picture:

Photo stats:

Exposure:  1/60 sec

Aperture:  f1.8

ISO:  800

Focal length:  50 mm

January 22, 2010 - The Artichokes

Today's picture is of a group of decorative artichokes filling a basket in our house.  I don't have much to say about them, except I was obviously struggling for a subject today.  :-) Definitely not exciting, but the best I could do for a particulary stressful Friday.

Photo stats

Exposure: 1/100 sec

Aperture:  f1.8

ISO:  800

Focal length:  50 mm

January 21, 2010 - The Shower

Today's picture is of poor little Isabella trying to jump out of the shower.  Isabella usually takes a nightly bath, but has been very interested in the shower whenever Josh or I are in it and usually tries to sneak in.  So, we decided tonight was good night to put her in and see how she did.  The clear answer is not very well. I feel kind of bad posting this picture because she was pretty unhappy about the situation, but in my defense, I already had the camera ready to go, hoping to get some cute, happy first shower pictures and just happened to catch this.  As soon as I got this picture, I promptly put the camera down and wrapped Isabella in a warm towel.  All was soon forgiven.  And I don't think she will try to climb in the shower again anytime soon.

Photo stats

Exposure:  1/200 sec

Aperture:  f1.8

ISO:  800

Focal length:  50 mm

January 20, 2010 - The Straw

Today's picture is of Isabella (again!) showing off her new straw-sipping skills.  :-)  We've tried to introduce a straw for a while and she hasn't really gotten it.  Today, Josh dropped Isabella off at my office at lunch.  One of my good friends and coworkers (and Isabella's most frequent babysitter) joined us for lunch at a nearby restaurant.  They brought Isabella the cup in this picture.  I offered it to her, thinking there was no way that she would actually know how to drink out of the straw.  But, much to my surprise, she actually was able to drink out of it.  After my excitement and the accompanying clapping, she refuse to put the cup down all day.  She's eating dinner at home in her highchair in this picture, hours later. 

Photo stats
Exposure:  1/200 sec
Aperture:  f1.8
ISO: 200
Focal length:  50 mm

January 19, 2010 - The Toothbrush

Here is little Ms. Isabella brushing her teeth this morning.  She loves to brush her teeth and will not willingly leave the bathroom unless she's had a chance to complete her tooth-brushing routine.  The funniest thing about watching her is that she mimics the sound my electric toothbrush makes while I brush my teeth, so she's humming and brushing at the same time.  :-)

Photo stats

Exposure:  1/200 sec

Aperture:  f1.8

ISO: 800

Focal length:  50 mm

January 18, 2010 - The Big Shoes

Tonight I came out of the kitchen to find Isabella trying on my sneakers. She was so proud of herself!  I caught a series of cute pictures from her putting them on to trying to stand to trying to walk to falling down, but this was my favorite.  She has been very interested in both Josh's and my shoes lately, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised to have found her in them. 

Photo stats

Exposure:  1/80 sec

Aperture:  f2.2

ISO:  800

Focal length:  50 mm

January 17, 2010 - The Smile!

I tried (key word tried) to take some Valentine's day pictures of Isabella this weekend.  It was a big challenge and did not turn out at all as I has planned.  So, I will try again sometime soon.  While I didn't get any of the pictures I had planned, I caught this very cute picture of Isabella's smile. Her smile always melts my heart, so I love this picture. Frizzy hair and all!

Photo stats

Exposure:  1/200 sec

Aperture:  f2.8

ISO:  400

Focal length:  50 mm

January 16, 2010 - The Baby Doll

Today's picture is of Isabella feeding her favorite doll a bottle.  She's recently really started to love her dolls and is constantly hugging them, feeding them and trying to put diapers on them.  Before I took this picture, she was trying to share her sippy cup (which you can see discarded in the background) with her baby.  The bottle did not quite make it in the baby's mouth, but it was close enough.

