Photo of the Day: Rachel's FUN Challenge

ok this photo is absolutely not being selected to demonstrate my mad photo skills.  It has been selected for an entirely different purpose.  I've been noticing a lot of people I know getting really run down lately.  Not enough people make a point of seeking balance in their lives, and as a result, they miss out on a lot of fun.  Austin and I bought these little army dudes on one of our roadtrips... I don't remember where the gators came from, but somewhere along I-75 we decided to wage a war between the gators and the army dudes.  It was hilarious to us as we drove along and became a permanent memory when one of the army guys heroically gave his life and fell into the vent of my jeep... anyway I wanted to post this to remind all of my readers to take some time this week to just do something FUN.  Forget about who's expecting what, forget about your responsibilities or what people will think and just indulge in even 15 minutes of pure FUN!  Go sledding, do the YMCA in your living room, wrestle with your dog, build a fort with your kids, SOMETHING!  Take the Rachel FUN Challenge and report back, I promise you'll feel so much better about yourself! :o)

2 Things Challenge: Safe/Passage

I'm bummed I didn't get around to the last challenge coz I had a really cool idea for it but just didn't make the time to set up the shot.  Instead I'm jumping on board with this week's theme.  I shot this photo several years ago from the dock of Portofino's, a restaurant Austin had been playing at for the summer.  It was hilarious, I'd never seen anything like it.  These people had converted an old car frame into a boat.  Anyway, thought it'd be a fun one to share for this week's challenge... enjoy!

Photo of the day

Ok so this photo has nothing really to do with my mad skills, photo composition, technique, or any such fancy thing. I chose this photo because it makes me smile. I have finally begun the overwhelming task of completely reorganizing and backing up my photo archives (if you are not already familiar with the very specific reason for this ie my entire collection being "temporarily misplaced to Jakarta by Northwest"... ask me sometime... now that I have them back it's a much funnier story, and I am able to tell it without having heart palpatations...) and in doing so I have rediscovered some real gems... like this one.

I love my little brother to death, he is someone who will always always always be able to make me laugh. The boy is a complete cartoon when he isn't cranky ;o) This photo was taken in my aunt and uncle's backyard in Ontario last year Memorial Day weekend. Jared and I are both half fish, so it was great to be able to take advantage of a pool again. Jared has always been a fan of making the biggest possible splash when entering the water, especially if I am anywhere nearby. He *has* learned, however that this rule must ALWAYS be broken when I am nearby and holding my camera. He understands that getting my camera wet is an absolute death sentence. :o)

Actually whenever I have an immediate crisis, Jared is one of the first people to find a way to make it better. Back in 2006 we took a family trip back to Europe and spent a day in Brussels where I had taken probably 200 photos (Brussels is one of my favourite cities in the world). When we got back to Hetty & Herman's I immediately went to download my photos to discover that the card was empty. Mass panic ensued as did an ocean's worth of tears, and my brother spent the next 3-4 hours scouring the internet to find a way to recover almost all of the photos from my myseteriously cleared card. That is one of the many reasons he is my hero.

And so, dear readers (if I even have any... lol), today's photo gives you not only a fun little snapshot, but some insight into the absolutel love I have for my baby brother :o) If you have a sibling, go hug them now.