FMTSO: Lights

Hello fellow bloggers and friends,  I hope you all have the most fantastic holiday this year, however you celebrate it and whatever your religious beliefs are.  Today's theme for the Friday shoot out is lights.

The following Christmas lights were taken at Ethel M. Chocolate factory in Las Vegas/Henderson.



A little sunlight beaming down while I take a picture of a family friend.

Me in the 5K Santa Run.  It was so cold and windy this day.  My expression shows it.

Not warm, not happy.  Shivering and miserable and just got over being sick.  No energy.

But I am so glad I participated.

You can read all about it here. 

We were going for a world record of the most Santas and we made it, beating out Liverpool who held the record for last year.

Merry Christmas everyone, Happy Hanukuh, Happy Holidays, Happy Kwanza and whatever else I missed.



FMTSO: Wheels

It's that time again. 

 Friday! Friday!

Yay, tis the season  day for the Friday My Town Shoot Out.

Today's theme is wheels.

To join in on the fun go to the Mr. Linky page and link up with the rest of us.

Or you can just click through and see some wonderful images of wheels from the participants.

Hope you all enjoy looking at my images.

Click on the image to view a larger version

All of the above photos were taken somewhere in Wyoming while I was on vacation.

The next few pictures were taken in Utah while on a day drive.

That's it folks. Don't forget to visit Mr. Linky

Thank you for stopping by.



Spending Thanksgiving Week With My Cali Friends

Me, Vivian & Michelle at Red Rock Canyon

Michelle & Me at Red Rock

Vivan and Me

Michelle, Vivian and Me

Vivian has been my mom's best friend since I was four years old, so really I consider her family.

Michelle is Vivian's daughter and she was just 3 yrs old when we met.

I have had the best time this week because they came to Vegas for Thanksgiving.

I've spent the whole week with them and we have been having so much fun.

I am so happy they came down and spent Thanksgiving with me.

It was a nice surprise..

Tomorrow I am spending the day with the ladies and I plan on cooking dinner for them.

I will be sad when they leave on Sunday.

I really needed them here and they have been a blessing to me this week.

I will be lonesome when they leave, but it was fun while it lasted.

Serenity In The Desert

Just a little piece of paradise.

Balloon Glow

Last Saturday there was a charity event at Southern Hills Hospital in Las Vegas.

The empty dirt field adjacent to the parking lot was the launching and landing pad for hot air balloons.

Later in the evening the balloons put on a light show and that's when I photographed the above picture.

The proceeds of the charity event balloon races that took place earlier in the day will go towards the Deaf Kids Funding Program. 

FMTSO: Scary

I didn't realize that the Friday Shoot Out theme was signs; funny, unusual or spooky signs.

Somehow I forgot to read the last word so instead of signs, I just have spooky.

Hope you all enjoy anyway.

Ghosts in the window during halloween.

A ghost in a window on the second floor. 

Boo!

This is the ghost host.  He actually moved his head, his eyeballs and he talked too.

Scary grave marker.

This head pops out of a box when someone walks up to the front door.

It's completely unexpected.

A mummy in the graveyard.

A skeleton.

All of the above pictures were taken on halloween night at the same house.

The house belongs to the daughter and son-in-law of my friend from the Nevada Camera Club.

All of the props were built by the family from scratch.

Pictures do not do it justice. Most of the props moved and talked and scared the crap out of just about everyone who happened by. It was so good it could have been the haunted house at Disneyland.

This family even has a website devoted to Halloween.

You can check it out here to see pictures and videos of past Halloweens at their house.

To see some funny, unusual or spooky signs please go to the FTSO Mr. Linky Page which is here.

Thanks for stopping by.

Even Ugly Can Thrive

CLICK TO ENLARGE

 

This tree stands alone in the desert of Colorado.

At first glance no one pays it much attention.

It's plain and not very attractive.

A longer look though, reveals something more profound.

This tree represents growth, strength and endurance.

It kind of reminds me that we are all like this tree.

Even in the harshest weather and the loneliest of times, we have the ability to thrive.

We think we need validation from others to feel worthy.

But if we look deep inside of ourselves, we already shine so bright.

Just like that tree, we are more than we think we are.

My day ahead in a nutshell

CLICK TO ENLARGE

Lake Las Vegas, Oct. 2011

Hope everyone has a fantastic day.

I'll be taking my dog to the vet today. 

 I'm pretty sure she has a urinary tract infection which is becoming a regular thing for her.

I've already given her a bath today, making it the forth bath in a row.

I need to get her on antibiotics to clear up the infection.

It's exhausting me, and my poor baby is so depressed.

Later tonight I have a board meeting with the Nevada Camera Club.

I am the secretary of the club and so it is mandatory that I be there because I have to take the minutes.

I've actually enjoyed being on the board as secretary.

I also hold the position of public relations, but I haven't really lived up to my responsibility.

