January 23rd - Tortoise

My neighbor's Tortoise was out today. :) The rain has stopped for a while and the sun shone today, so I'm sure this guy was pleased! It's kind of difficult to see, but it's eating the grass and has a mouthful here. I forgot to mention, I think he looks to be about 2 to 2 1/2 feet long (.61 - .76 m) to me.

January 22nd - Greenbacks

Greenbacks, today. Although our money isn't all that green anymore. This makes me look a little rich. I wish. :P I was entering the bills into Where's George? when I got the idea to shoot this photo for today.

January 21st - Super Cute!

Super cute scarecrow I found on a walk today. He just looks so darn happy, doesn't he?

January 20th - Almost Out!

Almost out! I spaced on taking a photo today, and spent the evening making jewelry while watching a foreign film (Lemon Tree, it was set in Palestine, good flick!), and so here's today's shot. Earrings. I think they're super cute! :)

January 19th - Moss on a log and Snow White

This is moss on a log in my yard. My hubby brought home some firewood, and this was on one of the logs. I thought it was neat. It's not as green as it is in real life, although I did try to boost the green a tad.

And there's a bonus shot for today:


Here's a "Snow White" Chrysanthemum from my yard. They're itty-bitty, like small daisies. Maybe 1 1/2 inches across. It's hard to see, but there are rain drops there. We had thunder and lightning three times, so far, today! That's rare for us!! :) Sorry it's a bit blurry. I still think it's pretty.

January 18th - 68 degrees

Part of the Galileo thermometer I bought for the hubs for Christmas. The 68 degree bauble is actually green liquid, but for some reason came out quite blue on top. :P

January 17th - Saucer Plant, again, this time in the rain!

Yes, I did a picture of the saucer plant already, but it's raining today and it looked pretty to me, so here's another one.

January 16th - Stick peoplez!!

I makeded stick peoplez! :) Yeah, I was bored...well, actually, crafting with my daughter. Fun times. :)

January 15th - Flash! Aah-ahhh, savior of the universe!

How's this for green? :) I was at a friend's house for dinner tonight, and they have a chameleon. Since I didn't have a camera with me, other than my cell phone's 2 mp camera, they let me use their Nikon and emailed me the pictures I took. How nice! What a lovely camera! However, since I'd not used one of those, the focus isn't exactly right on the nose. Oh, well. This little guys name is Flash, by the way. And I do mean little, he's maybe 3 inches long! :)

January 14th - Psychadelic!

My computer is running really slowly tonight, and I forgot to take a picture until almost 9 pm! It took 2 hours to process and upload this image! So frustrated! Going to bed now. Sorry about the cruddy shot today.

January 13th - Paper clips

Not just a random pile of paper clips, but they denote the amount of weight I'd lost on Weight Watchers. Each silver one is one pound, and there's a colored one every 5 pounds. This only shows about 55 pounds, but I've lost a total of 85 so far! :D Still working on it, though. I have about another 60 to go! I've been stuck on that number for about a year, now. :P

January 12th - Frogs!

This is part of my (and my daughter's) stuffed frog collection. I'm the frog lover, but she keeps them in her room. :) The pink one in the middle was my Valentine's Day present last year from my hubby. The one with the picture frame had a picture in it, but, for whatever reason, my kid took it out. Dunno where it is, now.

January 11th - Still Life

This is an orange and a tangerine from my mother-in-law's yard. I love how it looks as though the orange is the "mom" and the tangerine is the "baby" being protected by the leaf "arms." See it?

January 10th - Purple Muppet Flowers

I love how the flowers look like little Muppet birds, or creatures of some kind. These aren't from my own garden, but a neighbors a couple of streets over. Aren't they pretty? :)

January 9th - Yellow and Blue

Yellow and blue make green! :)

This is some of my kid's sidewalk paint, it's chalky so that's why it looks chunky.