Photo stats
Exposure: 1/100 sec
Aperture:  f2.2
ISO:  800
Focal length:  50 mm

January 15, 2010 - The Starfish

Well, I don't have much to say about tonight's picture.  It's been a long, rough week at work and tonight I was convinced I had stupidly let a "cable guy" into our house that was actually a crook of some sort.  After an hour or so on the phone with our cable provider, I was finally assured he really was a cable guy, responding to a 3-month-old service request.  I'm exhausted and taking pictures was one of  the last things on my mind.

But, once I was somewhat settled with the cable-guy situation, I realized I still needed a shot for the day.  Josh declined my attempts to shoot him and  Isabella was asleep by the time I was ready to shoot. My cats were willing participants (see runner up below), but I decided to take a picture of the seashells that sit on my coffee table.  I look at them everyday, but don't realize how beautiful they really are.

Photo stats

Exposure:  1/60 sec.

Aperture:  f1.8

ISO:  800

Focal length:  50 mm

Runner up:

Photo stats

Exposure:  1/60 sec

Aperture:  f1.8

ISO: 800

Focal length:  50 mm

January 14, 2010 - The Tackle

Isabella has a very large stuffed dog and a ladybug pillow that she loves to lounge on.  Both are very soft and cozy.  In fact, I wish I had my own ladybug pillow.  :-)  I can always tell when Isabella is ready to sleep because she runs over and throws herself on the ladybug or her dog, rolls around, and then lays there and cuddles for a few minutes.  Tonight her ladybug pillow and dog were right next to each other and she was able to tackle both at once.  She was so excited and I was lucky enough to catch it with the camera.

Photo stats

Exposure:  1/60 sec

Aperture:  f4

ISO:  800

Focal length:  50 mm

January 13, 2010 - The Dance

Here is Isabella, doing her nightly dance.  She just started reallly "dancing" about a week ago. She has always loved music, but now, as soon as she hears suitable music, she starts bopping, jiving, shaking her hands.  Tonight's song was a great '80s classic, "Addicted to Love."  We were both having a blast dancing to it.  I caugh her both on video and film in full-on dance mode.

Photo stats

Exposure:  1/60 sec

Aperture:  f2.8

ISO:  800

Focal length:  50 mm

January 12, 2010 - The Big Fork

Today's picture is of Isabella, eating breakfast (specifically, whole wheat toast with peanut butter) with a very large fork.  She has been very focused on trying to eat with utensils lately.  She has her own baby utensils, but grabbed this big fork out of my hands this morning.  I decided to see what she would do with it.  Well, she ate her toast, piece-by-piece with the fork, followed by some pineapple eaten piece-by-piece with the fork.  The process is a bit slow, especially when you add in the time she claps for herself if she actually gets the food in her mouth, but worth it. 

Photo stats

Exposure:  1/80 sec

Aperture:  f2.8

ISO:  400

Focal length:  50 mm

January 11, 2010 - The Penguins

Today's picture is of a metal penguin sculpture that sits on our mantel, overlooking our main living area.  Josh has always loved penguins (and, as you can probably guess from yesterday's picture, he is passing this love along to Isabella. :-)).  Josh's love for penguins translates to lots of penguin things around the house.    This sculpture is probably my favorite.  My mom bought this sculpture as a Christmas present for Josh before we even married.  I love it and like to imagine that the seven penguins watch over our little family. 

Photo stats
Exposure:  1/80 sec
Aperture: f1.8
ISO: 800
Focal length:  50 mm

January 10, 2010 - The Prop

I found this cute sign yesterday and thought it would be a great prop for some Valentine's Day pictures with Isabella.  I wasn't quite ready to enlist her as a model, but I wanted to take a few test shots and her favorite stuffed penguin was a willing participant.  As I took pictures of the penguin, I couldn't help but wish I had gotten back into photography before Isabella was mobile.  It was remarkable how much easier it is to take pictures of a subject that can't run away, look away, and/ or steal the props. :-)

Photo stats
Exposure:   1/80 sec
Aperture:  f1.8
ISO:  400
Focal length:  50 mm

January 9, 2010 - The Cold

Well, I have officially fallen behind and I am posting this a day late.  I guess I should be happy that at least it is only one day and I will be caught up shortly.  I usually take quite a few pictures on the weekends, but today only got in about 10 pictures.  It has been unseasonably cold in Florida the last few days and I was hoping to get some cute pictures of Isabella bundled up in her hat, mittens, and coat.  Unfortunately, I forgot to change the ISO when we went outside and ended up with several very overexposed photos.  By the time I realized it, Isabella was tired of the cold and headed for the door.

