Back in business!

I'm finally back in business as the saying goes.  Technology almost beat me this week, but I won out in the end!  My laptop decided to get attitude at the start of the week - the clasp thingys (technical term, trust me!) that lock it shut when you close it decided to fail whilst it was shut.  The result was that I was unable to open my laptop - hmmm, not happy Jan!  Anyhoo, it is all sorted now and I'm back in the land of the online again.

All this mucking about meant that I didn't post my final photos for the February Photo A Day Challenge - this was an annoyance to say the least.  So despite being 3 days into March, I'll finally post the remainder of last month's photos...

#FebPhotoADay - Day 26: Night

This seems like an eternity ago!  Last Sunday's theme was night.  Unfortunately it was a very overcast evening here so my intended photo of the moon and the stars wasn't possible.  Now the lovely Wayne did offer to drop 'em, but I politely declined his offer as that wasn't quite the kind of moon I was looking for!  I settled on a photo of the cloudy night sky.

#FebPhotoADay - Day 27: Something you ate

Monday's photo prompt was something you ate.  I took this photo at work of my lunch.  I wanted to capture a before and after shot so that you could indeed see that I ate the food.  I also wanted this pic to show not just ate but also the number 8 (something I 8), hence the arrangement of the plate (pl-8!!).

#FebPhotoADay - Day 28: Money

The photo prompt for Tuesday was money.  I have to confess that I was having an incredibly lazy day on Tuesday and simply re-edited a photo taken for a photo challenge I particpated in last August.  Yes I know, dreadful.  I'm hanging my head in shame as I type this (well I'm not really, how would I see the screen and be able to type if I was?!).  Here you go, the grand sum of 4 dollars - the extent of my wealth is truly amazing!  LOL.

#FebPhotoADay - Day 29: Something you're listening to

The photo prompt for the final day of the February Photo A Day Challenge was something you're listening to.  This was a no-brainier.  Back in January I mentioned a new music discovery I had made (see here).  Well the singer mentioned (Lana Del Ray) has recently released an album which is receiving a lot of air time in our home at the moment.  So here you have a screen shot from my iPhone of the cover of Lana Del Rey's new album, Born To Die.

That brings me to the end of the February Photo A Day Challenge and I must say that I've enjoyed it.  I'd like to say thanks to Chantelle over at Fat Mum Slim for this great idea.  I again found (and started following) some wonderful blogs as a result of this challenge.  Chantelle has also come up with another challenge for March, the March Photo A Day Challenge.  Now I'm going to have a break from the challenge this month but will randomly participate some days via Instagram.  To see what I'm up to, you can view my Instagram feed online or if you're an Instagram addict like myself, follow me.  Search for @gawee.

#FebPhotoADay - Day 25

Today's theme for the February Photo A Day Challenge is Green.  My photo for today is a collage of new and old photos all of something (& someone) green.  Here you have (clockwise from left) trees and grass at the local park, my dear friend Leah dressed as a witch, a tennis ball, and the leaf canopy of a large tree.

A Building, Boots, & a Cabinet

Well yet again I've had a couple of crazy days this week so haven't posted my photos for a few days for the February Photo A Day Challenge.  Now that the week is over it's time to catch up.  Oh yes, I've also themed them all black and white - I honestly hadn't planned that, the photos all just happened to look better in black and white.  A total coincidence!

#FebPhotoADay - Day 22: Where You Work

Wednesday's theme was where you work.  Now I could have concocted a delightful story about how I'm a secret agent (think 007) and that if I showed where I worked, I would indeed have to kill you, but alas, I have a far less exotic office job.  So here you have it, the office block where I work.

#FebPhotoADay - Day 23: Your Shoes

Yesterday's theme was your shoes.  Oh what to do.  Those that know me know that I have a penchant for a nice shoe (well pairs actually!) so this was difficult.  In the end I settled on one of my fave pairs of boots that I purchased at a rather nice shoe boutique in Melbourne, and that I wear to death.  They are made of black denim with leather trimming and are very comfortable too.  I'm often complemented on them also, so my taste can't be too awful can it?!  Anyhoo, here's my shoes...

