Castle in the Clouds

I thought about writing a post highlighting our Christmas activities, but realized it would be incomplete if I did it now because we have one last party to attend.  For several years now it's been our tradition to celebrate Christmas with Ken's family on New Year's Day.  So, the comprehensive Christmas post will have to wait another few days. Instead, I thought I'd share some Nikon D5100 photos and, if Blogger will let me, maybe one of the first videos I shot with it.  We'll see.  Blogger doesn't always like me.  The camera has a bunch of "Effect" settings.  These are too fun.  I really like the "selective color" mode.  I can tell the camera to capture up to three separate colors.  In the first picture, I selected green only.  While the tree is quite obvious, you can also see the frames on the wall have green mats as well.   The red in the wreath is pretty.  I really liked this one.   Luckily, my won...

Decorating the house for the holidays is both a pleasure and a pain.  I love the result.  The bright lights, the smell of the tree, the cutesy decorations scattered around the house.  What I don't love is the hassle of getting everything out of the attic.  (And let's not talk about clean up when Christmas has come and gone!) Our 2012 Christmas Tree Pictures with Santa

I can't believe I'm about to type what you're about to read, but it's true!  I am done with my Christmas shopping!  There's only one major gift left to buy and Ken is in charge of getting that little bit of business taken care of... So, my days are once again filled with shopping the Kindle freebies list.... I tend to visit the website about every third day.  On average I think I "buy" 7-10 freebies each visit.  As I don't want to fill up my Kindle with all those files, I send the majority to my cloud reader where they wait in a queue until I decide to read them.  Once I've selected one to read, I send it to my device.  Works like a charm!

Not a very fancy picture, is it?  Instead, I give you a snapshot of our daily lives.  After a long day's work and some dinner, Ken looks pretty relaxed sitting in his recliner.  As he's got football and basketball alternating on the TV, I'm fairly certain he won't be moving far from that position until it's time for bed. #iHeartFaces

I had to recruit help for this daily challenge.  Luckily, the little man was up to the task. With a little help from Youtube, he was able to produce this poodle.  I think it's cute! #iHeartFaces

This collection of short stories has kept me entertained for the last week or so. Hoping to finish it tonight or tomorrow night. Although, with anew episode of Bones waiting on the DVR, it's more likely that tonight will not be the night I finish it. #iHeartFaces

So, I was supposed to take a picture of an elf today.  I thought I might be able to find a Christmas tree ornament on the tree, but it seems I'm not much of an elf collector.  So, I made my own little elves sit down and get their picture taken after they finished helping me with the holiday decorations. I think these elves are so much cuter than any ornament could ever be.  :-) #iHeartFaces

I didn't forget to take a picture today. I was simply in a no cell phone coverage zone with maybe one bar and no wireless access. So...this is me. I took the picture at the extended family Christmas party. #iHeartFaces