Christmas Kitty

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This photo is in response to all the cute Christmas pet photos I saw on Facebook over the last week.  I was in PetSmart yesterday, and of course they had all their pet Christmas 'clothes' on sale.  I couldn't resist this little reindeer had for Kitty.  I set her up on the ottoman in front of the tree, and she kept purring and was easy to work with while I took a few pics.  That's not to say that she didn't toss it off the second I let her down;-)  I think I need to go back for the Santa and elf hat versions for next year!

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Front Yard Waterfall

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This is how our front yard looked after the massive rain we had this week. Our rainfall for the month so far is 5.59 inches, and we had nearly 4" of it in one event.  Check out our weather station here.

Here's a snapshot of our weather history over the last year.

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Christmas Eve Refreshment

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Christmas Eve resembled Thanksgiving at our house as I baked pumpkin pie and cheesecake with Johnny's help.  We tried fresh goose, I mean heritage turkey;-), and it was very good.  Not gamey at all and tasted a lot like a beef roast.  Thankfully the kids ate it!  In between all the cooking, dinner prep, and getting ready for Santa, Donnie and I had a nice adult beverage.  I use a 4 cup pyrex.  I squeeze 6 limes into it.  Then I squeeze in a pomegranate...yum!  Add tequila to taste.  Fill the rest with organic juice.  I use cranberry/blueberry and a mango mix.  Put in a 1/3 cup organic cane sugar.  Rim pretty glasses with salt and crushed ice and fill.  Definite yum!

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Holly Springs Light Tour

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We looked at the WRAL Holiday Light Map, picked out some houses nearby, and mapped out a round trip route taking us to all the houses and then back home in the most efficient manner.  We saw 5 great houses and one dud.  I took tons of pics and really had a good time as did the rest of the family.

One house had these singing Christmas tree faces to music.  Cool!  Another had 3 focal point trees plus house lights set to music.

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In yet another, 3 houses in a cul-de-sac were all decorated up and flashing to music.  What a great community project!

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There's a house not too far from us that won the ABC Great Christmas Light Fight.  We hope to get to see them before the end of the year.

Johnny and Robot

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We went to The Museum of Life and Science in Durham and spent some time at their Maker Fair event making Christmas ornaments and frames.  For more details on the copper tape craft, check out Chibitronics.

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Special Birthday

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Meadow Lights

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We went to see a local Christmas light show that we hadn't been to before called Meadow Lights.  It's free to get in, and you can see a lot of lights from the side of the field.  If you want to pay $2, you can go on a train ride and see the lights up closer.  Definitely worth the trip!

I thought the golden curved tree was quite unique, so I took lots of pics of it.

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This candle poinsettia tower was HUGE and gorgeous in person.  Shot from the car window on approach as best as I could.

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Beautiful Sunset

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Taken over South Park (baseball field in Fuquay) on our way home from school.  What a beautiful sky!

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Joey and Johnny Light Trees

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It all started when I read this cool blog post filled with fun holiday photo ideas.  I just had to try to create my own version of kid light trees.  Joey and Johnny were both eager to help.  I dug out a strand of white on white and color on white Christmas lights.  A 50 light strand will do.  I put my camera on my tripod and set up a manual exposure for various times between 3 and 10 seconds. I tried shots with the background Christmas tree on and off.  The boys did a great job of holding still.  I used the self timer and then started spinning the lights around the boys in a nice circular pattern.  I did my best to keep me and the extra light string out of the shot.  The boys were super impressed seeing themselves surrounded by a light tree.  Give it a try for yourself.  It's great family fun.

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NC Capitol Christmas Tree

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Each year the NC Capitol puts up a huge Christmas tree.  It's always gorgeous.  After taking a tour of all the lights at the Executive Mansion last night, Donnie and I walked over to the Capitol and enjoyed the tree.

Wishing You a Joyous Holiday Season

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Another holiday light creation.  I love spiral trees and all the cool shapes you can achieve depending on how you move the camera.

Lighted Snowman in a Blizzard

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Each year I drive around looking at neighborhood Christmas lights, and this year is no exception.  I LOVE painting with light.  Why hold the camera still when you can move it around and get such interesting effects.  This one seemed so appropriate as Mr. Snowman gets caught in a blizzard all of his own making.