#FebPhotoADay - Day 24: Inside Your Bathroom Cabinet

The theme for today was inside your bathroom cabinet.  Now this was interesting as I wasn't sure how to approach this.  I figured I had 3 options.  Option 1 was to have all manner of dreadful things on view (keep yourself nice), option 2 was to have all the nicest toiletries in the house strategically placed on show, and option 3 was to just open the darn doors and snap a pic au naturale.  On a Friday afternoon after a long week at work, option 3 won hands down - no effort required...LOL.

#FebPhotoADay - Day 21

Today's theme in the February Photo A Day Challenge is A Fave Photo Of You.  Hmmm, like everyone I know, I don't really have a fave photo of myself, just photos of myself that I dislike the least!  Bearing that in mind I do have a recent photo of myself that falls into this category.  It was snapped last night by the lovely Wayne.  So here you have it, a fave(ish) photo of me!

#FebPhotoADay - Day 20

The theme for day 20 of the February Photo A Day Challenge is Handwriting.  For today's photo I asked my workmates to handwrite the word handwriting on a sheet of paper.  I even wrote it with my left hand (you can tell exactly which one that is!).  I then photographed the sheet of paper, did some magical editing, and voila, the photo below.

#FebPhotoADay - Day 19

Today's theme in the February Photo A Day Challenge is Something You Hate To Do.  Well this was an easy one - the first thing that always comes to mind is ironing - yuck!  I'd rather clean 10 toilets than do ironing.  Sorry for that, but I honestly would!  Lucky for me, the lovely Wayne does any ironing in this household, and yes, I clean the toilets....LOL.  Anyhoo, here's my photo for today's theme, my most dreaded of all household appliances - the iron!

Socks, Clocks, & Tasty Drops

Ok, day 2 of the February Photo A Day Challenge catch-up and I'm finally up-to-date again - phew!  Lets hope next week is a bit less crazy.

#FebPhotoADay - Day 16: Something New

The theme for Thursday was Something New.  I gave careful consideration to my most recent purchases in order to come up with my newest something.  Sadly my very recent purchases consisted of food, coffee, wine, and fuel!  Not very interesting.  I then delved back a week in my memory and remembered the much needed purchase of a 5-pack of socks - yes I know, my life's excitement knows no bounds....LOL.  Anyhoo, here's my pic for something new.  My new socks!

#FebPhotoADay - Day 17: Time

Yesterday's theme was time.  Now my own criterion for this theme was not simply a photo of the current time or of a time piece, I wanted to show the passage of time.  So here you have it, a series of photos showing time passing by...

#FebPhotoADay - Day 18: Drink

The theme for today is drink.  Now those that know me know that I am partial to a glass or two of good wine (oh alright, and the occasional whine!).  So it made perfect sense that my photo for today is a glass of my preferred beverage - in this instance a delish Cabernet Merlot that was enjoyed with an equally delish pasta dish for dinner.  Enjoy (I know I certainly did!).

Busy Busy Busy

Wow, what a crazy busy week this has been.  It's been a week of loooong work days, exhausted (lazy) evenings and early nights.  And as a result, a week of no blogging as I haven't even switched my laptop on until this evening.  Anyhoo, I have still been taking my photos as part of the February Photo A Day Challenge, I just haven't posted them.  I'll start rectifying that right now.  Here's my photo's from earlier this week...

#FebPhotoADay - Day 13: Blue

The theme for Monday was Blue.  After work on Monday the lovely Wayne and I went for a walk along the waterfront and took in the view.  There was a storm brewing across the lake which looked amazing.  The contrast between the dark storm clouds and the bright blue sky was dramatic to say the least - there was a definite line between the good weather and the bad weather which I had to capture.  Hence my photo for Blue, the gorgeous blue sky in contrast to the dark pending storm.

#FebPhotoADay - Day 14: Heart

Tuesday's theme was Heart.  How fitting for Valentines Day.  Despite our busy day the lovely Wayne and I had a lovely evening on Valentines Day - we again headed to the water (this time to the park) to watch the sunset across the lake whilst sipping champagne.  It was lovely to take time out and enjoy a relaxing evening together.  This of course was preceded earlier in the day by the exchanging of Valentines Day Cards and wishes.  Here's my card with requisite heart...

