1. I think I almost nailed it. I also think some of you (and my group) will think I cheated. For a couple reasons. Well, duh. I'm not facing the camera. #sorrynotsorry Also, Neel pressed the shutter release. My friend Kim gave me permission for that one. I could easily have dragged out the remote, but: hassle. Her feeling was that if I set up the shot and all Neel did was press the shutter, it was still a self portrait. I have a feeling there was some enlightened self-interest there. I'll know more later today. She likes to set up elaborate, detailed shots, and I can't wait to see hers.

I really do wish I could find the inspiration photo or remember where I saw it. That's the trouble with the internet, isn't it? It was a woman, facing away from the camera toward a more mountainy scene than this. Shades of green and brown. I now think she was leaning against a railing of some sort, given the angle of her body, although you couldn't see it. And looking up. And she was closer to the camera. All stuff to aim for. The next time? We'll see.

I wanted to be at my river, since it's a space that's become so important to me, and I wanted a shot that felt reflective. When I tried to get closer, the focus went funny, so I played with some presets to get the second shot. Just having fun. Believe it or not, it was fun. Really!

2. I think I'm honestly still doing really well with not spending money on myself. For starters, I don't really like to do it (true story, Neel!), and we honestly just don't need more stuff. Sure there are some things around here that need replacing (coffee table and dining chairs, I'm looking at YOU), but socking away money for our trip seems more important at the mo. And I'm trying really, really hard not to buy new clothes. Do you know how hard that is to do as the seasons change? Who am I kidding? Of course you do. And still. I spent a little money this week. In the winter especially, I wear these and these on an almost daily basis. They are total staples in my wardrobe. Like socks and tights and underwear staples. And it's been four and two years respectively since I've had new in either. You can imagine the shape they're in. So I stocked up. And I used coupon codes and didn't succumb to the lure of ridiculous colors and saved all sorts of money. Go me.

3. I think the fact that I was $100 under what I'd budgeted for myself means that I can finally get some brown ankle boots for myself since I never did last year. And that falls under "necessity" too, right? Also, if someone can convince me that "cowboy boots" fall in the "necessity" category, well, that would be great.

4. I think it's been a funny week. Cal had Thursday off from school for parent/teacher conferences and he missed Monday and Tuesday with a cold. This is one of my great parenting challenges. It's not things like "Do I show him the Eminem video with Elton John singing Stan at the Grammys?" (yes) or "Can he have a sleepover the night after a sleepover?" (no). It's little stuff, like is he sick enough to stay home from school? So on Sunday it was clear he wasn't feeling great, but sometimes "not feeling great" looks a lot like the "Sunday Blues." At least on my kid they do. But we suck, and when we were saying, "You need to get your homework done," we should have been saying "Poor baby." So he stayed home.

5. I think for me it's been a nice week of reconnecting with people I haven't connected with in a long while. Friends from close by and far away. It felt good. I told my friend Debbie (we haven't talked in ages) that things here are good. I have so many friends who are in the trenches right now, big stuff. Even just super-busy-keep-your-head-above-water-kind of stuff. We're all in the trenches in some way or another, I guess. And we're all going through rough things. And for me? My angst is mainly of my own manufacturing. I totally get that. It's not diminished, necessarily. When I'm sad I'm sad. But my family is healthy, my marriage is good (18 years on Monday), and really, it's all good. It's all good.

As you know, my beloved Thursday Morning Photo Group (Now on Fridays) means the world to me. When we gather, we generally have a lot to talk about! Personal projects, issues that have come up for us, new gear... It's all on the table. The group germinated from classes that we all took together, and one thing we missed each time we met was bringing and sharing our own photographs. I can't tell you how much it helps to have weekly or monthly projects to keep your eye sharp.

So this summer we began adding prompts to our gatherings, starting with a classic scavenger hunt. Each member of the group submitted a word, and we had the bulk of the summer to "hunt" for our photos, with all photos being due at a date late in August. Having such a long time to work on the project was a blessing and a curse, and to be honest, I think most of us finished the bulk of our photos in that last week or two before they were due. And still, I carried each of the words in my mind as I went about my life over those summer weeks.

Our words (as you see) were: stairs, shadow, texture, emotion (joy), milk, wine, alone and flower. Some shots, in typical scavenger fashion, I happened across. That's what happened with "stairs." Most of the others were constructed. I thought about how I wanted to interpret the word.

There were fits and starts with some (milk was particularly frustrating, until I decided to play off of my wine shot), and some were immediate hits, like emotion. Those wine and milk shots have me thinking I'd like to play around with a food series like that, and you may notice that flower and alone aren't pictured here. The shots I used for those words did lead to another project, one which I'm not quite ready to share.

We're still playing around in our group. Now, rather than a list, we're each putting one wod in a bowl and taking turns drawing. Last time I got tiny, and those paddle boarding photos from Tuesday's post were an attempt to play around with that prompt. I'll share the photo that won that round next week. I had some hits and misses with it, but I pushed myself for sure.

Next up on the docket? Well, tomorrow we have some self-portraits due. YIKES. I'm marginally pleased with how mine turned out, although it didn't completely match my vision. Does it ever? (And besides, I can't remember where I saw my inspiration photo, so...hmmm) . After that? I have egg. You know I'll have fun with that one.

five things, october 25

hunted {life}