Click: iPhone Photos Every Day

Just a little over two weeks ago, I launched a project for myself to try and stop and take note of something in my daily life, each day. My tool is my camera phone (I have an iPhone 5, thanks to a tech-savvy husband) and I’m grateful for the awesome technology I have access to, as well as all the little pretty things that exist in my daily grind so each day I’m snapping at least one pic and sharing it. At a little over the halfway point in my challenge, I updated a page here with all of the daily pics, but below I’m shared a few of my favs so far.

Join my over on the Pinterest, the Facebook, or the Twitter where I’m posting them each and every day!

My daughter’s little feet. Well, at almost 7 years old they are becoming quickly less little.

Are those purple square totally out of control? Out local Farmer’s Market is amazing.

My baby, just a little longer. He is sucking on his two middle fingers (as he always is) in case you were wondering. Blankey is a family member, here.

Homemade egg challah. Mmm.

When she wanted to try calamari, I thought she’d stick with the chewy ring-style ones. Nope. The little tentacle-style ones were her fav and were promptly devoured.

I’ll update the full gallery page when the project is over, and give ya’ll a head’s up! Thanks for sticking with me, and please share your own photo challenges! Anyone else impressed with purple produce? Have a kid that will eat on the wild-side?

Xoxo, Dani

PS: This is not a sponsored post. All opinions are my own, and I have not received compensation for anything written. Keepin’ it real.

iPhoning It In: Embracing My Camera Daily

I’m making an effort to let go a little bit. You know – relax, and more spontaneously admire things around me.

I love creative forms of expression if you haven’t noticed. I can, however, get hung up on worrying about something being “ready” and “high enough quality” to be worth the effort and to share with others. Is a painting really finished? Is a photography pretty enough? Is something composed uniquely or contrasted enough? It never feels like it. So I’m about to do a little project to “let go and let blog” by each day taking up my iPhone and capturing a photo of something around me.

Above is the very first one, taken yesterday evening as flash floods came down in our area. The drainage outside of our apartment is not quite holding up to rain lately, and as I watched the water flood up over the back patio and sidewalks, I thought about how grey and drizzy the rain was as it threatened to spill over our door-frames and onto the carpet; but how cheerful the children’s toys and scooters and wagons looked sitting outside, and how grateful I am that those things are in my life.

So, here’s the gist. Every day for 30 days I’ll snap the pic, and will post it to my Twitter/Facebook/Pinterest locals. I may edit the photos a bit in trusty Photoshop (things can’t be all crooked, yo) but I promise not to Instagram it or use a filter. Nothing against Instragram – I’m just challenging myself to let things be, just a little bit.

Being a research nerd, I thought I’d round up a few inspiring iPhone photogs and websites, so why not check them out?

Brock Davis’ 2012 iPhone Photography (Yes, I also mentioned him here)

Chase Jarvis’ Photography Blog and his book about it

iPhoneography, an iPhone Photography Blog

National Geographic’s Tips For Better iPhone Photography

Y’all need to hold me accountable, so please share your own camera phone adventures, times you just throw in the towel and call it good enough, ideas for relaxing a little and enjoying the ride…

PS: This is not a sponsored post. All opinions are my own, and I have not received compensation for anything written. Links to products on Amazon may be affiliate links. Keepin’ it real.

Pin-Fail: Sidewalk Chalk Photo Props Are Cute If Your Kids Aren’t Afraid Of Dirt

You may recall this past week, when we happily celebrated Grandma June’s birthday after she arrived from the long 1/3-cross-country drive. I really enjoy DIYing something personalized for a birthday, and so even though we were in the midst of boxes I was inspired to make some cute, trendy, chalk-prop photos of the kids, just like these:

Source: Modern Parents Messy Kids

Look at those adorable and well-behaved children and the sweet little chalk sketches. Awww. Easy, right?

Wrong.

Really, really wrong.

Lest you have begun to think I totally know what I’m talking about and spend my days happily baking and crafting… this was the best I got:

(Disclaimer: the sidewalk was not hot at all; it was bright out but cool. I promise I wouldn’t make them lie on hot cement even for the sake of DIY… they just didn’t want to lie flat on the ground in case it was dirty, and weren’t sure what to do with their arms.)

Granted, the sun was bright, so halfway through I realized I would get less-squinty photos if we moved to the shade… but the sunlight clearly wasn’t the problem. They both just didn’t want to lie down flat on the ground, which was sorta necessary for the little photo op to work. Oh well, they can’t all turn out, right?

Also, the scooters were there because I thought I could position them so it looked like the kids were riding on them. Not like they had just toppled from them onto hard pavement. Not quite the effect I was going for.

Anyone else having a total pin-fail? Have kids who don’t want to touch the dirt on sidewalks? Realize your kid’s fake tattoos that just will not fade probably look weird in pictures? Tell me I’m not alone! It seemed like a good idea, right?

Life and Bloomington and Mahi Mahi

Last Saturday, Haven was in her children’s Theatre & Drama class here at IU, while Mr. Sunny had to go into work. This left the little man and myself free to have fun and explore the town for more than an hour together – a rare occasion!

Obviously, we spent our first 40 minutes perusing Target. That is classic Bloomington on a Saturday morning. Eventually, we made our way back to the IU campus and snapped some quick (iPhone) pictures of Lo in some of the campus hot-spots. That night, we broiled Mahi Mahi. If you are just here for the Mahi, scroll down!

We are going to miss you, B-Town!

Hav’s class was in the Theatre department attached to the Neal Marshall Black Cultural Center and the IU Theatre reception hall. So, we strolled around there for a bit. They have such wide-open spaces and great views!

Lo especially admired the artwork. Let’s pretend he isn’t touching it. Please don’t call security.

If you’re from IU, you know this sculpture of Hoagy Carmichael near the famous Showalter Fountain. Lo was seriously freaked out by him at first, so I had to walk around knocking on the guy’s head to show he was hollow and not a real person. The statue’s head… not our three-year-olds.

Speaking of the fountain, we explored it a bit too but it was the last cold-ish weekend before they turned on the water – so it’s not so very impressive looking.

Alright, alright…  on to the Mahi Mahi. Didn’t it turn out pretty?This was our first time making this fish, but it was on a great sale at our local Kroger in the fish department. The fish-man highly recommended it, so we thought we would give it a try. We started by making sure it was fully thawed, lightly coating both sides with extra-virgin olive oil, and placing it on a lined baking sheet.

This is not a full recipe post because I didn’t really use a recipe. I was just too tired and hungry angry hangry to follow one. After a brief Google, it did seem as though many of the recipes called for broiling the fish with lemon juice and paprika. Which I conveniently had on hand.

A little lemon juice and paprika were rubbed on top and voila! Amazing.

Side note: the sweet potatoes were cooked in the crock-pot, with no liquid added. I love to do it that way – amazing and convenient. Amazivenient. And, Coming Monday there will be a BIG post where I will show off a project long in the making. Exciting!

Anyone else trying out a new fish? About to say goodbye to a town they love and start a new adventure? Leave their baked potatoes in a crock-pot all day?

PS: This is not a sponsored post. All opinions are my own, and I have not received compensation for anything written. Keepin’ it real.