Stairs (121 of 365)

The wooden stairs leading up to the loft area of my soon-to-be new home! :)

Closely Cropped (120 of 365)

This is a statue of a friar (I think) and a bird. I shot a couple of pictures of the full statue, but wasn't really pleased with them. Once I moved in a bit closer and framed the shot a little differently I was happier.

Fences (119 of 365)

I'd been wondering exactly what I was going to do for this theme. Everytime I happened to spot a pretty fence or gate I was not able to take a picture for some reason or another. So, when I spotted this simple, white picket fence at the Atlanta Botanical Garden I snapped it without a second thought and marked it off my list!

Things With Wings (118 of 365)

I'm really proud of this shot for two reasons. One, I really dislike anything that stings. Two, I was shooting with my fixed 60mm lens, so I had to get pretty close to this little guy in order to get some detail! Aren't I brave? ;)

Sunday Six: Week 17

This week I have a Recap Six all taken from this weekend.


A bright red maple against the blue sky.


This weekend is the Inman Park Festival. It's the most eclectic and fun festival in Atlanta with all sorts of great artists and one really wacky parade!


This little dude was having lots of fun watching the parade during the Inman Park Festival.


The Vortex is one of my favorite places in Atlanta. They have the best burgers and really yummy fried zucchini. There are two locations in Atlanta and both of them have wonderfully eclectic and fun decorations.


Part of a line of license plates which decorate the bar at The Vortex.


The cloudy sky reflected in one of the buildings in Midtown Atlanta.

That's it for this week's six! See you next week!

Water (117 of 365)

This is the central water fountain at the Atlanta Botanical Garden. It sits just in front of the great lawn. Unfortunately, the lawn was closed during this visit as they were preparing it for brand new grass.

Building (116 of 365)

This is the Dorothy Chapman Fuqua Conservatory at the Atlanta Botanical Garden. Within the conservatory is a desert house, tropical forest, and tons or orchids.

Handwriting (115 of 365)

A handwritten tag detailing plant information.

Concrete or Cement (114 of 365)

A stack of concrete cinder blocks.

Orange (113 of 365)

I have no idea what these are, but I love them! I think they look like candy. Couldn't you picture these in Willy Wonka's Chocolate Room (the edible one)?

I found these in the Fuqua Orchid Center at the Atlanta Botanical Garden. However, I don't think they're orchids. If anyone happens to know what they are, please let me know.

Closed (112 of 365)

This little rosebud hasn't quite opened up yet. I really like the deep pink color. I'm sure it'll be beautiful once it opens up!

Perfect Alignment (111 of 365)

These pretty little flowers are all lined up in a row. I have no idea what they are, but they're pretty!

Sunday Six: Week 16

Although our fearless leader has decided not to continue Sunday Six, I'd like to try and finish up the remaining 36 weeks. Miss Christin is gathering up everyone's links while Helen's away.

This week I have a "New Six" taken during my afternoon at home. I'm happy to have had a relaxing weekend, as I really needed to decompress.

Up first, I tried out a new recipe from Epicurious, Black Bean and Tomato Quinoa.


This is my first time cooking with quinoa. I found it a bit messy, as it likes to stick to every surface!


Also included, the zest of a lime.


Here's the finished product. It tasted fine, but I think it needs a bit more flavor. Although, once the flavors rest together for a bit, it may turn out okay. Next time I think I'll use more lime juice, zest, and some red pepper flakes for heat.


Little, pink seeds from the Chinese Maple tree outside my door.


A shot of the Chinese Maple. The pink seed caught my eye against all that green!


I worked for quite a while to get this shot. It was inspired by this photo I found today on Flickr. First, I tried getting just one grain against the pink. However, that didn't work so well since I have yet to buy a tripod. Next, I tried shaping the sugar into a heart. Then, I tried using a cookie cutter to just outline a heart shape. I didn't like the way any of them turned out. Finally, I just piled up the sugar and started shifting it around. This one I like!

New (110 of 365)

This is a shot of my soon-to-be (at least, hopefully)counter-tops! Here, I'm looking into the kitchen and the reflection is of my cabinets and microwave. You can just see the top of the stove and counter-top across the room at the very top.

Of Etiquette & Fake Dandelions . . .

I've used StatCounter as my webtracker since I started this blog. Mostly, I wanted to see where people were coming from. It's always fun when you see a visitor from a place you'd never imagine your blog being read. (Some examples: Bangalore, India; Viet Nam; Serbia and Montenegro; Budapest, Hungary, and so on.) I have friends spread out across the U.S., and also into the UK, Germany and Australia, but I love seeing all these other places where people are coming from.

One thing I'd never really delved into was the actual search terms that brought people here. Most aren't that interesting, tending to be some combination of words bringing them to one of my pictures. Of the list of terms used in the last month, three stood out to me.

Who would have thought that this little rant on grocery store etiquette would garner 35% of my searches?! That came from a visit to the "Pick-Up Publix" in Vinings. (So called because of all the singles that shopped there. Supposedly, holding your handbasket a certain way told other shoppers whether you were single or taken.)