#FebPhotoADay - Day 15: Phone

The photo theme on Wednesday was Phone.  Now I have to say that I was stumped how to do something interesting for this theme.  I considered a photo of both our phones and the home phone, I considered a photo of a phonebox, and I considered a photo of a dear friends little daughter using her toy phone.  Sadly I arrived home from work after sunset so that discounted options 2 and 3.  I ended up taking a screen shot of the lock screen on my iPhone as a re-interpretation of option 1.

Ok, that will do for now as it's late and I need my beauty sleep.  I'll endeavour to catch up the rest of the week's photos over the course of the weekend.  Nighty night!

Pool, Drinks, and the Closet!

Home again.  The lovely Wayne and I went for a leisurely walk late this afternoon and on the way back our local pub was calling to us - seriously it was!!  LOL.  As we approached (it's on the way home), we decided that we would pop in for a cool drink before continuing home.  Heaven forbid that we dehydrate!  So we called in and ordered a light meal and a bottle of chilled Sem Sauv Blanc.  We sat opposite the water enjoying the view of the sun setting across the water whilst sipping on wine...life's good.  Once we were done, the lovely Wayne suggested a game of pool.  The pool tables were deserted so we did.  Sadly, he absolutely annihilated me...insert embarrassed smiley here!  Anyhoo, enough about our afternoon.

#FebPhotoADay - Day 12: Inside Your Closet

Today's theme for the February Photo A Day Challenge was Inside Your Closet.  I had planned to take a fun photo of a skeleton hanging in the walk-in-robe as we had one last year for halloween.  It appears though that I may have thrown it out.  A change of plans was called for so I took a photo of a section of the robe with some of my shirts.  It wasn't until I looked at the actual photo that I realised the breadth of colours hanging there - it looked a bit busy in the photo so I thought it best to edit it to black & white.  Here's the result...

 

 

#FebPhotoADay - Day 11: Makes You Happy

Today's theme for the February Photo A Day Challenge is Makes You Happy.  This is easy.  What makes me happy is any time spent with the lovely Wayne, so it makes sense (to me anyway) that my photo for today should be a photo of the two of us together.  Now I have to confess that I have cheated a little with this photo as I've posted a photo of us taken just before Christmas - I've just re-edited it!  Yes I know I should have taken another photo of us today, but I really like this photo, so here it is (re-edited of course)...

#FebPhotoADay - Day 10: Self Portrait

The theme for day 10 of the February Photo A Day Challenge is Self Portrait.  Now there's really not much I can say about this photo other than, here I am...

#FebPhotoADay - Day 9: Front Door

Today's theme for the February Photo A Day Challenge is Front Door.  Now ideally I would have liked to have visited my sister and my brother-in-law for this photo because I love the front door on their house.  It is a beautiful big door and it is bright fuchsia in colour!  It's truly gorgeous.  Anyhoo, as I couldn't visit them today, I've settled on this collage of 3 photos of our front door(s)...

#FebPhotoADay - Day 8: Sun

I awoke this morning quite pleased that after what has seemed like an eternity of wet weather, the sun was shining.  Fantastic I thought, as today's theme for the February Photo A Day Challenge was Sun.  Well I hadn't planned my actual photo for today so was discussing this with my dear friend Michelle over lunch.  Between us we came up with the idea of a nice shot of sun reflecting off sunglasses.  Well I ended up stuck inside all day and so missed the opportunity of popping outside and taking my sun photo. 

On the way home from work I was on the phone to the lovely Wayne and said how I had missed my sun shot and would have do a catch-up shot tomorrow - he agreed.  However when I arrived home I was greeted with a gorgeous child-like water colour painting with a sun.  The lovely Wayne had channelled his inner child artiste to create me a little masterpiece so I could still take my sun shot today.  I'm so lucky :-)

#FebPhotoADay - Day 7: Button

Today's theme for the February Photo A Day Challenge was Button.  Now I had decided early on that I wasn't going to take a photo of a clothing type button.  I also decided it couldn't be a mechanical or electrical type button.  I came up with two options - either a belly button or a button mushroom. Ok, the problem with option one is that in order to not make my dear readers sick, the belly button would ideally need to be attached to someone with rock hard abs.  Sadly, my abs aren't quite rock hard enough - close I know, but I wasn't comfortable with the idea that my svelte physique might over-excite any of you out there.  As a consequence, option two was adopted.  So here is my photo for today's theme - a fresh button mushroom!