January 8th - Jade Plant

Here's a Jade plant from my yard, in bloom. I'm not overly fond of Jade plants, they grow too big, and spread too much, imo. However, I do love the delicate little flowers they get at this time of year. :)

January 7th - Saucer Plant

Here's a saucer plant from my yard. This started as a cutting (a "breaking off" really) of a friend's plant. I trimmed the end, planted it, and two years later, it's HUGE! :) I love saucer plants. And, it's green in the middle, where it counts, right? ;)

Btw, yesterday's earrings photo was the same style as all the others because I'm keeping the photos consistent for my Etsy shop, when I get around to listing the merch. :P

January 6th - Finished

Here are yesterday's earrings, finished, since there was interest in seeing them. I'll try not to do too much jewelry this month, from now on, so you all don't get bored.

January 5th - In Progress

A pair of earrings in progress. I have a picture of the finished product, but it didn't turn out very well, so no diptych today, like I'd hoped for. :P

January 4th - Then and Now

My old (Old!) cell phone on the left (the yellow one with the green frogs and palm trees), and my current one on the right (the green one). How are you liking my old frog phone cover and holographic frog sticker? :) My new phone is much lighter, and fits in my pocket. It also has web access and a camera and a music player. How times have changed.

January 3rd - Pencil Sharpener

My (broken) pencil sharpener. It doesn't spin anymore if you shove a pencil in. Not enough power. Where's Tim Taylor when I need him? ;) The pencils are some that my daughter got in her stocking for Christmas. I arranged them one way, and she moved one. I liked her arrangement much better! Can you tell I'm using two different light bulbs on either side of the white box? ;)

I am LOVING the comments, everyone! Thank you so much! :D

And for everyone who thought this looked like a helmet: I saw that, but didn't think to actually try to fool you like putting a motorcycle with it or something. :P I wish I had thought of that yesterday!

January 2nd - Earrings

Here's a pair of earrings I made. I like them, even though they're simple. I'm making a bunch of jewelry and am planning to stock my Etsy shop with it all, soon. :)

January 1st - Cactus

Wow! It's been almost a year since I posted?! Where does the time go?
I've had a rather trying year, actually. Hoping 2010 will be much better!
Here's to a new 30 day photo challenge!
This month's theme is "Green." Each picture will have at least one green thing in it.

January 31st - Heermann's Gull

I'm pretty sure this is a Heermann's Gull. They are prettier, in my opinion, than the standard gull that is seen around here. They also seem to be coming around more often. :)

Happy end of the month! Yay, the challenge is over! Now, what to pick for my final h2h photo?!?

January 30th - On Top of the World

I had a doctor appointment today (I'm getting better, no worries!), and this is part of the view from the parking lot. Nothing like living on top of the world, eh? :)

January 29th - Monterey Bay Kayaks

I almost lost it today. I deleted three pictures off of my memory stick that were from yesterday, or thought that was what I was doing, and my computer deleted the entire folder! It doesn't put it in the recycle bin, for some reason. (I guess because it's a different drive?) Luckily, I found a recovery software program online, quickly, and it worked to get all of today's pictures back!! It was actually so easy and worked so well, I was quite impressed! The one I bought is called, "CardRecovery."

Anyway, today's shot is of Monterey Bay Kayaks. You can buy (and most probably, rent) kayaks there, and I'm sure they give lessons, too. Directly behind it is the beach from my shot on day 2.

January 28th - Sweet Pea

I wasn't feeling well again, today, so here's another sweet pea for you from my garden. Sorry. I took it at twilight, so that's why the background is so blue. It's actually gray brick. I like this shot, because the sweet pea flower looks like a dragon, to me. :)

January 27th - Poisonous Mushroom

Look what I found under a tree, today! I found it in Carmel Valley, while taking photos of horses. I couldn't get close enough to the horses to get a decent shot, but when I turned around, this huge mushroom (a good 5-6 inches across, at least!) was shouting at me, "Take my picture, take my picture!" :)

January 26th - Mal's Market

This is Mal's Market, in Seaside, Ca. They claim they have the best sandwiches in town. They are pretty good, but I prefer to get sandwiches at Hilltop Market in Pacific Grove. Yum!! :)

The signs in the door read, "Don't be afraid that your life will end, be afraid that it will never begin." and, "We cannot choose the things that will happen to us, but we can choose the attitude we will take toward anything that happens. So much of fate depends on your attitude." (I'm actually not 100% sure on that second one, it was a bit hard to read, even in the full size photo.)