I wasn't surprised this post from last year's 366 was just over 20% of my keyword activity. I've received several emails from folks trying to locate fake dandelions of their own. Unfortunately, I've been unable to direct them as to where they can be bought. Hopefully they were successful!

The third search, and my obvious favorite, is "braves red sox tickets ridiculous" which leads you here. And, I'm not the only blogger who thinks this is ridiculous . . . even Keith from CNN thinks so! I'm still bitter about this, by the way. Don't even get me started on the unbelievable markup on prices at StubHub.

Out to Lunch (109 of 365)

Tomato, Red Pepper and Mozzarella salad. Isn't it pretty? It was pretty yummy, too!

Button (108 of 365)

Nothing fancy here, just a little replacement button from a recent t-shirt purchase.

Computer (107 of 365)

This photo was inspired by a similar photo Helen used for her February 12 of 12, which can be found here. (It's the 12th pic of that series.) While not exactly the same effect, I wanted to get some sort of reflection onto my screen. (I certainly didn't want to have the focus point there because it refuses to stay clean.) Helen used the color of the tv, and I've used the laptop (specifically, my blog!).

This is my Blackberry Storm. It definitely fits the description of a computer -- some days I love it and some days its my worst enemy. Personally, I find that it freezes way more than I'd like and tends to be a bit slower that the Blackberry Pearl I used to have.

Handicrafts (106 of 365)

My Mom's side of the family, especially the women, traditionally send only funny cards. Sometimes they're downright mean! However, they're always in good fun. This sweet, homemade card was a nice surprise! My Mom bought it at a charity auction.

Here's the full front of the card . . .

Recessionary Economics (105 of 365)

Okay, this one is a bit of a stretch. These two books* aren't really about recessionary economics, but they are about economics in general! ;) These are both actually still on my "to read" list. Maybe I'll take them with me to the beach.

The top book is "Reefer Madness", but I was afraid removing the sale sticker would mess up the cover.

Fasteners (104 of 365)

Similarly to yesterday's button post, these are the safety pins Martin & Osa uses to attach their clothing tags. Aren't they cute? Who knew safety pins could be cute?

A Quick Apology

I apologize for any abuse your feed readers are taking tonight. Evidently, blogger is having some issues with scheduling posts. I'm putting in future dates, but the posts are actually processing through right now.

Sorry!

Sunday Six: Week 15

This week's Six is a New Six all from the Atlanta Botanical Garden. It was a gorgeous, sunny day today and I decided to head out to snap some flowers.

Teeth (102 of 365)

I thought this might be something a little different for this theme. These are the teeth that belong to my comb.

Multiples (103 of 365)

These bottles were lined up along a restaurant wall at Pasti's. The food is yummy at this little, French bistro.

eta: This was supposed to be #108, but I accidentally forgot to schedule the post into the future! So, two themes today!

Circle (101 of 365)

These are beads that I picked up at the Atlanta St. Patrick's Day parade a few weeks ago. Lots of circles here!

One Hundred (100 of 365)

This may seem a little strange for this theme, but stick with me. I received this necklace several years ago as a gift from the parents of my high school boyfriend. It's called a cento chain. Cento because the chain is 100 inches long.

I realized earlier in the week that my 100th photo was coming up and that this theme was still out there. I started trying to think of something sort of different that I could do, and I wanted to match up the theme with the 100th photo. Monday night I thought of my necklace!

Musically Inclined (99 of 365)

One final shot of my cousin Jon during his performance last Saturday. There are several members of my family who sing, but as far as I know, Jon is the only one of us who actually writes. He's very creative, and you can tell he really thinks about what he's writing. He also plays the piano and harmonica, as well as, the guitar.

Sweets (98 of 365)

Peeps are one of my favorite sweets! They're perfectly gooey and sweet. Although they're made for most holidays, I normally only pick up these. For some reason, I only like the yellow bunnies. Weird, I know. So, when the shelves are stocked with Easter candy, this is what I go for. Aside from chocolate, it's probably the only candy I eat.

Second Hand (97 of 365)

I really liked this thrift shop sign. It was in the corner of a basement area in a vintage furniture store. The whole room was fairly dark, so I'm happy the lamp put off enough light to get a focused shot.

Sunday Six: Week 14

This week is another Recap Six, all from yesterday, and all from North Carolina!


A pretty yellow tulip in my uncle's yard.


The main reason for my trip to North Carolina was to see this guy. This is my younger cousin Jon who performed in Spindale, NC, last night. If you're into folk or acoustic guitar you can check out a few of his songs here.


Guitars on the stage at Barley's Taproom.


Another shot of Jon.


A really pretty, pink tulip. Again, this one is from my uncle's yard. I love the bright, punchy color of this one!


Finally, one last photo of Jon from last night. His set consisted of all originals, save for a cover of Springsteen's "Atlantic City." We had a pretty large group there to see him, and had lots of fun!