Vintage Christmas

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I took this picture at a doctor's office today.  Don't worry, it was more of a spa trip...nothing wrong.  The ladies in the office said that they hired someone to come in and do the tree.  And, what a gorgeous tree it was!  I loved all the sprays laid into the branches and the red and gold tone combination.  I lined up the shot to catch a beautiful painting on the other wall which gives the effect of a mother and her children enjoying the tree from across the room.  The only thing missing is a warm fire:-)

Here's the original.  I tried to give the shot I posted a vintage and painted effect.  Maybe a Christmas dream...

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Glorious Sunrise!

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Sometimes you have to stop for a sunrise picture on the way to take the tween to school even when he's griping in the background.  "Mom, it's a school day!"  "Mom, we don't have time to stop!"  "Mom, I'm gonna be late!"  He was NOT late:-)  I enjoyed the sunrise despite the protests.

December Tablescape

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As much as I liked the owls in my November tablescape, it was time to transition to red and a new December tablescape.  A lot of folks that know me will remember that I am a fan of blue lights, and in general, blue tone Christmas decorations.  Going very red and green this year, while traditional, is a new thing for me.

As usual, many of the items on the table are from Guardian Angel Thrift:

• Snowman placemats (Pier One)
• Fabric napkins
• Corelle Holly Days dinnerware
• Red napkin rings
• Peppermint stripe coffee mugs
• Pfaltzgraff Winterberry candle plate
• Tall PartyLite Starry Nite hurricane 
• Short crackled glass poinsettia hurricane
• Snowman figurine
• Bear with Santa hat

Other items:

• The red and green candles are PartyLite.  The peppermint candle came from Wal-Mart.
• The ceramic Santa was painted by my Aunt Teresa, and the ceramic tree came from my Aunt Pauline.
• The red ornaments in the tall hurricane came from Wal-Mart.
• The poinsettia came from Home Depot.  

If I can keep the white of the snowmen clean for the entire month it will be a miracle:-)

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Happy Thanksgiving

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Cheerful Frosty

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This image is an artistic interpretation of another shot I took at The Garden Hut.  I used Color Efex Pro 4 to edit the image and then Perfert Photo Suite 9 to add the frame.  I was psyched about how it turned out!

Here's the original:

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My What a Long Nose You Have

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I stopped by The Garden Hut yesterday.  They always decorate up big time for Christmas, and the inside store is just gorgeous.  I took quite a few pictures as well as buying some bird seed.  This whimsical snowman really caught my eye, so I thought I'd share him with you today.  He is a fairly large ornament standing out on one of the many trees.  

Gobble Gobble

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I saw these cute turkeys made from pipe cleaners, pom poms, and a mum at Wal-Mart today.

Robot Builders

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A couple of the kids in my First Lego League team working together to build a new robot configuration with the Lego Mindstorms EV3.
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Pink Bubbles

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Just me playing with those beads that soak up water and expand. They were in vase sitting in my sunny kitchen window, and I couldn't resist.

Stormtroopers

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I couldn't pass up on the repetition.  Taken at the Durham NC Comic Con.

Durham NC Comic Con

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My FLL team had an opportunity to go to Comic Con and demo their FLL robot game.  We same some interesting characters while we were there!

A Visit to the NC Capitol

Johnny's 4th grade class went to downtown Raleigh to tour the Capitol, Executive Mansion, and Legislative Building.  We ended up missing the Capitol tour because of bus issues.  What a bummer. I've wanted to go into that historic building for years now but have never made it.  Guess I'll have to go back.  This picture was taken on the Capitol grounds.

I didn't really like the modern architecture of our Legislative Building, but I thoroughly enjoyed the Victorian feel to the Executive Mansion.  The chandeliers were to die for.

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First Lego League Regionals

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My FLL team competed today at regionals. We came in 6th out of 12 on the robot game and got some good scores on the core values, presentation, and robot design interviews. Unfortunately, we were not one of the top 4 teams and are not going on to state competition. Still, we had a great day and I was very proud of the kids.

Yates Mill Fall 2014

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Donnie and I went to Yates Mill this week. We walked the mill pond trail, enjoyed the beautiful morning and fall color, and took a lot of pics.

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