I remember, as a kid, going in there and getting 3 candy bars and a soda for $1.00. Wow, time's have sure changed, haven't they? ;)

January 25th - Odd One Out

Not much to say today. More rain. Dreary, actually. :P
I took this at Roberts Lake in Seaside, Ca. The rain was coming down really hard when I shot this. I don't know if it's very evident in the shot, or not, though.

January 24th - Luv Flower

I love the rain, and apparently, I'm not the only one! :) Look at the center of the flower...see the heart?

January 23rd - John Denver

I went to the butterfly sanctuary again today, and found this. :) He died here, in Pacific Grove, so this is a tribute to him, I suppose. For this photo, I am standing in the walkway to the sanctuary, and behind the bench is a hotel. The planters on either side of the bench are rather short, and it's open on either side of them, so nothing is being blocked, even though it looks like it. :)

January 22nd - Sweet Pea

It rained almost all night last night, and I am not feeling well today, so I took another shot from my garden. This is a sweet pea flower, and it smells so good! :) Cliche, or what?! They bloom around here pretty much year 'round.

Sorry about the blurry leaf on the top, but I loved the droplets on the stem so much I just had to choose this one.

January 21st - Look what I found!

This is what I saw at school today:


So, of course I had to stop to take pictures:

I mean, look how many flowers there were! And this is only one tiny part of what was there!

I found a red one among all the yellow:

There were some tiny purple ones, too. They're hard to see among all the vast yellow-ness! I thought it was so pretty, I just had to share it! :)

January 20th - Salinas River State Beach

This is next to the Salinas River State Beach, in Moss Landing, Ca. If I'm not mistaken, this is part of the Elkhorn Slough, but I'm not really sure of that. I just loved this scene. However, I think it could have turned out better. Oh, well.

January 19th - Seagull in flight

I'm sorry today's picture isn't a very good one. I love the gull, but the wires have got to go. I just didn't have time today, so had to go with the best of what I was able to get, unfortunately. :P

January 18th - Fuschia Gooseberry

This is a native plant called a Fuschia Gooseberry. It's got some serious thorns, but hummingbirds love it! It flowers in winter through to spring, and then gets berries. However, this one, which is in my front yard, has yet to get any berries. My hubby planted this underneath my daughters window. I suppose it's in preparation for her teen years (yet to come!). ;)

January 17th - Twinsies

I call this one, "Twinsies," because it looks like a very unusual mirror image. :)
I think the blimp is around because the AT&T National Pro-Am is starting soon.



This one is a bonus, because I had a really hard time choosing today. :) The boats in the background are a fishing boat and a Coast Guard Fire Rescue boat, I believe.

January 16th - Red Wing Blackbird

I saw this guy at Lake El Estero, today, in Monterey. I like their call. He's a cute little fella, ain't he? :)

January 15th - Big Sur Coastline

A shot of the Big Sur coastline, here for you, today. Enjoy.

January 14th - Colton Hall

This is Colton Hall, on Pacific St. in Monterey. According to the sign out front, "California's Constitutional Convention was held in this newly completed building between September 1st, and October 13th, 1849, leading to California becoming the 31st state."

January 13th - Jogger

Cool! I caught him with both feet off the ground. :)

January 12th - Canadian Goose

Here is a Canadian Goose that was at Lake El Estero, today. I think they're very pretty birds. Notice how you can see clear through it's nostrils!

I especially like this image, because I didn't have to crop it or anything. I only adjusted the levels a bit in Photoshop, and boosted the saturation a tad. I usually crop my images, so getting a good composition that doesn't need cropping is a real bonus, for me! ;)

January 11th - Monarch

I went to the Monarch Grove Sanctuary in Pacific Grove, Ca., today. "Butterfly Town, USA." The monarchs come here, one of 300 micro climates in the state, to overwinter. They've endeared themselves to the townspeople in a remarkable way. Just about everywhere you go in P.G. you can see a monarch butterfly in some form or another. They're so pretty. It's been difficult for me to get a good shot of one, because they mostly like to stay up high, in the trees. They form these amazing clusters that look like they are just dripping from the branches. From a distance, they make it look as though the branch of the tree is dead because they're brown on the outside; but when it warms up, they start to flutter around and then you can really tell what they are. It's pretty cool.