things i love thursday

• the way milk looks when poured into tea
• frosty mornings, like the beautiful one on Christmas morning that we got to experience while driving home (pre-, during, and post-sunrise)
• the fact that the days are finally getting longer again!
• my new-to-me (but certainly not new) Christmas gifts, including the Longaberger picnic basket (with an adorable floral liner), two blue mason jars which I can't wait to stick flowers in all summer long, and the Minolta X700 Evin ordered for me but that I haven't seen yet (I am sure I'll love it though)

This is my last TILT post of 2011...I can't wait to see what opportunities 2012 will bring!

decEMber

sweets tea

comfy cozy

things i love thursday

• These pointy star lights (blurry photo of them from spring 2008 ha)
• The maps feature on Facebook Timeline...I've been going through and adding locations to photos I'd uploaded from my travels and enjoying memories and giving myself wanderlust in the process.  I love that I can look at a map of the world and see pinpoints in the places I've photographed.  I guess Facebook isn't the first or only site to let you do this, but it's the first I've used and it's fun.
• My dog.  I know I've listed him in a previous TILT post and I'll list him many more times, as long as he continues to behave himself ;)
• Glitter.  Big flakes of gold glitter are all over my nails (and all over the house) and I LOVE IT.  Perfect to go with my tacky Christmas sweater I'm wearing to work today.
• Moving forward with photography.  I've had three legitimate shoots in the past week, two for a magazine and one for a company, and my fingers are crossed that they'll lead to many future opportunities.  A few photos are up on the company's website right now, which makes me excited!
• Advil.  Thanks for banishing my weird morning headache and making it possible for me to write a positive TILT post :)
• ACCOMPLISHMENT!  Everyone loves accomplishment, but it's especially relevant to me this week...my Christmas gifts are mostly wrapped, I finally figured out what to do for my parents and I'm very excited about making it and giving it to them, and I worked through and turned in photos from all three of my previously mentioned photo assignments.  Time to pack my bags for the weekend with Evin's family!

I'm not sure if I'll be blogging any more between now and Christmas, so I want to wish everyone a joyous holiday!

comfort & joy

things i love thursday

• Boats...particularly colorful boats in harbors
• Cardinals (because male + female are never far apart and I think it's so cute...plus, they're pretty)
• Bagels
• The idea of shooting portraits on film (come onnnn reliable 35mm SLR and/or medium format camera!) (come onnnn photo subjects!)
• The Vaccines
• IRELAND next summer!  I went in the winter and have been dying to visit in the warmer months.  I haven't made any plans yet, but Evin told me yesterday that his family over there sent invitations to a hooley (definition: Irish slang for party or celebration) in late June.
• New nail polish, like the bottle of OPI Russian Navy I picked up on a whim yesterday

weekend wrapup

autumn ektar

things i love thursday

• Christmas trees tied to the roofs of cars, going home
• Driving through rainy countryside
• English-speaking Europe (by which I mean the British Isles)...I am dying to go back right about now (above photo taken en route to Malahide Castle, Ireland, January 2010)
• My blanket-with-sleeves (like a Snuggie, only made out of the most divine plush material)
• Starting rolls of film, finishing rolls of film...and opening the folder of prints like a present once they're developed but I haven't experienced that joy in far too long...soon!
• The lights that hang on wires between posts at Christmas tree lots
• The possibility of Instagram coming to Android...I forever complain about the fact that iPhone gets (almost) ALL the good apps, including the fun photo ones.  I guess we just wait and see...
• typing "tilt" into Google :P

greenery

merry & bright

happy birthday, blog!

The first post on this blog was on December 5, 2010.  A year later, I'm pleased with myself for keeping it up (I had my doubts).  Almost 200 posts in the past year...the name and format have changed but happy birthday anyway, blog!  Now I've got to go through what seems like a million photos from the weekend to blog them in a little while too...I just had to get this birthday post out of the way first :)

*this photo was taken awhile ago for week one of my collaboration 52+ weeks project and it was the most fitting birthday/party image I had readily available :P

**here is my blog's very first post...Ha!

things i love thursday

• Christmas lights (and crossing my eyes to look at them)
• Charlie Brown and all his friends
• craftgawker and Pinterest (finding so much DIY inspiration for Christmas gifts!)
• Chicken (or turkey) salad sandwiches
• New music!  Always!
• This quote: "Put down your camera and spend time just looking--frequently" from Tom Griggs in this post
• Ereader covers that look like/are vintage books (I first fell in love with DODOcases but have since found a tutorial for how to make your own...I don't even own an iPad but when I do, it will be in a stylin' book-case of one type or another)

PS: tagging this post as "winter" because in my mind, if a new season starts in a month, that whole month counts as the new season.  June 1 is summer, September 1 is fall...It's December!  It's winter!  Plus the above photo is totally wintry.  

long weekend

samantha & mandy

things i love thursday, thanksgiving edition

My second TILT post overlaps with Thanksgiving and I don't feel right making a things-I-love post without making any statements about what I'm thankful for and all of that.  Luckily, a lot of the things I love and the things I'm thankful for overlap...so here's a list with a few of both:

• my boyfriend and my dog
• Marcel the Shell
• three meals a day
• big, old, sprawling trees
• my family and everything they do for me
• thingsorganizedneatly.tumblr.com (probably because my room/life is always a mess)
• hammocks
• photo frames in sets of three 

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving, however you spent it.  Tomorrow starts Christmas season...and I'm not ready at all!

steel and copper

ginger snaps

resilience and afternoon light

things i love thursday

I want to try to get into the habit of making a Things I Love Thursday (TILT) post on a weekly basis (I always enjoy Holly's TILT posts as well as other people's lists of things they love...they tend to make me happy!).  Here goes...

• pine groves
• good toast with butter & strawberry rhubarb jam
• new-to-you cameras (even though I haven't gotten one in a long time)
• raindrops on the backs of leaves
• snickerdoodles
• feeling good about photography
• surprise songs on iTunes shuffle that you haven't heard in years, but that still feel like old friends 
• positivity quotes ("Do what you like, like what you do" on my Life is Good mug)

november rain