Spontaneous Combustion

So my friend* OMSH has been posting Daily Moment photos on her blog because she's crazy participating in Blog 365 and the Daily Moments Flickr group. Inspired by her, here's one of my Daily Moments:



I see this warning every time I do laundry, and every time I'm drawn to the same bit of text:



Is it just me, or would a spontaneously combusting washing machine be the coolest thing ever?

*Anyone else refer to their blogosphere buddies as friends? It makes me sound cool: I have friends in Canada, the UK, New Zealand, etc. ;)

LOC on Flickr!!!

Looking for something to keep you busy during my extended blogging absences, which will only become longer and longer this semester? Check out the Flickr Photostream of the US Library of Congress! No, really! There are over 3000 old photos and slides from the LOC's archives, and they're incredible. I've only looked at the first few pages, but they're just stunning. Another cool thing is that, at least for the ones I've looked at so far, they have no copyright restrictions, so you can download them and use them for whatever you want. Here's my favorite of the ones I've seen:



She's checking electrical assemblies at the Vega Aircraft Corporation, in Burbank, CA, in June of 1942. In a beautiful blouse and full makeup. I love it! Hopefully one of these days I'll get to look at all of them, and hopefully you will too! =)

Props to WWdN: In Exile for the heads up. Yes I read Wil Wheaton's blog. Yes I was in love with Wesley Crusher. Wanna make something of it? ;)

New Years in New Mexico

I left Houston really early so that I could drive straight through to Philmont and get there before the roads got icy. So early that, a few hours after I'd been on the road, I saw this:



In case you're wondering, it's really quite difficult to take an in-focus picture of the sunrise in your side mirror while still driving, haha. It's also difficult to stay focused on a 15-hour drive all by yourself. I listened to a lot of knitting podcasts, and took lots of pictures of the scenery. West Texas and Eastern New Mexico are pretty boring, but occasionally there are some neat things to look at, like this lonesome tree:


(If you remove the tree, that's what most of the drive looks like! I told you it was boring!)

Or all the old-fashioned windmills that run well pumps to provide water for livestock:


(See that snow on the side of the road?!? Snow!!!)

Or the way that the colors of the landscape change when the sun starts to set:


(Please forgive the dust/dead bugs on my windshield, which are also illuminated by the setting sun...)

But the best thing to see is this sign, signaling my entrance into Colfax County:



Shortly after that sign, and conveniently right as I was waiting to turn onto a different road (so I could actually stop and take some better pics), the sun dipped behind the mountains:



Gorgeous!



See the plane streak up in the top left? I thought about editing it out, but decided to leave it. I think it gives the photo character. What do you think?

I finally made it to Philmont, stayed a few days, rang in the New Year at the good ol' St. James, and took about a zillion pictures of the mountains. Don't worry, you don't have to see all of them. ;) Here's Tooth Ridge:


(I know Montana likes to claim they are Big Sky Country, but I really think New Mexico could give them a run for their money!)

Last but not least, my heart belongs to tall, steep, cold, rocky, dear, sweet Baldy Mountain:


(Hi Mountain! I miss you!)

Happy 2008 y'all! I hope it is a wonderful new year! =)

I Heart NM

Another successful Philmont New Years! I'll post more pics soon, but in the meantime, you can read about last year here, if you're interested. This year's visit was a lot less stressful! =)

More Wedding Pics

I've decided that a dSLR is the perfect wedding date. People think that it looks "professional" (Ha! If only they knew!) so they'll let you sneak in front of them to get good shots, and don't bother you when you're taking pictures. (A great excuse not to talk to people that you don't want to...I mean...not that I would ever do that...) Also, since the shutter delay is practically non-existent, you can get great candid shots. Some of my favorite pictures are of people who are not looking at the camera and don't yet realize they're being photographed. Like the one above of Heather, and this one of Sean and Heather watching their video slide show:



Also, a dSLR doesn't whine about the food or the lines or the long drive. ;)

Here's a pic of the happy couple on their way out the door:



And most importantly, Sean had the coolest groom's cake ever:



WHOOP! =)

Congratulations Sean & Heather!

More photos to come...soon, hopefully! =)

Merry Christmas!

I hope you and yours have a safe and happy holiday!



I must share a Christmas Eve story. I went to Walmart today to pick up some last minute things as a favor to my mom. I had 24 items, four too many to go in the express lane, so I headed to the regular lanes and started waiting. It took 35 minutes to get through the line. But I didn't much care, because I was so sad for the people in front of me. They were trying to get some groceries with their WIC voucher. Well, the store was out of the "correct" size cereal boxes, so they had two boxes of cereal in a smaller size. But since it wasn't "correct", they couldn't get it. The manager had to go exchange it for a different cereal in the "correct" size. Now certainly they were grateful for what they got, but sheesh, don't you think they could get what they want in a smaller size and it wouldn't be a problem? They also couldn't get the milk they wanted because it was the wrong size. Same thing with sliced cheese. You might think "Oh, why didn't they get the proper size?" As a fellow shopper, I can vouch for the fact that the store was barren. Empty shelves all over the place. Undoubtedly, they just didn't have the "correct" sizes in the items they were trying to get. I offered to buy the milk and cheese for them, but they politely declined. Maybe that wasn't the right thing for me to do, but I felt so bad that they couldn't get their food. If you're the praying type, please say a prayer for that family and their kiddos, that they may have a blessed and bountiful Christmas!



Then pealed the bells more loud and deep
"God is not dead, nor doth he sleep,
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail,
With peace on earth, good will to men!"



Peace to all, and Merry Christmas!!!