Photo stats

Exposure:  1/200 sec

Aperture:  f2.2

ISO:  200

Focal length:  50 mm

January 8, 2010 - The Waver

Today's picture is of my little waver.  I took this picture earlier today when my husband, Josh, was leaving our house to go meet a friend.  Few things make Isabella as happy as waving good-bye to anyone and everyone leaving our house, especially me and Josh.  She insists on standing at the door, waving until the car is out of sight.  This is a fairly recently thing, but if we do not let her wave goodbye to her heart's content, she will erupt in a very rare bout of tears and crying. 

Photo stats

Exposure:  1/100

Aperture:  f2.2

ISO:  400

Focal length:  50 mm

January 7, 2010 - The Escapees

Today my two cats - Eli and Zoe - decided to make a break for it while I was bringing groceries in from the car.  Eli and Zoe are not allowed to go out the front door, but they decided to take the opportunity to sneak out.  I took a series of pictures of the episode, but this picture won out for the picture of the day.  By the time I took this picture, Eli had already made it out.  Isabella is looking at Eli and her expression screams, "Ohhh, you're in big trouble Eli!"  I love how Zoe is in the background looking at Isabella with a similar expression, thinking Isabella is in trouble for trying to escape (or maybe - knowing what happened next - sizing her up as a guard).  Either way, Zoe made it out shortly after this.  Once both cats were out, Isabella took great delight in watching me try to shoo them back into the house.





Photo stats
Exposure:  1/200 sec
Aperture:  f1.8
ISO: 200
Focal lenght:  50 mm

January 6, 2010 - The Bedtime Story

Today's picture is of my sweet little girl, Isabella, "requesting" that I stop taking pictures and read to her instead.  Sitting in the chair in her room and reading is one of her favorite things.  We usually read for at least 20 minutes every night before she goes to bed.  Tonight I was trying hard to get a good picture of her for this project and kept putting off the reading part.  She was not having it.  You can see her (uncharacteristically) unhappy face and insistent hands are telling me my picture-taking time was up. 

Photo stats

Exposure:  1/200 sec

Aperture:  f1.8

ISO: 800

Focal length:  50 mm

January 5, 2010 - The Comforter

First of all, I want to start by saying that I promise I'm not some crazy cat lady. I realize it may seem that way given that 2 of the 5 of my posts so far feature one or both of my cats. It turns out, they are much more cooperative subjects than my daughter, particularly when I'm trying to take pictures after I get home from work. :-)

With that said, today's picture is of my two cats, Eli (the big white one) and Zoe (the little grey one). You can't tell from the picture, but Eli is laying on a blanket on an ottoman in our family room. It is without a doubt the treasured spot for these two. It's not quite big enough for both of them, so they are constantly vying for the spot. Zoe tends to win more often (she's much younger and nimbler), but Eli will exert his authority and kick her out when he deems it appropriate. Tonight Eli was not feeling well, yet managed to claim the spot. Zoe must have sensed this and snuggled up, half on and half off of the blanket, to comfort him. Eli welcomed the company, nuzzling his head into her chest and reaching out to touch her with his paw. Wide-eyed and alert, Zoe watched guard for about 45 minutes, seemingly until Isabella was asleep and could no longer harass poor Eli.  It was very sweet.

Photo stats

Exposure:  1/200

Aperture:  f1.8

ISO:  800

Focal length:  50 mm

January 4, 2010 - The Well-Deserved Glass of Wine

Today's picture was more of a struggle than the other days so far.  Not only did I return to work after the holidays, but I had to give a presentation to a group of about 60 people, including the CEO of my company.  Before I even headed out to the conference, I was inundated with issues that had come up over the last several weeks.  I'm happy to report that the presentation went better than I could have ever expected.  Nevertheless, I was happy to arrive home to a sleeping baby and a yummy glass of wine waiting for me.  Cheers!