Hopefully, whomever they get next year will do a much better job than I have as public relations.

If I have enough time I'm going to go through some pictures and edit them.

It really is time consuming but once you get the right software it sure makes it a lot more fun.

I just got the Nik software a couple of weeks ago and wow, what a difference it makes in my pictures.

I don't even edit in photoshop anymore.

All I know is that my pictures are looking much better than they did before.

I would really like a new lens but I must put that on  my wish list for now.

First, I have to get a flash for my camera.

The vet awaits me, so that's all for today's post.

Thanks for stopping by.

I'll come and visit you all later.

I promise.

This is what I've been up to and why I haven't been in blogland lately.

This photo was taken in Spearfish Canyon, South Dakota.

Taken on my birthday in September of this year.

I posted this picture with my new print mark.

It's a little big, but I'm still working on it.

I've been really busy lately because if you haven't guessed already,

I'm starting a new business. 

  I have decided to enter the competetive world of photography entrepreneurship.

I'm feeling very positive about my decision to go against naysayers who think it's impossible to make money in this economic time, and as a photographer or artist.

 I've been around the block a time or two and I've owned several businesses during my life so I know what it takes to make my business grow and be successful.. 

It's not going to be easy but anything of value is worth the hard work it takes to make it happen.

This is a non traditional image of Mt. Rushmore.

I like the pop art effect and  I'm very proud of how it turned out.

Although I'm still working on my printmark size, the look will be the same.

My logo however, is completed and I've even started advertising myself by putting it on a shirt.

I have a couple of variations with the logo, for example the one below is just slightly different.

I have obtained all of my licenses so I am legally open for business, however, I'm still working on some things such as my website, etc.

Once I get everything completed, I should be free to devote more time to blogging and reading blogs.

I have learned a lot over the past few weeks and I will be sharing many links with my readers regarding women and small business, etc.  Anything I find of interest that I think you will lke as well, will be posted here.

I want everyone to thrive no matter what area of life it pertains to, so I hope that I can achieve the goal of helping you grow just as I am helping myself to grow with all the resources that have been afforded me in the last few weeks.

Hope everyone had a happy halloween. 

I will be posting some pics soon.

Unfortunately, you will not see a pic of me even though I dresssed up.

I Just Won 20 Swag Bucks on www.swagbucks.com

I Just Won 20 Swag Bucks on www.swagbucks.com

I'm feeling very Beary.......

Bear Country USA Drive-Thru Wildlife Park.

These are the babies. Aren't they cute?

I really enjoyed how laid back the bears were.

The grown up bears are really cute too.

It's hard to imagine that they would attack, but we all know better.

Snoozing hard, sleeping on a log.

The hubby and me

Terrible photo but this was taken on my birthday in Spearfish Canyon, SD.

My husband and I and our dog went on a two mile hike to photograph a waterfall.

I set up the tri-pod and took this photo along the way.

Driving through Custer State Park in Custer, SD.

This is where the wild buffalo roam.

Down the road before this photo was taken, we had stopped by a stream where we saw two buffalo

grazing in the grass.  My husband is totally into wildlife and so being the macho man that he is, gets as close to the buffalo as he possibly can.  I, being the worrier that I am was afraid so I kept my distance.

I had Sasha on the leash while she drank water at the edge of the stream.

All of a sudden I see my husband from across the stream, running to hide behind a tree.

The darn buffalo got pissed off at him for getting too close and charged after him.

Next thing I know that buffalo is coming towards me and my dog.  It gets a drink of water directly across from where we are and then it starts crossing the stream and it looks at my dog like it wants to kill her. I was yanking on the leash but Sasha didn't want to come and she can't hear anymore, so even though I was yelling, it wasn't doing any good.  I finally ran down to the water's edge, picked up my dog and ran as fast as I could towards the truck.

Whew!

Made it just in time.  And my heart was pounding so fast.

This is in Wyoming, the first part of our trip.

My sole reason for coming here was to see my childhood friend, Tina.

I've known her for over forty years, since I was about five years old.

The little girl in the picture is her granddaughter, Summer.

I enjoyed visiting with them so much.

However, I don't think I ever want to drive through Wyoming ever again.

Yes, there are some really pretty parts, but mostly it is wide open spaces and the drive is the most boring drive I've ever taken in my whole life. Hundreds of miles of nothing.

You definitely need the right travelling companion for these kind of trips.

Thank goodness, my husband and I did okay during this trip.

We only got on each other's nerves a little.

Normally, we kind of get on each other's nerves a lot.

Custer State Park again.

Here we are on the other side of Wyoming after leaving South Dakota.

We are on our way to Cheyenne for the night and then headed to Grand Junction, Colorado next day.

I really like this picture of my husband by the hay bale.

I think he looks really cute.

Well, that's about all for now.

Hopefully, I'll post some more pics tomorrow.

Thanks for stopping by.