The Comment

Woo hoo - I'm a wee bit excited this evening.  I've had my very first comment on a blog post and I have to say that I'm quite chuffed.  Yes I know - simple things!  Now I didn't start this blog to gain readers, followers or comments - it was done for me.  It is about making me take stock of life, the world around me and the everyday things that so often are overlooked.  That said however, I challenge any blogger to not get a little satisfaction/pride at knowing that your blog is being read by others and further, that it has provoked a comment or response from a reader.  Well I received my first comment today on a blog post.  It was from a lady by the name of Catherine who coincidently is a new blogger too - follow the link to view her blog Hello, New Day.  The amazing thing for me was not just that she posted a lovely comment about my blog post, but that she was a total stranger who decided to comment on my post about the Feb Photo Challenge I'm participating in - thanks heaps Catherine, you made my day.

#FebPhotoADay - Day 6: Dinner

Ok, time to post my photo for today's theme in the February Photo A Day Challenge.  The theme today is Dinner.  Now I had designs on creating a gastronomic wonder for dinner this evening so that I could show off with my photo - yes I know, shameless!  The sad reality was that after a very busy day I just didn't have the time (or the inclination) so the lovely Wayne and I stopped by the local pub and ordered a quick meal.  So here you have it dear reader, a photo of my pub dinner this evening - Steak with mushroom sauce accompanied by chips and veges.  Oh yes, and in an effort to avoid disappointing any of my readers, I did have a glass of wine with said meal ;-)  And it was delish too (the food and the wine)!

Brekkie and a Photo

This morning I tagged along with my mum and dad as my dad was dropped off at the pick-up point for a week long hiking adventure with a walking/hiking group he belongs to.  On our way home, mum and I stopped at a fave (and new) cafe near the water at Speers Point for breakfast.  The food and coffee was delish as always, but the company was great.  It was nice to just spend some time with my mum.  And even better that it was over breakfast.  It's not that I never see my parents, but as they only live 25 minutes away, we are never together at breakfast time, so that was a novelty.

The other reason it was nice to spend time with my mum (solving all the world's problems too) was that since dad retired, it's rare to get either of them on their own.  Not that that's a bad thing as I love 'em to bits, but it is nice to not have to share them from time to time ;-)  I mention a recent day I had hanging with my dad here.

#FebPhotoADay - Day 5: 10am

Today's theme for the February Photo a Day Challenge is 10am. 

Now I know that the obvious way to capture this is a photo of a clock at 10am however I was after something that showed the time but also showed something happening at that specific time. 

I decided on a screen shot of the TV guide application that I have on my iPhone at 10am.  It shows the time and what's on the box at that time, so I'm happy that I've satisfied my own set of criteria for today's photo theme.

#FebPhotoADay - Day 4: A Stranger

The subject for today's photo for the February Photo a Day Challenge was A Stranger.  Now I wasn't sure how to approach this.  I'd originally decided that I would confidently walk up to a random stranger and explain the photo challenge and then ask if I could take their photo.  Hmmm, after wandering around at the local shopping centre for 30 minutes trying to pick a victim, I chickened out.  I then considered my options late this afternoon as the day was drawing to a close and I had yet to take a photo.  A last minute dash to the bottle shop provided me with an opportunity however the place was crawling with people so I was faced with the same situation as my earlier attempt.  In desperation I took a covert kinda shot of the counter which included a customer and a sales assistant.  I then edited it to protect the innocent and to disguise the fact that it was shakey and out of focus.  The things one does to get that photo....LOL.  Anyhoo, here it is...

Feb Foto Fun

I've recently discovered another great blog, fat mum slim, which I'm enjoying.  Blog author Chantelle also conducts photographic challenges both on her blog and on Instagram.  Now I know I've mentioned this before, but honestly, I'm a total Instagram addict and have started to join in on a number of photographic challenges.  So it was with great delight that I discovered Chantelle's photographic challenges, and the fact that they run in parallel on Instagram was the icing on the cake.

I've started Chantelle's latest challenge (a couple of days late admittedly) and am looking forward to participating in the remainder of it.  It is the February Photo a Day Challenge.  Like I said I started today, day 3.  Here's my entry for today's theme...

#FebPhotoADay - Day 3:  Hands

I'll endeavour to post my daily photos here, but if I don't get to (read that as: if I'm being a slacker), you can always view them on Instagram.