Photo stats

Exposure:  1/200

Aperture:  f1.8

ISO: 800

Focal length:  50 mm

January 3, 2010 - The Antique Japanese Slippers

These antique Japanese baby slippers were a gift from one of my uncles to my daughter when she was born.  They are gorgeous in person and sit atop a shelf in her room, proudly displayed.  The story of how my uncle found them is very cute.  My uncle was shopping for a wedding present for me and husband at an antique store. While he was shopping, he came across these kimono slippers for a baby girl and fell in love with them. He was very drawn to them and really wanted to buy them.  My aunt reminded him that they were shopping for a wedding present, not a baby present (as there was no baby on the way at that time!).  After some convincing, my uncle put them back and left without them.

A few months later when my mom announced to him that Josh and I were expecting a baby, he immediately went back to the same store, hoping that the slippers would still be there.  At that time, we still did not even know we were having a little girl.  But, just knowing he were having a baby gave him enough reason to buy them. He searched the store high and low and could not find them. Just as he started to accept that the slippers were gone, his wife came up to him and said, "I can't believe you found the slippers!” Very confused, my uncle said no, sadly they were gone.  His wife pointed over the the checkout counter and there were the little kimono slippers, just waiting for him.  Happily, he rushed over and bought them. He spent the next several months hoping Isabella would be a girl.

Photo stats
Exposure: 1/100
Aperture: f2.2
ISO: 400
Focal length: 50 mm

January 2, 2010 - The Mischievous Cat

Today's picture is of my mischievous 12-year-old cat, Eli. Today my project was to put away the Christmas decorations. Last year at this time, Isabella was only a few months old and wanted to be held all of the time. So, Josh got the job of putting all the decorations away. Let's just say he didn't exactly put them away how I would have. They really needed to be sorted and reorganize before I could put them away for next year. As I was sorting them on the dining room table, I got an unexpected visitor who wanted to see what was happening. Here is Eli amidst the decorations. Shortly after I took this picture, he decided to nibble on one of the little Christmas trees - fake plastic pine trees must be delicious.

Photo stats

Exposure: 1/60

Aperture:  f4.0

ISO: 200

Focal length: 50 mm

January 1, 2010 - The Beautiful Pink Sweater

Today is day one of my P365 project. I took 17 pictures today, all of my beautiful Isabella, and here is the winner.  My sister-in-law Brooke's mother knitted this beautiful sweater for Isabella and gave it us on a recent visit to Utah.  It was cold and rainy today, perfect weather for Izzy to wear it.  This picture was taken in our entryway as Isabella and I were headed out to pick up some food before we settled in to watch college football bowl games.  As usual, Isabella did not want to keep the hood on -- here you can see her reaching up to pull the hood off.  She's looking at my husband, Josh, who was trying to convince her to keep it on.  She kept it on long enough to get to and from the car, but that was all she could take.  Anyway, thanks Heidi for the beautiful sweater.

Photo stats
Exposure: 1/60
Aperature:  f2.2
ISO:  800
Focal length: 50 mm


I may occassionally post a runner-up picture or two when I have a tough time deciding which picture makes the cut.  Here is today's runner up, again of Isabella.  Isabella was helping me put a few things away in our guest room this afternoon and, in the process, we found her long-missing sunglasses.  She was so excited!  She ran out to the family room to show her daddy her amazing find and I shot this picture.  I love how well it captures her little smirk and curls, too!

Photo stats
Exposure: 1/50
Aperture: f2.2
ISO: 800
Focal length: 50 mm

P365 Project

I recently decided do a P365 photo project in 2010. Basically, that means I have committed to taking at least one picture per day to document the year. I probably take pictures on average about 5 days a week right now, so I don't think taking them will be the problem.  Keep up with the blog, well that's another story, but I will do my best! I'm looking forward to documenting 2010 in photos and will hopefully improve my photography and editing skills in the process.